The big shock recently was the announcement by Nobel peace prizewinner Wangari Maathai that she was supporting President Kibaki's re-election bid. This announcement must have sent shock waves beyond the country and to some of her staunchest supporters on the International stage.
Why would a respected International figure of her stature who has done Africa proud declare her support for an aging, ailing president? What caused her to change her mind from her wise stand of remaining neutral (even when it infuriated the president and his handlers?)
It is an open secret that on a personal level Ms Maathai and the President who hail from neighboring constituencies in Nyeri, have never been the best of friends. There are those who say that the President cannot stand her and that is probably why she is still not in the cabinet when hecklers like David Mwenje and Maina Kamanda are full cabinet Ministers. It does not take a rocket scientist to envisison the kind of impact this amazing womn would have as our minister in charge of the environment. As it is the best she ever managed was an assistant minister and in Kenya's system that is mainly cosmetic and even office boys at a ministry can get much more done than the assistant minister.
Ms Maathai's sudden change of heart is one of the puzzles that is at the very top of the list of mysteries this blogger is currently investigating.
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Regular violent wife rape by a dutiful husband.
As a Nobel Laureate for PEACE, and the first African woman recipient at that, Professor Maathai made us Kenyans very proud indeed.
ReplyDeleteHowever, am disappointed with her indifference to developments in Kenya and the region concerning issues of governance, human rights, corruption.
Whereas she has been on the forefront on tackling environmental issues; as a Nobel Peace Laureate, it is unfortunate she has failed to confront other pressing issues that impact negatively to human kind. The Nobel Price gives her more clout than most (if not all) African presidents. I wonder why she continues to run for parliamentary seats or wait for assistant ministerial appointment when in fact she is far much above such posts. The Peace Price can also be used very effectively to raise funds, create awareness and even boost tourism. She has not done any of these and we hardly hear about her lately, other than when she is escorting a dignitary to plant a tree at freedom corner.
More recently, she was openly snubbed by the president at UNON during the UNEP conference when she forcefully had to shake the hand of Koffi Annan since she wasnt featuring anywhere on the official programme. This is an embarassment to us and a big failure on her part (or her protocol handlers if she has any).
In the local political scene, her declaration that she will support Kibaki is another blunder. I assume that the NARC-K wave in Central Province, and more so in Nyeri District was just too strong for her.
Her conduct and (lack of) activity as Nobel Peace Laureate has been disappointing. It certainly jeopadizes and limits chances for future nominees from this region, especially women to be considered for the worlds best known award.
How sad.
This is an award that has been won even by questionable characters. However that does not belittle it in anyway. She is the most important african right now after Mandela,Tutu and a couple of other guys. I must add however that i support mr. Anonymous that it beats every logic for her to continue to seek small political seats. From the moment she was appointed, the Kenyan president had a duty to make her either chief minister or some special kenyan ambassador. However since it did not happen I supppose she should have appointed herself one and relinguish the Tetu seat to less nopble persons. Maathai is too big for the kenyan parliament.
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