Ted Kennedy, a great man of honour

REST IN PEACE TED

The Kennedy dynasty might just have seen its curtain fall after the demise of yet another great man and true citizen of the world, Massachusetts Senator, Edward Kennedy.

Many among the people who will miss him and probably never knew who he really was are the poor and down trodden in several parts of the world including Africa. This man played a great role in making the new South Africa free after he magnified the atrocities the apartheid South African regime was daily unleashing on blacks there.

America will remember him for his fight for universal health care that aimed to make health care available and affordable for especially poor Americans who cannot up to the present day affordable a health care plan!

And Barack Obama, the Kenyan-American President will owe his Presidency to Senator Kennedy who left his bed rest and trooped to amass support for a Barack who was fighting tooth and nail for the top seat against Mama Clinton.

Rest in Peace Ted. The world will take a long time to forget you. Your deeds will live a lifetime.

Manchester United kill Arsenal 2-1....

.... as Arsene Wenger is RED CARDED....hahahaha

Manchester United begun to haunt Arsenal today in what is billed to be a bitter rivalry between the champions and the wannabes.

95 minutes later and Wengers boys were panting breathless 2-1 down! hahahaha. And to make matters worse, anger got the better of Mr. Wenger when he was red carded for allegedly kicking a water bottle after his man's 95th minute offside goal was disallowed by a hawk eyed 3rd assistant....whew!

The nail biting 95 minutes left me clutching and cursing but Rooney is just the man. Filling the gap Ronaldo left, Rooney is the man to watch and you betcha, this lad is going places for sure. His drive is thunder, his passion unstoppable and Manchester United, once again, the team to beat....

Don't i just love Man U.......yippppeeeeee....

Skonga on EATV rocking Dar teens!

Chidi Beenz steals the show….

I usually don’t follow some of these things but people, there’s a riveting and revving program on Tanzania’s East Africa Television Channel 5 that goes by the name Skonga, which caught my attention this week. A true must watch for 15-21 year olds, this is a project that once in a month goes visiting a selected secondary school, taking with them an action packed entertainment package that gets those kids literally going nuts!

This week on stage to entertain Azania High School brats was Tanzanian renowned and high flying Hip Hop artiste Chidi Beenz who stole the show and I must say impressed me even further with his capacity for a powerful stage show presentation. The grounds were literally covered in dust as the frenzied yankies went wild chanting alongside Chidi.

I remember canning some EATV show recently, but Allan the Skonga presenter and his producer are doing an excellent job with this production. I think urban kids are hooked to this show and the EATV promotional items (branded school bags) being swung to the students is an excellent idea that continually brands the show.

For the production team, think about adding an entertaining session midway that adds and educational value to the show. Say a chemsha bonga kinda thing? Try it out!

On scale 10, Skonga get a solid 7! Keep it up Allan, mjina wangu!

Skonga, every Friday at 7pm with a repeat on Saturday at midday on East Africa Television.

Ps: And I noticed the deal you gave Chidi, hahahaha…Playing all his top hits back to back immediately after the Skonga show! Brilliant marketing skills! Yup….

Caught in Traffic on your wedding day?

Take a Hike in the Heat of Dar....

Rather than having her waiting hubby-to-be waiting, this Tanzanian bride, caught up in traffic for hours along Dar es Salaam's Mandela road decided to dump her bridal convoy, disembark with her bridal party, page boy and girl in tow, cut in and out of vehicles stuck in traffic, hunt for a bajaj (indian model tri-cycles) and get to the alter lest her man change his mind!

Now what would you do if it was you in this situation????

Tanzania Catholic Head slams Grand Corruption in high places...

as he stuns funeral congregants.....

Now the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Tanzania, Cardinal Polycarp Pengo has gone ballistics against the naked grand corruption thats unashamadely travesing the Tanzanian terrain and decided to respond at a very unlikely forum.

Lambasing high-level graft, bribery, and embezzlement of public funds, the man of the cloth castigated the various voices attacking the Catholic pastoral letter to its congretation in Tanzania admonishing them to get involved selecting worthy public servants from amoungst themselves.

Speaking at the funeral services of departed Bishop Anthony Mayalla of Mwanza yesterday, the visibly annoyed Cardinal called for collective soul-searching amongst Tanzanians on their individual roles in the national crusade against corruption.And present at the funeral amoungst high level government officials was immediate former head of state Benjamin Mkapa whose not a partcularly happy man against the tirades of public noise for his alleged involvement in major corruption scandals that dogged his administration.

The internationally respected Mkapa has widely been accused of corruption and abuse of office during his 10-year stint as head of state (1995-2005), linked to various simmering scandals including the Kiwira coal mine privatization deal, and dubious government contracts involving Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS) and gold auditing firm Alex Stewart Assayers.

Cardinal Pengo noted that the extent of corruption would not have reached its current high levels in the country if everybody professing to be a genuine anti-graft campaigner backed strong rhetorics with deeds.

A stunned audience listened quietly as the man of God strongly criticized veteran and powerful politician Kingunge Ngombale-Mwiru over his strident and well-publicised opposition to a document issued by the Roman Catholic Church on the 2010 general elections. The cardinal said the church would never consult politicians before issuing such circulars related to people’s religious beliefs, because doing so would amount to mixing religion with politics.

Wow.....

Additional information from This Day.

Hurry Hurry......

Dar es Salaam Transport mode!

Now landing in a ditch is a very normal process of life but for daladalas, Tanzania's public transport? This is more than normal...I mean these creep drivers can get away with murder! They driver their junks wreaklessly, most of these driver properly licenced to driver the contraptions and more often than not they compete at who will flout the most traffic regulations in a day as though there awaits a grand prize from the traffic department at the end of the day!....

And voila, most of the time, at best, the ditch awaits. Worse still innocent passengers get maimed or loose their lives at the behest of utterly nonsensical and irresponsible driving....

Memphis Grizzlies Thabeet on Dar TV

....but shoddy East Africa TV LIVE show misses the chance to ask serious questions!

East Africas first draft into the NBA Hasheem Thabeet was LIVE on Tanzania’s East Africa Television last night talking to his peers about his success and admonishing them on how to make their various dreams in life a reality. The towering 7ft 4inch Memphis Grizzlies guard strolled into Mlimani City in style, posed a few with excited ‘shorties’ and even scribbled some autographs for his fans.

The live show hosted at the Mlimani City conference centre in Dar es Salaams Mlimani/Sinza suburb was attended by a good number of of excited Dar youth who were thrilled be in the company of this fast rising youthful Tanzanian baskeball star.

Albeit all the youth excitement going around, i was particularly unimpressed with the entire EATV production which looked disjointed, unscripted and unplanned. The one hour show dwelled on petty issues and the hostess running the show was extremely out of sync with what was meant to be achieved.

Particularly nagging was the language problem which kept shifting between ungrammatical english to kiswahili and i couldnt understand why the whole show wasnt just conducted in kiswahili! Its not everyday that you have a guest as big as Thabeet on your show, so when you display utter shallowness (is there a word like this in english??...lol) during a live production airing in many countries in the world, is to say the least depressing. Josh Murunga are you there????

Besides the bashing, i was seriously impressed with the set and the colour scheme which was subtle and very inviting. I was also impressed with Thabeet this time round who managed to speak fluently, out of his usual mumbling that i have previously been exposed to. The chap was more at home with kiswahili although he wasnt but to task on pertinent issues that inhibit basketball in Tanzania.

I strongly believe that Thabeet has a pivotal rle to play in injecting psyche into the moribund sport and get it back on track in the region.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Thabeet scores 6, the production team 4 (sound engineer 3, lighting 9, floor director 6), the hosttess 3 and the Mlimani City set 9.

Pics courtesy of Bukuku Mpoki (The Citizen)