Nairobi 2010; We are fully behind you. Make Kenya proud once more

Beginning 28th July 2010, Kenya will be hosting the 17th edition of African Senior Athletics Championship at Nyayo stadium here in Nairobi. The event will run for roughly one week, till 1st August 2010.

Kenya won the bid to host the tournament after trouncing Benin in the selection meeting held in Dakar, Senegal. Our triumph may be traced to the 2007 successfully hosting of the World Cross Country Championship that was held in Mombasa.

Seeing the President hand over the national flag to our team leaders Janet Jepkosgei and Anderson Mureta yesterday, there was no doubt in my mind that Kenya is going for nothing but glory in the forthcoming Championship.

The confidence that was evident in the faces and voices of the team set to represent us at the Championship, and their track records not withstanding is enough reason to make any concerned Kenya citizen upbeat for an overwhelming win.

The World over, Kenya is credited as a force to reckon with when it comes athletics in the illustrious sports arena.

While I would want take this opportunity to unreservedly wish our team the best in the Championship, I would also wish to urge our citizenry to act with utmost decorum and embrace the immortalized wise words of our national anthem:

"Let all with one accord,
In common bond united,
Build this our nation together,
And the glory of Kenya,
The fruit of our labour,
Fill every heart with thanksgiving."

Go! Kenya go!

Proposed new Constitution: Why article 26 (4) is unnecessary

Anybody who has taken the trouble of reading the proposed new Constitution of the Republic of Kenya set to face a plebiscite on 4^th August 2010 will agree with me that it’s a document with the potentiality of transforming a stagnating nation into a progressive state within an individual’s life time.

This is not to say that the proposed new Constitution is as white as snow. Like all things man made, it has one two hiccups either editorial or logical oversights.

Seeing a section of the Kenyan public oppose the proposed new Constitution, I was - as a concerned citizen - taken aback considering what we have gone through as a nation to reach where we are in our quest for a new constitution.

Overtime, since Parliament unanimously adopted the proposed Constitution without any amendments, I have pondered over the grievances of the opponents of this Constitution ranging from land to abortion.

I have had to read several times the articles of the proposed new Constitution touching on these issues of contention. And I have come to the conclusion that whereas most lack basis, one issue has struck my conscience as a valid concern.

Article 26 (1) of the proposed new Constitution states that “Every person has the right to life,” and Clause 2 of the same article goes further to define when such a life begins by stating that “The life of a person begins at conception.”

Going by these two clauses, one would be right to conclude that in every conception there are at least two persons i.e. the woman and whatever is conceived in her womb.

Having that conclusion in mind, I would wish to bring clause 3 of the same article to your attention. It sates that “A person shall not be deprived of life intentionally, except to the extent authorized by this constitution or other written law.”

This in essence means that the life of a person can be taken away intentionally under certain circumstances - which in all cases would be extraordinary or out of the normal – as may be provided for in this Constitution or other written law.

And up to this point one question begs for an answer and that question is; who according to the proposed new Constitution is a person?

Clause 2 of this article has the answer. It states that the life of a person begins at conception. Essentially, meaning that anything conceived in a woman’s womb after “coming together” with a man (male human being) is considered a person at least to the extent of this proposed new constitution.

I am not a Doctor neither am I a health professional but with my little knowledge, I am aware that an abortion is a procedure that leads to the intentional termination of pregnancy with a single goal of saving the life of a pregnant woman commonly referred to us “the mother”. I am also aware that pregnancy is at least one of, if not the sole result of a conception.

Considering that the proposed new Constitution deems a person as being from conception and that article 26 (3) already deals with conditions under which a person may be deprived of his/her right to life, it beats logic and I find it very unnecessary that article 26 (4) found its way into the proposed new Constitution.

Abortion is such a sensitive issue and complex subject that we may not be able to comprehend as laymen.

The committee of experts should have ended article 26 at clause 3. They ought to have left out anything abortion from the proposed new constitution. In fact it should have not even been mentioned in the first place.

In any case, if you are keen you will notice that article 26 (3) already deals with it in away not so obvious to most mortals' comprehension.

Saba Saba: There were no "drug addicts"

When the now famous 1990 Saba Saba rally was organised by Kenya's pro-reform activists among them Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia and Raila Odinga (currently Kenya's Prime Minister) among others, and thwarted by the then KANU government under former President Moi, I was only a class one pupil.

It found when we had just gone through some tense moments which to us as children didn't really send cold down our spines unless we were in the presence of adults who comprehended the political atmosphere at the time.

The tense moments were as a result of the murder of Dr. Robert Ouko who - as I was to be told by my dad - was until his death Kenya's foreign affairs Minister. He went on to tell me that it is rumoured that he was murdered because of his perceived ambitions of deposing the President, then Moi.

The Saba saba rally came barely five months after the murder of Dr. Ouko - may his soul rest in peace - and was, according to historical records, a pro-democracy demonstration that was aimed at giving wananchi a chance to air their grievances to the then oppressive single party government of KANU under President Moi.

Among the things on the agenda at the time was the agitation for repeal of section 2(a) of the constitution to allow for multiparty democracy which would give Kenya's the democratic right to elect a leader of their choice without intimidation from any quarter.

Others included electoral reforms which would see the mlolongo system done away with and a secret ballot system adopted, limiting of the Presidential tenure and restoration of security of tenure to sections of the judiciary and public service.

According to historical records, the rally was ruthlessly crashed by Moi's government with hundreds of people being killed, thousands arrested and appearing in court and others among them human rights lawyers like Gibson Kamu Kuria being forced into exile.

Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia and Raila Odinga were put under detention without trial only to be released about one year later after being tortured mercilessly.

President Moi termed the demonstration as the work of drug addicts bent on causing havoc and disturbing the "peace" prevailing in the country. However, the church at that time led by the likes of the late Bishop Alexander Muge - may his soul rest in peace - were categorical that the Saba Saba demonstrations were a rebellion against the government of the day by the people brought about by poverty and lack of public participation in national affairs.

If you can remember this were the days of phrases like mtukufu, mkulima nambari moja, mfanyi kazi nambari moja, mwalimu nambari moja and all the other nambari mojas that ever were.

Twenty years down the line, I have grown big, knowledgeable and successfully completed the 8.4.4 system of education. I now comprehend what noble course the Saba Saba architects embarked on. I now know they were not drug addicts but genuine patriotic citizens who had the vision of reforming this country and getting it out of the jaws of the oppressive and corrupt KANU regime into a progressive state. I now know that if it wasn't for them Kenyans could have still been grappling with the oppresive regime of the KANU government.

I salute them all wherever they are, dead or alive. Dead or alive you are our heroes.

Over the years, the reform agenda has taken on a more comprehensive face from the initial piece meal approach. This has seen has seen us reviewing our constitution and now facing a second constitutional referendum on 4th August 2010 after the failed 2005 referendum.

However, it is sad to note that after all this while most of the anti-reformist have not seen any sense in the reform agenda that Kenyans have sought for the longest time, even losing lives along the way.

No wonder now most of the people who were in the KANU regime during the early 90s when the reform agenda took off strongly, are leading opponents of the proposed new constitution.

Even more sad, is the fact that a section of the religious leaders are opposing the proposed new constitution based on very flimsy reasons.

But theirs (the religious leaders) as we all know is a case of misconceived perceptions and unfounded fear. Actually, most of the current religious leaders are ignorant Kenyans who know very little about the history of their own country. They know more of Jews history than they know their own.

As we approach the forthcoming referendum, I wish we spared a thought and dedicated a moment of silence to our fallen pro-reform heroes. Those who were killed during the Saba Saba rally and those who died of related deaths their after. I also wish we celebrated the heroes who still live among us like Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia, Raila Odinga and Timothy Njoya among others by ushering in a new constitution.

Like Rt. Bishop David Gitari puts it "it is better a good document than no document at all."

Look at it this way

Just this morning I was engaged in a debate with one of my friends a Mr. Boroon Siroon. Our debate was centered on the proposed MPs' pay rise that has elicited a lot of outrage from all sections of the Kenyan public.

Though at the beginning of the debate we seemed to read from different scripts, with my friend somehow seeing the whole uproar over the intended MPs' hefty pay rise as a scenario of majoring in the minor while I was of the opinion that the uproar is valid, we came to conclude our debate while reading from the same script.

During our debate I asked myself one question that, is denying the MPs' the payrise that they so yearn for enough? Definately it is not.

As my friend rightly put it during our debate, the bone of contention is not really whether or not the MPs are paid a lot of money or not but whether quality services in terms of health care, quality education, improved infrastructure and so on and so forth accrue to the common mwananchi when MPs are denied a pay rise.

He went on further to state that even if the President refuses to sign the bills authorising the payhike for the MPs, there may be no improvement on the services delivered to the common mwananchi because almost all our institutions are not mwananchi friendly but instead are public officers pocket friendly (read corruption).

Take for example, collection of garbage in the city's suburbs. You may have noticed that whether or not MPs increase their salaries like they have always done in the past, garbage will still be a menace in the suburbs because some institution somewhere is not doing its work of delivering services - in this case garbage collection and disposal - to mwananchi who obediently pay tax and live in those suburbs.

I am not trying to legitimise the MPs demand for a hefty pay rise as being valid, in fact am on record before as having categorically objected to their weird demand but all am trying to say is that we need to give this issue a multifaceted approach for the common good to prevail.

Whereas we are rejecting non-deserved hefty pay rise for the MPs we need to audit our public institutions and rid them of corruption that for years on end has denied the common mwananchi the well deserved quality services like healthcare and clean and healthy living environment which by the way should be a basic human right; though the proposed new constitution already recognises clean and healthy living environment as a basic human right.

It surely does no good to deny the MPs the payrise in the pretex that it will eat into the public coffers, while in reality very little trickles down to the common mwananchi - even at the moment - from the public coffers in form of public services which are also usually not up to standard.

It is wrong to award MPs such hefty pay rise but it is also not right to argue that whether we increase their salaries or not the common mwanachi may not feel any change anyway. Two wrongs will surely never make a right and so a wrong should never be used to legitimise another wrong.

I believe it is past time - just like my friend put - that we addressed the real bone of contention and avoided the sideshows that we are fond of majoring on, for the benefit of the common mwananchi living somewhere deep in the country side.

Let us rid our institutions of corruption and save this country from going to the dogs. It all starts with you. Be the change you want to see in the society.

Open letter to His Exellency President Kibaki

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing to first congratulate you for holding this country together as the head of state thus far.

I know you may be aware that in this country we have been stereotyped that an incumbent President is such a high profile personality that not any Tom, Dick and Hurry can address him/her or that only very pressing and pertinent issues affecting or likely to affect the well being of Kenyan citizens can be brought to his/her attention.

With that background, sir, you may already be having it at the back of your mind that whatever it is I want to bring to your attention is not only of urgency but also pressing and very pertinent to the well being of common mwananchi.

Last week as I know you are aware, our Members of Parliament (MPs) unanimously endorsed the Akiwumi report which makes recommendations that if implemented to the letter will see their salaries skyrocket from the current Ksh. 850,000 to about Ksh. 1,100,000.

Though I am aware you are an MP, I am also aware that as the head of state you are not obliged to attend every parliamentary sitting apart from the opening and closing sessions of each Parliament. I am also aware that the Prime Minister (PM) Right Honourable Raila Odinga who is also an MP was hospitalised during the period when the MPs endorsed the Akiwumi report and as such could not be physically present in Parliament to contribute to the debate. With these in mind I will refrain from lumping you and the PM together with the rest of the MPs when I convey my reservations regarding their endorsement of the report wholesome.

Mr. President it is heart throbbing as a common mwananchi who is barely surving to see an MP - who also happens to be a Cabinet Minister in your government - denouncing the endorsement of the report by his colleagues in Parliament when he/she had the opportunity to be present in Parliament and contribute to the debate that would have seen sections of the report amended or shelved all together. They also no all to well that making noise on the street does not solve any problem and that when Parliament has passed anything it is beyond their individual capacity to make any changes on it either as an MP or Minister.

Our MPs - their predecessors included - have been known to be very united when it comes to passing bills that give them hefty payrises and this particular one, Mr. President, is no exception. Already we have seen their willingness to extend their stay in Parliament beyond the stipulated adjournment period so that they can quickly pass the bills that will inch them closer to the payrise.

Mr. President, it is public knowledge that we are going through tough economic times as a country that we can ill afford to honour such crazy payrise demands from MPs who already are better remunerated considering the fact that we also have the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to boost growth and development in the constituencies across the country.

With all these facts in mind, Mr. President, it is my thoughtful and heartfelt decision to advice you not to sign any of those bills - that am sure the MPs are going to pass in record time - which will ensure their payrise demands are legitimised and so have to be honoured.

I also wish to advice that when the bills get to your desk, send them back to parliament with a note stating your wish to have the payrise recommendation comprehensively and soberly debated in Parliament and conclusions arrived at, that reflect the economic mood of the country and wishes of the common mwananchi.

Otherwise, Mr. President I don't really have much to write about now but just to wish you a wonderful week and hope that you will act decisively on this pressing matter in the interest of the common mwananchi when it finally gets to your desk as am sure it will.

God bless you and may God bless Kenya.

Kind regards,


Asaka J. Ogonda
Concerned Citizen

The women whom I admire

In every human being's life there is someone or some people they admire so much. A person or people they wish everyone else was like. A person or people they would feel so proud to be associated with. A person or people who in their world is or are larger than life. A person they would wish to be in their company not only when they are alive here on earth but even in their next life after death. And all in all a person or people who for them defines certain aspects of human life.

There is no set rule on how to admire others or who we may and may not admire. Actually, I may admire somebody while another person doesn't really admire them. The people we admire may either be women or men depending entirely on us (the admirer).

In contemporary world, most people admire such persons as their school teacher(s), friend(s), political leader(s), great musician(s), university professor(s) and the list is endless.

For me, there are several people (others even dead - may their souls rest in peace) whom I admire based on what section of society one is referring to. For instance, in music I would not say music is music not until I hear some late Franco Luambo Luanzo's hit songs like "Attention na SIDA", late Mayaula Mayoni's "Cherie Bondowe", late Joseph Hill's "Only jah a christian", late Madilu's "Ya Jean", late Michael Jackson's "Earth song" or Eric Wainaina's "Mili yetu".

Now am a young gentleman fast moving towards fatherhood/husband-hood and as such it is normal to find yourself admiring certain women whom you would wish your future wife/mother of your children at least was like if not necessarily a "copy paste". Am sure such women are in every young man's life and for me these women are Mrs. Alice Asaka, Mrs. Ida Odinga and Mrs. Michelle Obama in that order.

Alice Asaka is my mother. The wife of Asaka snr. (God bless you, dad) who is the son of the great land of Kochogo where I belong. Whenever I come across the word discipline, Alice Asaka comes to thought. In my life she is discipline and discipline is her. As a mother through constant correction, direction and guidance she largely molded me into who I am today.

When you see me walk in through the doors of a church building on a Sunday morning; when you come into my house and see a bible somewhere in the corner of the table; when you hear me mention the name "God"; when you hear me say "am sorry" or when you hear me telling somebody "thank you," give it all to her. She taught me all that.

All my life (since I became conscious i.e. able to perceive and memorise/remember) I have observed this woman with keenness that even I, personally, can't comprehend. The way she does her things amazes me. The way she has gone about bringing up all her four children (me included) into responsible individuals makes me admire her the most.

I know nearly everybody loves their mother but am sure not many of us a lot of the time find anything worthy of admiration in mothers except the fact that they carried you for 9 months and were there for you till you became an adult able to fend for him/herself. Sad or grim it may seem but I have observed it around me and it's a fact.

I view myself as a person of influence in the society gauging by the keenness with which people listen to me, the warm reception I get from friends and hardcore resistance I get from my foes. This may be in a small scale now but as sure as sure can be, before long it is gonna grow into an influence worthy of reckoning with.

And this is where my admiration of Mrs. Ida Odinga and Mrs. Michelle Obama comes in. Mrs. Ida Odinga is the wife of Kenya's second Prime Minister the Right Honourable Raila Odinga (quick recovery, sir), while Mrs. Michelle Obama is the wife of United States of America's first black President, his excellency President Barrack Obama (congratulations, sir).

These two women have managed and are managing to successfully jaggle between the heavy tasks of "wifing" men of immense public influence, bringing up decent families while at the same time retaining the "woman" in them. These women have not let their education levels take the better of them. They are well educated at least by the standards of their respective countries (i.e. Kenya and US), sharp in thought, forthright, faithful and above all very pragmatic in their approach to life.

Anybody who has ever seen these women with their families either at a family gathering or on holidays or in cases of emergency like the one Ida unfortunately finds herself in at the moment, will agree with me that they are in charge as wives, mothers and leaders, and none can take that away from them.

Their beauty not withstanding, these three women have won my admiration by their good public rapport that has won them the love of people around them. They have got a welcome spirit that is inherent in them. A spirit that sees them receiving visitors day in day out without getting bored or tired of the continuos or rather never ending visits to their humble aboreds by sometimes total strangers.

They have touched lives of not one, not two, not three but of numerous people around them in ways so simple yet so transforming and unique that may pass unnoticed by most of their contemporaries but will surely be carried on to generations to come as 'golden' legacy.

Surely, these women are larger than life. And I admire them!

Our MPs can do better

Yesterday our Members of Parliament (MPs) unanimously endorsed the Akiwumi report that recommends the increment of their salaries from the current Kshs. 851, 000 to Kshs. 1, 100, 000.

Now they are looking forward to passing three bills in a record seven days so that the increment can take effect after presidential ascent.

Whereas it is public knowledge that living standards keep rising day in day out the world over and that salaries of employees across the divide need to be increased to help them cope up with the changing times, I think it is very irresponsible of a nation to improve the remuneration of its MPs based on the fact that they need more money to give as handouts to their constituents or to contribute in harambees (public fundraisers).

As a country that has committed to achieving the United Nations Millenium Development Goals (UN MGDs), it beats logic to peg socio-economic and even political development of a people on handouts. Handouts other than being short lived and inadequate, are very subjective and difficult to account for once they have been dished out.

Talking of accountability here, am refering to a two fold approach. One, an MP with an inflated salary - a portion of which is intended for handouts to his/her constituents - may decide not to attend any harambee or dish out any money and no one will call him/her to account. Second, the handouts given to individuals or groups by an MP may easily be embezzled without anybody being called to account.

Whereas in the latter case somebody can argue that the MP gave out money but the people embzzled it, I think it is very irresponsible of our MPs to even think of increasing their "handout money" when we have a Constituency Development Fund (CDF) kitty which they would have enlarged instead.

The CDF is a well organised arrangement through which development money can be channeled and used to improve lives in the constituencies across the country. We may only need to make the CDF committees more representative and the whole process a little more consultative and we will be home and dry.

You will all agree with me that putting money intended for the masses in an individual's hand in this greedy society we find ourselves in is akin to the proverbial glutton eating from the same plate with the poor blind lad.

As a matter of fact, there is no economy worth its salt in the entire globe that has successfully thrived on handouts. I think it is past time we as a nation stopped thinking "handout economy." We are not a banana republic for Christ's sake. Or are we?