Kenyans have more reason than most to be cynical given the shenanigans their politicians get up to. However, this week’s row between President Mwai Kibaki and ex-president Daniel Arap Moi over whose reform credentials are worse plumbed new depths. Kibaki, who supports a yes vote in this week’s referendum on a new constitution, started it off with an attack on Moi’s campaign for a rejection of the draft. Obviously forgetting his own track record of broken promises and manipulation, the President sought to remind Kenyans that Moi had spent the better part of his nearly two and a half decades in power fighting off calls for reform. It was an oversight that the ex-President was only too happy to correct. Moi then suffered his own bout of selective amnesia, saying that the 2008 post-election violence would never have occurred under his leadership, though many will recall the so-called “tribal clashes” that accompanied elections in 1992 and 1997. In a quick rejoinder, Kibaki asserted that his reform credentials did not require any defence. Begging your pardon, Mr. President, but they do. In your case, Mr. ex-President, it is plainly (oxy)moronic to even contemplate such credentials.
This was not a good week to visit the Delmas district of South Africa’s Mpumalanga province. A runaway Bengal tiger named Panjo was on the loose for nearly a day after he escaped from the back of a truck on Tuesday. Prior to his recapture the following day, his owners, who hand-reared the 17-month-old from a cub, had some interesting advise for anyone encountering him. On seeing Panjo, they said, one should point a stick at him and say "No", or toss him a chicken to eat. He apparently prefers Chicken Carry.
A beast of a different sort was on the loose during the African Union summit in Kampala. There, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's Presidential guards were involved in a tussle with Ugandan Presidential guards at the opening of the summit. It was a rematch of the 2008 fight between the two security units during the inauguration of the Gaddafi National Mosque in Old Kampala. Back then the quarrel was about who should control the entrance, and negotiations were conducted via fist fights and flying kicks. On Sunday, some of Gadaffi’s guards tried to force their way through the Ugandan Presidential Guard Brigade cordon but were firmly resisted. The ensuing grab-and-drag scuffle only died down following the intervention of the Libyan Ambassador to Uganda.
You may have heard of the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor, a fictional sailor from Basrah. While sailing the seas east of Africa and South Asia, Sinbad has fantastic adventures going to magical places, meeting monsters, and encountering supernatural phenomena. Therefore it may surprise you to learn the Sinbad was not only real, but also Chinese. Last week, Chinese archaeologists arrived in Kenya to begin the work of identifying a wreck off the country’s coast which is believed to have belonged to China's 15th century Admiral Zheng He. Some historians believe his seven epic voyages at the head of what was then the world's mightiest fleet, with 300 ships and as many as 30,000 troops, inspired the tales of Sinbad. Zheng's armada made it to south-east Asia, the Middle East, Africa and, according widely disputed accounts, America several decades before Christopher Columbus famously stumbled on the continent.
The Chinese influence on America is evident from the continuing popularity of acupuncture. However, this is not always a good thing as a certain native of the US state of Washington found out recently. She apparently had to pull needles out of her back and call police after staff forgot about her and went home. The 47-year-old was still on the treatment table when she realised that the acupuncturist had left. When she tried to leave, she found the doors locked.
New York is sometimes described as the city that never sleeps. And here’s the reason why: bedbugs. Complaints about the blood-sucking insects have increased by 40% in the past three years. No respecters of power and privilege (among those affected were former US President Bill Clinton, who battled an outbreak in his Harlem office), the bugs have woken up city authorities who now plan to spend $500,000 on an information campaign telling the public of how to kill them off (the mites not the mayor) and finally put the issue to bed.
____________________________________________
This was not a good week to visit the Delmas district of South Africa’s Mpumalanga province. A runaway Bengal tiger named Panjo was on the loose for nearly a day after he escaped from the back of a truck on Tuesday. Prior to his recapture the following day, his owners, who hand-reared the 17-month-old from a cub, had some interesting advise for anyone encountering him. On seeing Panjo, they said, one should point a stick at him and say "No", or toss him a chicken to eat. He apparently prefers Chicken Carry.
____________________________________________
A beast of a different sort was on the loose during the African Union summit in Kampala. There, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's Presidential guards were involved in a tussle with Ugandan Presidential guards at the opening of the summit. It was a rematch of the 2008 fight between the two security units during the inauguration of the Gaddafi National Mosque in Old Kampala. Back then the quarrel was about who should control the entrance, and negotiations were conducted via fist fights and flying kicks. On Sunday, some of Gadaffi’s guards tried to force their way through the Ugandan Presidential Guard Brigade cordon but were firmly resisted. The ensuing grab-and-drag scuffle only died down following the intervention of the Libyan Ambassador to Uganda.
____________________________________________
You may have heard of the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor, a fictional sailor from Basrah. While sailing the seas east of Africa and South Asia, Sinbad has fantastic adventures going to magical places, meeting monsters, and encountering supernatural phenomena. Therefore it may surprise you to learn the Sinbad was not only real, but also Chinese. Last week, Chinese archaeologists arrived in Kenya to begin the work of identifying a wreck off the country’s coast which is believed to have belonged to China's 15th century Admiral Zheng He. Some historians believe his seven epic voyages at the head of what was then the world's mightiest fleet, with 300 ships and as many as 30,000 troops, inspired the tales of Sinbad. Zheng's armada made it to south-east Asia, the Middle East, Africa and, according widely disputed accounts, America several decades before Christopher Columbus famously stumbled on the continent.
____________________________________________
The Chinese influence on America is evident from the continuing popularity of acupuncture. However, this is not always a good thing as a certain native of the US state of Washington found out recently. She apparently had to pull needles out of her back and call police after staff forgot about her and went home. The 47-year-old was still on the treatment table when she realised that the acupuncturist had left. When she tried to leave, she found the doors locked.
____________________________________________
New York is sometimes described as the city that never sleeps. And here’s the reason why: bedbugs. Complaints about the blood-sucking insects have increased by 40% in the past three years. No respecters of power and privilege (among those affected were former US President Bill Clinton, who battled an outbreak in his Harlem office), the bugs have woken up city authorities who now plan to spend $500,000 on an information campaign telling the public of how to kill them off (the mites not the mayor) and finally put the issue to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment