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Anybody who crisscrosses from the West and comes back to Africa frequently cannot help but notice the huge difference in culture, but more so the rapid rate at which Africans are catching up and falling over themselves to ape a culture that they don't quite understand.
I was in a crowded Cyber Café in the city the other day, when a young attractive lady (too young to in my opinion, to be having this sort of conversation) received an International call from a man who must have been her boyfriend. It was obvious that she was rather uncomfortable after the opening Ahhhs and Ohhhhhs and "I've missed yous". After that the conversation went on very stiffly, It went something like this;
I would like that too…
Me too…
Same here…
I also need it…
Even me
You see the way our current generation thinks is very differently from the more conservative older generation closer to the age of their parents.
But at some point the girl just got totally frustrated and something must have snapped up there somewhere deep inside that pretty head and she decided that she didn't care what the rest of us in the place thought. She unleashed it all.
"…You know when you're in love with somebody and you miss them, it gets so lonely, especially at night." she said in her heavy accent (will not dare mention which tribal accent).
"I think about you all night and imagine that I was in your arms."
The older people around could not help but exchange furtive glances. The young girl stepped up the game.
"If you have made love to any other woman, I'll kill you..(loud laughter)."
At this point a man stood up from his computer with pained expression on his face. I will never know whether he had finished his business or cut it short in protest. I went on working on my Kumekucha post for the day, 3 work stations away from the young lass while totally being entertained by the rest of the conversation which consisted mostly of loud laugher (sounded more like a high pitched shriek to me.)
It struck me how this kind of "escape plan" is on the increase all across Africa. In Dar-es-salaam about two years ago I met these two young men at a cyber carefully crafting an email to a lonely woman somewhere in a far off country and it struck me how eager one of the men was to get married as soon as possible (which is unlike men anywhere in the world but was obviously for the convenience of leaving the country to settle in that far off land with a woman they most likely did not love).
I have also met many women of all ages in Cybers across several African capitals trying hard to connect with "their ticket" out of the poverty and hopelessness of Africa).
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Saturday, June 16, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
The Big News In America Is Not About Jeff Koinange
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As we go into the weekend, the big story on most TV channels and other media across America is about the famous CNN International.
As most of you readers will know Americans have no interest whatsoever in Africa and that is why despite the fact that Nigerian newspapers and websites have been talking about this story since the beginning of the year, it was only after the sacking of Jeff Koinange that they sat up and started paying attention. Finally the right questions over what really happened in the Niger Delta are being asked. Some are even pointing to other controversial clips exclusively captured by the CNN in the past in places like Iraq.
As pressure mounts, CNN is now expected to release a statement soon on the reason why Jeff Koinange was fired. But you can be sure that the big story is in the question everybody is asking and which some have already answered; In Jeff's alleged admission in an email that he paid to get his big story and "fame" how true is it that CNN were fully involved and aware all the time?
Jeff's email said;
"Of course I had to pay certain people to get the story. But everything was done in agreement with CNN and in accordance with their usual standards. But you do not get such a story without bribing . . . You have to have financial resources. But at the end, it was worth it. CNN has its story and I have my 'fame.'
The American media is also asking questions about Marianne Brinner and who she really is and what is so special about her despite her age that a young desirable man saw. And not just any man, but a famous man who probably had scores of younger women all over the world swooning over him whenever he made an appearance.
The saddest thing about this whole encounter is not the fact that the reputation of Kenyan men is in tatters. It is actually about a woman who is a Kenyan hero by any standards.
Few Kenyans realize that for years Ms Brinner has been the lone voice and has continued to fight single-handedly and at great risk to her life for the truth to come out concerning the death of the best foreign minister Kenya ever had, the late Robert Ouko. This was at a time when everybody else (including Raila Odinga) had lost interest in solving this murder (did he make a deal with Moi or what?) Brinner has not told the world about the threats she has had to endure all these years because of her stand concerning the Ouko murder. Not to mention the inconveniences she has had to go through.
…And for what? She’s not even a Kenyan.
Just because she gave her word to the late Dr. Ouko when he was alive that if anything ever happened to him she would not rest until the whole world had gotten to know the full story of what really happened.
Does that sound like a gold digger and whatever else she has been called by men who have no interest in hearing the whole story first? Marianne herself has admitted that she is no angel, but what does her previous liaisons with a few prominent Kenyans (as revealed in the emails she herself released and none of which involved rape) have to do with the current case?
Oh and I forgot to mention the fact that she is not receiving a penny from the sales of the book on Ouko—her co-author has taken over all the rights to receive the royalties and has not passed on a single penny to Ms Brinner yet.
I’ll tell you what Marianne’s real weakness in all this is. What has exposed her so badly. It is her truthfulness and determination to tell the truth even when it paints her in a negative picture. That in a world where everybody tells lies or at least lies of omission when it suits them is what has done her in.
If you read some of the emails she has published in her blog you will notice that she has not left out her equally explicit comments and writing which would suggest that she was a willing participator. She has not left out anything to make her look good in all this. That is what hurts me so much. The truth is that she was raped by a person she had come to trust. The truth is that the same person reneged on the out of court settlement they had agreed on which included supporting some girls in a Jo’burg home for orphaned children and that's how the emails were published online.
In the other post today (read it here), I reproduce a new statement from Ms Brinner that reveals new facts for the first time about the alleged date rape incident in London.
Many readers have begged for Jeff's side of the story. Let me inform them here and now, that Mr Koinange is not picking up his telephones (both mobiles and landlines) and neither has he used the comments section of this blog (which is still open to him) to defend himself. Nay. So far he has only been defended by strangers who want to cling on to the image of that nice young man on TV at all costs and have shut out their minds to any other possible side of the most famous Kenyan journalist.
P.S. In her interview with an American newspaper yesterday Ms Brinner revealed that she had received an email from a person she has reason to believe is Jeff Koinange. It was brief and to the point and said;
"the vengeance is mine, says the Lord... I will repay you…"
How you can make a fortune from online conference calls to anywhere in the world
Term life insurance and one-man-show online enterprises that make $500,000 monthly.
Vote for a fellow Kenyan today because when he wins, Kenya wins
As we go into the weekend, the big story on most TV channels and other media across America is about the famous CNN International.
As most of you readers will know Americans have no interest whatsoever in Africa and that is why despite the fact that Nigerian newspapers and websites have been talking about this story since the beginning of the year, it was only after the sacking of Jeff Koinange that they sat up and started paying attention. Finally the right questions over what really happened in the Niger Delta are being asked. Some are even pointing to other controversial clips exclusively captured by the CNN in the past in places like Iraq.
As pressure mounts, CNN is now expected to release a statement soon on the reason why Jeff Koinange was fired. But you can be sure that the big story is in the question everybody is asking and which some have already answered; In Jeff's alleged admission in an email that he paid to get his big story and "fame" how true is it that CNN were fully involved and aware all the time?
Jeff's email said;
"Of course I had to pay certain people to get the story. But everything was done in agreement with CNN and in accordance with their usual standards. But you do not get such a story without bribing . . . You have to have financial resources. But at the end, it was worth it. CNN has its story and I have my 'fame.'
The American media is also asking questions about Marianne Brinner and who she really is and what is so special about her despite her age that a young desirable man saw. And not just any man, but a famous man who probably had scores of younger women all over the world swooning over him whenever he made an appearance.
The saddest thing about this whole encounter is not the fact that the reputation of Kenyan men is in tatters. It is actually about a woman who is a Kenyan hero by any standards.
Few Kenyans realize that for years Ms Brinner has been the lone voice and has continued to fight single-handedly and at great risk to her life for the truth to come out concerning the death of the best foreign minister Kenya ever had, the late Robert Ouko. This was at a time when everybody else (including Raila Odinga) had lost interest in solving this murder (did he make a deal with Moi or what?) Brinner has not told the world about the threats she has had to endure all these years because of her stand concerning the Ouko murder. Not to mention the inconveniences she has had to go through.
…And for what? She’s not even a Kenyan.
Just because she gave her word to the late Dr. Ouko when he was alive that if anything ever happened to him she would not rest until the whole world had gotten to know the full story of what really happened.
Does that sound like a gold digger and whatever else she has been called by men who have no interest in hearing the whole story first? Marianne herself has admitted that she is no angel, but what does her previous liaisons with a few prominent Kenyans (as revealed in the emails she herself released and none of which involved rape) have to do with the current case?
Oh and I forgot to mention the fact that she is not receiving a penny from the sales of the book on Ouko—her co-author has taken over all the rights to receive the royalties and has not passed on a single penny to Ms Brinner yet.
I’ll tell you what Marianne’s real weakness in all this is. What has exposed her so badly. It is her truthfulness and determination to tell the truth even when it paints her in a negative picture. That in a world where everybody tells lies or at least lies of omission when it suits them is what has done her in.
If you read some of the emails she has published in her blog you will notice that she has not left out her equally explicit comments and writing which would suggest that she was a willing participator. She has not left out anything to make her look good in all this. That is what hurts me so much. The truth is that she was raped by a person she had come to trust. The truth is that the same person reneged on the out of court settlement they had agreed on which included supporting some girls in a Jo’burg home for orphaned children and that's how the emails were published online.
In the other post today (read it here), I reproduce a new statement from Ms Brinner that reveals new facts for the first time about the alleged date rape incident in London.
Many readers have begged for Jeff's side of the story. Let me inform them here and now, that Mr Koinange is not picking up his telephones (both mobiles and landlines) and neither has he used the comments section of this blog (which is still open to him) to defend himself. Nay. So far he has only been defended by strangers who want to cling on to the image of that nice young man on TV at all costs and have shut out their minds to any other possible side of the most famous Kenyan journalist.
P.S. In her interview with an American newspaper yesterday Ms Brinner revealed that she had received an email from a person she has reason to believe is Jeff Koinange. It was brief and to the point and said;
"the vengeance is mine, says the Lord... I will repay you…"
How you can make a fortune from online conference calls to anywhere in the world
Term life insurance and one-man-show online enterprises that make $500,000 monthly.
Vote for a fellow Kenyan today because when he wins, Kenya wins
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