NOC-K reforms get IOC backing in New York

Kenya’s Vice-President William Ruto addresses the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 21, 2016. PHOTO | AFP

By BERNARD NAMUNANE

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IN SUMMARY

• The IOC President Thomas Bach held talks with Deputy President William Ruto in New York, US on Thursday and agreed that the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) was riddled with management and structural problems.
• The proposals to revamp NOC-K were presented to IOC by the government two weeks ago.
• Among other proposals, they include redrafting laws and conducting proper and fresh elections of officials.

IN NEW YORK, USA

Kenya may not face the wrath of the International Olympic Committee following the questionable conduct of its national officials during the Rio Olympic Games.

The IOC President Thomas Bach held talks with Deputy President William Ruto in New York, US on Thursday and agreed that the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) was riddled with management and structural problems.

Bach assured Ruto on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York that Kenya has IOC’s blessings to carry out reforms which were outlined by Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario after the media highlighted the mess which NOC-K officials indulged in during the Games.

"You can re-organise the committee with proper reforms," Bach said.

The proposals to revamp NOC-K were presented to IOC by the government two weeks ago.

Kenyan techies’ app wins Sh101m in Clinton-backed fund contest

22.09.2016

Wycliffe Omondi, one of the developers of the Magic Bus Ticketing app. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA  By DOREEN WAINAINAH, dwainainah@ke.nationmedia.com

Summary

• Piloted in Nairobi, Magic Bus Ticketing is a mobile phone platform that enables booking of public transport.

Developers of Magic Bus Ticketing, a mobile phone application that enables booking of public transport, have secured a Sh101 million ($1 million) grant from a Bill Clinton-backed fund after emerging top out of six finalists.

The Hult Prize finalists were crowned overall winners of the startup funding for their idea of digitising booking, pre-payment and on-board payment of fare for commuters in Kenya.

The idea was borne out of a challenge for the Hult Prize, funded by Clinton, whose contest this year was the creation of a better model to connect people to goods and services in crowded urban spaces.

The contest received over 25,000 entries which were shortlisted to six finalists.

The developers comprise a group of students from Earlham College Wycliffe Omondi, Leslie Ossete, Iman Cooper and Sonia Kabra.

The team opted to pilot the idea in Kenya with matatus from Ongata Rongai and Buru Buru available for booking and prepayment on the app.

“In Kenya there is good mobile connectivity and matatus are already in saccos which makes it easier to deal with than going to individual matatus.

It was a ready market and we had connections with the saccos,” said Mr Omondi in an interview with the Business Daily. The offline app works via a short code (USSD), which prompts the user to follow a menu of instructions.

The short code instructs the user to select their route, pick-up and drop-off points before offering the selection of matatus that are available and the estimated pick-up time.

Once a user selects their vehicle of preference, they proceed to pay and move to the bus stop within the expected arrival time of the vehicle.
In addition to the pre-booking and prepayment, commuters can track the position of the vehicle in real time.

Those already on board can pay for their fare via the same service. The team has been working to get long distance travel companies on board to cut the need for commuters to walk to bus offices to make bookings and payments.

“We’re looking to start piloting for long distance in September. The piloting is to go until January for robust market research before we formally launch and also expand into other markets,” said Mr Omondi.

The group had received funding of $10,000 (Sh101,000) from French based Transdev after they were shortlisted as one of the three top picks for transport apps along with Maramoja Taxi and My Ride.

According to Mr Omondi, the team will invest the funds in further research and growth of the business. The team is also looking at the alternative of managing its own fleet in addition to having the service for use by other organised groups.

“We are looking at a franchise model where there are standards that must be followed to use our service,” he said. Matatu and bus crew are allocated tablets that are used to indicate the number of seats available and prevailing charges.

JSC picks David Maraga for Chief Justice post

22.09.2016.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has picked Court of Appeal Judge David Maraga for the post of Chief Justice.

“The JSC has after lengthy deliberations recommended Hon Mr Justice David Kenani Maraga for appointment as Chief Justice and has submitted the name to His Excellency the President,” a statement from JSC read.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to send Justice Maraga's name to the National Assembly for approval.

During an interview with JSC, Justice Maraga had said that if appointed CJ he would name a senior judge as the Judiciary ombudsman and revive the programme for helping the poor with court cases.

He told the JSC that he would fast-track the implementation of the Legal Aid Act to ensure that justice is accessible to all.

He also said he would hire investigators to look into complaints against judges and magistrates with a view to helping to restore public confidence in the Judiciary.

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Justice Maraga said he would introduce an email address to receive public complaints on the conduct of judges, saying the use of suggestion boxes was outdated and ineffective.

JSC retreats to Hague to pick new CJ

THE Judicial Service Commission is meeting in The Hague to decide on the next Chief Justice of Kenya.

According to sources that did not want to be named, all members of the JSC travelled to The Hague for the hearing of a maritime boundary case pitting Kenya against Somalia and will on the sidelines deliberate on the CJ issue.

They will announce the successful candidate soon after returning to the country on Thursday. This means Kenya will have a new CJ before the end of the week.

The JSC, which comprises judges Mohammed Warsame, Aggrey Muchelule, magistrate Emily Ominde, Prof Githu Muigai, Prof Margaret Kobia, Prof Tom Ojienda, Winnie Guchu, Mercy Ndeche and Kipng’etich Bett, finished the interviews for the position of CJ last Thursday.

Attorney General Muigai and Ojienda, an expert in the law of the sea, are involved in the Kenya versus Somalia case.

Those interviewed for the job of CJ are US-based law Professor Makau Mutua, advocate Nzamba Kitonga, carpenter Paul Kongai Udoto, Ambassador Daniel Wambura, Pastor Lucy Wanja, judges Alnashir Visram, Msagah Mbogholi, David Maraga, Smokin Wanjala, Roselyne Nambuye, Jacktone Ojwang and Aaron Ringera.

During the interviews the JSC asked questions seeking to find out the vision the applicants had for the Judiciary, their understanding of the challenges that face the institution, and how to take it to the next level by making it more efficient; what they stand for; their appreciation of international law; their networks within the country and outside; and ability to source funding for the Judiciary from donors.

There were also questions touching on the independence of the candidates, their integrity, temperament, people skills, whether they were good managers, whether they will inspire confidence among the judicial staff, and on their previous judgments (for the candidates who were already serving judges).

As the JSC retreats to find the person to succeed the first President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court under the 2010 constitution, Willy Mutunga, it will have the tough task of finding someone with all, or the majority, of the above qualities.

The position of CJ fell vacant after Mutunga and his deputy, Kalpana Rawal, both left office in June.

The JSC is rushing to fill the positions, especially because the Supreme Court at present has no quorum. The court will also decide petitions in case of challenges to the outcome of the Presidential election next year.

According to the constitution, the Chief Justice is the chairman of the JSC and president of the Supreme Court. He does not exercise judicial power over other courts. Any administrative power he retains over the Court of Appeal and High Court is shared with their heads.

Following the interviews, three judges, namely Wanjala, Visram and Maraga, are tipped to be the frontrunners.

The three have the upper hand because of their experience in the Judiciary and their people skills, among other factors.

Justice Wanjala has the added advantage of being on the JSC as a representative of the Supreme Court and has knowledge about the workings of the JSC.

Once picked, the CJ is expected to chair the interviews for the Deputy CJ and other vacancies on the Supreme Court.

It is also understood senior government figures are comfortable with any of the three because they come from small communities outside of Mount Kenya and the Rift Valley. President Uhuru Kenyatta from Central and Deputy President William Ruto from Rift have been accused of mostly appointing people from the two regions to key positions.

Maraga is also favored politically, as he would be a plus to the Jubilee government, considering that he comes from Kisii. The Jubilee Party regime will be keen on having him appointed to endear itself to the Abagusii community.

Apart from impressive academic performance, integrity and experience, the JSC will also consider regional balance as it names the CJ.

The interviews were marked by fierce exchanges, light moments and deep academic arguments.

At one point, Mutua's interview became a battle of professors as AG Muigai pressed the law scholar on his much-publicized remarks, published in a newspaper column under his own byline, that he would never recognize President Kenyatta’s 2013 election victory.

But the worst altercation occurred last Thursday, when Justice Ojwang bluntly told the JSC to give him a break when the line of questioning appeared to irritate him.

Hundreds stranded after ferry stalls

By MWAKERA MWAJEFA
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Commuters aboard the MV Kilindini at the Likoni crossing channel on September 17, 2016. One of the ferries broke down. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

Panic gripped motorists and commuters on Satursday when MV Nyayo stalled midstream forcing the Kenya Ferry Services management to dispatch MV Kilindini to tag it towards the mainland ramp.

The early morning incident caused major delays.

Speaking to Sunday Nation on phone, one of the victims, Twaha Juma, complained that all the four vessels seemed to be operating with difficulties as they took a long time to either land or disembark from the two crossing points.

“Something seems to be wrong with the whole set up. It seems like there is a go-slow or sabotage because even those marshalling vehicular cargo are leaving huge gaps costing the coxswain a lot of time to direct motorists,” he said.

He expressed concern that the commuters waiting on the mainland side could easily suffocate due to overcrowding.

But speaking on board the stalled MV Nyayo, the KFS Managing Director Bakari Gowa attributed the incident to the massive congestion on the crossing ramps of Likoni channel.

“We were operating four ferries but at 6.15am MV Nyayo developed a mechanical problem when one of its engines stopped causing it to drift midstream with its human and vehicle cargo,” he said.

Nail-biting wait for new CJ SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17 2016

By GEORGE KEGORO
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This photo dated June 2, 2016 shows Chief Justice Willy Mutunga at the Supreme Court in Nairobi. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

The controversies surrounding the decision of the Judicial Service Commission to omit a number of candidates to be interviewed for the position of Chief Justice provided the major talking point in the interviews that have been concluded.

Following the decision, lawyer Sam Mohochi and Prof Yash Ghai filed a suit asking the court that all candidates be interviewed, unless it could explain why some were disqualified.

In its judgment, the High Court directed the commission to reconsider the applicants it had rejected and to communicate its decision, particularly where adverse, to the affected parties. It also prohibited the commisison from recommending to the President names for appointment without adhering to the court’s orders.

The JSC thereafter announced that it would now interview all the candidates that it had previously excluded, a decision that led to the inclusion of such obviously unqualified candidates as Paul Kongani, a 39-year-old law student who is also a carpenter.

This decision also restored three more controversial candidates including Justice Jackton Ojwang, who, as a serving judge of the Supreme Court, would argue that he should have been shortlisted to begin with, and the former chair of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, Justice Aaron Ringera, who as a senior figure in the law and politics of the country, would also feel he deserved a place in the shortlist.

The third candidate in this category was US-based law professor, Makau Mutua, whom, it turned out, was not shortlisted because he had not furnished the JSC with a certificate of good conduct from the Criminal Investigation Department. Prof Mutua was to explain during the interview that the CID would not issue him with a certificate because they needed to first take his fingerprints, something that could not be done within the limited time available, since he is resident in the US. It is as though the JSC used the interview of these three candidates to demonstrate that it was justified not to have shortlisted them in the first place. Whoever the JSC picks as the country’s next Chief Justice, it is the interviews of the candidates that the JSC had initially excluded that will provide the highlights of the recruitment process.

REASONABLE CIVILITY

While Justice Ojwang and Prof Mutua were subjected to some unfriendly questioning, the interview against Justice Ringera proceeded with reasonable civility, during which the JSC was able to explore the leading role that the retired judge had played while still a lawyer in private practice, in resisting democratic reforms in the country. Justice Ringera blamed his past errors of judgment on the follies of youth and also on senior figures in the profession who he said had manipulated him to do what he did. He readily apologised, promising that he would do better if he was given another chance.

This was not the first time that Justice Ringera was seeking to become Chief Justice, having failed to make the shortlist in the 2011 interviews as well. It would be fair to say that the JSC is unlikely to recommend him for Chief Justice, having so easily discredited Justice Ringera on account of this past history.

On his part, Justice Ojwang fell for what appeared like a deliberate plan on the part of the JSC to aggravate and demean him. During questioning over his role in the controversies that rocked the Supreme Court over the retirement age saga that involved fellow Supreme Court justices Kalpana Rawal and Philip Tunoi, Justice Ojwang lost his temper, leading to a furious slanging match with a member of the JSC. The interview revealed the bitterness that characterises internal relationships in the Judiciary, and which is attributable to the opposing positions a number of judges took on the retirement question.

It is surprising that Justice Ojwang submitted himself to an interview conducted by the JSC, a body that only recently made a formal finding that he had been involved in misconduct in relation to his role in the retirement saga. It was manifest that the JSC intended to give Prof Mutua the same rough treatment it had given Justice Ringera a day before, and which it would give Justice Ojwang a day after. In particular, Attorney General Githu Muigai attempted some one-upmanship on Prof Mutua, although it is doubtful to conclude that he succeeded.

A TUTORIAL

In the end, Prof Mutua’s interview was a masterclass, with the Buffalo Law School professor giving the JSC a tutorial on several of the complex legal issues that they explored with him. In the eyes of many that watched the interviews, Prof Mutua was by far the best candidate, and on the basis of what happened on that day, he would be an easy choice for the next Chief Justice.

However, the JSC is likely to regard adversely Prof Mutua’s position as a conscientious objector to the declaration of Uhuru Kenyatta as the president of Kenya. The JSC explored his views on this subject at great length.  They also laid a number traps in Prof Mutua’s way, including regarding his views on equality and non-discrimination in the context of sexuality rights, and his views on abortion, and the death penalty. They even asked him about his religious beliefs, thus erecting a religious test against him. Although some would disagree with him, Prof Mutua convincingly supported his views on these issues.

Prof Mutua is likely to have a profound effect on the whole recruitment process. When everything is considered, many people felt that he earned an interview as of right, even though it took a court order for him to be interviewed. Having done so well in the interview, his performance now makes the JSC look capricious for not having shortlisted him to begin with. If the JSC does not give him the job, the body will come under pressure to demonstrate that whoever it settles on was better than Prof Mutua.

In that case, the divided JSC members would be forced to close ranks and compromise on a candidate whose selection they can all defend. The effect of Prof Mutua on the interview process is that whatever the JSC decides on his candidature, he has raised the bar by which the JSC will make its decision on the most suitable candidate.

ORIGINAL CANDIDATES

Of course, there are also the six originally shortlisted candidates whom the JSC will have to consider. The JSC was dismissive of Justices Mbogholi Msagha and Roselyn Nambuye. While Justice Wanjala had a good ride and performed well among this category of applicants, he is an insider and a member of the Supreme Court, a court that is currently affected by a considerable amount of internal toxicity. In the context of the poisoned atmosphere in the Supreme Court, Justice Wanjala would not be a straight forward choice. Justice Wanjala together with Justice Mohammed Ibrahim belong to one camp and Justice Ojwang and Njoki Ndungu to the other. The JSC would have to consider the effect that would be created in the internal atmosphere of the Supreme Court, if it chose either of Justice Wanjala or Justice Ojwang.

Of the remaining candidates, Justice Alnashir Visram wrote himself off when he was awarded a large amount of money as damages for defamation, a fact that compounds his image as a reactionary.

The last two candidates Justice David Maraga and lawyer Nzamba Kitonga have sailed quietly through the interviews. As a compromise candidate, and given his solid professional background, Mr Kitonga would be perfect. The private legal profession, which greatly admires Mr Kitonga, would be appeased, and being the only other “outsider” applicant besides Prof Mutua, his selection would atone for the controversies that accompanied the shortlisting. There is likely to be a backlash if the JSC does not select Prof Mutua as Chief Justice. The only candidate the choice of whom would avoid such a backlash is Mr Kitonga. This is because besides Prof Mutua, he is the only credible outsider that the JSC interviewed. If the JSC were to settle on an internal compromise candidate, it might be Justice Maraga, whose genial approach raises the least resistance in a divided Judiciary.

gkegoro@gmail.com

New-look JKIA Promises a better image for Kenya

By Prof. Makau Mutua

18.09.2016
For decades, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport – the region’s air transport busiest hub – was a disgrace. It was a dinky airport with dim lights and a putrid stench. The toilets were broken and didn’t have running water.

Human excrement and urine forbade one from venturing into the toilets. In hot weather, the stench could knock you off your feet. The immigration kiosks looked like ramshackle police checks. The one miserable baggage conveyer belt creaked with every turn after an interminable wait for your bag.

Then you dreaded the forlorn customs agent who was always ready to shake you down. This was your first impression as you entered Kenya. They say you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

 Matters weren’t much better as departed the country through JKIA. The entry point for departing passengers – before security – was always disorganized. People would shove and push. Others would rudely cut in line.

The lone and sad looking agent would demand a passport or ticket, or both, and then barely look at them once you produced them. He would waive you towards a dilapidated luggage screening machine with an x-ray for your person. I am sure that machine couldn’t detect a thing – it looked completely obsolete. The x-ray body machine was no better. It barely registered a protest most of the time. No one should wonder why US authorities refused to grant Kenya direct flights from America.

I am pleased to report that things have gotten better since last year, especially after the construction of new terminals with new departures and arrivals halls. The airport is now airy and spacious. It’s well-lit with legible modern professional signage.

The Immigration officers now sit at impressive counters with functional digital identification equipment. The screening system now has several layers and one gets the impression that – on the face of it – screeners have good equipment, and that they know what they are doing. The customs agents as you arrive still leave a lot to be desired but I think even there we have an improvement. The toilets now work and water is available. JKIA still has a long way to go, but it’s coming.

It may sound trivial to focus a whole column on an airport. But methinks airports are a window into a country. Banana republics have ramshackle airports.

 Developed countries have world class airports. That’s because air travel is one of the most important industries in modern civilisation. It’s how business and leisure are conducted. You can’t hope to be a great leisure destination if businesspersons are shaken down at the airport, or tourists have their luggage are stolen or rummaged through at your airport.

Equally worse, you can’t allow unscrupulous taxi drivers to mug visitors as they exit, or extort them with high fares. Air travel is a monster by itself – you don’t have to make it doubly unpleasant as passengers arrive, or exit, a country.

I want to recall two experiences at an African country which shall remain nameless. The country – for the avoidance of doubt – is an economic giant in terms of resources. But it has woefully mismanaged its resources through corruption. The first incident occurred on my arrival at the airport. Once we alighted from the plane, we went to the baggage claim area to pick our bags. It was over one hour before the first bag showed up. The agent with the bag made it clear he expected its owner to pay him to get the bag. Passengers grumbled but very soon virtually everyone paid to retrieve their bags. I had never seen this before.

 I was shocked and stunned. Nairobi, in spite of the stinky JKIA, looked better. The second incident took place as I was leaving the country. Typically, the drive from city center to the airport shouldn’t take more than 45 minutes.

 But it always took several hours because of traffic congestion. It was worse than Mombasa Road to JKIA. The drive was so long you would often see hapless passengers – who had drunk one too many beers – relieving themselves on the side of the road before jumping back into their vehicles.

Once at the airport, a crush of humanity awaited you in the sweltering heat. The mammoth tropical airport had no fans or air-conditioning. It was a civil war to get to the check-in counter for a boarding pass. And then another shoving match to board the plane.

Ours was a KLM flight. I remember the same people who had been savagely pushing and shoving immediately changed their demeanour and acted like civilised men and women once they reached the threshold of the plane and felt its cool air. It was at the door of the plane where Africa ended and Europe began. That’s a reality we must change

 CLICK

Advanced aliens could 'conquer and colonise' our planet, warns Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking has tackled the mysteries of the universe his entire life.

Now the world-renowned scientist has some new things to say about a potential alien invasion.

"If aliens visit us, the outcome could be much like when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans," Professor Hawking told El País .

"Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach," he said.

The physicist, who has suffered from motor neurone disease since his twenties, explained that the existence of aliens is beyond doubt.

"To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational. The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like."

He also explained that the best chances for the survival of the human race is to find a new home on another planet.

"There's an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy Earth," Prof Hawking explains.

15 Stephen Hawking quotes that will change your life "I therefore want to raise public awareness about the importance of space flight. I have learnt not to look too far ahead, but to concentrate on the present.

"I have so much more I want to do."

In July, Britain's most famous scientist helped to launch Breakthrough Listen , a 10-year, £64million project funded by US-based Russian billionaire Yuri Milner.

Mr Milner’s team will scan the skies for alien broadcast signals, searching the entire Milky Way and 100 nearby galaxies.

Professor Hawking, 73, said at the Royal Society in London: “Somewhere in the cosmos, perhaps, intelligent life may be watching these lights of ours aware of what they mean.”

I HAVE NO APOLOGIES OVER REMARKS IN NAROK ON TJRC REPORT:

For immediate release

PRESS STATEMENT BY RT. HON RAILA ODINGA:

I HAVE NO APOLOGIES OVER REMARKS IN NAROK ON TJRC REPORT:

During the burial of Hon William ole Ntimama on Wednesday, 14th September 2016, I raised fundamental issues touching on historical injustices that communities and individuals have suffered in Kenya and which needs to be brought to a closer through the implementation of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation report.

My sentiments at the burial and at the church service earlier were in line with the ideals the late Ntimama fought for all his life… the ideals of fairness, equity, justice and freedom…after decades of seeing the Maasai being dispossessed, tossed around and overran, first by the colonialists then by successive post-independence regimes.

Many times in private, Hon Ntimama’s Iltaaroosero Clan, representatives of his Ilnyankusi age group and the Maa Community in general raised the matters of Maasai lands with me. It was important that as we buried Ntimama, we remind the national leadership of his unfinished agenda that must be acted on.
But the issue is bigger than the Maa community.

The TJRC report also addresses legal and institutional reforms; land reforms; tackling poverty and inequality as well as combating regional development imbalances; tackling unemployment, particularly among the youth; consolidating national cohesion and unity; transparency, protection of indigenous communities, addressing accountability and impunity. These matters are critical to our future as a nation.

This report has always bee shrouded in controversy. Foreign members of the TJRC committee refused to sign it when some sections were expunged on instructions of some influential figures in government who were fingered by the report. Still, Jubilee remains uncomfortable even with the redacted report, hence the failure to table it for debate.
Yet the report is in the hearts of Kenyans across the country from Central to Rift Valley to the Coast and northern Kenya where land grabbing, massacres, disappearances, marginalisation and other injustices have occurred since independence.

That is why I reminded the Jubilee leadership particularly in Parliament that Kenyans are waiting for the tabling of the TJRC report in its original form and full implementation thereafter.

Strangely, my challenge only sparked off a very strange rage from the President. The Jubilee administration is now claiming the President was provoked and that we are somehow disrespectful in raising this matter.

I raised the TJRC issue as a matter of conscience. I did it as a duty to my country and as part of my deep belief that historical injustices have occurred in Kenya and they need to be addressed as recommended in the original TJRC report.

I have no apologies on this matter and I promise to continue raising it.

RT HON RAILA ODINGA
HEIDELBERG, GERMANY
16TH SEPTEMBER 2016.

African writer's American Dream comes true

This file photo taken on July 05, 2016 shows Cameroonian author Imbolo Mbue posing in Paris. The history of Cameroonian novelist Imbolo Mbue, born 33 years ago in a house without running water and become famous overnight by getting a million dollars head for her first novel, looks like New Yorker a fairy tale. PHOTO | AFP 

By AFP

13.09.2016

Imbolo Mbue's rise to the top of the literary tree is a true fairy tale of New York.

The 33-year-old Cameroonian writer, who was born in a house without running water or electricity, became the talk of the town when she got a million-dollar advance for her first novel, "Behold the Dreamers", in 2014.

Two years later the book that Mbue wrote at the kitchen table of her tiny New York apartment — often while breastfeeding her babies — is getting the kind of reviews that authors dream of.

The New York Times called it a "dissection of the American dream that is savage and compassionate in all the right places".

The critical reception on the other side of the Atlantic — where it was published simultaneously in French — has been equally warm, with Le Monde hailing "the discovery of a formidable writer".

"I started the book when my first child was a baby," Mbue told AFP, "and I rewrote it while nursing my second.

"I perfected the art of holding them with one hand and writing with the other," she laughed.

"People afterwards said, 'How wonderful for you!' And I said, 'Oh, no it wasn't. Really, you don't understand!'"

Mbue's tale of a migrant from her oceanside hometown of Limbe who lands a job as a chauffeur for a Lehman Brothers executive — just before the bank's collapse triggered a global financial crisis — is a bittersweet tale of great expectations slowly shattered.

FOLLY OF THE 1 PERCENT

Despite the latitude that the subject matter gave her to skewer the people who drove the world into recession, Mbue's immigrant heroes take a surprisingly tender view of the follies of the privileged one percent of US society they serve.

This gives the book what the Washington Post called "a kind of angelic annunciation of hope, which ultimately makes her story even more poignant".

Like her characters Junde Jonga and his wife Neni, Mbue arrived in America at 17 with little more than her wide-eyed innocence and doggedness to declare.

Still Mbue had reason to feel embittered by the crash. The crisis cost her the good job in market research she landed after working herself through a master's degree selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door.

With "so many Americans also out of work", she found it hard to get work and started writing.

"I wanted to be a college professor but my husband said only I could tell this story.

"It's funny because he didn't actually read the book until months after it was sold. Then he asked, 'What is it about?'"

Instead of sending her manuscript to any old agent, Mbue went straight to Susan Golomb, who represents Jonathan Franzen, one of America's most admired novelists.

AGE OF TRUMP

"I spent three years pursuing her," she recalled. "I stalked her basically. She finally read it and I rewrote it and then she rejected me again, before finally saying OK.

"I don't give up easily," she said.

Despite her success, Mbue is under no illusion about the American Dream in the age of Donald Trump.

"The odds are against you in America as an immigrant. I hope people realise this. Washing dishes or working in a cab, you get stuck and exhausted.

"You don't come to America to fail, but you have to have a lot of weapons to succeed.

"I've done some tough jobs," Mbue added, "but writing and raising children are the hardest things I've ever done."

"I am not the sort of person who would choose this path (as a writer). I have that immigrant mentality of wanting stability. I cannot just think of myself."

So despite her new-found fame, Mbue is not leaving her "very small" apartment.

"I am superstitious. I had so many good things happen there I don't want to move. I am all cramped in there with screaming children, but I think if I move maybe my mojo will go away."

About the ‘Basket of Deplorables’

Let’s get straight to it: Hillary Clinton’s comments Friday at a fund-raiser that half of Donald Trump’s supporters could be put in a “basket of deplorables” wasn’t a smart political play.

Candidates do themselves a tremendous disservice when they attack voters rather than campaigns. Whatever advantage is procured through the rallying of one’s own base is outweighed by what will be read as divisiveness and disdain.

Here is Clinton’s full quote:

“You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people — now 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric. Now some of those folks — they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America.”

Then, she continued: “But the other basket — and I know this because I see friends from all over America here — I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas — as well as, you know, New York and California — but that other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change. It doesn’t really even matter where it comes from. They don’t buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won’t wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they’re in a dead end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.”

That second basket got too little attention. Context doesn’t provide the sizzle on which shock media subsists. Noted.

What Clinton said was impolitic, but it was not incorrect. There are things a politician cannot say. Luckily, I’m not a politician.

Donald Trump is a deplorable candidate — to put it charitably — and anyone who helps him advance his racial, religious and ethnic bigotry is part of that bigotry. Period. Anyone who elevates a sexist is part of that sexism. The same goes for xenophobia. You can’t conveniently separate yourself from the detestable part of him because you sense in him the promise of cultural or economic advantage. That hair cannot be split.

Furthermore, one doesn’t have to actively hate to contribute to a culture that allows hate to flourish.

It doesn’t matter how lovely your family, how honorable your work or service, how devout your faith — if you place ideological adherence or economic self interest above the moral imperative to condemn and denounce a demagogue, then you are deplorable.

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And there is some evidence that Trump’s supporters don’t simply have a passive, tacit acceptance of an undesirable platform, but instead have an active set of beliefs that support what is deplorable in Trump.

In state after state that Trump won during the primaries, he won a majority or near majority of voters who supported a temporary ban on Muslims entering this country and who supported deporting immigrants who are in this country illegally.

In June a Reuters/Ipsos poll found: “Nearly half of Trump’s supporters described African-Americans as more ‘violent’ than whites. The same proportion described African-Americans as more ‘criminal’ than whites, while 40 percent described them as more ‘lazy’ than whites.”

A Pew poll released in February found that 65 percent of Republicans believe the next president should “speak bluntly even if critical of Islam as a whole” when talking about Islamic extremists.

Another Reuters/Ipsos online poll in July found that 58 percent of Trump supporters have a “somewhat unfavorable” view of Islam and 78 percent believe Islam was more likely to encourage acts of terrorism.

A February Public Policy Polling survey found “Trump’s support in South Carolina is built on a base of voters among whom religious and racial intolerance pervades.” What the poll found about those South Carolina supporters’ beliefs was truly shocking:

• Eighty percent of likely Trump primary voters supported Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims.

• Sixty-two percent supported creating a national database of Muslims and 40 percent supported shutting down mosques in the United States.

• Thirty-eight percent wished the South had won the Civil War.

• Thirty-three percent thought the practice of Islam should be illegal in this country.

• Thirty-two percent supported the policy of Japanese internment during World War II.

• Thirty-one percent would support a ban on homosexuals entering the country.

On Saturday, Clinton issued a statement pointing out that “I regret saying ‘half’ — that was wrong.” Place the percentage where you will — or don’t — but the fact is indisputable.

I understand that people recoil at the notion that they are part of a pejorative basket. I understand the reflexive resistance to having your negative beliefs disrobed and your sense of self dressed down.

I understand your outrage, but I’m unmoved by it. If the basket fits …

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Investigation ordered as Russian river turns red

Russian authorities have ordered an investigation into a possible pipeline break after a river in the nickel-producing Arctic city of Norilsk turned bright red.
Social media users began sharing photos of the unnaturally red Daldykan river on Tuesday, with some writing that it had also changed colour in June.
A few users suggested iron ore in the ground had changed the river’s colour, but others said industrial waste was a more likely reason. The river runs near to the Nadezhda metallurgical factory run by Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium.
Russia’s natural resources and environment ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that it was investigating complaints of unknown chemical pollution, possibly caused by a “break in a Norilsk Nickel slurry pipe”.
Norilsk Nickel denied an industrial spill into the Daldykan and said the “colour of the river today doesn’t differ from its usual condition”, state news agency RIA Novosti reported. But the company said it was temporarily reducing manufacturing work while it monitored the situation. The Norilsk mayor’s office said the city’s water supply came from other sources.
According to Denis Koshevoi, a PhD candidate at the Vernadsky Institute for Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, who is researching pollution in the area, Norilsk Nickel pumps chemical solutions from Nadezhda to a nearby tailings dam via pipes. It also pumps metal concentrates from ore mills to Nadezhda, he said.
“Periodically there are accidents when these pipes break and the solutions spill and get into the Daldykan – that’s why it changes colour,” Koshevoi told the Guardian.
“A leak into the river from the Nadezhda factory,” Norilsk resident Yekaterina Basalyga wrote under two pictures of the river on her Instagram account. “You get scared when you see this. And people are still gathering mushrooms and berries.”
Another commenter quoted the Bible passage in which the Lord tells Moses and Aaron to “strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood”.
Norilsk developed as a gulag camp in 1935 and is known for its harsh winters, two-month polar night and high level of industrial pollution.
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