It might be shocking to everyone how FDC arrived at a decision to front little-known Pollyne Grace Nakabuye as the party flag bearer for Kyaddondo North seat by-election. The tale behind her candidature sounds like a tale of bootleg politics, the kind the “party of the future” ought to avoid. At least if it could.
How did Ms Nakubuye, who top FDC officials say can barely speak coherently about herself or read corrigibly her written manifesto, become the face of FDC? How did this newcomer become the party candidate in a do or die election which drew in the heavy weights of Uganda’s politics?
Insiders say it has to do with how the selection of Ms Nakabuye happened. And here is the story: According to sources within FDC, a one Emma Matovu, a husband to Ms Susan Nakawuki, the MP for Busiro East constituency, has been having an affair with Ms Nakabuye for some time. This affair had split Mr Matovu’s family to the extent that when Ms Nakabuye was introduced to the FDC top organ, the NEC, Ms Nakawuki opposed her candidature arguing that she stole her husband.
“I invited all of you on my introduction,” an emotional Ms Nakawuki reportedly said during FDC NEC meeting. “I am seven months pregnant and I know my husband has been having an affair with this lady. If you front her, I will campaign for Ms Bakitte and expose her,” she threatened.
But despite her personal plea, the party gave the nod to Ms Nakabuye, who faced Mr Kagulire Sebowa for the honours of running for the Kyaddondo North seat on the FDC ticket. Mr Sebowa was seen by many as the more viable option.
But in a dramatic twist to this story, he pulled out of the race just four days to the party primary. However, the circumstances surrounding his exit are as bizarre, as the tornado of a love affair that has in part, battered Ms Nakbuye’s political debut.
Money bags Matovu
Senior FDC officers told Inside Politics that Ms Nakawuki’s husband, Mr Matovu, a top money lender in Kampala, gave FDC Shs20m to organise grassroots elections in Kampala ahead of the party’s delegate conference.
Mr Matovu had also given Mr Sebowa a personal loan of Shs20m after Mr Sebowa lost the 2006 Kyaddondo parliamentary elections to the late Dr Kibirigye Sebunya. He however, failed to service this loan.
So, when Mr Matovu saw that his client Mr Sebowa was determined to run against his ‘girlfriend’ in the party primary, he allegedly threatened to arrest him over the unpaid debt, a proposition that sources say was a key drive to Mr Sebowa’s decision to quit the race.
But that is just part of the story. The two ‘rivals’ reportedly later met in Wandegeya in the presence of some FDC officials where a consensus was reached. Mr Sebowa was to be paid Shs18m and have his debt written off if he stepped down in favour of Ms Nakabuye.
The deal kicked off a storm in Najjanankumbi where Mr Sebowa was summoned to explain this “bribe” before the FDC disciplinary committee.
When this reporter contacted Mr Oguttu, the FDC spokesman, he admitted some money was paid to Mr Kagulire but only as a compensation of what he had used before he pulled out in favour of Ms Nakabuye. Mr Matovu has allegedly been lending money to many cash-strapped top FDC officials.
Perhaps this explains why some FDC officials might have supported Mr Matovu’s choice of Ms Nakabuye.
“[Others] should not be concerned with the way we conduct our business,” Mr Oguttu said. “We met three days to the party primaries, we had three candidates.
Two pulled out and we remained with one. Those who pulled out demanded that they be compensated for the money they had used and it was done,” he said. However, Mr Oguttu did not say if it is a standard practice for the FDC that if a candidate pulls out of the race, he or she should be compensated. This bizarre tale has broad implications for the quality of FDC’s politics.
Party officials who spoke to Inside Politics said that if these allegations turn out to be true, the party will suffer a dent in its public image. They say it could lead to further divisions too.
In fact, one senior party member is accusing the party of condoning the evils it claims to fight.
Mr Dan Mugarura, the Secretary for Electoral Affairs in FDC, who worked closely with the FDC NEC in choosing Ms Nakabuye when many in FDC thought she has no chance, was defensive about her elevation.
“Who chooses the candidate for FDC? When we have more than one candidate who wants to compete, we go for primaries but when someone says he has stepped down, we go with the one remaining. But who said our candidate was weak. Who is the aggrieved person here? We should be the people complaining but not any other person outside FDC.”
So did a love affair gone sour determine the Kyaddondo North election?
More of this next week
gbareebe@monitor.co.ug
Monday, December 8, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
I am back !
It was long........ no..no.. I am back..after my Research paper, I had time to beach...can't you see...
As part of my undergraduate degree programme, I was required to do a research. I focus on media,elections and how best the media can cover elections.
I made concussions and recommendation. My supervisor thinks my research was great and graded it with an A+.
If you are interested in media just read through my concussions and recommendations.
You can also get my whole book online if you visit Makerere University online newspaper. www.theivorypost.com
5.1 Conclusions
Having analyzed all that. Several questions can be asked as regards Monitor and the coverage of 2006 elections. Some answers can be given and recommendations which could be made for improving of elections coverage.
It is true that candidates Museveni and Besigye dominated media coverage. This raises many issues of objectivity, fairness, independence and scope of coverage.
What is also clear is that not only did Museveni and Besigye dominate the media but also set the tone of how the news was angled. The trend of news coverage shows that journalists were in reality at the mercy of newsmakers to decide what information was very important to give to the public.
The key theme of 2006 elections was the rape trial and the treason case of Besigye, which overshadowed all other issues.
There was no a single issue the media covered on front page outside of dramatic events unfolding in the Besigye vs. Museveni saga.
Issues like poverty, war in northern Uganda, voter education, candidates policy projections, poor health services, unemployment, poor infrastructure and how each of the candidates promise to tackle these issues were never explained by the media to the electorate.
This trend highlighted locally understood concept ‘politics on news’ as Charles Mwanguhya points out trying to explain unequal coverage on news.
Under this concept, news is considered a public resource which is limited and competed for by different news makers.
Museveni and Besigye had public appeal considering their background and were rated highly in terms of news value. Such considerations are also pegged to the commercial interest of the newspaper which is concerned about falling circulation figures.
Therefore the rest of the candidates, Miria Obote, Abed Bwanika and John Sebaana Kizito had little attention because they lacked such media attraction qualities.
The Daily Monitor can also be credited for highlighting electoral violence, doing civic education and castigating intimidation. Hence it indeed played the role of vigilance and surveillance.
It is important to note that the Daily Monitor played an indispensable role in the proper functioning of a democracy in Uganda. However I found that there was little focus on the "watchdog" role: because there was less unfettered scrutiny and discussion of the successes and failures of government, different candidates and their past performance
There was no much information given to the public on how effectively its representatives have performed and which could help to hold them to account.
Journalists should be better equipped with skills to report stories during times of elections. Inhouse training to understand candidates’ manifestos and ideologies which should be explained to voters by the media to make informed decisions.
Therefore, the media is responsible, in part, for the low level of political discourse. While this finger pointing may be partly justified in Uganda, it would be simplistic to merely blame the low quality of a country’s political culture solely on the shortcomings of the media. At the end of the day, media-products are like any other item for consumption. Their success or failure depends on the people who choose to consume them. One always has the option to stop buying a newspaper that does not meet one’s standards. Ultimately, therefore, the people get the media they ask for.
5.2 Recommendations
The media needs to improve and balance space among different candidates. When all players are given enough space in media the elections are viewed as free and fair.
Candidates John Sebaana Kizito, Miria Obote and Abed Bwanika did not get the same coverage as Museveni and Besigye. The media here was doing a disservice to them.
Effort must be geared towards providing balanced coverage.
Daily Monitor had partisan columnist, NRM has David Mafabi and Moses Byaruhanga, FDC had Dr.Munini Mulera, DP had Nobert Mao. The rest of the candidate Miria Obote and Abed Bwanika had none.
However one must consider that columnist represent a point of view and one must remember that editorials indeed are clearly intended to reflect the opinion of the newspaper.
This means some minor candidates and fringe candidates will never receive equal coverage . Is this unfair for the readers who expect to get various viewpoints from commentaries or to the minor political parties that do not have columnists who support their viewpoint?
News is driven by events and in some cases minor candidates are not part of the important events reported in the media, if indeed they are part of the event then they should be fairly reported on.
Daily Monitor should therefore consider regulating the content of commentaries to assure true balance. If there are to be partisan commentaries, all parties should be given space in proportion to the size of the party.
The media should put public interest ahead of commercial interest while covering electoral process as it benefits the entire society. Elections are a true challenge to the objectivity of journalists and put them under intensive public scrutiny. Therefore there is a need for the journalists to show highest degree of independence and fairness.
There is a need for the media companies to provide basic news gathering support to the journalist. When reporters rely on candidates for transport to rally areas, they are pressured at times to write biased stories.
The media in Uganda has become a decisive factor in electoral politics. It is impossible in Uganda for a candidate to win a majority without using the media. Whenever political parties or candidates campaign their image in the media is a major concern.
The media is essential to the conduct of democratic elections.
A free and fair election is not only about casting a vote in proper conditions, but also about having adequate information about parties, policies, candidates and the election process itself so that voters can make an informed choice. A democratic election without informed citizens is a contradiction in terms
I recommend that Monitor should play a more specific part in enabling full public participation in elections, not only by reporting on the performance of government, but also in a number of additional ways:
• Educate voters on how to exercise their democratic rights.
• Report on the development of the election campaign.
• Provide a platform for the political parties to communicate their message to the electorate.
* Allow all the parties to debate.
• Report results and monitoring vote counting.
• Scrutinize the electoral process itself to evaluate its fairness, efficiency, and probity.
As part of my undergraduate degree programme, I was required to do a research. I focus on media,elections and how best the media can cover elections.
I made concussions and recommendation. My supervisor thinks my research was great and graded it with an A+.
If you are interested in media just read through my concussions and recommendations.
You can also get my whole book online if you visit Makerere University online newspaper. www.theivorypost.com
5.1 Conclusions
Having analyzed all that. Several questions can be asked as regards Monitor and the coverage of 2006 elections. Some answers can be given and recommendations which could be made for improving of elections coverage.
It is true that candidates Museveni and Besigye dominated media coverage. This raises many issues of objectivity, fairness, independence and scope of coverage.
What is also clear is that not only did Museveni and Besigye dominate the media but also set the tone of how the news was angled. The trend of news coverage shows that journalists were in reality at the mercy of newsmakers to decide what information was very important to give to the public.
The key theme of 2006 elections was the rape trial and the treason case of Besigye, which overshadowed all other issues.
There was no a single issue the media covered on front page outside of dramatic events unfolding in the Besigye vs. Museveni saga.
Issues like poverty, war in northern Uganda, voter education, candidates policy projections, poor health services, unemployment, poor infrastructure and how each of the candidates promise to tackle these issues were never explained by the media to the electorate.
This trend highlighted locally understood concept ‘politics on news’ as Charles Mwanguhya points out trying to explain unequal coverage on news.
Under this concept, news is considered a public resource which is limited and competed for by different news makers.
Museveni and Besigye had public appeal considering their background and were rated highly in terms of news value. Such considerations are also pegged to the commercial interest of the newspaper which is concerned about falling circulation figures.
Therefore the rest of the candidates, Miria Obote, Abed Bwanika and John Sebaana Kizito had little attention because they lacked such media attraction qualities.
The Daily Monitor can also be credited for highlighting electoral violence, doing civic education and castigating intimidation. Hence it indeed played the role of vigilance and surveillance.
It is important to note that the Daily Monitor played an indispensable role in the proper functioning of a democracy in Uganda. However I found that there was little focus on the "watchdog" role: because there was less unfettered scrutiny and discussion of the successes and failures of government, different candidates and their past performance
There was no much information given to the public on how effectively its representatives have performed and which could help to hold them to account.
Journalists should be better equipped with skills to report stories during times of elections. Inhouse training to understand candidates’ manifestos and ideologies which should be explained to voters by the media to make informed decisions.
Therefore, the media is responsible, in part, for the low level of political discourse. While this finger pointing may be partly justified in Uganda, it would be simplistic to merely blame the low quality of a country’s political culture solely on the shortcomings of the media. At the end of the day, media-products are like any other item for consumption. Their success or failure depends on the people who choose to consume them. One always has the option to stop buying a newspaper that does not meet one’s standards. Ultimately, therefore, the people get the media they ask for.
5.2 Recommendations
The media needs to improve and balance space among different candidates. When all players are given enough space in media the elections are viewed as free and fair.
Candidates John Sebaana Kizito, Miria Obote and Abed Bwanika did not get the same coverage as Museveni and Besigye. The media here was doing a disservice to them.
Effort must be geared towards providing balanced coverage.
Daily Monitor had partisan columnist, NRM has David Mafabi and Moses Byaruhanga, FDC had Dr.Munini Mulera, DP had Nobert Mao. The rest of the candidate Miria Obote and Abed Bwanika had none.
However one must consider that columnist represent a point of view and one must remember that editorials indeed are clearly intended to reflect the opinion of the newspaper.
This means some minor candidates and fringe candidates will never receive equal coverage . Is this unfair for the readers who expect to get various viewpoints from commentaries or to the minor political parties that do not have columnists who support their viewpoint?
News is driven by events and in some cases minor candidates are not part of the important events reported in the media, if indeed they are part of the event then they should be fairly reported on.
Daily Monitor should therefore consider regulating the content of commentaries to assure true balance. If there are to be partisan commentaries, all parties should be given space in proportion to the size of the party.
The media should put public interest ahead of commercial interest while covering electoral process as it benefits the entire society. Elections are a true challenge to the objectivity of journalists and put them under intensive public scrutiny. Therefore there is a need for the journalists to show highest degree of independence and fairness.
There is a need for the media companies to provide basic news gathering support to the journalist. When reporters rely on candidates for transport to rally areas, they are pressured at times to write biased stories.
The media in Uganda has become a decisive factor in electoral politics. It is impossible in Uganda for a candidate to win a majority without using the media. Whenever political parties or candidates campaign their image in the media is a major concern.
The media is essential to the conduct of democratic elections.
A free and fair election is not only about casting a vote in proper conditions, but also about having adequate information about parties, policies, candidates and the election process itself so that voters can make an informed choice. A democratic election without informed citizens is a contradiction in terms
I recommend that Monitor should play a more specific part in enabling full public participation in elections, not only by reporting on the performance of government, but also in a number of additional ways:
• Educate voters on how to exercise their democratic rights.
• Report on the development of the election campaign.
• Provide a platform for the political parties to communicate their message to the electorate.
* Allow all the parties to debate.
• Report results and monitoring vote counting.
• Scrutinize the electoral process itself to evaluate its fairness, efficiency, and probity.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Out for a while
Hey Guys, hope u are doing great.
I am sorry I will be out of blog ville for a while.
This is my last semester so am busy with my proposal and
Lectures.I need to produce a better thesis.
Miss you all.
Get me on
geraldbareebe@gmail.com
I am sorry I will be out of blog ville for a while.
This is my last semester so am busy with my proposal and
Lectures.I need to produce a better thesis.
Miss you all.
Get me on
geraldbareebe@gmail.com
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Obama's Kenyan Roots
Newyork Times
A barefoot old woman in a ripped dress is sitting on a log in front of her tin-roof bungalow in this remote village in western Kenya, jovially greeting visitors.
Mama Sarah, as she is known around here, lives without electricity or running water. She is illiterate and doesn’t know when she was born. Yet she may have a seat of honor at the next presidential inauguration in Washington — depending on what happens to her stepgrandson, Barack Obama.
Mama Sarah cannot communicate with Obama, who calls her his grandmother, because she speaks only her Luo tribal language and a little Swahili. Senator Obama’s Luo is pretty much limited to “musawa,” meaning “how are you?”
People around here are giddy at the prospect of a President Obama.
“I’m up at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. to listen to BBC news and get the latest on the campaign,” said Nicholas Rajula, who describes himself as a cousin of the senator. “By the way, what’s the latest news about the superdelegates?”
You might think that all Kenyans would be vigorously supporting Mr. Obama. But Kenya has been fractured along ethnic lines in the last two months, so now Mr. Obama draws frenzied support from the Luo ethnic group of his ancestors, while many members of the rival Kikuyu group fervently support Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The Obamas are better off than most in the area, for Mama Sarah’s house has a tin roof — a step up from the mud huts with thatch roofs that are common in the village. Mama Sarah also has a cellphone, which she charges from a solar panel, and a radio that she uses to follow primaries in America.
But the poverty is unmistakable. Jane Raila, who says she is another relative of the senator, was hobbling barefoot with a homemade crutch, for she had been crippled by polio as a child. “We’re all very excited by the news from the U.S.,” she said. “We stay up late to listen to the news bulletins.”
Mr. Obama’s late grandfather is said to have been the first person in the area to wear Western clothes rather than just a loincloth. For a time he converted to Christianity and adopted the family name Johnson.
Later he converted to Islam, taking four wives. Senator Obama’s father, who apparently converted to Catholicism while attending a Catholic school, was also polygamous in keeping with local custom, taking an informal Kenyan wife who preceded Mr. Obama’s mother but remained a consort, according to accounts by local people and the senator himself.
The father, also named Barack Hussein Obama, was as much of a pathbreaker as his son. He went from herding goats in Kogelo to studying in Hawaii and at Harvard, even if his career as an economist was frustrated in part by ethnic rivalries.
Senator Obama barely knew his father and does not know his Kenyan relatives well. He has visited Kenya three times, most recently very briefly in 2006.
On his last visit, Mr. Obama visited two area schools that had been renamed for him. The intention in renaming the schools seems to have been partly to attract funding. One person after another noted pointedly that it was a shame that a school named for a great American should be so dilapidated.
Some of Mr. Obama’s innumerable relatives also see him as a meal ticket. They have made arrangements with a tour group to bring buses of visitors to have tea with Mama Sarah.
They are also trying to raise money from interviews with her. I had made arrangements to visit Mama Sarah weeks ago, and she had agreed to speak. But when I showed up, she said that her children had told her to keep quiet. Frantic phone calls. Fierce arguments. Hints that money might make an interview possible. I didn’t pay. I didn’t get the interview.
That’s O.K. Having seen the poverty in Kogelo, I’m less offended by the outstretched palms than awed by the distance that the Obama family spans.
Frankly, I worry that enemies of Senator Obama will seize upon details like his grandfather’s Islamic faith or his father’s polygamy to portray him as an alien or a threat to American values.
But snobbishness and paranoia ill- become a nation of immigrants, where one of our truest values is to judge people by their own merits, not their pedigrees. If we call ourselves a land of opportunity, then Mr. Obama’s heritage doesn’t threaten American values but showcases them.
The stepgrandson of an illiterate, barefoot woman in this village of mud huts in Africa may be the next president of the United States. Such mobility — powered by education, immigration and hard work — is cause not for disparagement but for celebration.
A barefoot old woman in a ripped dress is sitting on a log in front of her tin-roof bungalow in this remote village in western Kenya, jovially greeting visitors.
Mama Sarah, as she is known around here, lives without electricity or running water. She is illiterate and doesn’t know when she was born. Yet she may have a seat of honor at the next presidential inauguration in Washington — depending on what happens to her stepgrandson, Barack Obama.
Mama Sarah cannot communicate with Obama, who calls her his grandmother, because she speaks only her Luo tribal language and a little Swahili. Senator Obama’s Luo is pretty much limited to “musawa,” meaning “how are you?”
People around here are giddy at the prospect of a President Obama.
“I’m up at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. to listen to BBC news and get the latest on the campaign,” said Nicholas Rajula, who describes himself as a cousin of the senator. “By the way, what’s the latest news about the superdelegates?”
You might think that all Kenyans would be vigorously supporting Mr. Obama. But Kenya has been fractured along ethnic lines in the last two months, so now Mr. Obama draws frenzied support from the Luo ethnic group of his ancestors, while many members of the rival Kikuyu group fervently support Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The Obamas are better off than most in the area, for Mama Sarah’s house has a tin roof — a step up from the mud huts with thatch roofs that are common in the village. Mama Sarah also has a cellphone, which she charges from a solar panel, and a radio that she uses to follow primaries in America.
But the poverty is unmistakable. Jane Raila, who says she is another relative of the senator, was hobbling barefoot with a homemade crutch, for she had been crippled by polio as a child. “We’re all very excited by the news from the U.S.,” she said. “We stay up late to listen to the news bulletins.”
Mr. Obama’s late grandfather is said to have been the first person in the area to wear Western clothes rather than just a loincloth. For a time he converted to Christianity and adopted the family name Johnson.
Later he converted to Islam, taking four wives. Senator Obama’s father, who apparently converted to Catholicism while attending a Catholic school, was also polygamous in keeping with local custom, taking an informal Kenyan wife who preceded Mr. Obama’s mother but remained a consort, according to accounts by local people and the senator himself.
The father, also named Barack Hussein Obama, was as much of a pathbreaker as his son. He went from herding goats in Kogelo to studying in Hawaii and at Harvard, even if his career as an economist was frustrated in part by ethnic rivalries.
Senator Obama barely knew his father and does not know his Kenyan relatives well. He has visited Kenya three times, most recently very briefly in 2006.
On his last visit, Mr. Obama visited two area schools that had been renamed for him. The intention in renaming the schools seems to have been partly to attract funding. One person after another noted pointedly that it was a shame that a school named for a great American should be so dilapidated.
Some of Mr. Obama’s innumerable relatives also see him as a meal ticket. They have made arrangements with a tour group to bring buses of visitors to have tea with Mama Sarah.
They are also trying to raise money from interviews with her. I had made arrangements to visit Mama Sarah weeks ago, and she had agreed to speak. But when I showed up, she said that her children had told her to keep quiet. Frantic phone calls. Fierce arguments. Hints that money might make an interview possible. I didn’t pay. I didn’t get the interview.
That’s O.K. Having seen the poverty in Kogelo, I’m less offended by the outstretched palms than awed by the distance that the Obama family spans.
Frankly, I worry that enemies of Senator Obama will seize upon details like his grandfather’s Islamic faith or his father’s polygamy to portray him as an alien or a threat to American values.
But snobbishness and paranoia ill- become a nation of immigrants, where one of our truest values is to judge people by their own merits, not their pedigrees. If we call ourselves a land of opportunity, then Mr. Obama’s heritage doesn’t threaten American values but showcases them.
The stepgrandson of an illiterate, barefoot woman in this village of mud huts in Africa may be the next president of the United States. Such mobility — powered by education, immigration and hard work — is cause not for disparagement but for celebration.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Obama Mania
Hey guys, I have spent like a week without posting something here..what!!!. I have not been feeling well, but iam o.k
Some guys here are running crazy with USA Politics and I should admit I too is jumpimng the bandwagon.Yaah..yaah..me love it.
The Obama mania is electrifying the campus and you can't move passed two students without out hearing one mentioning Obama.
Born to a black Kenyan father and a white American mother,Obama lived most of his childhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. From ages six to ten, he lived in Jakarta with his mother and Indonesian stepfather. Heis a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer, University of Chicago lecturer, and civil rights lawyer before running for public office and serving in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. After an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for U.S. Senate in 2003.
His rise is not just by luck but his vast knowledge of issues.His Boston speech, on July 27, 2004, lasted 15 minutes and helped to put him on the map. The Chicago Herald said he "hit every note," the right-wing commentator Robert Novak called him one of the Democrats' hottest properties and the Augusta Chronicle dubbed him the party's "promising new cub."
When he made the Boston speech he was not even yet in Congress: He was a Chicago lawyer running at the time for one of two Illinois seats in the US Senate. That race was in itself a long shot: a black man, as he says in his first book Dreams from My Father, "without organizational backing or personal wealth, and with a funny name," competing to become only the third African American since the post-civil war period of Reconstruction to serve in the Senate. He won, galvanizing support in white areas as well as black.
The Democratic nomiations in USA are entering a weird stage of the campaign. Some of the euphoria about the history-making aspects of the Clinton and Obama campaigns is giving way to anxiety over how long their fight for the nomination will continue, and whether that long and increasingly bitter struggle is damaging the party’s chances in November.
Its about CHANGE Vs EXPRIENCE
Can we wait for Obama suprise
Some guys here are running crazy with USA Politics and I should admit I too is jumpimng the bandwagon.Yaah..yaah..me love it.
The Obama mania is electrifying the campus and you can't move passed two students without out hearing one mentioning Obama.
Born to a black Kenyan father and a white American mother,Obama lived most of his childhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. From ages six to ten, he lived in Jakarta with his mother and Indonesian stepfather. Heis a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer, University of Chicago lecturer, and civil rights lawyer before running for public office and serving in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. After an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for U.S. Senate in 2003.
His rise is not just by luck but his vast knowledge of issues.His Boston speech, on July 27, 2004, lasted 15 minutes and helped to put him on the map. The Chicago Herald said he "hit every note," the right-wing commentator Robert Novak called him one of the Democrats' hottest properties and the Augusta Chronicle dubbed him the party's "promising new cub."
When he made the Boston speech he was not even yet in Congress: He was a Chicago lawyer running at the time for one of two Illinois seats in the US Senate. That race was in itself a long shot: a black man, as he says in his first book Dreams from My Father, "without organizational backing or personal wealth, and with a funny name," competing to become only the third African American since the post-civil war period of Reconstruction to serve in the Senate. He won, galvanizing support in white areas as well as black.
The Democratic nomiations in USA are entering a weird stage of the campaign. Some of the euphoria about the history-making aspects of the Clinton and Obama campaigns is giving way to anxiety over how long their fight for the nomination will continue, and whether that long and increasingly bitter struggle is damaging the party’s chances in November.
Its about CHANGE Vs EXPRIENCE
Can we wait for Obama suprise
Friday, February 1, 2008
My Last Semester.
I must admit this has been a long holiday. I enjoyed the village so much, friends, families, are so sweet to me. Moving in company of my Mum is everything that I need in my life, and I am happy to say that it’s something that I love so much.
Nevertheless I am here for my last semester and everything looks like gonna be a great semester for me. In all, I thank my Mum for her efforts that have made me reach where I am. I believe I am on the right path. Its every body’s joy to have a loving and supportive Mum like mine. You have been a great Mum Mum. I love you.
Kenyan Crisis
What is happening in Kenya is intriguing me guys. Is Kenya still a ‘heaven of peace’ in Africa? No. no. no. no. Stop Violence. Its nuisance to see Kibaki and Odinga shaking hands when on ground the two leaders are spreading the opposite message of hatred.
Everything the Great Lakes region has endeavored to establish in the last couple of years could end up destroyed because of the disruption of strategic infrastructure in the chaotic Kenya.
We pray for you Kenyans.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)