There have been complaints from some online quarters and utter disgust at what the anonymous Nation whistle blowers have done in exposing the alleged sex-for-promotions scandal in that well-known Kenyan company. Others have even gone as far as saying that it amounts to criminal blackmail.
Even more interesting are the suggestions by some that the aggrieved workers should have opted to seek legal redress in the courts instead.
There is no denying that this course of action is crude in many respects. Still it is very important that Kenyans understand the real reason behind this reaction from some quarters. This is because it illustrates perfectly what I will call the "big Kenyan divide." This is what I always think of as the huge, dark and widening hole that divides the two real "tribes" in Kenya today—most will call them classes.
On one side are the privileged financially comfortable Kenyans. These are the Kenyans whose first question is NEVER "how much will it cost?" Fascinatingly within this group are numerous naïve Kenyans who have hardly been exposed to the stark realities on the ground in their own country. They can never understand why youngsters will take to crime when there is so much opportunity in Kenya to make money legally (legally in their books includes giving bribes to get a huge tender from some NGO). To them people who sleep hungry and the have-nots in Kenya are just plain idiots. You will never convince them that the poor in Kenya are NOT fools.
On the other side of this rapidly widening chasm are the majority of Kenyans. Those who worry about everything (the truth is that many have given up and don't worry anymore). They worry about things as basic as where the next meal is going to come from. In contrast these are the people whose first anxious question is always; "how much will it cost." In this group you will also find those desperately trying to climb out of the bottomless pit called poverty and lack. Some will have been fortunate enough to have gotten a good job, but they will always worry about how long they will manage to keep it. These are the Kenyans who wake up at night sweating and with their hearts beating violently against their chest after a nightmare where the only thing that happened is that they lost their precious job.
My point is that you really need to be in this second group to know how limited the options really are in reality. Especially when somebody from the other class has aggrieved you.
I will give you a very simple example.
Somebody owes you money. So you do what many Kenyans have always done. You get some police contacts and bribe them to arrest the person and throw them into a police cell (where they will rub shoulders with Simon Matheri's countless reincarnations) until they can pay off your debt. And sure enough their relatives get together and raise the money, which by this time also includes the hefty bribe to the cops. So you easily get what is justice in your eyes. But woe unto you if the person who owes you money belongs to the other class? No cop is stupid enough to go and arrest somebody at Lavington and throw them into the police cells. That would be plain suicide. And incidentally the Lavington crowd is the group that is most notorious for not paying their bills. Poor people always make a huge effort to pay their bills, at least most of them.
Even if you find a cop stupid enough to accompany you to Lavington or Kileleshwa to arrest somebody over the 7,000 bob that they owe you, they are bound to hesitate because all cops know the law. And they also know that the first thing the well-heeled will always do in such cases is call their lawyer. The lawyer will ask for an arrest warrant, and the lawyer will also question the legality of just picking up somebody and throwing them into police cells and keeping them there for more than 48 hours without charging them. But if you insist on a charge, the one without a lawyer can always be charged with something like being in possession of bhang.
I have just proved that Kenyans are governed by two different sets of laws. There are laws for the Kubafus and then there are the laws for the well-heeled. But what is even more painful is the fact that most of those Kenyans living in those plush estates and whom cops do not want to mess around with, are actually criminals. Many of them are the ancestors of criminally corrupt Kenyans who made their money through corruption. Worse still some of these people are directly impossible for most of the poverty in the country today by fanning hyper inflation through Goldenberg-like or Anglo Leasing-like mega deals that put fortunes in their pockets but at the same time consigned millions of Kenyans to life-long poverty.
But I am getting carried away here. The point is that it is persons in this group who are really upset with the whistle blowers. It beats them why they did not go to court to seek legal redress. It hurts them that "the innocents" are involved. The innocents are the wives and the children of the alleged sex pests who end up reading the gory details of what their husbands and dads have been up to on the Internet. Conveniently they will NOT think of all the people who have been hurt losing their livelihoods because they were not in a position to drop their panties (some don't have them in the first place since they are men).
What the Nation whistle-blowers have done is crazy but what options did they really have? What the Mau Mau did in the 1950s was really crude, but what options did they have?
…Perhaps the Mau Mau should have simply filed a case in the high court seeking the return of their grabbed land from the colonialists. Maybe they didn't do it because they were not educated. They would have saved the country a lot of blood shed—Dedan Kimathi and company. Would they not have?
Urgent Personal Message To You From Kumekucha
Weekend special: Kenyan beauty complains to Kumekucha about her Kikuyu lovers.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI do believe the leak by the NMG employees was somewhat justified especially given that they even had the courtesy to forewarn the CEO and the alleged sex pests about the consequences of not meeting their demands. However, we cannot ignore the fact that there is a flip side to everything and the NMG case is not exempt.
Firstly, the editorial team employees should have only exposed the sex-for-promotions cases. The other cases of infidelity e.g. the affair btwn Wangethi and the Group HR seems more to me a personal attack on either of them. Also, i do not understand the clamour for a morally upright NMG staff. It is said that morality is not a prerequisite for business success, and consequently only cases whereby infidelity affects office performance should be frowned upon.
Furthermore, the notion that the payment of higher salaries for the senior management team of NMG is immoral is hogwash. Given the size of NMG, and the sort of responsibilities that the management team have, it is somewhat justifiable for them to earn btwn 500,000-1,000,000. The only anomaly detected from the NMG editorial staff sentiments is the amount correspondents earn.
The best way the NMG editorial staff would have approached the issue was to raise their concerns directly with H.H. The Aga Khan, after which further action would have been taken. However, i must concede that desperate times call for desperate measures.
The overall objective was justifiable- the means of achieving the objective could be argued either way. In conclusion, was there a better way of achieving their goals?
The Aga Khan Also has marital problems. Read what the Telegraph has written...
ReplyDeleteA very discreet divorce for the Aga Khan and his wife
The Aga Khan, one of the world's richest men, and his wife the Begum Aga Khan have filed for divorce.
The couple, who married in 1998 and have a four-year-old son, Prince Aly, have decided to end their marriage officially after being separated for 12 months.
Yesterday Begum Inaara, 44, a German citizen who was known as Princess Gabriele Zu Leiningen before the marriage, filed for divorce in London's High Court claiming the relationship had "irretrievably broken down".
Her spokesman, Lord Bell of Bell Pottinger, said: "The Begum considers the separation and divorce proceedings to be private matters and will be making no comment."
It is the second divorce for both parties. The Aga Khan, a British citizen and the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, divorced his first wife Sally Croker-Poole, a former English model, nine years ago. The billionaire is reputed to have paid a £20 million settlement to the mother of his three children.
His second wife, born Gabriele Homey in Frankfurt, was previously married to Prince Earl-Emich zu Leiningen. They were divorced in 1997.
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A year later she married the 67-year-old Aga Khan, at his estate, Aiglemont, north of Paris.
She converted to the Muslim religion, taking the name Inaara, and lives in Berkshire.
Lawyers for the Begum are said to be drawing up a list of who gets what.
It is unclear whether their son will be the subject of a custody battle.
As one of the world's leading racehorse owners and breeders, the Aga is often seen in winning enclosures of racecourses around the world.
It was customary for his wife to join him but she was notably absent from Royal Ascot and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, France's premier race. The Aga Khan was the owner of Shergar, the Derby-winning racehorse who was kidnapped from his Irish stud farm and never seen again.
As well as his 600 race horses, private jets and properties on five continents the Aga owns newspapers, an airline, hotels, factories and a fabulous collection of jewellery and antiques. A friend of the princess in Geneva told the German newspaper Bild: "She has lived apart from him for a year.
"Neither will discuss it - both place a high value on the utmost discretion."
The newspaper also speculates that the Aga Khan's views on women may have also contributed to the breakdown.
He is said to have told the Begum, a former consultant at Unesco in Paris, at the beginning of their marriage: "There's no discussion on this - I determine things, you obey."
A childhood friend of the Aga told the newspaper: "He has always been this way. At first he cannot take his hands away from his woman. No present is too expensive.
"But when he loses enthusiasm for his woman, his heart turns to ice.
"He has millions of followers all over the world and he is all over the world too, living a macho life, doing what he wants when he wants." The Aga Khan, known as K to his friends, was granted the style "His Royal Highness" by the Queen in 1957.
It is not known whether he signed a pre-nuptial agreement with his wife.
The Institute of Ismaili studies says there are 20 million Ismaili Muslims in the world.
The Aga Khan became Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims on July 11, 1957, aged 20, succeeding his grandfather.
He is the 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims and a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.
He was born on December 13, 1936, in Geneva. He spent his early childhood in Nairobi, Kenya and then attended Le Rosey School in Switzerland for nine years.
He graduated from Harvard University in 1959 with a degree in Islamic history. His personal wealth is estimated at £6 billion.
Only naiveity can justify the hot air raised by those opposed to the expose of sex scandal at NMG. The whistleblowers had no other recourse after exhausting all avenues. They ultimately reverted to their singular most valuable asset, pen and paper.
ReplyDeleteCliming the plastic moral high ground in asking them to seek legal redress is naivity at best and selfish at worst. As Chris aptly puts it once you belong to the privilaged class, you shameless mouth hollow high-sounding platitudes under the cover of civility oblivious of the pain to your victims.
The sex pests are exposed as a symptom of our rotten society. By exposing Wangethi-Mbugua affair, the whistleblowers are not being petty neither are they engaging in trivial personal matters. They are only practicing what they preach in the media - transparency. What is personal in a public figure breaking families with his untamed zip?
The nation saga is a true reflection of how deep down we have fallen to the dogs. It exemplifies the closed and selfish corporate world that we uncritically yearn to join.
The whistleblowers are not guity of anything but only taking Kenyan journalism a step further. Mark you we have no Suns and News of the World tabloid in Kenya and their blog fills that vacuum albeit with facts.
The NMG CEO must not behave like another Artur and expect to get away with it. Come on good people, lets practice what we preach and not only sample juicy politics. Probity and audit of public figures must be appreciated at all levels and nobody should be considered immuned to the shinning torch.
Let us avoid splitting hairs and raising red herring. Which ordinary journalism or mortal for that matter has access to Agha Khan? Why hide under impractical lofty procedures when the truth can be crudely served?
"Furthermore, the notion that the payment of higher salaries for the senior management team of NMG is immoral is hogwash. Given the size of NMG, and the sort of responsibilities that the management team have, it is somewhat justifiable for them to earn btwn 500,000-1,000,000. The only anomaly detected from the NMG editorial staff sentiments is the amount correspondents earn..."
ReplyDeleteIt is IMPOSSIBLE to objectively evaluate salaries. Thus your figure "500,000 - 1,000,000" is from thin air. There are senior executives in bigger companies who earn less, and in smaller companies who earn more. IN fact, that is one of the problems in Kenya: salaries are all over the place! I know people who have gone from 45K p.m. salaries to 400K; WHAT CHANGED ABOUT THEM? At the other end, there are graduates in some companies who get 20K, and in some factories, 20K is what casual workers on the shop floor take home BEFORE OVRTIME. THE WHOLE SALARY SITUATION IN KENYA IS A MESS.
Over time (a long time), things may stabilise. Through the "activism" we see in this e-mudslinging at NMG, resignations, brain-drain, we will eventually reach some stability (law of economics, demand and supply).
"...IN fact, that is one of the problems in Kenya: salaries are all over the place!..."
ReplyDeleteSo? What is the solution? The equivalent of 'price control'?
Having quoted the 'law of economics, supply and demand' I find it strange that you have a problem with salaries being all ovver the place. I see the paradox because anyone with such issues ought to be trumpeting the virtues of socialism... equality even where it does work!
"Firstly, the editorial team employees should have only exposed the sex-for-promotions cases..."
ReplyDeleteCan I agree any less??
I am a confessed gay-phobe (I would have serious issues with family and friends close to me being homosexual, but I will confess that there is really little I can do to change such a situation), but I though that the glee and energy with which two of NTV's employeer (Basset and Rashid) were named in the expose as gays, who now have a potential suitor in Linus was rather crass... For heaven's sake, what does it have to do with the matter at hand?
The authors of the article in my opinion lost the plot on that one... and a bit of my sympathy on what otherwise seems to a valid case - a fight against a sexocracy :-)
the expose was okay but i think it exposed to vamps in bad light the authors came off as sexists - why did they have to call out the women as sluts and claim the moral high ground at the same time if there was a sex for jobs scandal why victimize the victims again. anyway the whole thing is troubling on both sides
ReplyDeleteBefore I even read any of the comments made, I slightly disagree with your take Chris. I think the reason people are reacting as they are is because in every industry from media, to banking to even milk distribution there are major sex scandles. It's only in Media where people kiss & tell. People are reacting the way they are because they themselves are involved or have a friend who is involved in a sex scandle in the office. As I type this I can count how many affairs are being carried out in my office. The negative reactions are from those who can't bare to imagine their dirt being hung for all to see as have the NMG's been.
ReplyDelete"It is IMPOSSIBLE to objectively evaluate salaries. Thus your figure "500,000 - 1,000,000" is from thin air. There are senior executives in bigger companies who earn less, and in smaller companies who earn more...."
ReplyDeleteThe figures are based on the Steadman research done in 2004-2005 of the average salary scales.
Guys lets consider the whole thing as war.In war there are several casualties those directly involved and those indirectly involved.the later help one achieve what one intends.In the vietnam war how did vietnam beat US.Check on that and you will understand what I am talking about.By mentioning rashid and the other funny character they will transfer the preasure to the top and their families and friends will help them do that maybe they have boyfriends at the top who will cry for them.If you cant touch the big fish make his sourrounding smell like hell he is bound to give in at some point
ReplyDelete