TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT

 TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT

Yesterday, many cities, towns and residential areas across the country were non functional. Literally and with close to all businesses remaining closed, the country came to a standstill. Demonstrations were meant for good, to commemorate the deaths of gen Z demonstrators who died in anti finance bill demos, same day last year. The question is why a person who is not interested in joining the demos is not able to open their shop for day's operations. Why are all demos a fight between demostrators and police? Why does it have to end in looting and destruction of property? When and how can we get to a point where police accompany demonstrators and oversee from start to finish of peaceful demos?

There are different reasons someone joins in the demos. Some good people do it for love of their country and the spirit of patriotism, and such people need a pat on their back. Some look for a chance to steal and hence vandalize and destroy private and public property, these actions must be condemned because these are the characters that make demos a bad experience for everyone.  

On the flipside, politicians are now running civilian gangs who are now beating up the demonstrators under police protection. This is a dangerous trend that if not stopped could easily turn the country into a militia state where people are free to form their own armies to fight for their own ends.

As a country, we must have gone wrong somewhere for us to have come to where we are today. We could have elected wrong leaders but even so, we have just allowed our moral fabric as a country to beak down completely. The respect of the rule of law is at its lowest and impunity is now puffed up in every corridor of power where the powers that be believe they could do anything, break all laws and get away with it. The trend is not good but we hope and pray that everything could click back to normalcy so that we could be a hopeful people in a country where the rule of law guides action by the leadership and the citizens. 

Let kenyans not break the same laws that they are angry about the government breaking because of course, two wrongs don't make a right. 

Let us all always stand for what is right,defend the weak, demand justice,

and to hold leadership accountable but within the confines of the law. Let us encourage our people and youth in particular to do the right thing and let us all pray for a better Kenya. May God help us and heal our nation. Amen.

@Stephen Mungai 

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MOTHER TO JAMES

 MOTHER TO JAMES

James Kaguri was the second child of her mother, Wairimu. James was named after the mother's father as per Kikuyu traditions. The first born was Mburu, but when James came, Mburu seemed to have been forgotten because the mother became too close to James and naturally so, he was named after her dad. The last born in the family was their sister Warigia. To date, the father has always been busy attending to his many businesses and as a result, spent very little time with his kids in their younger days. The 3 siblings are now adults and only Warigia is yet to start a family. Mburu is married with 4 kids. James, on the other hand is also married with 2 kids. At the time when he got married, James had a stable job with a local matatu Sacco that operates in the Nairobi-Thika route. This was before he got tired of the job and left to start a business. With the support of the mother, he tried his hand in buying old cars, repairing them, and reselling them at a profit. The first project, and as guided by his friend Mithamo, did not go very well, only getting a profit of 10K after 3 weeks of hard work. He was a little disappointed with it and is yet to do a second trial. He has never been worried even without much earning because, and lucky for him, the mother has never let him suffer. Every time he has financial difficulties, the mother will always give him cash to relieve him of trouble. James's wife Rachael has always had a problem with her husband about the mother because she seems to be in control of James. Rachael only realized too late that James never makes important decisions without consulting the mother. The situation has been so bad that sometimes, Rachael would be called by the mother-in-law to be told that her idea is not good, an idea which the couple had privately discussed and decided on. James reports to the mother all that the couple does and plans. This has always angered Rachael, and nowadays, she just let the mother son relationship be since she seems not to be able to get between them. Rachael became so nerved by it until she would sarcastically tell James that his mother had control over them in everything, including when and how they do it under the sheets. 

This looks like a problem with upbringing or? Is James Mum love good or too much? What should Rachael do? Can she change the man, or must she accept the status quo? Can James overcome the control and be his own man? 

Oedipus complex was named after Oedipus who in Greek mythology killed his own father and married the mother. The concept explains how boys are attracted to their mothers and while this is a natural phenomenon, it is curious to explain to ladies as to where exactly to draw the line between loving their sons and doing it too much to a level of spoiling them. So, how can mothers avoid bringing up irresponsible men in this respect? Could the problem with James also be attributed to the lack of involvement of the father? 

The problems of boys in our society today are many. Too much love from mothers is only one of the many. Irresponsible men in the society and mental health issues of men is a major problem that the society needs to address because the effects of it are far reaching.

As we keep telling our men and boys to man-up, I think it's important to find out where the problem springs from so that we could have more responsible and mentally fit men in our society. Maybe women should help in bringing up the boys better by avoiding too much love or?  The strong men on the other hand should help the struggling men up, instead of just telling them to man-up because Proverbs 27:17 is still true, ‘As iron sharpens iron, so does a man sharpen another.’

 

@ Stephen Mungai 

 HUMAN DIGNITY 

Armin Meiwes was good to his neighbours doing normal neighbourhood activities with them, at times inviting them into his house for dinner. In march 2001 Meiwes advertised on the internet for a "young well-built man, who wanted to be eaten". Around 6 people responded to the advert saying that they were willing. Of the 6 Bernd Brandes replied and took further steps and travelled to Meiwes house. Both men were well to do professionals. Meiwes was a computer expert while Brandes was an Engineer. They had some conversation between them going on till night. As would later be produced in court to prove prior agreement by the victim, meiwes recorded all the proceedings including Brandes express agreement. Meiwes proceeded to cut a part of Brandes who later died and for the next few weeks, Meiwes enjoyed eating everyday before he was apprehended. Maiwes is still serving his life imprisonment and is now 63 years old.

That is not an interesting story but the number of people around our country that have no second thought killing other people is on the rise and very scary. What happened to us as a people? What happened to the value of human life? Why is killing in Kenya a very easy transaction nowadays? 

The story of Albert Ojwang is the latest. Police version of the story is that he hit himself on walls of the cell he was in. Many people doubt that version and there has been many angles to the story to increase likeliness that he was actually murdered. A sad story of a young Kenyan dying for a reason not equivalent to the mistakes he made.

Another Kenyan, David Mwai also died in police cell. He had been arrested for attempting to Kill someone called Idriss. He had been given the job and accepted. Idriss was friend and campaigner to a well known politician before their friendship became sour. Idriss knew so much about the person and was threatening to speak and damage his career.....so....

Mwai was supposed to reveal the people who contracted him to kill but is said to have committed suicide in police cells before that happened. 

An MP, Ong'ondo Were was sometime back shot dead on Ngong road. A priest who had previously hosted a top politician would later be found murdered. Let's not talk about the many young people killed by police bullets in the height of street demonstrations.

And the stories of people being Killed never seem to end.

What happened to our humanity? How can we restore respect and dignity to human life? 

God's commandment No. 6 is, 'Do not Kill' and since that seems not to matter to many of our country men, may be we need healing for our land and that needs Christians to take 2 Chronicles 7:14 action, 'If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.'

Or what shall we do?

@ Stephen Mungai

 

LET THEM EAT CAKE

For many years, Kenya has been among the top ten beneficiary countries of USAID funds before Donald trump came to office and signed executive order cutting down on the funds.  Funds coming to Kenya through USAID have been important in various areas of mainly humanitarian help. The impact of the cuts has already been felt. For instance, there is a greater risk of death for HIV/AIDs patients for lack of drugs, testing support, testing and prevention services. Other support areas like food security, climate resilience programs and educations have also been severely affected leaving Kenyans at a much worse health and economic situation as before.

A lot of analysis and discussion has gone down since the cuts announcement, and this include why Africa must learn to Take care of its own affairs without help from the western world. Whether Africa benefits more from developed countries or those countries benefit more from Africa is a debate that never seems to go. Africans who are out to fight imperialism and neo-colonialism argue that Africa has lost more to the west. They argue that, for a few aids from the west, Africa has given mining licenses to first world companies that in effect earn billions from the minerals. Long-term concessions have also left Africa as the net loser in the transactions with the so-called aid countries.

Many NGOs running in Kenya and Africa receive funding from different organizations in developed countries. This is unlike NGOs running in the developed countries that receive funding from their country’s companies and countrymen. This raises the question about our culture of giving because we are culturally net receiver inclined people. How many Kenyans give regularly to charity? Of course, poverty levels are high, and many people survive from hand to mouth but of the people that have enough to eat and spare, how many give to help the next needy person? I tend to believe that as a country, we have enough resources to cater for the needs of every member of society without help from outside our borders. How could we achieve good and fair wealth distribution as a country. Could that also be our problem?

Let’s come closer home and ask ourselves; how many of us have stored food in our fridges to eventually throw them realizing they expired? What if the cost of such wastage was given to someone who had a problem putting a meal on the table? What if we would give out the extra furniture or electronics to someone needing them more? How many of our clothing and shoes, including our children’s, have we not worn for over one year? Imagine how those piles of clothes give us headaches, arranging and rearranging to create space for new ones! What if we gave them out to people in need of them and help free up spaces for ourselves? If we maybe developed a culture of giving as a people, then we would not need external aid, even for our NGOs.

The gap between the rich and the poor in Kenya has been growing and apart from a few hard-working Kenyans that gain wealth from pure hard work, there are many whose gains can be attributed to corruption and association with the ruling political class. This wealth could be considered unjust and traces back to after colonial days when government officials allocated themselves large tracts of land and have been rich ever since. These injustices may take long to resolve or may never be resolved but remains as a culture of no ending corruption.  Nevertheless, a resource re-distribution through giving and charity may be a starting point in reducing the pains of our people suffering in poverty.

Marie Antoinette was the queen of France during the French revolution and is well remembered for the quote, ’’Let them eat Cake’’ which was her answer to protesters when she was told that people had no bread to eat. In a highly stratified poor vs rich population, unjust wealth gainers usually do not understand why other people are poor considering the ease with which they make their wealth and Marie’s attitude is the same that the beneficiaries to a corrupt regime treat the poor with.

I think we need to increase our sensitivity to the poor people around us and practice giving which is also a command given to us in the bible, Deuteronomy 15:11:

"For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore, I command you: 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'"

 

@ Stephen Mungai