THE AFRICAN SAGE

Charity Ngilu (Mama Rainbow has had an illustrious political career. From a humble secretary, to a managing director and finally in government as a key driver of political agenda; Ngilu has achieved it and enjoyed it; I trust. In the runner up to the 2013 general elections, Ngilu was in the media for the right reasons. She claimed that it was incumbent upon her, as the most experienced female politician in Kenya, to lead a basic needs revolution in Kenya. Her argument was that since independence, the government had not got it right. He claim was that she is the only one, despite having been in government as minister for 10 years, who would get it right if she became president. She later joined the Jubilee brigade on the pretext that Jubilee would achieve what she had intended to achieve. The question Kenyan peasants and hustlers should ask themselves is "Can the basic need revolution be championed by politicians?" Yes, of-course, to the extent such rhetoric serves t...

Charity Ngilu (Mama Rainbow) presented her manifesto yesterday. Let us go straight to the technical development proposal made by Ngilu. Development is a very disturbing concept to work with because development means different things for different people. When you look at your village, is it more developed now than it was 20 years ago? Why do you think it is or it is not more developed? Development as an end is elusive given the values that inform what individuals consider as developmental. The debate on development is as old as human history; it is the story of human civilization, nation state building, intergovernmental relations, population dynamics, education and ultimately human empowerment. The elusive cog nut has always been, what the best strategy to development is. The general consensus at the moment is that development is about meeting the basic rights of a people. A given country is developed to the extent its people can afford basics in life e.g. food, shelter, education...