Uganda................Africa's bully

You know the old saying that you can take the man out of the bush but not the bush out of the man. In the case of Museveni, I conclude that it is literal. He is a military leader, he fought in the bush, he helped oust Idi Amin and subsequently saw Milton Obote’s regime fade away. He’s helped stabilize Uganda and bring it relative prosperity, but now it seems Mr. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is itching to bully someone.

For months now Kenya has been in a dispute with Uganda over one Island in Lake Victoria; The Migingo Island.

Until recently, the Ugandan military had been deployed on the Kenyan inhabited Island and the Ugandan flag hoisted. This caused clamor in Kenya. A parliamentary team had been sent to negotiate on the island for the withdrawal of Ugandan military and the lowering of the Ugandan flag. That ‘diplomatic’ exercise ended up in a heated verbal exchange that almost led to a fist fight.

Both heads of state eventually met and agreed on joint surveyors from both nations to determine within whose boundary the Island belongs.

The joint surveyors had barely been on the job when on Monday this week, Mr. Museveni gladly announced that the Island is Kenya’s, but the water was Uganda’s. In an interview with BBC he further added "But the wajaluos (a Kenyan ethnic group) are mad, they want to fish here but this is Uganda." That crude and undiplomatic statemnet caused huge uproar in Kenya.

There has been chatter on the internet and various blog sites. Some have gone to the extent of starting a group on Facebook; ‘Bring me the head of Museveni for a prize’. On Wednesday, one Kenyan MP accused the Ugandan president of "exporting his dictatorial tendencies".

In a recent meeting between the heads of the two states, it was clear that Mr. Museveni lacked any form of diplomatic demeanor, offering his Kenyan counterpart his left hand for a hand shake and dusting his seat before he sat. It is evident by his demeanor that he has no respect for his Kenyan counterpart and with his remarks; Kenyans as a whole.

The Ugandan president invited Kenyan journalists yesterday, to clarify his remarks; the result as expected was as undiplomatic as the last remark. He stated that he didn’t owe Kenyans an apology; instead he demanded an apology from Kenyans, and an individual apology from Kenyans Lands Minister, Mr. James Orengo. This is in reference to Kenyan’s uprooting the Kenya-Uganda railway that is used to supply the landlocked country with its much needed food and fuel supplies, and the Land minister’s remark referring to Ugandans as ‘Hyenas’.

The Kenya- Uganda relation has been a bit rocky with the alleged presence of the Ugandan military in parts of Western Kenya during the post election mayhem in Kenya in late 2007 and early 2008. There were also concerns raised by Kenyan media on the Ugandan military presence in the Pokot and Turkana districts located near the Kenya- Uganda border. Museveni’s response, "Our soldiers are there to deal with cattle rustlers and their Kenyan counterparts are aware of their activities." A Kenyan parliamentarian has been quoted saying that Uganda should be treated as a hostile Nation.

Territorial disputes tend to be very dangerous, look at Israel and Palestinian perennial war. This may sound petty, but it should be dealt with cautiously. President Museveni’s callousness and President Kibaki’s indifference is concerning and may yield into more chaos.

It isn’t the first time though that Uganda and Kenya have had territorial disputes. In the 70’s Idi Amin claimed that Uganda covered almost half of Kenya, up to the Riftvalley town of Naivasha. It took a Kenyan’s military deployment for the dictator to back down.

In the early 90’s President Museveni also claimed Kenyan land but the then Kenyan President; Moi didn’t stomach that, and deployed the Kenyan Military to the borders and Museveni backed down. So this may be interpreted as another attempt by the Ugandan’s to expand their territory.

How long will this bullying continue? The current weak leadership and power wrestling politicians in Kenya seems to almost assure the Ugandans that this time Kenya might just have become a soft target. Only time will tell.

Africa's great escape

As you read this article, several Africans are in the high seas and the Sahara desert, trying to cross borders and pay their way to ‘prosperity’. We have spent decades with leaders pillaging the land, raping it, and abusing and starving it citizens. Now we shift our burden to regions that we know very well, are as tired as we are of cleaning up the mess. We can go on blaming the colonialist for doing the same to us, but that just gets annoying and exhausting, the problem is ours, we need to solve it.

It’s pretty clear that it’s not going to come form the current leadership we have, but from the citizens around. Just recently some Eritreans and Somalis seeking asylum in Italy, where shipped back before they docked. This caused uproar by the international community. The 227 individuals were sent back to Libya, where the last leg of their journey had originated.

According to UNHCR officials, the Italians have acted against International law, which stipulates that refugees shouldn’t be returned against their will, to a country where they face persecution. Mr. Ron Redmond the UNHCR spokesman says that Italy was obliged to adhere to this legislation.


Quite frankly, however much we are meant to be living in an all united world, where we all hug and kiss each other and wish each other the best, the truth is, if I was Italy’s interior minister I would do the same thing. These so called developed nations, have an obligation to their tax payers, they have their own problems, there’s only so much they can do to assist.


Poverty, devastation, war, corruption and indifference causes African migrants to criss-cross the continent, to get to Morocco where they board small fishing boats, and head to the Spanish Canary islands. They brave the consequences of the voyage; they risk drowning, suicide, toppling over in the chilly waters, starvation and even crude mannerisms by fellow migrants. There have been reports of individuals forcing women to breast feed other passengers, regardless of whether they are lactating or not.


Now, African Migrants have a new route through Libya. This is a shorter route, about 310km to an island called Lampedusa on the south most part of Italy. UN statistics show that out of the 67,000 migrants who arrive in Europe, almost half pass through the Italian Island. This has put a lot of strain on the Islands 6,000 inhabitants, the coast guards and other law enforcement agencies which are ill equipped to handle the magnitude of the migrants.

I am not taking sides here, but you need to see the long term problem in Illegal migration. The Africans, more often than not, on arrival are detained in deplorable areas.

In Lampedusa Island, for example, the holding facility, designed to hold 850 has suffered from the influx of African migrants having risen to 1800. It’s forced people to sleep out in the open under plastic sheeting.The hospice, where the injured are, is packed like matchsticks in a box. This only worsens their already fragile condition.


I look at Illegal immigration as a sign of pure negligence and the irresponsibility of African governments; leadership that is asleep, self serving and blatantly indifferent.


Please tell me what the purpose of the African Union is, when Yoweri Kaguta Museveni insults and bullies Kenya, when Somalia is run by warlords, when People in Western Sahara are being exploited by Morocco, when the Democratic Republic of Congo has the largest number of UN peace keepers in history and Uncle Bob is running Zimbabwe to obscurity?

Are we going to keep waiting for treaties to be drawn, as the so called political elite, decide on how to screw up their respective country’s next?



They want to create a political federation; ‘The United states of Africa’, with ‘Uncle Gadaffi’, already calling himself the continent’s president. We have elderly and mostly senile people ruling. What are you doing about it as an African?

If you are the African brother or sister reaching out to the United States, the European Union or even China or the Middle East, YOU ARE LOST! You are the solution to the problems plaguing you and yours. Take the first step.



We have a lot of youthful people crying out for employment and opportunities. I believe it’s time we created and pushed on our own. What are you doing in your local community? Whatever it is, are you making life better for your brother or sister on the continent? Africa’s Solution….Now wants to know it and share it with the rest of the continent. The change comes from within the borders of Africa not the other way around.

We need to build our own industries, exploit our minerals, process, package and export, use the minds we have and solve the problem and quit being a burden to others.

Say No.......

There have been mixed reactions with the concluded 7 day sex boycott in Kenya. A group of Gender based Non Governmental Organizations by the name G10, chose to take the war on poor, greedy and close to nonexistent leadership by the male dominated coalition government, to a new level.

Since the March 28th signing of the National accord Agreement of 2008, it was expected that the differences would be set aside, after months of violent protests of the election of the incumbent; Mwai Kibaki. It was belived that the way would be paved for reconciliation, recovery and rehabilitation of the country. That hasn’t happened.

Watching local news for many Kenyans has been reduced to a painful ordeal. Each bulletin guarantees an almost 3 stooges, high school popularity contest, coverage on infighting, bickering and focus on unnecessary protocol. Just recently on an official visit around the country the Kenyan Prime minister was concerned about the length of the dignitary red carpet that seemed shorter than the Vice President’s. He also complained of not being received by local leaders, as well as other things, I frankly call petty and nonsensical. Especially when you still have people dying of hunger and disease in IDP camps across the country. Women and children being raped, inflation sky rocketing, however much it is stated it's at the 25% mark, on the ground it is pretty clear that it is much higher.

You have a rising number of University graduates unemployed, frustrated and some turning rogue. You have a well organized terror gang, Mungiki, imposing taxes and levies on locals and butchering anyone who doesn’t conform.

With all that going on it only made sense that after all the picketing, war cries and ‘kumbaya’ singing along the streets, in major towns and cities across the country, wouldn’t work. The next best bet was a 7 day celibacy, with prostitutes being urged to also forgo their livelihood and receive remuneration from the NGOs during the period. The President and Prime Minister’s wives were also urged to join the boycott, naturally it would be more effective if they joined in, to literally ‘let the pain hit home’.

(Right: Kenyan prime Minister, Raila Odinga and his Wife; Ida)

The protest is over, but it is hard to rate the success level, unless you include the couple that went public supporting the protest. Other than that, a drive along Nairobi’s equivalent of a red light district; Koinange Street, proved quite the contrary in the course of the protest. The ‘madams’ of the high street were all geared up for a night of business.

There was an overall uproar with the sex boycott, some seeing it as a reversal of the gains by women over the years; reducing them to sexual play things. Though a quick case comes to mind, proving that sex can be used as a political WMD. In Liberia, when a group of women came together and bravely took on the warlords with a sex boycott during the 14 year long civil war, they successfully brought fighting to a halt.

All in all, it is quite exhausting and very agitating when our so called leaders on this continent, seem so deaf, mute and blind to what is right in front them. They need to realize that it’s just a matter of time before the citizenry will say no more, and this time won’t fight each other for them, but will fight the African bourgeoisie leadership for their real liberation.

Africa’s revolution is not as far as you may think it is.

Captains of Ignorance

I was talking to a couple of friends today, and I was thinking of what next to blog, because I realized that at some point it gets quite annoying and monotonous to discuss current news. The monotony tends to be quite mind numbing, frustrating and it’s pretty easy to just continue in your indifference.

So I thought to myself, why not cheer you up with something other than ‘Our land is being raped repeatedly by our leaders, and our blood sucked dry by foreigners’ story. So here’s a segment to laugh and pick out some of the weirdest and most inaccurate perceptions of Africa, other than the typical Africa is a village, called either Nigeria or South Africa.

Remember the King of Zamunda, Akim and Semi? That’s not the topic of discussion, well at least not for today!

I’ll kick off with the history of the theory that Africans live on trees and are not comfortable in ‘modern transportation.’ By modern, I mean the vehicles that run on fuel, coal or are electrically powered.

Working with the precedent set by the Kenyans and Ethiopians in the marathons, it’s been perceived that we are all light on our feet, fit, and run from one village to the next and even to work.

How did that come along? Well, since Africans preferred oral tradition to the overrated written form, there wasn’t much to work with and all the news Hollywood saw, had bare footed people with dusty faces and dirt roads. It was assumed, that running would be a better option to a long and tedious option of walking.

Now that we do it at marathons with so much ease it only made sense that we naturally commuted on foot by running; ‘We’, meaning every single community on this continent.
A movie was made; an adventure of romance with a cape crusader searching for African treasure and fighting the colonialised African ‘idiot’, who speaks incoherently, all rolled up in the movie King Solomon’s mines. A movie re-made in 1985, from an earlier 1950’s version by the same name.


The trailers are hilarious; pay close attention to what the voice over in the 1950’s version says….goodness!!! The facts are so wrong it’s fascinating! Notice how all the 'Africans' looks like a cowards!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaPF0Ul5WzQ&feature=related (1950 trailer)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxIA-nOpEJU&feature=related (1985 trailer)


The movie has an African by the name Umbopo who never rode on anything that didn’t stop to eat grass. (Hence the running theory)Fabulous! Then deep in the heart of the forest lies a fascinating village whose inhabitants live upside down, suspended from trees like bats.

You know, we are unique people and I appreciate sharing our culture, but constantly being a point of ridicule is just insulting.
Well at least we never portray ourselves as the superheroes saving the planet on solo missions and wiping out entire countries unscathed, like Rambo or Terminator. Like I said we’re unique not stupid.

Quick Facts: President Fradique de Menezes

1. Birthday: March 21st 1942

2. He’s 67 years old

3. He was born of a Portuguese father and a Sao Tomean Mother

4. Attended high school in Portugal, and then studied Education and Psychology at the Free University of Brussels

5. He was preceded by Miguel Trovoada, a lawyer graduated from the University of Lisbon

6. He was temporarily overthrown in a coup on July 16th 2003 by Fernando "Cobo" Pereira a major of the Sao Tomean military who relinquished power on July 23rd of the same year.

7. He’s a wealthy cocoa exporter

8. Was elected in 2001 and re-elected in 2006 for a second and last five year term

9. He relinquished his Portuguese nationality to run for office

Meet the President: Fradique de Menezes

Sao Tome & Principe is one of the smallest African countries. It is a country of two islands; Sao Tome & Principe both of volcanic origins, a major cocoa exporter and a Portuguese colony.

Sao Tome was also a transit for slaves in the 1400s, where convicts where settled with the help of slaves. The population of Sao Tome & Principe is estimated to be 160,000 according to the United Nations.

The head of state is as unique as the country itself. President Fradique de Menezes was born bi-racial, from a Portuguese father and Sao Tomean Mother. He Schooled in Portugal and had possessed dual citizenship, though he later relinquished his Portuguese citizenship to run for office.

President Fradique was elected by a majority in 2001.But his rule has faced a fair share of coups as in the case of his predecessor. While in Nigeria he was ousted from office in a weak military coup on 16th July 2003, in his 3rd year in office. It was short lived, however, he regained power just a week later on 23rd July, after an agreement with the coup leaders to restore democratic rule, was reached.

The country however has been dependent on fishing and Cocoa exports, but is now working towards diversifying its economy with newly discovered oil off the country’s coast. Drilling is underway, and commercial production is expected soon.

In February of this year a coup attempt was thwarted with 30 members of the Christian democratic front being arrested. Weeks later in a press conference President Menezes stated that he would be willing to leave office if he was, “the reason that things are not working in this country”.

If you were given the chance to rule Sao Tome & Principe what would be the first thing you would do?

.ZumA

He’s Africa’s Big man! The one and only Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is South Africa’s new president, after being successfully elected by the South African Parliament yesterday. Mr. Zuma’s also had had quite a brush in his political career.

He was fired as Vice president in 2005 after being implicated on charges of graft, which led to his departure from parliament. In 2006 he was acquitted of rape charges, and has widely been rebuked on his remarks on sex and HIV/AIDS. And just three weeks prior to the 22nd April election, the corruption and fraud charges were dropped.

Mr. Zuma the African National Congress candidate has now successfully proven that the party still has a place in the South African people’s hearts. Having won with a pro-poor populist agenda, it’s the hope of the poor, crime ridden and unemployed South Africans that he’ll be the leader to save them from their plight.

In his address in Parliament yesterday, he urged for hastiness in implementation of framework, to save and secure the country from the current recession, which is being faced globally. He also stated that he intends to have his cabinet sworn in by Monday, 11th May to attend to the country’s affairs.

President Zuma seems energized and ready to go, having his five key areas of his agenda clearly stated. He’ll be focusing on land distribution, education, health, lowering crime levels and decent employment for South Africans.

Only time will tell if he’s the 21st century’s cape crusader for the poor and disadvantaged. I hope Zuma’s approach to land distribution will be carefully thought through, and be an example to other states on this continent on how it should be done. Repeat cases of Zimbabwe and Kenya are the last thing the continent needs.

Mr. Zuma’s inauguration will be this Saturday in Pretoria. Definitely what you'd term, Africa's main event for the day, with tens of thousands expected including 5,000 dignitaries. It's my hope that it'll be an event that matches Zuma's charisma, charm and colourful personality.