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Friday, June 18, 2010

Voting - The Modern Opium of the People

By Mwarang'ethe

In a by gone age, Karl Marx, observed that, "religion is the opium of the people." This quote, taken out of the whole quotation in which Karl Marx expressed it, gives misleading impression of what he wanted to express. The whole quotation reads:
"Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions."
Taken in full, what Karl Marx was saying is this. Religion's purpose was/is to create illusionary fantasies for the poor. Since economic realities prevent them from finding happiness in the present life, religion told them not to worry because they will after all find happiness in the afterlife. In other words, the world had become heartless and the masses were/are in distress, religion provided/provides solace as people may get relieve from physical pain from opiate based drugs.

Today, the divine rulers have concocted new opium for the masses. It is the VOTERS CARD. Anytime you read comments on this blog or any mainstream media all over the world, there is always the protest view that, "these leaders of ours need to be wiped out like the plague in this coming elections." (See comments in response to "Those behind the Uhuru Park bombing" by Chris.) In other words, in a heartless world, the voting card has become the solace. To the masses, the voting card, allows them the luxury to bear with untold corruption, inefficiency, oppression and the destruction of private wealth of any government as they wait for another ritual to vote another "new and better government" that they fervently believe will work for them. What a delusion! In simple words, the voting card is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world. It is now the opium of the masses.

In another age, calling on Americans to fight for liberty, in a speech entitled: "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death," Patrick Henry told Americans this. "... it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the numbers of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it." In another age, Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 43 BCE) expressed the view that, "Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum." Translated: "To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child." Let us now review the history of voting so that we do not remain children.

In a recent election in the UK, the masses in their wisdom or lack of it put Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in power to "right the wrongs of Labour Party." Immediately and unnoticed to even some of the best analysts around the world, the new Chancellor George Osborne announced the creation of an "independent" Office for Budget Responsibility. Its job will be to forecast which will create a "rod for my back down the line and for future chancellors. That's the whole point." See the announcement here: . Simply, as they outsourced monetary policies (Labour) to unelected and unaccountable mandarins in the central banks which are answerable to the gods of money and which create booms and busts to harvest wealth of the poor, they have now outsourced budget/fiscal responsibility (Lib con Dems). Now, both the monetary and fiscal matters, the most critical matters of a nation are now in the hands of "experts" no matter what the voting masses may think in the future. If the fiscal and monetary policies will be under "experts" what will the masses be voting for? More so, is this what the voters really wanted? Watch this pace because this office will also be introduced in Kenya soon. We leave that matter for you to ponder and watch.

Sometimes in India, the Left led by the Congress party, won the elections, leading to a coalition government with the Congress party and the Communist party. This caused the stock market to crash because investors feared a change in economic policy that would hurt their profits. Sonia Ghandi, who was originally going to be the next Prime Minister, chose not to take the position and the new government was forced to adopt policies virtually identical to the previous government. Their rhetoric was/is different, but policy was/is basically the same. So, what is the point of elections then? Check also with Swedish elections of the early 1990's and the bond market reaction.

In the USA, since 1971, they have voted Nixon (Rep), Carter (Dem), Reagan (Rep), Bush I (Rep), Clinton (Dem), Bush II (Rep) and now Obama (Dem). All this time, the REAL WAGES of the real workers have stagnated such that, by 2010 real wages are the same as were in 1971. At the same time, the national debt has now reached the USA GDP, $ 13 trillion under Obama. If these are the facts, why has the fate of the American workers gotten worse with all these elections? As for Bill Clinton, he won the election on a mildly liberal reformist platform. Once in office he was forced to abandon his campaign promises because if he continued them the bond market wouldn’t react well and the economy would go down the tubes. Clinton’s famous statement to his advisers upon realizing this was, "You mean to tell me that the success of my program and my re-election hinges on the Federal Reserve and a bunch of fucking bond traders?" He was thus forced to abandon his program before it even started, instead implementing one virtually identical to Republican proposals.

The politicians the masses keep on electing have no powers. For instance, when New Zealand intelligence began secretly participating in Echelon, an international electronic spying system, the New Zealand’s Prime Minister didn’t even know about it. In America, most of the CIA’s covert actions (including coups) were done without Congressional approval and some, like the CIA's participation in Ghana’s 1966 coup, didn’t even have Presidential approval. Entire wars have been fought in secret, including Russia 1918-1920, Laos 1965-1973 and Cambodia 1970-1975. When Congress cut off funding for the Contras (US-backed terrorists in Nicaragua) in the mid-80s the CIA (and other parts of the state bureaucracy) just kept doing it in secret, disregarding Congress’s wishes.

Bush II said he wouldn’t engage in “nation-building” (taking other countries over) during the 2000 election campaign but he did it several times. He also claimed to support a balanced budget, but obviously abandoned that. Clinton advocated universal health care during the 1992 election campaign but there were more people without health insurance when he left office than when he took office. Bush I said, “read my lips - no new taxes!” while running for office but raised taxes anyway. Reagan promised to shrink government but he drastically expanded the military-industrial complex and ran up huge deficits. Rather than shrinking government, he reoriented it to make it more favourable to the rich.

Carter promised to make human rights the “soul of our foreign policy” but funded genocide in East Timor and backed brutal dictators in Argentina, South Korea, Chile, Brazil, Indonesia and elsewhere. During the 1964 elections leftists were encouraged by Democrats to vote for Johnson because Goldwater, his Republican opponent, was a fanatical warmonger who would escalate US involvement in Vietnam. Johnson won, and immediately proceeded to escalate US involvement in Vietnam. FDR promised to maintain a balanced budget and restrain government spending but did the exact opposite. Wilson won re-election in 1916 on the slogan “he kept us out of war” but then lied Americans into World War One. Hoover pledged to abolish poverty in 1928 but instead saw it skyrocket. Obama pledged to end Bush II's wars. Instead, he escalated the war in Afghanistan.

In the 1974 Canadian elections the Liberals criticized Tory plans to introduce wage and price controls but, shortly after winning office, implemented wage and price controls. In 1993 the Liberals promised to abolish the Goods and Service Tax but reneged on that after getting power. The British Liberal party promised to cut military spending during the 1906 elections but, after winning, went back on that promise in order to wage an arms race with Germany. In 1945 the British Labour party promised to set up a ministry of housing but abandoned it after winning the election.

According to the official version when leftists get elected to office we should always (or almost always) get leftist policies and vice versa when rightists get elected to office but this is not the case. The German Green party was originally pacifist and was founded on an anti-nuclear power position. They gained power in a coalition government in the late 1990s but abandoned their program, effectively delaying the end of nuclear power in Germany until the nuclear industry wanted to end it and supported military intervention during the Kosovo war. Lula, the current president of Brazil, originally ran on an anti-corporate and anti-IMF platform but is now cooperating with the IMF (although his rhetoric, but not his policies, are sometimes critical of it) and he’s just as favourable towards corporate power as his predecessor.

The socialist/social democratic/labour parties in Europe were originally revolutionary Marxist parties aiming to establish a communist society. As they won elections and gained power they increasingly abandoned this goal and became ordinary monopoly capitalist parties. At first they continued to mouth Marxist rhetoric while pushing reformist policies, but eventually even Marxist rhetoric was abandoned. Prior to world war one they declared their opposition to any kind of inter-imperialist world war on the grounds that workers should not kill each other in order to benefit their capitalist masters. When world war one broke out all but two parties (the Bolsheviks and US Socialist party – neither of whom had gained much power through elections) abandoned this stance and supported their own government in a wave of patriotic fervour.

Today they’re pushing through Reagan/Clinton-style deregulation and “free market reforms,” dismantling the very welfare states they formerly advocated. Just watch Papandreou of Greece and Socrates of Portugal, as well as Zapatero of Spain, who call themselves socialists, acting as abject puppets of the financiers. In Spain, the parliament just approved a draconian austerity program by a single vote, offering the lunatic spectacle of a country already mired deeply in economic depression, with an official unemployment rate of 20%, embracing its own self-cannibalization with a deflationary austerity program in the vain effort to regain the confidence of international financial markets and investors. What markets when they are dealing with oligopolies and cartels? They are dealing with ruthless speculators, and not with investors. Do voters have a say in all this? No.

In the US & UK Ronald Reagan & Margaret Thatcher implemented far right policies that attacked the social safety net and benefited big business in the name of the “free market.” During the same time period in Australia and West Europe the supposedly left-wing parties (labour/social democrats/socialists) held power and implemented the same “free market” policies. Clinton & Blair from the supposedly left-wing parties (Democrat & Labour) later defeated Reagan & Thatcher’s successors but once in office continued the same “free market” policies as their predecessors. Obama was elected promising to behave differently from Bush II. However, in the first single year of his office, he has killed more civilians with drones than Bush II did in 8 years. Why?

So, if this is the experience why do we hear the nonsense by the intellectuals that, "your vote makes a difference" if the politicians we elect are only supposed to implement the same policies the elite want even if it conflicts with their campaign promises? Simply, electing people to power is not the effective way to change policy. Politicians break their promises because of the way the system is set up. To hide this truth, the masses are encouraged to vote to give an illusion of ordinary citizen’s control of the state by voting for candidates in elections. The President and other politicians are supposedly servants of “the people” and the government an instrument of the general populace. What a myth!

It matters not who is elected because the system is set up such that, all elected leaders must do what big business and the state bureaucracy want and not what the masses want. Because politicians are just figureheads, they may change their rhetoric, but, all have to implement same policies. Seen this way, elections are nothing but a scam to create an illusion of ordinary people's control of the government and not the tiny elite. This helps to neutralise any resistance movements. As such, all voting only strengthens the state and the divine rulers and therefore, not an effective means to change government policy.

The two great vested interests and the real rulers are the bureaucracy and big business. However, behind these two bureaucracies lies the tiny, but, extremely powerful aristocracy. For the bureaucracy, the most powerful are the intelligence and the military. Elected leaders depend on these bureaucracies for information and may mislead leaders. For instance, in the late ‘50s the CIA secured approval to launch an uprising in Indonesia by feeding a series of increasingly alarmist reports to their superiors in the National Security Council, who otherwise might have shot the proposed uprising down.

This shows how government agencies (especially secretive ones) can pressure politicians and influence policy in preferred directions. This is enhanced by the fact that individual politicians come and go but the bureaucrats are permanent, which makes it easier for bureaucrats to manipulate information and ensures that politicians have less experience with such manipulation. Because the state bureaucracy is permanent while politicians are transitory state bureaucracies tend to accrue more power than elected representatives. State bureaucracies can also manipulate the political process by leaking damaging information about politicians they don’t like or by harassing parties or movements they don’t like (in the USA, we have seen COINTELPRO or the recent harassment of anti-war activists by the FBI). This gives an advantage to politicians favourable to the interests of the state bureaucracy.

As concerns the big business, if a party wins and starts to implement policies that are against the vested interests of the big business, the unearned profits go down and these investors withdraw their investments. Such capital flight is dreaded because it leads to economic crush as we saw in Asia in 1997. If the ruling party does not change its policies to suit the vested interests, then, it will surely loose the next elections because of bad economy. Thus, the elected leaders are forced to change policies to appease corporate elite/financial elite to avoid losing power. Where the elected leaders are faithful to the masses, such leaders are overthrown as we have seen in Chile, Iran, Guatemala, Brazil, Greece, Congo etc.

So, if this is the record, why do we hear that our votes count when they don't? Simple. Were the masses to see the truth and thereby, see that voting is pacifying opium, they would demand change to policies that subjugate them even without sham elections. To avoid such knowledge and subsequent demands while creating an illusion of change, the masses must be fed with the new opium, the voting card. This opium helps to release tension every 4/5 years so as to allow subjugation to go on as usual. In other words, a voting card is a means of establishing the structure of permanent delay to required structural, but, never discussed reforms i.e. one more election and things will be fine. No, they shall not.

23 comments:

  1. Mwarang'ethe,
    You are such a smart pundit. But again remember superb critics who never publish but lurk in the dark to tear apart others' work!

    And you know what? You can always read consiparacy theories on anything and selectively quote dead people to justify your take.

    Great piece though VERBOSE.

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  2. Please Prof Mwarang'ethe read YOUNG MANDELA by David James Smith and coin some beautiful theory along the likes of 1st wife Evelyn, mistresses Dolly, Amina, 2nd wife Winnie and 3rd Graca.

    Come on professor, you can't kosa theory prof, ama?

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  3. Mwarangethe,

    Thank you for yet another brilliant masterpiece. As you can see from the comments above, the minions who have been indoctrinated by their moronic politicians are trying to dilute your message since it attacks the very core of their beliefs.

    To be blunt, your message means Kumekucha's over 100 articles penned by Chris on the power of the voters card are all crap.

    I agree with you and its good we have a smart person in Kumekucha to tell the majority who never look at the big picture that we are being misused.

    Poor Phil, he posts such a good article, drops the first comment as anon and rushes back to Jukwaa to join his other stupid gang of raila fanatics. I think i now pity him.

    Poor lost soul!!!

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  4. And you know what? You can always read consiparacy theories on anything and selectively quote dead people to justify your take.

    xxx

    There are two ways history happens. Either by accident or via conpiracy.

    It is in the interest of the divine rulers to inculate in their stupid subjects an aversion to any "conspiracy theory of history." Why is this?

    You see, a search for "conspiracies" means a search for:

    (a) MOTIVES, and

    (b) an ATTRIBUTION of RESPONSIBILITY for historical misdeeds.

    To avoid such scrutiny, they brainwash us to think corruption, wars, poverty are caused by mysterious and unknown social forces, by imperfect state of the world or after all, we are all responsible.

    As long as the masses believe in this nonsense, they will never become indignant and rise up against misrule.

    Let us give you a present and on going conspiracy that has great signficance for the humanity.

    A few months ago, Herman Van Rompuy became the EU first president. Firstly, he was not elected by any European citizen.

    This guy has plans to introduce EU wide taxation. In other words, he wants to give unelected mandarins in Brussels taxation/wealth destruction taxes.

    The question is, did he tell any of the EU citizens of such diabolical plans? NO. Did he tell someone? Yes. He told the Bilderberg Group made up of top politicians, bankers and businessmen.

    It is because this secret group approved of his plans, or he has accepted to do their bidding, he became EU president. Is this not conspiracy Sir? And, what say do EU citizens have in all this Sir?

    Read the story here:

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6919380.ece

    But, more importantly, what makes this "necessary"? The ongoing EU financial crisis? Do you know there was a meeting a few months ago in New York by leading financiers to devised a plan to attack Greece's economy?

    Are you telling us that, these guys who have designed this economic warfare do not know where the matter will end?

    If the EU ciizens do not rise up against this conspiracy, the EU will end up with massive powers powers over fiscal matters of the EU nations. Is this not exactly what this guy told the secret group?

    Wake up from your slumber Sir.

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  5. makes alot of sense

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  6. Mwarang'ethe

    You have listed a lot of probabilities.

    What is your solution to fixing the problem?

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  7. Mwarang'ethe

    You have listed a lot of probabilities.

    What is your solution to fixing the problem?

    xxx

    Well, if you read some of the articles we have posted here as one continous document, you will start to get what must be done.

    Having said this, we can say that, this century promises to be a very difficult for humanity. Why so?

    Epictus taught us that, “Only the educated are free.” Now, if you read history, you will find something very interesting. It is this:

    The ancient Romans and Greeks had:

    (a) EDUCATION for the FREE, and

    (b) TRAINING for SLAVES and SERVANTS.

    Now, the bitter truth is this. Most of what goes for education in our present stupid and ugly civilization, is training to serve and slave. It is not to make students free. It is to make them good workers/slaves and good followers.

    The question is, are you educated or trained? We leave that to thee.

    Today, during the Ghana v Aus football game, there appeared a SA lady who is "running" an AIDS orphanage in SA. In that segment, she was talking very proudly about those "desperate" African kids and how they need help and such.

    Now, when you see Africans appearing on TV which is being watched by billions of people, to beg, you can see how training degrades people.

    The training to be slaves and workers is evident in people who teach kids to beg.

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  8. Great post. I am so happy that you finally clarified what Marx actually said and Clinton's comment on his government being controlled by the Federal Reserve and a bunch of bond traders is priceless. You are also right about New Zealand (I am an American who emigrated here in 2002 after some difficulties with the FBI). The good news is that organizing is easier here because New Zealanders are by nature quite skeptical - they know the mainstream media is trying to lull them into complacency and they resist it. I write about my own close encounter with the "shadow government" that is the real power in our so-called western democracies in my recent memoir THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY ACT: MEMOIR OF AN AMERICAN REFUGEE.

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  9. Self-induced therapy=laundering ideas and posting comments to further the same. Not harmful though.

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  10. Am still yawning from your last post. How about some good summary the time next time around? Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  11. Thank God Mwarangethe is here and Taabu has beek kicked out of Kumekucha.
    We now have mature articles that offer well thought solutions.
    Guys, encourage Chris and request his free book though its just full of rumours and unsubstantiated theories that will make entelligent people get bored in page 1.

    For rumour mongerers, its a good book to learn how to blow theories from the air, throw in witchcraft (chris is from Ukambani you know) and mention some names of who is who and vwala!!!!! a 'masterpiece'...te he he eeeeeee.

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  12. Mwarang'ethe,

    I must congratulate you for your very educative posts. You educate me every time I read your posts.

    Critics are good but I have noticed that most of your critics over here at kumekucha exhibit a very unEDUCATED KNEE-JERK reaction to what you post about that seems to be laced with a lot of ignorance or just plain hatred.

    These critics appear to be TRAINED to be SLAVES and SERVANTS of the STATUS QUO

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  13. I’ll agree with you but only to some extent particularly to Kenyan setting, which may be short term after which I'll agree with you completely.

    Voting doesn’t make a different only in countries where elitist system has taken root. Several countries have such elitist system. In Africa a good example is Nigeria where policy related to oil will never change as long as it doesn’t benefit the few elites controlling it, in spite of many villagers suffering because of the same policy and government leaders promises of hope to such villagers. South Africa has also its share of elitist system. The elitist system has also taken root in Democratic Republic of Congo that one should never expect peace soon as along as war favours the elites and enables them to continue smuggling more minerals from that country. In America and European countries the system has establishes itself completely. In China the same is taking root that Communism will be forgotten completely.

    In Kenya it hasn’t taken root apart from obvious areas such as land where Moi, Kibaki, Uhuru, Michuki, Raila, Nyachae, Catholic church, Biwott, Saitoti, Njenga Karume e.t.c belong to the same group so that they can influence parliament to the extend that it will render the provisions in the proposed constitution useless. But this doesn’t mean that they are in Yes, No, No, Yes group. On the contrary, most of them are playing politics of power to take over areas that are not in control at the moment. Also this doesn’t mean that the constitution is useless, but it’s a first step which can turn out well for us, but it’s us who will need to implement it and push for the passing by parliament of proper legislation supporting the clauses in constitution that will satisfy our wishes and hopes.

    Voting can make a big difference especially in countries where a dictator is replaced with a good leader; in countries where elite have not taken full control and established their systems. I still thank myself for participating in election that replaced Moi with Kibaki. I also thank myself for participating in 2007 election that slowed down the elite Mt Kenya mafia from setting the same system all over Kenya, though woe to us since they have now joined hands with Raila and this has blinded majority of us not to see what’s happening. Is this the reason the elites in the names of Moi and company are fearing their power and control of some areas is going to be taken? I don’t know but hope we will know with time.

    In summary all I’m arguing is that voting doesn’t make a difference only where such system are established, which fortunately isn’t the case at the moment in Kenya apart from few areas, one being land matters, but in future, which can even be 2012, voting will also be useless in Kenya as long as we don’t see the continuing establishment of these systems and stop them on time. The establishment of an elite system is also taking place in Uganda, and the presence of oil may make theirs worse.

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  14. Also this doesn’t mean that the constitution is useless, but it’s a first step which can turn out well for us, but it’s us who will need to implement it and push for the passing by parliament of proper legislation supporting the clauses in constitution that will satisfy our wishes and hopes.

    xxx

    Bwana Philip, firstly, we are yet to see your reply on the question we raised last week on where this "new constitution" falls.

    Secondly, and this is the deal. In most revolutions/agitations, men/women have focussed on the mal - administration by individuals who happen to be in power.

    This totally blinds agitators to the real issue which is the philosophy of the state itself.

    As such, you change men/women, but, the problems remain. Thus, it would be good if we refocus on the philosophy of state and not Moi's and Kibaki's.

    Today, the whole world including Kenya, is under the British Merchant -State system which replaced the Feudal State system.

    However, we know that, the Feudal State bequeathed the Merchant State System unchanged and unmodified its instruments of domination and subjugation.

    The "new constitution" is a continuation of this Merchant State system. Therefore, any subsidiary legislation you may dream of, will only entrench the system further.

    The task since the American revolution has been to dismantle this Merchant State System. However, even the Americans refused to listen to those who were well versed with history/philosophy and the theory of state and had the best interest of America.

    This brings us to what, the supporters of YES are saying, "oh, we know this document is not good, but, we shall amend it."

    For instance, Namwamba quoted Franklin Benjamin when he supported this draft in the Bunge. Well, we know enough history to see through such nonsense.

    For instance, in opposing the American Merchant State, Patrick Henry in denouncing people like Franklin, said this:

    "Does it not insult your judgment to tell you, Adopt first, and then amend?...Is your rage for novelty so great, that you are first to sign and seal, and then retract?...agree to bind yourself hand and foot - for the sake of what? of being unbound?...to go into a dungeon - for what? To get out? Is there no danger, when you go in, that the bolts of federal authority shall shut you in?"

    He added:

    "I look upon the Constitution as the most fatal plan that could be possibly be conceived to enslave a free people."

    Like Patrick Henry, who could forsee over 200 years later, we refuse to be insulted by the idea of going into prison so as to have the pleasure of coming out later. No, that is madness.

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  15. Kenya now a Police/security agents state!
    past few incidents-Grenade at uhuru park, Insertion of security words in draft and now this below confirms that It is not the coalition government in charge but the security forces in Kenya.

    What a display of IMPUNITY?

    The High Court on Monday set free a policeman accused of cold blooded shootings in Kisumu during post election chaos.

    The judge, Justice Fred Ochieng' said despite all other evidence having pointed to former police constable Edward Kirui having committed the crime, he was not linked to the weapon used to kill two demonstrators.

    It emerged that the police had submitted for ballistics tests a different firearm from the one that was used to shoot the two.

    While releasing Kirui, Justice Ochieng' wondered why, who and when the gun, used by the former officer, was changed.

    This was despite the fact that all the evidence pointed against Mr Kirui, said the judge.

    Justice Ochieng' said Kirui was positively identified by two witnesses and was skilfully captured in a video tape, while shooting at two demonstrators at Kisumu’s Kondele market on January 16, 2008.

    Mr Kirui, formerly attached to Kondele Police Station, had been accused of killing George William Onyango and Ishmael Chacha as they demonstrated over the outcome of the last General Election.

    Irreconcilable

    The former police officer, was lawyer was retired judge Johnson Mitey, maintained that he was issued with a rifle with serial number 23008378 but the killer bullet was fired from a rifle with serial number 3008378.

    In the judgment, Justice Ochieng said that he agonised over the different numbers but ruled out chances that it was a writing error. “Did they replace the gun with another one? If there was a change of guns, who did it, when and for what reasons?” he said.
    The judge said that faced with the irreconcilable facts, he had no option but to free the accused person. “I give him the benefit of doubt because it is possible that the fatal bullet was not fired by the accused,” he said.

    From the evidence, the two victims died as a result of massive bleeding. The court further heard that the two were shot from behind and that they were unharmed. The judge said the act was callous and such an officer should not be in the disciplined force.
    “The police officer’s life was not in danger and as if that was no enough, the officer kicked the dying demonstrators,” said the Judge
    Witnesses

    While identifying the bullet that was retrieved from Mr Onyango’s body, Dr Margaret Oduor, a pathologist with Nyanza Provincial General Hospital said that both Mr Onyango and Mr Chacha were shot from behind, but in the latter’s case, the bullet made an exit from the chest.

    A total of 22 witnesses testified in the case with police officers and ballistic experts topping the list of witnesses called by the prosecution to support its case. Among them was a UK journalist who captured the shooting in a video. A ballistics expert said that the bullet retrieved from the body of Mr Onyango matched the gun he was given to carry out tests.

    Mr Johnstone Mwongela told the court that the unique marking in the bullet retrieved from the body showed that it was fired from rifle serial number 3008378.

    .....................

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  16. Mwarang'ethe,
    So quoting corpses (no bones) is bad and can be trashed when it is done by Namwamba but very OK when yours truly goes Bob Marley and Marx? Man you are a master of platitudes, enjoy the ego trip.

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  17. Mwarangethe Said....
    Today, the whole world including Kenya, is under the British Merchant -State system which replaced the Feudal State system.
    ***
    Can't help wonder how many of our political leaders (unfortunately they shape the destiny of the country)can grasp/understand the above-mentioned statement. For the time being it seems majority of us will oppose the document on trivialities like abortion and Kadhis courts.

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  18. Plagiarism at worst. Why not lift the whole article and the responses therein and then paste them at Kumekucha?

    I must congratulate you for your educative posts. You educate me [lol] every time I read your posts.

    ...most of your critics ... exhibit a very unEDUCATED KNEE-JERK reaction to what you post about that ... laced with a lot of ignorance or just plain hatred.


    May you be reminded that the above remarks (word for word) were made by one Kenyan in response to an article published by our very own Professor ... [fill in the blanks] on January 19th, 2009.

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  19. Anon at 8.41 p.m. Plagiarism is when you use someone else words or ideas and pass them on as your own. How then does lifting a sentence or two and acknowledging the source become plagiarism?

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  20. The majority of eligible Kenyan voters voted in 2007. Can anyone of those voters say with absolute certainty who won? If the 2007 election turned into a total disaster what will happen after the referendum?

    If you aren't interested in economic independence will the political independence that you rightly want to exercise by voting feed, shelter, school and cloth you and your family?

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  21. If you think this new constitution will make Kenya democratic. Have a look at the United States where under the United States Constitution and law of the United States, certain federal positions appointed by the president of the United States require confirmation of the Senate. These positions are referred to as presidential appointment with Senate confirmation (PAS). The following is a list of PAS positions ordered by the Senate Committees that hold confirmation hearings before a full vote by the Senate.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_positions_filled_by_presidential_appointment_with_Senate_confirmation

    ReplyDelete
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