that man, who calls in professionally trained doctors rather than shepherds to treat him when sick, has no reason, when well, to let public affairs be conducted by windbags no better qualified than shepherds?
Ulrich, the man without qualities
Tag Archives: politics
a short story or thoughts out of season
Kenya is a multi ethnic society. In the over 57 years of independence, the presidents have come from Kikuyu and Kalenjin ethnic groups. From the way things look, a Kalenjin ( and a thief) seem poised to be the next president of the republic. There is talk in some quarters that this monopoly of the top seat by these two communities doesn’t bode well for the commonwealth and if it continues in this vein, then their might even be secession or civil war whichever is the worst.
This brings me to the discussion I was having with my host in Garowe, Puntland. For those of you who know anything about Somalia, a lot of things- including governance happen at clan level. SO how have they addressed the issue of who becomes president? Easy. There are three main regions- Garowe, Galkayo and I think Nugal ( I wasn’t paying attention at this point). The president serves a 5 year term ( I think). To solve the problem of clan infighting, the position of president rotates within these three groups.
You maybe thinking this process is not democratic. That’s where there is ingenuity. Anyone can vie during the presidential election. I think the good people of Puntland have come to the conclusion anyone can be president so they obey the gentleman’s agreement and elect the president based on a rotational basis to keep the peace and the nation together.
I don’t know how this would work for Kenya or even if it is desired. But I think a fair and transparent election, equitable distribution of resources and a sense of respect to the rule of law would go along way in easing tensions in the country.
In a different story but still in Puntland. They don’t have car insurance. The community is responsible for you. In the event that you were to be involved in an accident, the community elders would be called and decide on the payment. This payment will be collected from all the families with boys. Same thing for bride price.
There is a lock down in Mogadishu and all non essential movement is restricted. So anyone who was expecting me to buy them anything from this beautiful coastal city will have to wait till my next visit.
I got to cycle in Somalia. That was the best experience. Maybe i will do it again the next time I visit.
This post has no title
I said somewhere I am reading Zola’s the earth. It’s such a work!
Somewhere he writes
Is misfortune ever at an end? This universal suffrage, now, it don’t bring meat to the pot, does it? The land tax weighs us down, they keep on taking our children to fight. It’s not a bit of use having revolutions, it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other, and a peasant always remains a peasant.
And for some reason, this would almost reflect the situation of the poor in Kenya. First, the concern of most people is food. I would call it the politics of food. In place of land tax, I would name the many varied taxes the thieving government imposes on the working classes. And maybe, one would almost conclude elections don’t help us. The poor almost always remain poor.
the people
Scipio, in Cicero’s Tusculian disputations, defines the people as
a community bound together by the sense of common rights and mutual benefits.
Are members of the political class bound with the other citizens in mutual benefits and common rights or do they occupy different spheres and as such when we talk about the people, we really have different groups in mind?
what if we replaced politicians with randomly selected people
Political compass
Obama: ‘Which passages of scripture should get our public policy?
This is a very interesting question coming from Obama.
Those who claim America is a Christian nation must explain what verses should make it to the constitution.
In defence of freedom of speech
A columnist in one of our dailies has written an article that, would be, for any government be seen as a threat. What it has resulted in is idjits on twitter calling for the arrest of the journalist. Apart from being ignorant assholes, they remind me of the fact that governments; all of them, secular or religious fear ideas and their representatives than thieves.
I call these Kenyans idiots because they have put in a government that has excelled in corruption, land grabbing, stifling of free speech and any criticism of the government is reduced to tribal vendetta, what fools!
Now, it is pretense to claim we are a unified nation when every dispute, intellectual or otherwise gets resolved along tribal considerations.
Do I want secession? Do I want violence? I don’t know but if a case could be made for both, I would listen to their proponents.
This is to remind the idjits calling for Ndii’s arrest to wake up and get their shitty brains from their arses and use it for what it was meant, thinking!
A political rant
There are a few oil rich countries where the citizens don’t pay tax. In some places, the tax is as low as 5% and the sky isn’t falling over.
But to most of us, we pay so much in form of taxes
1. To keep lazy ass MPigs in office
2. To support a police force that mainly serves the interests of the political class.
Would it not be doing ourselves a great service if we revolted against this form of tyranny.
I see politicians to be no different from pastors; each of them earning money off the sweat of others. Maybe if we did away with such institutions, everyone would contribute to nation building.
Call me a dreamer, an anarchist or whatever you will, but I think in the end you will agree we have encouraged tyranny it now looks like things can’t be done differently.
Atheism and other random stories
A big question, that is, if any question should be so called is asked of atheists. The OP posits
The biggest question I would have for an atheist is, If there is no God, where did matter come from? I have never heard a plausible answer to that query. Some would retort, Well where did God originally come from? As if the inability to answer the second question somehow adds credence to the inability to answer the first. My response first of all would be that I don’t know, but second it’s a question that doesn’t demand an answer given God’s omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent nature. He’s self-described as the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. The Bible says that the wisdom of God is as foolishness to man, and the wisdom of man is as foolishness to God. It is futile to believe that all we can sense physically is all there is. There is more to life than just the material world, but atheists are unwilling to accept it.
The first problem with this question is to assume that matter had to come from someplace while making special pleading for god. Before we deal with answer to the query, I have not heard a coherent reply to the question what is god. To posit what is unknown as the cause of another is to me a case of high ignorance, to state it with so much confidence is silly.
And this author cannot ignore the challenge about the origin of god. If in his response he says god always is, we will ask, why can’t we say the same of matter? Matter as we know it may not be omniscient but I know it is omnipresent. I think a case of omnipotence can be made for we know of nowhere where matter does not act.
Whatever the bible says is in need of verification. It can’t stand on its own. That it is in the bible does not make it true. The bible says many things including, pregnant virgins, talking donkeys, walking snakes, and transporter whales among other absurdities; are we to take all these as true because they appear in the bible. I don’t know if there is any verse in the bible in praise of intelligence.
There could be more to life than what we can sense, the only problem is because we can’t sense it, we have no way of knowing that there is. It is rational and reasonable to either suspense judgement on their existence or to not believe in them anyway until such a time there is adduced evidence to support their existence.
Random story 1
Al Shabaab, the younger brother of Al Qaeda and cousin to IS seem to have found a new playground at our upper most border. They come kill at will and disappear in the darkness only to resurrect and strike again.
Random story 2
Due to non cooperation by the government, dead and missing witnesses, the clown who runs our PR government was freed by the ICC. The other two suspects are hoping they will as well be in a place to make witnesses disappear. When I grow up I want to be high up in government.
Random story 3
About two weeks ago a politician died. That is not news. The news is that Raila, the former prime minister is rumoured to want to vie for his seat. If this rumour is confirmed, then I can comfortably say there is no low a politician cannot stoop to. Besides stooping too low, am not sure how he will respond to those who have said he seeks power for its own sake.
It is holiday time, soon, be happy and make merry.
