The 'Iron Ring' of Land Alienation
The threat of colonial labour demands to the domestic economy was largely deflected, however, large-scale land alienation fundamentally threatened Arusha and Meru long-term survival and would become the central economic and political issue in both societies over the course of the twentieth century. The German administration's attitudes to land were contradictory at best, favouring European settlement in some areas, while sharply restricting it in favour of African smallholder production in others. The cool and fertile highlands of northeastern Tanzania was one of the favoured settlement areas, but the conquest of Usambara had led to such an orgy of land grabbing by European speculators that the government started in 1895 to restrict alienation to leasehold grants of unoccupied land and required leaseholders to clear and develop 5 to 10 per cent of their land annually. From Shambaa, the settlers moved on to Kilimanjaro and Meru, but there was little unoccupied land on the congested mountain sides themselves, and settlers were forced to accept lower land around the bases of the mountains, rapidly ringing each with a chain of European farms and plantations.
Kurt Johannes approaches the Arusha
On 19 October 1896, a German captain, Kurt Johannes, approached the Arusha in an attempt to secure diplomatic relations with local chiefs, but the Arusha warriors, unable to forget a German raid of the previous year, attacked and killed two missionaries. Captain Johannes returned to his base in Moshi,where he persuaded Rindi to side with him and mobilize Chagga troops to retaliate.The Arusha were easily defeated by the punishing onslaught: their weapons and food reserves were confiscated and their houses were destroyed, until they were forced to bow to German control.
Construction of the boma
In 1899 the Germans began construction of a strong fortification, a boma, which they forced the Arusha to build. Maasai in Arusha still remember the humiliation of this task:the new colonists took pleasure in riding around on the backs of the Arusha and Maasai men, egging them on with whips. One Maasai recorded the growing resentment at this form of transport in his memoirs. He was particularly enraged by an unusually heavy cargo; passing the river with his charge set heavily across his back, his patience snapped and he tossed his 'master' into the water. Fearing the consequences, many Maasai went into hiding in the bush, until a Maasai chief was sent to find them.The chief explained to the mutinous group that he was acting as a mediator, and that if the group returned to work all would be forgiven.The runaways marched back into the new town in a column of about 400 men; as they strode down Boma Road, the entire troop was gunned down in the street - one of history's many warnings never to trust a 'safe conduct'. It is said that the 'mediator' was promptly promoted.The bloodstained fort was completed in 1900 and became a barracks for 150 Nubian soldiers, later being made the regional government offices until 1934. when it was turned into the Arusha Museum of Natural History.
How Germans gained control over Waarusha. After defeating them, Germans built a Boma as symbol of superiority
Adapted from A History of the Lutheran Church Diocese in the Arusha Region from 1904 to 1958 by Rev. Dr. Joseph W. Parsalaw. Dissertation: Erlangen University, Germany, February 1997.
But this was not enough, Captain Johannes wanted complete control. And three years later, in 1899, he was to get what he wanted. After receiving consent from his superiors in the German Administration, he began the construction of a fort that would symbolize German control over the territory.
With this development the Waarusha were to suffer their worst humiliation. They not only suffered the shame of watching the enemy’s fort being built in their territory, they were forced to participate in the actual construction of the Boma.
The once-fiery warriors used their swords to dig out limestone and their shields to carry it to the site. Younger women brought banana fibres for thatching. Older women pounded mud with their feet, while others fetched grass for the Captains donkeys.
And so the Waarusha toiled to construct the new building. And the toil was not easy, as one elder, Lonyuki Lekichawo described to H. A. Fosbrooke who quotes him in the 1955 publication of Tanzania Notes and Records:
"Seeing the trees being cut down around Arusha Boma reminds me of my youth. At that time, the whole township area was cultivated and covered with banana groves and huts, and the German Administration was centred round the place where the Clock now stands. The present Boma had only just been started and the walls were perhaps three feet high. In common with the rest of my age-set, I had been put on to this building job. At that time our fighting with the Germans was over: they did not attack us nor did we attack them.
"One day when we were at this work, six of us were called out and told to climb a very tall tree standing to the West of the Boma where the Police car park is. We were told to climb up with our axes and cut the branches from the upper part of the tree. We climbed up with the aid of a locally made rope such as is used for honey hunting. The Nubi askari pulled the rope away whilst we were up the three. Meanwhile others were cutting the trunk of the tree with a saw. These were people of some other tribe that had been brought in as labourers by the Germans. While we were still up the three, it started to fall. There was nothing we could do as the rope had been removed. We all came down with a crash. Of the six of us, three were killed on the spot and three of us escaped. Luckily we were no more than bruised and scratched."
But from the lost lives and from the toil and humiliation grew a Boma, and around the Boma grew Arusha town.
By 1900 the fort was completed and Captain Johannes used it to house a troops of 150 Nubian soldiers. Soon, the Imperial German Ensign was flying from the flagstaff and the fortification was henceforth used by the Germans for regional government offices until 1934.
Meanwhile, the town spread around the Boma. In 1906, the second modern construction, a residential building called the White House, was completed in Ilboru and a road was built to link the two sites.
Gradually, Indian traders, German farmers and traders, as well as immigrant Africans settled in the surrounding area. A market cropped up on the banks of Themi River and in 1914 construction of the first school. Boma school was started in the area where the present Arusha Town Lutheran Church stands. This was completed in 1924 and by then a hotel and several other buildings had been constructed in the vicinity.
The completion of the rail-road to Moshi in the early 1920s led to a further influx of immigrants and the town’s population has been increasing and the metropolitan area expanding ever since. By 1948 Arusha had a population of 5,300 people and in the 1970s it reached 100,000.
In a hundred years the village around the fort has grown into a busy Metropolitan area. Today Arusha Town boasts a population of more than 350,000 people and covers an area of 82.5 square kilometres. And it hasn’t stopped growing. Today Arusha opens its doors to myriads of newcomers just as it did in the time of the Boma’s glory.
Influx of traders and farmers
A steady influx of traders and farmers into Arusha in the 19th century, notably Indian traders, private German farmers and immigrant Africans, stimulated economic growth, prompting the German administration to conceive an 'idealistic' vision of a vast white settlement of their own construction. The Germans came up with several schemes to import settlers-from bizarre backgrounds.
The first of these plans back-fired when the Boer farmers of German origin who had taken up the offer of free farmland proved too uncouth for the ideal community; they were mainly squeezed out into Kenya.
The grand scheme was revised: now 10,000 German peasants from settlements around the Volga Basin and Caucasus in southern Russia were to be imported. The four families who arrived as a test project were painfully disappointed to discover that Arusha did not have four harvests a year, as they had been led to believe, and soon made their way to Tanga begging to be sent back to Russia.
Although small, Arusha is as well known as Dar es Salaam
Although small, Arusha is as well known as Dar es Salaam. From a tiny German military garrison in 1900, the town has grown to become the 'tourist' capital of Tanzania. Its position at a central point between Cairo and the Cape puts it at the heart of Africa. This position helped Arusha's rise to fame which began when it became the headquarters of the former East African Community.
An Evolution of a Hunting Hub
Arusha town is beautifully set in a landscape of rolling green foothills at the Southern base of Mount Kilimanjaro’s sister mountain called Meru. This frontier-like town with a hint of western flavor was, from its origins, as is still to today, an important center for all sorts of hunting and photographic safaris.
The town originally grew around the “Boma”, (Swahili word for a cattle corral), a German Fort built in the late 1800’s. Throughout the years Arusha has remained a relatively small town with a predominant safari and farming community; characterized as a melting pot for a variety of international settlers ranging from Asians, Germans and Greeks to South Africans and British.
A German captain, Kurt Johannes, one of the town’s first foreign settlers approached the WaArusha people, in 1896, in an attempt to secure diplomatic relations with the local chiefs. The WaArusha, were a long established tribe of pastorialists and farmers originating from a mixture of the Maasai and Meru tribes. Their social structure, heavily influenced by their Maasai ancestry, was based upon warrior class and status according to age. Kurt’s efforts at diplomacy failed due to attempted previous German raids on the area and two of the missionaries in the group were killed. An infuriated Captain Johannes returned to his base in Moshi, on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and there persuaded Chief Rindi of the Chagga people to mobilize troops and join forces with him in the take-over of the WaArusha, who were actually Rindi’s allies in many previous local battles.
So by1898, the betrayed WaArusha were easily defeated by the punishing onslaught of the two forces. Their weapons and food supplies were confiscated, their houses destroyed and they were finally forced to bow down to German control. The colonists moved into the area, and in 1899 begun the construction of the Boma’s strong fortification, forcing the local WaArusha and Maasai to build. The WaArusha still remember the humiliation of this task. Their spears were turned into digging tools, shields served as crude wheelbarrows and machetes were used to cut down trees. Young women and children had to carry thatching material whilst older men and women had the task of stamping barefoot on the wet mud used to join the stones of the construction.
One Maasai recorded the growing resentment towards the Germans and their acts on the people. They used to take pleasure in riding around on a laborers backs, egging them on with whips. One day while crossing a river a laborer became enraged with the particular heftiness of his charge, lost his patience and tossed his “master” into the water. Fearing the consequences many of the Maasai went into hiding until a chief went to find them. He told the mutinous group that he was acting as a mediator and that all would be forgiven if they returned to work. The 400 or so runaways headed back into the newly emerging Arusha town and as they marched up Boma road the entire troop was gunned down in the street – one of history’s many warnings never to trust a “safe conduct”.
Another Arusha Maasai elder remembers, “when employed on this construction work, six of us were called out to climb a very tall tree to cut the upper branches. We climbed using a locally made rope, such as the one for honey hunting. Whilst we were up the tree the Nubu askari (watchman) pulled the rope away. Meanwhile another party was cutting the trunk of the tree with a saw. The tree started to fall with us still in it, powerless as the rope had been removed. We all came down with a crash. Of the six of us, three died on the spot and three escaped with nothing more than bruises and scratches.”
After many such incidents the bloodstained fort, built mostly of stone rag (uncut stone), was completed in 1901 and initially became the barracks for 150 Nubian soldiers. The structure endured and throughout the years, it served as a police station and jail till 1934, as regional government offices till 1965 and finally as the Arusha Museum of Natural history as it still remains today.
The Boma formed the nucleus of Arusha as it remained under rigid German rule. The town slowly grew with German staff quarters mushrooming to the east of the Themi [Temi] River, which flowed past the Boma. Beyond the Boma the town’s first commercial area developed with the establishment of about 30 Indian, Greek and Arab owned shops selling cloth, trinkets, soap, enameled plates, bowls, beads and copper wire. One shop even had a sewing machine that produced jackets and trousers for the German soldiers as well as the “more progressive natives.” The township was spotlessly clean as the Germans had the natives walking around with little baskets picking up any litter lying around. The streets were laid out with fine sidewalks and cemented gullies.
The European settlers came in initially as missionaries, then as Government officials and finally as settlers. Most of the immigrants were, of course, Germans and this prompted the German administration to conceive an “idealistic” vision of a vast white settlement of their own construction. At first they imported South African Boers, of German origin, as farmers but found them too uncouth for their “ideal community” and consequently squeezed them out. They then imported German peasants from the Volga Basin and Caucasus in Southern Russia but the test families which came soon discovered that Arusha did not have 4 harvests, as they were led to believe, so they made their way back to the port begging to return home. In the end Arusha ‘s international medley of settlers moved in at their own accord, with the South African Dutch as farmers, the Greeks initially as railway contractors and then farmers and, the Asians, as traders, clerical and professional workers.
Kenyon Painter, an American millionaire banker from Ohio, enchanted by Africa, arrived in Arusha by ox wagon in 1907 to go on a 3 month hunting safari. He was one of the first paying clients to come out on a safari to Tanganyika. At this time the town boasted only one tiny hotel bearing the name of it’s Jewish owner, “Bloom’s”. As Brian Herne put it, “Bloom’s was nothing more than a whitewashed, mud-brick building with a roof of corrugated iron sheeting. It had a dozen bedrooms, a chintzy lounge, and a bar cum dining room overlooking a fast snowmelt stream called the Themi [Temi] River.”
Right next to “Bloom’s’ hotel was John Mulholland’s store. This was a grocery store with a twist as the owner “dealt in everything from rhino horn and ivory tusks to trophies of every sort, along with the best groceries in town”. One could also buy pistols, rifles, tents, bedding, pots and pans and saddles there. Other than this, the town was made up of a few other modest dwellings, that included the original Indian owned “dukas” (shops) around the “Boma”, a telegraph office, a blacksmith and livery stables. There was also “half a dozen shops owned by Germans, Greeks and South Africans trading in farm implements, seed beans and cattle”, as farming was becoming a fast growing industry.
The influx of professional hunters and hunting clients started at around 1913. Their safari adventures mostly took them to the Serengeti where the wildlife was plentiful, especially the lions. Seven years later an American arrived with a strange new contraption, known as the Ford motorcar, and the news that the wonders of the Serengeti had reached the outside world. The first game laws were introduced in 1921 where a Game Preservation Ordinance demanded that any and all hunting should be on a license for which fees were laid down. Certain methods of hunting were prohibited but still, at that time, there was no special regulations pertaining to either the Serengeti or the Ngorongoro, which could be hunted over just like anywhere else. As lion, at that time, were classified as vermin, they could be shot without restriction.
Later in 1921, however, the British authorities decided to turn the Serengeti into a partial Game Reserve, with restricted hunting on lions in fear of them becoming scarce. It was turned into a full Game reserve in 1929 and with the growing awareness of the need for conservation it was upgraded to a National Park in 1951. The neighboring Ngorongoro Crater, another hunting destination, was declared a Complete Reserve where all hunting was prohibited in 1928. However, about one third of the crater floor was in the private ownership of Sir Charles Ross, so that area had to be excluded from the order. This said, there is no evidence whatsoever that Sir Charles, or any of his friends, ever took advantage of this position of privilege. On the contrary he was one of the earliest to regard the crater as a Game Sanctuary. Ngorongoro was finally turned into a Conservation Area in 1959.
Kenyon’s first safari, back in 1907, had led to an astonishing collection of animal and bird species thus resulting in a total of 31 extended safaris to Tanganyika in the time period of 1907 to his death, in 1940. He was guided by various “white hunters”, (a term used in those days to describe the men that operated “in a professional capacity taking out hunting parties for a living”), ranging from George Outram and Ray Ulyate too little known hunters, like Thompson and Noadi.
After German East Africa became Tanganyika and Arusha was taken over by the British on March 20th 1916, Painter became one of the town’s most significant investors, having invested over a million dollars in the area. He built Arusha’s first post office, church and hospital. In 1927, Painter acquired land on the south side of the “Arusha Clock Tower”, (donated by a Greek, Galanos, and still standing, today), and started building the “New Arusha Hotel” as there already was an “Arusha Hotel” , previously known as “Bloom’s”.
In 1928, Ray Ulyate, owner of Meru Estate farm at Lake Duluti, leased the newly finished “New Arusha Hotel” from Kenyon, as world recession and coffee market prices made it virtually impossible for him to carry on farming. During the same period, in return, Painter purchased the 11,000 acre Meru Estate and gradually developed it into a premier coffee estate.
The opening ball of the New Arusha Hotel was attended by the Prince of Wales, Edward the eighth (the uncrowned King). The hotels’ renown grew and Mr. and Mrs. Ulyate managed it efficiently for many years. Its dining room was unique, from the wainscoting to the ceiling, the walls were covered with a painting of the Great Rift Valley depicting all the familiar peaks and lakes. This was designed by Ray and painted a by a down and out painter looking for work. In the lounge and dining room hang original photographs taken by wild life naturalist Cherry Kearton, including the first ever flash light photographs depicting a Lion and Rhino. The verandah of the Hotel overlooked the car park that was often full of safari trucks and farmers vehicles, especially at lunch times and on Wednesdays, which was farmer’s market day. The hotel’s hype was further intensified by its location, In the front of the hotel the sign explained:
THIS SPOT IS EXACTLY HALF WAY BETWEEN THE CAPE AND CAIRO AND THE EXACT CENTER OF KENYA, UGANDA AND TANGANYIKA
New Arusha Hotel was sold to the African Tours and Hotel group in 1947 and their decision to re-build it in 1953 was met with certain sadness by the numerous Arusha residents. The sadness was because of the disappearance of a “piece of history” - thousands of tourists and VIP’s had passed through the New Arusha over the years and numerous dances and dinners had been held there. “How changed life would be when it was no longer possible to sit on the verandah of the “New A” and watch the world go by”.
Arusha town grew slowly and surely with an expanding farming and safari community. However, “even at its zenith of prosperity in the late 1950’s, Arusha was never a large town”. It only had a total population of around 8,000 people, this inclusive of about 1,000 white settlers that were not actually resident in the immediate township but on outlying ranches.
Another noted landmark addition to Arusha in the late 1950’s was the “Safari Hotel”. “Newer and fancier that the New Arusha it lacked the trout river frontage, lovely grounds and the old-world charm of it’s rival”. However, it was masterfully managed by an Englishman, Ben Benbow, who was on a first name basis with every white hunter as well as with celebrity actors such as Robert Taylor, John Wayne and Harry Kruger that visited and stayed, during the filming of “HATARI” in 1961. The place had a beautiful copper bar and “the walls were decorated with framed and signed photographs of white hunters with their clients and trophies”.
Arusha town over the years has grown immensely in population size, with a large influx of natives moving from the bush to the town, searching for jobs, as well as foreigners, of many nationalities, looking to make their fortunes. This has led to an expansion of the town, on the residential side, with houses mushrooming all over its immediate surroundings. However, funnily enough the actual town center remains unchanged, the “Boma’ still stands as the Natural History Museum, New Arusha Hotel, with a new owner and recently rebuilt, welcomes many travelers, and the Clock Tower, still standing marks the center between Cape and Cairo. One sad thing is that The Safari Hotel, even though still there, has lost its bronze bar. The town, much to it’s resident’s frustration, still only has one main road through it!
On the safari side, in the early 1930,s Ray Ulyate’s formed the first official photographic safari company known as “Tanganyika Big Game and Tourist Organization” operating out of the New Arusha Hotel. He was the first person to organize six day long trips, by road, to the Ngorongoro and the Serengeti. On the hunting side the “white hunters’ were numerous and Tanganyika attracted a large share of celebrity and other tourist hunters.
The first Tanganyika Guide for Hunters was published in 1929 and in its descriptions it described a safari starting from Tanga, the port of arrival on the Tanganyika coast, through to Lake Victoria, where the game was most prolific. It says that “there is an abundance of the commoner antelope, and in certain parts the rarer species such as the Greater and lesser Kudu, Gerenuk, etc…are still fairly plentiful. Big Game like the Elephant, Rhinoceros, Lion and Buffalo, all of which hold for the hunter a new thrill and experience, are to be found in this area in such a variety of country and cover that the Hunting of no two animals is ever alike.”
The Hunter’s guide continues to say that “game animals that inhabit the northern area are well protected and their existence is assured to prosperity by great game sanctuaries and regulations which govern the hunting or photographing of game”. In the Northern areas, at that time there was six complete reserves and two closed areas – Kilimanjaro, Mount Meru, Lake Natron, Northern Railway, Ngorongoro and the Serengeti. The closed areas were “Pienaar’s Heights”, near Babati and the “Sangressa Steppe” in the Kondoa district.
Licensing ranged from a Visitor’s license to a Resident’s license with extra licensing fees charged and stipulations set on a Giraffe and an Elephant license. Additionally, to hunt the Black Rhinoceros in the Northern province one was required to hold a Governor’s license, as well as pay an extra fee, and this would entitle the holder to hunt one male Rhinoceros.
The revised Tanganyika Guide of 1948 had a typical safari starting from Arusha town, that could now be reached by air, road or railway. The safari route was also a bit more adventurous. From the Rift Wall and Lake Manyara going northwards along the Rift Valley to Engaruka, to visit the stone ruins and Maasai Bomas, and to hunt the Kitete swamp and forest belt for buffalo, rhinoceros, elephant and hippopotamus. At Engaruka plains one could collect a general bag of the commoner antelope. From there the trail would take one to the “Maji Moto”, (hot springs in Swahili), which is described as “a game photographer’s paradise”. Following we return to the old route, a visit to the Ngorongoro Crater and a stay at the “Ngorongoro Crater Rest camp”, (now the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge”), where one could enjoy beautiful views and great concentrations of game on the crater floor. Then on to the Serengeti plains where “it is not uncommon for visitors to photograph as many as fifty different lions in a stay of only a few days, and the masses of game have to be seen to be believed”. Finally you were invited to finish off your safari with a visit to Mongalla, situated to the west of Oldeani mountain, Basotu Lake, Hanang Mountain and Babati Lake, for a bit more hunting of hippo, rhino and other big game before your return to Arusha. This was a month long trip “which for a lover of wild life could not be surpassed, and it was only one of many that could be made in the game areas of Tanganyika Territory, the finest hunting ground in the world”.
In 1965 safari hunting in East Africa was forever changed by the “masterly blueprint of Brian Nicholson, a former white hunter turned Game warden”. He came up with a plan for administering Tanzania's expansive wildlife regions and changed most of the vast former “controlled hunting areas” into hunting concessions, that could be leased by outfitters from the government for a period of two or more years. In the same instance he also demarcated the Selous Game reserve’s 20,000 square miles into 47 separate concessions. Each concession was assigned a limited quota for each game species and outfitters were expected to utilize quotas as fully as possible, but not exceed them. Trophy fees were set so as to provide government revenue for anti-poaching, development and research. This form of hunting management continuous to govern the hunting industry of today.
This plan gave the outfitting company exclusive rights over the hunting land that it was allocated providing a powerful incentive for them to police it, develop tracks, airfields, camps and, most importantly, preserve the wild game in the area. Once the system was in effect, it was only the larger safari organizations and outfitters, that could muster the resources to bid for the most desirable blocks of land and who had the clientele to fulfill the trophy quota requirements, set by Nicholson, that got the concessions. The smaller companies and operators, that could not compete, ended up forming alliances so that they too, could obtain hunting territories.
The only hiccup, in all the years of Tanganyika/Tanzania hunting occurred on 7th September 1973 when, overnight, the Tanzania government issued a ban on all hunting and photographic safaris in its territory. Authorities “moved quickly to seize and impound all foreign registered Land Cruisers, supply trucks, minibuses, aircraft and equipment.” They bundled up all the safari clients, mountain climbers and bird watchers that happened to be visiting the country “at the time of the inexplicable edict” and summarily escorted them to Kilimanjaro airport, just outside of Arusha, and to Namanga, the Border post to Kenya, to await deportation. All tourist businesses were closed down and no government refunds were ever made to the local or foreign outfitters, or the deported tourists.
Arusha origins
Paper III. Urban Development & the Growth of Communications
The only significant urban development in the region is Arusha Town, the building of which commenced at the turn of the century. A site was chosen by the Germans in the middle of a thickly populated and cultivated area, and the local inhabitants were moved out. The first headquarters, doubtless of a temporary construction, was on the site of the Clock Tower. Then the building of the Boma commenced; one Arusha elder reminisced:- "when employed on this construction work, six of us were called out to climb a very tall tree and cut the upper branches. We climbed with the aid of a locally made rope such as we used for honey hunting. The Nubu askari pulled the rope away whilst we were up the tree with a saw. Meanwhile another party was cutting the trunk of the tree with a saw. Whilst we were still up the tree, it started to fall. There was nothing we could do as the rope had been removed. We all came down with a crash. Of the six of us three were killed on the spot and three escaped: luckily we survivors were no more than bruised and scratched.".
The Boma was completed and formed the nucleus of the new town and of which one or two of the original German staff quarters remain, one in the hospital compound, another in the A.I.C.C. grounds. But the main staff area was to the east of the Themi [Temi] River, where the houses of the Regional Commissioner replaced the old German structure in the post World War II period. The German gaol was only recently demolished to make way for the E.A. Community Building.
Great North Road
In the aftermath [of the disasters of the 1890’s and the German conquest], men and women alike were conscripted to build roads and the German boma. [in Arusha]
Lupa Goldrush
Chapter 12
Many Afrikaners (Dutch Boers) were exciled after the Boer War for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the British Government in South Africa. By ox-wagon they had trekked up to Tanganyika, then German East Africa, where they were received with open arms by the wily Huns, who gave them land at Arusha.
This was not as a benevolent gesture, but so that they could be used as a buffer against the savage, marauding Masai warriors. They suffered sorely at the time, but after the Germans had tamed the Masai, by force and worse, the exiles were left in peace and found that they had been alloted the most fertile land in the country.
From Arusha and Moshi, with their lovely climates and beautiful permanent streams, came the best coffee, fruit, vegetables, the later mostly grown for their seed which was exported to wholesalers in South Africa.
Arusha Town
Paper 1 Land Tenure and Land Use
Arusha town was established by the Germans at the beginning of the present century and has grown to a population of 55,281. Several of the Afrtican groups, particularly the Somalis, are of non-Tanzanian origin. The Tanzanians themselves came from different tribes; the Arusha themselves, on whose land the town is situated account for only 18.7% of the population (1967 figure).
The Europeans came in, first as missionaries, then as Government officials and then as settlers. The immigrants were of course largely German, but the government encouraged South African Dutch to migrate from South Africa where they found British rule unacceptable after their defeat in the Boer war.
A small settlement of Russians was established around Engare Sero, but failed.
The Greeks started largely as railway contractors, but many took up ex German farms after World War I.
The Asians came in as traders, and later as clerical and professional workers. They now number about 4000 being largely from India and Pakistan.
Boma and Chiefs: 1900-1916
The boma that Meru and Arusha were forced to build in 1900 was a solid statement of the imposition of a new political and moral order. Set on a small hill at the base of Mount Meru, the fortress-like building faced out over the plains below. One approached along a 'fine wide road, equal to a well-kept highway in England', that was `carefully marked off in kilometres', the adventurer John Boyes noted on a visit in 1903.
"The road led to a place called Arusha, and as we approached it we came to our astonishment in sight of a truly marvellous building, erected in European style and surrounded by a moat....
The boma was a one-storey building of stone and mortar, with a huge tower in the centre and the whole glistened bright in the sunlight, like an Aladdin's Palace transported from some fairy-land and dropped down in the heart of the tropics. Emblazoned on the front of the tower were the Royal Arms of Germany, which could be seen nearly a mile off....
The station was walled off and, being furnished with a Maxim and a machine gun, made a formidable stronghold...."
Standing in the midst of the 'lush plantations of the Waarusha', one approached the fort along a wide straight path and entered through a heavy stone portal into an open courtyard, surrounded by stone walls, with a square, flat-topped tower in the centre and Swahili-type houses arrayed along the back wall. Boyes was impressed by the amenities:
"Water from neighbouring gullies was laid on throughout the building, and a plentiful supply was available for all purposes. Water-power was used for driving a lathe in the workshop, and the officer had a staff of trained Natives. The wood-work especially was particularly well done. Even the tiles on the roof were made by the Natives, and the building was made entirely from local material. The inside of the station was paved with stone; the living rooms were fitted with electric bells; and Herr Küster said he hoped to install electric light at an early date."
The town itself lay below the boma and consisted of some thirty Indian, Greek, and Arab shops selling cloth, trinkets, soap, enamelled plates and bowls, beads, and copper wire. One even had a sewing machine out front and produced jackets and trousers for the German soldiers and 'more progressive natives'. Boyes found:
"Everything about Arusha was equally surprising, the streets being well laid out with fine side-walks, separated from the road by a stream of clear water flowing down a cemented gullyway. We had discovered a real oasis in the wilderness. The township was spotlessly clean and we saw Natives with small baskets picking up any litter lying about, as though the place were the Tiergarten of Berlin and not the wild interior of the Dark Continent....
Attached to the fort was a splendid kitchen garden in which grew almost every kind of European vegetable, and next to that a coffee plantation)."
The German administration, like the boma, was built on solid military lines meant to impress. German military officers served as both local commanders and district officers, alternately administering and punishing their unruly subjects. Mount Meru had been administered, largely by means of punitive raids, by Captain Johannes from Moshi. With the completion of the boma in 1901, colonial troops were garrisoned in Arusha under the command of First Lieutenant Georg Küster, and Arusha remained under military rule until the general transfer to civilian administration throughout Tanganyika in 1906. Even under civil rule, however, district officers continued to wield considerable power in the exercise of their authority, and they did so largely free of troublesome constraints imposed by the central government. Few remained in Arusha long enough to gain much of an understanding of the local situation. Eleven district officers served an average of sixteen months each during the period of German rule from 1901 to 1916.
German officers ruled through local Arusha and Meru leaders, but in the aftermath of the mass hangings of 1900 they had difficulty identifying likely leaders and persuading them to serve. The Germans initially chose Masengye (1900-01), a son of former Mangi Matunda (1887-96), to replace his executed brother, Lobolu (1896— 1900), as Meru chief, but Masengye was deposed and imprisoned within a year for murder (see Table 4.1: Meru Mangi). Abandoning the royal Kaaya clan for a nominee viewed as a more reliable collaborator, the Germans then appointed Nyereu (1901-02) from the Nasari clan, but he too was soon imprisoned, allegedly for neglecting his duties and procuring girls for German soldiers. The Germans finally found the nominee they had been seeking when they appointed Sambegye (1902-25), a member of the Nanyaro clan and favoured neighbour of the missionaries newly re-installed at Nkoaranga. Sambegye prospered as chief, taking ten wives by 1905, and he continued as chief until 1925. He soon ceased being a mission favourite, however, and in 1905 Rev. Krause complained that his overt friendliness was but a mask for covert opposition: 'How could it possibly be otherwise! His friends are beer and women, and he knows these do not mix with the new teachings.'
Arusha, unlike Meru, had no tradition of chiefdom, so the Germans appropriated the tradition of regional spokesmen (laigwenak) that had first emerged during the warriors' raids of the 1850s, and called them Mangi after the Meru term for chief.15 Having hanged Maraai and Rawaito, the spokesmen from Boru (upper Arusha) and Burka (lower Arusha) respectively, however, they had to find replacements. The new Arusha spokesman for Burka was Ndasikoi, but the Germans also wished to reward their Afro-Arab ally, Saruni, and so they split Burka between the two men (see Table 4.2: Arusha Mangi/ Olkarsis). Both men remained in office for the duration of German rule. Sabaya (1900-11) was appointed in Boru and served until his death, when he was replaced by his eldest son Leshabar (1911-16). Arusha opposed Leshabar and burned down his home, however, forcing the administration to replace him with Lairumbe (1916-33), a wealthy cattle trader associated with the Lutheran mission.
The Germans also appointed local headmen to rule over individual districts below the chiefs. In Meru, these came initially from the ranks of local lineage or clan leaders (vashili), who normally were chosen by local clan members to mediate disputes among them and represent their interests with other clans and the mangi. Vashili became increasingly dependent on the administration, however, as they became encumbered with the unpopular tasks of raising labour and taxes.
In accord with differences in local Arusha politics, headmen were initially drawn from the ranks of local age-set spokesmen (laigwenak) chosen by their age-mates to mediate internal disputes and to represent their interests with other sets. As in Meru, however, their traditional legitimacy quickly broke down before the illegitimate nature of the tasks they were asked to assume by the authorities. Thereafter, headmen, like chiefs, increasingly became drawn from an emerging group of younger men associated with either the government or the mission.'7
While there is no direct evidence to assess the impact of these changes on the nature of local leadership in Arusha and Meru, we can place them within the context of Arusha. While neither society had a tradition of strong central authority, the military successes and increasing wealth of the warriors during the 1880s and early 1890s enhanced their status and power while eroding whatever authority the mangi in Meru or the logwenak in Arusha had possessed previously. German conquest and rule reversed this process, for not only did Talala's crushing defeat in 1896-7 damage their self-confidence and reputation, as shown by their disintegration in 1900 but, more critically, the warriors lost nearly all their cattle as well as the means to replenish them. As power and wealth shifted to chiefs and headmen appointed by the administration, the influence of the warriors continued to wane. No future Arusha age-set attained the fame of Talala; joint activities by Arusha and Meru warriors ceased; and Meru slowly withdrew from the Maasai age-set system altogether until they refused to join with Arusha to initiate Terito in the mid-1920s.
Chiefs and headmen appointed by the Germans after 1900 saw their potential power and influence increase as a result of their newly institutionalized authority, their support from the colonial administration, and their ability to use their new-found power to gain wealth. At the same time as power and status were shifting from the warriors to the chiefs, the means of attaining them were also shifting from criteria based on age, respect, wealth in cattle and bananas, and the size of one's following to those based on education, affiliation with the government and mission, and wealth gained from wages.
While the means of achieving power were changing, the ways in which it was deployed through wealth in cattle and social investments were frequently similar, thus obscuring the more fundamental changes taking place under the surface of Arusha and Meru social relations. Chiefs became known for their large cattle herds and number of wives and, following the bumper harvest of 1907, there was a spate of 'ox-hangings' around the mountain as wealthy men competed to see who could distribute the most meat to their friends and followers so that they might be 'lauded by the people'.° Such changes were gradual at first, scarcely noticeable during much of the German period, but they would become more prominent in the years to come.
Chiefs' newly-enhanced power and status did not come without costs, however. Chiefs and headmen were frequently unpopular with their followers as they became increasingly answerable to their German patrons, losing their own legitimacy in the process. Just as the Germans quickly abandoned appointing Meru chiefs from the royal Kaaya clan, so all chiefs came to owe their office to the whim of the government rather than to whatever influence or status they possessed locally. Increasingly, one's patrons became more important than one's clients, as chiefs came to have a share in the power of others, rather than exercising it on their own.
The German administration, like the conquest that had established it, was viewed as harsh and unjust by Meru and Arusha. They called Lt Küster Bwana Fisi', or Mr Hyena. The missionaries thought that his successor, Baron Ludwig Friedrich von Reitzenstein, was 'kindly' and 'well-disposed toward the natives', respected by them because he allowed `no idling or disobedience from his chiefs or their underlings', held court according to local custom while making 'sure it was not spoiled by the long-windedness of the natives', and successfully built roads without resorting to the feared kiboko (whip).'' The missionaries' notion of respect gained by the firm exercise of authority was not the same as that held by Arusha and Meru, however, who objected to the continued use of corvée (unpaid labour) for public works, the collection of taxes, the corruption of chiefs and, most of all, the seizure of precious land for South African and German settlers. In their exercise of unfettered power and their continued reliance on military force and coerced labour, German officials must not have appeared to be very different from the predatory trading chiefs who had preceded them elsewhere in the Pangani Valley.
The first commercial area
Paper III. Urban Development & the Growth of Communications
The first commercial area lay between the Boma and the Clock Tower, with a hotel on the site of the present New Arusha Hotel. Commencing with single storey thatched roof duks, some double storey iron roofed buildings went up in German times and were only demolished in the post war period.
Approaching Arusha
After leaving Kilimanjaro we were astonished to come upon a fine wide road, equal to a well-kept highway in England. Such a road as this, in the depths of uncivilized Africa, was the last thing one would expect to find. My men knew of it, and said fearfully that we were coming to the boma of Bwana Fisi, which means "Mr. Hyena," of whom they were evidently in great fear. We were not sure, being English, what sort of a reception awaited us, but we could not help admiring the man who had been able to build such a fine road, carefully marked off in kilometers. The road led to a place called Arusha, and as we approached it we came to our astonishment in sight of a truly marvelous building, erected in European style and surrounded by a moat. Everything about Arusha was equally surprising, the streets being well laid out with. fine side-walks, separated from the road by a stream of clear water flowing down a cemented gully-way. We had discovered a real oasis in the wilderness. The township was spotlessly clean and we saw Natives with small baskets picking up any litter lying about, as though the place were the Tiergarten of Berlin and not the wild interior of the Dark Continent.
After pitching our camp we went across to the boma and introduced ourselves to the officer in charge, who struck me as the living image of "Captain Kettle." He was a trim, dapper little man with a pointed red beard, who looked-and was-a stern disciplinarian. He had certainly accomplished wonderful results. The boma was a one-storey building of stone and mortar, with a huge tower in the center, and the whole glistened bright in the sunlight, like an Aladdin's Palace transported from some fairy-land and dropped down in the heart of the tropics. Emblazoned on the front of the tower were the Royal Arms of Germany, which could be seen nearly a mile off.
Lieutenant Kuster, as this officer in charge of the station was named, very kindly showed us round, and we were amazed at the ingenious devices adopted by this enterprising military pioneer. Water from neighboring gullies was laid on throughout the building, and a plentiful supply was available for all purposes. Water-power was used for driving a lathe in the workshop, and the officer had a staff of trained Natives. The woodwork especially was particularly well done. Even the tiles on the roof were made by the Natives, and the building was made entirely from local material. The inside of the station was paved with stone; the living-rooms were fitted with electric bells; and Herr Kuster said he hoped to install electric light at an early date. The station was walled off and, being furnished with a Maxim and a machine gun, made a formidable stronghold. Attached to the fort was a splendid kitchen garden in which grew almost every kind of European vegetable, and next to that a coffee plantation. A market was held not far from the boma, and in the town itself were about thirty Indian and Arab stores.
Lieutenant Kuster entertained us most hospitably and invited us to dinner, which was served in a very comfortable dining-room, furnished in European style with furniture made by the Natives. The various dishes were passed through an opening in the wall, and as each course was finished our host made a sign which was well understood by the Native servants who went about their duties without a word. Everything was done with military precision, and it was evident that the Natives stood in awe of their master, which accounted for the title he has earned of Bwana Fisi.
Avoiding Mbugwe and Arusha
Before leaving Mgodi we laid in a good supply of provisions, as the road we intended to take to British territory lay through an uninhabited part where food could not be obtained and water was also very scarce. On the fourth day of our march we came to Irangi. We had a badly needed wash and then got our papers ready to go to the boma. The Government officer was away hunting, but the sergeant in charge was very friendly. I camped near the Government station, and had all the Indian shopkeepers and traders round my tent during the day. While waiting I bought a number of head of cattle at a dear rate. Then I went up again to the boma to get my papers signed, and was advised not to go near Mbugwe or Arusha, where cattle disease had broken out. Having learnt that there was a path through the wilds which avoided these places, I decided to take it. All round I noticed dried up rivers, but in the rainy season the country must be a huge swamp. The Natives were Wagogo, much resembling the Masai in appearance.
Our next march was to Buyuni, going through a forest without seeing a drop of water from leaving camp at 6 a.m. until our mid-day rest at 2. Marching on again for an hour and a half, we went into camp near a very large mbuyu tree, in the trunk of which a hollow was cut about six feet square, forming a little cabin in which some of the men slept. It was now a nightly occurrence for the hyenas to come howling round.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Museveni may win but change is inevitable Vs CCM may win in 2015 election but change are inevitable
Museveni may win but change is inevitable
By Mboneko Munyaga
East African News Agency
If Ugandans had voted for president on 22 January this year, twice opposition contender, Dr Kiiza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change, would have been that man today. A live phone-in poll on state-owned Radio Uganda that day gave Dr Besigye first place, followed by the incumbent, President Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) while the other six presidential candidates where completely ignored.
That was a follow-up poll to a similar one conducted by Radio Buganda on 17 December 2010 that gave Dr Besigye a huge lead, followed by Norbert Mao of the Democratic Party, Ms Beti Kamya of the Uganda Federal Alliance came in third and Museveni was fourth!
But the Ugandan strongman is far from vanquished. Some Ugandans say they will vote for Museveni because even if he is voted out, he may refuse to hand over power. Others have simply suffered voter fatigue after the voting for the opposition many times in the past without change.
Yet, the outcome of the 18 February 2011 general election in Uganda could surprise many in East Africa. President Museveni may not necessarily be voted out but his hitherto firm grip on almost absolute power after 26 years in office will definitely be history. Change in East Africa is inevitable and fate may have thrown the onus of that momentum on Uganda.
In almost all the five member states of the East African Community (EAC), official election results have often been followed by cries of fraud, manipulation and other forms of rigging even after polls were declared “free and fair.” Thus, it is in the interests of the entire region that Uganda’s general election results this time around be free from any malpractices, otherwise the people will not accept or tolerate to be represented by people they did not vote into office.
Dr Besigye has added to that sense of mystery after he declared that after going to the courts twice in the past to seek redress, this time he won’t take that path any more. He has not said what he will do but after the recent events in Tunisia and Egypt, the opposition in Uganda could be emboldened to use people’s power in what could be the landfall in East Africa of the wind of change blowing from the north.
Observers have noted with great amusement that Museveni has already started to suffer loss of his total hold onto power. Some of his orders have been openly defied, something that was unthinkable in the past.
Also, after nearly 30 years, his NRM is no longer the unified and disciplined political force it once was. There were reports in 2010 of gun battles at some of the party’s nomination campaigns, hinting seriously that corruption and money could be big factors in the polls, given the country’s massive poverty and setting-in illiteracy.
Once the pride of quality education in the region, primary seven children in Uganda are now said to be hardly able to write their names, a sad state for a country that was also the home of the region’s first university, Makerere University.
Uganda has also discovered oil. In a story typical of the “resource curse” in Africa, reserves are located in the more marginalized and poverty stricken areas, clearly raising the potential for conflict in future if proceeds are not equitably used.
It is not surprising therefore that the US Congress has ordered Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, to make keen follow-up on the conduct of the Uganda general election with clear signs that Museveni is no longer the indispensable darling of Washington.
True, democracy allows any citizen with the relevant qualifications to elect and to seek public office but if Museveni were to read the signs of the times, he would certainly make this his last bid for power.
By Mboneko Munyaga
East African News Agency
If Ugandans had voted for president on 22 January this year, twice opposition contender, Dr Kiiza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change, would have been that man today. A live phone-in poll on state-owned Radio Uganda that day gave Dr Besigye first place, followed by the incumbent, President Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) while the other six presidential candidates where completely ignored.
That was a follow-up poll to a similar one conducted by Radio Buganda on 17 December 2010 that gave Dr Besigye a huge lead, followed by Norbert Mao of the Democratic Party, Ms Beti Kamya of the Uganda Federal Alliance came in third and Museveni was fourth!
But the Ugandan strongman is far from vanquished. Some Ugandans say they will vote for Museveni because even if he is voted out, he may refuse to hand over power. Others have simply suffered voter fatigue after the voting for the opposition many times in the past without change.
Yet, the outcome of the 18 February 2011 general election in Uganda could surprise many in East Africa. President Museveni may not necessarily be voted out but his hitherto firm grip on almost absolute power after 26 years in office will definitely be history. Change in East Africa is inevitable and fate may have thrown the onus of that momentum on Uganda.
In almost all the five member states of the East African Community (EAC), official election results have often been followed by cries of fraud, manipulation and other forms of rigging even after polls were declared “free and fair.” Thus, it is in the interests of the entire region that Uganda’s general election results this time around be free from any malpractices, otherwise the people will not accept or tolerate to be represented by people they did not vote into office.
Dr Besigye has added to that sense of mystery after he declared that after going to the courts twice in the past to seek redress, this time he won’t take that path any more. He has not said what he will do but after the recent events in Tunisia and Egypt, the opposition in Uganda could be emboldened to use people’s power in what could be the landfall in East Africa of the wind of change blowing from the north.
Observers have noted with great amusement that Museveni has already started to suffer loss of his total hold onto power. Some of his orders have been openly defied, something that was unthinkable in the past.
Also, after nearly 30 years, his NRM is no longer the unified and disciplined political force it once was. There were reports in 2010 of gun battles at some of the party’s nomination campaigns, hinting seriously that corruption and money could be big factors in the polls, given the country’s massive poverty and setting-in illiteracy.
Once the pride of quality education in the region, primary seven children in Uganda are now said to be hardly able to write their names, a sad state for a country that was also the home of the region’s first university, Makerere University.
Uganda has also discovered oil. In a story typical of the “resource curse” in Africa, reserves are located in the more marginalized and poverty stricken areas, clearly raising the potential for conflict in future if proceeds are not equitably used.
It is not surprising therefore that the US Congress has ordered Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, to make keen follow-up on the conduct of the Uganda general election with clear signs that Museveni is no longer the indispensable darling of Washington.
True, democracy allows any citizen with the relevant qualifications to elect and to seek public office but if Museveni were to read the signs of the times, he would certainly make this his last bid for power.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Bethuel Mbugua: Genius or charlatan?
Published on 13/09/2009
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Bethuel Mbugua: Genius or charlatan?
Genius med studentBy Joe Kiarie
He was enrolled in secondary school when he was only seven years old. He had lectured in about 300 universities and secondary schools in East Africa by the age of ten. Thanks to his brainpower, he wined and dined with presidents and ministers all over the world.
This is none other than Bethuel Mbugua, the child genius who awed millions of people and hit newspaper headlines in the 1980s and 1990s for perfecting an art that many people could only dream of.
Bethuel Mbugua. As a boy, he possessed rare intellectual prowess that captured the nation’s interest, yet he failed an IQ test to prove he is a genius
Now 30 and armed with a Masters degree in Public Health, Mbugua is contemplating returning to Kenya to take up leadership in the health sector, and maybe in politics.
He is currently based in India, working as a project officer for the International Clinical Epidemiology Network.
"I am looking for opportunities to pursue my doctorate here but if not, I will do it at home."
He says this will give him a sense of permanency after five years of travelling all over the world.
Brainy
Right from an early age, Mbugua’s intellectual prowess was obvious according to his parents, Paul Mwaura and Ruth Wanjiru. By the time he was in primary school in 1985 in Londiani, he had mastered the human anatomy, a feat that takes professionals years.
By the time he was in Standard Six in 1986, he was rated too bright for his class and taken to Form Four at Ol Kalou Secondary School. But he was kicked out after a month because other students and even local residents started disrupting classes asking him to lecture them.
"One day students in the maths class propped me up on a table and asked me to teach them something. Without hesitation I drew different parts of the brain," he recalls.
This was followed by whirlwind tours where the young man gave to different groups for two years. Scholars attached to Nakuru Provincial Hospital were so impressed by the boy’s academic exploits that they advised him to seek entry to a school for the gifted.
But with no money and no one to assist, Mbugua’s father plotted a famous sneak-in that brought the boy face-to-face with then President Moi.
The bold walk
The eight-year-old was to make a move and walk to the President on the VIP dais during a Harambee at Kijabe Hospital.
"I had a ready speech and when nudged by my father I walked to the President," he says.
When he got to the steps of the dais, security officers rushed to him but were stopped by the then Vice President Mwai Kibaki who was seated next to the President.
Mbugua with friends in the US (left)
"Pengine ana mchango yake (Maybe he is bringing his contribution)," he recalls the VP’s words.
Images of President Moi leaning over with his hand on Mbugua’s back, his neck outstretched and the young boy trying to reach his ears were all over the newspapers the following day.
This, he says, was one of the most historic moments of his life.
By 1988, Mbugua had become a familiar face in the newspapers. But it came to a sudden end when it was proposed that he be subjected to an IQ test, which was administered by Dr David Kabithe. According to the findings, the boy was just a good actor who could not tell the difference between Hamburg and a hamburger.
A laughing stock
Comic strips of the boy filled the newspapers as politicians capitalised on the saga by urging that Mbugua be taken back to primary school with children his age. That marked the end of the media blitz.
Mbugua signs autographs
But his father was not willing to let go of the dream of his son making his way abroad and the two illegally crossed the border into Tanzania to seek help from the American embassy there. Then 12, Mbugua had not attended a class for six years and says it is while at Namanga en route to Tanzania that reality dawned on him.
"I realised I was getting older and was no longer the little boy who impressed people with his science knowledge," he says.
In Dar es Salaam, their efforts to secure education asylum via the American embassy and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees proved futile. After two weeks with fellow Kenyan asylum seekers, a dejected father and son ended up in a rented house near the University of Dar es Salaam. It was during later visits to the university that they met a computer science professor, who asked Mbugua to give a lecture at the university.
This was well planned with posters put up around the campus and the lecture then took place, attended even by the former President Julius Nyerere and the then President Ali Mwinyi.
Stroke of luck
"It was a lecture I enjoyed and the audience laughed, applauded and had a good time. What followed were newspapers articles, and just like Kenya, people followed me whenever I went asking for autographs and photo opportunities," he recalls.
The Day of the African Child followed soon afterwards and Mbugua, having previously criticised the Kenya government for neglecting the education of children, was invited to give a speech at the "Uhuru" Park in Dar es Salaam.
He was part of the Tanzanian Health minister’s entourage and gave a lively speech dubbed ‘End Apartheid’, which was dedicated to his fellow children suffering in South Africa.
Mbugua whispers something to then President Moi. Photos: Courtesy
Later in August, Kenyatta University held an international mathematics conference in Nairobi and Mbugua was invited to attend. During the photo session for participants, including the then Finance minister Prof George Saitoti, Mbugua found himself standing next to a lady called Lenore Blum.
"Little did I know that she would take a very risky step that drastically and dramatically changed the course of my life," he notes.
Lenore asked Mbugua why he was present there despite his tender age and he explained his circumstances to her. She sought to meet his father and that happened the following day.
Things happened fast and Lenore soon informed Mbugua that she had even called her husband in San Francisco asking him how he would feel if she was to bring back with her an African boy.
Lenore and Mbugua’s father submitted a letter to the American embassy authorising her to be Mbugua’s guardian while in the US. After a few months, he was on a plane headed for the USA in a journey sponsored by both Lenore and Kenya Airways. That was on October 20, 1991, the day that marked the onset of a new era in Mbugua’s life.
Related Stories
The Bible genius
Bible genius 28.06.10
Genius Feted 12/03/10
Morris Mbetsa The Genius 30/10/09
Bethuel Mbugua: Genius or charlatan?
Genius med studentBy Joe Kiarie
He was enrolled in secondary school when he was only seven years old. He had lectured in about 300 universities and secondary schools in East Africa by the age of ten. Thanks to his brainpower, he wined and dined with presidents and ministers all over the world.
This is none other than Bethuel Mbugua, the child genius who awed millions of people and hit newspaper headlines in the 1980s and 1990s for perfecting an art that many people could only dream of.
Bethuel Mbugua. As a boy, he possessed rare intellectual prowess that captured the nation’s interest, yet he failed an IQ test to prove he is a genius
Now 30 and armed with a Masters degree in Public Health, Mbugua is contemplating returning to Kenya to take up leadership in the health sector, and maybe in politics.
He is currently based in India, working as a project officer for the International Clinical Epidemiology Network.
"I am looking for opportunities to pursue my doctorate here but if not, I will do it at home."
He says this will give him a sense of permanency after five years of travelling all over the world.
Brainy
Right from an early age, Mbugua’s intellectual prowess was obvious according to his parents, Paul Mwaura and Ruth Wanjiru. By the time he was in primary school in 1985 in Londiani, he had mastered the human anatomy, a feat that takes professionals years.
By the time he was in Standard Six in 1986, he was rated too bright for his class and taken to Form Four at Ol Kalou Secondary School. But he was kicked out after a month because other students and even local residents started disrupting classes asking him to lecture them.
"One day students in the maths class propped me up on a table and asked me to teach them something. Without hesitation I drew different parts of the brain," he recalls.
This was followed by whirlwind tours where the young man gave to different groups for two years. Scholars attached to Nakuru Provincial Hospital were so impressed by the boy’s academic exploits that they advised him to seek entry to a school for the gifted.
But with no money and no one to assist, Mbugua’s father plotted a famous sneak-in that brought the boy face-to-face with then President Moi.
The bold walk
The eight-year-old was to make a move and walk to the President on the VIP dais during a Harambee at Kijabe Hospital.
"I had a ready speech and when nudged by my father I walked to the President," he says.
When he got to the steps of the dais, security officers rushed to him but were stopped by the then Vice President Mwai Kibaki who was seated next to the President.
Mbugua with friends in the US (left)
"Pengine ana mchango yake (Maybe he is bringing his contribution)," he recalls the VP’s words.
Images of President Moi leaning over with his hand on Mbugua’s back, his neck outstretched and the young boy trying to reach his ears were all over the newspapers the following day.
This, he says, was one of the most historic moments of his life.
By 1988, Mbugua had become a familiar face in the newspapers. But it came to a sudden end when it was proposed that he be subjected to an IQ test, which was administered by Dr David Kabithe. According to the findings, the boy was just a good actor who could not tell the difference between Hamburg and a hamburger.
A laughing stock
Comic strips of the boy filled the newspapers as politicians capitalised on the saga by urging that Mbugua be taken back to primary school with children his age. That marked the end of the media blitz.
Mbugua signs autographs
But his father was not willing to let go of the dream of his son making his way abroad and the two illegally crossed the border into Tanzania to seek help from the American embassy there. Then 12, Mbugua had not attended a class for six years and says it is while at Namanga en route to Tanzania that reality dawned on him.
"I realised I was getting older and was no longer the little boy who impressed people with his science knowledge," he says.
In Dar es Salaam, their efforts to secure education asylum via the American embassy and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees proved futile. After two weeks with fellow Kenyan asylum seekers, a dejected father and son ended up in a rented house near the University of Dar es Salaam. It was during later visits to the university that they met a computer science professor, who asked Mbugua to give a lecture at the university.
This was well planned with posters put up around the campus and the lecture then took place, attended even by the former President Julius Nyerere and the then President Ali Mwinyi.
Stroke of luck
"It was a lecture I enjoyed and the audience laughed, applauded and had a good time. What followed were newspapers articles, and just like Kenya, people followed me whenever I went asking for autographs and photo opportunities," he recalls.
The Day of the African Child followed soon afterwards and Mbugua, having previously criticised the Kenya government for neglecting the education of children, was invited to give a speech at the "Uhuru" Park in Dar es Salaam.
He was part of the Tanzanian Health minister’s entourage and gave a lively speech dubbed ‘End Apartheid’, which was dedicated to his fellow children suffering in South Africa.
Mbugua whispers something to then President Moi. Photos: Courtesy
Later in August, Kenyatta University held an international mathematics conference in Nairobi and Mbugua was invited to attend. During the photo session for participants, including the then Finance minister Prof George Saitoti, Mbugua found himself standing next to a lady called Lenore Blum.
"Little did I know that she would take a very risky step that drastically and dramatically changed the course of my life," he notes.
Lenore asked Mbugua why he was present there despite his tender age and he explained his circumstances to her. She sought to meet his father and that happened the following day.
Things happened fast and Lenore soon informed Mbugua that she had even called her husband in San Francisco asking him how he would feel if she was to bring back with her an African boy.
Lenore and Mbugua’s father submitted a letter to the American embassy authorising her to be Mbugua’s guardian while in the US. After a few months, he was on a plane headed for the USA in a journey sponsored by both Lenore and Kenya Airways. That was on October 20, 1991, the day that marked the onset of a new era in Mbugua’s life.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Why isn't the same noise raised for when a heterosexual is murdered by his lover?
Why isn't the same noise raised for when a heterosexual is murdered by his lover?
I share the tail end of John Nagenda's column .....
Why shoot own foot?
Publication date: Friday, 11th February, 2011
By John Nagenda
*****************
It brings me to the recent murder of one David Kato. It has now come to light that to some (including those whom he lured into “homoism” for the price of a cheap meal) Kato was not all he seemed to be, but a predator, often of the young. If so, was it not ill-advised for sympathisers, like the Archbishop of Canterbury and the US President, and countless others besides, to rush blindly with comment on his death?
In other words, belonging to the ill-treated homosexual and lesbian minorities does not necessarily raise your status. Even if Kato was at the same time what some took him to be: an activist for same-sex love, it seems vastly OTT (over the top) for people the world over to pull their hair out and tear their garments over the hammer murder of this one person.
Ask yourself this: Would all these people have crammed the air-waves with their cries if the dreadful murder had been between heterosexual lovers? If not, why not?
This article can be found on-line at: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/20/746302
-------------------------------------------------
Through the lover's confession and from all who knew about their love affair ... they failed to share 'donor' money. By the way this is quite common even amongst NGO leaders when they fail to share 'donor' money ... a case in point is when a top executive of Send A Cow was gunned down in broad day light ... this did not make it to the Guardian ... So the only reason this made it to the Guardian is because Kato was homosexual and not because a human being was murdered????
-------------------------------------------
Chambi many people were killed on the same day that Kato was killed and many more have been killed thereafter, not a single shilling nor a single effort has been made to resolve their murders and in comparison to the amount invested in Kato's, it is plain ridiculous ... It is activist such as yourselves who moved the debate from 'a person' has been killed to 'a homosexual' has been killed, thus shooting yourselves in the foot ....
--------------------------------------------
Chambi, my point is before Redd Pepper (the news paper) published the names and addresses of the homosexuals, we in Uganda already knew who they were and where they lived ... I am not blaming the west, I am pointing out that you, the Chambi's are biased in pushing a particular perspective on an issue ... before you even knew that Kato was mudered by his lover you had already jumped to the conclusion that he was executed by anti-gay Ugandans who got his address from a newspaper .... For many in Uganda we are guilty of promoting a particular dorminant discourse ... in many cases in a hypocritical manner ....It is the hypocrisy of the person who does not comment on the gang rape and murder of Ugandan women and then is holier than though when a man is murdered by his lover that gets to me .... whether you are the guardian or Chambi ...
------------------------------------------------
Yes, Kato won the case and continued to live his life ..... And now many more Ugandans are sadenly becoming homosexuals because of the promise of 'donor' money or the possibility of getting green cards and entries to so-called "greener pastures" .... What I find fascinating is that the same newspaper that Kato sued is renowed for its really negative comments about heterosexuals, especially the female organs ... at one point relating them to the battlefields of Kandahar ... and extolling the man who pound them with carpet bombs, but this did not make it to the Guardian ....
--------------------------------------------------
Which is the case with all issues .... but the main point here is that what is considered news, important and reflective of 'world' opinion????? Gays have been living among us for many many years, without being targeted ... I actually believe that one [...] who served in the Kings rifles in world war II was gay, it was known that he preferred the company of boys and he lived well in his home and died a natural death with boys around him ... what has changed????
-------------------------------------------------
I share the tail end of John Nagenda's column .....
Why shoot own foot?
Publication date: Friday, 11th February, 2011
By John Nagenda
*****************
It brings me to the recent murder of one David Kato. It has now come to light that to some (including those whom he lured into “homoism” for the price of a cheap meal) Kato was not all he seemed to be, but a predator, often of the young. If so, was it not ill-advised for sympathisers, like the Archbishop of Canterbury and the US President, and countless others besides, to rush blindly with comment on his death?
In other words, belonging to the ill-treated homosexual and lesbian minorities does not necessarily raise your status. Even if Kato was at the same time what some took him to be: an activist for same-sex love, it seems vastly OTT (over the top) for people the world over to pull their hair out and tear their garments over the hammer murder of this one person.
Ask yourself this: Would all these people have crammed the air-waves with their cries if the dreadful murder had been between heterosexual lovers? If not, why not?
This article can be found on-line at: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/20/746302
-------------------------------------------------
Through the lover's confession and from all who knew about their love affair ... they failed to share 'donor' money. By the way this is quite common even amongst NGO leaders when they fail to share 'donor' money ... a case in point is when a top executive of Send A Cow was gunned down in broad day light ... this did not make it to the Guardian ... So the only reason this made it to the Guardian is because Kato was homosexual and not because a human being was murdered????
-------------------------------------------
Chambi many people were killed on the same day that Kato was killed and many more have been killed thereafter, not a single shilling nor a single effort has been made to resolve their murders and in comparison to the amount invested in Kato's, it is plain ridiculous ... It is activist such as yourselves who moved the debate from 'a person' has been killed to 'a homosexual' has been killed, thus shooting yourselves in the foot ....
--------------------------------------------
Chambi, my point is before Redd Pepper (the news paper) published the names and addresses of the homosexuals, we in Uganda already knew who they were and where they lived ... I am not blaming the west, I am pointing out that you, the Chambi's are biased in pushing a particular perspective on an issue ... before you even knew that Kato was mudered by his lover you had already jumped to the conclusion that he was executed by anti-gay Ugandans who got his address from a newspaper .... For many in Uganda we are guilty of promoting a particular dorminant discourse ... in many cases in a hypocritical manner ....It is the hypocrisy of the person who does not comment on the gang rape and murder of Ugandan women and then is holier than though when a man is murdered by his lover that gets to me .... whether you are the guardian or Chambi ...
------------------------------------------------
Yes, Kato won the case and continued to live his life ..... And now many more Ugandans are sadenly becoming homosexuals because of the promise of 'donor' money or the possibility of getting green cards and entries to so-called "greener pastures" .... What I find fascinating is that the same newspaper that Kato sued is renowed for its really negative comments about heterosexuals, especially the female organs ... at one point relating them to the battlefields of Kandahar ... and extolling the man who pound them with carpet bombs, but this did not make it to the Guardian ....
--------------------------------------------------
Which is the case with all issues .... but the main point here is that what is considered news, important and reflective of 'world' opinion????? Gays have been living among us for many many years, without being targeted ... I actually believe that one [...] who served in the Kings rifles in world war II was gay, it was known that he preferred the company of boys and he lived well in his home and died a natural death with boys around him ... what has changed????
-------------------------------------------------
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Do you real understand the meaning of Valentine Day?
By CHRISTINA WEBER
Special to the CN
Ahh ... Valentine’s Day is upon us, a day when lovers swoon, florists are running and single people all over the world cringe.
Today, Valentine’s Day, is all about showing affection for the love in your life by sending flowers, giving jewelry or taking them out for a nice dinner. But the original meaning of the day was actually quite different and had nothing to do with romance at all. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius I established a day honoring the two Christian martyrs, Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Both had died more than a hundred years before, defending their faith and beliefs.
Roman history states that in 260 AD, Claudius the Great was having trouble finding men to serve in his army. He blamed the lack of volunteers on marriage, which he said made men weak. So to correct this, he simply banned marriage. However, the temple priest Valentinus was quite the romantic and wed couples in secret. Soon he was caught and jailed, and when he pressed his luck further by trying to convert the emperor over to Christianity, he was beaten and stoned. On the eve of his beheading, from the confines of his cell, he was said to have sent a farewell letter to his love, the jailer’s daughter, signing it “From your Valentine.” Thus sending out the world’s first “Valentine Card.”
Many scholars believe that the holiday became more about love than martyrdom because of the pagan festival of Lupercalia. A holiday that celebrated fertility and provided them with protection from wolves that existed long before Valentine’s Day and was celebrated. It was held from Feb. 13-15. Part of this festival’s tradition was for the men to draw the names of the town women out of a basket to determine who they were to be with for the following year.
And where did the chubby, half-naked baby come from in this celebration? Well, to the Greeks, he was known as Eros, the son of Aphrodite who was the Goddess of beauty and love. To the Romans, he was Cupid, the son of Venus, and was described as happy but cruel. He had a mortal wife, Psyche, and law said that mortals were not supposed to look upon gods. So he was only with her under cover of darkness. But as with most women, curiosity got the most of her and one night as he was sleeping, she lit a lamp and looked at him. He work and fled in anger ... guess the whole chubby baby look did not set well with him.
Today it is said that he carries a bow and arrow, and with one shot makes couples fall in love.
Despite all the history of the holiday, many of us simply know this as a gift-giving holiday. For years, the traditional gift to give your love was a simple handmade card. Even today, the oldest surviving greeting card on record is a Valentine’s Day card from the 1400s which is on display in a Britain Museum.
While the tradition of giving these delights from the heart goes back at least another 200 years, it was not until the 1980s that the diamond industry began using Valentine’s Day as a marketing campaign to get people to spend more money, it must have worked because today men spend a record twice more money than women.
So however you decide to spend this holiday, do it with someone you love.
But remember it was not always about chocolate, flowers and gifts.
Special to the CN
Ahh ... Valentine’s Day is upon us, a day when lovers swoon, florists are running and single people all over the world cringe.
Today, Valentine’s Day, is all about showing affection for the love in your life by sending flowers, giving jewelry or taking them out for a nice dinner. But the original meaning of the day was actually quite different and had nothing to do with romance at all. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius I established a day honoring the two Christian martyrs, Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Both had died more than a hundred years before, defending their faith and beliefs.
Roman history states that in 260 AD, Claudius the Great was having trouble finding men to serve in his army. He blamed the lack of volunteers on marriage, which he said made men weak. So to correct this, he simply banned marriage. However, the temple priest Valentinus was quite the romantic and wed couples in secret. Soon he was caught and jailed, and when he pressed his luck further by trying to convert the emperor over to Christianity, he was beaten and stoned. On the eve of his beheading, from the confines of his cell, he was said to have sent a farewell letter to his love, the jailer’s daughter, signing it “From your Valentine.” Thus sending out the world’s first “Valentine Card.”
Many scholars believe that the holiday became more about love than martyrdom because of the pagan festival of Lupercalia. A holiday that celebrated fertility and provided them with protection from wolves that existed long before Valentine’s Day and was celebrated. It was held from Feb. 13-15. Part of this festival’s tradition was for the men to draw the names of the town women out of a basket to determine who they were to be with for the following year.
And where did the chubby, half-naked baby come from in this celebration? Well, to the Greeks, he was known as Eros, the son of Aphrodite who was the Goddess of beauty and love. To the Romans, he was Cupid, the son of Venus, and was described as happy but cruel. He had a mortal wife, Psyche, and law said that mortals were not supposed to look upon gods. So he was only with her under cover of darkness. But as with most women, curiosity got the most of her and one night as he was sleeping, she lit a lamp and looked at him. He work and fled in anger ... guess the whole chubby baby look did not set well with him.
Today it is said that he carries a bow and arrow, and with one shot makes couples fall in love.
Despite all the history of the holiday, many of us simply know this as a gift-giving holiday. For years, the traditional gift to give your love was a simple handmade card. Even today, the oldest surviving greeting card on record is a Valentine’s Day card from the 1400s which is on display in a Britain Museum.
While the tradition of giving these delights from the heart goes back at least another 200 years, it was not until the 1980s that the diamond industry began using Valentine’s Day as a marketing campaign to get people to spend more money, it must have worked because today men spend a record twice more money than women.
So however you decide to spend this holiday, do it with someone you love.
But remember it was not always about chocolate, flowers and gifts.
Can we learn something from Egypt????????
Dawn of Egypt's democratic experimentBy Salman Shaikh, Special to CNNFebruary 13, 2011 -- Updated 2032 GMT (0432 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
As celebration continues over Mubarak ouster, new phase begins in Egypt
Salman Shaikh says the military must move the nation toward democracy
U.S. needs to be forthright supporter of transition to democracy, he says
Egypt's people need to remain united and determined, Shaikh says
RELATED TOPICS
Egypt
Hosni Mubarak
Barack Obama
Egyptian Politics
Protests and Demonstrations
Editor's note: Salman Shaikh is director of the Brookings Institution's Doha Center in Doha, Qatar. He focuses on mediation and conflict resolution in the Middle East and South Asia, and has also worked for the United Nations, including a post as a special adviser on the Middle East to the U.N. secretary-general. Brookings is a Washington-based nonprofit public policy think tank.
(CNN) -- As people of all generations and backgrounds celebrate across Egypt this weekend, we are seeing history unfold. "Umm al-Duniya," the "mother of the world," has reawakened. So will the rest of its children around the region. Egyptians have changed the face of the region forever.
For too long, Egyptians have been in slumber, their lives marred by a sense of loss and by life's everyday indignities. Held back by the "big brother regime," which knew best for its people, the citizens lived under a collective sense of inferiority.
Now the events of the past few weeks in Egypt, and before that in Tunisia, have swept these sentiments away. What has been remarkable is not just that after 30 years President Hosni Mubarak has been ousted, but the way that this occurred. A new generation of 18- to 30-year-olds has organized its communities, stood up to the pressures of a dictator and his feared security forces, and countered with new ideas, when all seemed hopeless, to lead a nation of 84 million to freedom.
Remarkably, the momentum remained with the street and its leaders, not in the presidential palace or with the professional opposition politicians, nor with Washington or anybody else. In this, the street has gained the respect of the world.
But in all the euphoria, we must remember that Mubarak's departure heralds only a beginning. For now, power has been transferred to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. It is not clear what comes next. There will be unease that Mubarak's decision has enabled a military coup, since there is no constitutional provision for such a move. Officially, the speaker of the parliament should have taken over.
What happens after Mubarak? However, with the last parliamentary elections discredited as fraudulent, many will accept the military as the one national institution that can assume a responsibility for the transition. Reports indicate that the upper and lower houses of the Parliament have been abolished and the Cabinet disbanded. Egypt today is in the hands of the military.
The military will now have to take on arguably its most important role -- that of the guarantor of a political transition to a democratic system of governance in Egypt. It announced in a statement that it will guarantee changes to the constitution, free and fair elections, and an end to 30 years of emergency rule, "as soon as the current circumstances end."
The military will be intensely scrutinized. It will have to work on two tracks: first, to create enough confidence among the people to take them off the streets and bring normality back to the country; and second, to establish a national dialogue that includes all the main political parties and leads to agreement on constitutional and political reforms for the transition to free and fair elections.
The other guarantor of the new, democratic Egypt can be the United States. After days of zigzagging U.S. statements, which meant all things to all men and deeply disappointed those calling for Mubarak to leave, Vice President Joseph Biden set the right tone in the first official U.S. reaction. The transition, he said, "must be an irreversible change ... toward democracy." He added that "the future will be determined by the Egyptian people." In the debate over whether the U.S. should promote its values or its interests, Biden was surprisingly clear, stating that the U.S. stands for "a clear set of core values."
President Obama said Friday afternoon, "Nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day." Let us hope that in this blighted region the U.S. finally means what it says. If so, it will play an important diplomatic and economic supporting role in the democratic transition of Egypt and other Arab countries. It must not miss this opportunity.
Ultimately, the future of Egypt lies with its people. With their extraordinary actions over the past three weeks, they are now the shareholders of the democratic experiment the country has begun. There will undoubtedly be frustrations and disappointments along the way, especially with expectations so high.
The military will have to deliver in the interim phase and then step back. Throughout the world, politicians in particular have the habit of disappointing those to whom they make promises.
Nevertheless, let us hope that the democratic transition in Egypt carries a genuine battle of ideas and a competition through the ballot box in the months ahead. Let us hope that Egyptians stay united and turn this extraordinary moment of hope into reality.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Salman Shaikh.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
As celebration continues over Mubarak ouster, new phase begins in Egypt
Salman Shaikh says the military must move the nation toward democracy
U.S. needs to be forthright supporter of transition to democracy, he says
Egypt's people need to remain united and determined, Shaikh says
RELATED TOPICS
Egypt
Hosni Mubarak
Barack Obama
Egyptian Politics
Protests and Demonstrations
Editor's note: Salman Shaikh is director of the Brookings Institution's Doha Center in Doha, Qatar. He focuses on mediation and conflict resolution in the Middle East and South Asia, and has also worked for the United Nations, including a post as a special adviser on the Middle East to the U.N. secretary-general. Brookings is a Washington-based nonprofit public policy think tank.
(CNN) -- As people of all generations and backgrounds celebrate across Egypt this weekend, we are seeing history unfold. "Umm al-Duniya," the "mother of the world," has reawakened. So will the rest of its children around the region. Egyptians have changed the face of the region forever.
For too long, Egyptians have been in slumber, their lives marred by a sense of loss and by life's everyday indignities. Held back by the "big brother regime," which knew best for its people, the citizens lived under a collective sense of inferiority.
Now the events of the past few weeks in Egypt, and before that in Tunisia, have swept these sentiments away. What has been remarkable is not just that after 30 years President Hosni Mubarak has been ousted, but the way that this occurred. A new generation of 18- to 30-year-olds has organized its communities, stood up to the pressures of a dictator and his feared security forces, and countered with new ideas, when all seemed hopeless, to lead a nation of 84 million to freedom.
Remarkably, the momentum remained with the street and its leaders, not in the presidential palace or with the professional opposition politicians, nor with Washington or anybody else. In this, the street has gained the respect of the world.
But in all the euphoria, we must remember that Mubarak's departure heralds only a beginning. For now, power has been transferred to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. It is not clear what comes next. There will be unease that Mubarak's decision has enabled a military coup, since there is no constitutional provision for such a move. Officially, the speaker of the parliament should have taken over.
What happens after Mubarak? However, with the last parliamentary elections discredited as fraudulent, many will accept the military as the one national institution that can assume a responsibility for the transition. Reports indicate that the upper and lower houses of the Parliament have been abolished and the Cabinet disbanded. Egypt today is in the hands of the military.
The military will now have to take on arguably its most important role -- that of the guarantor of a political transition to a democratic system of governance in Egypt. It announced in a statement that it will guarantee changes to the constitution, free and fair elections, and an end to 30 years of emergency rule, "as soon as the current circumstances end."
The military will be intensely scrutinized. It will have to work on two tracks: first, to create enough confidence among the people to take them off the streets and bring normality back to the country; and second, to establish a national dialogue that includes all the main political parties and leads to agreement on constitutional and political reforms for the transition to free and fair elections.
The other guarantor of the new, democratic Egypt can be the United States. After days of zigzagging U.S. statements, which meant all things to all men and deeply disappointed those calling for Mubarak to leave, Vice President Joseph Biden set the right tone in the first official U.S. reaction. The transition, he said, "must be an irreversible change ... toward democracy." He added that "the future will be determined by the Egyptian people." In the debate over whether the U.S. should promote its values or its interests, Biden was surprisingly clear, stating that the U.S. stands for "a clear set of core values."
President Obama said Friday afternoon, "Nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day." Let us hope that in this blighted region the U.S. finally means what it says. If so, it will play an important diplomatic and economic supporting role in the democratic transition of Egypt and other Arab countries. It must not miss this opportunity.
Ultimately, the future of Egypt lies with its people. With their extraordinary actions over the past three weeks, they are now the shareholders of the democratic experiment the country has begun. There will undoubtedly be frustrations and disappointments along the way, especially with expectations so high.
The military will have to deliver in the interim phase and then step back. Throughout the world, politicians in particular have the habit of disappointing those to whom they make promises.
Nevertheless, let us hope that the democratic transition in Egypt carries a genuine battle of ideas and a competition through the ballot box in the months ahead. Let us hope that Egyptians stay united and turn this extraordinary moment of hope into reality.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Salman Shaikh.
Hosni Mubarak the richiest president in the world. richer than Bill Gates
There are no Mubaraks on the Forbes list of the world's richest people, but there sure ought to be.
The mounting pressure from 18 days of historic protests finally drove Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from office, after three decades as his nation's iron-fisted ruler. But over that time, Mubarak amassed a fortune that should finance a pretty comfortable retirement. The British Guardian newspaper cites Middle Eastern sources placing the wealth of Mubarak and his family at somewhere between $40 billion and $70 billion. That's a pretty good pension for government work. The world's richest man--Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim--is worth about $54 billion, by comparison. Bill Gates is close behind, with a net worth of about $53 billion.
[See how to survive tax hikes and spending cuts.]
Mubarak, of course, was a military man, not a businessman. But running a country with a suspended constitution for 30 years generates certain perks, and Mubarak was in a position to take a slice of virtually every significant business deal in the country, from development projects throughout the Nile basin to transit projects on the Suez Canal, which is a conduit for about 4 percent of the world's oil shipments. "There was no accountability, no need for transparency," says Prof. Amaney Jamal of Princeton University. "He was able to reach into the economic sphere and benefit from monopolies, bribery fees, red-tape fees, and nepotism. It was guaranteed profit."
Had the typical Egyptian enjoyed a morsel of that, Mubarak might still be in power. But Egypt, despite a cadre of well-educated young people, has struggled as an economic backwater. The nation's GDP per capita is just $6,200, according to the CIA--one-seventh what it is in the United States. That output ranks 136th in the world, even though Egypt ranks 16th in population. Mubarak had been working on a set of economic reforms, but they stalled during the global recession. The chronic lack of jobs and upward mobility was perhaps the biggest factor driving millions of enraged Egyptian youths into the streets, demanding change.
[See 5 reasons to stop fearing China.]
Estimates of Mubarak's wealth will probably be hard to verify, if not impossible (one reason dictators tend not to make it onto Forbes's annual list). His money is certainly not sitting in an Egyptian vault, waiting to be counted. And his delayed exit may have allowed Mubarak time to move money around and hide significant parts of his fortune. The Swiss government has said it is temporarily freezing any assets in Swiss banks that could be linked to Mubarak, an uncharacteristically aggressive move for the secretive banking nation. But that doesn't mean the money will ever be returned to the Egyptian people, and it may even find its way to Mubarak eventually. Other Mubarak funds are reportedly sitting in British banks, and Mubarak was no doubt wily enough to squire away some cash in unlikely places. Plus, an eventual exile deal could allow Mubarak to retain some of his wealth, no questions asked, as long as he and his family leave Egypt and make no further bids for power.
Epic skimming is a common privilege of Middle Eastern despots, and Mubarak and his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, were a bit less conspicuous than some of the Saudi princes and other Middle Eastern royals seen partying from time to time on the French Riviera or other hotspots. The family does reportedly own posh estates in London, New York, and Beverly Hills, plus a number of properties around the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh, where Mubarak reportedly went after resigning the presidency.
Mubarak also spread the wealth far and wide in Egyptian power circles--another Middle Eastern tradition--one reason he incurred the kind of loyalty that allowed him to rule for a remarkable three decades. Top Army officials were almost certainly on his payroll, which might help explain why the Army eased him out in the end--allowing a kind of in-country exile--instead of hounding him out of Egypt or imprisoning him once it was clear the tide had turned against him for good.
[See how government spending skyrocketed.]
That money trail, in fact, will help determine whether Egypt becomes a more prosperous, democratic country, or continues to muddle along as an economic basket case. Even though he's out of power, Mubarak may still be able to influence the Army officials running the country, through the financial connections that made them all wealthy. And if not Mubarak, the next leader may be poised to start lining his pockets the same way Mubarak did. For Egypt to have a more effective, transparent economy, all of that will have to be cleaned up. There are probably a lot of people in Cairo who have been checking their bank balances lately.
Twitter: @rickjnewman
Follow Yahoo! Finance on Twitter; become a fan on Facebook.
The mounting pressure from 18 days of historic protests finally drove Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from office, after three decades as his nation's iron-fisted ruler. But over that time, Mubarak amassed a fortune that should finance a pretty comfortable retirement. The British Guardian newspaper cites Middle Eastern sources placing the wealth of Mubarak and his family at somewhere between $40 billion and $70 billion. That's a pretty good pension for government work. The world's richest man--Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim--is worth about $54 billion, by comparison. Bill Gates is close behind, with a net worth of about $53 billion.
[See how to survive tax hikes and spending cuts.]
Mubarak, of course, was a military man, not a businessman. But running a country with a suspended constitution for 30 years generates certain perks, and Mubarak was in a position to take a slice of virtually every significant business deal in the country, from development projects throughout the Nile basin to transit projects on the Suez Canal, which is a conduit for about 4 percent of the world's oil shipments. "There was no accountability, no need for transparency," says Prof. Amaney Jamal of Princeton University. "He was able to reach into the economic sphere and benefit from monopolies, bribery fees, red-tape fees, and nepotism. It was guaranteed profit."
Had the typical Egyptian enjoyed a morsel of that, Mubarak might still be in power. But Egypt, despite a cadre of well-educated young people, has struggled as an economic backwater. The nation's GDP per capita is just $6,200, according to the CIA--one-seventh what it is in the United States. That output ranks 136th in the world, even though Egypt ranks 16th in population. Mubarak had been working on a set of economic reforms, but they stalled during the global recession. The chronic lack of jobs and upward mobility was perhaps the biggest factor driving millions of enraged Egyptian youths into the streets, demanding change.
[See 5 reasons to stop fearing China.]
Estimates of Mubarak's wealth will probably be hard to verify, if not impossible (one reason dictators tend not to make it onto Forbes's annual list). His money is certainly not sitting in an Egyptian vault, waiting to be counted. And his delayed exit may have allowed Mubarak time to move money around and hide significant parts of his fortune. The Swiss government has said it is temporarily freezing any assets in Swiss banks that could be linked to Mubarak, an uncharacteristically aggressive move for the secretive banking nation. But that doesn't mean the money will ever be returned to the Egyptian people, and it may even find its way to Mubarak eventually. Other Mubarak funds are reportedly sitting in British banks, and Mubarak was no doubt wily enough to squire away some cash in unlikely places. Plus, an eventual exile deal could allow Mubarak to retain some of his wealth, no questions asked, as long as he and his family leave Egypt and make no further bids for power.
Epic skimming is a common privilege of Middle Eastern despots, and Mubarak and his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, were a bit less conspicuous than some of the Saudi princes and other Middle Eastern royals seen partying from time to time on the French Riviera or other hotspots. The family does reportedly own posh estates in London, New York, and Beverly Hills, plus a number of properties around the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh, where Mubarak reportedly went after resigning the presidency.
Mubarak also spread the wealth far and wide in Egyptian power circles--another Middle Eastern tradition--one reason he incurred the kind of loyalty that allowed him to rule for a remarkable three decades. Top Army officials were almost certainly on his payroll, which might help explain why the Army eased him out in the end--allowing a kind of in-country exile--instead of hounding him out of Egypt or imprisoning him once it was clear the tide had turned against him for good.
[See how government spending skyrocketed.]
That money trail, in fact, will help determine whether Egypt becomes a more prosperous, democratic country, or continues to muddle along as an economic basket case. Even though he's out of power, Mubarak may still be able to influence the Army officials running the country, through the financial connections that made them all wealthy. And if not Mubarak, the next leader may be poised to start lining his pockets the same way Mubarak did. For Egypt to have a more effective, transparent economy, all of that will have to be cleaned up. There are probably a lot of people in Cairo who have been checking their bank balances lately.
Twitter: @rickjnewman
Follow Yahoo! Finance on Twitter; become a fan on Facebook.
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