Annan dispels ghosts of Rwanda / Saving baby Brian

Kofi Annan has succeeded in securing the power-sharing agreement which will end Kenya's crisis and the violence.

In this, he dispels the ghost of Rwanda.

If you read the background, virtually no-one and no country comes out well. Bill Clinton, most prominently, has publicly got on his knees to apologise for what he didn't do. Then UN GenSec Boutros Boutros Ghali hasn't. Neither has John Major or Douglas Hurd, to my knowledge. The heroes of Rwanda are very, very few. I am sure that Annan, amongst others, is literally haunted by people hacked to death. That would be very African.

The agreement has received universal support across the Kenyan blogosphere, although the still unresolved issues which it throws up, mainly to do with the Constitution, worry some.

Gordon Brown made a particularly patronising statement about it:

"Kenya's leaders have reached a power-sharing agreement that represents a triumph for peace and diplomacy, and a renunciation of the violence that has scarred a country of such enormous potential".

iHaveNoTribe.com - I Am Kenyan

I think blogs have played a role in pushing democrats and anti-tribalists to the fore. This has helped greatly to undermine the power-dealers behind the scene, dramatically changing information sources. Evidence of this could be seen in the attempts by those in-power to inject themselves into the blogosphere.

Mwananchi Mkenya has analysed the deal and makes some interesting points:

There are some who would like to claim that Kenya’s Democracy was a sham and that the ongoing crisis is evidence that democracy never really took root in Kenya.

I couldn’t disagree more!

CDF [Constituency Development Funds]: This has been an incredible triumph for home-grown democracy even though I would like to see the process of allocation further democraticed. I’m keen to find out exactly what ODM [opposition]proposes to change about CDF

The fact that Kenyans came out to vote in massive numbers, in direct contrast, for example, to what happens in the U.S. where only about 40% of the eligible population even bothers to vote.

Organizations such as the Kenya Human Rights Commission still function in Kenya. I remember a time when nobody could even investigate such things… A vibrant civil society is critical to democracy and Kenya certainly has not lost that!

Kenya Blog Awards 2008
This post looks further at the growth of the blogosphere

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Operation Saving Baby Brian

Joseph Karoki's photo blog was where I originally saw this photo


This women is Grace Mungai. She was shot to death by police in her home. The baby in the crib is called Brian. The photo was republished around the world — though not, to my knowledge, in the UK.

Joseph wanted to do something and tracked her family down. He has raised the money to lay her to rest.

He is now raising money to support Brian — here's how you can help make a difference for one person.

Joseph:

Thank you for donating and drop me a line at josephkaroki@hotmail.com and let me know that you have supported Baby Brian and I will keep you personally informed of how your donation changed Brian’s life.

To Donate using Paypal go to VUMA KENYA and click on the PAYPAL BUTTON under Baby Brian’s picture.

For direct Bank Deposits in the US:

Bank Name: Citizens Bank
Account name: Vuma Kenya Initiative
Account number: 1311-791-911
Routing number: 211-070-175

For Bank Deposits in Kenya:

Bank Name: EQUITY Bank
Account Name: Jeremiah Mungai
Account No: 0200190674408
ID No. 7156255.

As Sharon O would say, 'every little helps'.