My sincere apologies to some of my most faithful readers who love the game of golf with all their hearts. But whispers reaching his blogger indicate that the Nation CEO landed his new plum job on the golf course.
Yes, the guy plays golf like every ruling class-VIP-upward mobile-serious executive-people who matter in Kenya today-person. Nothing wrong with Golf and nothing wrong with golf course appointments. It happens everywhere in the world.
The only problem is that if you are a politician supposed to empathize with the plight of the ordinary Kenyan then the golf course is definitely not one of the places to develop empathy. It is OK for CEO Linus Gitahi thought, he is not in politics.
I am very grateful for one thing though. The fact that Moi does not play and has never played Golf in his life. Can you imagine what would have happened to Kenya during his long 24 year rule? If the horrors we saw were from a non-golf player, then you get my drift.
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Join our raging debate on the cause of insecurity in Kenya.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Insecurity: If The Government Is Not To Blame, Who Is To Blame?
Because this blog is infested with NSIS agents and Kibaki campaign strategists, as is every high traffic site that deals with Kenyan politics, you will often see very convincing reasoning that is easy to take in, in the comments sections.
Reading the comments you will be told that without Kibaki, the Kenyan economy would still be where it was under Moi. (But they will omit to tell you that the very same Moi is a major political strategist in this government and interestingly since he came in, the Kibaki government has enjoyed the most extended and solid stability it has ever had since coming into power.) You will also be told that the Kibaki government's brilliant policies and strategy is the reason why the economy has improved so much.
If you are reading this and trying to find the truth, sober up for a minute and examine the facts on the ground.
For starters the system of accounting used to arrive at the growth rate was conveniently changed in 2003 to the World Bank's (1993 SNA – System of National Accounting). The major thing this new system does is shift the accounting system from products costs to the income element. In simple English it will always make things look better than they really are by focusing on income and ignoring costs.
Sample this, in 2004 using the new system the economy grew by 4.3 per cent. But using the old system it actually grew by only 2.4 per cent.
But I may look like I am splitting hairs here, so let me quickly move on to my main point.
This attitude of government which is nothing short of shortchanging and conning the ordinary wananchi has extended to virtually everything this government does and says. Especially as we head towards the elections. Another extremely annoying claim this improved-booming-economy government keeps on making is that it has created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Figures I heard recently indicated that well over 400,000 jobs have been created annually since 2003. But my big question is how many jobs have been lost? If a million jobs are lost in a year and then 400,000 new ones created, then my arithmetic tells me that the truth is that 600,000 jobs have been lost. But alas, that is not the system of analysis currently being used, we are talking about new jobs created here (are we not?), let the rest go to hell.
But it does not really matter whether you want to believe me or not. And it does not matter what the government keeps on saying and what propaganda they keep on forcing down our throats, already the evidence of what I have been saying here in this blog for a long time is beginning to materialize clearly for everybody to see.
5 more were killed in the Mathare clashes a few hours ago in what is believed to have been a Mungiki revenge attack. There is so much insecurity in the country that thugs dressed as robbers walked into city hall and got into the safes with wielding equipment and stole a number of things. We are seeing images that are a stark reminder of 2001 as Kenyans are forced into refugees status in their own country and some are showing up in hospitals with arrows embedded in their bodies.
As I write this NTV reports that there was a bank robbery in the Momabasa main Postbank where thugs made off with shs 7 million after turning up at the bank at 6:00 am in the morning and posing as security guards.
The government can keep on feeding the public with all the propaganda and plain lies designed to help them win re-election for the President, but just watch and see what will happen for yourself. It will soon be very difficult to even find a place secure enough to hold those propaganda spewing press conferences.
Since this government is not in a position to see the truth, let the next government take careful note of the following; any economic policy that does not have job creation as it's number one priority and (not an afterthought after you have dealt with Raila and ODM) is doomed. As long as we have so many Kenyans jobless and idle and with no hope for tomorrow, mainly because the system favors the corrupt and the big old political names, then there can be no security in Kenya.
P.S. Some people also believe that as we approach the elections, some politicians sponsor criminal activities top raise funds for their campaigns.
What do you think about this whole issue?
Reading the comments you will be told that without Kibaki, the Kenyan economy would still be where it was under Moi. (But they will omit to tell you that the very same Moi is a major political strategist in this government and interestingly since he came in, the Kibaki government has enjoyed the most extended and solid stability it has ever had since coming into power.) You will also be told that the Kibaki government's brilliant policies and strategy is the reason why the economy has improved so much.
If you are reading this and trying to find the truth, sober up for a minute and examine the facts on the ground.
For starters the system of accounting used to arrive at the growth rate was conveniently changed in 2003 to the World Bank's (1993 SNA – System of National Accounting). The major thing this new system does is shift the accounting system from products costs to the income element. In simple English it will always make things look better than they really are by focusing on income and ignoring costs.
Sample this, in 2004 using the new system the economy grew by 4.3 per cent. But using the old system it actually grew by only 2.4 per cent.
But I may look like I am splitting hairs here, so let me quickly move on to my main point.
This attitude of government which is nothing short of shortchanging and conning the ordinary wananchi has extended to virtually everything this government does and says. Especially as we head towards the elections. Another extremely annoying claim this improved-booming-economy government keeps on making is that it has created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Figures I heard recently indicated that well over 400,000 jobs have been created annually since 2003. But my big question is how many jobs have been lost? If a million jobs are lost in a year and then 400,000 new ones created, then my arithmetic tells me that the truth is that 600,000 jobs have been lost. But alas, that is not the system of analysis currently being used, we are talking about new jobs created here (are we not?), let the rest go to hell.
But it does not really matter whether you want to believe me or not. And it does not matter what the government keeps on saying and what propaganda they keep on forcing down our throats, already the evidence of what I have been saying here in this blog for a long time is beginning to materialize clearly for everybody to see.
5 more were killed in the Mathare clashes a few hours ago in what is believed to have been a Mungiki revenge attack. There is so much insecurity in the country that thugs dressed as robbers walked into city hall and got into the safes with wielding equipment and stole a number of things. We are seeing images that are a stark reminder of 2001 as Kenyans are forced into refugees status in their own country and some are showing up in hospitals with arrows embedded in their bodies.
As I write this NTV reports that there was a bank robbery in the Momabasa main Postbank where thugs made off with shs 7 million after turning up at the bank at 6:00 am in the morning and posing as security guards.
The government can keep on feeding the public with all the propaganda and plain lies designed to help them win re-election for the President, but just watch and see what will happen for yourself. It will soon be very difficult to even find a place secure enough to hold those propaganda spewing press conferences.
Since this government is not in a position to see the truth, let the next government take careful note of the following; any economic policy that does not have job creation as it's number one priority and (not an afterthought after you have dealt with Raila and ODM) is doomed. As long as we have so many Kenyans jobless and idle and with no hope for tomorrow, mainly because the system favors the corrupt and the big old political names, then there can be no security in Kenya.
P.S. Some people also believe that as we approach the elections, some politicians sponsor criminal activities top raise funds for their campaigns.
What do you think about this whole issue?
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