HOW I REMEMBER WAMBUI OTIENO-MBUGUA

1987,I was just eight years old in class 3 and i was fascinated by Wambui Otieno.

Her face was all over the newspapers,as she fought the Umira Kager clan who didnt want her burying her husband at their Ngong  home.The clan wanted him buried in Nyamila village,Nyalgunga in Siaya District.

I pored over the blow by blow accounts of the court proceedings that were printed out in the Daily Nation every day.

I could read pretty well for my age by then and I could not wait for my dad to bring home the paper so that I could see what would happen next.

Two things stuck out during that time,that Wambui was a woman fighting men who didn't want her to bury her husband the way she wanted.

I will never forget picking out the words Umira Kager clan ,this  band of men that were hounding the poor widow because of traditions.

Feisty woman that she was Wambui fought the clan but the clan won and her husband was buried in his ancestral home.

Years later when Kenya had almost forgotten this woman who apart from being well educated ,came from a wealthy family and was reputed to have been a Mau Mau fighter,she hit the headlines again in 2003.

She was marrying a man 39 years younger than her.

Picture from mwakilishi.com

Kenyan society was scandalized but Wambui never faltered ,she was in love with Sam Mbugua.
I was enthralled with this feisty woman.

Now sad to say she has gone to rest after being unwell for sometime.

Let us not forget the courage with which she faced all her battles her gender not withstanding.

Let us remember Wambui the woman who was willing to confront tradition that said a woman should never challenge men in African society.

Let us remember Wambui the warrior who fought in the trenches with the men in the Mau Mau war.

Let us not forget that the rights we enjoy today as women were partly as a result of the battles and wars women like Wambui and others fought.

Let us remember and not forget that we owe Wambui and other fallen heroines of this country to fight for our daughters,grand daughters that they may enjoy freedom,rights and opportunities to live in a free and democratic country regardless of what tradition says.

Women like Wambui lit candle of women rights  when it was unfashionable to be so outspoken .

And now that she is gone,she has passed on the baton to the women left behind,let us keep the flame burning.......

Fare thee well Wambui Otieno- Mbugua.

Read about her court battle here and her marriage to Sammy Mbugua here.

VISION 2030 IS IN THE HANDS OF OUR CHILDREN,IN THE CLASSROOMS

Vision 2030 so far has been the property of all manner of stake holders,political pundits,skeptics,government officials,the Executive but not the Kenyan youth in schools who are the ones who are set to benefit the most from this vision as well as turn it into reality.

As a country are supposed to have achieved all the Millennium Development goals by 2015 before we can talk about 2030,these goals include,eliminating extreme hunger and poverty,achieved universal primary education for all,reduction in child mortality,improved maternal health,achieved environmental sustainability,achieved better partnerships with international development agencies and reduced incidences of HIV/AIDS and other major diseases.

Now those look easy compared to the ones vision 2030 aspires to,right?

We are yet to eliminate hunger,seeing that we had a major funds drive Kenyans4Kenya to feed fellow Kenyans that was mostly driven by the Kenyan public and the private sector.Every now and then most of us have read about one woman or several who have lost their lives during child birth,NEMA(National Environmental Management Authority) busy haranguing public service vehicles to provide wastebaskets while real estate developers are busy satisfying Kenyans appetite for living in suburbia by constructing gated communities in areas previously classified as wetlands.

A lot of the time many of the things that are important like asking ourselves how we will achieve vison 2030 when the MDG goals have proved elusive are not discussed.

The vision 2030 is based on three pillars,economic,social and political;an economic growth of 10% over the remaining 18 years,in a just and cohesive society enjoying equitable social development in a clean and secure environment and ensuring our politics is issue based,people centred,result oriented,accountable and democratic.

Young Kenyans today aged about 12 years will be 30 years of age by the time this vision is achieved,which only makes sense that they should be made aware of what this country hopes to be by the time they are adults.This will help them bring the dreams of their fathers and grand fathers(the drafters of vison 2030) into fruition.

A country's future is vested in its children and if we aren't asking our young ones to be  part of this vision or even involving them into the walk towards a better Kenya, i am sorry to say we aren't going anywhere.

We need to hear Vision 2030 being preached to young Kenyans in our high schools and our universities.
These  young people need to start being made part of the development of this country.Otherwise all we are going to see is them having dreams of immigrating to other countries because theirs (Kenya ) is in shambles.

Apart form those of us who have been privileged to get a look at the document,or maybe attended the workshops or think tanks that have been organized on this dream of a middle income economy of the future,how many school heads know what Vision 2030  is all about?

Has these grand march to "freedom" been made part of the school curriculum?have changes been made to the education sector to factor in the fact that in 18 years the world will be a lot more  different from what it is today?

We just need to remember the destruction that was wrecked by young people in London to see what idle energy and no sense of purpose and belonging can do.

And back home,if we remember the crowd that was at Uhuru park for the Kenyans4 Kenya concert,it was made up mostly of young people.

What better example or evidence for hope can there be than this?young Kenyans are changing our country left,right,centre,Generation Y  is the answer to how fast or slow vision 2030 will see the light of day.

We need to hear it being taught in our classrooms from Mbale in the western part of the country  to Balich village in Garissa.Young people need to hear about  the visions of a better  Kenya so that the they grow up knowing exactly what is the dreams of their fathers were.Only in this way will we be able to get rid of the demons of tribalism,nepotism and corruption that stalk our daily lives.

VISION 2030 AND DANCING ANGELS ON PIN HEADS

How many angels can dance on a pin head......?

Can you see angels?

Can it be proved they exist ?

The question of how many of these "beings" can dance on a pin head originated in medieval times and was often times used as a metaphor for debates that usually ended up nowhere or had no clear answers.

And that to me is how the debate on who the most popular presidential candidate is to me.

Already it seems we have almost if not more than 20 presidential candidates all seemingly offering miracle cures of the Loliondo kind for what ails this country.

Am beginning to ask myself whether we aren't being hoodwinked with the popularity contests instead of focusing on the key issues.

Like my pet subject, Vision 2030.

A lot of the time the politicking going on about issues is done devoid of the grand plan for Kenya that was funded by tax payers money.

Politicians and Kenyans too ,forget that what oils the cogs of government is tax payers money,hell even the coffee and sandwiches members enjoyed when they sat till 12.00 am to pass the pending bills was funded by tax payers.

So why aren't we asking what these presidential wannabe's are going to do for our beautiful country.

Why are we wasting time discussing polls,tribal alliances and whom we are going to fix next.

Because we are so caught up in non issues we have lost focus of the three key pillars(economic,social and political)that Vision 2030 rests on.

Take the economy for example which at the moment we cant do much about...However, we can be vigilante and show collective displeasure for kleptomaniacs who are hell bent on leaving treasury dry with  their pilfering.

We can be responsible citizens by asking for more transparency in the way CDF(constituency development funds) monies are spent,in the way the CDF boards are constituted,such that an MP does not use it to reward cronies.

On the social  front ,do all Kenyans feel safe and secure ,of course not! and this is largely due to the social inequalities that exist and also the high rate of unemployment among the youth.

This has resulted in them being the perpetrators of social crimes like theft,burglary,hijackings and all manner of social evils.

But something can be done here,like government  creating an enabling environment  for the private sector to run business that can soak up the large numbers of unemployed youth.Removing most of the bottle necks and bureaucracy when it comes to investors setting up business here would be a great boost to the economy.Rwanda has already made quantum leaps in this direction and is now number one  among the East African countries when it comes to attracting investments,it takes only a day to register a business there.

And what about our politics.....

We need to strengthen our parties,too bad that the  amendment by a section of parliamentarians to have party hopping safeguarded even a few days in the lead up to the general elections will do nothing but slow down reform in the political front.

Party hopping a quintessential Kenyan habit especially when it comes to politicians will be with us till another generation sees what lack of national values and political ideology can do.

In part Vision 2030 foresees this on the matter of politics as a pillar towards vision 2030 "...Kenyans shall formulate and adopt a set of national values,goals and a political ideology supportive of Vision 2030.Among the key guiding principles for this third pillar of the grand march to a middle income economy are :constitutional supremacy,sovereignty of the people,equality of the citizens,national values goals and ideology,visible political party system,public participation in governance,separation of powers and decentralisation.

All of the above make sense and if implemented would see us achieve political maturity as a country sooner than later. But after the recent happenings in parliament left me  wondering if we weren't getting ourselves into  a fix by going against the very same plan against which our Vision 2030 is going to be propped on.

Pray,how does allowing party hopping and whimsical change of parties days to general elections strengthen or even promote ideology?

Guess this Vision will need another generation before it sees the light of day and that is why i posited in an earlier post that this change we need will have to start in our schools,among young Kenyans or else we will be discussing ethereal beings and their ability to dance or lack thereof on pin heads for a long long time.

GENDER ISSUES,ELECTIVE POSTS AND THE NEED FOR THE CONSTITUTION TO STAY AS IT IS

I am watching the unfolding debate on women representation with a lot of fore boding because i think the  Cabinet  resolution to amend the constitution clause  hat representation in any one office by any gender should not exceed 2/3 will pass through.And it is going to pass through because men are a majority in parliament.

Despite having the highest ever number of women representation since independence in 1964,we have just 8% of parliamentarians being women,we still rank among the countries in the world with the lowest female representation in parliament

Rwanda which has held just two elections since 1994,they have managed to have 56.25 of their lawmakers being women.Their speaker is also female!

How did they do it?

Rwanda it seems under the keen eye of Paul Kagame made a deliberate effort to make more women representation a reality,and this in a country where women are 55% of the 11 million total population.A UNIFEM report on how this was achieved is available here.And much of it lays the success of this on the implementation of the quota system which in our haste we do not want to give a chance.
Our politicians need not chalk up air miles or split hairs on the issue,Rwanda is an example of how this is easily achieved and it starts with the President.

Paul Kagame whatever you may think of him has led the way in making sure the voice of women is heard and that it is heard loud and clear.Women representation in Rwanda is the highest in any legislature anywhere in the world.

Instead of chalking up air miles going to far off countries to see how successful parliaments are run, an overnight bus to Rwanda for our MP's would do.Let us go learn something about empowering our women politically from our neighbours in the land of a thousand hills

We need to hear the partners ,the President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga leading the cause for more female representation.It is not an impossibility , we have seen the shattering of the glass ceiling in the corporate sector,where  successful corporates are being headed by women.We can have the same in the political arena if only there is good will to honour what the constitution protects.

The battle though may sometimes seem to be a societal one  e rather than a political .Kenyan women despite the fact that we form half the voting bloc rarely if ever vote for a woman no matter how qualified she may be.They would rather rally behind a man.

We need to confront the prejudices,stereotypes and myths we may have about being led by women and this i guess needs to start from our homes.In a country that is still fighting female genital mutilation,rape and domestic violence the task ahead is huge but it should not daunt us.

If Rwanda could achieve this task that to us seems  insurmountable ,aren't we taking the easy way out?

Such a bold move as was envisaged in the constitution   rattled Kenya's patriarchal  society ,but this should in no way cow the Kenyan women into giving up.The writers of the constitution which has been hailed as one of the most progressive meant to right a historical wrong.

By amending the clause it will take us back to the dark ages.

We as a society should be bold enough to stand up with our grandmothers, mothers,sisters and daughters and fight for the ideals Constitution envisages.

We need change,change in the way we view governance,politics,our core values as a country and women representation was the first step into laying the groundwork for more participatory politics by Kenyans from all walks of life.

Let us not give up dear Kenyan women , men we are asking for your support too.More women representation can bring nothing but good to the country.And  i am asking women activists,civil society bodies not to alienate  the men as they seek for more support to ensure that the right that was granted in the constitution which we overwhelmingly voted for is not taken away.

We all remember what happened in 2008 after our disputed elelections and the lives that were lost,the blood that was shed,electing more women can be nothing but good news for a society like ours which hides its ethnic disguises under a thin veil of complaceny till the next election.

Lets keep talking,let us not give up.

DISCOVERING CARL SAGAN:WHY EVERY (SCIENCE) TEACHER NEEDS TO READ THIS GREAT MAN

Carl Sagan was a man famous for many things and especially for de- mystifyng science for ordinary Americans,sadly he died 15 years ago and today as i read his book The Demon Haunted World I wish I had met him but more  than that ,that science teachers in Kenya would get the book and read it cover to cover as i did.Sagan sets out to portray Science in an easy to know way without sounding pompous and his reverence for the universe (he was a Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences)jumps at you with every word in this book and with each turn of the page.

Written largely for an American audience it does have much to offer for Kenyan audiences too because much of what he discusses we can relate too,from aliens  ,to pseudo-science to miracles and even  hallucinations.He urges his fellow scientists to "communicate the substance and approach  of science in newspapers,magazines,on radio and television,in lectures for the general  public,and in elementary,middle,and high school text books."

As i was reading the book, which is a must have in my opinion for the curious ,i was reminded of two things ,no its four  things that have hit our local headlines and that would be made clearer if Kenyan scientists took time to explain things to the general public.One of them is the afforestation programmes going on in the Mau Forest  and other water catchment areas,the increasing Kenyan population,the proposal to start nuclear power generation and the GMO debate.

Much of the debates that have occurred in the public sector have been based on superstition,ignorance and myths.Take the example of GMO that is sensitive very sensitive here because it deals with a national delicacy ugali(stiff mixture of corn meal taken with vegetables/meat stew).Even scientists who should know better discouraged it on the basis that it was an untested technology and that we were being used as guinea pigs by companies.We forget that maize seed has seen changes made to its genetic make-up to yield more and withstand disease.

Or the Mau Forest where a certain MP whom i would not name was telling his constituents not to move from the areas of the forest they had encroached because there was no way trees could attract rainfall.Yet if you drive along the Nairobi Kericho ,you get a clear view of the heavy grey clouds always hovering over the trees.Ready to pour down ,nourish the trees and provide water for the people down stream and feed the many rivers,lakes that rely on this water catchment.

All of these areas i have highlighted would benefit from a demystification approach without scientists being too patronizing to the listening public.We would all benefit from knowing exactly what it is we are dealing with and the after effects of whatever cause of action we take.Then science would cease being a reserve for the "nerds" but would become the marvel that it is.

In primary school i remember my fascination with the human body and with space,i would read over and over again about leukocytes(white blood cells) and (erythrocytes (red blood cells)blood plasma,how the heart and kidneys worked .My dad and i would even spend some nights outside star gazing,it was wonderful and thrilling !But in high school everything changed,i could never get my head around physics and chemistry was a struggle yet i remained fascinated with biology and would pore over my textbooks and notes especially when it came to the topic on genetics.Somehow my curiosity waned and i never understood why.

Probably it was the way it was taught or i was too afraid of asking dumb questions,something Sagan says he saw in high school kids too, the fear to ask and dumb .He said that his most enthusiastic audiences were elementary school kids who never got tired  of asking questions and Sagan talks about "provocative and insightful questions bubbling out of them.".But he reports his disappointment with high school students ,who had  learnt to "memorize facts" and the "joy of discovery had gone out of them."

Could we as a country learn something from the mind of this great man who never lost his wonder and curiosity about science?With a vision towards seeing Kenya being an  industrialized country by the year 20303,is there more we could add to the present curriculum to motivate students to take up more science subjects.We need to have more students taking up these courses in our universities and we need to have more Kenyan Professors who are passing on this love of science to the next generation.How many of them go to high schools to pass on this  wonder for the natural world to students,most forays in career fairs are by accountants or even lawyers but rarely do scientists venture out from their laboratories.Who knows the next cure for cancer,AIDS could come from among these young ones.With climate change slowing affecting seasons we need more studies done on the effects this will have on our environment,land use and disease and science will have the answer to that.

Hopefully the recent back and forth that has been going on among stake holders in the educational system as to the review of the 8-4-4 system of education and the way this knowledge is passed on to students will be reviewed so that we do not cede the natural curiosity and need to know we had as children.This innate "need to know" and "stretching of our minds" is something we as a humans have and must use in order to survive in a world that is changing pretty fast.

I will end this with a beautiful article by Carl Sagan's wife published  in the Skeptical Inquirer in his memory....

WHEN GROWTH ISN'T A GOOD THING:Real Estate and Population Growth

Kenyans in our quest to be home owners  have thrown all caution to the wind and we are now selling our farms to fulfill  dreams of being multi billionaires.The real estate industry in Kenya has spawned off a list of noveau riche  Kenyans who are living large courtesy of the land deals they have been able to broker.If you doubt me just take a look at the number of real estate agents in Kenya's growing towns from Nairobi to Kisumu all the way to the coast,land is changing hands and is appreciating in value like no other time in our country's history.

We can partly lay the cause for the rise in land prices on the growing and better infrastructure in most  parts of the country and also the  burgeoning middle class that is seeking to be home owners.Banks have quickly cashed in on this  and most are offering mortgages and home development loans to their customers.The cement industry in the country is also growning and testament to this was when the President opened up  Simba cement factory in June of this year.The company joins the list of cement factories that have been seeing a growth in the building industry and are recording healthy bottom lines.

While lauding all these commercial activities that can be nothing but music to the ears of economists we must be cognisant of the fact that the boom will not last forever and there are ripple effects not at all positive for other areas of the economy like the farming  industry and the environment .Take the case of the four junctions development project whose owners sold off 200 acres of land that was previously a coffee farm to developers who are putting up plush and luxury apartments for sale.Much of the land under construction around the Thika road super highway and the Northern bypass that will link Nairobi to Thika passes through land that previously had coffee trees ,one of Kenya's top foreign exchange earners.

In Nakuru and parts of Njoro the real estate bug has hit the residents of these growing town and real estate agens have sprung up everywhere selling land for development.The same can be said for other major towns in the country now growing rapidly. The growth curve  is projected to show a steady ascent as now governance has been devolutionized to the counties.With the battle for investment that is expected to set in among the counties, it is time we weighed the benefits of providing housing versus that of feeding a growing populace before the madness sets in.

Growing population
Just recently our MP's were in Mombasa to discuss the runaway population growth we are now seeing as the last census of 2010 showed we are growing at the rate of a million annually.With not much focus being put on expanding public facilities like hospitals or even schools to accommodate this  growth i wonder how we will be able to feed and house 70 million Kenyans in 30 years time,seeing that our population right now is at 40 million.Maybe we will have to demolish structures to give way to farmland or lease out land from other countries to feed ourselves.


When the Mp;s held the meeting in Mombasa opinions were split as usual and an interesting article on what was discussed can be read here .However the opinions expressed were not surprising because they were representative of the view Kenyans have on the sensitive issue of population growth.The opinions though were a good indicator that we still have a long way to go in shedding our ignorance on issues affecting us.
In my opinion politicians are the wrong people to be discussing population growth because they are most likely to rely on everything except scientific data and cold hard facts.If we look at the way land has always been and continues to be an emotive issue,marry that with our ethnic bigotries and vested interests in the political circle you have disaster in the making.The reason for this is because decisions made politically will always be skewed towards selfish interests and not national interests.

We need to hear more about the effects of our growing population and appetite to be home owners from our scientists.The National Environmental Management Body (NEMA)should be focusing more on what our commercial and industrial activities are doing to the environment and what this will translate to in the future.Giving too much attention to the wars over whether waste baskets should be availed in public service vehicles and over the noise made by establishments like bars,churches,mosques though relevant is banal in the long term.Where are the great minds that have passed through the corridors of our universities,with great and fresh ideas on how we can manage the resources we have?

An asinine excuse for not discussing population growth is the excuse that our traditions prohibit us from doing so,but ask that in 20 years time and we will be reeling form the effects of the excess growth that was not reigned in in time.Much of the effects of this unchecked growth can be seen in our slums where competition for scarce resources in our cities and towns has seen unemployed youth turning to crime .

Looking for Solutions....
Maybe it is time the government gave farmers incentives to make them hold onto their farms instead of selling them off for quick money.Despite the back breaking work they do,farmers remain some of our most underrated public servants because feeding Kenyans to me is a form of public service.Too often you hear them complaining about price or lack  of farm inputs,lack of transport or poor infrastructure that would allow them  to take their produce to the market.These are things the government can provide solutions to if not ease the inconveniences involved .

Educating our citizens on the benefits of controlling population would go a long way towards demystifying the problems our country is now facing from the land battles that form a major part of the cases in our judiciary,to stemming the rising crime levels in our towns.All these because people are fighting for resources that are not there or aren't enough to go round.

Our solutions are in our hands and in our heads if we put our collective effort together and there is no better example of this in the recent days than in the Kenya for Kenyans initiative that has raised more than half a billion shillings.This has set off a positive vibe of activism that is now seeing Kenyans discussing long term solutions that will see that this national embarassment never happens again.

We need to discuss what the effects of our economic activities will mean for future generations of Kenyans,we need to stop being the ostrich that buries its head in the sand hoping that our problems will magically find solutions

KENYANS FOR KENYA:Why it needs to be long term.

No Kid Hungry is a  campaign that aims at ensuring no child in America goes without food,the national spokesperson and founder for End hunger network   is actor Jeff Bridges.On their website they ask people to donate at least a dollar that will go towards seeing a child receive up to 10 healthy meals.Already over 53,000 peole have signed up for the campaign and it is definitely set to attract more people.

In Kenya we have had the KenyansforKenya initiative started by the private sector, that has seen over 600,000 peole in a country of over 40 million donate in cash and kind to the appeal that was began to feed hungry Kenyans in northern Kenya.When the campaign started i tweeted that i hoped this would not be a short term strategy but that the initiators of this fund drive would find a way to make it long term.The same calls for long term solutions to hunger issues were raised when the private sector held a fund raising at one of the upmarket hotels in the capital city Nairobi last week.The intiative almost hit its halfa billion shillingtarget and you can read more about the drive here.

Now in an earlier article on the current food crisis  i detailed how i made a trip round the rift valley and saw acres and acres of farmland under maize crop .How i drove by little towns ,where market women and men sat by mounds of vegetables and cobs of green maize and potatoes waiting for buyers.Yet we were busy importing maize from outside the country to stem the deficit that is the cause of the hike in food prices especially of maize.Many people reading this who are not familiar with the Kenyan diet will wonder at our obsession with maize or corn as it is called in certain parts of the world.But maize meal is to Kenyans what pasta is to the Italians,so you can imagine the kind of crisis precipitated when  the precious commodity runs out.

While appreciating the good work and generosity Kenyans and friends of Kenya have shown in supporting the campaign i hope there are long term measures by both the public and private sector to see that we have an initiative along the lines of No kid Hungry.This will ensure that no Kenyan child will sleep hungry or miss school because they lacked a nourishing and  satisfying meal at the end of the day.

School feeding program is already in place in some parts of the country where children attending school at least get some food when they are in session.These programmes are funded by both government and international donors.

If such programs like these can be expanded such that the most vulnerable members of our society and especially children are guaranteed a meal or even three meals every day it would go along way towards ensuring that the countrys' future citizens are given a chance to  grow and thrive.

When all is said and done each of us owes it to future generations,whether we have children or not to ensure that we leave this country a better place than we found it.This includes making sure another generation of Kenyans do not grow up knowing the ravages and pangs of drought and hunger.Over to you Kenyans for Kenya team...... hope this is the beginning of a hunger free country.

WHY IT IS VERY DANGEROUS TO BE EATING GRASS IN KENYA TODAY

In Kenya today it is very dangerous to be caught  eating grass because many people will assume a wizard has worked his magic on you because you stole your neighbours chicken,bag of maize or goat.Worse you could have milked your neighbours cow at night  to assuage the pangs of hunger your children may have been feeling and supernatural powers picked you out as the culprit.

What is more likely to happen if you are seen by your fellow citizens eating grass is that they will either rain kicks and blows on you mercillessly.Pray to God  that the police are nearby and rescue you before you are quicly dispatched to the pearly gates of heaven or the rusty gates of hell.In Kenya today to be caught eating grass is a cardinal sin that points to the fact that someone cast a spell on you for helping yourself to things that did not belong to you.

After seeing the number of people who have been turned into grass eating men(why are there no women) i have come to the conclusion that we do not need the endless number of law enforcement bodies or even police officers on our payroll.We need to employ more wizards.
Can you imagine the number of people who would be caught outside their offices chewing on the monocotyledonous green plant of the gramineae family?maybe this would be the easiest way to catch the men and women who have been fiddling with the funds meant for free primary education.It would even save the head of the Kenya anti corruption body a lot of heartache and talk because he has to wait for the kleptomaniacs to surrender their ill gotten wealth and offer them amnesty.And we all know this is going to end up being an exercise in futility or so i think,Kenyans who get caught with their hands in the cookie jar are more fond of claiming that they would rather die as they gorge themselves on the cookies and are never afraid of getting caught .

We would be provide much needed job opportunities in a stagnating economy that is all but tanking with the rise in fuel and food prices because we would be using the services of wizards who would be otherwise occupied advertising their services in the backstreets of major towns.Their clients also operate like they are  in a cloak and dagger movie because none will ever admit they have sought supernatural powers to heal broken marriages,get financial success or increase political clout or catch a wayward spouse.Engaging the services of these men and women would mean that their services are recognized and the government could proceed to tax them and we would not have to turn ourselves into beggars of donor funding.


It may also be a good idea to engage them in the services of tracking who has stolen bags of relief food  and where they have been transported to and turning the said cereals into pebbles as they leave the warehouses .This would ensure that no one ever attempts to steal food meant for starving Kenyans.


It is my honest opinion that we have  left some stones unturned in our pursuit of the thieves who help themselves to public funds and wizards are the last piece in the puzzle of public fund embezzlement.After all the more developed countries employ the services of psychics in solving murder and kidnap cases.It is time we put the services of these gifted men and women to better use,instead of chasing after wayward spouses and vanquishing enemies let us use them in solving the biggest curse to befall this country-corruption.

JANE EYRE ON WOMEN: 19th Century lesson for Kenyan women

"Women are supposed to be very calm generally:but women feel just as men feel;they need to exercise for their faculties,and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do;they suffer from too rigid a constraint ,too absolute a stagnation,precisely as men would suffer;and it is narrow minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings,to play the piano and embroider bags.It is thoughtless to condemn them ,or laugh at them ,if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex"-Autobiography of Jane Eyre  (pg 106)Bronte .C




Charlotte Bronte's famous book Jane Eyre was published in 1847 when just at 31 she published this great literary work that sought to emancipate women in the 19th century and show them there was life beyond the confines of a kitchen and the hum drum of home life.More than 160 years later much of Africa is now waking up to the fact that a woman can be more than a  A woman's contribution to society can go further than the kitchen and this need to be relevant and lead a meaningful human existence is a basic human being that goes beyond gender description.More than one and a half century later she could be talking to the 40 million Kenyans who next year elect more women to parliament and the newly created senate than we have ever seen in the 50 years we have been an independent country.

When the new constitution was enacted it was said women would be guaranteed 1/3 of all elective posts,a lot of argument for and against this clause in the constitution has ensued.Fida Kenya even took the government to court over the constitution of the Supreme Court and we are yet to hear the last of the matter.

A lot of argument has been put forward by women over why they are entitled to these posts but we need to ask ourselves how many women especially outside the urban centres of Kenya even have the means to launch a respectable campaign for elective posts.Women in the country who for the longest time have always taken a back seat in leadership matters now have a chance to shine by electing fellow women to elective posts yet the biggest hindrance to these posts lies in the women themselves..

Kenyan women shine when it comes to  entrepreneurship and things like chamas( financial merry go rounds) have been so successful that women have been able to garner enough financial clout as to gain recognition by banks such that there have been accounts especially tailored to suit chamas and women.The government also noticed this and launched the women's fund that was meant to support women groups and make them more financially independent.

Now as we settle into a new constitutional dispensation women have to come to the fore front and show their mettle as leaders.Already the men are crying foul that the women folk are being handed posts on a silver platter whereas they (men) have had to work hard to get elected.It is germane to point out the fact that we are just getting out of a very patriarchal society and probably the drafters of the constitution wanted to correct the skewed representation in parliament that was always in favor of the men.Maybe the transition to a more gender balanced parliament and senate would have been achieved more gradually by first tackling the impediments that block women from getting elected and by encouraging them to join political parties but it is what it is and we have to work with what the law laid out.

Kenyan women need to prove themselves worthy of the posts they have been guaranteed by the law,they need to join political parties that support causes or ideals that are close to their hearts.It is a fact that most Kenyans (not only women) do not belong to any political parties.We cannot expect to be elected  when we have  taken no initiative to popularize our ideals to the electorate whom we hope to elect us.If people do not know what you stand for what chance do you have of being elected?Women need to show they want the posts so bad the men will stop ,listen and vote for them.

Kenyan women have shown themselves to be among the smartest people we have around and you just have to take a look at the annual pull out of  Business daily's Top 40 under 40 to understand that we are not short of some real gems in our women folk.Why then are most of them shying away from elective posts and seeking to go the route of formal employment or business and more are not choosing public service/Maybe it is because for too long the political waters have been muddied by the men and these posts have been left to the women of steel like Martha Karua with enough back bone to stand up to the men.Yet there are many more Martha Karua's and Jane Eyre's who everyday fight of societal prejudices and male chauvinism to rise above these constraints,it is time we joined these foot soldiers who have paved the way for us and further this great cause for the sake of the next generation of women.

Last year i had written a post asking Kenyan women to stand up and be counted here.My clarion call that was directed towards my sisters was  because the  next generation of Kenyan women who are still in school or in diapers are looking up to us,we owe it to them to be able to fight off the prejudices our mothers and grand mothers carried with them,that women cannot lead, that their place is in the kitchen and that they should be seen and not heard.It is time we proved the drafters of the constitution right,that in granting the privileges they did by reserving special seats for women it was not because of poor judgement but because they had seen and recognized the vital role women have played in the country so far and the immense potential they hold.

Over to you women...it is time you stood up for yourselves,be brave and face the crowds of naysayers who say women cannot rule.

THE POLITICS OF FOOD ....

The world as we know it today is full of many contradictions  and none more so than in the distribution and availability of food.While people in the developed countries watch news items of starving children from Eastern Africa struggling to suckle at the breasts of their malnourished mothers,they are also some of the biggest wasters of food.It was reported in a UN study that you can read about here that an astonishing 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted every year,much of it in North America and Europe.If i may quote the study it stated that  the "estimated  per capita food waste by consumers in Europe and North-America is 95-115 kg/year, while this figure in Sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia is only 6-11 kg/year. "


It should be noted that most of these countries run relatively democratic governments while Africa and much of Asia is still struggling with this "D" word.This has led me to the  conclusion  that being a democratic,developed country is hinged very much on the country's ability to feed itself.Right now much of the horn of  Africa is facing a food crisis,the worst in years. Africa is awash with foreign aid agencies who have come to our rescue because we have been unable to feed our people.If you look at the countries that are recipients of much of this food aid,their political and governance histories are always very colorful.A hungry man has no time to think about politics ,he would rather worry about where his next meal will come from because much of the population in these countries lives from hand to mouth.It is also why voters in most of the constituencies in these countries are easily swayed by the sight of a few dollars  that they can buy food with and that will assuage the pangs  of hunger they have suffered for days.

People in the West marvel at the kind of leaders we elect sometimes,yet they forget that they so readily give us food aid with conditions attached or as reward for good behaviour(meaning we kowtowed to what they demanded of us).As long as countries are still receiving food aid they will not know democracy and good governance.So long as people are electing leaders based on their oratory skills and popularity  and not leadership and integrity then we will be seeing the pictures of starving children in Northern Kenya till kingdom come.It is also true that as long as food aid is given not out of a sense of altruism but as a reward for "good behaviour" or as a way for donor countries to have their way in the recipient countries then Africa will not know what it is like to be free to feed and rule itself.

If i had a magic wand i would pass it over the countries that have for years been the recipients of food aid in  the arid and semi arid areas of the Eastern part of Africa.I would make the deserts of Northern Kenya, lush and green with food crops,flowing with life giving water from streams and rivers so that the women and men of this part of the world  do not have to trek for miles in search of food or water .Their cows would be plump with health,their coats glowing with nourishment and their udders full of milk so that we do not have to see the picture of another starving child.Then they would know the joy of electing a man  or woman who will not give them fish for a day but will show them how to fish too so that they never know what hunger pangs  or food aid is...ever again.


However magic only happens in fairy tales and not in real life and so i am hoping that common sense prevails and that in the coming elections people vote with their heads and not their stomachs or emotions.We need to elect leaders who are able to think outside of the confines of the "box".People who would love to see Kenyans free of the shackles of foreign aid which have made us puppets in the hands of donors.Food aid never allowed anyone to think beyond their stomachs........

AND THEN GOD CREATED FARMERS.......

After God and mothers,farmers have to be the most important people on this planet, without whom we would not be alive today.Am sure all the politicians,philosophers,religious leaders,musicians and plastic surgeons must be  disappointed to think that we cannot live without them but it is true.Farmers provide the food ( fuel) that we use to run our frail human bodies and without which like all living things we would die

Agriculture has played a very important role in the development of human civilization as we know it today when man was able to domesticate plants and animals..This is especially so when you think about the Agrarian revolution that was responsible for much of the human settlements that have contibuted today to civilization.The US,Canada,France,Australia and Spain rank among the countries that export the most agricultural produce in the world,a map  showing  the top 10 countries  can be found here.These countries are also among the most developed which goes to show feeding yourself as a country and developemtn goes hand in hand.

Human beings can survive without mobile phones,ipods and ipads,cars,clothes and beer but no one can do without food and we owe the lives we have to the tenacity of farmers and their belief that feeding the human race is a noble thing to do.That is why farmers the world over are renowned for being early risers before the crack of dawn to ensure that the billions who populate the earth are fed.

As Eastern Africa faces the worst drought and famine in decades,we have put out our begging bowls and we are waiting for the west to come and fill them up with food to feed our starving children yet we have done little to improve the conditions of our farmers or make their work easier.Farmers are the last people government would think of consulting when they ordered for the GMO maize to stem the deficit that has seen the price of a 2kg packet of maize flour triple in the last 12 months.Being a Kenyan and having lived in a farming community for a while i have seen the grunt work that goes towards making sure that the  you get the packet of milk that makes part of your morning tea ,it takes a lot of work and dedication,visits from the veterinarian officer,and a lot of money sunk into a project which lives on faith and hope.Farmers are never guaranteed that the hard work they put in will be rewarded,the rains may fail,livestock may get sick or the price of seeds and fertilizer may sky rocket.


Last year when we saw a bumper harvest especially in the Rift Valley region that is considered  Kenya's grain basket,the government must have been asleep because a lot of maize went to waste as farmers had their granaries full and there was no storage place for the surplus.Seeing that we have never put up any grain storage facilities since independence yet we are growing at the rate of one million every year the national silos were full and there is never any place we can store surplus.Fast forward 12 months later and we are in a  crisis ,the country has no maize reserves and we have to look for the precious grain elsewhere.Our fondness for ugali (a dough like mixture of water and maize meal/cornflour) can only be rivalled by our love for tea and it is disconcerting that many Kenyan household have been forced to forgo this delicacy and have to resort to alternatives that are easier on the pocket but certainly not as filling.

As much as our country seeks to be a middle income economy by the year 2030 and continues to shout from the rooftops that it is ready for investment ,can it feed itself?Farming has always been shunned because it does not carry the prestige of a blue collar or white collar job that entails sittng in an office  and drinking copious amounts of coffee and samosas without any thought as to how they landed on your desk.Our farmers are the most important resource we have.We cannot boast of being a regional super power when our farmers cannot afford a bag of fertilizer that goes for kshs 1500($20).

What is even more saddening is that government seems to be blind to the encroachment of fertile agricultural land that is being turned into real estate.I had written an article about that here and the country  also lacks  policies that could govern land use and ensure that we safeguard agricultural land.It seems we are more concerned with living in palatial homes complete with Italian marble rather than in feeding our children.

How many Kenyans know that April 17th is International Farmers day,we know of a Father's day,Mothers day heck we even celebrate Halloween but you will not catch a Kenyan celebrating farmers day,hell would soon freeze over before we do that.We need to start appreciating these men and women and even children who put the food we enjoy at our dinner tables.The government needs to make life easier for the Kenyan farmer.There are some insurance companies like APA that are providing farmers with insurance cover but more needs to be done.We need to ensure our farmers are able to transport their produce to the markets by having better roads and improving our rail transport.We need to invest time and money in ensuring that our farmers get access to information that will see them employ  the best farming practices to ensure they get good yields from their crops and livestock.

I am yet to hear any of the presidential candidates talk about how they are going to tackle the perennial grain shortage in the country,how they will improve the condition of the Kenyan farmer or even what policies they are going to put in place  to ensure that the Kenyan farmers life is made just a little bit easier.


We need to hear how the next government is going to tackle the never ending cycle of begging for food aid every year.It is a shame that a country such as ours so richly blessed with agricultural land is unable to feed itself ,yet countries like Israel and Egypt which are less endowed are not only able to feed their people but export food to other countries.How many times have we heard of the government investing in agriculture except when it is to subsidize fertilizer?

We need the next cabinet secretary in charge of the ministry of agriculture to  be passionate about feeding Kenyans.We need a Joseph to save us from the looming famine that is staring us in the face every year,we need a visionary man or woman who is going to drive this sector of the economy forward.

If you ask any Kenyan school going children if they ever want to be a farmer,none of them dare answer in the affirmative.Everyone wants to be in IT,own a business and drive a flashy car without getting their hands dirty.Yet we fail to ask ourselves what we will be eating in the comfort of our air conditioned offices,busy with making our country the next big thing in the business process outsourcing industry .Will we be exporting our food?

Granted there are a few brave Kenyans who have ventured into agriculture as a side hustle while they maintain regular jobs in the urban centres but this is not enough to be able to feed the growing population of Kenyans.

A country that cannot feed itself is a shame to the rest of the world,a country that cannot support its farmers is like a man who forgets his mother in the village when he gets to the big city.Yes it is true next to mothers ,farmers come a close second.

DR WILLY MUTUNGA REVEALED

Dr Mutunga carried a back pack to the approval hearings and he confirmed to all and sundry  that he is not gay,he is in fact  a spiritual man and  sees his interest in the position of CJ  as a national duty.He revealed himself to be the kind of citizen we wish all Kenyans were and with ideals and values we wish most Kenyan politicians exemplified.

The approval hearings by the Constitutional Implementation oversight committee were held today morning  for the Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice and Director of Public Prosecution.The Parliamentarians drawn from parties across the board were asking tough questions to the three candidates endorsed by the President and the Prime Minister.It was a captivating 120 minutes or more on what drives Dr Mutunga,what his beliefs are and was meant to allay the fears the Christian community and some members of society had about Mutunga the man.

The most focus and the toughest questions were reserved for  Dr Willy Mutunga who has received the most flak and criticism for his wearing of an ear stud and his questionable religious beliefs.He allayed this fears by quoting Professor J Mbiti who said Africans are "notoriously religious" in his book African Religions and Philosophy by giving himself as the perfect example of this .He said he  had been a traditionalist ,then he was baptized as a Protestant,a Catholic a Muslim,has gone to synagogues,shrines and says he does not belong to any one religion but to all of them.In defending his wearing of a stud as an expression of his spirituality he quoted Professor Mbiti who said symbols can not be divorced from religion,you cannot have one without the other.His ear stud was therefore to him similar to the crucifix worn by Christians as an expression of their beliefs.

Like any spiritual person he did say he gets hurt by the vilification he is getting  as a result of his beliefs which are protected in the constitution.Am sure if roles were reversed and a Christian was in Dr Mutungas shoes and  was having their particular religious symbols discussed and dissected in the public domain the way this man has,they would be demonstrations on the streets already.Christians are persecuted for their beliefs in so many other countries where Christianity is not a majority belief system that is is a pity we are meting out the same prejudices to a man whose only crime was seeking constitutional office.

The Dalai Lama one of the most  revered spiritual figures outside of Christianity has a famous quote that states"Human beings are of such a nature that they should have not only material facilities but spiritual sustenance as well.Without  spiritual sustenance,it is difficult to get and  maintain peace of mind."I  think Kenyans should be happy with the fact that Dr Mutunga did not fear to discuss nor to deny his spiritual leanings in the public domain.It would have been so easy to seek affiliation with any of the many denomination or sects that are available but here is a man unashamedly admitting he has dabbled in all known religions in a bid to find one that he felt comfortable in.Instead of choosing one,he embraced all of them and if truth to be told,all religions are the same only that practices may differ from one to the other but their basic aim is to make the adherents better human beings .


His divorce was also questioned and he clarified he was a petitioner in the proceedings that were currently before the court and he gave the committee copies of the petition.He also underlined the fact that divorce is not to be taken causally,relationships when they break down carry with them a lot of grief and hurt and he said it was not a matter he took lightly.

He also displayed a very forgiving attitude towards the former President Daniel Moi who had detained him without trial.In 2002 when  Kenya elected a new President after 24 years of Moi's rule,most Kenyans tore into the former Presidents character,calling him all manner of names.Dr Mutunga in an article after the shameful behaviour displayed at Uhuru park after the inauguration of the new President urged for tolerance ,forgiveness and respect for the rights of the former President.

On being asked about family values,he stated that he respected the family unit though to him family meant more than the little village he came from in Kitui.He stated that he was very open to the idea for anyone questioning his values to talk to his children,friends and relatives and was saddened that peole who did not even know him would question his value system.

In conclusion Dr Mutunga proved to be everything the Judicial Service Commission envisaged when they sought someone who would reform the judicial system,a man without a tunnel vision of the world,who would hold the new constitution sacred in  all his responsibilities and duties as CJ .Just like any human being  who had failings he  sought to be understood and accepted especially by the Christian minority that had cast aspersions on his character.Am sure this is a man anyone would love to have on their side especially in the fight for justice that so many Kenyans have been denied.


Here was a man who was leaving his position as the representative for Ford Foundation in Eastern Africa and seeking a job in public service with less salary,smaller perks and without the globe trotting the holder of such a job would enjoy.Instead he wanted to serve use the  five years he would be in office to reform the judiciary such that justice would be available to all Kenyans regardless of financial clout.A man who just wanted our judiciary to discard its tunnel vision and adopt a bigger picture approach in terms of judgement especially on national interest issues as enshrined  in the constitution.That is the kind of man we need to lead the reform agenda in the Judiciary.

 NB:I had to edit a few thingsa on this post but it was first posted on the 9th of June 2011.

CIVIC EDUCATION:From the Pulpits

Hosea 4:6 My people perish for lack of knowledge.

Every weekend on either Saturday or Sunday any Kenyan TV station worth its salt will have a televangelist extolling the virtues of tithing,performing miracles or fasting.Most of these are geared towards making the regants feel good about their lives because let us face it, life is very hard for the average Kenyan.With rising fuel and food prices a little spiritual solace goes a long way towards mitigating the effects of the harsh economic times we are living in.

In August of this year it will be exactly one year since we passed the new constitution and it will be about another year before we have to face another general election.Politicians being the smart men and women they are have already seen the growing ignorance of the new constitution most Kenyans have and have launched into the usual games they play.Clerics on the other hand have been busy battling the adornment of earrings by certain constitutional office holders or their marital statuses .



Granted that most of the Christian clergy were against the passing of the document in the first place it is disappointing that they have failed to  recognize the immense good it holds for most of the Kenyan citizenry.Despite the problems they had with the clauses on marriage and right to life it remains a great document, a huge leap from the one we had before.So it is still a puzzle that most of them have chosen to remain mum on its other contents.

Now as usual we have been waiting for civic education to start ,seeing that we will be having county governments and devolution is going to bring a whole new meaning to governance it only makes sense for the government to educate its people on how this is going to benefit them.This has not happened and if we do not do something we will see such confusion come next election we will wonder what hit us.The government is battling so many wars on other fronts that am sure carrying out civic education in hte counties is the last thing on its mind.

Maybe the church despite its lack of support for the new constitution should start educating its congregants on what the new constitution means for them.It needs to be telling peole that voting with their heads and not their tribes or stomachs will see them have a better life than they have right now.It  will ensure that health care is available for all even for the ones who do not get the miracle cures.It will ensure that a family does not starve itself to death, in the name of tithing and that medicines are available in all government hospitals and that we do not have to rely on anointed oil.

It will also mean that instead of praying for our youth to surrender the guns and ammunition they have been using to rob and maim peole we will have them gainfully employed because we have elected leaders who have job creation in m ind.It will also mean that we do not have to have harambees(fundraisers) for everything from weddings to settling of medical bills because our economy will be growing thanks to forward thinking leaders.


Am sure the clergy will also be happy if they have to preside over fewer funeral services because fewer Kenyans will be dying on our roads as the rule of law will be respected.Husbands will honor their wives and grant them divorces instead of bludgeoning them to death,hospitals will be better equipped because corruption will be a thing of the past thanks to respect of public property.Justice will be swift as judgments will not be delayed and our prisons will not be overpopulated with petty offenders and other innocent or not so innocent people waiting for their day in court.What this means is that there will be fewer pastoral visits  to prisons for the clergy and they can concentrate more on preaching the good news and nourishing the spiritual life of the faithful.

I would like to hear every Church,Mosque,Temple and Synagogue in the country extolling the virtues and the good that is in the new constitution.We cannot always wait for the government to do everything,the government need partners such as yourselves to be able to attain the Vision 2030 which we are all being called to be a part of.It needs foot soldiers and being leaders of faith in a country that is zealously religious you can help shape and  build a heaven down here.

WOOING THE KENYAN VOTER-Why turning thirty has something to do with it.

Turning thirty has to be the best age for any woman to be in,she knows what she wants, has found her place in the world,is not easily impressed by appearances and she is not afraid of going for what she wants.Kenya at the moment is like this woman who has turned thirty,she knows that a man needs to provide more than security and financial clout,he need to have more than looks going for him .This woman needs to have  a friend and partner with whom she can walk life with.

This is the best time for any man to show his mettle and sweep such a woman off her feet.This woman is Kenya and it is time to woo her,we have had three presidents so far and being the wise thirty something we are we have had our hearst broken and it is time to end the heart break and grab the happiness we deserve and the partner who has shown his worth.

For as long as i can remember ,as  country we have had politicians swaying our votes on the basis of tribe,appearances or financial clout.We are yet to hear of a Kenyan president who has come from no where in this case meaning he has no past political affiliations or loyalties and risen to be President .
I think it is time we as voters became like that discerning woman in her thirties.Most of us have only ever seen two Presidents rule this country in our life time and we make up the largest bloc of voters.We have come to learn and we know what works and does not work,who is lying and who is telling the truth and the ones who are there just playing for the gallery.We need to weed out the suitors who are wasting our precious time and leave only those who have some character and backbone to them.Someone with the mettle ,who will not be swayed by threats and bullying and with a clear conscience as to why they need our vote.

Long gone are the times when  a few shillings for unga(maize flour) or cheap liquor could buy you votes.A woman at thirty is not swayed by a man who is a stallion in bed(i hope so) or one who buys you copious amounts of drinks.We need to be that discerning because we can only have visions for so long.Every woman i know dreams of this ideal man,tall,dark,handsome ,financially stable who will come and sweep her off her feet,but at thirty you realize no one is perfect and a few slight blemishes here and there do not not distract from the character of a man which is the most important thing-what he stands for and believes in.

It is time Kenyan voters  ,the suitors have come calling and it is up to you to be wise and not be used as one night stands where we are promised heaven during the campaign period but are very surprised when our elected leaders throw us out of their "houses" and go mteja(switch off their phones) once they are in the August house.We are wiser now ,we know the chameleons and water melons who change colors as it suits them...be wise dear Kenyan voter  you deserve better .

DEAR KENYANS OUR "NORMALITY" IS MADNESS

"Veronika decides to Die" is the title of a book by renowned author Paulo Coelho and he tells the story of Veronika a twenty something year old girl from Slovenia whose suicide attempt reults in her ending up in a mental institution.It follows up on her life there and offers a peek into her mind and that of other patients there as a result of their "madness".

At one time while Veronikah is trying to understand "madness"she meets Zedka another patient there who in trying to define madness tells her a story that goes like this:


"There was once a powerful wizard who wanted to destroy an entire kingdom,so he places a magic potion in the well from which all inhabitants drank.Whoever drank that water would go mad.The following morning ,the whole population drank from the well and they all went mad,apart from the King and his family ,who had a well set aside for them alone,and which the magician had not managed to poison.The King was worried and and tried to control the population by issuing a series of edicts governing security and public health.The policemen and the inspectors ,however ,had also drank the poisoned water and they thought the King's decisions were absurd and resolved to take no notice of them.



When the inhabitants of the Kingdom heard the decrees they became conviced that the King had gone mad and was now giving non sensical orders.They marched on the castle and called for his abdication.


In despair ,the King prepared to step down from the throne ,but the queen stopped him saying,"Let us go and drink from the communal wel.Then we will be the same as them."


And that was what they did,the King and Queen drank the water of madness and immediately began talking non sense.Their subjects repented at once;now that the King was displaying such wisdom,why not alllow him to continue ruling the country?"



The country continued to live in peace,although its inhabitants behaved very differently from those of its neighbours.And the King was able to govern until the end of his days" 






Kenyans have become like the inhabitants of this mythical kingdom who have drank from the poisoned well.That is why tribalism,corruption,impunity,blatant theft and misuse of public funds and recklessness on our roads are like terminal illnesses we all seem to be suffering from.We are all mad!

Our road carnage statistics are some of the highest and most of the time you hear people blaming it on God's will.We find it normal to fork out a few thousand shillings to get a driving licence after you pass your competency test.We even raised hue and cry when drivers were subjected to sobriety tests by the infamous alco blow.It is very normal for a matatu in Kenya to be breaking the speed limit while the passengers silently watch and pray that they get to their destination safely yet they can clearly see the driver is shuttling their bodies  to the cold slab of a morgue and their souls straight to the gates of heaven or hell.


When public funds find their way inmto private accounts,we chuckle and guffaw at the civil activists when they chain themselves to the gates of the Ministry of Education to protest the misuse of these funds and we label them mad.We forget that these very funds are not gifts by donors but loans that we are paying and that our children are going to pay back. Even the newbies being born today are being saddled with loans that were squandered or spirited away to foreign countries by government officials.

Last year maize meal which is a staple food item in 90% of Kenyan households was retailing at sixty shillings for a 2kg packet at the beginning of the year.Right now the price of the same  packet costs more than a litre of petrol and many Kenyans who live on less than a dollar a day are either going hugnry or looking for alternative foods which given the current economic crisis are not many.Drought has ravaged parts of the country and indeed much of the horn of Africa and now international donor agencies are calling for aid to mitigate the current crisis the region is facing.


We are also witnessing a curious spectacle by members of our August house fighting taxation on the pretext that there aren't any laws permitting taxation of members of Parliament.If they all paid tax all 222 of them we would see 700 million go into the excheqeur and hopefully some of it would be used to feed our poor brothers and sisters in the arid and semi arid areas of the Northern part of the country who are grappling under the effects of the worst famine and drought in decades.


With an election looming,we are having the same old story of tribal alliances going on and the big tribes are aligning themselves for possible victory come August next year.We are listening to the same promises we have been told over the past years and which have never come to pass.


Tell me if we havent all gone mad,then what has made us immune to everything that would be declared wrong  and  unacceptable in other countries.When children are going to school barefoot,having their classes under trees,people dying from poorly constructed buildings ,farmers barely eking out a living from the back breaking work of feeding the 40 million Kenyans and no one seems to give a damn.

We all seem to think it is normal for a country such as ours that showed so much promise at independence is now  a pale shadow of itself .Year in year out we hear promises of fighting corruption and tribalism but none have come to pass.It has become normal to let our leaders get away with lies and blatant disregard for the law and what is right and moral and then we hail them as leaders.What madness!


We are all mad and unless we act quickly we will be like the mythical kingdom Coelho writes about.We have already seen what normality can be like so refreshing and bold when we got a new Chief Justice the Judicial system got a facelift.It is time we gave the same antidote to our electorate so come next year we wake up to brand  spanking new crop of leaders and not the old order we have known for  what seems to me to be eons.

DENY,DENY DENY AT YOU OWN PERIL

No one knows this better than Anthony Weiner the Democratic Party congressman who was forced to resign after weeks of a scandal involving the inappropriate photos he had been sharing of himself on the social networks platform of Twitter  were leaked to the public.The 46 year old married Congressman who had been labelled as a rising star had been denying that he had sent the photos for weeks but finally caved in and admitted to his lack of judgement and resigned ,full details leading to hi resignation can be found here.

While Kenyan politicians have not been involved in such scintillating scandals such as those that seem to envelope US politicians whose most recent victim was Weiner,we do have scandals of our own that involve integrity and honesty of the men we elect to the August house and to other public offices.

The most recent scandal to hit the Kenyan press has been the misappropriation and blatant theft of billions of Kenya shillings meant for free primary education.It has been said senior officers in the Ministry of Education wired huge amounts of money that up to now run into 4.2 billion shillings into accounts of non existent schools.The scandals  have not elicited much public response which makes me wonder if Kenyans despite the new constitution and having a new CJ are not too tolerant of wrong doing among public officials.So far the Minister in charge of Education and his PS have so far denied any wrong doing and are staying put in their offices.

Last year in March,there was a scandal involving the same Ministry and the PS then one Professor Karega Mutahi who was transferred to the Ministry of Local government and we carried on with business as usual.Now just a few days ago the Minister of Finance Uhuru Kenyatta  released an audit report carried out by the government that confirmed what Professor Sam Ongeri had been denying since last year,that indeed  billions had been spirited away by people in his Ministry.Details of the scandal can be read here and here.

This makes we wonder whether our politicians and senior public servants ever care about their reputations and the character assassination that follows public scandals.Abraham Lincoln a man greatly honored by Americans for fighting for the emancipation of slaves once said "character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow.The shadow is what we think of it;the tree is the real thing.".

You will never hear a Kenyan politician or public servant resign for any scandal whatsoever and most wait to be hounded out of office through public outcry or by Presidential decree.These men and women would rather hung their characters and reputations out to dry than admit lapse of judgement or ignorance for any misdemeanours they may be  caught in.


It does not make sense however to have your name dragged into disrepute,be caught up in mudslinging and put your family through emotional suffering just because your pride does not allow you to admit you lapsed in your responsibilities and duties.Too often i have heard members of the Kenyan parliament lament how their families and children are being ostracized when they are mentioned in scandals and to me it sounds like they are just begging for sympathy.

Just a few days ago the new Kenyan Chief Justice was being disparaged by members of the clergy for his adornment of an earring,his sexuality and marital status and not for one moment did he blink.Our members of parliament never allow such kind of scrutiny on one of their own and are quick to amend or vote down  motions in parliament that would otherwise allow closer scrutiny of misconduct.

It is time Kenyans stopped being so accommodating and complacent when it comes to wrongdoing and being economical with the truth that public servants and elected members of parliament are so fond of.We should start demanding the same high standard of integrity,honesty and character that we have asked of the recently appointed members of the supreme court and the Chief Justice and his Deputy.If we do not do this we shall continue seeing the same theft and misuse of money meant to ensure this country's children do not face bleak future.Hospitals,dispensaries and other public institutions that are in dire need of funding will continue to lack basic equipment to save lives or to function and the vision 2030 will continue being nothing other than a pipe dream.

We need to see more Ministers resigning not at the behest of the President but because their have a conscience and know  the wrong doing they have been party to or ignored in their Ministries .We do not have to see them being hounded out of office because of public outcry but because they know they failed at the responsibilities and functions the 40 million Kenyans have entrusted them with.

Why the Catholic Church needs to face the abuse scandals from the pulpit.

In my life having gone through Catholic schools i met priests who were great people and lived by their vows but then there were also those who broke all the rules and gave priesthood a bad name.The Catholic church for a while now has been reeling under the accusations of sexual abuse of minors  by some of its priests in Europe and North America.The scandals began receiving public attention in the 1980's but the church hierarchy as it is structured in the affected dioceses never reported the matter of these priests but just transferred them to other locations.Wikipedia provides a detailed article on the scandals here.

Kenya has got its own share of these scandals when we have had Father Kizito Sesana's name dragged into the mud over his misconduct with boys and young men and reports of the battles he has been fighting here and here.
Both times there has been no concrete evidence found to charge him and he has fought of his accusers by saying that they are more interested in the millions involved in the projects he runs through Koinoinia Kenya.

The hierarchy of the Catholic church in Kenya has chosen to keep quiet over the scandals.Their stand is similar to the position taken by the Vatican when the sex scandal emerged,they were swept under the carpet with the fervent prayer sent to heaven that they would just disappear,but they did not.Over the years the allegations against some of its priests have increased and the young victims of these priests who are now grown men have chosen to speak up.

When Father Kizito used to write articles in the Sunday Nation and were serialized under the title Fr Kizito's dairy,  i read them  voraciously and they were great and inspired my faith then in many ways.When the first scandal hit the press in 2009 i wanted to cry for this man who had inspired me not only with his writing but who i admired for the noble vocation he had taken.

It is very easy to hate on religious people who fall of the high pedestal we have placed them on and the reason for this is because a majority of people look up to them because they represent an institution that is meant to uphold morality in the society.That is why when Fr Kizito's alleged scandals first hit the headlines,a lot of furore and debate ensued on whether his accusers were legitimate or they were after the millions in his projects.

After following the scandals the Vatican has been battling over alleged abuse by the men of the cloth i think it is time that the church in Kenya investigated itself.It is time the church hierarchy asked itself,what if there are priests abusing their high office here ,how do we handle it?

Reuters had an article on how the scandals have affected the church in Germany with thousands leaving the church and it can be read here. Much of this has been caused by the dismal handling of the matter by church which has not been stemmed by the apology offered by the Pope which elicited mixed reactions.An article by the New York Times on the apology to Irish Catholics can be read here .

Maybe it is time the church stopped the fire fighting approach it has taken to reports of abuse by its clergy.The systemic issuing of apologies that is directed at only the affected countries needs to stop,instead the church needs to make its stand on sexual abuse by men of the cloth known,it needs to publicly state that it will not be condoned or tolerated and that the abusers will face the full force of the law.


Sermons made  by priests from all the catholic church pulpits need to remind the faithful that the church does not and will not hide sex abuse scandals.The faithful who give of their time,money and energy in church activities need to hear that the church will not hide the crimes or wish them away but will make sure the perpetrators who break the law and their victims have their day in court.

Each of the one billion Catholic faithful who make up at least 50%of the global Christian population need to hear that the church will act and is protecting them from the wolves who come adorned in priestly robes.They need to hear that the church is listening to the voices and the cries of those who have been abused by these men .The church needs to shout from the pulpit that sexual misconduct of its priests cannot be condoned ,every catholic from the remotest village church in Turkana to the Basilicas in Rome needs to hear that.Only by doing so will the church get some of its credibility back.

WHY KENYANS ARE STILL DYING OF HUNGER

Kenya is an interesting country to live in,while some Kenyans  acquire the latest tech gizmo's and fuel guzzlers,almost 2 million Kenyans in the arid and semi arid areas in Samburu are dying of hunger.All the signs were there last year but as usual we were to busy trying to make it big to notice the bumper harvest we had last year which if we had employed measures to store the extra bags of maize,wheat farmers harvested and the tonnes of milk that even had us experience a milk glut and which saw gallons go down the drain at the  state owned Kenya Co operative Creameries,we would not be seeing the national shame that drought and hunger have now become.

In September of last year,the meteorological department issued a warning that 2011 would be a hard year for us because we would have less rain therefore planning should have begun then.But as usual warnings here are never taken seriously till we see the scrawny Samburu residents on national TV with even reports of death now coming in.Just a few days into June there are already reports of five people in Samburu who have died of hunger,full details of the crisis can be read here.

On the 8th of June ,we had the budget read ,things like wheat ,maize and rice were zero rated and this is meant to cushion hungry Kenyans who are already paying through the nose for basic food commodities.In Kenya fuel determines what you are going to pay for your packet of milk or for a 2 kilo packet of cornflour.At the moment global prices have been on the rise and so the ordinary Kenyan has had to dig deeper into their pocket to feed themselves and their families.Maize(cornflour),wheat flour and rice are staples in most Kenyan households and the direction their prices take whether north or south determine whether a child will go to bed well fed or sleep hungry.

It puzzles me that in an era where we have all manner of warning systems,where information is at our finger tips we still have the same problem we had back in the 80's when the internet,mobile phones and satellites that track global weather pattern were non existent.Why are we failing our people,when they all die of hunger who are our leaders going to be leading ?


Maybe a time will come   when no single Kenyan dies of hunger,where children,men and women will not have to boil wild berries to assuage the pangs of hunger,where planning for crisis will be a habit and not an afterthought  and where we will not watch food go to waste while the rest of the country starves.I pray for a time where every Kenyan child will go to bed with a full stomach and not with the sickening knowledge that when dawn comes the biting stabs of an empty tummy will have them staring into space with no hope for the future.

BRINGING THE SANITY BACK ON KENYAN ROADS

If we went by the number of fatalities and causalities on Kenya roads we must be the worst country in the world in terms of road safety records.Mombasa road alone has robbed countless families of fathers,mothers,children,brothers,sisters and friends.Not a day goes by that you dont get to read or hear in the news of someone who has lost their life in what must be Kenya's road with the highest number of black spots.Just his week there was the heart breaking tory of a lecturer who lost his entire family in addition to a friend who had offered to drive them to the Jomo Kenyatta airport ,the story can be read here.

According to the WHO 1.3 million people are killed on roads every year worldwide  while 50 million pole sustain injuries ,90% of these victims are in developing countries. The UN General assembly declared 2011-2020  as the Decade of Action for Road Safety.While road fatalities have largely been seen to decline or stabilize in developed countries they remain a major cause of death in developing countries and the WHO estimates that if left unchecked could see deaths rise to 2.3 million by the year 2030.An article written on the launch can be read here on the WHO site.

With  Kenya now focusing on improving its road network with better roads we can only expect things to get worse if not better.Most Kenyan drivers are always rushing off at break neck speeds from point A to point B.Even on roads where there is heavy pedestrian traffic or on major highways where there are designated livestock crossing areas or pedestrian crossings motorists  are still pressing on their gas pedals to get the most speed out of the automobiles that have probably been bought with a loan that has not even been fully paid.They do this with total disregard for other motorists,pedestrians or even cyclists who have a right to use the very same roads.

More Kenyans especially on Fridays and over the weekend stagger into their cars with in their inebriated states and hope and pray they get home without hitting anyone or anything,God forbid if they should slump over their steering wheels especially if they are speeding on the newly constructed highway that may have no markings because we all know where there are going to  end up-on the cold slab of a morgue.Their faces and bodies so disfigured by the impact of their crush that their relatives hardly recognize them and their precious vehicles reduced to mangled wrecks.

Over the holidays especially Christmas and Easter  all hell breaks loose because all Kneyans are headed to the country to spend time with their loved ones.However  some do not even get home as they meet their ends when some other deranged road user in a similar rush  hits them or they roll several times because they lost control of their vehicle.

Our laws which are meant to deter such behavior  do not seem to be doing  enough to deter people who break the rules.In my opinion a man or woman who causes the death of another while driving is no better than a person who commits premediated murder.We whould have these peole face the stiffest penalities under the law and be forced to do some form of commuity service in schools  and colleges to discourage  future motorists to be more careful on our roads by discouraging bad driving habits.

Without these tough meausre we will continue seeing the increaisng number of fatalities that do not seem to be abating any time soon.We also need the traffic department to be incorruptile in the issuance of driving permits,if you do not pass the test go and resit it till you get it..Constant appraisal should also be done for drivers maybe every 5 years and if one gets a clean pass 3 times then one can be excused from further  tests.It seems peole forget all the etiquette of driving the minute they get their licence and it is time we reminded peole of the tough consequences that will be meted out  incase one flouts the rules.

Drunk driving needs to attract a very stiff sentence too because these inebirated drivers have caused enough grief to Kenyan families.Too bad that the alcoblow that was meant to measure the inebriation of drivers became a cropper and nothing has replaced it.I really admire the tough stance taken by the US where a drunk driver spend time in the coolers till the next day when they are sober and they can drive home.Maybe we also need to name and shame high profile personalities who are caught driving under the influence,this would definitely discourage future offenders.


According to the action planned for the decade to improve on Road Safety by the UN are that member states with the help of the international community need to   commit to  developing and implemenitng legislation to reduce on risk factors such as limiting speed,reducing drunk driving and increasing use of seatbelts,child restraints and motorcycle helmets.


If the legislative arm of government  implemented and enforced the Michuki rules which were similar to the UN recommendations on improving raod safety we would Be on the way to reduicng the number of Kenyans losing their lives daily on our roads.The then Minister for Transport Honorable Jospeh Michuki was light years ahead of the UN declaration but since he was moved to the Minitry of Environment all his good intetions seem to have been forgotten by his predecessor and the Traffic department .



However for this to work drivers,pedestrians and the general public as a whole need to remember that road safety starts with each and every one of us.Any time one gets behind the wheel of a vehicle or is out walking on the roads,they need to remember being safe starts with an individual.We need to observe road signs,be mindful of other road users,avoid driving when inebriated and stay within safe speed limits such that one is able to control their vehicle incase anything happens that requires quick action.

Let us keep our roads safe!

THE SAD STORY OF THE KENYAN POLICEMAN

This past weekend i started writing an article on the life of the Kenyan policeman then quickly got rid of it because i thought it was not good enough.Since yesterday though i have changed my mind after seeing two episodes of a crime series being ran by the Kenya Television Network on the life of the Kenyan Policeman that is titled In the line of Fire.

The series started off on a very sad note yesterday when the crew of two decided to follow a patrol team on the streets of Nairobi at about 11 pm,it started off tragically.A few minutes into the patrol along Luthuli avenue they heard gun shots, a policeman had been felled by some thugs who bumped into him on his patrol and shot the father of three dead.He would be going home in a coffin and his children were robbed of a father,his wife was now a widow.

It is reported that at least 145 policemen die every year in the course of duty that is more than 10 every month,and translates to at least two if not three every week.A lot of the time a dead policeman is just a statistic and we hardly ever give much thought to the fact that he has left behind a family, a wife,parents or even siblings.The Kenya policeman has been so dehumanized that the citizens he protects and the state he works for hardly ever hold him in high regard less s when he is dead.

The basic pay of a Kenyan policeman includes a house allowance of 1600 Kenya shillings,health insurance of 495 shillings  and a basic pay of 18000 Kenya shillings.With the dollar exchange rate at an average of 82 Kenya shillings,the average Kenyan policeman earns just $219.51.

This is barely enough to cover basic needs in todays harsh economic times and may be one of the main reasons policemen engage in extra activities to supplement their meagre pay.The police force has been villified for so long for being a corrupt entity yet meausre such a improving their terms of employement would go a long way towards detering them from taking bribes and greatly improve our security.Measures such as allocating enough resources every fiscal year that would gotowards improving housing,ensuring each person in the force gets health insurance,providing bullet proof  vests and providing lighter fire arms,getting them trained on basic investigative kills,organizing team building activities would greatly improve the forces working conditions and boosting morale

It has not helped that the police have not done much to redeem the tainted image most Kenyans have of them by taking on serious reforms.Maybe it is time Mathew Iteere became more vocal in pleading,whether by shouting from the roof tops,banging the tables or plain lobbying  to demand for more money to be allocated to the force,something needs to be done and very fast.