Moses Kuria's Fake Damascus Moment

Image courtesy: The Standard

Part of what Gatundu #MPig says on the video that has been circulating on social media is partially true, but the real story is even more insidious!

Parliament is meant to approve EVERY budget line that the government proposes to spend and later verify that EVERY coin The Executive Arm proposed to spend has been spent on want was approved, service to Wanjiku. That is the principle of checks and balances. 

This scrutiny is done through mainly the Public Accounts Committee (Abwabu anyone?),  Budget and Appropriations Committee (Mutava Musyimi anyone?) & the Public Investments Committee among others. 

The Auditor-General, an Independent Office, is parliament's audit arm. Many Kenyans don't realize that the AG is actually meant to help parliament hold the executive, the judiciary as well as county governments to account by ensuring resources are spent on what was budgeted for.

(It is indeed poetic justice that #UhuRuto sycophants were busy bashing the AG, who's actually their watchdog. See your life now oo!)

Treasury (Executive) proposes a budget for the year, parliament scrutinizes it and approves it with or without amendments, GoK spends, Auditor General audits the spending, parliament scrutinizes the audits and ideally approves if correct or sanctions if there are audit queries.

So how did #UhuRuto circumvent this rigorous Wanjiku scrutiny?

1. The new National CDF Act pegged CDF funds on 2.5% of what MPs approve for the National Government to spend. 

For example, if say national government requests parliament to allow it to spend 1 million shillings and parliament says you can only spend 500,000 shillings, the money available to be divided among MPs as CDF for their constituencies will be 2.5% of 500,000.

If Treasury presents to parliament a budget proposal of 1 million shillings and parliament amends and approves 2 million, then money available to be divided among MPs as CDF is 2.5% of 2 million... if #UhuRuto present a 3 trillion shillings budget and parliament approves it as is, then the money available to be divided among MPs as CDF for their constituencies will be 2.5% of 3 trillion. Capiche? You get the picture?

In effect, the more money parliament approves for UhuRuto, the more money MPs get as CDF. #UhuRuto basically bribed parliament to look the other way! 

This explains why #MPigs approved raising the debt ceiling. It just means more cash to them, so it's a no brainer! 🤷🏾‍♂

Next...

2. The Inter-governmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC), chaired by the #DeePee and served by Treasury mandarins as its Secretariat, was created to help coordinate resource management between the National and County Government. It is an executive body (national and county) advising the legislature on budgets that are made by the executive.

What has happened in the #UhuRuto era is that the Treasury does budgets, then IBEC, which is manned by treasury mandarins, advises parliament on these budgets. It has cut off the parliamentary committees mentioned above meant to scrutinize and approve budgets. Treasury has used IBEC to cut off parliament and an accountability arm for Wanjiku. 

In effect, Treasury budgets, approves its own budgets, and then accounts to itself by self-auditing. Now you know why the Auditor General has been under fire for trying to do his job. 

Lastly, please note who chairs the IBEC, then you will undefeated why we are so screwed economically as a country.

Moses Kuria aache machozi ya chura!

#NiHayoTu

#UshenziKE!

The Real Lords of Kenyan Poverty

The Lords of Poverty                          Image Courtesy of @StateHouseKenya

Dear Deputy President "Dr." William Ruto,

Allow me to address you on behalf of the poor people of Kenya who feel the sting of a reckless government which you are the second in command.

While it's hard to establish the authenticity of the hustler narrative you wholeheartedly peddle, it seems to me that your ivory tower of ill-gotten wealth has blinded you from poor people challenges.

The buck has stopped with you for the last 7 years you have been in government as the DP.

To claim that Kenya is poor because of the opposition or an individual who hasn't held any constitutional office since 2013 is to take Kenyans for fools. Carry the cross of the incompetence of the Jubilee regime you campaigned for tooth and nail.

Let me remind you why Kenyans are poor...

Kenyans are poor because of elected visionless leaders who'd rather plunder than invest in basic quality services.

Kenya is poor because of high priests of corruption stealing from the public & occupying plum jobs to benefit their families and cronies.

Kenyans are poor because of primitive accumulation of wealth (you win here) by a retrogressive elite.

Kenyans are poor because of income inequalities perpetuated by a clueless regime which negotiates bad trade deals with foreign powers.

Kenyans are poor because of odious debts borrowed to satisfy the greed of a few criminal elite than invest in high yield public good projects.

Bwana DP, before you tell us who is the Lord of poverty is...

Where are the stadiums you promised?

Where's the maize from Galana Kulalu?

What happened to free quality maternity care?

Where's the Euro Bond money trail leading?

Who killed Msando?

Where's the Arror & Kimwarer dams' money?

Who killed Jacob Juma?

Who messed the debt to GDP ratio of our country?

Who has pissed on our Constitution & weakened our independent institutions?

Who has rolled back the freedom gains fought for by Kenyans, some who died in the process?

In 2022, we will vote you out and the entire corrupt regime.

In 2022 the people of Kenya will claim back their country.

In 2022, on that glorious day, you will be held to account for all the atrocities you have done in this country. Your blood-stained hands will be brought to justice.

In the meantime, enjoy the fleeting glory.

Mwalimu Mutemi wa Kiama - Kenyan

#1Milli4WanjikuRevoltsMum Medical Fundraising Appeal

Hi friends. My name is Edwin Mutemi wa Kiama, also known as "WanjikuRevolution Kenya" on Facebook or @WanjikuRevolt on twitter... Am a social justice activist opposed to all manner of uthamaki (tribal kingdoms), whether in Central Kenya, Rift Valley, Nyanza, Ukambani or wherever in Kenya...Am one those guys the Deputy President describes as non-hard-working Kenyan activists who drink till 11pm and wake up at 11am... No I don't. Seriously, am a typical Kenyan hustler who asks questions on why things are not the way they should be and speaks truth to power with love. Like, where are the 5 world class stadiums promised to us in 2013 campaigns?!

State of public healthcare in Kenya

Whenever am questioned on my activism, I simplify it thus: “I would like my mum who’s retired to have a competently staffed and equipped government run health center within a 5 Km radius of her location anywhere in Kirinyaga that can attend to minor ailments, diagnose and refer more serious cases to a well-equipped, well-staffed government run level 4 or 5 hospital within the county. There should be no need to ferry my sick mum to Nairobi unless absolutely critical.” Little did I know I would experience the sorry state of our public healthcare system first hand, and that our mum would die in the process!

Here are a few points...

1) Mum went to have an abdominal operation to correct a hernia Kerugoya Medical Center, a private hospital. These are usually routine but she was hypertensive. She went into cardiac arrest and had to be transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) ICU via ambulance without operating. Reason, no ICU in Kirinyaga or the environs, not even private hospitals. Options were KNH or Mathari in Nyeri. How is this possible 54 years after independence?

2. Surgery was done at KNH, but turned septic. She was at KNH ICU for 23 days, had several cardiac arrests, did not survive the last one and passed on.

By then she had incurred a bill of around 1.6 million shillings after 23 days in a public hospital. Is that right?

3. Mum had been a teacher for 32 years, paid her taxes and other statutory deductions at source dutifully (well, one has no choice). She was a pensioner. When she started getting sickly 4 months ago, we discovered she didn't have NHIF cover. We reactivated it. She died a day after it became active on 3^rd October 2016!

Questions on Kenyan Healthcare System:

1. Why aren't pensioners covered automatically and deducted from pension just as it was when they were employed, especially former government GoK employees?
2. Please urge everyone to get NHIF cover as it would have taken care of this bill, and enrol your relatives, especially the retired and the elderly parents. Have your retiree family and friends check the NHIF status.
3. Why would someone who has served Kenya as a teacher for 32 years have to sell off hard earned land or other property because of illness or death to pay off a hospital bill in a government hospital? Does that make any sense? Isn't the state meant to take care of its people?

Other notes...

•         KNH Casualty section is understaffed. Relatives and friends have to find beds for themselves. Many patients die there waiting to be attended.
•         County hospitals are referring cases they can easily attend to to KNH causing an administrative log jam.
•        KNH only has 20 ICU beds in the main ICU plus a few others scattered in different sections. This is a disaster. There is need for the government to address this.

As a family are humbly appealing to Kenyans to support us offset the bill through Paybill number or Equity Bank account below:

Instructions for sending money:

Go to: Mpesa LIPA NA MPESA

PAYBILL OPTION

BUSINESS NUMBER: 849651

ACCOUNT NUMBER: YOUR NAME

AMOUNT: ENTER AN AMOUNT

ENTER YOUR PIN

SEND

Or through Equity Bank

Harambee Avenue Branch

Stella Karimi Kiama-Medical Fund

Account number 0240170059583

Asante and God bless you!

#KenyansForJuliana Medical Appeal

Am posting this on behalf of my cousin George. As angry as I am about negligence in both public and private health institutions based on fact that we pay taxes to have affordable and quantity healthcare, that's not an option today. We have to deal with current realities. Let's help heal Juliana.

WRK

From George Wachira

Dear fellow Kenyan,

Please help out a mum, my wife Juliana.

My name is George Wachira.  Am a normal hard working Kenyan. The last one month though has turned my life and that of my beloved wife and family into hell on earth.

Juliana and I were elated at the prospects of parenthood and on 8th October 2015. We walked into Mater hospital because labour indicated that it was indeed time to receive our bundle of joy hopefully through normal birth. After being in labour for over 24 hours the doctors decided it was best to surgically remove the baby. We were gifted with a beautiful baby boy.

Complications unfortunately arose from the Cesarean Section and 4 days later Juliana had to be rushed back into surgery for an emergency Laparotomy and Colonoscopy. Basically, whoever had operated on her also cut her intestines. Negligence. She had to go into emergency surgery.

After the surgery she was put on drip medication plus hydration because she was not taking anything orally. This then caused another problem of water retention in the body. When this was eventually discovered she had to be put in the HDU for close monitoring. After more than a month in hospital, Juliana was finally cleared to go home.

The bill at this point had come to around 1.8 million shillings. With the help of Insurance, family and friends we were able to clear this amount and she finally came home and was reunited with her new born son.

Juliana is required to undergo further surgery to close up the opening left after the previous
operation. An amount of 1 million shillings is required for her to undergo this final operation.
Let us help this young mother, my wife, begin her journey into parenthood a lot happier
and healthier.

Please give whatever you can and help us achieve our goal of 1 million shillings. Every shilling counts.

Thank you and God bless you and reward your kindness.

George & Juliana

Paybill Number; 282814
Account Name; JULIANA

PS. We hope to pursue legal redress after Juliana is healed.

Is Kenya due for another presidential election less than a year after the last election?

Why are we in a campaign mode only 4 months after a general election? Why are Deputy President William Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga going around the country essentially campaigning? Why the talk of a referendum, tyranny of numbers, revolution, parliamentary system vs presidential system?

Possible scenario: We will soon have a general election to elect a new president/prime minister and deputy.

Why, you may ask? Well, the Deputy President is likely to be at The Hague for a minimum four months continuously especially after his request not to attend some of the proceeding was appealed by the ICC Prosecutor and suspended. The president will join him in November possibly for the same duration. This means for around two months (60 days) that both the president and Deputy President will be away, then the Speaker of National Assembly will be the acting president. The law however says that he can only hold the temporally incumbency of that office for 60 days after which an election must be held.

This kind of puts in context the heightened political activity we've been witnessing lately for me. But it's not a possibility....or is it?

Why I wrote “End the propaganda, Jubilee!”

By +Betty Njoroge Twitter @BettyWaitherero 

It started with 11 girls and a dog from Mombasa, and then a man and a Cow from Kiambu County and then a man and a dog, a man with a donkey, a man with another cow, a man with a chicken and then two men with goats.

The Kenyan mainstream Media which only weeks ago were broadcasting somewhat relevant news, albeit heavily bent on politics had now degraded itself to lewd stories of alleged bestiality. All of this was triggered by a “cup of tea” meeting at Statehouse.

I am just an ordinary Kenyan, broke, out of regular work and Kikuyu. I watched in 2007/08 while ordinary Kenyans like me were slaughtered by militia in the post election violence. This wasn’t the first time there was politically instigated violence in this country; in fact, every single county in Kenya periodically runs violent whenever some politician wants to exert or gain power.

We live in a country that is called an “Island of peace” in a conflict region, but the truth is Kenya is NOT peaceful. We don’t live in peace. Us, the ordinary, broke, out of work Kenyans.

I started getting this boiling sensation in my gut when the campaigns for presidency began. Note that the campaigns for the other electoral posts were never as bitter, hateful or malicious. My stomach churned every time a candidate would make utterances that were ethnically divisive, hateful and derogatory against an entire ethnic community simply because his rival came from that community.

Firstly, I believe that going to elections in a country that is so divided is endorsing a farce. Secondly, I believe that the electorate as a whole should have rejected the ballot because of the divisive people on that ballot. Lastly, when 93% of Kenyans voted ethnically, for their own ethnic representatives, that was NOT democracy.

This is a nation fragmented to its very core; the politics are of hatred, ethno-centrism and bigotry. It doesn’t matter what your ethnicity is, you voted like a bigot when you choose not who you knew was the best suited person but the person who was from your tribe, or allied to your tribe. There is no democracy in Kenya because the political parties have no ideologies and no system of inclusiveness and the legal system via its laws encourage extreme division by allowing coalitions.

You would have imagined that allowing coalitions would bring people together, right? But actually what the coalitions or alliances allowed was parties that were inherently ethnic and certainly not national to join forces with other ethnic parties and present a façade of being national in nature. In the past one year we have seen the very depths of hell displayed by some MPs hopping from political party to political party all in the hope of using that to engineer their return to power.

In 2007, 60% of the MPs voted into parliament were new i.e. they were not part of the previous parliament. By 2011, 100% of these MPs had passed legislations to allow themselves more perks, allowances, privileges and the chance to hop from party to party as they wished.

It’s already August 2013. The presidential campaign period is over. Barely one month after being sworn in MPs demanded that they receive the same pay as the previous parliament even though this was a new constitution and a new government and system in transition.  Majority of these MPs represent the Jubilee coalition and indeed Jubilee constitutes the current government even though at the moment of this uttermost betrayal, all MPs were united in their greed and perversion.

6 months after the elections, the Jubilee government has nothing to show in terms of actual results. They can’t sustain their campaign promises of free laptops or free maternity, or jobs for the youth. They are not interested in fulfilling promises, that much is clear. So instead of trying to pretend they are working, they try to distract the nation, by luring the media and telling us lecherous tales of bestial sex.

In all this, to add to the tactic of diverting attention, the Government Spokesman chooses to take what appears to be a personal and emotive stand against Raila Odinga to the next level. “Raila Odinga’s politics are arrogant, chest thumping, hateful and toxic.”

Toxic. We have a nation where 50% of the population did NOT vote for the president. In an exam if a child gets 50% that is a mere C. Why should a government with a C grade brag or abuse others? Where does the government spokesman get off insulting the opposition when he is NOT an elected official? How can a government representative address the whole nation in this manner?

Yet we are divided, we are not united. Even if we are all poor, half of us are smug bigots and the other half are silently resentful bigots. My country Kenya is a country in political conflict, and in many parts of the country this political conflict explodes in perennial violence.

Toxic. The propaganda and absolute drivel spewing out of Jubilee government is TOXIC, HATEFUL, CHEST THUMPING and ARROGANT.

I love my country. Very much so, I had to do something to switch of the flow of toxicity bursting out of the mouths of undeserving, childish and deviant people. To tell the country, I love you and I will stand up to these sewer rats. 

And so, that’s why I wrote the article.

Welcome to the Era of Digital Censorship in Kenya, but the REVOLUTION is still coming!

Update. A few minutes after posting this on WanjikuRevolution Kenya's Facebook timeline, the post was taken down by Facebook and the profile was blocked for 7 days. Welcome to the era of digital censorship in Kenya.

Am back on #FB after a 24hr block followed by another immediate 3 day block. This means the Kenyan government (my government) and it's operatives are actively reporting this profile as violating #Facebook Community Standards. The truth is a threat to the reincarnated KANU in form of #Jubilee Government.

KANU Status Quo in it's many incarnations has survived for 50 years by;

1) Keeping Wanjiku (Wanjikus, Achiengs, Kerubos, Jeptoos, Aminas, Bettys, Nekesas, Abdis, Mwangis, Tanuis, Odhiambos, Mutisyas, Kazungus, Lenanas, Wekesas, Mwacharos, Yussufs, na kadhalika) ignorant on how her government is meant to serve her, not rule her.
2) Keeping Wanjiku living hand to mouth thus too busy to keep government accountable.
3) Divide and Rule - Tell Wanjiku that Kikuyus are the problem, Luos are the problem, Kalenjins are the problem, Kambas are the problem, Raila is the problem, WRK is the problem, etc. As we fight each other, they loot our resources and consolidate their hold on power and our lives.

Wanjiku Revolution actively challenges the above three slave driving governance strategies. FEARLESSLY!

Freedom of Expression and conscience as guaranteed by our Constitution IS NOT DEBATABLE. The government has managed to intimidate senior editors at the Nation Media Group and The Standard Media group to silently publish only positive stories about it. The "Accept & Move On'' Doctrine. WE WILL NOT ACCEPT AND MOVE ON! A few brave souls like GADO have refused to be intimidated at the risk of loosing their jobs.

The war has now been brought online with the #Jubilee chief propagandist working officially from State House with a title to boot and being paid using our tax resources. Bloggers like Betty Njoroge now have the pleasure of having the Government Spokesman Muthui Kariuki call her parents to intimidate her and have her take down her blog.

Well, WE OWN SOCIAL MEDIA. WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED. WE WILL SPAWN 1000 accounts by Wanjikus, Achiengs, Kerubos, Jeptoos, Aminas, Bettys, Nekesas, Abdis, Mwangis, Tanuis, Odhiambos, Mutisyas, Kazungus, Lenanas, Wekesas, Mwacharos, Yussufs, na kadhalika. WaKenya wameamka. The revolution is coming, it's only a matter of time.

You can have Facebook shut down this account, but I already have 50 others. You can have Facebook shut down this account, even kill me, but you are acting too late. Wanjiku Revolution is now beyond one person, many others are pushing the same truth. You cannot kill us all, YOU CANNOT KILL THE TRUTH! Wanjiku revolution is a revolution of the mind...attitude change, asking questions, wanting things to be better. This is a mindset that has been embraced by majority of Kenyans both online and offline. You cannot shut us all down. We are a 'Small Axe''...We are organising...we will take you down. WE ARE COMING!

I Change, YOU Change, Together WE Change Kenya....for the better.

WRK

Kenyans Voted. To Midwife the Rebirth of Kenya's Institutions 50 Years After Independence, Let The Supreme Court Decide!

Kenyans brave long queues and heat to vote on March 4th 2013 general election. Photo credit: Edwin Kiama

I did not vote for either Uhuru Kenyatta nor Raila Odinga. I have been a harsh critic of both in the past, and I will continue to be if any of them goofs in the future.

It does not matter to me which one of them won or lost. I know for a fact that Jubilee Coalition had also prepared to petition the result similarly had Raila won. Jubilee lawyers were also on standby.

One major positive I have taken from this is that Kenyans did not loot, burn, rape, kill, maim or displace fellow Kenyans as was the case in 2007. The aggrieved instead have gone to court, the very reason we have courts...to arbitrate grievances. I must admit though that the relative fragile peace was as result of the unity of convenience between Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, and their respective ethnic communities before, during and after the elections. Though we are well aware the unity is out of necessity given the charges facing them at the ICC, it's something we can build on! The issues that caused 2007 PEV still remain, a number of Kenyans remain in IDP camps and there has been no credible effort to ensure justice for those affected. That said, we displayed some level maturity.

In the coming court process I see an opportunity for all KENYANS to win, not just Jubilee or CORD. All Kenyans, including those like me who Voted Musalia, PK, Dida, MK, JoK or Muite. It's not the time for one side or the other to gloat or mourn. It's time to put our democracy and new institutions through the test of fire.

Manual verification of voter ID during the March 4th 2013 Kenya general election. Photo credit: Edwin Kiama

We are presented with an opportunity to audit several things using our new Constitution; 

1. Procurement procedures in the Government of Kenya (BVR and other equipment)

2. The integrity of our electoral process (registration of voters, voter identification at the polling stations, tallying of results at the grass-roots and the national level, transmission of results, presentation of final tally to Kenyans).

3. The integrity of IEBC and IEBC staff.

4. The integrity of the Civil Service and security services (NIS, Police and eg. did the executive interfere through County commissioners?)

5. Integrity, fairness and freedom of press (was there a conspiracy of silence and mass conditioning all in the name of 'peace'?)

and finally...

6. The progress in reforming our Judiciary. How credible, judicious, independent and just will the Supreme Court ruling be, regardless of whom it favours? Or will it be agony for us all as in the past? Do we have an honest referee we can all depend on to settle even lesser disputes in our Judiciary? A referee that all 'Wanjikus' (common Kenyans) can depend on? Time to put that question to bed.

Dear compatriots, I say let's seize the opportunity for ALL Kenyans, for the sake of our past, present and future generations.

Let the courts inspire and midwife the rebirth of our nation this 50th year. Over to you Hon. Chief Justice Dr. Willie Mutunga and your team.

Kenyans of multiple ethnicities, races & creed voted in the March 4th 2013 election. Photo credit: Edwin Kiama 

God bless us all, God bless our nation Kenya.

KENYAN POLITICIANS' SELF INTEREST

Reason I will NEVER vote for Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, Uhuru Kenyatta or William Ruto.

According to the Waki Report, NSIS reported as early as 2006 that William Ruto and #ODM-K were planning Post Election Violence (PEV). Uhuru Kenyatta then was a member of the ODM-K leading lights. Did he know about the planned PEV by ODM?  Raila's and Ruto's SELF INTEREST.

Kibaki and his PNU side decided to sit on the said NSIS report. They hoped that they could take advantage on any PEV to hold on to power in case Kibaki lost the 2007 election. It happened as planned. Kibaki's and Mt' Kenya mafia SELF INTEREST.

In September 2007, 4 months to the General Election, Uhuru Kenyatta crossed over to the PNU side becoming the first Opposition Leader in the Commonwealth to cross over to the governing side months to an election. He of cause knew he would would lose the Gatundu seat by remaining in ODM. Uhuru's SELF INTEREST.

After the 2007 General Elections, PEV started. Kalonzo joined Kibaki and Uhuru on the PNU side after being promised the VP giving Kibaki's contested win some bargaining power. Kalonzo's SELF INTEREST.

It is alleged that Raila planned to go to Kisumu to quell the violence after PEV broke out; as he waited for his flight while working-out at the Hilton Hotel gym, the NSIS informed and convinced him with enough proof of a plot to down his plane over Rift Valley and blame it on PNU so that his then deputy could take over. They fell out even before the National Accord was signed. Ruto's SELF INTEREST.

As PEV unravelled, Kikuyu business people started mobilising resources to defend their siblings in the Rift Valley. They approached Kibaki for help. He declined. They approached Uhuru who saw an opportunity to finally pacify his tribesmen who till then treated him with contempt and considered him MOI's and KANU's orphan. He is alleged to have mobilised and financed the Mingiki against Ruto and co. Uhuru's SELF INTEREST.

Kriegler Report states that no one won the election and both sides massively rigged. So on February 28th 2008 we got a nusu mkate government including all the above instead of having a repeat election excluding all the above from vying. THEIR SELF INTEREST.

2010 Kibaki and Raila were on one side supporting the new Constitution, Moi and Ruto on the opposing side while Uhuru and Kalonzo were somewhere in the middle neither here nor there until the last minute when they realised Kenyans wanted it and joined the YES side. SELF INTEREST.

2013 Raila is with Kalonzo in CORD, Uhuru is with his 2008 protagonist Ruto in Jubilee. They are all promising to fix Kenyans' problems of the last 49 years including landlessness and make Kenya heavenly while IDPs from the PEV they engineered still languish in camps. None of them, apart from Ruto, has any meaningful legislative or development record in parliament or at the constituency level for all the time they have been in government. Raila, Kalonzo, Uhuru and Ruto all hate each other's guts, but are willing to put that aside temporarily to gain the they each feel ENTITLED to. That if anything should scare Kenyans! SELF INTEREST.

Ruto is the most brilliant and ruthless of all these politicians. I foresee Ruto stabbing Uhuru in the back the same way he stabbed Raila. I foresee Kalonzo doing the same to Raila who has humiliated him for the last 4 or so years. A leopard does not change it's spots. SELF INTEREST.

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." - Albert Einstein.

I have no desire to have people full of SELF INTEREST and ENTITLEMENT in charge of my life and government. They will tear Kenya apart. Kenya is bigger than these four!

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein















On March 4th after the euphoria and tribal vitriol has died down, each of us will make a decision that will affect our lives primarily and the nation at large. While at the voting booth, I urge all of us to make a decision based on our own SELF INTEREST namely OURSELVES, OUR FAMILIES and OUR NATION not OUR TRIBE or TRIBAL gods. Do not vote for any of the above. Let us send all of them and the mediocrity of the last 49 years to retirement on March 4th.

I Change, YOU Change, Together WE Change Kenya for the better!

If You Believe fBeautiful call to action by #CampMulla

You Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!

You Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!

Posted on January 18, 2012 | 151 Comments


So I got this in my email this morning…


By Field Ruwe 


They call the Third World the lazy man’s purview; the sluggishly slothful and languorous prefecture. In this realm people are sleepy, dreamy, torpid, lethargic, and therefore indigent—totally penniless, needy, destitute, poverty-stricken, disfavored, and impoverished. In this demesne, as they call it, there are hardly any discoveries, inventions, and innovations. Africa is the trailblazer. Some still call it “the dark continent” for the light that flickers under the tunnel is not that of hope, but an approaching train. And because countless keep waiting in the way of the train, millions die and many more remain decapitated by the day.

“It’s amazing how you all sit there and watch yourselves die,” the man next to me said. “Get up and do something about it.”

Brawny, fully bald-headed, with intense, steely eyes, he was as cold as they come. When I first discovered I was going to spend my New Year’s Eve next to him on a non-stop JetBlue flight from Los Angeles to Boston I was angst-ridden. I associate marble-shaven Caucasians with iconoclastic skin-heads, most of who are racist.

“My name is Walter,” he extended his hand as soon as I settled in my seat.

I told him mine with a precautious smile.

“Where are you from?” he asked.

“Zambia.”

“Zambia!” he exclaimed, “Kaunda’s country.”

“Yes,” I said, “Now Sata’s.”

“But of course,” he responded. “You just elected King Cobra as your president.”

My face lit up at the mention of Sata’s moniker. Walter smiled, and in those cold eyes I saw an amenable fellow, one of those American highbrows who shuttle between Africa and the U.S.

“I spent three years in Zambia in the 1980s,” he continued. “I wined and dined with Luke Mwananshiku, Willa Mungomba, Dr. Siteke Mwale, and many other highly intelligent Zambians.” He lowered his voice. “I was part of the IMF group that came to rip you guys off.” He smirked. “Your government put me in a million dollar mansion overlooking a shanty called Kalingalinga. From my patio I saw it all—the rich and the poor, the ailing, the dead, and the healthy.”

“Are you still with the IMF?” I asked.

“I have since moved to yet another group with similar intentions. In the next few months my colleagues and I will be in Lusaka to hypnotize the cobra. I work for the broker that has acquired a chunk of your debt. Your government owes not the World Bank, but us millions of dollars. We’ll be in Lusaka to offer your president a couple of millions and fly back with a check twenty times greater.”

“No, you won’t,” I said. “King Cobra is incorruptible. He is …”

He was laughing. “Says who? Give me an African president, just one, who has not fallen for the carrot and stick.”

Quett Masire’s name popped up.

“Oh, him, well, we never got to him because he turned down the IMF and the World Bank. It was perhaps the smartest thing for him to do.”

At midnight we were airborne. The captain wished us a happy 2012 and urged us to watch the fireworks across Los Angeles.

“Isn’t that beautiful,” Walter said looking down.From my middle seat, I took a glance and nodded admirably.

“That’s white man’s country,” he said. “We came here on Mayflower and turned Indian land into a paradise and now the most powerful nation on earth. We discovered the bulb, and built this aircraft to fly us to pleasure resorts like Lake Zambia.”

I grinned. “There is no Lake Zambia.”

He curled his lips into a smug smile. “That’s what we call your country. You guys are as stagnant as the water in the lake. We come in with our large boats and fish your minerals and your wildlife and leave morsels—crumbs. That’s your staple food, crumbs. That corn-meal you eat, that’s crumbs, the small Tilapia fish you call Kapenta is crumbs. We the Bwanas (whites) take the cat fish. I am the Bwana and you are the Muntu. I get what I want and you get what you deserve, crumbs. That’s what lazy people get—Zambians, Africans, the entire Third World.”

The smile vanished from my face.

“I see you are getting pissed off,” Walter said and lowered his voice. “You are thinking this Bwana is a racist. That’s how most Zambians respond when I tell them the truth. They go ballistic. Okay. Let’s for a moment put our skin pigmentations, this black and white crap, aside. Tell me, my friend, what is the difference between you and me?”

“There’s no difference.”

“Absolutely none,” he exclaimed. “Scientists in the Human Genome Project have proved that. It took them thirteen years to determine the complete sequence of the three billion DNA subunits. After they

were all done it was clear that 99.9% nucleotide bases were exactly the same in you and me. We are the same people. All white, Asian, Latino, and black people on this aircraft are the same.”

I gladly nodded.

“And yet I feel superior,” he smiled fatalistically. “Every white person on this plane feels superior to a black person. The white guy who picks up garbage, the homeless white trash on drugs, feels superior to you no matter his status or education. I can pick up a nincompoop from the New York streets, clean him up, and take him to Lusaka and you all be crowding around him chanting muzungu, muzungu and yet he’s a riffraff. Tell me why my angry friend.”

For a moment I was wordless.

“Please don’t blame it on slavery like the African Americans do, or colonialism, or some psychological impact or some kind of stigmatization. And don’t give me the brainwash poppycock. Give me a better answer.”

I was thinking.

He continued. “Excuse what I am about to say. Please do not take offense.”

I felt a slap of blood rush to my head and prepared for the worst.

“You my friend flying with me and all your kind are lazy,” he said. “When you rest your head on the pillow you don’t dream big. You and other so-called African intellectuals are damn lazy, each one of you. It is you, and not those poor starving people, who is the reason Africa is in such a deplorable state.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say,” I protested.

He was implacable. “Oh yes it is and I will say it again, you are lazy. Poor and uneducated Africans are the most hardworking people on earth. I saw them in the Lusaka markets and on the street selling merchandise. I saw them in villages toiling away. I saw women on Kafue Road crushing stones for sell and I wept. I said to myself where are the Zambian intellectuals? Are the Zambian engineers so imperceptive they cannot invent a simple stone crusher, or a simple water filter to purify well water for those poor villagers? Are you telling me that after thirty-seven years of independence your university school of engineering has not produced a scientist or an engineer who can make simple small machines for mass use? What is the school there for?”

I held my breath.

“Do you know where I found your intellectuals? They were in bars quaffing. They were at the Lusaka Golf Club, Lusaka Central Club, Lusaka Playhouse, and Lusaka Flying Club. I saw with my own eyes a bunch of alcoholic graduates. Zambian intellectuals work from eight to five and spend the evening drinking. We don’t. We reserve the evening for brainstorming.”

He looked me in the eye.

“And you flying to Boston and all of you Zambians in the Diaspora are just as lazy and apathetic to your country. You don’t care about your country and yet your very own parents, brothers and sisters are in Mtendere, Chawama, and in villages, all of them living in squalor. Many have died or are dying of neglect by you. They are dying of AIDS because you cannot come up with your own cure. You are here calling yourselves graduates, researchers and scientists and are fast at articulating your credentials once asked—oh, I have a PhD in this and that—PhD my foot!”

I was deflated.

“Wake up you all!” he exclaimed, attracting the attention of nearby passengers. “You should be busy lifting ideas, formulae, recipes, and diagrams from American manufacturing factories and sending them to your own factories. All those research findings and dissertation papers you compile should be your country’s treasure. Why do you think the Asians are a force to reckon with? They stole our ideas and turned them into their own. Look at Japan, China, India, just look at them.”

He paused. “The Bwana has spoken,” he said and grinned. “As long as you are dependent on my plane, I shall feel superior and you my friend shall remain inferior, how about that? The Chinese, Japanese, Indians, even Latinos are a notch better. You Africans are at the bottom of the totem pole.”

He tempered his voice. “Get over this white skin syndrome and begin to feel confident. Become innovative and make your own stuff for god’s sake.”At 8 a.m. the plane touched down at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Walter reached for my hand.

“I know I was too strong, but I don’t give it a damn. I have been to Zambia and have seen too much poverty.” He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something. “Here, read this. It was written by a friend.”He had written only the title: “Lords of Poverty.”

Thunderstruck, I had a sinking feeling. I watched Walter walk through the airport doors to a waiting car. He had left a huge dust devil twirling in my mind, stirring up sad memories of home. I could see Zambia’s literati—the cognoscente, intelligentsia, academics, highbrows, and scholars in the places he had mentioned guzzling and talking irrelevancies. I remembered some who have since passed—how they got the highest grades in mathematics and the sciences and attained the highest education on the planet. They had been to Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), only to leave us with not a single invention or discovery. I knew some by name and drunk with them at the Lusaka Playhouse and Central Sports.

Walter is right. It is true that since independence we have failed to nurture creativity and collective orientations. We as a nation lack a workhorse mentality and behave like 13 million civil servants dependent on a government pay cheque. We believe that development is generated 8-to-5 behind a desk wearing a tie with our degrees hanging on the wall. Such a working environment does not offer the opportunity for fellowship, the excitement of competition, and the spectacle of innovative rituals.

But the intelligentsia is not solely, or even mainly, to blame. The larger failure is due to political circumstances over which they have had little control. The past governments failed to create an environment of possibility that fosters camaraderie, rewards innovative ideas and encourages resilience. KK, Chiluba, Mwanawasa, and Banda embraced orthodox ideas and therefore failed to offer many opportunities for drawing outside the line.

I believe King Cobra’s reset has been cast in the same faculties as those of his predecessors. If today I told him that we can build our own car, he would throw me out.

“Naupena? Fuma apa.” (Are you mad? Get out of here)

Knowing well that King Cobra will not embody innovation at Walter’s level let’s begin to look for a technologically active-positive leader who can succeed him after a term or two. That way we can make our own stone crushers, water filters, water pumps, razor blades, and harvesters. Let’s dream big and make tractors, cars, and planes, or, like Walter said, forever remain inferior.

A fundamental transformation of our country from what is essentially non-innovative to a strategic superior African country requires a bold risk-taking educated leader with a triumphalist attitude and we have one in YOU. Don’t be highly strung and feel insulted by Walter. Take a moment and think about our country. Our journey from 1964 has been marked by tears. It has been an emotionally overwhelming experience. Each one of us has lost a loved one to poverty, hunger, and disease. The number of graves is catching up with the population. It’s time to change our political culture. It’s time for Zambian intellectuals to cultivate an active-positive progressive movement that will change our lives forever. Don’t be afraid or dispirited, rise to the challenge and salvage the remaining few of your beloved ones.

Field Ruwe is a US-based Zambian media practitioner and author. He is a PhD candidate with a B.A. in Mass Communication and Journalism, and an M.A. in History.