GOVERNOR’S MEDICAL TOURISM RIGHTFULLY ANGERS KENYANS

African leaders travelling to the Global North for medical tourism has become all too common. Our elected officials access the best facilities in Europe and the US, while citizens of their countries continue to suffer due to poorly funded health infrastructure.

In recent weeks, Kenyans in Nakuru County filed a petition demanding to know the whereabouts of their governor after her prolonged absence. Susan Kihika is reportedly on an extended maternity leave in the US. Now, some women leaders are trying to re-frame the outcry, saying the public is opposed to women’s empowerment rather than seeking accountability for poor governance.

Here, we examine why Kenyans are angry.

Continued…….Sources

https://nation.africa/kenya/counties/nakuru/where-is-governor-kihika-nakuru-residents-petition-assembly-4972666

https://x.com/SenHamidaK/status/1904525817155055963

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/8/21/muhammadu-buhari-addresses-nation-on-return-from-uk

https://www.socialistnigeria.org/7759/2025/01/08/tinubus-approval-of-20000-foreign-medical-treatment-bullet-proof-suvs-and-other-perks-top-generals-is-an-insult-to-nigerian-workers-and-masses/?doing_wp_cron=1743083223.9668478965759277343750

https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/620389/bp-taxing-for-more-equal-kenya-061217-en.pdf;jsessionid=F751D670A9FA9AE9E9DDD91720BAF6CC?sequence=1

MOB BEATS GERMAN TOURIST FOR VIOLATING MEXICAN TEMPLE

Locals recently pounded on a German tourist after he illegally climbed 30 metres to the top of the Kukulcán temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Yucatán, Mexico.

On 20 March, Mexican National Guard personnel apprehended the individual, whose identity had not been publicised. As troops escorted him away, locals rained blows on the man for desecrating the sacred temple.

Mexican law punishes temple intruders with a fine ranging from approximately $2,779 to $13,896 or prison time in more severe cases of damage.

Continued……The temple is in the Chichén Itzá complex, a pre-colonial city that 2.5 million tourists visit each year. Built an estimated 1,000 years ago by the Mayan people, the temple was recognised in 2007 as one of the ‘New Seven Wonders of the World.’ A light and shadow phenomenon occurs during the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, with this year’s event attracting 8,000 to 9,000 people, according to The Yucatan Times.

Foreigners have long disrespected sacred monuments in Africa, too. In 2018, the public was outraged in Egypt after a Danish photographer posted a photo of himself having s*x with a naked woman on top of the Great Pyramid. These violations aren’t just reckless, they reflect a deeper issue: Centuries of ennoscriptment toward our heritage. While Western states impose strict protections on their own cultural sites, Global South sacred spaces are treated as playgrounds for thrill-seekers and collectors.

Video credit: @mexicorojonews (IG)

Sources

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tourist-attacked-locals-climbing-forbidden-205051326.html

https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2025/03/german-tourist-climbs-the-chichen-itza-pyramid-and-is-attacked-by-an-angry-mob 

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/483 

https://www.chichenitza.com 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6476529/Danish-photographer-posts-picture-having-sex-Great-Pyramid.html

Continued….. https://www.arabamerica.com/arab-contributions-to-rural-life-in-spain/

https://blackhistorystudies.com/resources/resources/15-facts-on-the-moors-in-spain/

https://www.iahr.org/library/infor?pid=14110&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSUTFsZtrww&t=26s

https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/islam-hospitals-bimaristan-pioneered-eye-surgery-music-therapy?

https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/islam-hospitals-bimaristan-pioneered-eye-surgery-music-therapy?

https://www.imperainteriordesign.com/learn-more/dreaming-of-spain-the-timeless-beauty-and-allure-of-moorish-architecture?

WOES OF KENYA’S IMF ADDICTION

Kenya is an IMF loan junkie, and the unpleasant side effects of a missed hit could be about to be felt.

The East African country is facing a $480-million budget shortfall after the Washington-based institution scrapped a review of a $3.6-billion loan deal signed in 2021 that will expire on 1 April. IMF officials visited Nairobi in early March to assess progress on the agreement, only to discover that treasury officials had neglected to meet essential commitments - namely, reducing spending and boosting revenue.

Kenya is trapped in a debt crisis, forcing the government to rely on loans to keep the economy afloat. But IMF loans come with strings attached, including cuts to subsidies that cushion struggling citizens from high prices on essentials such as fuel and steep tax hikes to shore up revenue.

With a debt-to-GDP ratio of 69.9%, Kenya finds itself in a precarious position, grappling with increasing debt obligations while its economy struggles to keep pace with repayments.

Continued….. Kenyans hard-pressed by a cost-of-living crisis protested against IMF-backed tax increase proposals during the 2024 budget cycle, forcing president William Ruto to shelve the lender’s punitive austerity measures.

Now, Nairobi is on the hunt for alternative funding sources to fill the void, all while pursuing a new programme with the IMF. In January, it negotiated a $1.5-billion loan with the United Arab Emirates, which pushed state borrowing beyond the limits set by the IMF.

Critics say relying on handouts is a bad strategy for financing its budget. According to Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, Kenya loses a staggering $4.7 billion, or 7.8% of its GDP, to corruption each year.

Might cutting back on lavish spending and tackling corruption be a better way for Kenya to achieve financial independence?

Sources

https://newscentral.africa/kenya-abandons-existing-imf-programme-in-pursuit-of-new-loan-agreement/

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/imf-has-received-formal-request-new-kenya-funding-programme-2025-03-17/

https://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/110030-kenya-seeks-new-imf-bailout-after-ditching-ksh1034-billion-loan-review

https://africacheck.org/fact-checks/reports/third-kenyas-budget-stolen-we-checked-former-senators-claim-about-much

https://www.kbc.co.ke/kenya-exploring-new-facility-after-talks-with-imf/

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/politics/article/2001513909/two-edged-sword-raila-ruto-deal-can-build-destroy-country-at-will#google_vignette

https://www.the-star.co.ke/counties/coast/2024-08-16-kenya-loses-sh608bn-to-corruption-annually-mudavadi

https://www.citizen.digital/news/inside-ruto-raila-power-agreement-and-what-it-means-for-kenya-n358797

https://archive.ph/kA7Qk

Thinking too highly of yourself while downplaying the capabilities of others can lead to serious consequences. Just look at Kenya’s President William Ruto, who misjudged the power of the Gen-Z crowd. Young Kenyans rallied en masse to oppose his IMF-supported tax hikes in the wake of his flashy trips abroad and gratuitous displays of wealth. It’s brought him one step closer to the political ‘grave’ - and if he’s not more attentive to the electorate, he could end up ‘squashed’ completely like the poor mosquito in this week’s African proverb!

Hear Us Roar: https://news.1rj.ru/str/AfricanStream

THE MYTH THAT AFRICANS ‘SOLD THEIR PEOPLE’

Europeans have attempted to distance themselves from - and avoid accountability for - their atrocities during the centuries-long slave trade by propelling narratives that it was Africans who sold them slaves. On this version, Africans share the blame for the horrors faced by Black people.

During his opening remarks on African identity and the decolonisation of education in Africa and the Caribbean at the University of West Indies in Jamaica, at the PJ Patterson Institute for Africa Caribbean Advocacy, vice chancellor Hilary Beckles spoke about the importance of reclaiming our narratives. As Beckles puts it, when history is told from the gunman’s perspective, you inevitably get a distorted picture.

Continued……. Beckles dispels the myth that Africans willingly sold their fellow Africans into slavery. While he notes that there were certainly corrupt individuals back then, just as there are now, they were a minority. In Nazi Germany, for example, there were Jewish people who collaborated with the regime, yet no one blames them for the Holocaust. So why is this the line of argument used when it comes to slavery?

Most Africans who took part in the slave trade did so for survival and did not have much of a choice. When European narratives paint our ancestors as ‘business partners,’ it is misleading - a business partner is free to not partake in a business venture without consequences, whereas Africans were not.

Moreover, Europeans exacerbated divisions amongst our people, spurring ethnic conflict and wars amongst Africans. It was often ‘prisoners of war’ who were bought by Europeans from Africans.

The European narrative has been used to further divide Black people across the world, thus continuing the divide-and-conquer tactics that have ensured African disunity and exploitation for centuries.

Sources

https://books.google.co.ke/books/about/African_Voices_of_the_Atlantic_Slave_Tra.html?id=YrIjNMu5_vsC&redir_esc=y

https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/blacks-did-not-sell-blacks-into-slavery

https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/hitlers-jewish-soldiers/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/myths-and-misconceptions_b_9637798

https://archives.newsday.co.tt/2014/08/01/debunking-myths-of-the-slave-trade/

theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/07/us-played-key-role-in-southern-sudans-long-journey-to-independence/241660/

CUBAN DOCTOR DEFENDS CUBA’S MEDICAL BRIGADES

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently attacked Cuba’s international medical brigades. On 25 February, the Miami-born Cuban announced any country’s officials found accepting Cuban medical solidarity may lose their US visas.

This is not first time a US administration has attacked Cuba’s medical solidarity, as US President George W Bush imposed a 2006 programme to encourage Cuban doctors to defect to the US. The Obama administration ended that initiative in 2017, but the Biden administration renewed it in 2022.

However, such a restriction could have a terrible impact on Africa as most of its countries benefit from Cuban medical support.