Troubles in Kenya?

Far removed from Nairobi and the other “trouble-spots”, it is easy to forget that the political situation remains tenuous. Yes, the news media has frequent stories regarding the ongoing battle of wills between Kibaki and Odinga. Since this really translates into whose crony is heading which ministerial position it has little direct bearing on the general public. That is unless one counts the cost of the additional ministries that have been spawned to “find jobs for the boys”

So it was with a certain amount of surprise I read that Obama would be visiting Ghana rather than Kenya – because of the unstable situation here. It wasn’t but an hour later I received a security alert from the VSO office in Nairobi. The warning was to avoid a particular roundabout (basically a sector of downtown.) The stated reason was that “the Mechanics are fighting the police”. Not sure who or what the “Mechanics” are. In common with many of the demonstrations in Nairobi, however, it was apparently limited to one sector of the community in a specific physical location.


Meanwhile I assume Obama continues to receive briefings regarding his grandmother’s securit, the biggest threat to which is from the Seventh Day Adventists intent on her conversion from the Muslim faith to their brand of Christianity.