this is our stupidity as africans... we actually think the west and the east care about us. I have news for you - THEY DON'T GIVE A RAT'S BEHIND ABOUT THE PEOPLE ON THIS DARK CONTINENT. ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS THE STUFF ON THE GROUND YOU TRAMPLE ON, THEY SIMPLY USE YOU TO GET TO THE STUFF ON THE GROUND, IF YOU DON'T HAVE THAT STUFF THEY WANT TO SELL YOU SOME GARBAGE. Look at equitoral guinea for example, it sells 26.25% of its crude to the US, 11.30% to Italy, 11.22% to Spain, 8.83% to Korea and imports 31.61% of its products from China! Do you think both countries cares if their funds get to the 'masses'? their end is met!
Its silly to see people arguing almost to the fighting about 'the west' or 'the east'... its like the west or east ever argues about the fate of your pathetic souls.
just from the names i can tell who is pro-west and who is pro east. the pro-west stand takers are former CORDashians and pro-east stand takers are 'njumbirii' supporters. Is our image of these two 'empires' being clouded by the fact that we cannot think beyond our tribal cocoons? The West and East don't give a hoot about your 'support' on some online forum. I suggest we ensure that we focus our energies on things we can change i.e. a Pro-Africa/Pro-Kenya approach. Most of the people of the east and west cannot even tell the differences between a Ugandan and Kenyan let alone a Kikuyu and a Luo - STYLE UP! Where are the interests of Africa in this discourse? Where is real justice (not the lip service being fronted by people wishing to use justice systems as political arsenal). I have stated many times on this forum - those pro-ICC people were not pro-ICC people when things went south in 2008. I remember very well, those 'newly found' pro-ICC people here were cheering killings as they happened and were romanticizing with the idea of Kenya being brought to a stop so that their candidate may ascend to power. The 'then' pro-ICC persons were busy writing 'the Hague beckons' all over the place (me included) because it was a channel to get rid of those who in our eyes started this whole conflict - UNLIKE MANY PEOPLE ON THIS FORUM MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY WAS AFFECTED. Of course the song changed when one Raila odinga's name was not to be on the list and in his place Uhuru's name was inserted! this begs me to ask - are our sentiments genuine? When we name drop ICC cases, the west, the east, IDPs are they just points we are seeking to score with the other side? Has politics really become the opium of the masses a title that we once attributed to religion? Are we engaging in politics for politics sake so that we can 'beat' the other tribe? Who will give you brownie points once that happens?
Lets face facts...
1. Our country is running out of money (we were too eager to reduce the numbers of ministries only to add more public servants than we had before) - FACT!
2. its a fact that we have established that the west has two interests
Primarily - Financial interests (why is congo in such a state?)
Secondary - political interests at home (the waves of human rights e.t.c. are slowly being forced on us because they make for good political fodder at home)
3. China has just one interest - Financial...every step they make is geared towards this. they don't have elections to win so human rights records are not important to them
4. in the same way a rich person in the village does not 'sort out' the poor in his neghbourhood without self interest, what makes you think a country's leadership can justify the use of billions of dollars of tax payers money without the interests of these countries? Who tells you people who have never seen you give a rat's behind about you? - FACT
5. the rich don't want you to prosper (debt is slavery repackaged), the China and the West that we so dearly talk about DON'T CARE about us. if they did- they would have said something when the dark times in our nation's history were taking place prior to the 90s. where were the cries of 'corruption' when our 'dear' leaders stashed foreign aid in european banks? they were absent because we were giving them the same money and then paying for it annually as debt.
6. We have a golden oppotunity on our hands - we are being proposed to by two suitors...why can't we focus our African minds in the right direction i.e. asking ourselves - WHAT IS OUR INTEREST? WHY ARE WE SO DRUNK WITH POLITICS? WHAT ARE THE REAL ISSUES WE NEED TO SORT OUT? Why can't we grow up and understand that we can have the best of both worlds as we invest in our people? In my opinion the rise of china is the best thing to have happened to africa - we have options now!
7. these borders we are really passionate about were created in such a casual manner that Kilimanjaro ended up in Tanganyika as a birthday gift to a German nephew. Why can we not focus on our interest? Do we need these borders? Do you think its to our advantage to limit the flow of people across these countries?
I reckon few will read this post to the end but I hope it hits someone and forces them to ask themselves... what is numero uno to me as a person? what is numero uno to my family?
The sooner we exploit the oil and resources within our midst to the betterment of our people and lifting the standard of living of our people the sooner we get some respect from both these nations - respect will not come via aid. people have a tendency to remind you that they are the ones that sorted you out.
I BEG THAT YOU TO 'MEA PEMBE' AND ASK WHAT ARE 'MY' INTERESTS? YOU OWE THAT TO YOUR AFRICAN KIDS AND THE NEXT GENERATION OF AFRICANS.
All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!