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Ken Flottman’s Blog on Democracy in Kenya, East Africa and the United States

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Happy New Year

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Ken
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May all your prickly pears bloom in 2020.

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Posted in agriculture, Photographs | Tagged 2020, bloom, blossom, cactus, flower, New Year, prickly pear, succulent, yellow | Leave a reply

The New York Times on Kenya: working through my reaction to the mess they have made on the photograph of terror victims at a time of grief

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Ken
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1. I cannot and have not defended New York Times’ use of the particular photograph of victims that has angered Kenyans.

Using that photo, especially while the attack was ongoing, was bad judgment in a number of respects that have been well explained by others.

2. My personal inclination from my own circumstances is usually to be somewhat defensive of the Times when they get attacked . . .

. . . as they frequently do, not because they are not regularly frustrating and imperfect but because they have been and continue to be a critical part of the wider media firmament in the United States. And newspaper journalism in the United States is suffering to our detriment and all professional news reporting is contested in our Trump era. (More about this later).

3. But, apologies are easy.

I understand that if the Times turned over editorial judgment to social media responders they would quickly be lost in the internet sea and cease to exist or be snatched up by a hedge fund and/or an ideologically motivated billionaire and/or have to publish listicles and soft porn to survive. Likewise they can never willingly let themselves be bullied by authoritarian governments so the grandstanding demands and threats from the Media Council of Kenya make the situation harder to address constructively and are not in well considered good faith in my opinion.  But apologies are still easy. (And surely taking down or swapping out the one photograph would be a “correction” not some actual editorial diversion.)

4. Thus, I come around to seeing and feeling a humility and empathy problem.

Especially as time has gone by. The Times is not the Daily Mail nor The Sun and does not deserve to be the poster child for historical imperialism/colonialism devaluing black and brown bodies even if it has its own limitations and faults. But the Times made a mistake here and it was unforced and not anyone else’s fault. The tone deaf lack of responsiveness makes me more appreciative of the perspectives that I have picked up from friends in academia and journalism and other fields over the years that are more critical of the Times.

5. The individual reporter did nothing substantively professionally wrong.

The complaint is with the photo placed by the editors in New York not with the reporter’s story. The photo was by a Kenyan photographer through the Associated Press. So it is simply not her fault. In the moment of anguish with the attack it seems that she received a lot of the grief associated with this situation which was not her doing or in control. Having arrived at an understanding of the facts, there is apparently still a broad sentiment among many Kenyans, including many that I admire and respect, to deport her for being insensitive and seemingly a bit flip in responding. In other words, to me more of a moral question as to whether we think from Twitter that she has the personal traits we approve of as opposed to her actual writing.

Keep in mind that she is a corporate employee presumably. Without knowing the details of her individual situation with the Times, in general terms most American employees are subject to being fired at will, for any reason or no reason, without any legal right to severance as in Kenya, much less “due process”. I am a corporate lawyer [my experience in the world of Kenyan media and politics (and especially the New York Times) that has been the basis for this blog was “on leave” from that corporate career] so I know something about how things work. For a remote employee to say unilaterally to the public on social media that her bosses back in New York screwed up something that is in their job description and discretion and not hers is problematic.

The reporter/correspondent is supposed to say “I am sorry but I personally think my bosses have made a terrible mistake with the company product back in New York”? I do not know what I would have done in her shoes, and I can sit back at home and imagine doing better but realistically she was in a losing position.

I had a slightly analogous situation as an NGO employee in Kenya when my bosses back in Washington put out a press statement that the exit poll I supervised in the 2007 election showing an opposition win was “invalid”. I was in a lose/lose situation on my own in Nairobi. My threading of the needle in dealing with that situation has never been fully satisfactory to anyone so far as I know but not fully “toeing the line” has been life changing in some respects. I objected strenuously in private. In public when I was pressed by a reporter for Nairobi’s Star on whether the statement from Washington “reflected my personal opinion” I explained that “it was’t intended to reflect my personal opinion”–no surprise that the reporting when it hit the paper was that I had said that it “did not reflect” my own opinion. When it was faxed to Washington the president of my organization “hit the roof” per a phone call from my boss who had heard it from him. After I explained the exact choice of words, she ran interference for me and got him “calmed down” on the basis that I had been “misquoted”. Of course I knew when the reporter called me that I was likely to get get fired for diverging from my superiors and I did not have an opportunity to go ask my wife and kids.

I did some things privately during the interval to keep the exit poll from “going away” before it was ultimately released publicly in July but that was closely held and I have never written about that part of the story yet.

It was only post-employment that I felt that I could publicly express my own opinions related to my work.  Ultimately I was quoted from published interviews in The Nation magazine and The New York Times itself (and written about by Kenyan media and and The Weekly Standard and RedState.com without being contaced or interviewed).

Fortunately, my temporary duty in NGO-world was ending in a few weeks anyway. My law job was waiting for me at home. I decided not to resign to keep the office together and I did not get fired. But I was on a short leash until my return to the States and I avoided being out and about or meeting politicians so I would not have to be chose between being openly insubordinate or dishonest. I am grateful that I had some room to maneuver in that pre-social media era.

7. Where do my Kenyan friends want this to end up?

Is “the Kenya we want” one in which foreign reporters for foreign newspapers get deported because they are perceived to be insensitive on social media? What are the ramifications of that? Just reporters? Etc.

Remember that the Times of London correspondent was detained at the airport and expelled by all appearances because he was investigating the Eurobond mysteries. No one filled those shoes. You are still on the hook for the debt and it turns out there seems to have been a secret problem with the SGR financing from 2014 that you are just reading about now.

This deserves to be reflected on and discussed–perhaps mediated–offline and in person, with a little space from the anguish of this attack, and this photo.

6. The peak of this for me is someone on Twitter who wanted to deport the photographer.

Fortunately the Courts in Kenya have now clearly and explicitly ruled against the Executive Branch’s power to deport a Kenyan in the Miguna Miguna cases. We all know the application of the law to the actions of Executive Branch is difficult and often contested as a matter of power rather than right–here in the United States also–so I think Kenyans would be wise to think carefully on this.

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Posted in Journalism, Kenya, media, Nairobi, NGOs, Photographs | Tagged Al Shabaab, foreign correspondents, journalism, Kenya, Kenya 2007 election, KOT, media, Nairobi, New York Times, photography, racism, terrorism, Twitter, violence | Leave a reply

Merry Christmas and a Peaceful but Festive New Year

Posted on December 24, 2018 by Ken
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This is my tenth “Festive Season” greeting from the blog.

Kenya has a superficial political consensus on “no party” elite politics–while there are a lot of disadvantages for most Kenyans versus a more “recommended” approach to government and governance, at least it leaves a little space to celebrate the non-political holidays in the meantime.

So from my family to yours, Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2019.

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Posted in Kenya, Peace, Photographs | Tagged Christmas, nativity, Santa Claus | Leave a reply

Meanwhile, Uganda is reported “sliding into crisis”

Posted on November 21, 2017 by Ken
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With attention focused on Mugabe’s capitulation to the military and his erstwhile ZANU-PF cronies in Zimbabwe, and the accompanying exuberant popular optimism, the Crisis Group released its latest report of 30+ pages on Uganda as Museveni moves to clarify his status as supra-party, supra-legal supremo.

Here is the link to download: “Uganda’s Slow Slide Into Crisis“:

Crisis Group: Principal Findings

What’s the issue? Popular discontent is growing over President Museveni’s apparent desire to remain in power while governance, economic performance and security deteriorate.

Why does it matter? Uganda is not in danger of renewed civil war or rebel violence, but it risks sliding into a political crisis that could eventually threaten the country’s hard-won stability.

What should be done? The government should hold a national dialogue over presidential succession, enact reforms to the partisan police force, stop post- poning local elections and initiate broad consultations on land reform. Donors should encourage these efforts, while avoiding projects that help perpetuate political patronage.

Museveni has continued to have amazing grace from the United States which has taken a position of official neutrality as he has sought to strong arm his way to another constitutional change to eliminate the 75 year presidential age limit for the presidency.

As AMISOM has indicated its first troop drawdown of 1,000, and more U.S. forces deploy to assist the Somali National Army, Museveni volunteered another 5,000 Ugandans for the Somalia-building endeavor during President Trump’s “Nambia lunch” with African leaders in New York in September. No indication that we want to take him up on the offer, but we seem to continue to hold a stream of various defense-funded public events in Uganda and otherwise seem to desire to telegraph “strategic patience”, “immoral indulgence”, “complacent complicity” or whatever it is that best characterizes our multigenerational intertwining with the M7 regime.

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Posted in diplomacy, East African Community, Photographs, Uganda | Tagged AFRICOM, AMISOM, democracy, democracy assistance, East Africa, foreign assistance, political parties, presidential election, security, Somalia, terrorism, Uganda, United States, Yoweri Museveni | Leave a reply

“Friday Night Lights” for African Politics scholars

Posted on December 4, 2016 by Ken
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At the African Studies Association annual meeting in Washington;

the African Politics Conference Group


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Posted in African Studies, democracy, elections, Humor/Humour, Kenya, Photographs, United States | Tagged #ASA2016, Adrienne LeBas, African Politics Conference Group, African Studies, African Studies Association, Carl leVan, Development4Security, pol, politicsl scientists, Texas in Africa | Leave a reply

AFRICOM: U.S. Navy reports on “Djibouti First Initiative” 

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Ken
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Djibouti First Initiative Scores Another Victory With Tom Pouce Bakery

Small things from the Long War.  It’s well and good for the Navy to buy local to feed our sailors to support the Djibouti economy.  And not sending an observation mission to Djibouti’s most recent election was also progress.  (Of course you will remember IGAD sent its delegation headed by Issac Hassan, who is now in the process of being bought out of his position as chair of Kenya’s IIEC/IEBC which we have supported, but we had the integrity to stay off this one.  See my post here.)

The bakery in this picture is actually from Addis Ababa under the “developmental state” regime in 2007.  We would overnight in Addis on our way from Nairobi to Hargeisa.  With no democracy to be promoted I could just visit and take pictures, although shortly before I visited this bakery I was stopped by a concerned stranger with the warning that “they will kill you” for taking pictures.  Fortunately they didn’t.

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Posted in AFRICOM, democracy, Ethiopia, Photographs, Security | Tagged Addis Ababa, AFRICOM, bakery, democracy, development, developmental state, Djibouti, Djibouti First, elections, navy, procurement, sailors, United States | Leave a reply

What to read about the ivory burn

Image

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Don’t get me wrong, I hope some great good for conservation comes out of the burn this time. From a global perspective, perhaps the spectacular publicity can in fact matter in the future and in the big picture Kenya is a small place and fodder for the larger good. That’s really beyond my scope in this blog.

For understanding the event as it relates to Kenya and elephants and conservation and government in Kenya, please read Owaahh: The Politics of Ivory and Fire.

Gathara’s World: Burning Ivory, Burying Elephants: How the Government of Kenya Harms the Conservation Cause.

Why Botswana will not burn illegal ivory

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April 30, 2016 by Ken
Posted in Kenya, Photographs, Tourism Tagged corruption, Kenya, poaching, wildlife 2 Replies

Updated: Once more, with feeling: Museveni’s election commission has scheduled his latest re-election for Thursday

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Ken
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Contrary to what one would expect for a fair competition for elective office, Museveni appoints his own seven member election commission (with confirmation by the Parliament controlled by his NRM).

But international observers can surely be counted on to blow the whistle on any “funny business” as Kenyan Senator Amos Wako, Attorney General from 1991 to 2011, is co-chair of the Commonwealth observation delegation, with Nigeria’s former president Obasanjo.  Wako is especially known for observing Kenya’s Goldenburg and Anglo Leasing scandals as Attorney General.

Last time, in 2011, the United States made some public effort at least to press Museveni to allow an independent election commission.  Museveni called our bluff and said no, so we did not say much this time.

Here is the latest release today from CEON-U, or the Citizen Election Observers Network working with NDI funding.

Here is a link to the longstanding CCEDU or the Citizen’s Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda.

Update 2-17 – Rosebell’s Blog gives a good overview of tense atmosphere during the last weeks of the campaign: “Worrying war rhetoric ahead of Feb. 18 Uganda vote”.

And Jeffrey Gettleman’s analysis piece for today’s New York Times: “Uganda, Firmly Under One Man’s Rule, Dusts Off Trappings of an Election.”

And, from Andrew Green in Foreign Policy: “A real debate before Uganda’s fake election.”

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Posted in African Studies, AFRICOM, corruption, democracy, East African Community, elections, Photographs, Uganda | Tagged Amos Wako, Commonwealth, election, election commission, election observation, Jeffrey Gettleman, Museveni, National Democratic Institute, Rosebell's Blog, Uganda | Leave a reply

“Whosoever will be chief . . . “

Posted on July 5, 2015 by Ken
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London

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Posted in Kenya, Photographs, UK | Tagged Africa, chief, colonialism, empire, history, London, United Kingdom | Leave a reply

Saba Saba; Sawa, Sawa: the sky did not fall

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Ken
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As I noted, rallies will come and rallies will go.  The challenge of governmental dysfunction, propped up by tribalism, remains.  This photograph is from the day before the 2013 election at the public primary school in Nairobi’s posh Westlands neighborhood.  I suspect the scene was much the same yesterday and is much the same today.

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Posted in democracy, Development in Africa, Kenya, Photographs | 2 Replies

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Recent Posts

  • Kenya’s election was very close – would Raila have won with Ngilu instead of Karua as running mate?
  • “A Few Thoughts on the Kenyan Election”
  • With Supreme Court ruling, I recommend Susanne Mueller’s assessment of Kenya’s voting
  • In 2007-08, I only met Moi and Ruto once each. Loose impressions:
  • Raila owes me for keeping the vote count verification Exit Poll showing him leading in 2007 from “going away”, but I did not do it for him personally

Twitter

  • Impunity chickens coming home to roost in Kenya - political violence has had a terrible price for Kenyans but worke… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 14 hours ago
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Photographs are republished from Flickr--all rights reserved unless otherwise stated at Flickr

BBC World News Africa

  • Kamala Harris Africa trip: Can US charm offensive woo continent from China? March 26, 2023
    US Vice-President Kamala Harris embarks on a tour of the continent amid fierce competition for influence.
  • Tunisia migrants: At least 29 die off coast March 26, 2023
    The sub-Saharan African migrants were trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Italy.
  • Paul Rusesabagina: Hotel Rwanda hero set free March 25, 2023
    Paul Rusesabagina, played in the 2004 movie by Don Cheadle, was credited with saving 1,200 people.

Archive

AfriCommons Favorites

  • 👉🏼Are free and fair elections passe in Kenya?
  • 👉🏼Carter Center quietly publishes strikingly critical Final Report from Kenya 2013 Election Observation
  • 👉🏼Corruption and Terrorism/Security
  • 👉🏼Democracy and Competing Objectives: "We Need You to Back Us Up"
  • 👉🏼Election Observation–Diplomacy or Assistance?
  • 👉🏼It's mid-June: another month goes by without Kenya's election results while Hassan goes to Washington
  • 👉🏼New Study on Democracy Assistance in Kenya
  • 👉🏼Ocampo, the donors, and "The Presumption of Arrogance"; a story of babes in the woods of Mt. Kenya?
  • 👉🏼Political Stability, Investor Confidence and Meaningful Elections in East Africa
  • 👉🏼The Kenyan Constitution and The Rule of Law
  • 👉🏼Vote Buying and Women Candidates in Kenya
  • 👉🏼Was Kenya's "Election Observation Group" or ELOG intended to be truly independent of IEBC? Or was it to "build confidence"?
  • 👉🏼Why would we trust the Kenyan IEBC vote tally when they engaged in fraudulent procurement practices for key technology?

FOIA Cables and the 2007 Kenyan election--a series

  • a. Lessons for Kenya's 2012 election from the truth trickling out about 2007–New cables from FOIA (Part One)
  • b. Lessons from the 2007 elections and the new FOIA cables–Part Two
  • c. Lessons from the 2007 Kenyan election and the new FOIA cables–Part Three
  • d. Lessons from the 2007 elections and the new FOIA cables–Part Four
  • e. Lessons from the 2007 elections and the new FOIA cables–Part Five
  • f. Part Six–What did the U.S. Ambassador report to Washington the day after the Kenyan election?
  • g. Part Seven–One last FOIA cable on the 2007 Exit Poll
  • h. Part Eight–New Kenya FOIA documents: Diplomacy vs. Assistance Revisted; or Why Observe Elections If We Don't Tell People What We See?
  • i. Part Nine–What Narrative Was the State Department's Africa Bureau Offering the Media While Kenyans Were Still Voting? And Why?
  • j. Part Ten–FOIA documents from Kenya's 2007 election–Ranneberger at the ECK: "Much can happen between the casting of of votes and final tabulation of ballots, and it did"
  • k. Freedom of Information Series (Part 11): Better to Learn More Lessons from Kenya's Last Election After the Next One?
  • l. Africa Bureau under Frazer coordinated "recharacterization" of 2007 Kenya Exit Poll showing Odinga win (New Documents–FOIA Series No. 12)
  • m. Why is IRI’s report on the Kenya 2007 Exit Poll missing from the USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse? (FOIA Series Part 13)
  • n. The simple truth of the allegedly "contested" Kenya 2007 exit poll–what IRI reported to USAID (FOIA series part 14, War for History series part 19)

Organizations

  • ACE Electoral Knowledge Network (UNDEF)-Kenya
  • Africa Research Institute
  • African Politics Conference Group
  • AFRICOG: Africa Centre for Open Governance
  • Centre for Multiparty Democracy-Kenya
  • East Africa Initiative–Open Society
  • ELOG–Election Observation Group
  • InformAction–Kenya 2017 election reporting
  • International Center for Transitional Justice–Kenya
  • International Commission of Jurists–Kenyan Section
  • Inuka Kenya Trust
  • Kenya Human Rights Commission
  • National Council of Churches of Kenya
  • Transparency Int'l-Kenya

Studies and Reports

  • "Ballots to Bullets"–Human Rights Watch
  • "Count Down to Deception: 30 Hours that Destroyed Kenya" – Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice
  • "Kenya: a country fragmented" – Africa Research Institute
  • "Turning Pebbles: Evading Accountability for Post-Election Violence in Kenya"–Human Rights Watch, Dec. '11
  • Commission of Inquiry into 2007 elections (Kriegler Commssion)
  • Commission of Inquiry into Post Election Violence (Waki Report)
  • USAID–Assessment of the Pre-electoral Environment: AN EVALUATION OF SUPPORT TO THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR . . . 2007 ELECTIONS

US Government

  • Africa Center for Security Studies
  • AFRICOM–US Military Command
  • House Foreign Affairs Committee
  • Senate Foreign Relations Committee
  • State Dept. Africa Bureau
  • U.S. Senate Resolution on 2013 Kenya Election, etc. (bipartisan; unanimous consent)
  • United States Institute of Peace – Africa
  • USAID Blog
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