Over the Es
Looted for 20 Grand

Undeclared Account Activity Over the Summer

SuHaam SEMERE

Manacine Eniror

In past issues, allusions have been made to tumultuous go-
ings on here at Over The Edge. References to embezzlement
have been made when we were pushing the paper in the halls.
Seeing as how this is your paper, we figure that its time to
share as much of the details as possible.

So here goes. This semester started off with my predecessor,
the previous Managing Editor promising dramatic change in
the way the paper was written, managed and provided. He
wasn’t lying. This fine young man, who could only be de-
scribed using the most colourful of language, had the respon-
sibility, among other things, of managing the finances of OTE
(printing cots, office expenses, advertising revenue and so on).
I would like to say that my predecessor (who shall henceforth
be called Laddie) came in with the best of intentions, but once
the cheques were handed to Laddie with instructions to de-
posit it into our account, Laddie had different ideas and began

Rioting for
Democracy

to deposit them into his account. Almost a of them. By keeping
up payments to the Black Press (the firm that/prints the paper)
Laddie managed to cover his tracks. It wasn’t until Laddie was
finally asked to give a financial update that his thieving ways
began to show themselves. You see, Laddie figured he was so
sharp, so smooth and sophisticated, that he could dazzle us
with a financial update of such epic/and detailed proportions
that we would never ask again. Laddie didn’t forge this report,
he didn’t have a story written up for such an occasion, NO
NO! He made one up one the spot! He expected us fine folk to
be flabbergasted (it has been along time since I’ve had the op-
portunity to use that word) at his recall when he pulled figures
out of the air and used official sounding terms like GIC and
interest revenue and inyestment potential.

It was at this point that we began to think that something was
amiss, and we began to investigate the matter ourselves. Lad-
die had apparently been working overtime to make sure that
every dollar Over The Edge had to its name went into his per-
sonal account. By the time his actions became clear to all of

ge

us, Laddie realized the jig was up and fled the fair metropolis
of Prince George for slightly more temperate climates having
stolen in excess of twenty thousand dollars. But it wasn’t like
he was spending it on “fast cars and loose women’. It went to
charitable causes like paying his rent, buying a new computer
and paying a moving company to transplant his life here in
PG to somewhere we know not. The RCMP told us they re-
ceived a call from Laddie, who claimed he was in Kelowna,
and would turn himself in when he comes back to town. Need-
less to say, we still await his return and fully expect that he
has permanently evaded us. I have to say that my favourite
part of this story is that Laddie earned a reputation for being
very vocal and aggressively inquisitive in certain business law
classes last year. You see, Laddie wants to be a lawyer when
he grows up. Looking at what he did, I’m thinking criminal
defence attorney. Well, if he is ever apprehended, I’ve heard
that prisons in Canada have great libraries. .

ANDREW BAILEY

CONTRIBUTOR

486 people have died so far. The Law society of
Kenya (LSK) is calling for criminal charges to be
brought against the commissioners of the Electoral
Commission of Kenya (ECK) and have stripped Sam-
uel Kivuitu, the chairman of the ECK, off the list of
honoured lawyers of Kenya and are demanding he re-
turn the award immediately. Needless to say, President
Mwai Kibaki is not exactly thriving in the beginning
of his second term as president of Kenya. However,
the situation in Kenya is finally starting to take a turn
for the better, as Opposition leader Raila Odinga has
temporarily cancelled all rallies in order for he and
President Kibaki to meet peacefully in a negotiation
expected to be facilitated by Ghana’s president John
Kufuor. However, Odinga’s statement, which he re-
leased shortly after news of the meeting, is rife with
violent undertones and reads as follows: “After con-
sultations all the rallies called for tomorrow have been
put off until further notice. We want negotiations to
kick off in a peaceful environment.” Some may view
this statement as pseudo-blackmail as Odinga’s use
of the words “until further notice” imply that unless
Kibaki backs down and submits to Odinga, more vio-
lence and political riots will ensue.

However, it must be said that under President Ki-
baki’s government last term the country thrived. Edu-
cation was improved greatly as Kibaki and his govern-
ment abolished school fees at the primary level in the
tegion dispersing 6.8 million dollars into the country’s
public school system which, after an inevitable state of
confusion amongst schools who saw an increase of 1.3
million new students, has been a huge success thanks
in part to the help given by international groups such
as Unicef who supplied 2.5 million dollars to the cause

and the World Bank who granted a whopping 50 mil-
lion dollars. Thanks to President Kibaki’s government
more students are being provided with basic primary
education and more students are graduating than ever
before. The economy also strengthened largely due
to a trade agreement with China, which for obvious
reasons, pissed off the world’s foremost superpower
the United States and has caused many conspiracists to
make interesting connections to this trade agreement
and the fact that a member of President Kibak1’s rival
tribe (the Luos) had a son who is running for president
in the United States, but I’m not going to attempt to
make that connection here.

As I’ve mentioned the tribal rivalry, I should elab-
orate how it affects President Kibaki’s situation as
Kenya’s president. Mwai Kibaki is a member of the
Kikuyu tribe; it boasts 22% of the nation’s population
and is considered the biggest and most powerful tribe
in Kenya. Members of the Kikuyu tribe are largely
found in the agriculturally rich central highlands and
are seen to wield strong economic power. Raila Odinga
is a member of the Luo tribe which consists of 13%
of Kenya’s population making it the third largest tribe
behind the Luhyas who have 14%. Odingas Nairobi
constituency, Langata, includes one of Africa’s largest
slums where a predominately Luo population strongly
supports him.

Luos and Kikuyus have a tremendously troubled
political history stemming largely from the assas-
sination of rising Luo politician Tom Mboya in 1969
which the Luos widely blamed on the president at the
time, Jomo Kenyatta (a member of the Kikuyu tribe).
Now I'd love to write more but I have to get my hair
done before I head to the Cadillac tonight for “The
Jump Off’ and am running out of time so if you’re
interested in this topic you'll have to continue your
research somewhere else. Bailey out.

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