Log rhythms on the Nile

In May 2008 my family spent two weeks traveling around Uganda after finishing my time as Resident Director for East Africa at IRI before I was due to back at my “day job” as a lawyer at home in the U.S. This photo is of our children at a “backpacker resort” on the Nile.

It was a bright change of pace after the failed December election and post election violence in Kenya and associated drama I have been writing about here. The sort of thing I can wish for anyone after the present pandemic.

Here is a 2012 New York Times article datelined Hairy Lemon Island where we stayed about this area of the Nile and the changes in the wake of the Bujugali Falls dam project, completed after our time there.

Listening . . .

Image

Waterbuck

Please excuse my lack of posting. I am taking extra time to read and listen.

In case you missed it, here is Joel Barkan’s list from Foreign Affairs, “What to Read on Kenyan Politics”.

And from AfriCOG: “Why Westgate Is About Governance But Not Security Or The ICC”.

Historic Day as New Constitution Ushers in Kenya’s “Second Republic”

Dropping in
The Standard: Kenyan’s Hopes Highest Since NARC Victory

By ALEX NDEGWA

As Kenyans celebrate a new Constitution that radically improves governance, hope is growing with a survey suggesting the high level of optimism is highest in seven years.

An overwhelming majority (77 per cent) is optimistic about the economic prospects in the next 12 months following the promulgation of the new Constitution by President Kibaki, this Friday.

Such high level of optimism was last recorded in April 2003, four months after the National Rainbow Coalition Government rode to power on a euphoric wave that ended Kanu’s repressive reign.

Kenyans were then rated the most optimistic people in the world, yearning for better governance and service delivery, but the hope dissipated as the new regime that had campaigned on a reform platform got mired in grand corruption and power feuds.

The country’s leadership, which ironically brings together the President and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who had fired up the optimism before their falling out, has the opportunity to make up to Kenyans.