Thursday, July 17, 2008
since I last blogged….politics keep happening
There’s been an entire political scandal since I lost wrote. I mean, I knew it had been a while, but this really puts it in perspective!
So there is a fancy hotel in town, The Grand Regency. It’s fancy. It was built with money that was siphoned from the government in a previous Scandal (I think it was the Goldenberg scandal….might have been the Anglo-Leasing one, though). Anyways, it had to do with government contracts going out for projects that never existed, and payments for constructing a building with 27 floors but it is built with 21 floors (that’s the Times Tower downtown), and for doing all kinds of things that never happen or happened only part-way, etc. Billions of shillings. So the Grand Regency was built with that money by Pattni, a guy who was right in the midst of that former Scandal, and was supposedly in jail for a number of years over it (but he was pretty much out and about) and then was released and said he’d been Saved and founded a church franchise that is raking in billions of shillings. Anyways, because Grand Regency was built with dirty money, the government of Kenya took it into receivership.
A month or so ago, it was revealed that the Grand Regency had been sold to the Libyan government. The scandalous parts are:
- how much was it actually sold for? So first they said 2.8 billion shillings. But then it was maybe actually just 1.9 billion. Or, no, wait, it was 2.8. No, it was definitely 1.9. Or maybe it was sold for 2.8 billion and the government is actually going to receive 1.9 because the rest is already pocketed. It still isn’t clear to me.
- does that represent a fair price? Some people say it was valued at 8 billion. Some people say an entire chain of fancy fancy hotels was sold for 1.3 billion. A lot of people talked endlessly about this.
- who was it sold to? First they said the Libyan government. Then it was just the Qadhafi family. And then it supposedly was just 3 random Libyan guys with mustaches who looked like they had been pulled from their kiosks in Kisumu and told to stand in front of the TV cameras. And then finally the Libyan embassy confirmed that it was, indeed, the Libyan government.
- did the sale go through the proper channels? No. It was sold without getting the express permission of Parliament.
Amos Kimunya, the Minister of Finance, has been forced to step down over the scandal. He was the Minister of Finance for 5 years total, and he had a reputation of being clean and smart. That was part of what seemed so strange about the whole Scandal – it was kind of stupid. But on the other hand, looking back, there were quite a lot of Scandals under his watch, so maybe he wasn’t so squeaky clean.
And that’s my understanding of the Latest Scandal. A new Minister of Finance has been named, the Libyan government owns a fancy hotel in Nairobi, and everyone else in the halls of power are breathing a collective sigh of relief that they didn’t get caught this time.
So there is a fancy hotel in town, The Grand Regency. It’s fancy. It was built with money that was siphoned from the government in a previous Scandal (I think it was the Goldenberg scandal….might have been the Anglo-Leasing one, though). Anyways, it had to do with government contracts going out for projects that never existed, and payments for constructing a building with 27 floors but it is built with 21 floors (that’s the Times Tower downtown), and for doing all kinds of things that never happen or happened only part-way, etc. Billions of shillings. So the Grand Regency was built with that money by Pattni, a guy who was right in the midst of that former Scandal, and was supposedly in jail for a number of years over it (but he was pretty much out and about) and then was released and said he’d been Saved and founded a church franchise that is raking in billions of shillings. Anyways, because Grand Regency was built with dirty money, the government of Kenya took it into receivership.
A month or so ago, it was revealed that the Grand Regency had been sold to the Libyan government. The scandalous parts are:
- how much was it actually sold for? So first they said 2.8 billion shillings. But then it was maybe actually just 1.9 billion. Or, no, wait, it was 2.8. No, it was definitely 1.9. Or maybe it was sold for 2.8 billion and the government is actually going to receive 1.9 because the rest is already pocketed. It still isn’t clear to me.
- does that represent a fair price? Some people say it was valued at 8 billion. Some people say an entire chain of fancy fancy hotels was sold for 1.3 billion. A lot of people talked endlessly about this.
- who was it sold to? First they said the Libyan government. Then it was just the Qadhafi family. And then it supposedly was just 3 random Libyan guys with mustaches who looked like they had been pulled from their kiosks in Kisumu and told to stand in front of the TV cameras. And then finally the Libyan embassy confirmed that it was, indeed, the Libyan government.
- did the sale go through the proper channels? No. It was sold without getting the express permission of Parliament.
Amos Kimunya, the Minister of Finance, has been forced to step down over the scandal. He was the Minister of Finance for 5 years total, and he had a reputation of being clean and smart. That was part of what seemed so strange about the whole Scandal – it was kind of stupid. But on the other hand, looking back, there were quite a lot of Scandals under his watch, so maybe he wasn’t so squeaky clean.
And that’s my understanding of the Latest Scandal. A new Minister of Finance has been named, the Libyan government owns a fancy hotel in Nairobi, and everyone else in the halls of power are breathing a collective sigh of relief that they didn’t get caught this time.
(Beaker is distressed that there has been Another Big Scandal)
since I last blogged…Africa/Europe trade negotiations grind onwards
The other night I dreamt that I was sitting at my parents’ kitchen table with my family, telling them what I’d been doing while I was in Kenya. At the end, they said: So basically, you didn’t achieve anything. I woke up very sad. Also, in my dream I had pierced ears, which was really confusing for me because I couldn’t remember when that had happened.
Well, it’s true, those pesky Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) negotiations keep inching closer towards finalizing some Truly Bad Deals for Africa. There was a lot of pressure at the end of last year, with the European Commission threatening to suspend trade preferences for African exports if they didn’t sign something before 2008. So most of the African countries that aren’t Least Developed Countries ended up initialing “Interim” or “Framework” EPAs – agreements that just cover trade in goods.
This year, the EC is focused on getting those Interim EPAs actually signed, and even more so, getting EVERYONE to sign on to “Comprehensive” EPAs, which include service liberalisation and restrictions on investment regulation and intellectual property rights regimes and all kinds of other nasty stuff that doesn’t belong in a Free Trade Agreement anyways. Oh, and promises of Development Aid from the European Union.
But there is good news.
~ None of the Interim EPAs have actually been signed yet. An initialed treaty is not a signed treaty, so there is still space to either change the initialed text or to pull out altogether.
~ The delay in the negotiations means that African countries could sign up for a preferential trade scheme (GSP+) starting at the beginning of 2009, and just skip out on an EPA altogether without losing most of their European export markets.
~ More and more people and institutions are pointing out how Truly Bad the draft EPAs are. In the past few weeks, a French parliamentarian published an extremely critical and well researched document looking at the development impacts of EPAs & Sarkozy gave it a pretty positive response; Joseph Stiglitz told the world that EPAs are a bad idea; a massive on-line petition against the Caribbean community’s EPA is growing; Angola, Namibia and South Africa are standing up against the EC’s pressure tactics….
So I’ve still got hope.
Well, it’s true, those pesky Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) negotiations keep inching closer towards finalizing some Truly Bad Deals for Africa. There was a lot of pressure at the end of last year, with the European Commission threatening to suspend trade preferences for African exports if they didn’t sign something before 2008. So most of the African countries that aren’t Least Developed Countries ended up initialing “Interim” or “Framework” EPAs – agreements that just cover trade in goods.
This year, the EC is focused on getting those Interim EPAs actually signed, and even more so, getting EVERYONE to sign on to “Comprehensive” EPAs, which include service liberalisation and restrictions on investment regulation and intellectual property rights regimes and all kinds of other nasty stuff that doesn’t belong in a Free Trade Agreement anyways. Oh, and promises of Development Aid from the European Union.
But there is good news.
~ None of the Interim EPAs have actually been signed yet. An initialed treaty is not a signed treaty, so there is still space to either change the initialed text or to pull out altogether.
~ The delay in the negotiations means that African countries could sign up for a preferential trade scheme (GSP+) starting at the beginning of 2009, and just skip out on an EPA altogether without losing most of their European export markets.
~ More and more people and institutions are pointing out how Truly Bad the draft EPAs are. In the past few weeks, a French parliamentarian published an extremely critical and well researched document looking at the development impacts of EPAs & Sarkozy gave it a pretty positive response; Joseph Stiglitz told the world that EPAs are a bad idea; a massive on-line petition against the Caribbean community’s EPA is growing; Angola, Namibia and South Africa are standing up against the EC’s pressure tactics….
So I’ve still got hope.
(photo from a march in Lisbon in December at the Europe/Africa Summit. There was a klezmer band! How great is THAT?)
since I last blogged…I got older
I turned 29. So I’m trying to think of a good slogan for my year. I really operate well with defined goals, and I think I’ve had pretty good success with my New-Years-slogans (that one year I really did eat a lot more beets), so I thought maybe it would give me more direction to do that with my Birthday-year.
My overall goal for the year: Be Less Risk-Averse.
I thought about it on my walk to work today. So far, I have:
29: What’s the worst that can happen? I think this is catchy, and has a good tone. But on the other hand, the question sort of begs for answers, and I can think of far too many very horrifying things that I don’t want to have happen this year. The point is, I shouldn’t be focusing on the small likelihood of those horrifying things, I should be focusing on the larger likelihood that when I take risks it leads to good things (and mildly disappointing but not so horrifying and probably ultimately character building things). (Oh, I’m not talking about Wild Risks – I’m thinking more like Talk to More People, and Take More Emotional Risks, and Apply to Interesting Jobs Even if You Don’t Think You’ll Be Hired. Things like that.)
29: Because You Need To Grow A Backbone At Some Point That’s probably too negative, and I’ll just end up with a bad feeling inside instead of directed and inspired.
Soon You Will Be 30…Shouldn’t You Have Written A Novel By Now? Hmm. I think I was in a ‘negative space’ on my walk to work today. It has to do with my head being Way Too Full of the most recent WTO negotiating texts. Ugh.
MUPPETS! I just thought of that one. I’m kind of tired right now, but I have to say, it’s looking pretty good! I mean, Muppets. I’m feeling better just thinking about them. Jim Henson died young from overworking (well, from pneumonia. But he wouldn’t have died of pneumonia if he had stopped working and rested). So within the slogan there are all these layers, like:
- Working hard is good, because you can achieve great things (like the Muppets); but don’t work so hard you kill yourself
- I bet Jim Henson could have prevented the movie industry from being so stupid about CGI effects. Or at least would have shown them another way to be. Let’s go to more puppet shows this year.
- You know, I really like how you can tell what Muppets are thinking because they are such physical beings. So maybe it’s okay that everyone in a meeting room knows exactly what I’m thinking just by looking at me.
- I’m really feeling Pigs in Space right now. I wonder what that means.
- Did you know that for The Dark Crystal they totally created a world and its ecosystems and inhabitants, and then they thought up a plot? True, it’s not the best plot, but it is a truly inspired world – all the pieces of the ecological and social and political communities really fit together. That’s something inspirational.
- Muppets take risks.
Well, MUPPETS! is definitely winning by my count. But before I settle on it, any suggestions?
My overall goal for the year: Be Less Risk-Averse.
I thought about it on my walk to work today. So far, I have:
29: What’s the worst that can happen? I think this is catchy, and has a good tone. But on the other hand, the question sort of begs for answers, and I can think of far too many very horrifying things that I don’t want to have happen this year. The point is, I shouldn’t be focusing on the small likelihood of those horrifying things, I should be focusing on the larger likelihood that when I take risks it leads to good things (and mildly disappointing but not so horrifying and probably ultimately character building things). (Oh, I’m not talking about Wild Risks – I’m thinking more like Talk to More People, and Take More Emotional Risks, and Apply to Interesting Jobs Even if You Don’t Think You’ll Be Hired. Things like that.)
29: Because You Need To Grow A Backbone At Some Point That’s probably too negative, and I’ll just end up with a bad feeling inside instead of directed and inspired.
Soon You Will Be 30…Shouldn’t You Have Written A Novel By Now? Hmm. I think I was in a ‘negative space’ on my walk to work today. It has to do with my head being Way Too Full of the most recent WTO negotiating texts. Ugh.
MUPPETS! I just thought of that one. I’m kind of tired right now, but I have to say, it’s looking pretty good! I mean, Muppets. I’m feeling better just thinking about them. Jim Henson died young from overworking (well, from pneumonia. But he wouldn’t have died of pneumonia if he had stopped working and rested). So within the slogan there are all these layers, like:
- Working hard is good, because you can achieve great things (like the Muppets); but don’t work so hard you kill yourself
- I bet Jim Henson could have prevented the movie industry from being so stupid about CGI effects. Or at least would have shown them another way to be. Let’s go to more puppet shows this year.
- You know, I really like how you can tell what Muppets are thinking because they are such physical beings. So maybe it’s okay that everyone in a meeting room knows exactly what I’m thinking just by looking at me.
- I’m really feeling Pigs in Space right now. I wonder what that means.
- Did you know that for The Dark Crystal they totally created a world and its ecosystems and inhabitants, and then they thought up a plot? True, it’s not the best plot, but it is a truly inspired world – all the pieces of the ecological and social and political communities really fit together. That’s something inspirational.
- Muppets take risks.
Well, MUPPETS! is definitely winning by my count. But before I settle on it, any suggestions?
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