Our many blogging friends from Tanzania have impressed and cheered me greatly. They have
- Created a formal blogger’s association, Jumwata
- Organized and participated in an online conference using freely available tools
- The conference was run along democratic ideals. All decisions were arrived at through votes
- Held elections and elected officials
- All aspects of the association: leadership, content aggregation, awards, etc will be owned by the community, and decisions will be made as a community
- They are drafting a constitution that will oversee various aspects of the community — activism, media law, technology, ethics and other such aspects
Yes sir, my friends — combining democracy, transparency, collaboration, citizen media and blogging? You’re doing something right!
Details on Jumwata available here.
Mighty tough footsteps to follow. I’m not sure I’ve heard of any community openly organized in this manner.
AOB
Herman Marsden Madoka you River Troll, you must be KIDDING
Mwatate MP Marsden Madoka said the amount was “not commensurate with the services MPs offer to the public.
He said if the electorates knew the financial tribulations their MPs go through, they would recommend that they get more.
Speaking on the telephone from his Mwatate office, Mr Madoka said the package being proposed for MPs should be reviewed.
“This is not sendoff pay, as the media is putting it. It is gratuity like the one workers in both the public and the private sector are given when they retire,” he argued.
I’m interested to know what services there are, over and above stuffing their fat faces with samosas and belching loudly. What makes this doofus think that MPs are more special than other hard working Kenyans? I wish I was a constituent of Mwatate. I jolly well know where my vote would NOT go!
Ruckus – Narvio & Peter Miles