The case of Kenya.
Now, unless you are Ark, you probably have heard about the recent leak dubbed by the ICIJ as the Pandora Papers concerning money kept in offshore accounts by some elites from different countries.
Of interest to me in this matter is that the family that has been at the centre of looting this country for a combined duration of more than 50 years has been named as in the leak as having some dosh stashed in an offshore account. This could not by itself be illegal but raises a lot of many questions such as source of funds, was tax paid on them, how much more is the first family and other families hiding in a country impoverished by mismanagement of public goods.
The two bodies that would be asking questions about this matter are asleep. The main stream media feeds us political gossip. Parliament is useless. I can understand why parliament is unable to function. Half of them or more, if the questions raised during the presidential election petition are computer chicks- vifaranga vya kompyuta- as we say here. They owe allegiance to computer algorithm not the constituency of humans they represent.
The media is owned by these oligarchs and do not want to lose advertising money from the government of the day by appearing to be independent. Or critical. The only recourse is to read what independent journalists write but these do not have a wide reach and so such serious matter dies without raising eyebrows in a country people plagued by poverty,unemployment and unequal access to resources.
Maybe some day we will get to the bottom of the systematic rapine of the country by successive regimes and recover stolen loots even if it takes 100 years to do it. It will have to be done.
Until then, we wait.
Random thoughts 
Don’t hold your breath.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I try not to
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, all over the news, & not a surprise either. Corruption everywhere.
LikeLike
Its depressing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very.
LikeLike
same thing will happen here as it did with the Panama Papers… Nothing. The people who own the media companies will kill the story.
LikeLike
Here, the people who own the media are the same ones in the Pandora papers
LikeLike
Exactly… or know people in there.
LikeLike
The suffering will continue until the people divest themselves of their belief in the need for government.
LikeLike
Ron, from your many and several comments here and there, I get the distinct impression you feel government is unnecessary and “the people” can and will simply “make things work.” You know, like getting together to fix dangerous roads and bridges, doing vigilante duty to take care of the law-breakers/killers, setting up special funds to help old folk pay their living expenses and medical bills, etc., etc. Is this what you have in mind?
LikeLike
Yes, as I stated here:
At heart, Iโm an anarchist โ in the strict dictionary sense (i.e., โa person who advocates the abolition of government and a social system based on voluntary cooperationโ)
And it bears repeating that this not be construed as a call towards a state of lawlessness ( i.e. the law of the jungle, where anything goes), so much as a call for a societal structure without rulers (i.e. via co-operative efforts amongst individuals rather than state-controlled institutions).
The details of how this would work are too lengthy to put in a comment box, but suffice it to say, such societies have existed and probably still exist in isolated tribal groups that remain untouched by Western civilization.
LikeLike
You and I together.
LikeLike
mak, if you could fix the closing html tag, it would be greatly appreciated.
LikeLike
I will check it on the laptop. On the phone everything looks ok
LikeLike
I think I forgot to put </a> after the word here:
LikeLike
P.S. Not sure why WP decided to make this and text formatting so easy in the post creation section, yet so cumbersome in the comments section of their program.
LikeLike
The programmers must think posters are becoming dumber by the day
LikeLike
Tribal groups are a bit different than “civilized” society. ๐
I get your point but at this point in the game, I don’t think the human race has the capabilities or the mindset to live in a self-governing society. Do you?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I actually like that you have civilised in quotation marks, because it is possible to give examples that would make us doubt whether we really are a civilised lot as we think
LikeLiked by 2 people
The closest thing to self-governing societies that comes to mind are the religious sects (like the Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, etc.) that live within but keep apart from the rest of mainstream society. So if we lack the capability to alter course, en masse, it is because the idea is seldom broached or granted serious consideration; and that’s solely because much like religion, we are born and raised in a system where the established institutions are taken for granted as an unquestionable fact of life — and the rulers prefer it remain that way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
On many occasions, I am tempted to agree with Ron. Some of the problems you list are actually because of government action- either making something illegal or unequal distribution of resources resulting in inequities in access to resources.
LikeLike
I donโt know whether it is government or the state because some form of government will still exist whether it is a guild, a commune or a band of robbers. But whether we must have a state that is open to debate
LikeLike
I’m not against forming organizational hierarchies to achieve a common goal. It’s to be expected when large groups of people become involved in a major undertaking.
Think of it this way: you don’t need to form a government when you want to go for a bike ride by yourself or with a few of your friends, or even a large group, but it becomes more expedient to put someone in charge of organizing a group ride when it involves a dozen or more people planning a two-week cross-country cycle tour.
The same approach can be applied to “public” services like roads, water, sanitation, fire, policing, etc. In fact, their are towns in America that have adopted minarchist (small government) strategies for running their communities.
LikeLike
So are these actual towns? Or just “communities” within a town? If the former, could you provide the names of a couple of them? Would love to see if google has any info on them. If the latter, can we actually use them as an example? A small group of people would hardly provide a representative sample.
I do agree that the religious groups you mentioned are good examples.
LikeLike
They (at least the Amish and the Hasidim) are also rife with sexual predation. The 12 year girls are encouraged to “forgive” the predatory “community leaders”.
If there were 100 million people, I would be all for a minarchist state. There are (currently) too many of us. I have no delusions about the perfection of the State model. But what would replace it was noted in passing by your comment above (bands of robbers). Where you and Ron see peaceful communes, I see Mad Max The Road Warrior.
LikeLike
Nothing new here and it is not a Kenyan infliction. A few years ago we had the Panama paper revelations. All published, everyone knew the perpetrators and then it all quietly disappeared without any charges laid. Of course, those in charge are also regulating their own affairs. Shame factor? I have not heard anyone omitted suicide yet!
LikeLike
I think they will die as quickly as the panama papers.
LikeLike