JEUDI DES CENDRES

 JEUDI DES CENDRES

Avant que les cendres du mercredi des Cendres ne se déposent, parlons des cendres, car aujourd'hui sera le jeudi des Cendres pour certaines personnes. Le vôtre peut être le vendredi des Cendres et un proche de votre famille le samedi des Cendres. Avant que vous n'absorbiez les ondes de choc de votre parent et que vous ne vous lassiez, un dimanche des Cendres ferme le rideau pour votre ami d'enfance. Et ce lundi est devenu encore plus bleu quand il est devenu le lundi des Cendres pour cette célèbre personnalité publique nationale qui a choqué tous les citoyens. Puis, à quel point mardi pouvait-il être noir quand il s'est avéré être le mardi des Cendres pour le gentil collègue que tout le monde aimait.
Sur la 19e Avenue de la ville de Genèse 3, ce fut une triste rencontre pour l'Homme lorsque Dieu prononça les mots les plus durs jusqu'à présent dans le grand Univers, la Bible ''À la sueur de ton front
tu mangeras ta nourriture
jusqu'à ce que tu retournes à la terre,
d'où tu as été tiré ;
car tu es poussière
et tu retourneras à la poussière. »
Ce sont les mots mêmes que nous aimons éviter, souhaiter et même éviter les conversations autour d'eux. En colère contre la classe politique, c'est pourquoi lorsque des jeunes férus de technologie au Kenya ont créé des photos et des vidéos des politiciens actuels du Kenya dans des cercueils, cela a suscité tant de colère et de ressentiment de la part des politiciens du parti au pouvoir, y compris du président lui-même, car personne ne veut penser ou se rappeler qu'ils vont mourir. Mais pourquoi ne devrions-nous pas plutôt nous préparer pour notre jour des cendres ? Nous vivons honnêtement dans ce monde comme si nous y étions en permanence. Nous trichons, nous volons, nous tuons, nous commettons l'adultère et brisons des foyers, nous méprisons les pauvres parce que nous nous considérons comme riches, nous escroquons des victimes sans méfiance et, à la manière typiquement kenyane, nous volons des innocents ou des caisses publiques et accumulons des richesses si énormes que même nos arrière-arrière-petits-enfants ne les épuiseraient pas. Et pourquoi devrions-nous le faire ? Pourquoi voler pour de futurs enfants dont certains que vous ne rencontrerez jamais, comme si vous aviez un contrat pour voler pour eux. Le mal n'a aucun sens si nous continuons à nous rappeler qu'à un moment inconnu et inattendu, nous mourrons. Nous devons nous engager à faire le bien et je pense que nous devons parler davantage de la mort pour la réalité qu'elle est et cesser de considérer Dieu comme un grand-père cosmique rabat-joie pour la bonne raison qu'au moins Il nous a dit que nous mourrions.
Permettez-moi d'être le premier à mener la conversation sur la mort. Ainsi, lorsque nous travaillons, concluons des affaires, planifions et nouons des contacts, nous devons éviter le mal et nous concentrer sur le bien parce que nous sommes candidats à la mort et que nous pouvons mourir à tout moment. L'histoire biblique de l'homme qui rassemblait suffisamment de nourriture pour lui-même et la stockait dans des greniers devrait être une « claque sur notre visage » car, alors qu'il était assis pour manger, boire et faire la fête, le propriétaire de l'âme arrive et dit : « Insensé, cette nuit même ta vie te sera demandée » Luc 12:13-21. Alors, agis-tu comme un insensé ou fais-tu ce qui est juste et es-tu prêt pour ton jour des cendres, ton jour de mort ?

@ Stephen Mungai

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ASCHERDONNERSTAG

 ASCHERDONNERSTAG

Bevor sich die Asche des Aschermittwochs legt, wollen wir über Asche sprechen, denn für manche Menschen ist heute Ascherdonnerstag. Für Sie könnte Ascherfreitag sein und für einen Ihrer nahen Verwandten Aschersamstag. Bevor Sie die Schockwellen Ihres Verwandten absorbieren und buuh, schließt ein Aschersonntag den Vorhang für Ihren Freund aus Kindertagen. Und dieser Montagsblues wurde noch düsterer, als er für diese berühmte nationale Persönlichkeit, die alle Bürger schockierte, zum Aschermontag wurde. Und wie schwarz konnte dann der Dienstag sein, als er sich für den netten Kollegen, den jeder liebte, als Ascherdienstag herausstellte.
Auf der 19. Avenue der Stadt Genesis 3 war es eine traurige Begegnung für den Menschen, als Gott die bisher härtesten Worte des großen Universums verkündete: Die Bibel: „Im Schweiße deines Angesichts

sollst du dein Brot essen

bis du wieder zur Erde wirst,
davon du genommen bist.

denn Staub bist du

und zum Staub wirst du zurückkehren.“

Das sind genau die Worte, die wir so gerne vermeiden, wegwünschen und sogar Gespräche über sie vermeiden. Aus diesem Grund haben technisch versierte junge Leute in Kenia, die wütend auf die politische Klasse waren, Fotos und Videos von den aktuellen kenianischen Politikern in Särgen erstellt. Das hat bei den Politikern der Regierungspartei, einschließlich des Präsidenten selbst, so viel Wut und Groll hervorgerufen, denn niemand möchte daran denken oder daran erinnert werden, dass sie sterben werden. Aber warum sollten wir uns nicht lieber und besser auf unseren Aschetag vorbereiten? Wir leben wirklich in dieser Welt, als wären wir für immer hier. Wir betrügen, wir stehlen, wir töten, wir begehen Ehebruch und zerstören Familien, wir ignorieren arme Menschen, weil wir uns für reich halten, wir betrügen ahnungslose Opfer und in typisch kenianischer Manier stehlen wir von unschuldigen Menschen oder aus der Staatskasse und häufen so große Reichtümer an, dass selbst unsere Ur-Ur-Enkel sie nicht aufbrauchen könnten. Und warum sollten wir? Warum sollten wir für zukünftige Kinder stehlen, von denen wir einige nie kennenlernen werden, als hätten wir einen Vertrag, für sie zu stehlen? Das Böse ergibt keinen Sinn, wenn und falls wir uns ständig daran erinnern, dass wir zu einem unbekannten, unerwarteten Zeitpunkt sterben werden. Wir müssen uns dazu verpflichten, Gutes zu tun, und ich denke, wir müssen mehr über den Tod als die Realität sprechen, die er ist, und davon absehen, Gott als kosmischen Spielverderber zu betrachten, aus dem guten Grund, dass er uns zumindest gesagt hat, dass wir sterben werden.

Lassen Sie mich zuerst das Gespräch über den Tod führen. Wenn wir also arbeiten, Geschäfte machen, planen und Kontakte knüpfen, müssen wir das Böse vermeiden und uns darauf konzentrieren, Gutes zu tun, denn wir sind Kandidaten des Todes und könnten von jetzt an jederzeit sterben. Die biblische Geschichte des Mannes, der genug Nahrung für sich sammelte und in Kornspeichern lagerte, sollte uns ein „Schlag ins Gesicht“ sein, denn gerade als er sich hinsetzte, um zu essen, zu trinken und zu feiern, kam der Seelenbesitzer und sagte: „Du Narr, noch in dieser Nacht wird man dein Leben von dir fordern“ (Lukas 12:13-21). Und also benimmst du dich wie ein Narr oder tust du das Richtige und bist du auf deinen Aschetag, deinen Todestag, vorbereitet?

@ Stephen Mungai

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ASH THURSDAY

 ASH THURSDAY

Before the ash Wednesday ashes settle, let's talk about ashes because today will be ash Thursday for some people. Yours may happen to be ash Friday and a close relative of yours ash Saturday. Before you absorb the shock waves of your relative and boop, an ash Sunday closes the curtains for your childhood friend. And this Monday blues got bluer when it became ash Monday for this famous national public personality that shocked all citizen. Then how black could Tuesday be when it turned out ash Tuesday for the nice colleague everyone loved.

On the 19th Avenue of the city of Genesis 3, it was a sad encounter for Man when God declared the harshest words so far in the great Universe, The bible ''By the sweat of your brow

    you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

    since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

    and to dust you will return.” 

Those are the very words we love to avoid, wish away and even avoid conversations around them. Angered by the political class, this is why when tech savvy young people in Kenya created photos and videos of the Kenyan current politicians in caskets, it evoked so much anger and resentment from the ruling party politicians including the president himself because, non wants to think or be reminded that they will die. But why shouldn't we rather and better prepare for our ash day? We honestly live in this world like we are permanently here. We cheat, we steal, we kill, we commit adultery and break homes, we disregard poor people because we consider ourselves rich, we swindle unsuspecting victims and in a typical Kenyan fashion, we steal from innocent people or from public coffers and gather so huge amounts of wealth that even our great great grandkids would not deplete. And why should we? Why should you steal for future kids some of whom you will never meet, as if you had a contract to steal for them. Evil makes no sense when and if we keep reminding ourselves that at unknown unexpected time, we will die. We need to commit ourselves to doing good and I think we need to talk about death more for the reality it is and desist from regarding God as grandfather cosmic killjoy for the good reason that, at least He told us that we will die.

Let me be first to lead the death conversation. So as we work, do deals, plan and make contacts, we need to avoid evil and focus on doing good because we are candidates of death and we might die anytime from now. The bible story of the man who gathered enough food for himself and stored in granaries should be a 'cammon slap on our face' because just as he was sitting down to eat, drink and make merry, the soul owner comes and says, ' you fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you' Luke 12:13-21. And so are you acting like the fool or are you doing what is right and are you prepared for your ash day, your day of death?

@ Stephen Mungai

ALINIPA KUMBI, ALEKUPA KITI

Ujapo kwasika, mtulivu uwe

Alipenda Rabuka, nilivyo niwe

Ikujiapo fanaka, adilika wewe

Alinipa kumbi, alekupa Kiti

Kazi niitendayo, yanikimu daima

Naipenda hiyo, iwapo ni rukwama

Yangu kazi hiyo, wewe ipe heshima

Alinipa kumbi, alekupa Kiti

Manani kanipa, hii yangu sura

We heshima nipa, niwapo chotara

Kama baya kanipa, nawe nzuri sura

Alinipa kumbi, alekupa Kiti

Nikaapo pale, paheshimu wewe

Kibadangu kile, chakuhusu ni we?

Shukuru Molale, kwa ulipo wewe

Alinipa kumbi, alekupa Kiti

Hata kama mie, sikupata elimu

Si penzi langu wee, kut’ona mwalimu

Tulivyo tukae, sote binadamu

Alinipa kumbi, alekupa kiti

Kafanya duniani, tufautiane

Lengole Manani, zoteni Karne

Sote duniani, tushirikiane

Alinipa kumbi, alekupa Kiti.

AMA NIAJE WAZITO?

AMA NIAJE WAZITO?

It makes me very sad when I notice a grown up who’s unable to communicate in their own mother tongue and the excuse, one was brought up in town. To me, there’s just no reason why one should fail to know their mother tongue however orthodox the method that would be used to learn it. Save the post election violence that happened in our beloved motherland that made tribe gang up against another, I have always believed that we should promote knowledge and understanding of our tribes to keep alive the beauty of unity in diversity in our country. It should also be easier to learn other people’s languages and that’s the reason I once thought a school offering local languages would be a great entrepreneurial idea and watch this space if I don’t mint millions on such simple an idea. My appreciation of language has made the reading of my bible even more fun coz if not reading English, I’d be reading Kiswahili or kikuyu or kamba or Dholuo. But Luo has been the only challenge coz it dawned on me later on that it’s easier spoken than read; the more reason I’ve been looking for a sheng bible with no success in those city bookshops.

You cannot however talk of language away from culture. Language tends to squeeze one into the culture and the traditions of the spoken and makes one feel a sense of belonging and attachment to the culture of the spoken language.

There’s not a language that lands me in traditional and cultural home like sheng does. This is the reason Juliani remains my best musician of all times coz of his ability to juggle words and give me a concoction of words that inspires me  nisiogope hell, niogope kutoka hii dunia sijakamua kenye mola alitarajia. For this reason I joined the bandwagon to make sheng an international language. This is the language of the Kenyan youth the bulk of who are city dwellers. That’s why Omosh and Oj of Tahidi High, then MaDVD of Machachari have won the best TV actor at Chaguo la Teeniez awards over the last three events; because they speak sheng, they are admired and well able to connect with the youth who are of course our leaders of tomorrow.

But this are not times when sheng was the language of lazy youths who sit down mitaani to fantasize like Ayeiya put it, ‘’Lack of vision among the you makes…’kazi ya maboys nikuamka wakae baze waanze kuvisualize…..zao ni ku-imagine…imagine umetembea tu tao upatane na briefcase iko na ten million……mwingine anajibu…hiyo ni uraaadi……hiyo dream yako usiachilie.’’. This aren’t times when sheng was for thugs kushika fe, ukapi na kuchapana nyongolo na kutrade gadgets za magendo imbo. It’s no language of people with potential lakini hawaoni past tumbo ego inafly tooo lowwwwww…… low..low..low.

This are times when sheng is a force for change to reckon with; to be used like Mbusi of ghetto radio is doing to change our mentality; like Juliani is using it to encourage us to take responsibility and be agents of change for the betterment of every sector of our country and the world at large. Yes it’s time to say, ‘walitudharau…..aha…aha…aha…who’s laughing now? Exponential potential……wanadrown kwa machozi zao, tunaogelea kwa jasho zetu……who’s laughing now…Tuko na exponential potential. It’s time to get out of the pond into the ocean….yaani. ’vision za ku-swim kwa ocean, hii papa….imefungwa kwa aquarium, purpose….si four walls za church….stadium status’  zitaendeshwa na nani ka si sisi, zitanunuliwa na nani ka si sisi, tutabadilishwa na nani ka si sisi, simaanishi mwengine ni wewe na wewe na mi-mi. Kama si sisi sioni.

That’s just the reason sheng should remain and let language teachers teach English and Swahili and leave sheng alone and not force kids to unlearn it. It’s our way of life and our connection to new inspiration for the youths to take responsibility over their lives and our country.

But for our sheng language assasins like postbank, this’ what my friend had to say,  "JISETI NA POST-BANK." I don’t think that some of these marketers actually know what they are talking about. "Kujiseti" ni kujiingiza kwa noma. Mfano katika sentensi...Sikujua kwamba Juma angejiseti na huyo dame. Next time u r looking for a promotion sheng, call the Shengists...N I am one of them.’’

But some words from Sir God are worth considering, ‘’ Saa juu ya hii story, God alipenda world sana mpaka akageiana Mtoto wake wa pekee ndio kila msee atam-believe a savike, asilost laini apate life ya forever’’ (John 3:16).  This is the strength in life that God has given us and so He says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 ‘Lakini akanishow, “Grace yangu imekutosha mzeiya, juu nguvu yangu huwa made perfect kwa weakness.’’ ‘Kwa hivyo naweza do kila kitu through Christ mwenye ananipatia mahinya.’ (Philippians 4:13.)

That only means we have exponential potential and we must shout it atop roofs in sheng, a language we best understand.

Ama niaje wazito?

KAMA SI SISI SIONI

The lover of music I am, you expect that on the groove awards Saturday I was glued to screen to watch to get every detail of the event. The event could only be christened godly because it was perfectly planned and executed. It flowed well with one thing leading to another; performance to performance and award to award. The event had come hot on heels on the Chaguo La Teeniez (CHAT) awards that had happened roughly a week or two before. Of course you expect I watched that one too beginning to end but the emcees and the flow left a bad taste in mouth. It was a total disappointment with those running the show not even sure of what they were supposed to do. The sound was disastrously bad and the audience a handful; very poorly attended. The two made it clear to all and sundries that gospel music had now taken over; officially.

However, the proceedings of the Groove awards event kept a knot in my stomach the whole time just wondering whether my greatest musician of all time would scoop any award. My tension eased when he won the best Hip Hop song of the year with his Hit single, Hello. Deep down my heart though, I knew that was too little for him coz he’d done too much for the gospel scene. I thought he deserved more. Then came time for the Male artist of the year; arguably the biggest award in that event. I got tense just hoping it would fall on my man. The announcement was a little ‘not too good for me’ when Daddy Owen was given the hat. I respect daddy and have always considered him the dad of Kenyan gospel music. That was kinda acceptable to me but Juliani would be my choice anytime. When Daddy Owen went up the stage to receive the award, something shocking and unheard of before happened. He took it and said that he’s giving it to Juliani. My NTV channel went off the event immediately making me miss my man accepting the Male artist of the year award. I’ve never understood to this day why NTV were displeased with the happenings but it was obvious that Daddy thought and so did I that Juliani had done more than him over the year.

Juliani released his second album a few months ago and that one, I can’t get enough of it. He has also gone around the country’s varsities with his campaign dubbed Kama si sisi tour whose aim was to sensitize the youth of the need to take responsibility over their lives and to be agents to initiate the much needed change in the society. And he does well coz his performances are electrifying and inspirational. He does it with breaks to allow his audiences understand his lyrics and breaks to throw a word of positivity or the gospel of Christ to his audience. I call him the prophet of our time and have joked that if he was to start a cult, I would be his member number one.

One interesting thing about God is that he gave us freewill and ability to manipulate our minds. This power has done great things to humanity with technology changing every day and thus our lives. Christians however have received extra ability to spread morality and total dependency on God as an obligation of the whole human race. And Thus Jeremiah 1:10 “ see, today I appoint you over nations and Kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant. ‘’ The power God has put in us as agents of change is immense and unimaginable and it’s high time Christians learnt to use our powers. Kutabadilishwa na nani kama si sisi? Asks the prophet. Kama si sisi sioni.

THE COST OF JUSTICE

To my own statistics, I feel 95% of Kenyans would be at pains defining the word justice. Injustice seems to make more sense to us than the former. And this is how it goes; somewhere in 2008, Truth, justice and reconciliation commission (TJRC) is established by an act of parliament with the aim of investigating the gross human rights violations and other historical injustices in Kenya happening between independence and the commission’s inception. The goal here was to contribute towards national unity, reconciliation, and healing. Talking of historical injustices calls to fore many ugly scenes including still unresolved deaths of high profile individuals like Gama Pinto, Tom Mboya, J M Kariuki, Robert Ouko and the list is endless. Politically motivated or otherwise, the killers remain in hiding. A much more ugly scene was the Wagalla massacre where our security forces went wild and slaughtered fellow Kenyans in the name of finding a final solution to the Somali problem. And when the TJRC was preparing to go out to seek the truth and bring healing, it’s chairman then, Amb. Betwell Kiplagat was said to have been involved in the killings and this paralyzed the TJRC for sometime.

Our history as a country is so ugly that we would rather keep quiet about it. There are many guilty people walking free and going about there businesses like innocent people and the law seems too slow to catch up with them. On the other hand, there are so many innocent people serving long sentences in prison for crimes they never committed. I watched lockdown on citizen TV some days back, of prisoners on death row, and some stories on innocent people already over 10 years in prison was heart rending. We can only hope that the man with the earring, Dr. Willy Mutunga, the nominee for chief justice would bring a magical adornment into our justice systems.

This week, Kamukunji electorate was set to elect their new MP after justice stripped one Simon Mbugua of that seat months ago. The number of MPs who’ve lost parliamentary seats through court process now stands at 10 in the current house. That sounds good for justice but some rulings the courts have done of late leaves less to be desired of the justice system. The latest was the court injunction stopping Kamukunji By-election just 2 days before the planned date draining the taxpayer around Ksh. 40M of course not counting all the monies the aspirants had already spent on campaigns. This was supposed to be justice to one aspirant who’d went to court after being barred by the IIEC from running. I just wonder whether justice for one party is justified if it means injustice to other parties. Just picture this; How much on average does it cost to organize a by election? 50M on the lower side. Multiply that by 10 (number of MPs who have lost their seat through electoral petitions). That means 500m Kenyan money. That makes me look at my pay slip and it’s painful that I pay more than 10K every month, money that easily  goes to waste in such wanton ways. That money, Half a B cash is enough to get ALL IDPs out of camps. We thus need badly some individuals to straighten our crooked justice system.

Talking of justice; we’d gone astray, our thoughts, deeds and actions always evil. God chose the blood of lambs to redeem us but we squandered the system and did business at the temple of God. The poor with no animals were to die in iniquity leaving forgiveness of sins a reserve of the rich. Only priests could go before God for other peoples’ sins. Then God thought of need to overhaul the whole justice system. He sent his only son, who’d take on our sins and guilt and as ‘sinner’ he was mistreated, persecuted and finally nailed on the cross for our sins. The result; we can now go directly to God and get forgiveness for our sins. If justice was to be done, we would have come to destruction for our sins but our loving God found a better way for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’

Thus we are made righteous coz justice over our sins Jesus took upon Himself.