Posted inNews/Politics

Lessons for Kenya after Westgate attack

By Jillo Kadida Ever since a bunch of terrorists lay siege at Nairobi’s upmarket Westgate mall, resulting in a three-day-long standoff, Kenyan security forces have been working hard to bury their shame in an avalanche of messages promoting national unity. But three factors show they slept on the job. During the operation there were glaring […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Tribal identity vanishing fast

Recent debates on tribalism and other related matters have generated more heat than light. Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele has reportedly accused the government of sponsoring tribalism to divide the country. At an address to students at Unisa in April this year former president Thabo Mbeki uttered similar remarks that rang alarm bells on the […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Pathetic SABC-TV exposed by Nairobi terror siege

‘Africa’s News Leader’, that’s SABC-TV’s boast. It’s at least as brassy a lie as the Johannesburg metro’s assertion, ‘Joburg: A world-class African city’. The only difference is that the Advertising Standards Authority called out the metro on their misleading claim, while SABC-TV continues to get away with it. However, the Kenyan shopping mall siege, played […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Where is Somalia’s Marshall Plan?

On the bright side, the Nairobi Westgate mall tragedy must bring Kenyans together again and perhaps even go some distance to heal the wounds from their recent internal conflict. Conflict, in general, including the very thing that has just happened to the Kenyans at the hands of al-Shabab, has been a prolific source of underdevelopment […]