Thursday, July 26, 2007

It wouldn't be funny, were it a joke

What? What is this I'm reading about send off packages? Let me make it very clear. We are not about to lay MPs and/or cabinet staff off. They have served their time, as they expected to have when they first took these offices. These offices are temporary and have been designed that way. What is the severance for then?

Had these servants of Kenya (wishfully) served with a very low compensation range over their 5 years, I may have entertained this thought. But this is not the case. These people earn obscenely over and above minimum wage. If they are making the decision that people can survive on that minimum wage, why aren't they within the same thinking concluding that they've earned enough and Kenya as a developing country needs to put its money to better use. These greedy nincompoops must be stopped.

I propose: Whenever this bill will be read to be voted on in parliament, could we have a pundit in there please? Any single one of them that votes to allow for this severance must be rejected at any and all polling stations infinitely. Never again, should they serve Kenya. Ili iwe funzo kwao na wengine kama hao. Agreed? Let them earn the right to be servants to the people.

My message to all of them; Tabia mbaya! Stop!

And this dealio with added constituencies. I'm just disgusted by the papers today. Not the journalistic aspect of it all. The content. In meaning, the shenanigans that are going on in that country. These women who must be nominated into parliament...why? How comes thay cannot be elected in? This gender equality is too expensive. Shun it! And seriosuly, after beijing, run a campaign and win it! Why the need for the freebies?

Truthfully speaking, what is this about adding constituencies? If there is research that has been done, and results showing that some constituencies, either due to great need, overpopulation, geographic factors, or size need to be trimmed down, I want to see it. Outside of which, this is an irresponsible proposal. Anything that eats into the budget with such regularity should be thought through and should be proposed with prudence. Anybody that reads this blog knows that I'm all for Kibaki and his many positive outflows. So I want to cautiously wonder if he agreed on this because he knew the decision ultimately lies with the house? And by agreeing with it, he doesn;t have to catch any flak for it. Let me hope so. Because, if it's not the case, I'm going to question how he arrived at this being a necessary burden on the tax payer. For the same reasons, I adamantly say no to the creation of a Prime Minister position, I say no to the addition of constituencies. Simply because it amounts to waste of tax payers money. And if any constituency needs subdividing, let us see the research supporting that.

I'm agape. Totally amazed by how greedy these politicians are. The best get rich quick scheme in Kenya has become to join the parliament? There has to be a way to stop that increase should they vote it in for themselves.Seriously voters, should anyone vote any additional money to themselves, vote your stealing neighbor in, the cat, or a cyclone. Just not the same person back.

Bubudiu tupu!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Dunia wiki hii

It's been the last week before my birthday again. I'm past the age where I celebrate birthdays. So I basically spend my birthday these days looking for signs of ageing. Any one of them. gray hairs, aching bones, arthritis, if you can think it, name it. So I usually attain paranoia in this week. Ageing has been working for me people. I can't complain. Can't even go back to yester years. This current years are so much sweeter. If it keeps up like this, I'm going to be an old happy lady one date far away from today.

I buried a friend this week as well. Not really buried her, attended her funeral service. Her funeral is in Kenya today. She died from cancer at the tender age of 35. She fought all the way to the end and I'm sure that she's in a better place now. God rest her soul in eternal peace.It's sobering. And it gives us all a reason to celebrate our birthdays old or not. Look what the alternative is.

And of course I had to increase to my woes. I put the largest dent possible on my fender and my bumper is damaged too. The estimates are high. But it's not going to be worth it to pass this through insurance, No. I'm going to pay for it out of pocket and then go door to door for my dinner for the next several months. Balaa for real. But after the things I've watched people go through, I don't even have the urge to whine too much. I'll just thank God I didn't hurt myself and live to my decision not to drive when I'm under such huge amounts of stress again. Besides, had I had the accident that I almost had instead, that would have been much worse. And I'd probably have hurt or worse, killed an innocent pedestrian.

I got done writing this paper on trade versus aid and I learnt so much from it. Should I ever get psyche, I'll share a great deal of my findings from this research. Its going to be difficult because most of my electronic sources were from priviledged sites that require authorization to access so I'll have to summarize my findings versus attaching the links, the easy way eliminated as a choice to use. So if you never see that post, that's the reason why. Still I was amazed by IMF who have on order, 29 countries, ordered I repeat, to spend 70%, in other words, 70 cents out of every dollar provided in aid, paying back debt. That is, 'let's give you aid, but the condition is take 70% and put it back in our coiffers and we can still claim to have given you aid'. Disfunctional? =Absolutely! Stupid? To say the least! Annoying? On a good day, yes, otherwise it's infuriating. But there were other success stories from Africa that warmed my heart as well. I could research this topic some more.

And Kenya has been bumped to a developing country. That is good news. I hope that keeps up. It should. I strongly attribute the success of Kenya to the fact that the Nyayo cells, those detention and torture chambers, were opened for public viewing. Because every one who raises their voice high these days does it with assurity that they won't end up there. There a lot more noise these days than there used to be. despite the media acting like they are being gagged, they know they're not. And it's teh ability to make that noise that leads to accountability and hence better management. So kudos to serikali ya Kibaki for shutting those places down and being so obvious about it. That in itself has immensely positively affected the future of Kenya until they elect the next dictator who will reopen them or others like them. Caution Kenyans, make sure the men or women you elect in the future can take criticism and use it to grow. Caution! The altrenative is disastrous. And never kid yourselves. A dictator, once elected, will dictate and succeed unless there's a bloody coup to reverse this order.

What's with Fifa and getting an even lower ranking? Moving down 11 places?

And them Kenyans who made the news for identity theft amongst other things, defrauding the IRS. $13M from the IRS and you expect to get away with it? They should crown them idiots of this century. And thanks for nothing! How's that for earning us a bad rap here?

Weddings abound! That's the beauty of summer. Weddings abound. Lemme go celebrate with folks! And some very heart felt congratulations to some of my friends who really matter for taking this walk to the future!

Last day at the age of ... I'm going to make it count.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Went to bed to and woke up to firecrackers going off everywhere. Forget that they are illegal within the neighborhood. How else would we know it was 4th of July, anyway? Truth be told, I enjoy a decent fireworks display away from an absolute professional setup by some waterway's reflection. But I hate the smell they leave behind so I prefer to see fireworks high up in the air from a distance with no idea where they are really being fired from. You'd think the odd day holiday, smack in the middle of the week would deter celebrations some. Wrong. Class was half empty last evening which was good. I got a star parking spot which happens to me, never! Perhaps this article might dampen their cheer?

United States of Africa, huh? Is that USA 3rd world? I can see the economic benefit to this but I wonder aloud about how integration of completely war torn countries would look like. For example Somalia. Where would we start? Do they even know what their niche as a country is? they've been fighting so long they have destroyed every forward progress they ever made and have had no time invested in the discovery of their own land that it would literally mean startiing from scratch. In itself it's not really a problem. I just wonder if you opened up movement throughout Africa, how many Somalis would be in Somalia 2 weeks later? Of course this is a scenario unlikely to happen. I'm just wondering about the complexities of integrating Africa. again, I repeat, whose economic benefit I can see clearly. And what about languages? Creole up North West, Swahili East Africa, Xhosa, French, and many others. Many of which the nationals don't want to give up. Will there arise a debate on whether french or English should become the transactional language? And how does this affect french speaking Africa, should they lose? I doubt the situation is that serious. But knowing Africa, someone's bound to complicate something somewhere.

The hyundai is becoming the honda, no? I know they hired designers from Toyota and Honda to help market this car but has anyone seen the 07 hyundai line? The sonata is an accord by body and the elantra a civic. With no attempt to disguise the obvious similarity in body type! Amazing. Maybe they hope given their name and all, people might be confused enough by Honda's good reputation to mistakenly shop for a honda. Oh, don't jeer. You underestimate err... ignorance amongst people. And at 10K dollars less...

The iphone. I think apple and AT&T must have been a little concerned when the government declared they weren't looking into moving to iphones because they just spent some cheddar on blackberries. I applaud the decision. Frankly even the blackberries aren't as big a deal as they're made out to be. What was that panic over the possibility of them being turned of as the truth behind their stolen reality came out about a year ago? Talk about effectively creating a market for a good where demand didn't previously exist. Some genius PR and promotion. However, I'm sure Steve Jobs has something up his sleeve somewhere. And let's see the master kaizzan on this one. Out of all the people who took this gadget apart, who's going to make a better product fastest? All eyes on China, I say. And need I point out it will cost $399 less? While doing more?

Its a holiday in the summer. Nyam chom abounds. Lemme decide where to go sink my teeth into some of that later today. Happy 4th y'all. I gather the new Die hard movie is worth every penny. Might catch some of that too.