/OpEd/-/434748/434748/-/9qmqgg/-/index.html http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/-/434748/1319986/-/6ipftd/-/index.html Fidel Castro on the USA’s republican Nomination Race: ‘the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance the world has ever seen’   America’s Republicans Are choosing who their man will be (No women have a chance this time Of winning any Primaries!)   Ron Paul, a Libertarian, Is standing for the umpteenth time; He thinks the State is far too large, That taxes are a sort of crime!   And Newt, the Roman Catholic, Believes Obama’s laws restrict The freedoms of ‘us Christian folk’, So has vowed to get them all revoked.   Santorum, an evangelist, Believes that evolution ain’t Appropriate for kids to learn: He’ll not evolve to President!   Mitt Romney is a square-chinned type With bags of cash and lots of hype; My guess is that he’ll get to run, But Obama’ll still be Number One! 2012-02-04T07:59:41Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/AU+defence+of+Bashir+et+al+has+sinister+echoes/-/434750/1319976/-/716rl9/-/index.html The African Union has just held its annual heads of state and government summit in Addis Ababa. No one, in good faith, can say that the AU has not come a long way since its transformation from the OAU, that prodigiously inept body. The AU has made progress on a number of key fronts: 2012-02-04T07:22:57Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/-/434750/1319974/-/4nltwpz/-/index.html A couple of weeks ago, Andrew Mwenda, one of Uganda’s liveliest political analysts, wrote a provocative piece in these pages about Uganda’s regime of bloated electricity subsidies. He documented a severe distortion in the Ugandan economy, and then attempted to explain the politics of this distortion. His political analysis deserves further reflection. 2012-02-04T07:21:55Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Doctors+strike++Pinda+loses+the+healing+touch/-/434750/1319970/-/mjlj7y/-/index.html Tanzanian medical staff have been striking for about a week now, a strike that everyone hopes will be resolved soon. There are a few professions, life-affirming vocations, that I don’t think should be interrupted by concerns with money. Healers of all stripes fall into that category. However, in this case, let us admit that as a society we simply haven’t given our public health system the respect it deserves, let alone our doctors. Strike they must, and their grievances are valid. 2012-02-04T07:18:58Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/-/434750/1319966/-/4nltxjz/-/index.html As the minister’s car drove on the wrong side of the road, the traffic constable stood stock still.” 2012-02-04T07:17:12Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Think+of+Bad+Black+and+her+ilk+as+Investment+Promotion+Centres/-/434750/1319962/-/15j58n8/-/index.html I am very angry with the German Embassy in Kampala. The local press said they recently denied a visa to a top mobiliser of foreign investment in Uganda. The reports indicate that the embassy officials did not even allow Ms Bad Black to fill out an application form for the visa. They reportedly just turned her away on learning who she was. 2012-02-04T07:15:58Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/The+third+judge+and+the+mafias+he+could+not+see/-/434750/1319958/-/vdhbnrz/-/index.html He held that the ‘Kalenjin warriors’ and Mungiki do not qualify to be called ‘organisations’.” 2012-02-04T07:14:29Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/MPs+need+money+from+taxpayers+to+bribe+voters/-/434750/1319952/-/b5lmks/-/index.html It’s bizarre to hear grown-ups make arguments like this. You do not have to be crazy to be mad” 2012-02-04T07:10:04Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Mwanza+shows+the+way+forward+for+small+EA+towns/-/434750/1319950/-/cbhteoz/-/index.html A group of towns have avoided the decay and chaos that marks most big urban areas.” 2012-02-04T07:09:16Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Kenya+elites+are+finally+running+scared/-/434750/1319946/-/42cibg/-/index.html The formal charging of three prominent Kenyan politicians, (and one hanger-on) with crimes against humanity presents Kenyans with possibly the first opportunity to witness an example of their leaders being held accountable for their actions, since Kenya became independent 50 years ago. 2012-02-04T07:04:47Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/editorial/Ocampo+Four+Kenyas+coalition+needs+to+hold+/-/434752/1315964/-/15n1lb4/-/index.html Kenyans are growing anxious over the prospect that the recent ruling by the International Criminal Court that put four Kenyans on trial could create bad blood between the partners in the Grand Coalition government and lead to its early collapse. 2012-01-29T12:24:26Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/letters/Where+was+Kenyan+media+when+Orinda+Ndege+vanished/-/434756/1315962/-/g1pxrt/-/index.html BENARD ORINDA Ndege is the Kenyan man whose entire family was burnt alive in their home in Naivasha during the post-election violence of 2007/08. 2012-01-29T12:21:07Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/Confirmation/-/434748/1315960/-/w9xa5fz/-/index.html Uhuru, Sang and Ruto And Ambassador Muthaura Are going to be tried By Justice Ten-pavlovas.   But General Ali and Kosgey Will not be brought to book: Neither was thought to be culpable, So both are off the hook.   That these two won’t be tried Is reasonably fine with me, For he’s safely lodged in the Post Office, Major General Ali;   And Mr Henry Kosgey At least showed some respect For the ICC’s International Law And kept himself in check.   The other four now will be tried And will go head-to-head with the Law, Something Kenya’s ‘elite’ politicians Have rarely experienced before.   Our new Constitution demands We respect the Rome Statute in full; But most, that we all respect PEACE And the lives and the welfare of all. 2012-01-29T12:19:07Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/lastword/Camerons+Big+Society+will+have+roomier+parking+spaces+/-/434754/1315958/-/r1fw47z/-/index.html Women are supposedly terrible at flush parking, but apparently the skill to reverse a car into a tight spot can elude even the British prime minister. 2012-01-29T12:15:40Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Media+cried+ICC+havoc+but+Kenyans+didnt+buy+it+/-/434750/1315956/-/34fsr4/-/index.html When, during the presidency of Bill Clinton, the Republicans took over both houses of Congress, the American media, including normally sober publications like Time magazine, were gripped by an intemperate verbiage. 2012-01-29T12:10:09Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Hearings+drown+participants+in+deluge+of+data+/-/434750/1315954/-/t27sgfz/-/index.html Government agencies in Kenya are fond of reminding us that public participation is a cardinal virtue of the new Constitution. And indeed, participatory spaces (of varying quality) are multiplying. 2012-01-29T12:07:49Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/+So+what+is+poor+Uganda+to+do/-/434750/1315950/-/14s5j2lz/-/index.html It is not easy to sympathise with a regime that has been in power for 26 years, but I really feel for the Uganda government in its heads-I-win-tails-you-lose situation. 2012-01-29T11:59:08Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Uhuru+and+Ruto+must+not+run+for+the+presidency+/-/434750/1315946/-/e75lgpz/-/index.html Not-so-clever words by Attorney General Githu Muigai notwithstanding, Kenya’s Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta the Head of the Civil Service Francis Muthaura have been forced to vacate office, pending determination of their cases by the International Criminal Court, now that it has confirmed charges against them. 2012-01-29T11:54:29Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/As+Museveni+and+Kagame+tango/-/434750/1315944/-/118p18m/-/index.html On January 26, the government of Uganda celebrated President Museveni’s 26 years in power. 2012-01-29T11:54:01Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Hero+of+Tanzania+s+50+years+of+freedom+/-/434750/1315942/-/eaku4s/-/index.html The starting gun went off and the beanpole sprang forward, took the leading position and kept it, staying there all the way down to the wire. 2012-01-29T11:50:34Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Im+900+today+but+do+I+miss+the+good+old+days/-/434750/1315940/-/11mmmhg/-/index.html This is the 900th edition of The EastAfrican. It is also my 900th column. I have written 900 columns, although only 899 got published on time. There was one I filed from a freshly reunified Germany in 1996. 2012-01-29T11:44:09Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Brick+walls+textbooks+do+not+a+classroom+make+/-/434750/1315936/-/9lgc51/-/index.html The aftermath of the Standard VII results are worth revisiting: Close to 10,000 examination candidates have had their results cancelled. 2012-01-29T11:36:20Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/AU+must+pressure+Sudan+to+allow+food+into+Kordofan+Blue+Nile+/-/434750/1315922/-/wm9rf7/-/index.html On Sunday, heads of state from across the continent convene for the annual African Union Summit in Addis Ababa. Africa’s most pressing concerns will be discussed this week, but one looming crisis is missing from the agenda. 2012-01-29T11:31:43Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/editorial/Karuma+dam+Is+it+wise+to+lock+out+donors/-/434752/1311930/-/1icisp/-/index.html Uganda is locked in a standoff with its erstwhile donors over the logical design and development framework for the proposed Karuma hydropower station. 2012-01-22T12:29:33Z http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/letters/Does+Africa+need+another+Obama+term++Yes+for+freedom/-/434756/1311928/-/4pmx8f/-/index.html January 20 was the third inauguration anniversary of Barack Obama, the first African American president of the US. President Obama was inaugurated on the January 20, 2009. He is seeking re- election this November. 2012-01-22T12:25:13Z