Monthly Archives: March 2012

Why this community is desperate for eggs cooked in boys urine

Posted on March 31, 2012 by

It is the end of a school day in the eastern Chinese city of Dongyang, and eager parents collect their children after a hectic day of primary school. But that’s just the start of busy times for dozens of egg vendors across the city, deep in coastal Zhejiang Province who ready themselves to cook up a unique springtime snack favoured by local residents. Basins and buckets of boys’ urine are collected from primary school toilets. It is the key ingredient in “virgin boy eggs”, a local tradition of soaking and cooking eggs in the urine of young boys, preferably below the age of 10. There is no good explanation for … Continue reading →

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Why the West would wish Sanussi to quietly disappear

Posted on March 28, 2012 by

By Robert Asketill Libya wants Senussi to stand trial in Tripoli for a catalogue of crimes. It sent a delegation to Mauritania but it returned without him after officials there said the legal formalities for his extradition were not complete. Western and Arab powers are all too aware of the secrets Senussi holds, and are anxious to deny him the opportunity to say what he knows in public and expose the Arab and Western governments that used Gaddafi to plot against their enemies. “He is Gaddafi’s black box,” said Norman Benotman, a senior Libyan analyst at the Quilliam Foundation. “He knows all the secrets about the dirty deals, plots to … Continue reading →

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History of Buganda Part 61:
The rebellion against Kabaka Mwanga

Posted on March 25, 2012 by

By Robert Asketill We now stretch into the so called “Cunning Plan”. Most of what we have written has been brought to our readers in previous illustrations of what amounts to Kabaka Mwanga’s greatness in holding the kingdom together. Here is a ruler and nation being destroyed by the influence of foreigners, empire builders and various missionaries all seeing that it was this great Muganda king standing in their way and were prepared to corrupt his people to get their influence established. So here we take a second look in greater detail about how he struggled against the foreigners who were by now swamping Africa and involved in wars such … Continue reading →

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Silverdale Farm Case turns into matter of governance

Posted on March 24, 2012 by

By A Special Correspondent The Silverdale Farm case often referred to as a commercial property dispute between a Mzungu (white person) investor and an influential Tanzanian has now become a matter of governance. Bad governance to be precise planted squarely at the foot of Kikwete’s regime. Despite his promises to senior UK government ministers to uphold the rule of law in this case Kikwete has done nothing of the kind. Instead, he has ignored the serious abuses of law and corruption in this case and allowed for the theft of British investment on a scale seen in neighbouring Zimbabwe. At the same time, Kikwete trumpets rhetoric to western donors and … Continue reading →

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How deformed children are still being killed in Africa

Posted on March 23, 2012 by

By Kofi Akosah-Sarpong Deformed children, for centuries killed in some parts of Ghana for being evil, are getting not only media and civil society attention but of late, officialdom.  Some of the deformed children are killed and used by traditional witch-doctors and juju-marabou spiritual mediums in all kinds of bizarre spiritual rituals. Realistically, the Ghanaian enlightenment movement is expanding. Traditional inhibitive values are being critically scrutinized boldly without fear of ethnocentrisms. The Ghana News Agency which has been investigating the killing of deformed children in some parts of northern Ghana, explains that “the common belief among some communities in the North that children born with deformities are “spirit children” and … Continue reading →

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Why George Clooney must go back and seek the truth

Posted on March 23, 2012 by

By Robert Asketill George Clooney was certainly well off the mark in his targeting and knowledge of what is really going on in the Sudan region of today. Now for the truth. George Clooney, the Hollywood actor, described a humanitarian crisis in Sudan to the U.S. Senate recently saying he witnessed death, destruction and even came under rocket attack when he secretly travelled to a volatile area of the country, namely the Nuba Mountains, where he also saw the dropping of 15 bombs by the air force of the Khartoum government. As he saw it and wanted the citizens of the USA to know, he was secretly watching a campaign … Continue reading →

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Why is Uganda fighting in ‘hellish’ Somalia?

Posted on March 21, 2012 by

By Dan Damon Ugandan troops make up the bulk of the African Union force helping Somalia’s UN-backed government. With much of the country under the control of al-Shabab Islamist militants, it is probably one of the most dangerous missions that a soldier could embark on. So why are Ugandans choosing to take part? Maj Duncan Kashoma still carries the cost of his service in Mogadishu. The scars on his body are easily visible. The fragments of shrapnel inside him, less so. “I’m waiting for another operation on my left leg to remove more metal pieces. They will remove my kneecap. They already took off the right kneecap. In cold weather, … Continue reading →

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History of Buganda Part 60:
The catalogue of Mwanga’s bungling policies

Posted on March 21, 2012 by

By Robert Asketill We have seen recently on BBC4 television (20/02/2012) an excellent documentary ‘The Lost Kingdoms of Africa’ showing the might of Buganda and the crumbling of the Bunyoro kingdom. All the parts as shown in ‘The London Evening Post’ history series came to life and perhaps for the first time on film we were shown the real Uganda. The programme made it clear that the Baganda, a politically sensitive people, have always had a barometrical sense of knowing which way the wind is blowing as we are now seeing in the final days of Kabaka Mwanga. The populace recognised at once that royal favour was with the young … Continue reading →

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History of Buganda Part 59:
The Career and Character Of Kabaka Mwanga

Posted on March 18, 2012 by

By Robert Asketill Here we re-appraise the career and character of Kabaka Mwanga. In our last essay we left him as a prisoner, defeated in his fight to save the kingdom and to be sent into exile but, although we have written much we still need to arrive at a better understanding covering the causes of the civil wars of 1888 and of the first revolt against this great ruler so here we shall discover the mysteries together and go once again over the events of the years 1884 to 1888. In order to understand the history of the 1880s, we must ask ourselves two questions; (a) Why the political … Continue reading →

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History of Buganda Part 58:
Lugard and protestantism in Uganda

Posted on March 16, 2012 by

By Robert Asketill So far we have seen Kabaka Mwanga put up a continuous fight for the preservation of his nation despite the overwhelming odds of foreign powers determined to get a stranglehold of the Great Lake and the kingdom but with the entry of the missionaries, who were divided amongst themselves and were in turn dividing the kingdom’s chiefs, we are seeing Mwanga lose the battle, especially with the arrival of Colonel Lugard representing a British trading company. Like an imperial eagle, Lugard had swooped upon Buganda and without permission from King Mwanga marched to the capital, establishing an armed camp on Kampala Hill within rifle shot of Mwanga’s … Continue reading →

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