Change, Missing the Mark.

Reflections from a Kenyan in Oz...

Not to provoke anyone, but I’m truly tired of hearing about what Barack Obama is going to do for us. We, Kenyans, are hoping that on the basis of his roots, Barack Obama will look favorably this way. But can his life lessons and integrity be associated with the place we call home?

We can only blame ourselves for the state we are in and need to look within for the solutions to our problems. To every person who does not vote, and everyone who votes not for the issues that affect their lives but on tribal lines, for everyone who is ready to sell their votes for a couple of bucks. We need to stand up as a people and by the power of the vote say NO to leaders who campaign on incitement and fear mongering.

Say NO to party hopping candidates who want leadership by any route available without regard for ideology or personal integrity. If such was the case with the United States, Hillary Clinton would have moved from the Democratic Party and start her own party or formed a coalition so that she too could stand another chance at the presidency. But she didn’t do that because at the end of the day she still has faith and belief that the principles her party stands for are right and she will continue to support the party. The party policies and manifesto are more important than the individual, but we don’t see that in our politics or even in our leaders; Kalonzo, Raila, Ruto and crew have all jumped ship over and over when their interests were not met. None of our politicians has ever been for the party or for the people. Just for themselves.

The tough situation with unemployment and poverty makes it hard for one to have pride in their country, where the poor keep getting poorer, where health care is unaffordable, where essential amenities like water, electricity, transport, education, employment and security are considered of little importance by the people we elect hoping that they would even for an instance pretend to care enough to try and tackle them. But alas, it doesn’t even hit them in the slightest that we down here are in need of the same facilities that we have allowed them to enjoy through our votes. Their most important order of business has always been to increase their own salaries at the expense of the people and doing nothing.

The articles I have been reading from my fellow Kenyans since Obama became president are those of careful jubilation, and we should be. But we celebrated Obama’s win with a public holiday, a country that he doesn’t even call home, while for the Americans themselves, it was back to business and life as normal. A waste of time and resources on a public holiday that we did not deserve.

Some would say that may be I speak much due to my current living condition, but I would like to say that home is where my heart is and it is in Kenya, and I would also like to address my brothers and sisters who are living abroad, I hope and pray that some day, we all, as I have planned, look forward to returning back to the homeland, the motherland. We bitch a lot about the situation In Kenya and how it is not changing and nothing good is happening there. Being in Australia, seeing and learning as I have about governments, state, federal and local, about politics and loyalties to parties and party principles and not to individuals, economics….and many more, we are the change and the breath of fresh air that the country needs if we all go back at one time or the other with the positive use of the networks that we have built all over as we are abroad. Kenya is destined to rise from the ashes of nothingness and shine to the possibilities that only our imaginations can limit. Kenyans would have the opportunity to shine at home as we Kenyans do out here, the self imposed exile and exodus that we take should be for opening up our minds to the possibilities that what we learn out here, we can export it back and give those same dreams and possibilities to other Kenyans at home. Then they too would not think of going abroad to look for possibilities of a better future because we will have brought the future home.

I am vexed honestly, to see a country that I love miss the mark like it has.

...By Vincent Tshaka, Sydney, Australia.

Peter Supports Obama but Loves Corsi More.

Journalists have often been accused of being unprincipled, without conscience and available for hire by any or all bidders. This quackery is typified by one Peter Mbae, who recently offered to take up the ignoble responsibility of sprucing the floor upon which some American bigot had intended to stomp. He should be grateful for the pre-emptive government intervention that may well have averted a messy conclusion to his principal’s provocative venture.

There are those who are arguing that the deportation was just what Corsi had hoped for in order to get the ensuing publicity. I think they are being too generous in ascribing to the man a cleverness that he simply does not have. There is ample evidence of the man’s stupidity in the piles of rubbish that he pens copiously and to suggest that he’s capable of such a plot is merely to argue for the sake of argument. In any case, Corsi has had extensive publicity on news networks and the internet such that a dramatic jaunt to Kenya is unlikely to impact on it one way or another. If Obama loses this election, it will certainly not be because of Corsi’s campaign in the US or Kenya.

Peter Mbae says that he had never heard of Corsi or his works before he visited Kenya. That is ignorance of an ugly sort from a man who claims to be a journalist and media consultant. But what is more bizarre is that he (Mbae) was one of the founders of a group known as the Senator Obama Worldwide Supporters whose mission was to counter the smear campaign that questioned Obama’s politics, patriotism and religious beliefs. At their launch in June this year, they said “We want to ensure that what Senator Obama stands for is not diluted by cheap propaganda”. Since the group had declared that it was not being funded by the Obama campaign, it is safe to surmise that Mbae has since had a change of heart and decided to pursue more profitable enterprise like coordinating Corsi’s campaign in Kenya.

It is Mbae’s right to sell his skills (clumsy as they are) to the highest bidder, but in this case even Dr. Jerry himself would find it difficult to agree that any useful services were rendered. Having been actively engaged in last year’s parliamentary elections during which he went on a party hopping spree like a headless chicken, Mbae should have been a little bit more equipped to help his client navigate the local political waters more sensibly. Clearly he flunked and the last he was heard of, he was grumbling about outstanding payments from Corsi.

Soldiers for hire are also known as Dogs of War. The equivalent for local journalists would be… waandishi kwa bei ya jioni?