http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/ RSS Feeds for The Standard - Online Edition en-us http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/ PHP/5.2.12 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000005416&cid=483& We Africans say you do not test how deep the waters are with both feet. In the past, the corrupt were more cautious and would not engage lawyers and open up escrow accounts for the loot to be kept until sharing day. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:57:27 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1268326647 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000005415&cid=477& From the picture he looks diminutive. Of course, looks can be deceiving. But if Maina Chege lacks the height, he is more than generously compensated in eloquence. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:55:01 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1268326501 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000005313&cid=490& Last Sunday, we marked the second anniversary of the signing of the National Accord. There are questions on whether or not the Accord has lived up to expectations. All of us will agree the Accord restored peace after two months of violent ethnic hatred. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:34:13 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1268224453 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000005338&cid=490& Last Sunday, we marked the second anniversary of the signing of the National Accord. There are questions on whether or not the Accord has lived up to expectations. All of us will agree the Accord restored peace after two months of violent ethnic hatred. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:47:54 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1268246874 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000005336&cid=510& What a shame, they even plunder in the name of the dead. The rapacious appetite for proceeds of corruption spares nothing. No public account is sacred. Every public procurement is deal time if individuals and their co-conspirators can pocket millions of shillings for personal use. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:46:28 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1268246788 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000005262&cid=587& Were the beef about the inclusion of Kadhi’s courts or when life really begins in the Proposed Constitution purely ideological, I would not dare wade into the storm that the Church has kicked up. Unfortunately, the debate, especially by my Christian brothers, has taken the low road that could, if not checked, end up creating more problems than we are trying to solve. Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:45:38 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1268160338 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000005138&cid=497& Every year, the release of the KCPE and KCSE results captures national psyche, momentarily shifting our attention from the hassles of ordinary life. Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:23:46 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1268069026 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000005108&cid=501& Strolling along a Nairobi street last week, we suddenly saw a group of three men accost and then arrest another and start pushing him towards the Holy Family Basilica. Thinking the three men were muggers, we moved closer. Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:46:07 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267994767 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000004983&cid=603& I have just finished reading Njenga Karume’s autobiography Beyond Expectations: From Charcoal to Gold. The book has left me convinced the full story of this country is barely told. Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:04:02 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267895042 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000004894&cid=489& All great nations in world history have expressed their collective soul in their art. They have usually done this in some distinctive and defining form of art that has set them apart from other nations. Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:16:53 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267805813 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000004895&cid=485& Two events in two nations unfolded recently to prove that although we live in one world, we are worlds apart, depending on the side of the planet we were born. Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:17:19 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267805839 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000004805&cid=477& There is a comic feel to the stunned silence that has greeted Luis Moreno Ocampo’s announcement that the International Criminal Court has 20 names of men and women they want to pursue. Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:01:36 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267722096 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000004678&cid=587& As I raced towards Nakuru, I kept wondering how bad things could get. Taking advantage of a lull during the post-election violence that rocked the country two years ago, I decided to take a trip home. I was last there a few days before the election and I planned to be home for the New Year. That never happened because the country erupted in violence after the contested elections. Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:58:17 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267556297 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000004554&cid=497& In the last 10 years, economic growth in Kenya has averaged 3.8 per cent, Tanzania 6.1 per cent, Uganda 7.2 percent, Rwanda 7.5 per cent and Burundi 2 .5 per cent. The correspondent Gross Domestic Products (GDPs) in billions of dollars were as follows in 2008; Kenya 62.4, Tanzania 55, Uganda 41, Rwanda 9.9 and Burundi 3.2, according to data from the World Bank. Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:36:11 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267461371 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000004591&cid=503& Yes, amidst the eccentricity and disenchantment within the Grand Coalition Government — two years since its formation in circumstances of national crisis after the botched 2007 presidential elections — its reform programme appears to be on course. Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:10:27 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267470627 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000004474&cid=501& "JM in Zambia." That was the headline we woke up to in the country’s leading newspaper of that time. To the innocent reader, it sounded quite credible, as JM was a close friend of Mr Vernon Mwaanga, then the Zambian Foreign minister. Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:35:12 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267374912 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000004441&cid=603& In designing the constitutional review under the Constitution of Kenya Review Act 2008, Parliament left several hurdles that had the potential of frustrating the process. Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:06:02 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267301162 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000004320&cid=489& Prime Minister Raila Odinga is the man of the moment. He is a man being steadily pushed to the political precipice by his coalition partner, PNU and by the William Ruto-Najib Balala faction in his own ODM house. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:03:35 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267200215 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000004321&cid=490& Last week media coverage of Christobel Ouko’s demand for justice regarding her husband’s murder was heart-wrenching. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:04:19 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267200259 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/columnists/InsidePage.php?id=2000004322&cid=491& This week I went to join in mourning the death of the mother of a friend who is a Muslim. To meet the necessary decorum, I donned a buibui and scarf over my head. It gave me firsthand and regrettable experiences of how dress affects the ways Kenyans relate to each other and to others who, by dint of dressing differently or in certain styles and traditions, are identified with different communities, races or religions. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:04:48 +0000 http:www.standardmedia.co.ke/rss/.1267200288