<div dir="ltr">Dr. Ndemo i would suggest you try get this published as an opinion piece. And while at it get a regular column. Much better stuff that those wannabe political and social pundits.<br><div><div style id="__af745f8f43-e961-4b88-8424-80b67790c964__">
</div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Oct 10, 2013 at 2:11 PM, S.M. Muraya <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:murigi.muraya@gmail.com" target="_blank">murigi.muraya@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><p>Intellectual and Practical Talk show for Bw.Ndemo?</p>
<p>Intelligent Debates on how to deal with Corruption hindering/resisting Transparent more Automated Governance?<br><br></p>
<p>Regards</p>
<p>Murigi / Stanley Muraya</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Oct 10, 2013 8:15 AM, "waudo siganga" <<a href="mailto:emailsignet@mailcan.com" target="_blank">emailsignet@mailcan.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
This is a well written article Daktari. Your power of observation and<br>
penchant for detail are an indication that you have other talents<br>
outside ICT. I like the irony that when you start off your speech with a<br>
joke about Okonkwo, most of the (Nigerian) audience appears not to know<br>
who or what you are talking about. Then immediately linking this as a<br>
metaphor for the death of intellectualism in Africa is brilliant.<br>
<br>
Otherwise congratulations on your honorary chairmanship and best wishes<br>
to attaining the set goals.<br>
<br>
Waudo<br>
<br>
On Wed, Oct 9, 2013, at 11:54 PM, Bitange Ndemo wrote:<br>
> Three days in Nigeria<br>
> Standing outside Abuja Airport in the soaring temperatures you get amazed<br>
> on how similar to Kenya Nigeria is. This is Africa's most populous<br>
> country. People idling around and women talking animatedly with their<br>
> hands akimbo and they are larger than you can see in Kenya. I had missed<br>
> the person who was to pick me up. Oga! Those who walked by me remarked.<br>
> I assumed it was some greetings to a brother. Colours of their clothing<br>
> is similar to ours and perhaps the only difference with Kenya is that<br>
> more<br>
> men wore multi-colour kanzus. Open shoes, Akala type are more prevalent<br>
> here.<br>
><br>
> I walk towards the taxis. They are gentler than I have read in Nigerian<br>
> literature. They were honest too with the fare to the cities. I had<br>
> begun to settle down and give Nigeria the benefit of doubt but my mind<br>
> takes me back to Odili, the narrator in Achebe’s 1966 novel, Man of the<br>
> People. Also not forgetting the many stories told about Nigerians.<br>
><br>
> For a while I savor the beauty of Abuja scenery. Green everywhere. It<br>
> must be within the rain forest. Land is expanse and untilled. I turn my<br>
> attention to my driver Oku Moses. An affable young man perhaps in his<br>
> early 30’s. I tell him I am from Kenya and in Abuja for the CTO<br>
> conference. He smiles broadly and asked me what I thought of Nigeria as<br>
> if he had read my mind. I said so far so good and immediately I divert<br>
> his train of thought to football. I tell him Nigeria is the main<br>
> hindrance to Kenya’s quest to get to World cup. We became friends<br>
> instantly as he opened up to tell me more.<br>
><br>
> You see that road, he says it leads to nowhere. Corruption is the only<br>
> problem here he adds as his tone begin to sound angrier. I calm him down<br>
> and tell him it happens all over Africa. The 50 kilometer super highway<br>
> from the airport to Abuja is as good as it gets, actually better than<br>
> Nairobi Thika highway. The Hotel I am headed to, is called Chelsea,<br>
> named<br>
> after the English league team Chelsea. Oku is a fan of Arsenal another<br>
> English league team. He knows all the players. He asks which team I<br>
> support and when I tell him none, he then says that is why you will never<br>
> go to world cup.<br>
><br>
> At the hotel Oku bids me farewell and hands me his card. Call me he<br>
> says.<br>
> I will show you the best of Nigeria. It is still hot and my room was<br>
> steaming with heat. This three star hotel does not have a centralized AC<br>
> but I could do with an old cranky stand-alone cooling system. As I<br>
> cranked it up, it made more noise that I could not listen to news on TV.<br>
> Then suddenly the lights went off – blackout!!. Outside it was raining<br>
> heavily. I said Geez this is home but soon some generator boomed just<br>
> outside my room to bring light. I wished they had shut it down.<br>
><br>
> Dinner time I joined other colleagues, Sonia, Karin, Robert and John for<br>
> Dinner. Me and Sonia were the vegetarians and so requested for pasta,<br>
> the<br>
> only vegetarian dish on the menu. Alas! when the food came there was<br>
> chicken on pasta instead of tomato. The young waitress tells me she<br>
> decided on chicken since there were no tomatoes. After a few exchanges<br>
> she seems to remember something and says I can make it vegetarian. Wala!<br>
> like magic she comes back with pasta alone. I said thank you but as I<br>
> start to eat, I discover or rather the waitress had forgotten that the<br>
> base was chicken and she had only removed the toppings of chicken. She<br>
> meant well and wanted to do well but she missed the point.<br>
><br>
> As I watched Nigerian channels that evening, I say to myself, Nigeria is<br>
> Kenya and Kenya is Nigeria. We were colonized by the British. We<br>
> attained independence at about the same time in the 1960s. We have new<br>
> constitutions with devolved powers. Just like Kenya, Nigeria continues<br>
> to<br>
> experience longstanding ethnic and religious tensions. Although in<br>
> Kenya’s 2008 as in Nigeria’s 2003 and 2007 presidential elections were<br>
> marred by significant irregularities and violence, but both countries are<br>
> experiencing relative peace interrupted by the Al-Shabab and Boka Haram<br>
> respectively.<br>
><br>
> On Nigerian TV as in Kenya politicians complain that they need more power<br>
> to states and counties. They seem not to understand that they are the<br>
> ones with the power to change legislation and so when they complain, the<br>
> masses have no representation. They also need more money yet they are<br>
> the<br>
> ones who appropriate resources. They complain about soaring crime yet<br>
> they are the ones who have the mandate to bring better security<br>
> legislation.<br>
> On the roads, motor bikes ride on the assumption that every motorist<br>
> should watch on them. Careless and dangerous like in Kenya. If you<br>
> admire the cleanliness of Abuja while driving, you will for sure hit one<br>
> of them. Public places including hotels are guarded by armed policemen.<br>
><br>
> In my speech at the conference I said I was glad to visit Nigeria, land<br>
> of<br>
> Okonkwo from Umuofia (one of a fictional group of nine villages in<br>
> Nigeria, inhabited by the Igbo people). Only a handful of the people in<br>
> the audience who knew that I was referring to Achebe’s 1958 novel, Things<br>
> Fall Apart. Later Funke, a prominent Nigerian businesswoman and friend<br>
> tells me that intellectualism died in Nigeria. There was a time in<br>
> Nigeria prominent writers were the role model of society. These were the<br>
> people who put our oral history on paper but we decided to chase them<br>
> away. It is sad that Achebe had to die in foreign land alone without his<br>
> people. I tell Funke, it is so strikingly similar to Kenya that our<br>
> prominent writers are getting old and wasted away in foreign lands.<br>
><br>
> Haruna is driving me back to the airport. He like Oku is polite but with<br>
> much better intellect than an ordinary driver. His grasp of African<br>
> matters is excellent. Out of the blue he tells me, you worked with<br>
> government. I tell him yes and I quickly ask him why. No I just wanted<br>
> to know, he says. Then he tells me that he is driving a car (VX Land<br>
> Cruiser) that he will never afford to buy in his entire life. I note the<br>
> ambition in him and tell him that if you know then you are capable of<br>
> buying the car. I am not in government, he says. I tell him you do not<br>
> need to be in government to buy the car. You see I was in government but<br>
> I still cannot drive such a thing. He looks at me then he says, it is by<br>
> choice on your part. I tipped him $20 and bade him farewell. He was<br>
> stunned.<br>
><br>
> I leave Nigeria with many fond memories. It was three days but enough to<br>
> grasp the dreams of other people. Their desires. Their hopes. We are<br>
> all the same and hopefully one day we shall change the stigma of<br>
> corruption by improving the fortunes of our Africa. God bless Africa.<br>
><br>
><br>
> Ndemo.<br>
><br>
><br>
> University of Nairobi<br>
> Business School, Lower Kabete Campus<br>
><br>
><br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><span style="border-collapse:collapse;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><i><span style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif"><div><span style="font-weight:800">Warm Regards, <br>
<br></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:800">PETER WAKABA <br>AFRICA BUSINESS EDITOR, <br>CCTV AFRICA</span> <br></div><div><span style="font-weight:800"><br></span></div><b>Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up, it knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a gazelle or a lion. When the sun comes up, you better start running.</b></span><br style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif">
<span style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-weight:bold">- In "The World is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman.</span></i></span><div></div></div>
</div>