African Voices

The voices are growing because Africa needs to be heard, our people are demanding to be heard!

The greatest biases are not committed in what is told but what isn’t. The western media despite its best efforts cannot be entirely accurate nor objective in it’s coverage of Africa issues because of existing misconceptions and sometimes lack of basic understanding about African history and its political dynamics. Africa has always been portrayed as a backward continent and unfortunately African coverage is hardly ever positive. This bias comes from ignorance because there aren’t enough people to tell the stories of an emerging Botswana, peace in the Congo, buddying democracies, Algeria’s efforts to fight terrorism, Wangari Maathai and many other shining lights in Africa. There is a vacuum of African opinions on our economic emergence, the global balance of trade, the genocide in Darfur, the civil war in Somalia and many other issues affecting the continent.The African media has failed Africans by being neither reliable nor credible. This is best highlighted by our media only copies reports and even interviews from external networks such as CNN, BBC & Al Jazeera even when the coverage is on African affairs.

We live in the age of  Information. So this means that information is power, it’s the most potent tool on earth and many Africans don’t get it – the little they do is either incomplete, irrelevant or simply inaccurate - so we will never be fully empowered unless we own our information.  I would like to challenge Africans sharpen pencils, pick up their cameras and microphones and to tell their own stories and to help create African solutions to African problems. Africans have a bigger role to play in their education and in shaping the globe. Let’s change the perception about the continent!

On this blog we will strive to do our part; to give an African perspective on past and current world affairs, to try and embellish any misconceptions about Africa as might come to our notice.

Speak up Africa and let us be heard!

Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Africa.

So governments all over the world are grappling to deal with the impact of a financial crisis that is seeing the collapse of financial lending firms, institutions that were once considered to be solid or too big to stumble are now have now since either gone bankrupt, had to rely on Government bail-outs or worse, selling up their assets to the competitors to recoup losses; America’s Fannie Mae, Washington Mutual, AIG, Lehmann Brothers, Wachovia, Britain’s Northern Rock as well as many other firms in Germany, Iceland (country facing bankruptcy and having to rely on a financial bail-out from Russia) and many other countries all across the European Union. The story has been so big that it’s even managed to push the on-going soap opera between McCain and Obama. That’s partly due to the impact it’s had on the markets with markets such the Dow Jones and the Nikkei index experiencing the worst one day losses since the crisis of the nineties, followed by roller-coaster of gains and losses in a very volatile market devoid of investor confidence analysts say that major stocks such as telecoms, Pharmaceuticals and petroleum have all fallen by more than a third in the last one year – no industry seems immune to the crisis.

Am certainly no economic guru, but Maths 101 says that the cause of the credit crunch which was the beginning of the problem – as I understand it – was the collapse of the mortgage market with banks securing bad mortgages and bad loans, free capitalism at it’s fatal worst – the idea that financial institutions can regulate themselves because they are after all the experts. Of course the financial markets in Africa haven’t been immune to the fall with massive drops in share prices but the status of the market doesn’t always reflect on the real economy; the one where people lose jobs! The African media hasn’t been as diligent in their coverage of the crisis and it might be with good reason too………..Even with globalisation, which inexplicably means that we are all more connected than we would love to be, thereby creating some kind of domino effect, Africa may as yet escape this worst of the storm?! A majority of Africans rarely deal with banks and in fact many SMEs do not even have bank accounts; so whether or not there’s a credit crunch it doesn’t affect the growing of tea in Kericho for Mama Mboga or your ordinary small business person who doesn’t rely on credit from the banks to run their business – evidently obvious as banks move to slow down o consumer loans and to secure bad loans. So for once you might claim that the ignorance, illiteracy and infrastructure that have for so long been blamed for Africa’s under-development may actually be a blessing in disguise – and just like Mexico during their all too infamous crisis, Africa’s non-financial institutions could escape too much damage because the economy isn’t tied too much to banking!

However before I altogether dismiss the significance of the recession of the world’s biggest economy on Africa, I may be well advised to remember the old saying that when America sneezes then the whole world catches a cold……..true the I we won’t lose any sleep over the tight lending conditions, but Africa is bound to lose Millions of dollars in foreign investments which supports the majority of companies and key industrial sectors being foreign owned; examples may be in Kenya where all telecom companies have foreign firms as major shareholders. It might also be prudent to add that our economy is based on the dollar and any falls in the value of the dollar may have astronomical impacts on many African economies such as Kenya where export is the biggest revenue earner! Then shamefully last, let’s not forget that Africa is the land of hand-outs; development projects, healthcare, education, and even elections are all run on donor funding and with the donor countries now experiencing problems of their own, it remains to be seen what kind of impact if any the crisis will have on donor funding. With the humanitarian problems in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Somalia – the list is endless – any scaling down on funding could have catastrophic effects on Sub-Saharan Africa.

Globalisation means that we have a global economy and as a global citizen I would plead with Americans to give Obama the mandate to fix their economy, because political paralysis and bad policies have always created a good environment for economic recession and the last eight years must certainly have worked to show Americans the evils and consequences of ineffectual governance. Or else we could see their economy go into a depression and with disastrous repercussions for Africa!!

PS: would love to get suggestions on any factual errors, leave a comment below!!

This could ONLY be Kenya…………………………….!!

Being a satirical cartoonists or even a political reporter in Kenya must be easiest job in my reckoning especially since politics in Kenya is one big circus comedy starring a clueless bunch of clowns who for all logic I fail to see how they could have been legitimately elected into office based on merit alone. News features such as Bull’s eye and news-shot must be just as perplexed by the ease at which they get their material considering every piece political news could very easily make it into the final cut of comedy central. Recently one such main cast of this never-ending saga (better than any soap-opera), COTU’s Secretary General Francis Atwoli made one such comment that I surprisingly found very enlightening. When asked for his take on the on-going saga with the weapons cargo seized by pirates off the Somali coast, which is under disputed ownership, Mr.Atwoli so wittingly retorted that it was impossible to tell what is true and he added that, we’ll probably never know because we live in a country that lacks a truth policy!! Now, as always – with anything that Kenyan politicians spew from their gobs – I instinctively wanted to argue with that statement, but once confronted by realities such as the fact we’re yet to resolve the Goldenberg scandal millions of tax-payers’ money and endless hours of boring daytime viewing later or the fact that the Anglo-leasing scandal has been so conveniently forgotten, I was really hard-pressed to agree with him. I haven’t even touched on the Ndung’u Report, the Kroll report or even, yes people: the Grand Regency saga.

Then there was the case of the foreign minister Moses Wetangula so righteously furious, barking at Western Nations – and rightly so – to stop infringing on Kenya’s sovereign rights (as if he only now noticed it), after arm-twisting the government into changing the Electoral commission by placing a travel embargo on the ECK chairman even after he was cleared the Kriegler commission, speaking of which….okay that’s another story altogether. Now back to our “esteemed” minister, after all that macho display, he was on air again two days later appealing to – in his words – marafiki wa Kenya walio a uwezo wa kivita – translated to all those “Kenya-friendly” countries with military might – to come to our rescue and help us deal with the Somali security crisis. So one he’s asking them to go to hell and the next he wants their armies in our territory – so much sovereignty!!

Then of course how can we forget the debacle that was the Kriegler commission….now, is it just me or did anyone else miss the point of the KC – as we’ll call it from now henceforth?! So now we’re told that the KC was supposed to determine the legitimacy of the contested elections…short-term memory problem, stupidity or just a stroke of genius on Kibaki’s side – as hard as that is to believe?! I thought it was pretty clear even to my 3 yr old nephew that those polls were fraudulent!! That’s the reason why Kivuitu couldn’t tell us who the president was, wasn’t it?! After another staggering contribution by the tax-payer, he couldn’t tell us who won the election and now we even have to form another commission to determine to what extent the KC report we’ll be implemented. Yes people, we’re the land of commissions!

So now the chief circus orchestrator, Mr.Kibaki entered office on promises of creating 500,000 jobs annually and I am glad to announce that he is…..no am not joking, he really is – all those commissions!! Problem is the jobs are only for retirees and foreigners. Then those incompetent fools sit around and try to find reasons for Kenya’s social woes – I have an answer for you, it’s called UNEMPLOYMENT!! The constitution could wait for all I care if we can create jobs for these 70% or so young Kenyans that need to put food on the table and pay their rent

I could go on and on and on and on and on and on – okay I know you get the idea, do you? because I could go on and on and on…………as I said everything about Kenya, government and politics is one big joke that isn’t even funny anymore. Don’t even know I bothered to write this because this MUST definitely be Kenya……………..!!

THE AFRICAN MALIGNANCY

Africa it is believed is a strange continent whose woes begun with the advent of colonialism. That not only seems to be suffering from the malady of dependence but also whose values and ideals continue to be shaped by the west. Now it may be easy to misconstrue this as cynism but do give a thought to what I would call the “Zimbabwean misdiagnosis” that leaves the Zimbabwean disease to degenerate into a malignancy. It is the power sharing agreement that made me give a second thought to democracy or the lack of it. Mugabe agreed to the pact just to legitimize his government. First it was Kenya’s President (I would love to say elect, but I sadly can’t) who declared a winner in largely disputed polls. Now these rogue leaders, are sadly being tolerated in the name of unity and sustainability ironically, the same values that their illegitimate, undemocratic regimes continue to threaten.

 Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely; and that acclaimed freedom fighter from Mashonaland who Africa, and rightly so accredits with the independence of most of Southern Africa, fell from grace and lost sight of the African dream in his desperation to hold on to the reigns of power and inadvertently turning into an oppressor and an enemy of the people himself. Now History has indeed repeated itself as Tsvangirai in his desperation t get to power has deserted his people’s cause in the name of sacrifice. Like Raila Odinga he invokes unity and aspirations in to justify sleeping with the enemy…..how long before he loses sight of the target – it didn’t take Raila too long!!

 Tsvangirai and Mugabe have assuaged ,defiled and maimed democracy with an agreement that has no semblance of democratic ideals because it has robbed the people of Zimbabwe their right to self governance; why line up on polling day only for your efforts be pissed on by the selfish interests of the self-serving political elite seeking political expediency and self aggrandizement.

 I dare say that no incumbent leader in Africa will ever give over power to the opposition because they will always come to a marriage of convenience that keeps them in power, albeit illegally……..the Kibakis, Mugabes of this world have outlived their mandate while invoking peace and unity to legitimize their dictatorial regimes………but democracy is certainly not indigenous to Africa, a candle in the wind that threatens fizzle out and a plant that’s failed to take root……..or what is it? To the African voter, a martyr of democracy a victim of his own ignorance caught up in an eddying orgy of violence to bear the burden of failed post-colonial policies because f an elitist establishment that has ruled the continent since independence.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, because the struggle goes on. The oppressor has changed faces and color – literally speaking, and with all the pun intended – but the goal has not shifted; the average Africa continue to be maligned from the decision making process while two-thirds of the people south of the Sahara are ravaged poverty and disease.  The enemy is not really Mugabe, Kibaki or Mobutu but the failed policies that they continue to propagate. We may remove them from power but heir place is taken over by a Bokasa or even an Idi Amin. The system is the enemy. Aluta Continua!!

not yet Uhuru……..!!

As I listened to Mugabe’s speech during the signing of the agreement that has brought an end to Zimbabwe’s political stalemate, I heard the bitter ramblings of a delusional mind who sounded more like a freedom fighter than a contemporary president of an independent African state. Talk of attempts by the western to de-stabilize Africa by interfering with the processes of governance. He is wont to blame the West for the woes that continue to beleaguer the continent. His speech got me really thinking as to whether Africans are really free because we still entirely dependent on the west economically, politically and even shockingly enough, socially. A new form of colonialism was adopted that sought to hold our minds and thus we were not allowed to think freely and no one could put it more aptly than Jean Jacks Rousseau who said that, ”man is born free but everywhere he is in chains” It is this reality that makes me to believe Mugabe and realize that Africa is still an ideological prisoner of the same west that we all love to loath and that we have lost our values and ideals hence given the white man an opportunity to shape our thinking.

We are a continent that needs to change our attitude and start owning up for our failure – the victim mentality is growing old. While it is true that the west has eroded our values, destroyed our heritage and annihilated our esteem, we should not rest until we get solutions to the issues that continue to affect us so much. I believe for instance that we inherited cultural, social, economic and academic systems that are for all practical purposes not suited to us. We all concur that our educational system is neither responsive nor relevant to our developing societies yet we are unwilling to change this faulty system. What would you say of democracy as advanced by the west, they told us to have multiparty politics only to gerrymander us into our tribal enclaves (divide and rule) and this has ensured that we have lost sight of the ultimate goal that is MENTAL EMANCIPATION!! Focus has shifted to unity and it is these diversionary attempts that make us to lose sight of the big picture. The west for instance has been supporting leaders who tow the line and protect their interests post-independence. On this I agree with Mugabe that there is no need of having fought the whites only to later bring them back through the back door.

Maybe it isn’t entirely the fault of the west but Mugabe’s claims are not to be entirely dismissed as unfounded. The fact that Mugabe is the villain of the moment may not lend too moral credence to the view but the Pan-African movement has to be bigger than an individual and we shouldn’t let issues we have with the messenger contort the big picture. Africa was a major ideological battleground at the height of the cold-war and even after the collapse of that Iron-curtain in Europe; the west and now China with it’s newly found economic might continue to wage proxy wars on the continent. France calls for a resolution of conflicts in West-Africa while quietly funding rebels and fuelling these feuds. China refuses to support sanctions against Khartoum for the atrocities committed in Darfur so as to protect their oil interests. The US funded Ethiopia incursion into Somalia under the pretext of fighting terrorism but suspiciously enough, investigations have shown that oil prospecting rights in War ravaged country are owned by American countries.

To all Africans nobody else will change this and we should all rise up and refuse the intrigues of the west. By so doing we shall have the freedom of thought, let us rise up and be a self-determining continent; a tall order perhaps, but our prosperity depends on it. We must be the drivers of our own destiny, otherwise we may self destruct by living with a victim mentality with a propensity to “burry our heads in the sand while the Nyika is burning”.

PS: the title is in Reference to a popolar book that speaks about neo-colonialism, uhuru means freedom, so if loosely translated: Independent!!

Africa for McCain!!

IT isn’t everyday that 200,000 Berliners gather on a summer afternoon to listen to a politician, and an American one for that matter. It seems like a lifetime ago, since J.F Kennedy gave that famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in a Berlin Town hall, at the height of the Cold War but the latest American speaking sensation, a junior senator from Illinois, does seem to evoke memories of his similarly popular predecessor, albeit the eloquence.

Senator Barrack Obama’s meteoric rise to prominence is undoubtedly the stuff that folklore is made of and I remain one of his most ardent supporters, not that it Should come as a surprise though given the eloquence, academic background, charisma and might I dare add: genetic disposition! He is truly an inspiration for all black people but recently in a youth forum I had to contend with not having a definite answer to a very complicated question: how or if (and that’s a very big one) an Obama presidency will affect the growing of tea in Kericho?

Like most other Kenyans, I have followed the US election campaigns very fervently and with almost greater excitement and anticipation than your average American as absurd as it may sounds. The fact that Barrack Obama is black is undoubtedly a big factor but even more significant is the fact that we can trace his roots to that typically inconspicuous region of western Kenya called Siaya. Subsequently, he has become a first cousin to every Luo I know and so of course you really can’t fault anyone who feels that they have family at the White House; after all aren’t we all related – my lineage has always been suspect, so I could claim distant relations through my uncle’s wife’s second grandfather.

So now we know the exact number of college votes from each specific state better than the exact margin of Mwai Kibaki’s victory after the largely contested December polls, but rumor has it that it was more than 120% of the total vote! Back to the reasons why the now imminent victory for the son of Ramogi (the one in Illinois that is) might not be of any significance to Africa. One question asked is if Africa is so important to the good senator’s policy, then how come he’s hardly ever discussed it? He hasn’t made any mention of the situation in Zimbabwe or made any strong statements about the genocide in Darfur, not in the recent past that is.

We may also be well advised to remember that American foreign policy is largely defined by party politics and in any case Africa isn’t as rich in oil as the Middle-east, to put it bluntly. Africa does have an abundance of natural resources but it may well be a country in Nigeria for all any American president would care. US policy in Africa has generally remained the same through successive Republican and Democratic administrations and it’s unlikely to change now.

So Obama’s victory may be nothing more than a symbolic victory for all of us but it isn’t any less important nonetheless! True it may not affect the growing of tea in Kericho but at least it might change the view of the black man and who knows there’s no reason why my son can not become the first black German Chancellor!

PS: McCain wouldn’t stand a chance in Africa unless he was running against Al Bashir, Mugabe or Kalonzo – no offence but the only thing that he was wiping was Kibaki’s a&*#.