/OpEd/comment/-/434750/434750/-/1h0hnv/-/index.html http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Elders+councils+will+perpetuate+gerontocracy++sexism/-/434750/1409448/-/jm6fqo/-/index.html The proposal to give traditional councils of elders in Kenya statutory authority to adjudicate over some matters is well intentioned but ill advised. Well intentioned because its object is to give people at the village level access to justice. It is ill advised because the principles and values of the new Constitution are opposed in many important ways to traditional socio-political philosophy. The former are a product of liberal democratic ideas while the latter is informed by patriarchy and gerontocracy. 2012-05-19T16:21:02Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/As+Kenyans+debate+a+budget+they+have+not+seen/-/434750/1409444/-/15bvv6/-/index.html Given the lack of estimates, however, on what can the public base its inputs? One place to look is the Budget Committee’s report.” 2012-05-19T16:20:29Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/-/434750/1409440/-/455r3cz/-/index.html I am not at all a believer in that Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus business, but there are times when I can understand how such a notion could become attractive. Zimbabwean politician Morgan Femai recently stated, and I quote: “What I propose is that the government should come up with a law that compels women to have their heads clean-shaven like what the Apostolic sects do;” and “They should also not bathe because that is what has caused all these problems.” He was talking about how to combat HIV infection in his country… by attacking women? 2012-05-19T16:19:37Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/To+Ugandans+waiting+for+Museveni+to+leave/-/434750/1409436/-/r5e5q7/-/index.html Soon after he came to power, he made it clear that Africa’s biggest problem was leaders who overstayed their welcome.” 2012-05-19T16:18:50Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/One+day+he+will+come+along++he+ll+be+big+and+strong/-/434750/1409432/-/r3mjpq/-/index.html Something is happening in Kampala society and Bukedde Television is helping bring it out. People are getting bolder in their search for life partners and both men and women go openly on television to make their pitch for a suitor. 2012-05-19T16:18:07Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/-/434750/1409430/-/455r48z/-/index.html When Jakaya Kikwete first came to power seven years ago, he did something that was considered cool at the time: He took all his ministers plus a handful of senior officials to a place called Ngutrdoto in Arusha for an “orientation” seminar, during which they were lectured on things like good governance, economic management, collective responsibility, ethical behaviour and security issues. 2012-05-19T16:16:29Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/-/434750/1409428/-/455r4vz/-/index.html Half a trillion cannot be accounted for in 2007-8; what the hell was it spent on?” 2012-05-19T16:15:32Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Want+to+eat+democracy+Vote+govt+out+on+a+regular+basis/-/434750/1409426/-/14wnub6/-/index.html The improvement in women’s status is likely to lead to a decline in food production.” 2012-05-19T16:14:44Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Rhodes+spectre+haunts+Europe/-/434750/1409416/-/noil0bz/-/index.html The body count of European governments being felled by the economic crisis continues to rise.  After the determined two-decade embrace of neo-liberal economic policies following the end of the Cold War, most Western countries find themselves directly or indirectly in debt to large private banks, and their economies at the mercy of massive speculative adventures by short-termist market speculators. Of the 27 members of the EU, seven are officially in recession while 10 of the rest —including some of their biggest economies — hover on the brink. 2012-05-19T16:10:57Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Hype+over+East+Africa+oil++gas+discoveries+requires+reality/-/434750/1404624/-/q49oq8z/-/index.html In the past 50 years, East Africa has never been completely off the radar screen of the international oil and gas industry, but apart from some small gas discoveries in Tanzania in the 1970s and ‘80s, exploration efforts in the region were unsuccessful until the discovery of commercial quantities of oil in Uganda in 2006. 2012-05-12T14:04:21Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/-/434750/1404610/-/45976xz/-/index.html On a visit to Kenya last week, the National Democratic Institute — a Washington based lobby group — pronounced Kenya not ready to hold a democratic and violence-free general election. This was not — as we often claim when criticised — yet another example of Western imperialism; the delegation included respected human-rights advocates such as Martin Luther King III and former Botswana president Quett Masire. 2012-05-12T13:29:50Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Mysterious+billions+for+grain+imports+turn+out+to+be/-/434750/1404608/-/ysol0yz/-/index.html Had the finance minister opted to explain “fiscal risks” clearly in Annex 10 itself, he might have avoided parliamentary and media misinterpretation.” 2012-05-12T13:28:52Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/-/434750/1404606/-/45977nz/-/index.html So, we have a new Cabinet. Congratulations to those who made it back, it is always nice not to get demoted, isn’t it? And good luck to the brand new appointees who are going to get blooded in the arena of the executive: may their skills and competence match their ambition and their promises. 2012-05-12T13:27:20Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/How+to+end+poverty+just+arrest+all+those+lazy+poor+people/-/434750/1404604/-/x3htryz/-/index.html At first it struck me as rather funny. Then I spent a few minutes reflecting on it. I decided it wasn’t so funny after all. According to a report in a local daily, Uganda’s Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Major-General Kahinda Otafiire, had finally lost his patience with poor people in his home district of Mitooma. “I have long held you with soft hands but this time I am changing tactics,” he told a group that had gathered to take part in Labour Day (May Day) celebrations. 2012-05-12T13:26:34Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Jambo+Jet+If+it+does+not+charge++100+Kampala+Nairobi/-/434750/1404602/-/3wrnit/-/index.html People who travel around the region recently had their hopes raised by the news that Kenya Airways was planning to establish a low-cost carrier to be called Jambo Jet. Not knowing the business dynamics of the air travel industry, we can only comment from a consumer’s point of view, and hope that our view also matters. 2012-05-12T13:25:50Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Now+Kikwete+has+sacked+his+naughty+ministers++will+he+prosecute/-/434750/1404600/-/m76egl/-/index.html Finally, last week, President Jakaya Kikwete fired a number of ministers who had been accused of either corruption or incompetence and appointed new ones in their place. In other circumstances, this action would have assumed dramatic proportions and given rise to excitement, but, in the event, it hardly raised eyebrows. Why? 2012-05-12T13:23:27Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Has+our+new+Constitution+already+failed+us/-/434750/1404598/-/9sbn9i/-/index.html It is now May. We have no indication from our two principals as to whether they intend to dissolve the Grand Coalition Government to hold elections this December. Or whether they intend to sit it out until, as per the old Constitution and transitional clauses of the new Constitution, elections are held by March 2013. 2012-05-12T13:22:21Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Oil+curses+work+in+mysterious+ways++just+ask+the+Nigerians/-/434750/1404596/-/deseh5/-/index.html Now that every deep hole in East Africa seems to yield oil or gas at the bottom, there is a growing smell of money in the air in the years ahead. 2012-05-12T13:21:38Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Stop+manipulating+and+bullying+the+EA+court+/-/434750/1404590/-/hvapauz/-/index.html The East African Legislative Assembly passed a resolution on April 26 calling on the ICC to transfer the cases of Kenya’s “Ocampo Four” 2012-05-12T13:18:27Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/I+envy+Zuma+his+many+wives++but+I+am+not+president/-/434750/1400160/-/35p59fz/-/index.html It has been official for some time: South African President Jacob Zuma has married his fourth wife. The wedding is his third in just over four years and the second since coming to power in 2009. He has fathered 21 children and counting, a robust performance by even the standards of polygamy. In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria a while back, Zuma defended his polygamous lifestyle, saying it was part of his culture, and there was no conflict between it and his presidential duties. Then sitting back in his chair, Zuma smiled broadly and assured Zakaria that he loved all his wives greatly and equally. 2012-05-05T13:48:10Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Are+Western+donors+more+interested+in+workshops+than+work/-/434750/1400158/-/6dl523/-/index.html The past few weeks have seen harsh attacks on Western donors in the Kenyan press, with writers extolling the virtues of the Chinese approach to aid. The basic argument seems to be the following: China cares about infrastructure and wants to invest in real development projects, no questions asked. The West is obsessed with good governance and only provides aid with lots of conditions attached. The conclusion is facile: China rules. 2012-05-05T13:46:51Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/May+Day+needs+a+makeover+in+the+new+millennium/-/434750/1400154/-/ohfje4z/-/index.html Like many of my contemporaries, I find it hard to say what feelings May Day inspires in the present day, from a heartfelt perspective. There is a point at which inherited traditions are carried out by rote, with a large dose of faking it. If you haven’t lived through particular times, embracing the ethos of the age in question becomes challenging. 2012-05-05T13:42:37Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Museveni+regime+suffering+multiple+personality+disorder/-/434750/1400152/-/4x455o/-/index.html With its five-tier local government system, Uganda has easily the largest number of elected officials in the region.” 2012-05-05T13:41:54Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/and+women+are+still+lured+into+sex+slavery/-/434750/1400148/-/8rxiwnz/-/index.html So, when are we going to get serious about the trafficking of girls from East Africa? Recent reports indicate that 600 young Ugandan ladies who were lured to Iraq with promises of jobs like working in supermarkets are now unaccounted for. And who is so naïve as to imagine that so many black women who cannot speak Arabic just merged into the crowd like they would in America? 2012-05-05T13:39:37Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Waiting+for+a+Bashir+style++fugitive+Kenyan+presidency/-/434750/1400146/-/rure8b/-/index.html Last week, the East African Community leapt into the Kenyan fray. 2012-05-05T13:38:37Z