Comment

End black imperialism, bring back the white men in blue suits

Bookmark Print Email
Email this article to a friend

Submit Cancel
Rating

 

By CHARLES ONYANGO-OBBO  (email the author)
Send Cancel
Posted Monday, November 9 2009 at 00:00

Looking around East Africa, indeed Africa, you can see the diplomatic space has become quite black.

A few weeks ago, Nairobi was turned upside down with the MTV Africa Awards because two international music stars, Wyclef Jean and Akon, were in the house.

Last week, again things were heady.

World 100 and 200 metres champion Usain Bolt, and former British 110m hurdles star Colin Jackson were up and about on a conservation crusade.

A stir of a different type had also happened in Kenya a little earlier; US Under-Secretary for African Affairs Johnnie Carson was in Nairobi doing the now standard American finger-wagging at anti-reformist Kenyan leaders, and announcing that some had been banned from travelling to America.

Americans seem addicted to finger-wagging.

Following Kenya’s post-election violence last year, the Americans jumped into the fray to end the mayhem.

Then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew in, and wagged her finger all over the place. Carson’s predecessor, Jendayi Fraser, a very stern woman, also came and wagged a vigorous finger at Kenya’s chiefs.

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan led the Eminent Persons team that resolved the dispute.

The other prominent members of the team were former Tanzania president Ben Mkapa, and Graca Machel, good old Nelson Mandela’s wife.

A few years ago, there was a big story in Kenya when the World Bank representative Makhtar Diop held a party that his neighbour, First Lady Lucy Kibaki, deemed to be too noisy.

She went and put a stop to it. His successor was Colin Bruce, a man who also was frequently in the news —once, he even attempted a citizen’s arrest of a corrupt traffic policeman who tried to shake him down for a bribe.

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has just left Kenya.

He arrived, so to speak, with arrest warrants in his suitcase for the perpetrators of the post-election violence.

What do all these people have in common? They are black.

1 | 2 Next Page »

Add a comment (3 comments so far)

  1. Submitted by miwanyu
    Posted November 22, 2009 07:17 AM

    I dont think it matters whether or not its by race. Now the whole game is dominated by stance of class and ideology. Of course the people you quoted may be minority but I dont think it diminishes the fact that they are western based. The issue here is we should remove these leaders who only serve themselves.

  2. Submitted by olegaita66
    Posted November 21, 2009 02:48 AM

    Onyango-Obbo,with all due respect,more often than not am always trying to make sense out of your articles but I always have trouble doing that.Whats the point my friend here?

  3. Submitted by mczario
    Posted November 13, 2009 12:12 AM

    US Secretary of state is Hillary Clinton former is Condoleeza Rice. Moreno Ocampo is Argentinian.

Factories turn away dairy farmers

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki walks outside the Nairobi High Court on February 6, 2010. Photo/WILLIAM OERI

PICTURES: Thabo Mbeki in Nairobi

UNITED STATES, San Francisco : Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs announces the new iPad as he speaks during an Apple Special Event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts January 27, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Apple introduced its latest creation, the iPad, a mobile tablet browsing device that is a cross between the iPhone and a MacBook laptop. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP

PICTURES: New Apple iPad

Kenyans await a new constitution as MPs retreat in Naivasha for consensus talks called by the Parliamentary Select Committee. Cartoon/GADO

CARTOONS: Road to new constitution