Silence, we are trying to organise a party here

I am almost throwing in the towel in this tough game of keeping an eye on developments in the East African region. Too many things seem to be happening that may compel me to hire personal assistants to constantly update me with what is happening and why. How am I supposed to understand why East African countries are performing poorly when it comes to football, while, the Ugandans are celebrating a qualification to another stage of qualifications as if it was a 4-0 drubbing of a defensive Italian national team? How can I understand the work of police officers when the western media is talking about them arresting pro-gay activists, yet, the local media in Kampala is talking about tear gas being fired to stop forceful circumcision in Mbale by groups of unemployed youth? Should I then study the effects of massive unemployment or a circumcision culture that received a lifeline from WHO asserting that the practice reduced chances of contracting HIV. Last week, I was busy trying to get my head around the Spain is not Uganda debate when the geniuses behind the Samsung brand, decided to go for the most stupid way to market their entry into the region’s aviation field. I am talking about the advert by Korean air that assured passengers of a chance to find indigenous people full of primitive energy in Nairobi, Kenya.The consequent jokes about primitive energy that flooded social media were soon to be silenced by the story of lions attacking the livestock of the people of Kitengela and the people responding by killing six lions (some sources say this happened in a space of 10 minutes) in retaliatory attacks that meant to show the big cats who is boss. The noise about the lions and how killing them was not good for Kenya’s cash cow tourism, led many to miss the antics of the MPs who burnt the midnight oil changing bits of the new constitution to suit their rather selfish interests. Kenyans woke up angry and started demanding answers from their representatives. Meanwhile, more unwanted noise has been going on about the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many will however agree that the problems facing this huge country have been in place for a very long time and blaming all of them on Rwanda is simply myopic. The constant blaming of Rwanda for all the problems of DRC is nothing but pushing the buck to what some may consider a soft target. What about the huge UN mission that has been there for ages to pacify the region and has achieved little outside gold and rape scandals. Please don’t waste your time trying to get your head around all this Congo business. The best shot is to look out for what Pres. Kagame said during his last press conference in Kigali. Also, Uganda’s first lady was here in Kigali as a guest of Rwanda’s first lady. To say that Uganda and Rwanda have done a good job mending fences only comes short to doing justice to the subject. The leaders and their spouses are almost inseparable with visits between them becoming so frequent, that some media houses seem to be losing interest as they have become normal and not breaking news. I guess it is not that hard to understand their friendship since Museveni and Kagame worked together for years before becoming leaders of their respective countries. You can add in the bit that both First ladies are named Janet (with Rwanda’s taking on the French version of the name). The point I am trying to make here, is that the flood of news events in the region ought to subside to allow me to look forward to Rwanda celebrating its liberation day next month. If it was a cricket game, the guys whose batting has brought us this far would raise their bats and accept our applause. I am talking about the heroes who have done everything over the years to pull our countries from the bin of hopelessness back to the route of development. Email: ssenyonga@gmail.comBlog: www.ssenyonga.wordpress.comTwitter: @ssojo81