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I want ‘Tall, Slim And Beautiful’ First Lady, says Botswana’s bachelor President

We reported here on Nov 18 that Botswana President Ian Khama’s continued bachelor status was increasingly worrying his countrymen and members of his own political party-Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). With pressure from all corners, the President has put his no-compromise requirements on the table.

Botswana is one of the few African nations on the planet without a First Lady — a fact which President Ian Khama says he is hoping to change soon. But now, the nation’s most eligible bachelor finds himself in hot water after specifying that his future wife must not be overweight, ABC is reporting..

At a political party meeting last month, the never-married Khama told ministers that his top requirement for his future wife is that she needs to be tall, slim and beautiful. To emphasize that point, he then pointed to the Assistant Minister of Local Government Botlhogile Tshreletso and said, “I don’t want one like this one. She may fail to pass through the door, breaking furniture with her heavy weight and even break the vehicle’s shock absorbers.”
Though government officials, including the minister who Khama had singled out, are said to have chuckled at the jibe, not everyone in a country known for its short, heavy-set women is laughing. Khama’s critics have called him to retract what they deem is a “sexist” proclamation. “Some were saying it was a joke. Some were saying it wasn’t a joke. He meant what he said,” a reporter for the Botswana Gazette is quoted by ABC as saying. “He should withdraw his statement because it’s negative against women.”
The pressure on Khama to get hitched has been mounting for some time. Elected in 2009, the president also serves as the chief of the Bamangwato people, Botswana’s largest ethnic group. This tribal responsibility requires marriage — just one custom among many that Khama has thus far defied. According to the BBC, although picked as a chief in 1979, Mr Khama has never assumed the responsibilities of traditional leadership in his village.

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The President’s comments have been described as sexist and undiplomatic.
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Freedom, Opportunity and Tolerance

Sitting at less than five metres from the former President of Ghana, John Kufuor, I listened to what turned out to be one of my favourite public lectures in my adult life. The venue was the Rhodes House in Oxford. President Kufuor was still in power then.


Three words summarised his incisive paper: freedom, opportunity and tolerance. He said in a university, individuals were free, they had opportunity to express their ideas, but these must be nurtured with tolerance if progress was to be made.


I have always held a similar view that we proceed to a higher level of consciousness only when we can tolerate other people’s views. This idea of tolerance, or what some social scientists would call ‘toleration’, does not mean jettisoning our independent opinions for those of other folks. What tolerance actually means is that we are broad-minded, open-minded, namely we reconcile our views with those of others.

Freedom to think, act, and make judgements about issues of life is never absolute. But, in one way or the other, we are all, more or less, free, in the highly globalised, opinionated and competitive world.


Opportunity is available, even though it is not always widespread. But if we dig deep, inside of us, we will see modicums and atoms of opportunity, inherent in all of us. What we need most to keep freedom and opportunity afloat is tolerance. We need to reconcile ourselves with others. We need to complain less, and act more. We need to do as Mahatma Ghandi of India did: be the change we wish to see in others. If we all seize opportunity that comes our way, and we cherish our freedom, and respect the freedom of others, within the context of a tolerant global society, the world, not only us, will be better for it.


Let’s go back to some intellectual basis of reconciliation of opposite views and epochal events. Remember Karl Marx, and remember Thomas Kuhn. Karl Marx (1818-1883) argued fervently, that historically, every society is not static, and that after primitive communism comes slavery, then feudalism, then capitalism, then socialism, then classless communism, which he believed will be the result of all former epochs.

What this means is that all historical stages of development are never perfect, and that remnants of them are carried over into a new beginning. For Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996), the writer of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, there is always a Thesis, the reigning paradigm, which then gives away to an Anti-thesis, which in turn gives a way to a resultant outcome called the Synthesis. What this means is that no knowledge is absolute, and that no matter what we know of an issue, there will always be an additional knowledge about it.

This makes us remember the position expressed by the award-winning writer of Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who passionately spoke about ‘The Danger of a Single Story’ at TED Talks. Please see and hear her out on possibly ted.com or TalkAfrique.com, and you will get more insights of what she meant, and what I am actually talking about.


It is only a dialectic and eclectic approach to issue, or what Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe called the ‘harmony of opposites’ that can enrich our freedom as a people, increase our opportunities as a human race , and in turn, make tolerance a virtue we all can share, we all must share, and we all will share

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Surviving as an International student: Friendship and Dating

This is Part 3 of our series ‘Surviving as an International Student’. Today, we cover Friendship and Dating. We hope that African students studying abroad and those contemplating doing so may find these materials useful

Your first weeks as an international student will be ones of adjustment and you may experience culture shock.

The people you pass may smile, say, “Hello, how are you?” and keep walking past you. People might not know where your country is located. What have you gotten yourself into?
You may have to weave yourself into the society as soon as you can in order to enjoy your life. You may encounter difficulties in several areas and the extent will depend on whether you’re single or married: In Part 3 of the series Surving as an International Student, we will discuss Friendship and Dating
Friendship: Most people you will come in contact with will be friendly, however international students often remark that while Westerners are “polite”, they can appear to be distant or cold. The best way to strike up a conversation is to talk about the weather since it is seen as an important aspect of the society. This probably sounds strange, but the longer you’re here, the more sense it will make.
Dating: Dating is developing a romantic relationship with someone. Dating is common among students; however, no one can force you to date or go out with him/her against your will. Also, going on a date does not mean consenting to have sex; it just means that you are interested in spending time with the person. Friendships between people of the opposite-sex are common and are not necessarily dating and it is important to respect this boundary where it exists. Rather than assume that you are in a relationship or that one has consented to an act, always ask questions for clarifications. Be also aware that NO means NO. If someone is not interested in having a sexual relationship with you, pursuing it could have serious legal consequences such as sexual harassment or assault charges.
Traditionally men have taken the initiative in asking women on dates, but this is changing as women are asserting their equal status in society. Common dating events include dinners, concerts, movies, and plays. If you want to know someone better, you might ask the person to join you for coffee or a lunch; such meetings can provide the beginning of an enduring friendship without the pressure of being a “date.” It used to be the practice that the one who invited a person on a date would pay for any expenses incurred (such as the dinner check or the ticket price). It is becoming more common for people on a date to “go Dutch,” which means that each person pays for his or her own expenses.
In some cultures, if a woman agrees to spend an evening with a man, it is assumed automatically that ‘it will happen’. In the West, making this assumption and following it up with some premature actions can bring your academic career to a miserable end. You may even have to do some time in jail.
As far as dating and romantic relationships are concerned, if in doubt, the first thing to do is to Ask, the second thing to do is to Ask, and the third again is just Ask.

Enjoy your studies

(These are materials extracted from several student bulletins and academic sources mixed with my personal thoughts. If you would like to continue to the series ‘Surviving as an International Student’, please email info@talkafrique.com)

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World is getting more corrupt; Check who made the cut

(Image credit mccoy.lib.siu.edu)

The world is considered a more corrupt place now than it was three years ago, a poll suggests.

Some 56% of people interviewed by Transparency International said their country had become more corrupt.

The organisation put Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq and India in the most corrupt category, followed by China, Russia and much of the Middle East.

Meanwhile, a BBC poll suggests that corruption is the world’s most talked about problem.

About one in five of those polled by the BBC said they had discussed issues relating to corruption with others in the last month, making it the most talked about concern ahead of climate change, poverty, unemployment and rising food and energy costs.

In the Transparency International survey, political parties were regarded as the most corrupt institutions, and 50% of people believed their government was ineffective at tackling the problem.

One in four of those polled said they had paid a bribe in the past year – the police being the most common recipient.

Some 29% of bribes went to the police, 20% to registry and permit officials, and 14% to members of the judiciary.

Political parties have long been regarded as the most corrupt institutions – they topped the list in Transparency’s 2004 barometer with 71%. In this year’s report, 80% regarded them as corrupt.

Religious bodies experienced a sharp rise in people regarding them as corrupt – 28% in 2004 increased to 53% by 2010.

People from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq and India were among those who perceived the highest levels of corruption in their daily lives.

At least half of the people surveyed in those countries reported paying a bribe in the past year.

While people from Cambodia (84%) and Liberia (89%) were the most likely to have to pay a bribe, the Danish reported 0% bribery.

Robin Hodess, Transparency’s policy and research director, expressed particular concern at the figures on bribery.

“Unfortunately people’s experience with bribery most often involves the police, and this is really worrying,” she said.

“It’s a figure that’s grown in the past few years. It’s nearly doubled, in fact, since 2006. Nearly one in three people who had contact with the police around the world had to pay a bribe.”

By region, people in sub-Saharan Africa were the most likely to have paid a bribe (56%).

Bribe taking was least common in EU countries and North America (both 5%) – although these were the two regions seeing the biggest increase in concern about corruption.

Analysts blame this rising concern on the global financial crisis for undermining people’s faith in government, banks and economic institutions.

The lobby group interviewed 90,000 people in 86 countries to compile its corruption barometer.

Poverty

The opinion poll commissioned by the BBC sampled 13,000 people in 26 nations.

One question asked people to rate which issues they saw as most serious.
Corruption was ranked as the second most important topic behind poverty.

Respondents in Brazil, Egypt, Colombia, the Philippines and Kenya were especially likely to view corruption as a very serious issue.

In Europe, Italians were the most concerned about bribe taking.

Publication of the BBC poll coincides with anti-corruption day held by the United Nations.

Why pay a bribe?
  • In sub-Saharan Africa, 67%of bribes were to avoid trouble with the authorities
  • In the Arab world and Latin America most bribes were paid to speed things up
  • In Asia-Pacific, 35% of people bribed to get a service they were entitled to
  • In North America and the EU, most bribe payers say they could not remember why they had paid

Source: Global Corruption Barometer 2010

Percentage of responders who paid bribe last year

(Replotted. Data from Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer)

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I will be US President in Eight Years

jay z

Jay-Z has shown his political ambition by claiming he will replaced Barack Obama as president of the US by 2018.

The rapper, who was a vocal supporter of Obama during his election campaign, told BBC Newsbeat that he would love to have a go at running the country.

Discussing Obama’s time in power, he said: ‘In order to judge someone, you have to judge what they inherit. He [Obama] inherited the worst economy, war, just a horrible time in American history.’

‘Give me a chance. Maybe in eight years, I’ll be the president,’ he added.
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GHANA STUDENTS JEER NUJOMA OVER MUGABE REMARK

Nyarko Benso, Accra

ACCRA, – One of Robert Mugabe’s close regional allies and former Namibian President Sam Nunjoma became a pile of embarrassment when students he was addressing at the University of Ghana laughed and jeered at him when he said Mugabe was a great leader.

Nunjoma said: ‘although Africa has finally attained Kwame Nkrumah’s dream of a free continent, it is yet to reach a healthy level of intra-trade.’

Nunjoma went on to tell the students that political leaders on all frontiers stood side by side to wage the war against colonialism and his mentioning of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe as among other great leaders at various frontiers, elicited huge laughter and jeers from the students who asked him to step down from the podium.

For close to five minutes Nunjoma stood silent and embarrassed as the rowdy students took issues with him at the mention of the Zimbabwean dictator as great leader.

They booed and jeered him and some threw stuff at the bemused former Namibian leader. Organisers then pleaded with the students for him to finish his lecture.

On resumption and taking note of the mood in the University Hall, Nunjoma said, “We made mistakes [as African leaders fighting colonialism],” said Nujoma, a reference to elimination of hunger and poverty that continue to grip the continent even after the successful elimination of colonialism.

“It is now up to you young people to analyse [the mistakes made] on how to eliminate poverty and hunger [from the continent],” he said in his lecture.

One student asked, with much bravado, the feelings of Nujoma about Africa’s tendency for some African dictators to hang onto power when people want change.

“We do not know how Kwame Nkrumah would have felt now because he is not here.

However, how do you feel as a Pan-Africanist?” the student asked with such gusto common in university students.

Others wanted to know whether Nujoma does not have a sense of guilt or regret regarding the direction that Africa took on Pan-Africanism, after all he was among the first attendees of Nkrumah’s All African People Conference as well as many other conferences on Pan-Africanism that followed.

“Have we perhaps not missed the boat for not going in the direction of USA [on a united state of Africa],” was another question.

The queues of questions kept getting longer and longer, prompting the professors to cut the session short – Nujoma only had 30 minutes set aside for the lecture and interaction.

Nujoma repeated one of Nkrumah’s often-repeated sentences: “The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked with the total liberation of the African continent.”

Elaborating on what brought up the liberation movement of that time, Nujoma pointed out that as much as colonialism was the factor, part of the problem was also the economic strangle on the continent.

Hence, political leaders on all frontiers stood side by side to wage the war against colonialism. His mentioning of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe among other great leaders at various frontiers elicited huge laughter from the crowd.

(newsdzimbabwe)

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Endgame in Sudan

George Clooney and John Prendergast

Africa’s next deadly war does not have to happen. In little over a month, the people of Southern Sudan will vote for independence, taking with them up to three-quarters of the country’s known oil reserves and placing millions of civilians in the potential path of war.

They’ve done it before. The north and the south fought a 20-year civil war that ended in 2005 only after 2 million people were dead.

We recently spent time in Sudan along the border between the north and south and saw what a return to war could look like. Not On Our Watch and the Enough Project team made this video from our trip to highlight the challenges Sudan faces as it works toward holding a peaceful referendum and avoiding a return to civil war.

Nicholas Kristof premiered this video on his New York Times blog. He wrote, "Let’s hope that the alarms, and the latest burst of diplomacy and spotlight on South Sudan, are enough to avert a new war."

There’s only one month left. It’s frighteningly late, but not too late, to stop the next round of bloodshed before it starts. Renewed war in Sudan is not inevitable. A complex but workable peace can be brokered if all interested parties become more deeply involved, and the US maintains its recent focus on contributing to a solution.

Your voice in support of US diplomacy is key. There is no time to wait. This is happening now. Visit Sudan Now to get involved.

We were late to Rwanda. We were late to Congo. We were late to Darfur. We can’t afford to be late again. This is our chance to actually stop a war before it starts.

George Clooney is an actor and co-founder of the NGO Not On Our Watch. John Prendergast is co-founder of the Enough Project and co-author of The Enough Moment: The Fight to End Human Rights Crimes in Africa.

 

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Big Sister faces mountain of debts

We reported here that Mr. Munyaradzi Chidzonga who lost out to Uti in the Big Brother reality show received a 300,000-dollar cheque from President Robert Mugabe, $100, 000 more than the winner. Well, another another Zimbabwean contestant, busty Makosi Musambasi, is not having is so rosy.

Read on (from newsdzezimbabwe)

£10,000 fee for ­starring in Big Brother snatched by debt ­collectors.

And the money men want another £20,000 from her, it has been ­revealed.  Zimbabwe-born Makosi, 30, landed herself with a huge legal bill during a battle to stay in Britain four years ago.

A Big Brother insider said: “It looks like Makosi has built herself a ­mountain of debt and not been able to deal with it.

“She stays at home all day and won’t answer the door for fear of legal papers being handed to her.

“Her legal battle not to be deported cost her £50,000 and over half of it is ­unpaid.”

A company chasing her for cash ­managed to arrange a third party order at Aylesbury County Court, Bucks, ­requiring Ultimate Big Brother bosses ­Endemol to hand over Makosi’s £10,000 fee.

Sources say shocked Makosi did not find out until she was evicted.

Makosi’s money worries have baffled friends, who thought she had a wealthy boyfriend living in Africa who was ­taking care of her. The Big Brother source added: “Makosi has loads of ­other debts to be paid as well.

“She owes a garage about £7,000 for ­fixing her car. A lot of people think she hasn’t even picked up the car, which she left there in May.”

While in the Ultimate Big Brother house Makosi kept telling housemates about being charged a huge amount of money by an immigration lawyer.

She was the second person to get the boot from the house.

She told host Davina McCall: “I still feel very, very blessed I was part of something so beautiful and something so huge.”

Makosi, from High Wycombe, Bucks, who was originally in Big Brother 6, won a battle to stay in the UK as a ­refugee in 2005.

She faced deportation after she quit her job as a cardiac nurse to appear on the Channel 4 show.

A London immigration tribunal was told she might face violent mobs in her native Zimbabwe because of her topless frolics in the Big Brother house.

Hours before her exit from Ultimate Big Brother Makosi was reunited with BB6 winner Anthony Hutton, 28.

The pair shared a drunken Jacuzzi romp during BB6, in which Makosi was third-last to be voted out of the house.