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Fortunately yesterday we had no power at home. If I had been able to get near my computer I would have not been able to stop myself from launching a tirade on Kenyan politicians who have over the past few years tried their hand at not only politics but it seems grand theft too and according to the Waki Report, the masterminding of civil unrest with accompanying violence/murder to boot. Anyway, here is a hopefully more tempered blog post on the subject.
For the past week local newspapers have been reporting on the fact that PNU and ODM MPs are for the first time uniting (in spite of their political affiliations) over their condemnation of the Waki Report which, if implimented, could lead to a good handful of them going to jail. Of course, Kenyan politicians have established a tradition of acting with impunity so any case regarding their involvement in post election violence will be unlikely ever to reach a courthouse. Also, if every single guilty party were fairly tried and sentanced, frankly, there would probably be no members of parliament left. So what is the answer? Our house helper says;
'Kenyans are unhappy about their politicians rejecting the Waki report, they want to see justice' but since when has what Kenyans want ever mattered?
Raila Odinga and one or two others have stood apart to defend the Waki Report and say that it must be implimented. Yesterday Raila said: 'We do not want to see Kenyans fight again. This is a matter we must face courageously and put to rest.' but other politicians argue that if they were at fault, they were simply acting for their leaders.
Another leading story concerns The Global Fund who have donated billions of shillings to Kenya over the years to finance the fight against Aids, tuberculousis and malaria. They have given seven payments but the last has not yet been full accounted for. Shs 13 billion (£1 million) has somehow gone missing and the Medical Services and Public Health ministries are busy shifting blame between themselves and trying to bury the scandal.
The Global Fund had its suspicions when, in 2003, they delayed giving $37 million due to claims of corruption in the National Aids Control Council. The withheld funds were later released but the Global Fund urged officials to track the money more closely in future. Now The Global Fund has, quite rightly, suspended its support once more but it is ordinary Kenyans who will finally feel the pinch when subsidised medical treatment is no longer available.
Fancy Dress Part 2 Anyway, to switch to lighter matters: Fancy dress.
I managed to compromise on making a rather simply designed cardboard pirate hat for daughter no 2. out of a stiff paper bag, which I painted mat black with a skull and crossbones. Understandably she was rather skeptical about my creation but tactfully wore it for approximately five minutes.
Daughter no 3. wore a fabric witch hat that I made for the eldest years ago with black leggings a pink t-shirt with a cobweb on it and held a toy broom. It was fortunate that I didn't make too much effort on her part because on arrival at school, she saw that her best friend had failed to dress up at all (her mum forgot), so my daughter threw down the broom and took off the witch hat immediately then refused to put them back on, even for the fancy dress parade.
After five nights of tears with daughter no 1 over what she might wear for the 'fairy tale' themed bonfire night I was at my wits end. At one point she thought of wearing the silver dress that I made her last year for 'Out of Space' bonfire party, then she would be; 'the magic mirror' from Snow White. It seemed like a good idea until she said she wanted me or Dad to craft a wooden, octagonal full length frame then spray-paint it gold so it looked exactly like the one in her book. I made an executive decision and bought 5 lenghts of blonde-ish hair from the local supermarket where one whole aisle is entirely devoted to hair (only in Nairobi) and plaited it together for Rapunzel. We had a suitable princess dress, so after a couple of adjustments that was no problem. After a few more tears over the french plait I did in Daughter no 1's hair in order for the Rapunzel plait to look convincing, we found that there were hundreds of Rapunzels at the party in the end but it didn't matter. My daughter felt she fitted in perfectly, everyone was happy and best of all, I didn't have to do any sewing!
Roll on next year! (but before that I have somehow got myself roped into being responsible for putting together fifteen kindergarten 'rainbow' ballet outfits for the christmas concert, plus collecting money from all the mums to pay for them. Oh heavens!).