A review of: Rose Lukalo-Owino, A Legacy of Giving: The Story of Mohamedally and Maniben Rattansi Educational Trust, Allavida, Nairobi: 2008. — In Trust for Tomorrow: Kenya Community Development Foundation, Allavida, Nairobi: 2008. — One Woman At a Time: The Kianda Foundation, Allavida, Nairobi: 2008. Connie Ngodi-Houghton, Promoting Philanthropy in Kenya: The Case for Tax…
Disclaimer: This is a reprint of an article I wrote in 2005 and was subsequently published by an online newspaper, NewZimbabwe.com. In re-reading it, I noticed that it still applies to the current situation surrounding negotiations. One needs only replace a few words such as “elections” with “negotiations” and everything will read as if it…
My view is that politicians are like chameleons: they change their skin colour depending on the environment that they want to adapt to. This is the case today as it was yesterday, with Zimbabwean politicians from all political formations. Suddenly Zanu-PF and the MDC are bed-fellows; they can together mislead the media, agree to media…
I want to make it clear that this is not an argument, but a recount of events of the past week. The events have been so fluid that I decided I would just recount some of the highlights. I am writing this piece at a very strange and ungodly hour. It’s well past midnight. It’s…
This was a difficult contribution to make for a number of reasons. First, I am very close to the events that I am about to describe. In early 1982 to the late 1980s, Zimbabwe experienced an ugly period called Gukurahundi (a Shona word meaning, the early rain that washes away the chaff before the spring…
The signs are very clear: June 27 and its aftermath spell doom for Zimbabwe. Already weeks leading up to the run-off have been characterised by abductions, torture and murder. The violence is just unimaginable. As a matter of fact, what people saw in South Africa in the past couple of weeks is reminiscent of the…
This is probably the last time some people will talk to me. For what I am about to say is well known in the sector and no one has dared say it publicly, at least in a systematic and sustained manner. Well, today I am going to. I want to make it clear that what…
The crowd went into frenzy. Old and young, men and women, all listened attentively as Innocent Batsani Ncube recited his poems. I had listened to Innocent earlier on in the afternoon when he did a short piece on the “R” factor in reference to the just ended elections in Zimbabwe. The “R” referred to Robert…
Events of the past months make it very difficult to defend the relevance of elections. The cases of Kenya and Zimbabwe point to the need for a new thinking around governance. In these two cases, elections have betrayed people’s wishes and subverted their democratic right to a leader of their choice. Such scenarios call for…
Kenya has been spared from sliding into more crises. Yesterday, its Parliament unanimously passed into law two crucial Bills that seek to operationalise the power-sharing deal between the ODM and PNU. This was a historic moment for Kenyans as they watched the live parliamentary session, which was attended by both Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga….
