Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Was This Fair To KTN?

Everybody knows that despite the ownership of the Standard group, there is no love lost between the Kibaki administration and this media house.

Was that why somebody walked into the Standard group and in one single swipe plucked out all the senior news anchors? It is instructive that during the notorious raid on the Standard by hooded gunmen, the policemen carrying it out specifically asked for Njoroge Mwaura (who had left minutes before) and now he is the only one who has not been plucked out by Citizen from KTN. That one cannot be a mere coincidence, I assure you.

So what information did Mwaura have that attracted attention from the police?

In fact Mwaura looks fairly lonely these days reading the news with novices and guys younger than his children. (The Catherine Kasavuli and Njoroge Mwaura combination was perfect and it is sad that it has come to an end). Incidentally with all due respect to Catherine, it seems that now would be a good time to retire anyway. I have documentary proof on tape of her stammering and hesitant during prime time news. I am not surprised at the angry comments that greeted my earlier post where I said this. Ms Kasavuli is loved by Kenyans, amazingly she is the only Kenyan I know who has grown prettier with the years.

But my question is, even if you raid a competitor, shouldn't you at least give them time to reorganize? It will be very hard for anybody to convince me that there was no ill-motive intended here.

Meanwhile Kenyans wait with bated breath to see the KTN News anchors on air at Citizen, which will happen from the beginning of April. Maybe the first thing the professionals should do is advice the Citizen management that red or orange or whatever that screaming background color they use is, is not a colour that is conducive to TV broadcasting.

A Little creativity made Kenyan man $1,000 in daily profits

This woman has never heard sex, the reason will shock you.

Mayor May Now Have To Be A University Graduate

If the Election Bill 2007 sails through as it is, then it means that future mayors in Kenya will have to be university graduates with 10 years management experience that is relevant to the management of a local authority.

This university graduates requirement first came up in the Ghai draft constitution for the highest office in the land and now it has re-emerged for a lower office. The reason why it surprises me is that apart from the fact that Kenya will be one of the very few countries in the world, if not the only one to enact such a law, it also displays a very clear lack of knowledge of the crux of our problems in Kenya. Coming from the civil society, whom I am told had a lot of input in this bill, this worries me very much.

Our problem is not that our leaders are not well educated; the big problem is that they all lack integrity and being well-educated does not automatically give a person leadership qualities.

Probably the best illustration of this is the Kibaki presidency. I heard several comments after the 2002 elections (and I am ashamed to say that I was one of the people who strongly concurred) to the effect that things in Kenya were going to improve dramatically since we now had an educated person at the helm. One elderly man called Kibaki Mwalimu wa maprofessor (referring to his stint as a lecturer at Makere University before Tom Mboya fetched him in a VW all the way from Kampala to be Kanu's first executive officer in the early 60s.

Not only has this theory been proved dead wrong but we have seen the Mwalimu wa maprofessor seeking help in governing from a person who never saw the inside of a high school (let alone a university campus) in former President Moi.

In my view passing such a law requiring a mayor to be a graduate can cause a lot of trouble in Kenya because it will further widen the gap between the rich and the poor. Only the rich can afford to take their children up to University in the current system we have in Kenya. So in many ways, this small clause is another way of ensuring that the ruling class is able to comfortably hand over power to their children with little competition from others.

There are many examples of people without a university degree making exceptionally good leaders and professionals. I will give just three examples. John Major, former British Prime Minister never saw the inside of a university. Closer to home, outgoing KCB CEO who has managed an amazing turnaround at one of Kenya's largest bank is not a university graduate. Yet there are few people who know more about managing a bank successfully than Terry Davidson.

If we still insist on passing such a clause then we should start at the top with the highest office in the land and insist that the president has to be a university graduate.

A Little creativity made Kenyan man $1,000 in daily profits

This woman has never heard sex, the reason will shock you.