Club Afrika Information Portal

Soyinka gives Mau Mau thumbs up

Story by Evan Mwangi
Publication Date: 6/18/2006

Title: You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoir
Author: Wole Soyinka
Publisher: Random House
Year: 2006

Prof. Wole Soyinka

A new memoir by the first African winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Wole Soyinka endorses Kenya�s armed struggle for independence, discusses the use of the World Cup madness by people with a dictatorial mindset to win political mileage, and salutes the role of Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong�o in the struggle against dictatorship.

In the memoir, entitled You Must Set Forth at Dawn and to be in stock soon at Bookpoint, Nairobi, Soyinka explains why he could not visit Ngugi in detention in the 1970s, and details the role a writers� association he was involved in requested actor and insurance magnate Femi Johnson to come to Nairobi, under the guise of attending an insurance brokers� meeting, to secretly give money to Ngugi�s family and find out about the writer�s condition in detention. Femi, who acted in Soyinka's Madmen and Specialists, and later built the only other skyscraper in Ibadan, accomplished his mission with assistance from Micere-Mugo.

"Even more important than immediate monetary relief was the need to establish contact, to get a message to Ngugi that we were not simply sitting on our hands, indifferent to his predicament," writes Soyinka.

African VPs are no longer the stepping mats of presidents

By Dan Okoth

The recent acquittal of former South African President Jacob Zuma shows an emerging pattern of vice-presidents engulfed in the mire of political backstabbing and raw ambition.

African presidential deputies are not an enviable lot. In Kenya, former Vice-Presidents Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Josephat Karanja, George Saitoti and Musalia Mudavadi drank from the cup of sorrows, and it still overflows.

But the colourful mosaic of anguished vice-presidents and presidential challengers is evident in Africa�s other big names, including South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Sudan and Nigeria.

There is a link between VPs� woes, extensions of presidential terms and the battle for survival by in*****bent presidents. Sometimes, it also involves former presidents extending their hands from political oblivion.

In other cases, a conspiracy of silence, "higher authorities" and "fate" has helped to keep the Number Twos in their place better than any wily president could imagine.

In Kenya, President Kibaki has not said a word about the accusations of corruption against Vice-President Moody Awori. The allegations relate to the infamous Anglo Leasing scandal, in which Kenya is said to have lost billions of shillings in dubious security procurement tenders.

Botswana�s Festus Gontebanye Mogae is also silent about cries by MPs about vice-president Ian Khama�s authoritarianism. He recently threatened to dissolve Parliament if MPs did not endorse Khama�s presidential bid. Khama is also the minister for presidential affairs in charge of communications, the Botswana Defence Forces, police, the media and the civil service, leaving other ministers with little to handle.

Why Obasanjo failed in bid to extend his rule

Olusegun Obasanjo - President of Nigeria
Publication Date: 06/02/2006 - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo�s backers had placed much hope on the international community�s support for his third term bid because of his economic reforms and his central role in resolving conflicts in Africa. But what he got was opposition every step of the way, writes Tony Eluemunor

Surprise! That is the word to describe the killing of Nigeria�s President Olusegun Obasanjo�s bid to prolong his tenure on May 16. Weeks after the bid died, Nigerians are still asking the question: �How was it killed?�

Granted that the President and his pointmen in the third term project that had heightened tension in the country had appreciated the fact that they lacked the two-thirds majority votes in the National Assembly to advance their bid, yet, such little matters made them even more determined to employ state powers to win legislators to their side.

It was for the lack of the required number of votes that the President�s supporters suspended, as it were, the administration�s much-touted anti-corruption stance and reportedly began to shell out bribes of over US$357,000 to each member of the House of Representatives and US$500,000 to each Senator. The true picture of the magnitude of the alleged bribery would only be appreciated if one considers that Nigeria�s House of Representatives has 360 members while the Senators are 109.

Where would the President�s men have got such a large war chest with which to prosecute this bribery war? No, the President did not need to raid the Central Bank of Nigeria, or to divert the proceeds from the excess crude oil revenue (whatever accrues to the nation that is above the budgeted figure. For the 2006 budget, the benchmark expected revenue is $33 per barrel, but oil has hovered around the $70 mark).

Observers point out that the first task President Obasanjo embarked on was to reward loyal business tycoons with concessions that would make their bank accounts overflow with money. Since 2003, Nigeria has been seized by a privatisation frenzy in which a favoured �loyalist� would bag a choice enterprise at a give-away price, or if he did not want the hassles of running a business, he would just shop for investors and walk away with tons of dollars as commission. It is also not unheard of for an oil block to be farmed out to the highly connected in Abuja these days. So, whenever the President needed cash, he would just beckon the business community.

Rwanda Survivors Say Hollywood Has Got It Wrong

By Arthur Asiimwe
Reuters, April 17, 2006

Rwanda Genocide Victims.

Picture - People pay their respects in front of dozens of coffins containing the remains of more than 600 victims of the 1994 genocide, during a commemoration in Kigali, Rwanda April 7, 2006. Three films in two years about Rwanda's genocide have shocked Western audiences with the scale and savagery of the slaughter, but many survivors in the tiny central African nation are unimpressed with the big-screen's wrong depictions of the carnage. Picture taken April 7, 2006.

Three films in two years about Rwanda's genocide have shocked Western audiences with the scale and savagery of the slaughter, but many survivors in the tiny central African nation are unimpressed.

Africa, The Curse of History, and ...

....... Europe's New "Benevolence"

There is now an appealing new school of thought spreading in Western Europe which, on the surface, would make any well-meaning African jump with joy to embrace the dawn of salvation. But it contains more ominous implications.

This new "edict" on Africa, coined by the English and their Dutch cousins, stipulates, among others, that the basis of aid, from now on, must be demonstrative good governance, freedom from corruption and the establishment of democratic credentials. This, in itself, is a laudable position in view of the current wave of mediocrity and mass theft instituted by individuals calling themselves leaders. The problem is the criteria Europe is adopting and some of the reasons given for Africa's sad state of affairs.

British Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain summarized Britain's new African "edict" as one geared towards "rooting out corruption" and denying aid to countries whose leaders "siphon off profits into their pockets." He said other colonial powers such as the Dutch, France and Italy, have indicated they will dance the British African music.

In a White Paper on Africa filled with "benevolent" intentions, the Dutch are more specific:

"Good governance is absolutely vital not only in order to attract foreign capital, but also to ensure that ...funds are properly allocated and that there is higher ratio of domestic savings and investment. The key features(in their policy) are the integrity, efficiency and effectiveness of the civil service. Control of the government (including the armed forces), legal certainty for the population and participation administrative processes are all essential aspects..."

Among successful candidates for Dutch aid in the coming years, "Africa's success stories", are Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire,( no way knowing what will follow after this shinning star slipped off track with a recent coup) Burkina Faso, Mali, South Africa, etc. The Hague and London believe these deserve more money because they have shown seriousness towards economic reforms and democratization. If so, ( and one must use "economic reforms" and "democratization" guardedly when dealing with Africa) why should anyone complain? Why should victims of heightened corruption and terror in Africa complain when aid is denied thieves and killers masquerading as leaders around the world's poorest continent?

Gordon Parks - Black Greatness!

Groundbreaking photographer-director Gordon Parks dies

By Dennis Mclellan
The Los Angeles Times
March 8, 2006

Gordon Parks March 7, 1960.

Gordon Parks, who became the first black staff photographer at Life magazine in the late 1940s and broke more ground in Hollywood two decades later as the first black to direct a major studio film, "The Learning Tree," followed by the landmark black private-eye crime thriller "Shaft," has died. He was 93.

Parks, who also carved out niches as a novelist, memoirist, poet and composer, died Tuesday in New York, his nephew Charles Parks told The Associated Press.

Although his films widened Parks' fame, it was as a photographer and social documentarian that he first made his mark as an artist and achieved his greatest acclaim.

From a clapboard house in a segregated town in rural Kansas to a high-rise New York apartment with a panoramic view of the East River, Parks covered a lot of ground on his way to becoming one of America's foremost photojournalists. Parks, a self-taught photographer who once played piano in a brothel and worked as a waiter on a railroad dining car, was equally at ease documenting a chain gang in Alabama as he was photographing Manhattan socialite Gloria Vanderbilt or a Paris fashion model.

As a staff photographer at Life for more than two decades, Parks shot acclaimed photo essays on segregation in the Deep South (1956), the slums of Rio de Janeiro (1961) and the Black Muslims(1963).

He also shot intimate portraits of celebrities, ranging from Muhammad Ali to Barbra Streisand. But poverty and powerlessness were the frequent themes in his work.

Africa music star Farka Toure dies

Ali Farka Toure A.K.A
The "Bluesman of
Africa"

One of Africa's best known musicians, Ali Farka Toure, has died after a long illness in his home country of Mali, the culture ministry has announced. He was one of the pioneers of "Mali Blues" and his 1994 Talking Timbuktu album produced with US blues guitarist Ry Cooder was widely acclaimed.

Toure, who was in his late 60s, won two Grammy awards for his work. In 2004, he was elected mayor of his home town of Niafunke on the shores of the River Niger in northern Mali.

Mali's prime minister, culture minister and many of Mali's top artists have been gathering at his home to pay their respects ahead of his funeral on Wednesday.

Radio stations in the capital, Bamako, have interrupted their normal coverage to play his music. He died in Bamako but is to be buried in Niafunke, 850km north of the capital on Wednesday, the authorities have announced.

Toure won Grammys for Talking Timbuktu and again this year, for his album in collaboration with another famous Malian musician, Toumani Diabate, In the Heart of the Moon. His record label, World Circuit, said he had just finished work on a new solo album.

The Kasipul Kabondo By-Election

THE KASIPUL KABONDO BY ELECTION- WHO SHOULD WIN AND WHO SHOULD LOSE

Once again, LDP is facing a litmus test in its stronghold that is Kasipul Kabondo. It faced a similar test in Kisauni and Kisumu two years ago following the untimely demise of Karisa Maitha and Joab Omino respectively. While LDP lost an election it didn't have to lose in Kisauni, it scraped through in Kisumu West by a whisker. In both circumstances, it was sheer lack seriousness and abundant disorganization on the ground that did them in.

Having learnt vital lessons from these two past experiences, what should LDP do to ensure it recaptures its seat that was left vacant after the death of yet another of its ardent supporters- Peter Owidi?

What makes the Kasipul Kabondo by- election unique is the fact that it is the first time coalition members have declared to go their separate ways and field their own candidates. While a group of people are clinging to a dead coalition by fielding their own candidate in the name of Dr. Otieno Kopiyo, a former MP of the area, it was instructive to note that President Kibaki's own DP also fielded its own candidate as did another member, the Labour Party of Kenya.

The Forgotten But Juicier Side Of Jaramogi Odinga

Jaramogi pictured (right) in his later years.

Any occasion to attend and listen to tales about the life and times of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga is always a cherished moment, more so if speakers include celebrated Luo scholars like Prof. Bethwell Ogot, Okoth Ogendo, story-teller Grace Ogot and his family members like Raila Odinga who knew him intimately.

As a child, growing up in the '60s soon after independence, my great heroes of the time were Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Tom Mboya, Argwings Kodhek and many more of Luo legends of the time like Onyango Ayodo, Wasonga Sijeyo, Omollo Agar, Odero Jowi and Achieng Oneko. However when it came to our real idols, none of them could match Jaramogi and TJ Mboya.

I remember the heated debates we always had in our class as young debaters in Awasi Mission School and Kisumu Day that later included Odhiambo Lawi, Odhiambo Small, Otieno Washington, Otieno Flint, Ombwa Loadstone, Aketch Nyataya, Oyier Lumbwi, Obure Indosi, Odiero Omumbo, Obora Ja Kajulu, Achiando Koyote and Oluoch Mzee.

National Issues For Kenyans To Remember

NATIONAL ISSUES THAT KENYANS MUST NOT FORGET DESPITE THE IMPACT OF THE BOSIRE, GITHONGO AND NDUNG'U REPORTS

Our people and their animals are still dying by their thousands due to famine and drought in many parts of the country. The crisis that was declared a national disaster by President Kibaki two months ago is yet to be pronounced over and dealt with. We are still on a disaster mode. Therefore, as we deal with the earth breaking scandals of the Bosire, Githongo and Ndungu investigations, let us not relegate our dying brothers and sisters to the back burners of our national issues.

One more thing; all these shameful economic crimes that now make us the laughing stock of the international community have a direct link to a distorted constitution over the years. The magnitude of our defective constitution which has made it possible for our political governors to abuse their offices with impunity over the years has finally put us in this hole. For this reason, the struggle to put things back to normal through a mutually acceptable constitution must also not be relegated to the back banners. Had Kenyans written a new constitution in 1990 when Kivutha Kibwana, Kiraitu Murungi, Paul Muite and James Orengo were still revolutionaries, we would probably have not had Goldenberg, Anglo Leasing and Land grabbing scandals in the scales we have them today. Had we reduced the executive powers of the President and devolved the central government in time, the economic crimes against Kenyans would not have been committed in their current scales. For these reasons, we cannot afford to forget the clamour for a new constitution - the type most Kenyans are comfortable with.