Awards 2005
20
December
[EDIT]
For yet another year, the annual awards have come around. Winners are final. Without much further ado:
Woman Of The Year
Conjestina Achieng

Conjestina came onto the boxing scene with a bang and has stayed in the limelight. From very humble beginnings she has floored all opposition far and wide and still manages to keep it real. You have not lived until you have seen Conjestina pummelling the competition out of their collective misery. It is said, and with good reason, that Leila Ali is reluctant to step up to Conjestina.You go girl!
Man Of The Year
Maina Kiai

As head of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission, this gentleman has taken the government to task at every level and at every opportunity, despite the fact that he is a government employee! From speaking out against human rights abuses, corruption in the government, and the misuse of government resources he has been consistent in the face of stiff political and tribal opposition.
Paul Tergat

Ever smiling, ever optimistic Paul Tergat has done a lot on and off the athletics track. As a phenomenal and humble athlete he has contributed to the sport and continues to boost the image of the country. As a goodwill ambassador he continues to spread the message of hope. As a sportsman he has helped organize the sportsman of the year awards.
Inspiration Of The Year
Kimani Ngure

He’s 80+. But he went back to school. He wears school uniform. He sits with his fellow students. He doesn’t ask for special treatment. He’s determined to finish school. Hats off to you sir!
Disappointment Of The Year
John Githongo

I just stopped shy of calling this award the Coward Of The Year. No one is disputing the kitchen was hot and the corrupt were fighting. But to flee and hide in London giving bullshit lectures on corruption? Not giving pointers to those fighting the fight? I’m not impressed. There are many other Kenyans who have stayed behind in very turbulent, very dangerous settings to fight the good fight. People like Maina Kiai and David Munyakei who are on the front line and have sacrificed despite the constant pressure.
Clowns Of The Year
The Kenya Football Federation
When it comes to clowning off, few can compete with the KFF. Kenyan soccer has managed to deteriorate to an extent that there was a time we were banned by FIFA altogether. Now we are undergoing fiasco after fiasco, with two parallel groups purporting to be running the KFF. We have two secretary generals and complete sets of staff each insisting the other is illegal
Hot Air Of The Year
Jointly shared by the United Nations and the African Union, who have been talking, talking and talking about Darfur for yet another year until they’re blue in the face, and neither look like they are about to slow down with the talking.
Fighting Team Of The Year
Wigan Athletic

At the end of last season, and at the beginning of this one, few could spell, let alone know, who or what Wigan was. They’ve fought tooth and nail and given everyone including Chelsea a run for their money.
What Happened Team Of The Year
Arsenal FC

I’m a die hard supporter, and will continue to remain so, but my lads this year you have been a pale shadow of your pale shadow!
Ass of The Year
There has been stiff competition for this one by Kenyan politicians. No matter how low the bar is, this motley collection of individuals have managed to slither under. But two have risen head and shoulders above their brethren
Chirau Ali Mwakwere

This gentleman has caused considerable speculation that his credentials as a career diplomat were sourced from a local butchery. Each and every time he has opened his mouth he has continued to reinforce this idea. His hallmark moment was declaring that Kenyan Hostages has been freed in Iraq, to the bewilderment of hostages and captors and the world at large, apparently on the strength of an SMS from a local number
Kiraitu Murungi

This gentleman must have work overtime to find ways and means to annoy everyone within and without range. Arrogance has taken an entirely new meaning under him, whether he is declaring the Anglo Leasing Scandal a scandal that never was, or declaring that the Yes campaign would shake every corner of the country, or that the referendum was a government project. His hallmark moment:
“It is like raping a woman who is already willing … HA HA HA!!!”
Face Of The Year

M, I’d put yours but that would complicate issues for you ![]()
Drama Queen Of The Year
Lucy Kibaki
When not on the case of World Bank Country directors, seeking to know who their mothers were, she was terrorizing journalists at Nation Center and slapping others and wrote her name in the book of infamy. While I was in Botswana the only thing the Botswanans knew about Kenya was that our First Lady was loco
Audacity Of The Year
Mwai Kibaki

Dictating a detailed code of conduct prohibiting rewarding of friends and family with jobs and promotion purely on merit and then having the temerity to do just that and bring his golf buddies, old school friends and political cronies plum jobs
The WTF Award
This award is granted to those people that make us want to pinch ourselves and see if we are in a really bad dream
Maina Kamanda

Despite barely having opposable thumbs, this gentleman is the minister for gender affairs
Kalembe Ndile

This gent can can barely read and write, is an assistant minister, and will be articulating government policy on behalf of 30 million Kenyans
Njega Karume

He can just barely go through the alphabet, and is unlikely to know which end of a missile to point at the enemy, is the Defence minister. In theory he could end up in the same room as Condolleezza Rice, where he will say things like “Would I like some cruise missiles for Kenya? No thanks — I think I prefer those that go at full speed.”
Trouble Magnet Of The Year
Christopher Murungaru

Managed the impossible task of being despised wherever his large sweaty frame made an appearance. Has the dubious distinction of being unwanted both at home and overseas
Clothes Horse Of The Year
Moody Awori

He has appeared in everything from a suave debonair gentleman to one of Snow White’s colour blind seven dwarves
Oorie Rogo Manduli

Her outfits can reliably be heard long before they can be seen
Word Of The Year
We have a tie:
Pumbavu
Jienjoy
Pic Of The Year


Enough Already! Award
Reggaetone
Reality TV
Orange Democratic Movement
Sting - Roxanne




1. Guess
(122 Comments) | December 20th, 2005 at 2:40 pm
Wow M, that is a very extensive look at what has been happening around our country, mainly the political side which obviously in a thorn in your…er…behind. *sigh*
Cool work my friend…
2. jean
(18 Comments) | December 20th, 2005 at 2:46 pm
Ehe?!! And who is this other M?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3. Fantasio
(5 Comments) | December 20th, 2005 at 4:13 pm
Blogger of the Year Award, by acclamation : M !!!
4. ciiku
(10 Comments) | December 20th, 2005 at 4:22 pm
Eh, I too want to know who the other M is. As always, a job well done!
5. maitha
(13 Comments) | December 20th, 2005 at 4:40 pm
seems like you forgot this
political satirist of the year
M
6. Msanii_XL
(79 Comments) | December 20th, 2005 at 6:16 pm
Great post m…”brilliant”
wholeheartedly agree about the reggaeton madness enough already..can’t they get any other DRUMSSSSS arghhhhh just popped a vein.
why does kibaki insist on fossils being in power? how old is karume? dude has white nose hairs.
i need ahistory of this kalembe ndile character..i only heard recently that he was a highway robber..true?
leila ali is scuured? ha ha its shame and all that cockeyness and no kahunas to back it up
ciara is all Fem- forget the male rumors
7. chepkemboi
(14 Comments) | December 20th, 2005 at 7:24 pm
LOL at the highway robber!!!
8. Brother Jero (BJ)
(12 Comments) | December 20th, 2005 at 8:14 pm
Well researched & thought out posting, I second blooger of the year goes to you M in the male category and perhaps Ms K wins the female award. How about a promising new entrant award, think of that too.
Do you all ever wonder whatever happened to former Mayor Kingori. This guy was a highlight just by himself and anything he said made it to the headlines. Hope the dude is Ok coz he made mine & other peoples days.
9. acolyte
(179 Comments) | December 20th, 2005 at 10:14 pm
Love that awards!Most of ‘em are so on point!Yes KFF have screwed Kenyan soccer to a level never stooped at before.As for Arsenal I think it’s time to start singing a certain boys to men song.As for the new ministers I think even Moi during his worst days did.But how can you diss raggaetone?Even though all of ‘em use the same beat template it ain’t all that bad.As for reality TV I feel you I am sick of it at this rate I might as well not even look outside coz these punks may make a show called “outside your window.”Urgh!!!!!!Oh word of the year rocks too!
10. Njoro
(12 Comments) | December 21st, 2005 at 2:14 am
Classic way to cap a hilarious year @ thinkersroom with awards.
I, however, vehemently disagree with your categorization of Githongo above. Githongo believed in the “no sacred cows” motto, going after the well-entrenched corrupt scum that is now the Cabinet and their sons and networks. Maina is not (kudos though). There’s a difference between courage and stupidity. Knowing what’s out there, Githongo would have been incredibly stupid to stay.
11. Dusty
(19 Comments) | December 21st, 2005 at 10:41 am
Bravo! A classic post to sum up the year that was.
Hear, hear for M as “Blogger of the year”.
12. brainz
(52 Comments) | December 21st, 2005 at 3:16 pm
Actually it should have been “What Happened Team Of The millenium” My God what actually happened to arsene’s beautiful soccer.
I am a die hard fan of Arsenal why lie, Wenger needs to style his midfield otherwise henry will bounce and we will be screwed royaly.
Splendid Blog M’ i have been looking forwards to your award ceremony every year. specially like the makewre bit. Kibaki should have got the GOON OF THE year. how come there is nothin abt the ODM?
Great posting though.
13. mruhya
(59 Comments) | December 21st, 2005 at 3:37 pm
as alwez brilliant post, m.
kiai may not be my man of the year, but he sure is fighting allright, impressed me too.
as 4 politicians, enuf has been said already, I’d add Ngilu and Kombo to the “disappointments of the year”
…and arsenal for that matter (still a mega fan tho)
reggeatone - ni nini hiyo?
14. Ni2
(108 Comments) | December 21st, 2005 at 4:58 pm
My addition to the Enough Already Award
“English Premiership Soccer!” — I’ve had enough of this obsession. Especially people who suddenly became Chelsea fans just coz they won the premeirship last time.
@Msanii_XL
“why does kibaki insist on fossils being in power? how old is karume? dude has white nose hairs.” —- errr somethings are better left UNSAID!!!! No thanks for the info!
15. nakeel
(77 Comments) | December 21st, 2005 at 5:19 pm
M this was the tightest summary in the year ever done.. nice one..
Mery Xmass and Happy new year
16. Farmgal
(101 Comments) | December 21st, 2005 at 9:14 pm
Yeah whats up with Arsenal this season? They lost to my team chelsea on the weekend 2-0
Nice post M
17. Irena
(15 Comments) | December 21st, 2005 at 9:34 pm
You forgot one more person..The Embarassing Diplomat of the year..Kenyan Ambassador to United States - Leonard Ngaithe.
Nice summary of the movers and the weakest links of 2005. Great Post!
18. Muchoki
(5 Comments) | December 22nd, 2005 at 7:37 am
That was a classic analysis.
Maybe you should have categorised COTU boss in some award as well as Mungatana.
Indeed the face of the year was!!
19. Prousette
(143 Comments) | December 22nd, 2005 at 1:49 pm
On point!!
should have added persona non grata of the year whose mother is the only person who welcomes him.
Who indeed is the other M ?? Nosy me wonders?? you are not schizophrenic are you?
20. Ms K
(126 Comments) | December 22nd, 2005 at 4:13 pm
@Prous
LOL. Gotta wonder tho! Toboa siri!!!
And brilliant post. Now if ony I could pin you down for a sec so that we can have that date!
21. Mutumia
(56 Comments) | December 22nd, 2005 at 7:13 pm
Concurring with you that Kiraitu is a damn fool and laughing at ‘color blind 7 dwarves’. Not quite agreeing with the AU on Darfur thing (but you allow dissent on your blog so I guess it’s all good).
And LOVING your picture of the nude swimmer— he’s gonna get a hella surprise!
Happy Holidays M.
22. hash
(17 Comments) | December 23rd, 2005 at 12:20 am
“Despite barely having opposable thumbs, this gentleman is the minister for gender affairs”
- Classic!
23. TeeJ
(28 Comments) | December 23rd, 2005 at 4:22 am
LoL dude you made my day.
His honorless Mr Njenga Karume has Boogers. eeeeewww!
Have a Merry xmas M.
p.s. **still giggle giggling**
24. mlevi
(21 Comments) | December 23rd, 2005 at 12:53 pm
hehehe nice one, agree on Conjestina, but awaiting to see how she does with a REAL challenge. but Im a believer fo sho!
Tergat had me sweating and shitting bricks that evening, made for a nice bonding session with the pops who has become his (Tergat) pal of late.
Teamof the year is indubitably a joint award. Liverpool (Vivapool) and All Blacks (All Nyeuthi)… I challenge any sane individual to doubt this and back it up. No half-stepping welcome here.
I tend to agree on Arses n All, HEHEHE what happened there dude????
Oh yah Mwakwere makes me physically ill.
25. mlevi
(21 Comments) | December 23rd, 2005 at 12:57 pm
sorry to double comment, (get them stalker numbers up)
Ciara is clearly a tasty one! wa! superb choice there…. Flowerdom kabisa
26. Poi
(9 Comments) | December 23rd, 2005 at 10:23 pm
Hhehehheh, nice, very nice! floored…
Merry, Merry Xmas & Happy New Year
27. donworry
(57 Comments) | December 24th, 2005 at 4:12 am
Blogger of the year award….definitely no doubt, no hesitation, no equivocation. All the awards dished out this year were perfect except for one which I must disagree kidogo.
The PS for governance’s only mistake was to misunderstand his remit when he accepted the job. His tough-talking zero tolerance boss actually wanted someone to just count pencils and staples and maybe net a few junior officials using office photocopiers for wedding invitations. The over glorified job title was a style meant to fish for aid in scandinavian waters, as it were…..our hero naively thought he was a real anti corruption czar and he started digging…….
It’s no use giving pointers if you canna back it up with evidence; after all isn’t anglofleecing today referred to as the scandal that never was?
28. eclipse
(110 Comments) | December 26th, 2005 at 3:58 pm
M truly hilarious and an accurate observation esp on the defence minister karume….”and is unlikely to know which end of a missile to point at the enemy, is the Defence minister.. VER VERY TRUE!
PIC OF THE YEAR ALSO TAKES THE CAKE!
as for conjestina…….wat can i say…1 min 42sec…wldnt want to marry her! hehhe
29. Fat Mwangi
(2 Comments) | December 27th, 2005 at 2:32 pm
Gotta agree - damn first family got the worst PR anybody can get - “who’s ur mother” pumbavu hiyo family
30. Voyeur
(1 Comments) | December 28th, 2005 at 12:09 pm
M and Guess,
Sitting in a tree,
K.I.S.S.I.N.G!!
31. Ni2
(1 Comments) | December 29th, 2005 at 9:51 am
@Eclipse
Yeah you wouldnt want to marry her coz she wont take no lip from you!
But the bout was so quick? Felt kinda staged but we shall see what cuts.
32. I
(120 Comments) | December 30th, 2005 at 4:58 pm
Nice work M!!!
You must have Jienjoyed as you put this post together.. he he..
I await impatiently to see what the political pumbuve’s have for Kenya in 2006!!
I couldn’t resist using the words of the year, before its over! he he..
Happy holidays to y’all!
33. Adrian
(81 Comments) | December 30th, 2005 at 6:07 pm
suffering with you coz of arsenal…
been hearing this stuff about kalembe ndile being a highway robber. but somehow, quite a number of people are convinced he can deliver…
i really hope msanii is right and that ciara is all man.
i’m glad to be out of europe for some time, here in kenya the reggaeton craze doesn’t seem to be as bad as those sides.
ODM - are they still annoying if they’re forced to change their name? just asking…
eeh eeh - everyone is talking about conje…
word of the year: “vuta pumz” is another word (ok, phrase) everyone seems to be using…
happy new year thinker!
34. Adrian
(81 Comments) | December 30th, 2005 at 6:12 pm
eeeh, that ciara is all woman
i hope that msanii is right and that ciara is all WOMAN!!!
it’s the slow internet connection…
35. richie
(6 Comments) | January 1st, 2006 at 8:35 am
nice sh*t u got here dude!!!!
lakini just like every other arsenal “voyeur”, u seem stuck
in some warped sense of revulsion for other peoples’ success..
good stuff lakini,
blog of the day…probably
keep up…
36. Manamsim
(4 Comments) | January 3rd, 2006 at 10:48 am
Great! I would suggest one more award. Fence Sitters Medal. The same to be taken by none other than H E Mwai Kibaki. David Mwenje also deserve something probably a shared Clown of the Year Award.
37. Open Blog: KenyaUnlimited » Blogosphere roundup
(No Comments) | January 25th, 2006 at 4:30 am
[...] The week also began with the news that a report by Kenya’s former anti corruption chief was published. John Githongo stepped down a year ago; he had been investigating corruption, including the Anglo Leasing Scandal. Ntwiga has a clear rundown of this in the post“Business as usual in nairobi 3.o”. Mental acrobatics in an impassioned post takes issue with characterisation of John Githongo as a dissapointment, pointing out that “… he stood up, laid down his conditions and took a job that most of us would have ran away from like we were being chased by Conjestina Achieng and actually left with his integrity and his neck in check. We complain and complain about the political elite being one and the same. Orange, Banana, KANU, DP, LDP all the same. And here is a man who was invited into the top tier of that political elite and refused to be turned. In short the kind of man we have been calling for and instead of lauding him, we label him a coward” [...]
38. tHiNkEr’S rOoM » Blog Archive »
(No Comments) | January 30th, 2006 at 10:07 am
[...] My memory may not be the best, but I racked it and it informed me that the columnist’s thought processes were remarkably like my own, so much so that he managed to mirror the thoughts I expressed in the same post [...]
39. Banda
(1 Comments) | February 16th, 2006 at 2:25 am
I do not see the reason for u calling Githongo a coward. Unless of cause you or ur uncle is mentioned in corrupt deals.
Banda
40. The.Hanyeé
(6 Comments) | February 21st, 2006 at 9:07 pm
Boss, this is a tight post - hata kama im like 1/6th of a year late!
Githongo? I hate to disagree with you but that negro had to give em run faster than those chics in the Elefant Man video..otherwise angeliona hu!
Those boogers on Karume? Big enough to have a conversation with him!
Ditto to Reggaetone! That shit sucks!! Same beat for every song? Gosh!
Is it me in a rather sickly period of booty starvation or does the Orie Rogo pic actually look foxy from here? Must be the bifocals or the kashtura I smoked at lunchtime…
And Conjestina…should hook up with a celeb, just for dramas sake…imagine her and Mr. Nice going out…
Fab post !
41. john Oywa
(1 Comments) | January 31st, 2007 at 4:48 pm
This is a very interesti ng website. But why dont you update it? Please!
42. Mwangi - the Displaced African
(50 Comments) | March 11th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
If a man is 80 and still willing to wear uniform, we should be making a movie about him. The fact that we don’t….ni upumbavu tu!