Shaq reveals he tracked down his biological father who abandoned him and found out he lived 40 blocks away the whole time
"My mother said you should connect with your biological father. I called my uncle who's a cop. He said, 'You ain't gonna believe this, you know that restaurant we eat at all the time? He lives in that building'"
"There was always a chef there who'd start crying when he saw me. He said, 'I'm Joe's best friend. I just hope one day you come down here and y'all can eat'"
"He's 40 blocks away. I went to meet him. He said sorry. I said, you don't need to say sorry, everybody has their problems"
Former Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, Micah Cheserem, reflects on the hyperinflation & FX crisis of 1992/93.
He speaks about the bungled export compensation scheme & the Goldenberg scandal, the liquidity mop up that was put in place to rein in inflationary pressures & the liberalisation of the FX regime.
Full recording - https://t.co/zgWgcFdUc1
Credit: Central Bank of Kenya (@CBKKenya)
I'm reading about how the British, in the early 1900s, used to confiscate livestock in Turkana numbering 5,000, up to 16,000. And then when the Samburu raided the Turkana for 300 heads of cattle, the British fined them. Yani, it was ok for the British to steal cattle but not for other Africans to conduct cattle raids. Of course, the math wasn't mathing.
The Turkana successfully staged a tax boycott against the colonialists, until the colonialists had to withdraw the tax. But in 1915, the British confiscated a staggering 130,000 head of cattle from the Turkana and killed over 400 warriors.
Towards north eastern, the British used to confiscate livestock of Kenyan Somalis so that Europeans breeds would dominate the region and Somalis would be rendered poor due to loss of livestock.
The British hated pastoralism (@m_ogada often reminds us that the wazungu and GoK still do) because it made the communities difficult to control, to reduce to forced labor and extract taxes from. So they attacked their livelihoods. And they brought rinderpest.
Northern Kenya was governed as "closed districts." People from those regions were not allowed to leave without permission from the colonialists. The act was repealed in guess when? 1997. Yes.
And then I remembered Huduma Namba and SHA in which the government proposed means testing, where people's ID cards and SHA contributions included data on the livestock they owned.
What I feel reading this is a mixture of anger and horror at that level of looting, surely. And anger that GoK can still be thinking like this in the 21st century. And that this information is not readily accessible. Eesh.
https://t.co/MZHEpMiPfO
One day, you will pay school fees, hospital bills, and salaries.
You will stay awake calculating figures while others sleep peacefully.
It is the day you will realize your father carried a weight you never understood.
Now it is your turn,
The burden is heavy, but it is SACRED.
Your FATHER carried it, now carry it for your son.
It has been quite an experience to follow @Arsenal Football Club's epic adventure, from times of struggle and crushing setback, to successive seasons of recovery and resurgence on their glorious path to the summit of the English Premier League.
In this time, we have witnessed the power of hope, resilience, focus and relentless hardwork in action, and watched a team of dedicated professional do battle against formidable adversaries, matchday after matchday.
Tonight, the great reward is won. The team is victorious. It's faith and dedication is vindicated. And our commitment to succeed through work, discipline and teamwork is affirmed.
Congratulations to the Gunners
๐จโค๏ธ | Ian Wright sends emotional message to Mikel Arteta
๐ฃ๏ธ โI want to say sorry to Arteta. There were times I doubted him and thought maybe Arsenal needed change.โ
๐ฃ๏ธ โNow I say give Mikel Arteta a contract for life.โ ๐ ๐
๐ฃ๏ธ โHe brought this club from the trenches. We are what we are now because of one man โ Mikel.โ
My dear brother, Mau Mau fought against land alienation, police violence and lack of sovereignty. They were not alone. The trade unionists, Dini ya Msambwa and Barsirian arap Manyei were also in colonial detention at the same time. What made the status of the Mau Mau different is that the British decided to also engage in collective punishment of the Kikuyu Embu and Meru and pretend that the struggle was ethnic, not political.
So few Kenyans know that the Maasai, the Kamba and the Luhya participated in the Mau Mau. Chief Mukudi of Samia was detained by the British for administering the Mau Mau oath. I saw ES Atieno Odhiambo mention some Luo soldiers in the Nairobi ranks of the Mau Mau but I lost the reference. I'll keep looking for it.
Independence isn't liberation. It's the management of the colonialist state by Africans.
The whites were not chased out. They are still here. They still own land, plantations, mines and major installations. They gave us CBC. They just got a military agreement in Mombasa which exempts soldiers from prosecution. Wazungu didn't leave. They retreated from visibility, but not from power.
Until the late 1950s, the British had no intention of leaving. In their dream, Kenya was to be a multi-racial state. Shortly after, they aimed to leave in 1975. Then after, they decided to leave in 1963, but before they did that, they needed to ensure that Kenya was left in the hands of the sympathizers, your Lancaster people and the #IwenttoAlliance's.
Whites remained in the independence government, protected by Sir Charles Njonjo of Kabeteshire. Bruce Mackenzie was Ministry of Agriculture. Humphrey Slade the Parliament speaker. Goeffrey Griffin, a former information officer, started Starehe. Carey Francis moved to Pangani High School. In 1972, UoN students were violently suppressed by the police after complaining about the architecture department being staffed by wazungu faculty who were failing the students. Guess who was in charge of Nairobi Provincial Police? James Myles Oswald, who had killed many Mau Mau fighters.
The decision of the British to hand over the state to Africans was forced by the African resistance, of which Mau Mau was a major player. The British realized that it would be too expensive to keep suppressing rebellion, especially because the Mau Mau started to regroup in 1961. Plus the whole pan-African world's imagination was captured by the resistance. It was cheaper for the British to have African elites, your favorite Lancaster guys, rather than settlers, in charge. But overall, the British remained in charge from London.
Forcing the British to hand over the colonial state doesn't mean we were liberated. It just means we got black settlers in charge of the state, instead of white ones.
Reading helps even the best and the brightest.
Men trade resources for access. Women trade access for resources. When a man cheats, he's spending surplus. When a woman cheats, she's breaching contract. Dude is a CEO opening a second branch, you're a vendor selling the same "exclusive" house to 2 different buyers. Not the same