Last night at @drunkenlectures, I could see people grappling with the argument I was making that the school system is messed up because our economy is messed up. It has also taken me years to see that it won't matter how many commissions you have, how much you threaten kids, how many fire safety drills you have, the unrest we're seeing is going nowhere. Our problem is that we are just not honest about our society and our economy, and the students can see it.
This was 4 years ago.
https://t.co/K0E2c8yyQ1
Did you know? The land at Lewa Conservancy is still owned by the British. Not in colonial times. Today.
The Maasai have lived there for generations herding cattle, holding ceremonies, burying their dead. But parts of the conservancy are off limits to them, reserved for private villas and tourist safaris for wealthy foreigners.
Kenyan organizations and leaders have called for the land to be returned to Kenya. Last week, youth held a peaceful reminder of their rights.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Lewa is a former British ambassador to Kenya, appointed by the British government. If a Kenyan ecologist ran it, the questions would be different.
This is not just about politics. It is about land, identity, and justice.
Until you watch parents accept nonsense from the schools in the name of their children's education, and you realize it's not a problem limited to religion. Binyavanga wrote that "schooling is Kenya’s largest and most effortful industry, even larger than the churches. All this effort is for a few places in four or five very good schools, or four or five very good jobs."
Or people voting for the same thugs who rob them, impoverish them and kill them.
Africans are so battered by the imperialist political economy. The economy is cutthroat, opportunities are few and life is chaotic. We are constantly punished and threatened for crimes we didn't commit, for breaking rules we didn't know existed and that keep being created every day. People can't keep up. They are looking for a space where life is predictable and they don't have to take responsibility for anything. The pastor is doing that on their behalf. So are the school principals of our burning schools.
So we need to stop sneering at people like this and ask ourselves: what need are these people meeting, and why is it that they can only meet that need through being humiliated? Africa needs to stop believing our dysfunction is natural. It's social and political, and we need to do the work of understanding it to uproot it.
Langley guys, you can now sing that "let's not blame yadiyada..." song. Go for it.
@Maryian96 DEEPENING MYSTERY: It's time for a serious conversation & audit of the agreements that the successive governments have committed this country to. This should include the odious debts thereof. We might be enjoying our stay in a country that was long mortgaged!
By the way, as many people raise alarm over missing children, do we have recent data on reported cases, locations and timelines?
It would help make the noise louder, factual and properly directed.
Is there a spike this time compared to other months?
BREAKING: The Ruto government is reportedly planning to lease a floating power plant (powership/ or barge) at the Mombasa coast to “solve” electricity shortages. ~BD
The plan? Import a giant power ship, likely from Turkey’s Karpowership, plug it into Kenya’s grid, then pay billions through a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).
And this is where Kenyans should ask hard questions.
Floating power plants can cost around KSh 15-32 per kWh, sometimes even higher. We've seen them in countries like Ghana. And you haven't added other costs like taxes.
Meanwhile:
- Ethiopia sells us power at roughly KSh 8
- Uganda at around KSh 9-12
So explain like we are in Class 3:
Why rent an expensive foreign ship to sell you electricity at 4 times per KW when cheaper electricity already exists next door? Aren't there other alternatives?
This is starting to smell like the same old IPP script:
Create a crisis.
Bring in an “emergency solution.”
Lock taxpayers into costly contracts for years.
A few connected people make billions.
Ordinary Kenyans keep paying expensive electricity bills forever.
The Ruto govt could be creating problems today that could punish this country for decades.
Im now of the opinion that Wandayi is a dangerous idiot. He's too thick headed to understand that we know and remember how Gichuru, Okemo, etc, used offshore "Independent Power Producers" to scam Kenyans. I sincerely believe Wandayi must go.
Kenyan police allowed Arsenal fans to gather and disperse peacefully but they never allow the same youth to protest against the government without killing some
I am informed that several matatu saccos have independently parked their vehicles. Kenyans must support them with TOTAL SHUTDOWN, Ruto thought it best that buying out several "leaders" of the industry will stop the strike.
#RejectFuelPrices
People MUST resist Freehold Land being turned into Leasehold and oppressive TAXES imposed with the Land being auctioned upon failure to pay the those taxes.Objective is to disposess people of their Lands and turn them into labourers for the new owners.We have a CRIMINAL regime
On this day, 18 years ago, on 12 May 2008, I published my first article in the @NationAfrica challenging the injustice of odious debt.
I argued then, as I do now, that debts incurred against the interests of the people cannot morally or legally be imposed on generations that never consented to them.
Africa must stop begging for relief from debts designed to enrich a few and impoverish millions. We must audit, question, repudiate, and prosecute where necessary.
Odious debt is not development. It is economic capture. The struggle continues.
#DeniBandia #ReKe #OdiousDebtKe
IPOA, EACC, and NCIC have spent years acting like decorative watchdogs with no bite, and FIDA is clearly fighting for a spot in the same cowardice league.
Mention her Name: Karen Nyamu