Minnesota representer at Diaspora Conference

When Minnesota was called to appear and take a picture with the two Permanent Secretaries at a Washington D.C. Conference, P.S. Mwangi Thuita of Foreign Affairs and P.S Dr. Edward Sambili of Planning National Development and Vision 2030, the gentleman in the center of the picture appeared as the only person from Minnesota attending the conference. As the picture snapped he raised the two- finger salute, leading us to wonder, was he remembering the fights for multi party? Or, was he simply giving the victory salute in reference to a successful conference? Or, was he practising his potential run for office? Maybe he had read the story of the 2 people Churchill told us had caused the Sugar problem in Kenya and wanted to see if he could be as good as Churchill and get his break.

In trying to find other reasons the two-finger salute could have emerged we tried to figure out what discussions of Minnesota would bring the use of the word “two.”

The twin cities where many residents of Minnesota State reside, is one that could trigger the two-finger sign. The Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area is known as the "Twin Cities" and both combine to form the center of transportation, business, industry and education.

The other two could of course be triggered by the statement that “The Mega Mall of America is located close to the twin cities and is where the Kenyans went to.” The Mall, opened in 1992, is said to receive about 40 million visitors annually. Maybe the Kenyans are looking to grow this number to 50 million by making 100 visits in every two weeks and thus they could not travel to the Washington Conference because of the commitment to these visits.

The two-finger salute could also have referred to the last candidate to come from Minnesota to run for President Walter Mondale who was the 42nd Vice President of the U.S from 1976- 1980 under Jimmy Carter. When Mondale was U.S. presidential candidate in 1984, he won the electoral college of Minnesota and the District of Columbia, only two areas out of 50 states of the United States plus D.C. Thus he could have been clarifying the point of 2 out of 51 to someone he was talking to before going for the picture.

Even if not available for the picture, Minnesota Kenyans are well known for their passion in politics and development and could be the only region that has hosted most conferences and discussions such as the recent hosting of Peter Kenneth, Assistant Minister for Planning and Development and Vision 2030, when he came for the East Coast tour.