In California, the State Supreme Court has just ruled that love is a human right, and that individuals therefore have a right to marry whomever they choose. But gay marriage is not what Ngugi wa Thiong'o and the late Ngugi wa Mirie had in mind when they wrote I Will Marry When I Want.
Love may not be a basic need, but it is certainly a human need. The human animal is capable of love, deep love -- but I am not so sure about the animal-animal. Thus, though we are thusly capable, we don't have to be dogs about it. We are not now even allowed to be dogs; worse still, roosters in full view or he-goats in the village barn.
Love and sex are not the same thing. Sex follows, presupposes, love. However, some cultures have for long operated on the premise that love can be nurtured via marriage, which must be arranged; nurtured by familiarity -- and by the sex which such marriage legitimizes. In many places, however, this cultural dimension has been rapidly eroded by the spread of such factors as general education and gender awareness.
Nevertheless, love continues to be, in many ways, culturally constructed. Society in general demands that its consummation -- particularly the comsummation of sexual love (for there is such a contrasting thing, dry as it may be, as platonic love)-- conform to certain prescriptions, expectations and understandings. There are even rites of passage and ceremonies that must be observed to give it the stamp of approval. Above all, at every encounter there must be consent -- of the "weaker sex." That is why there is something called wife (spousal?)rape, and something called date rape -- and why they are, to the poorly socialized, such problematics.
Love may be a human right, but it is a big stretch to argue that it thus endows us with an inalienable right to marry (and presumably have sex with) whomever we love and who loves us. We love our parents and siblings, but we have no right to marry them. It is in fact taboo in all cultures. In many cultures, marrying a "close" cousin is also taboo -- probably on genetic grounds, as some medico-historical evidence suggests, and on grounds of opportunity.
Love, marriage and sex are the building blocks of one of the core pillars of society -- the family (as an institution). Love and sex can produce children, and therefore give society a biological/genetic family unit larger than the dyad, only in heterosexual marriage or unions. To repeat, only heterosexual unions produce biological children. The technology of in vitro , fertilization, as liberating and comforting as it is, does not change this fundamental fact -- though cloning may, in the near future.
If this capacity for biological reproduction were to cease to-day (May 17, 2008) due to some unspeakable x-ray-based or related catasptophe, then the human species would be extinct by May 17, 2138! It is as simple as that. Has humanity always known of this danger. Yes, it seems to me -- at least "instinctively".
Gay marriage is thus the very antithesis of human survival. It is nevertheless harmless to that survival so long as it remains an aberration, a fringe practice in terms of the numbers involved.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Daily Nation: A New Kind of Ad or an "Unpublic" Reprimand?
Strange ad (or misplaced internal memo) seen on page 52 of Daily Nation of May 16, 2008. Titled Respect company property, it reads:"Is it not simple logic that the more you misuse company property the more you prevent your employer from awarding you the salary or benefits raise that you so badly need? Would you blame your employer for pointing out that the company has experienced a strain in operation finances, and would therefore not realise growth in profits to warrant a salary raise if you knew very well that you've made volumes of copies of personal material during the year?"
The individual to whom the text was sent is not known. But somehow it seems intended for all of us who do paperwork! Reminds me of what I wrote in a recent poem: "Down with all the peeps who cause ire!" More intriguing, though, is how it lodged itself on that jobs page (only one of some 20 jobs pages), wedged between six ads from: The Sotik Tea Companies, "A newly established Lighting company", Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers Limited,The Advertiser, Amref and KIPPRA.
No contact address is shown, and so there is no possibility of RTS. No deadline is given, either. A botched-up job, sure. Or an unpublic, block-cut-and-paste reprimand that is now so anonymously public. Did it originate from the newspaper itself? Do we deserve a correction, then? And a laugh -- at whose expense?
All that I have said above would be a legitimate reading of the material text on page 52, as an odd stand-alone text. Which is what I originally thought it was as I came came suddenly upon it in my quick search for some UNDP ad which had earlier caught my attention. Later, as I went on with my search for that ad, and began to go over the same pages 37 to 56 again, I was surprised to notice that page 42 carried two similar but less accusatory inserts. In fact, two very useful pieces of advice. So this was someone's smart idea -- a new kind of ad, so to speak: In-between standard advertising texts, squeeze a few tips or inspirational messages for job-seekers. Fair enough!
The first insert is titled The Template Cover Letter and reads: "A template cover letter for job applications can save you a lot of time. Create one, from which you develop your specific job applications, making only the relevant alterations to suit the type of job you are applying for. It is time saving and will liberate you from the headache of coming up with an opening and closing (usually the most difficult) line each time you make a job application."
The second insert, titled Adopting the "ever-ready" attitude, reads: "Do you always update curriculum vitae (CV) as immediately as is necessary? If not, you should do so immediately. You do not have to wait up to the point you are frantically job searching to update your resume with the most recent developments. Having such a CV handy is considered good practice. An excellent opportunity might flash past when you least expect. You need to be able to immediately give chase."
Both inserts clearly presuppose the use of computers for working on both template and CV. One does not have to own a computer, however. There are enough cybercafes now in many of Kenya's cities and towns, which will do for the purposes of template re-doing and CV updating. Clearly, however, one must invest in a flash-disc or a CD for storing one's texts, which must be kept in a safe and easily accessible place.
One may even sidestep flash-discs and CDs altogether and safely save one's texts in cyberspace, for free, using facilities such as are provided by Google and Yahoo! But to do this, one must know how to surf the net. One must acquire the patience and attention to detail required to access and seamlessly use virtual files! The most basic skill in all this, it should be emphasized, is word-processing. It will greatly speed up matters and help avoid the hassle (and cost) of dealing with busy, expensive and/or long-faced secretaries/typists if one can type one's work oneself.
In today's rapid-fire society, templates are useful in virtually all contexts of textual communication, including intra-organizational memos and reporting. As the first insert indicates, they help us to avoid the stress and tedium of re-inventing the wheel. However, in the rush to rush -- that is, to block-cut-and- paste -- always remember to update the date of your memo or letter also, and to address it to the right office or officer or email address.
The frequency with which you should update your CV is a function of the frequency of material happenings in your life or career. There is not one standard formula. Thus, for some people, an annual update, complete with a new printout and saving, will do just fine. For others, a bi-annual update; while for some, even a quarterly update will be, generally if not invariably, too infrequent.
The value of the advice in the second insert lies in the fact that if you want to ensure maximum accuracy and detail in your CV update, the most frantic time to start doing it (to start recalling the facts and figures) is the usually short period between the publication of the relevant advertisement (and you may come across it only after a few vital days have passed) and the deadline it gives.
It is advisable and cost-saving, of course, to adopt the habit of accurately and accessibly filing (in long- or short-hand, if you have no ready access to a computer) details of important events in your life/career as and whenever they occur. Thus, even if your saved CV is not immediately updated and printed afresh after every event, you'll be OK.
Going back to the ad on page 52, all I can say in conclusion is that it goes against the grain on these jobs pages. I get the feeling that my first instinct was right. Alternatively, there was a quality-control failure in the office that determines the material to appear on the jobs pages. That ad should not have appeared. As an inspirational text, it strikes me as puerile.
The individual to whom the text was sent is not known. But somehow it seems intended for all of us who do paperwork! Reminds me of what I wrote in a recent poem: "Down with all the peeps who cause ire!" More intriguing, though, is how it lodged itself on that jobs page (only one of some 20 jobs pages), wedged between six ads from: The Sotik Tea Companies, "A newly established Lighting company", Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers Limited,The Advertiser, Amref and KIPPRA.
No contact address is shown, and so there is no possibility of RTS. No deadline is given, either. A botched-up job, sure. Or an unpublic, block-cut-and-paste reprimand that is now so anonymously public. Did it originate from the newspaper itself? Do we deserve a correction, then? And a laugh -- at whose expense?
All that I have said above would be a legitimate reading of the material text on page 52, as an odd stand-alone text. Which is what I originally thought it was as I came came suddenly upon it in my quick search for some UNDP ad which had earlier caught my attention. Later, as I went on with my search for that ad, and began to go over the same pages 37 to 56 again, I was surprised to notice that page 42 carried two similar but less accusatory inserts. In fact, two very useful pieces of advice. So this was someone's smart idea -- a new kind of ad, so to speak: In-between standard advertising texts, squeeze a few tips or inspirational messages for job-seekers. Fair enough!
The first insert is titled The Template Cover Letter and reads: "A template cover letter for job applications can save you a lot of time. Create one, from which you develop your specific job applications, making only the relevant alterations to suit the type of job you are applying for. It is time saving and will liberate you from the headache of coming up with an opening and closing (usually the most difficult) line each time you make a job application."
The second insert, titled Adopting the "ever-ready" attitude, reads: "Do you always update curriculum vitae (CV) as immediately as is necessary? If not, you should do so immediately. You do not have to wait up to the point you are frantically job searching to update your resume with the most recent developments. Having such a CV handy is considered good practice. An excellent opportunity might flash past when you least expect. You need to be able to immediately give chase."
Both inserts clearly presuppose the use of computers for working on both template and CV. One does not have to own a computer, however. There are enough cybercafes now in many of Kenya's cities and towns, which will do for the purposes of template re-doing and CV updating. Clearly, however, one must invest in a flash-disc or a CD for storing one's texts, which must be kept in a safe and easily accessible place.
One may even sidestep flash-discs and CDs altogether and safely save one's texts in cyberspace, for free, using facilities such as are provided by Google and Yahoo! But to do this, one must know how to surf the net. One must acquire the patience and attention to detail required to access and seamlessly use virtual files! The most basic skill in all this, it should be emphasized, is word-processing. It will greatly speed up matters and help avoid the hassle (and cost) of dealing with busy, expensive and/or long-faced secretaries/typists if one can type one's work oneself.
In today's rapid-fire society, templates are useful in virtually all contexts of textual communication, including intra-organizational memos and reporting. As the first insert indicates, they help us to avoid the stress and tedium of re-inventing the wheel. However, in the rush to rush -- that is, to block-cut-and- paste -- always remember to update the date of your memo or letter also, and to address it to the right office or officer or email address.
The frequency with which you should update your CV is a function of the frequency of material happenings in your life or career. There is not one standard formula. Thus, for some people, an annual update, complete with a new printout and saving, will do just fine. For others, a bi-annual update; while for some, even a quarterly update will be, generally if not invariably, too infrequent.
The value of the advice in the second insert lies in the fact that if you want to ensure maximum accuracy and detail in your CV update, the most frantic time to start doing it (to start recalling the facts and figures) is the usually short period between the publication of the relevant advertisement (and you may come across it only after a few vital days have passed) and the deadline it gives.
It is advisable and cost-saving, of course, to adopt the habit of accurately and accessibly filing (in long- or short-hand, if you have no ready access to a computer) details of important events in your life/career as and whenever they occur. Thus, even if your saved CV is not immediately updated and printed afresh after every event, you'll be OK.
Going back to the ad on page 52, all I can say in conclusion is that it goes against the grain on these jobs pages. I get the feeling that my first instinct was right. Alternatively, there was a quality-control failure in the office that determines the material to appear on the jobs pages. That ad should not have appeared. As an inspirational text, it strikes me as puerile.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The Price of Liberty in Kenya: Grand Coalition versus Grand Opposition
The overwhelming majority of Kenyans agreed, it seems to me, that a Grand Coalition Government was necessary on two purely pragmatic grounds. First, it was the only sure way to prevent the country from falling apart in an orgy of violence following last December's general elections. Second, it was not really possible to determine which candidate had actually won the Presidential race -- much as ODM had claimed, using its own inconclusive and even flawed evidence, that Raila had won without question. And yet, it was clear to nearly everyone, Kibaki and PNU had stolen the Presidential vote -- with a lot of help from Kivuitu and others at ECK.
What was not in dispute was that ODM was the single largest party in the new parliament. Its leader was Raila Amolo Odinga. So when Koffi Annan eventually brokered a compromise at the end of last February, it was clear that power-sharing would have to be spearheaded by Kibaki and Raila. Since Kibaki was not going to give up the President's seat -- being, inter alia, the incumbent -- and nobody, not even Raila, had the wherewithall or wits to ease him out, the only viable option was to create the Executive Prime Minister's seat for Raila, and to work out a formula for equal power-sharing at the cabinet and other levels (in particular, at the level of Assistant Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Ambassadors and High Commissioners, and top positions in the parastatals). Surrogates were to negotiate details of the deal, with the two principals having the final say regarding issues on which the negotiators failed to agree. Eventually, there was no real agreement between the negotiating teams, and the two principals decided to take the bull by the horn at Sagana.
The size and composition of the cabinet, and the apportioning of ministries between PNU and ODM, as agreed at Sagana, clearly signalled to most Kenyans that ODM had been seriously, if not cynically, short-changed. Kibaki, long dismissed as indecisive and incapable of standing toe-to-toe with Raila (Agwambo), had not only outwitted Raila but also proved to be a savvier negotiator. In the process, he had exposed to the wider public a character flaw in Raila which some close observers of Raila's public life have for some time now quietly worried and/or grumbled about -- not without a large dose of despair and even exasperation.
The flaw is, simply, that when left alone with "the other side," he is more likely than not to end up siding/agreeing with that side -- to his side's chagrin. Some observers believe that they have figured him out even more finely, arguing that what drives Raila is not any malice toward any friend or ally -- but purely and simply self-interest (regardless of the consequences).
Raila argues that the power-sharing was more than numerically equitable, if you look at it all with a fine tooth-comb. But no one believes him. Not even his thousands of fanatical, long suffering, followers in Kisumu City and its environs -- as the events of last Saturday suggest. He argues, moreover, that the ministries that he negotiated with Kibaki for ODM were fairly distributed among the ODM fraternity. But no one believes that either -- with the possible exception of the actual beneficiaries of that rather skewed distribution. There is considerable disquiet about that skewness in Rift Valley and Nyanza, and even parts of Western Province -- all bedrock of ODM support. And there is exasperation that he did not get the ministries of foreign affairs and finance.
Now, as I see it, it is this disquiet that is driving the call for a Grand Opposition in parliament -- to be underpinned by an act of parliament for additional political cover. And Raila is, of course, vehemently opposed to the idea. Is there any merit -- is there a compelling reason -- for the Grand Opposition?
In principle, Raila is right. There should be no grounds whatsoever for members of a party, elected to parliament under its banner, to technically decamp to another grouping of whatever kind -- for this has the very real potential of taking away, extra-democratically, their party's legitimately won parliamentary/legislative power. Parliamentary majority represents any party's understanding of the very basis of parliamentary/legislative power in a multi-party democracy. It is what drives all inter-party contests during and between general elections. It is why party discipline is taken so seriously. A party's parliamentary voting block is its only armament.
Proponents of a legislated Grand Opposition, on the other hand, argue that they are driven by an equally, if not loftier, principle: keeping the country from sliding back into a de facto one-party state. That is, creating a circuit-breaker against those who might be tempted to revive the Moi-era type of dictatorship. They imagine that only a Grand Opposition can resonate with the public as the people's voice, quite distinct from the government's voice. Moreover, only such a legislated Grand Opposition would qualify as an official opposition -- and an official opposition is provided for in the constitution. In their view, the Grand Coalition violates this important constitutional provision.
Yet it can equally or more persuasively be argued that what gives potency to the call for a Grand Coalition is a set of very pragmatic considerations -- not quite considerations of principle. One, ODM is controlled by a hard-core of self-centred individuals who, unless kept constantly on their toes, will simply use party and governmental structures to favour themselves and reward their cronies, while using party discipline to put rebellious backbenchers themselves on a short leash. The backbenchers seek to avoid the danger of being "whipped" at will to support all programmes and motions, even of questionable value, tabled in parliament by their colleagues "in government". They do not want to be denied by the party hierarchy the opportunity to participate meaningfully in setting parliament's agenda and running its committees. They do not want to be compelled to look the other way when bad governance rears its head.
Two, ODM backbenchers, in particular, have seen how dismally their "principal" performed during his final negotiations with Kibaki for cabinet and Permanent Secretary slots. They are bound to wonder how many more skewed deals between the President and the Prime Minister they can endure in silence till the next general elections. More specifically, they fear that the government agenda for the next five years will be PNU-driven, at the expense of broad-based ODM interests. They fear, moreover, that the Prime Minister does not see the danger, given his poor one-on-one negotiating skills. They can point to how the IDP issue is being handled as another clear evidence of this. In their view, it has been mandled hurriedly, one-sidedly, without due regard to history, and with Raila's acquiescence.
Since the 1980s, Raila has cultivated the political persona of a fearless, unstoppable representative of the people's will -- and a fearsome adversary with a fanatical power-base. The political brand he has created is next to none in Kenya and the region. He has rightfully earned the nickname Agwambo. So it was in amazement that the massive rally in Kisumu last Saturday, and the millions who tuned to their TVs or radio, heard him characterize ODM's entry into the Coalition Government as a surrender. "He who surrenders lives to fight another day," he argued. It might have been a slip of the tongue. The saying is,correctly, "He who retreats lives to..." He seemed to have realized the misspeak, as he immediately added the Maoist phrase "Two steps forward, one step backward" -- which captures the notion of inexorable forward-motion, despite short-term reverses. But what the audience heard was "surrender!" The live audience did not seem to like much of what he had to say that day, and was very loud about it -- and that must be a worry.
In Kisumu, and at Bondo, he was particularly worked up about the idea of a Grand Opposition. He argued that it was unnecessary and intended to undermine the government -- of which ODM was now, belatedly to be sure, a part. He asked its proponents, whom he labelled frustrated self-seekers, to resign and seek a fresh mandate from the voters.
But the proponents are already accusing him and others opposed to the move(such as ODM-K's Kalonzo Musyoka) of "dictatorial and draconian" tendencies, and of personalizing the issue. They insist that they will carry on, and will not resign their parliamentary seats. It is not known, however, wnat would happen to the Grand Opposition if its proponents -- particularly Isaac Ruto, Ababu Namwamba and Julius Kones -- were to be offered Assistant Minister positions tomorrow; or if they were to be thrown out of their political parties, forcing them to stand for re-election.
Having written the bulk of the foregoing yesterday, I now read in today's (Wednesday's) local daily that the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Kenneth Marende, yesterday threw a spanner in the works. He announced that backbench MPs were free to form a Grand Opposition without having to stand for re-election. There was, indeed, as he pointed out, a provision for an opposition in parliament, although parliament could expunge the provision if it deemed it detrimental. Clearly, however, expunging it would require the concurrence of the 85 or so MPs who already support the Grand Opposition, and whose support would be required to deliver the new constitution promised by ODM by April 2009.
On largely pragmatic grounds, I think the Grand Coalition is a good idea whose time has suddenly, surprisingly, emphatically, come. It is an idea which was hardly conceivable even two months ago. It is intended to undermine the Prime Minister. Rather, it underscores the old adage that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. The Prime Minister should support it for the good of the country, and for his own good. Do I think that we will have a new constitution by April 2009? We may have a new constitution, but not the kind of comprehensive constitution which ODM has been promising. Far from it, given the twists and turns we have witnessed since January 2008.
What was not in dispute was that ODM was the single largest party in the new parliament. Its leader was Raila Amolo Odinga. So when Koffi Annan eventually brokered a compromise at the end of last February, it was clear that power-sharing would have to be spearheaded by Kibaki and Raila. Since Kibaki was not going to give up the President's seat -- being, inter alia, the incumbent -- and nobody, not even Raila, had the wherewithall or wits to ease him out, the only viable option was to create the Executive Prime Minister's seat for Raila, and to work out a formula for equal power-sharing at the cabinet and other levels (in particular, at the level of Assistant Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Ambassadors and High Commissioners, and top positions in the parastatals). Surrogates were to negotiate details of the deal, with the two principals having the final say regarding issues on which the negotiators failed to agree. Eventually, there was no real agreement between the negotiating teams, and the two principals decided to take the bull by the horn at Sagana.
The size and composition of the cabinet, and the apportioning of ministries between PNU and ODM, as agreed at Sagana, clearly signalled to most Kenyans that ODM had been seriously, if not cynically, short-changed. Kibaki, long dismissed as indecisive and incapable of standing toe-to-toe with Raila (Agwambo), had not only outwitted Raila but also proved to be a savvier negotiator. In the process, he had exposed to the wider public a character flaw in Raila which some close observers of Raila's public life have for some time now quietly worried and/or grumbled about -- not without a large dose of despair and even exasperation.
The flaw is, simply, that when left alone with "the other side," he is more likely than not to end up siding/agreeing with that side -- to his side's chagrin. Some observers believe that they have figured him out even more finely, arguing that what drives Raila is not any malice toward any friend or ally -- but purely and simply self-interest (regardless of the consequences).
Raila argues that the power-sharing was more than numerically equitable, if you look at it all with a fine tooth-comb. But no one believes him. Not even his thousands of fanatical, long suffering, followers in Kisumu City and its environs -- as the events of last Saturday suggest. He argues, moreover, that the ministries that he negotiated with Kibaki for ODM were fairly distributed among the ODM fraternity. But no one believes that either -- with the possible exception of the actual beneficiaries of that rather skewed distribution. There is considerable disquiet about that skewness in Rift Valley and Nyanza, and even parts of Western Province -- all bedrock of ODM support. And there is exasperation that he did not get the ministries of foreign affairs and finance.
Now, as I see it, it is this disquiet that is driving the call for a Grand Opposition in parliament -- to be underpinned by an act of parliament for additional political cover. And Raila is, of course, vehemently opposed to the idea. Is there any merit -- is there a compelling reason -- for the Grand Opposition?
In principle, Raila is right. There should be no grounds whatsoever for members of a party, elected to parliament under its banner, to technically decamp to another grouping of whatever kind -- for this has the very real potential of taking away, extra-democratically, their party's legitimately won parliamentary/legislative power. Parliamentary majority represents any party's understanding of the very basis of parliamentary/legislative power in a multi-party democracy. It is what drives all inter-party contests during and between general elections. It is why party discipline is taken so seriously. A party's parliamentary voting block is its only armament.
Proponents of a legislated Grand Opposition, on the other hand, argue that they are driven by an equally, if not loftier, principle: keeping the country from sliding back into a de facto one-party state. That is, creating a circuit-breaker against those who might be tempted to revive the Moi-era type of dictatorship. They imagine that only a Grand Opposition can resonate with the public as the people's voice, quite distinct from the government's voice. Moreover, only such a legislated Grand Opposition would qualify as an official opposition -- and an official opposition is provided for in the constitution. In their view, the Grand Coalition violates this important constitutional provision.
Yet it can equally or more persuasively be argued that what gives potency to the call for a Grand Coalition is a set of very pragmatic considerations -- not quite considerations of principle. One, ODM is controlled by a hard-core of self-centred individuals who, unless kept constantly on their toes, will simply use party and governmental structures to favour themselves and reward their cronies, while using party discipline to put rebellious backbenchers themselves on a short leash. The backbenchers seek to avoid the danger of being "whipped" at will to support all programmes and motions, even of questionable value, tabled in parliament by their colleagues "in government". They do not want to be denied by the party hierarchy the opportunity to participate meaningfully in setting parliament's agenda and running its committees. They do not want to be compelled to look the other way when bad governance rears its head.
Two, ODM backbenchers, in particular, have seen how dismally their "principal" performed during his final negotiations with Kibaki for cabinet and Permanent Secretary slots. They are bound to wonder how many more skewed deals between the President and the Prime Minister they can endure in silence till the next general elections. More specifically, they fear that the government agenda for the next five years will be PNU-driven, at the expense of broad-based ODM interests. They fear, moreover, that the Prime Minister does not see the danger, given his poor one-on-one negotiating skills. They can point to how the IDP issue is being handled as another clear evidence of this. In their view, it has been mandled hurriedly, one-sidedly, without due regard to history, and with Raila's acquiescence.
Since the 1980s, Raila has cultivated the political persona of a fearless, unstoppable representative of the people's will -- and a fearsome adversary with a fanatical power-base. The political brand he has created is next to none in Kenya and the region. He has rightfully earned the nickname Agwambo. So it was in amazement that the massive rally in Kisumu last Saturday, and the millions who tuned to their TVs or radio, heard him characterize ODM's entry into the Coalition Government as a surrender. "He who surrenders lives to fight another day," he argued. It might have been a slip of the tongue. The saying is,correctly, "He who retreats lives to..." He seemed to have realized the misspeak, as he immediately added the Maoist phrase "Two steps forward, one step backward" -- which captures the notion of inexorable forward-motion, despite short-term reverses. But what the audience heard was "surrender!" The live audience did not seem to like much of what he had to say that day, and was very loud about it -- and that must be a worry.
In Kisumu, and at Bondo, he was particularly worked up about the idea of a Grand Opposition. He argued that it was unnecessary and intended to undermine the government -- of which ODM was now, belatedly to be sure, a part. He asked its proponents, whom he labelled frustrated self-seekers, to resign and seek a fresh mandate from the voters.
But the proponents are already accusing him and others opposed to the move(such as ODM-K's Kalonzo Musyoka) of "dictatorial and draconian" tendencies, and of personalizing the issue. They insist that they will carry on, and will not resign their parliamentary seats. It is not known, however, wnat would happen to the Grand Opposition if its proponents -- particularly Isaac Ruto, Ababu Namwamba and Julius Kones -- were to be offered Assistant Minister positions tomorrow; or if they were to be thrown out of their political parties, forcing them to stand for re-election.
Having written the bulk of the foregoing yesterday, I now read in today's (Wednesday's) local daily that the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Kenneth Marende, yesterday threw a spanner in the works. He announced that backbench MPs were free to form a Grand Opposition without having to stand for re-election. There was, indeed, as he pointed out, a provision for an opposition in parliament, although parliament could expunge the provision if it deemed it detrimental. Clearly, however, expunging it would require the concurrence of the 85 or so MPs who already support the Grand Opposition, and whose support would be required to deliver the new constitution promised by ODM by April 2009.
On largely pragmatic grounds, I think the Grand Coalition is a good idea whose time has suddenly, surprisingly, emphatically, come. It is an idea which was hardly conceivable even two months ago. It is intended to undermine the Prime Minister. Rather, it underscores the old adage that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. The Prime Minister should support it for the good of the country, and for his own good. Do I think that we will have a new constitution by April 2009? We may have a new constitution, but not the kind of comprehensive constitution which ODM has been promising. Far from it, given the twists and turns we have witnessed since January 2008.
The Phenomenology of Tourism
[This is a slightly amended version of a speech I made at the Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, in the evening of June 30, 2005, during a well-attended launch of the Kenya Xplored Handbook]
Introduction:
Tourists are people who are away from home – that is, from their usual places of residence – visiting other places. Their absence from home is short-term. The main purposes of their travel are leisure or one form or another of business or occupation or pursuit.
Tourism is driven by that occasional but deep urge in all of us to be somewhere else; somewhere other than where we routinely find ourselves, and routinely are; somewhere else that adds, or promises to add, value to our lives. It has been that way since time immemorial. This is what is oftentimes called the culture of travel, which is underpinned in perhaps all of us by a deeper force, a deeper predisposition – the frontier ethic. Africa was history’s first site of tourism. It is very easy to arrive at that momentous conclusion. It was humankind’s first home, and stayed that way for thousands of years, so archaeological and DNA evidence tell us. It was the primeval frontier ethic of Africa’s children, resident in these eastern parts of the continent, that spread not only tourism but humankind itself around the world. A monument to that fact is sorely needed. If time allows, I will return to this point in a moment.
Many of Africa’s children went, but never came back. But some did. From my readings I remember Cheng Ho, who was here on the eastern coast before Vasco Da Gama. I remember the brave seafarers who left far Asia to settle in Madagascar. Sometimes they came back in the wombs of their future mothers – and were born and died here. So it was with Mr. Griffin. But we have never truly built a monument to that first world family on whose shoulders, in whose loins, the future of the entire human race rested – Adam and Eve.
If Africa was tourism’s first origin and destination, the continent is not nowadays a tourism leader in terms of volume. It has been like that for perhaps a millennium or two. Western societies, for example, have gone much farther ahead. They acquired “a new sense of geographical and social mobility” – and “the new aesthetic which arose in response” – starting in the middle of the 19th century. The culture of travel, Bell notes, was sparked off by the coming of the railroad and “the excitement of speed” that it unleashed. The aesthetic of the village landscape gave way to an aesthetic of the wider world -- anchored, as it were, on "memories of people and things seen along the way", on the built structures and spaces of the city and the accompanying lifestyles, and on their rendition by impressionist and post-impressionist painters: Renoir, Manet, Seurat, Degas, Monet, Signac, Pissaro and others (Bell, 1976: 107, 48; also see Courthion, 1977). Later, of course, the excitement of speed and what Bell calls “a syncretism of experience” were to be pushed to their limits by the arrival of the automobile and the aeroplane.
The value addition which I mentioned earlier takes various forms, though the picture that tends to dominate our minds, when we do think about it, is that it is propelled by the search for places and moments of leisure – and even pleasure. Some do travel in search of pleasure, but others travel for other reasons. That is why there are as many, sometimes overlapping, forms of tourism as there are: sports tourism, business/professional/trade tourism, conference or convention tourism (this is why we built KICC, though it was widely criticized as a “white elephant”), religious tourism (or pilgrimage), health tourism, eco-tourism, urban tourism (even slum tourism), educational/research/study tourism, marine tourism, nature tourism, white-watering, big game tourism, ethnic tourism, cultural tourism, exhibitions and fairs tourism, trauma tourism. adventure tourism (mountaineering, kayaking, white-watering, hang-gliding, bungee jumping, ballooning), trade, wars – to mention only these.
To what extent is this variety in tourism captured in the priorities of our tourism sector here in Kenya? I think to a very little extent? If that is so, how do we expect the sector to acquire new potential, and to grow beyond today’s obvious straight-jacket – beyond today’s illusion of doing wonderfully with the same faded kiondo of offerings?
Domestic Versus International Tourism:
A domestic tourist can be seen as “any person visiting a region or area of his/her own country, other than that in which he has his usual place of residence, for any reason other than following an occupation remunerated from within the region or area of the country visited.” An international tourist is any such person visiting another country.
It has been observed that “for most developed nations by far the greatest amount of tourism is generated by people traveling within their own country...[D]omestic travel – although it is more difficult to quantify than is international tourism, because there are no national borders to be crossed at which tourists can be counted – is estimated to be 75 to 80 percent of all tourist activity.” Much of it is in the form of VFR.
Some of the issues to consider as we seek to increase the volume of tourism in Kenya:
Number of Visitors: Research findings suggest that the number of visitors to a particular destination depends both on their desire to travel and certain competitive factors that tend to reduce that inclination. The motivation to visit a given destination depends in part on one’s socioeconomic profile, and in part on psychology. The competitive factors that affect the wish to to travel include the time and cost it takes to get there, as well as cultural differences and the degree to which the destination depends on the seasons for its attractions. Reduced travel time and cost tends to increase the demand, sometimes very significantly.
Length of Stay (or Length of Visit to a Country): It has been found by tourism researchers that the longer the length of stay, the greater the demand for hotels, restaurants, shops, and attractions. So, the challenge is how to make the stay longer. This may require that we think seriously beyond “sand and bush”
Per-Capita Spending: It has been found that some 25% of all tourist spending goes to hotel accommodation. And the amount of money spent by tourists staying in hotels is about 80% of the total tourist earnings at the destination. The other 20% is accounted for by VFR arrivals.
Type of Accommodation required: Many stakeholders in Kenya’s tourism sector are either in the accommodation sector, or the transportation sector geared largely to delivering tourists to those accommodations, or to the game parks. This is perhaps fine as far as our focus is on international tourism. But, as one observer has noted, “There is a...relationship between the type of traveler and the kind of accommodation required.” I don’t think that hotel accommodation is the preferred form of accommodation for the domestic traveller in Kenya. Coltman notes, moreover, that “Generally, the type of tourist is also closely correlated with his or her average daily per-capita spending...”
Socioeconomic Profiles: Proper advertising and budgeting of tourism marketing (including advertising) requires that we have a continually growing data-bank of reliable information about the socioeconomic profiles of potential and actual tourists. To be included here are: age, marital status, family size, occupation, and income levels.
The Role of Universities in Tourism Development
This part of the narrative must begin with the acknowledgment of the fact that before the University of Nairobi launched its B.A. tourism programme in 2001, Kenya Utalii College had for several decades been the premier institution for tourism training. It has produced many graduates in the hospitality sector for the country and the region at large. However, much as it has tried to launch a degree programme, and the courses it has offered so far are pre-university.
The universities can play a crucial role in producing highly educated cadre for the tourism industry, but they have been late entrants into tourism training. Two major programmes are now offered at the University of Nairobi: one in the Faculty of Arts and another in the Faculty of Agriculture (more specifically in the Department of Range Management). Moi University also has a tourism programme.
At the UoN’s Faculty of Arts, the B.A. Tourism programme was designed to build up graduate-level HR capacity different from and beyond what Utalii College was good at. We wanted to produce graduates well-grounded in skills beyond those of the chef, the waiter, the receptionist and room-service staff. That is, tourism graduates conversant with one or more of the following: the evolution of tourism (domestic and international) around the world, Kenya’s history and the arts, the socio-cultural and economic dimensions of tourism, natural and cultural resource management, back-office operations, tourism marketing, and foreign languages.
At the Faculty of Agriculture (in conjunction with Kenya Wildlife Service), the programme specializes in wildlife management. At least that was the intent the last time I checked. It has thus found for itself a specialist niche which is quite remarkable – representing something of a paradigm shift in university learning.
The UoN programmes have been in existence for some five years now, but they continue to suffer from lack of official recognition in government policy and planning documents. The Strategy Paper of 2003, for example, made no mention of them at all. Other stakeholders in the tourism sector do not seem to be aware that the programmes exist at all.
The students are yet to be involved in any meaningful way in attachment programmes, or in marketing and related activities organized within the industry. The programmes are yet to gain access to the Training Levy Fund or the Tourism Development Fund. Blame must be shared by the University (which does next to nothing to advertise the programmes), government and other players. Indeed, all field trips so far made by the students have been funded by the students themselves.
The Adam and Eve Monument
There is a sense in which monuments catalyze tourism. These may be monuments of nature, and monuments emanating from the human spirit and highlighting human achievement. Sometimes, of course, what monuments we have are monuments to human folly and greed and mean-spiritedness. We here in Kenya are essentially a nation without monuments – of the human spirit. Yet every nation must have them. The French have the Eiffel Tower. The Americans have the Statue or Liberty, among many others. The Egyptians have the pyramids and the Sphinx.
I propose that we work toward:
1. The Adam and Eve Monument, which will be for all ages and on the same grand scale as the Sphinx – symbol of the family. Where else but in Africa should this monument, the first true wonder of the new millennium, be?
2. A Humankind Museum (HuMu): This would also underscore the centrality of Kenya, and Eastern Africa in general, to humankind’s journey across the planet – and over time.
Conclusion:
Allow me to conclude with a reading of one of my poetic pieces – a canto.
Canto XXV
Strange-bearded sailors from the east
Who came ashore at Calicut, armed,
Who cast anchor in the Arabian Sea,
And at Malin,
The power and glory of their giant armada all about.
And in the eleventh century,
Swahili envoys from distant Zanj –
Land of the rhino horn, of ivory, and of ambergris –
Walked the streets of Nanjing, sans Sheng,
Graced the Sung Emperor's domain in Beijing,
With tales and costumes of the farthest west.
Whose heart lies buried in Bajun Islands?
Whose memories on porcelain coast?
[NOTE: Since this paper was first read, at least two other Kenyan universities have launched, or are about to launch, degree-level tourism programmes. These are Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, and Strathmore University. The latter seems, at least for now, intent on duplicating at University level the core content of the Utalii College programme – focusing broadly, as it does, on “catering” skills.]
Introduction:
Tourists are people who are away from home – that is, from their usual places of residence – visiting other places. Their absence from home is short-term. The main purposes of their travel are leisure or one form or another of business or occupation or pursuit.
Tourism is driven by that occasional but deep urge in all of us to be somewhere else; somewhere other than where we routinely find ourselves, and routinely are; somewhere else that adds, or promises to add, value to our lives. It has been that way since time immemorial. This is what is oftentimes called the culture of travel, which is underpinned in perhaps all of us by a deeper force, a deeper predisposition – the frontier ethic. Africa was history’s first site of tourism. It is very easy to arrive at that momentous conclusion. It was humankind’s first home, and stayed that way for thousands of years, so archaeological and DNA evidence tell us. It was the primeval frontier ethic of Africa’s children, resident in these eastern parts of the continent, that spread not only tourism but humankind itself around the world. A monument to that fact is sorely needed. If time allows, I will return to this point in a moment.
Many of Africa’s children went, but never came back. But some did. From my readings I remember Cheng Ho, who was here on the eastern coast before Vasco Da Gama. I remember the brave seafarers who left far Asia to settle in Madagascar. Sometimes they came back in the wombs of their future mothers – and were born and died here. So it was with Mr. Griffin. But we have never truly built a monument to that first world family on whose shoulders, in whose loins, the future of the entire human race rested – Adam and Eve.
If Africa was tourism’s first origin and destination, the continent is not nowadays a tourism leader in terms of volume. It has been like that for perhaps a millennium or two. Western societies, for example, have gone much farther ahead. They acquired “a new sense of geographical and social mobility” – and “the new aesthetic which arose in response” – starting in the middle of the 19th century. The culture of travel, Bell notes, was sparked off by the coming of the railroad and “the excitement of speed” that it unleashed. The aesthetic of the village landscape gave way to an aesthetic of the wider world -- anchored, as it were, on "memories of people and things seen along the way", on the built structures and spaces of the city and the accompanying lifestyles, and on their rendition by impressionist and post-impressionist painters: Renoir, Manet, Seurat, Degas, Monet, Signac, Pissaro and others (Bell, 1976: 107, 48; also see Courthion, 1977). Later, of course, the excitement of speed and what Bell calls “a syncretism of experience” were to be pushed to their limits by the arrival of the automobile and the aeroplane.
The value addition which I mentioned earlier takes various forms, though the picture that tends to dominate our minds, when we do think about it, is that it is propelled by the search for places and moments of leisure – and even pleasure. Some do travel in search of pleasure, but others travel for other reasons. That is why there are as many, sometimes overlapping, forms of tourism as there are: sports tourism, business/professional/trade tourism, conference or convention tourism (this is why we built KICC, though it was widely criticized as a “white elephant”), religious tourism (or pilgrimage), health tourism, eco-tourism, urban tourism (even slum tourism), educational/research/study tourism, marine tourism, nature tourism, white-watering, big game tourism, ethnic tourism, cultural tourism, exhibitions and fairs tourism, trauma tourism. adventure tourism (mountaineering, kayaking, white-watering, hang-gliding, bungee jumping, ballooning), trade, wars – to mention only these.
To what extent is this variety in tourism captured in the priorities of our tourism sector here in Kenya? I think to a very little extent? If that is so, how do we expect the sector to acquire new potential, and to grow beyond today’s obvious straight-jacket – beyond today’s illusion of doing wonderfully with the same faded kiondo of offerings?
Domestic Versus International Tourism:
A domestic tourist can be seen as “any person visiting a region or area of his/her own country, other than that in which he has his usual place of residence, for any reason other than following an occupation remunerated from within the region or area of the country visited.” An international tourist is any such person visiting another country.
It has been observed that “for most developed nations by far the greatest amount of tourism is generated by people traveling within their own country...[D]omestic travel – although it is more difficult to quantify than is international tourism, because there are no national borders to be crossed at which tourists can be counted – is estimated to be 75 to 80 percent of all tourist activity.” Much of it is in the form of VFR.
Some of the issues to consider as we seek to increase the volume of tourism in Kenya:
Number of Visitors: Research findings suggest that the number of visitors to a particular destination depends both on their desire to travel and certain competitive factors that tend to reduce that inclination. The motivation to visit a given destination depends in part on one’s socioeconomic profile, and in part on psychology. The competitive factors that affect the wish to to travel include the time and cost it takes to get there, as well as cultural differences and the degree to which the destination depends on the seasons for its attractions. Reduced travel time and cost tends to increase the demand, sometimes very significantly.
Length of Stay (or Length of Visit to a Country): It has been found by tourism researchers that the longer the length of stay, the greater the demand for hotels, restaurants, shops, and attractions. So, the challenge is how to make the stay longer. This may require that we think seriously beyond “sand and bush”
Per-Capita Spending: It has been found that some 25% of all tourist spending goes to hotel accommodation. And the amount of money spent by tourists staying in hotels is about 80% of the total tourist earnings at the destination. The other 20% is accounted for by VFR arrivals.
Type of Accommodation required: Many stakeholders in Kenya’s tourism sector are either in the accommodation sector, or the transportation sector geared largely to delivering tourists to those accommodations, or to the game parks. This is perhaps fine as far as our focus is on international tourism. But, as one observer has noted, “There is a...relationship between the type of traveler and the kind of accommodation required.” I don’t think that hotel accommodation is the preferred form of accommodation for the domestic traveller in Kenya. Coltman notes, moreover, that “Generally, the type of tourist is also closely correlated with his or her average daily per-capita spending...”
Socioeconomic Profiles: Proper advertising and budgeting of tourism marketing (including advertising) requires that we have a continually growing data-bank of reliable information about the socioeconomic profiles of potential and actual tourists. To be included here are: age, marital status, family size, occupation, and income levels.
The Role of Universities in Tourism Development
This part of the narrative must begin with the acknowledgment of the fact that before the University of Nairobi launched its B.A. tourism programme in 2001, Kenya Utalii College had for several decades been the premier institution for tourism training. It has produced many graduates in the hospitality sector for the country and the region at large. However, much as it has tried to launch a degree programme, and the courses it has offered so far are pre-university.
The universities can play a crucial role in producing highly educated cadre for the tourism industry, but they have been late entrants into tourism training. Two major programmes are now offered at the University of Nairobi: one in the Faculty of Arts and another in the Faculty of Agriculture (more specifically in the Department of Range Management). Moi University also has a tourism programme.
At the UoN’s Faculty of Arts, the B.A. Tourism programme was designed to build up graduate-level HR capacity different from and beyond what Utalii College was good at. We wanted to produce graduates well-grounded in skills beyond those of the chef, the waiter, the receptionist and room-service staff. That is, tourism graduates conversant with one or more of the following: the evolution of tourism (domestic and international) around the world, Kenya’s history and the arts, the socio-cultural and economic dimensions of tourism, natural and cultural resource management, back-office operations, tourism marketing, and foreign languages.
At the Faculty of Agriculture (in conjunction with Kenya Wildlife Service), the programme specializes in wildlife management. At least that was the intent the last time I checked. It has thus found for itself a specialist niche which is quite remarkable – representing something of a paradigm shift in university learning.
The UoN programmes have been in existence for some five years now, but they continue to suffer from lack of official recognition in government policy and planning documents. The Strategy Paper of 2003, for example, made no mention of them at all. Other stakeholders in the tourism sector do not seem to be aware that the programmes exist at all.
The students are yet to be involved in any meaningful way in attachment programmes, or in marketing and related activities organized within the industry. The programmes are yet to gain access to the Training Levy Fund or the Tourism Development Fund. Blame must be shared by the University (which does next to nothing to advertise the programmes), government and other players. Indeed, all field trips so far made by the students have been funded by the students themselves.
The Adam and Eve Monument
There is a sense in which monuments catalyze tourism. These may be monuments of nature, and monuments emanating from the human spirit and highlighting human achievement. Sometimes, of course, what monuments we have are monuments to human folly and greed and mean-spiritedness. We here in Kenya are essentially a nation without monuments – of the human spirit. Yet every nation must have them. The French have the Eiffel Tower. The Americans have the Statue or Liberty, among many others. The Egyptians have the pyramids and the Sphinx.
I propose that we work toward:
1. The Adam and Eve Monument, which will be for all ages and on the same grand scale as the Sphinx – symbol of the family. Where else but in Africa should this monument, the first true wonder of the new millennium, be?
2. A Humankind Museum (HuMu): This would also underscore the centrality of Kenya, and Eastern Africa in general, to humankind’s journey across the planet – and over time.
Conclusion:
Allow me to conclude with a reading of one of my poetic pieces – a canto.
Canto XXV
Strange-bearded sailors from the east
Who came ashore at Calicut, armed,
Who cast anchor in the Arabian Sea,
And at Malin,
The power and glory of their giant armada all about.
And in the eleventh century,
Swahili envoys from distant Zanj –
Land of the rhino horn, of ivory, and of ambergris –
Walked the streets of Nanjing, sans Sheng,
Graced the Sung Emperor's domain in Beijing,
With tales and costumes of the farthest west.
Whose heart lies buried in Bajun Islands?
Whose memories on porcelain coast?
[NOTE: Since this paper was first read, at least two other Kenyan universities have launched, or are about to launch, degree-level tourism programmes. These are Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, and Strathmore University. The latter seems, at least for now, intent on duplicating at University level the core content of the Utalii College programme – focusing broadly, as it does, on “catering” skills.]
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