New Political Posturings

Bloggers,
Aren't things hot in the Kenyan Presidential race. Mzee Matiba (Ford Asili) is in the race. How will this affect the Kibaki effort? I say, a lot. Muran'ga is not at peace for all the reasons you know; coffee farming is not doing well and so is the general economy.
The last I checked NationTV Hon. Odinga and his ODM Pentagon had a Mr. Dick Morris by their side. Now, that is interesting. Dick Morris is an an American Political Wizz credited with having guided President Clinton to two consecutive terms. Since then he became , a mong other things, a Republican political pundit; but once a democrat always a Clinton.
To a Kenyan like me, such credentials could have meant nothing until a few years back: Political Opinion-Polling is with us, and so is everything expected in an open democratic space, including interprating Opinion Polls. Steadman's Wolf runs biweekly polls to which a lot of Kenyans have either heaped praise or anger depending on whether their candidate is on top or not. There are other polls out there too being run by The Sunday Nation. A wise man (like Hon. Odinga) needs a Wizzie like Dick Morris to help him separate real sociopolitical trends from human errors and inexplicable euphoria in poll-taking. I told you that ODMhad hired a lot of psychologists to handle candidates who lose in the party parliamentary nominations. That how a professional political party operates. Mr. Morris is a psychologist, but with a higher mandate, which is to offer round the clock to the ODM Pentagon. I hope he will not attempt to advise Agwambo (aka Arap Mibei, Jamba, Nabongo) to tone down on his rich football imagery.
That is how I see it.
PNU pundits cannot embrace Steadman Polls and question why Hon. Odinga needs Mr. Dick Morris, nor scoff at his Americanness. The times have changed, and the kind of political Wizzardry, which a lot of our politicians have embraced during these trying times, and which I talk about in the novel, The Wise One of Ramogiland, is not enough to see any politician to either state House or Parliament. If PNU has not hired a Morris (local or international) they should look for one.
Joseph R. Alila
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It is a Ball Game

Readers,
The Kenyan 2007 Presidential contest is under 60 days away. The man known as Hon. Agwambo Raila Odinga with his ODM Party and his 6-person council of wizzies appear to be running away with the ball with 15 minutes left in the football game (I mean soccer game). Pundits say that it is 2005 referundum all over, except the top echolons of the local Catholic Church have joined the anti-Majimbo side of the debate, in which PNU, President Kibaki's just-off-the-production-line reelection vehicle is king. The last time I checked, PNU was in and out of the pits with internal mechanics problems.
JR Alila

Spirituality and Kenyan Politics

Spirituality and Kenyan Politics
the last time I checked on Kenyan politics from my remote location in the diaspora, every politician was in a church or Mosque, and sometimes in both in the same week. And our brothers in Bungoma appeared to have been reading my most recent book, The Wise One in Ramogiland (ISBN 14303-2554-3). There is no doubt Kenyan politics has taken a spiritual dimension as projected in my book. There is a Priest running for President; a senior APK Priest has joined the Gachoka parliamentary race. And our brothers in Bungoma and Luyialand believe that Masinde's Prophesy has been fulfilled---the man known as Agwambo (the mystique), a dedicated fan of both political football and real football, is their answer and vehicle to the promised land.

Joseph R Alila.
go to www.amazon.com; lulu (www.lulu.com) for your copy.

Of Wizzards and Magicians: Politicians in Political Peril

Fans,
Students of Kenyan politics, and the general readers in African Literature and political satire, must read Joseph R. Alila's latest book to have hit bookstores worldwide, "The Wise One of Ramogiland," ISBN 1-978-14303-2554-3. With elections about the corner Kenyan's are witnessing politicians in panic mode. Wizzards, Seers and prophets are doing brisk business, and Chief's of Major Houses are dealing their kindred's votes day and night. Did I mention that the birds of flight are awaiting the dissolution of Parliament before making strategic party defections.

J.R. Alila

Agwambomania is here

Guests,
The pangs and perils of multiethnic, multiparty democracy have caught up with Kenyan political wise men. Their crytal balls are getting muckier by the hour; thanks to a phenomenon known as Agwambomania. The illusive winning formula is being sought by major parties, each of which is trying to woo and swallow the smaller parties in marriages of convenience. Will it be ODM, ODM-K or HIBAKI TENA PARTY?
Read The Wise One of Ramogiland by Joseph R. Alila (ISBN 14303-2554-3) for essential orientation in the game of wise men and tribal chiefs in Kenyan Politics.


Joseph R

Insight

Bloggers,

In the fictional novel, "The Wise One of Ramogiland," ISBN 978143032554-3 (http://www.lulu.com/), Joseph R. Alila (Author of such novels as "Sunset on Polygamy," and "The Milayi Curse") distinguishes himself as a social critic with a feel for mature satire with an understanding of serious problems of the past, the present and the future of his Ramogi (Luo) people of East Africa. His heroine, "The Wise One" is introduced to the reader as an unwilling inheritor of a male prophetic order (thanks to old prophesies in her favor). She then grows into a woman of wisdom, whose work ensures a harmonious and informed life for the people of her Kosoko clan within their spiritual, social, cultural and physical environment. From her simple abode on Ratil Hill (The Sinai) she also shepherds the leadership of Ramogi people and the Nation in transitional times. She struggles with such issues as "Can a Ramogi be the President of the Nation?" and "Should the Ramogi Circumcise or Not in the face of the AIDS crisis?
Through his heroine (The Wise One) Alila struggles with such issues in Luo leadership as the often misunderstood "political sycophancy" towards the Modern Political Luo Warriors (pako Thwondi), and the Collective Luo Psyche in national politics. Alila illuminates the workings of essential elements of the Tripodal Luo Leadership in 1) The Warrior Leader (Thuon), 2) The Wisdom of Seer’s Stool (Kom Jabilo); 3) The Elder Leader (Ker) and his collegiate Council of Elders, and which three helped to maintain a united Ramogi front in the lowest of their political times.
Through the services offered by his heroine, "The Wise One," Alila demonstrates, in warm comedy, the making of a modern Ramogi Leader: When the young Warrior visits with "The Wise One," he is put on the Seer’s Stool to empower him with "hidden knowledge;" then he has to carry the heavy javelin (nyol) and full-body shield (kuot) both of which are symbolic of Warrior Leadership and the enormity of the people’s burdens. And when The Young Warrior returns a second time to commune with the New Seer, he is given the rough Shepherd’s Crooked Stick (Luet Nyabola). The Young Warrior symbolically graduates into the tempered Elder Leader. After these visits, the Young Leader attains full empowerment as a modern Luo Leader: a relentless, tempered and informed fighter for the people’s rights, nationally and internationally. The Leader must look North to the Cradle of the Luo, the Sudan, for new challenges, because leadership is about solving problems.

J. Alila (Author)

Interesting Times

Joseph R. Alila's Novel The Wise One of Ramogiland (ISBN 978-1-4303-25543) is now available Worldwide. Amazon.com, BooksAmillion, Barnes and Noble, Borders and many other stores offer some of the Lowest Prices. Barnes & Noble, and Borders can call in the book for you. Online Orders take less than five days within the United States of America and most European Countries.
Read this entertaing book if you want to understand the history and the direction of the Presidential Politics in Kenya, and by extention, other African and Third World countries in which Ethnicity and Clanism still rules.

Alila