Humvee Alert
Spotted this afternoon near the Nairobi arboretum: A yellow Humvee resembling the one above (possibly an H1, not an H2 or an H3... this was a real military-grade Hummer). The kicker: It had U.N. plates.
Now, that's interesting. U.N. staffers' love of expensive cars has been well and hilarously documented, but this struck me as insane. You're working for an organization at least part of whose purpose is to do a little good in the world, and you're getting paid pretty well. Potential ethical quandaries there, but fine, leave that for another day. There is, however, a real short-circuit when you're buying not even a Mercedes, not even a big old Toyota Landcruiser, but a full-blown Hummer, and it's banana yellow. I've got nothing against yellow Hummers per se, but a U.N. staffer with a yellow Hummer seems, I don't know, a little in your face.
Oh, to have gotten a picture. To have gotten a picture! How about it: Does anyone out there know the U.N. employee who had the cojones big enough to buy, import and drive a banana-yellow, military-styel Humvee in Nairobi? It's as if the fellow pinched it from a nearby peacekeeping mission, slapped on a new coat of paint (Yellow! No one will recognize it) and went down to the DMV to get his new registration.
This news report from 2007 suggests that there were 4 Hummers in Kenya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzDtI7cXOw0
The red one is owned by Raila Odinga. In mid-2007, we have a mention of the total increasing to 5 with the arrival of Dennis Oliech's: http://nakeel.blogspot.com/2007/03/me-too-i-own-hummer.html
The way the arrival of Raila's Hummer was covered by the media, you'd have to be an idiot to buy one in Kenya and not expect a ruckus. Does the UN want a ruckus, or do they have an idiot in control of the money?
Posted by: Brandon | October 24, 2008 at 11:13 PM
But the thing about those Hummers is that they're the vaguely rinky-dink, incredibly silly diluted civilian models. Tons of those in Nairobi these days. This was a real, military-spec Humvee! And again, it was yellow. Scary.
Posted by: Nick | October 24, 2008 at 11:20 PM
Glad you picked up on this Mr. Nick. I have not seen this yellow guzzly but have seen a red one with matching red plates:
http://sukumakenya.blogspot.com/2008/06/it-hummer-time.html
Got lots more photos that will be uploading as well and anyone who spots one, please do upload on this open group: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sukumakenya/2595758736/
Perhaps one day these Savedaworlders might just get the message...
Posted by: Dipesh Pabari | October 25, 2008 at 10:55 AM
You don't like the colour? You think I should change it?
Posted by: William Deed | October 25, 2008 at 11:32 AM
a yellow H1? now, that's just too blatant. I'm still reading the UN corruption report on Gigiri procurement and it strikes me that some people there don't care about being embarassed or being caught.
Posted by: bankelele | October 28, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Hahaha.
Oh god, that's awful.
To laugh or to cry?
Posted by: Rachel | October 28, 2008 at 06:00 PM