Dowry,doesn't mean you are ‘buying a wife’

            The idea of paying dowry from my point of view or rather from my community's angle was an act of appreciation by the guy seeking to marry to the parents who raised the lady to be married. You might say the guy was also raised by his parents, but this can be countered by the fact that it is the lady who will leave her Parents and joint another family as a full member of that family.

            It is a tradition and a cultural practice which I believe should not be discarded just because some people commercialized it, we should stick to the original meanings and symbolism that this practice represented. We should never equate it as a price, because human beings are priceless, we can never attach a price to a human being, and it should be practiced within the confines of the original intentions. Myself am yet to  pay dowry and I am sure it is a good thing to do. It is a sign to my in-laws that I love and respect their daughter and not even dowry can stand in my way of getting her!!

            Strictly speaking, nobody will force you to pay dowry, and it is not a must that you should clear it before you get married, those parents who insist on clearing it before you are given the bride are those who have commercialized it and they don't understand the meaning and what it represented traditionally.

            I am not of the idea of discarding our traditions just because we are becoming westernized, we will do this to our own peril!! you can see for yourself what is happening to those communities who have departed from their traditions. There is a breakdown of almost everything, kids no longer respect adults, kids used to be raised by the community but now it is an individual thing!! look at the rate of pregnancies we are witnessing, look at the rate of sons killing their parents!! look at the rate of divorce!!! look at the rate of single parents!! look at the rate of homosexuality and lesbianism!!,look at the number of street children !!! these were unheard of sometimes back,but because we have discarded most of our cultures and traditions, these things are rampant and they are of no good to the society.

Have you realized almost everything communities did as a cultural and tradition has been baptized with scary names? i.e.;

Dowry renamed - Bride price

Circumcision  renamed - FGM!!

Stroke discipline renamed – Corporal punishment

and many more, this is a way discouraging people from sticking to their traditions.

Its ‘Kikuyu’ scramble and partition for Kenya

After  kibakis’  appointment of Ndegwa muhoro and  Frank Njenga to head the CID and the later as the  chairman of National Campaign Against Drug Abuse advisory board(NACADA) whose news was eclipsed by the Promulgation of the new Constitution and the fragrance Omar al Bashir left, after the August 27 fete.
 I now truly agree with you, there is tribalism  and also  nepotism is high  in Kenya. Do you remember when Kimunya was appointed to act as the Transport minister? what was his first act? he appointed a kikuyu the MD KAA even when it was clear his selection by the board was riddled with irregularities!! he also went ahead to appoint another Kikuyu to head KPA. Which brings me to question why such a thing is allowed to happen at the present Kenya. It is tribalism at its highest especially by these leaders from Central province.
I know some people here will want to lynch me for saying that, I welcome
 them to do so, and I will unleash more information to prove this.
Kenya belongs to all of us, and all of us who love Kenya should come out and fight this with all our energy. We need to go with people who can buy our vision and objective rather than having people who do not share the same ideology. America is what it is today because of its focus on economic empowerment , they focused on what they wanted in future and they have it now. 

Youths and Morality...

Hi good people,

You walk around Kenya of today and you are left dumbfounded on what exactly is going on.
Is it that the youths around cannot exercise self restraint or something?

Most of the youths, and am saying the youths because that is where I belong, are so adamant when it comes to matters of morality and faith.
Cant we spare even some few seconds and reflect on our lives and our moral being in the society?
It is true that a higher percentage of the young people are either engaged in immoral behavior or are getting influenced towards the same direction.

Can we at least have some voice of reason standing up for the truth and help change the direction and our moral being for a better society???
Cant we afford to spare sometime and get even into our churches and doing something for God???

JUST WONDERING ALOUD????

IT’S VISION 2030 NOT ‘3020’

The unveiling of Kenya Vision 2030 marked an important milestone in
our country's development as it came soon after the successful
implementation of the "Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and
Employment Creation" (ERS) over the period 2003 to-2007.The economic, social and political pillars of Kenya Vision 2030 are anchored on the
Following foundations: macroeconomic stability; continuity in
governance reforms;
Enhanced equity and wealth creation opportunities for the poor;
infrastructure; energy;
Science, technology and innovation (STI); land reform; human resources
development;
Security; and public sector reforms.

I'll address the last point which is public sector reforms. If Kenya
is to attain this vision then we need to radically change and improve
public sector performance. This can be done by embracing innovative
reforms-everything from making services like motor vehicle
registration, business registration, and tax filing less cumbersome to
privatizing transportation, energy etc.

Despite the widespread commitment to change, many reform initiatives
have not lived up to expectations. In some cases, external
constraints, such as new administration or shifting legislative
priorities, have created obstacles that have stifled progress.
Meanwhile, internal constraints-such as skill gaps, resistance to
change, time-consuming processes and inadequate technologies-have also
undermined many well-intentioned reforms.
Organization and Process Design
what should the government do? At the outset, they should eliminate
functions that fail to contribute to their core mission. They should
streamline operations; redesign processes and use new technologies
deliberately to stimulate new ways of working. For example, the
Government can go On-Line on Business registration and make it a
single, integrated task that can be completed over the Internet.
Businesses can also manage their postal accounts fully online.
Top-performing parastatals and departments can also design their
organizational structures to be flexible, and establish pilot programs
to test new ideas and innovations. Structurally, they are often
decentralized, empowering employees at all levels of the organization
to take personal responsibility for the processes and activities in
which they are engaged-thus stimulating a culture of
entrepreneurship.
High performers not only design organizations and processes
progressively; they relentlessly change them to improve outcomes and
value for their constituents. This way attainment of Kenya vision 2030
will not be a mirage but a continuous improvement process we should
all think and do something about it.

Celebrate If You Must But We Are Not In Canaan Yet

On 8^th August, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said “We are now in Canaan, the bigger task of building Canaan now begins” – conquering the Amelekites and Canaanites and taking over their lands and cities!

This statement implies Kenyans must work hard to realize Canaan which is a figurative for freedom and prosperity. Simultaneously and falsely, it claims new constitution has overnight frog-leaped Kenyans from the desert to Canaan, from old to new Kenya, from Third World to First, from poverty to wealth.

While promulgation of new constitution is important, I disagree with the implication that those who will go to bed poor on 27^th August, will wake up rich on 28^th. We must be truthful in our optimism and not be victims of the culture of living on falsehoods and false hopes, even for purposes of feeling good and buoying up our spirits. We must not celebrate being in Canaan when we are not, or we rest on our laurels when we must not.

For many years, we compared ourselves with the worst like Somalia and Sudan , felt great about it and forgot to catch up with the best, moving only slightly ahead of the worst and that’s why we are where we are today.

But Raila’s claim that the new constitution will catapult Kenyans into Canaan is not entirely without merit. But only a few more Kenyans will land in Canaan . Majority will remain exactly where they are in the desert.

After all, the rich of Kenya have always been in Canaan . Some were taken there by Kenyatta, others by Moi and now Kibaki, Raila and the new constitution will take there a few more as new MPs, senators, governors, members of commissions, new judges, ambassadors and political women. These are the people for whom the rain of the new constitution will fall, not IDPs, poor workers, unemployed youths and poor farmers that will be taxed heavily to mollify ethnic elites for political stability.

Canaan of Kenya is Canaan of the rich, not of the poor or everybody.

Millions will never forget 12^th December 1963, the day of our independence. We went to bed convinced that on 13^th December, we would wake up in heaven. Despite our celebrations which were greater than Christmas, colonial hell is yet to die. However, independence did land newly created African elites into Canaan , almost immediately.

But it was the failure of independence and then Narc-Kibaki regime to take all into Canaan that gave birth to the struggle for second liberation and new constitution. But now we have the new constitution, are we in heaven or Canaan ?  How can someone be in heaven and not feel it? Maybe some feel it, but almost all I see don’t look it.  Instinctively, Kenyans seem to fear yet another betrayal but why?

The new constitution is a set of promises that leaders may or not honor. If Kenyan leaders continue to enjoy impunity, they will betray and sabotage the new constitution and render it still born. But the million dollar question is why Kenyans trust bad leaders to midwife, baby sit and look after the new constitution. Are we reckless, hopeless or don’t care?

After giving Israelis a new constitution of the Ten Commandments, God barred Moses and his generation from entering Canaan because it was too corrupt for Canaan . Only the courageous and untarnished generation of Joshua and Caleb was allowed into Canaan . Can we sincerely say our leaders are better than Moses and more allowable into Canaan ? If our rich have unfairly entered and contaminated Canaan , can God not bar us from it?

If independence was a false start that largely failed because of its reliance on capitalism to deliver to people what it could only deliver to a few, why will the new constitution not also fail because of its reliance on the same capitalism and its monsters of poverty, detention, majimbo, negative ethnicity and corruption?

Capitalism mothers poverty, not wealth. While the new constitution promises food and other economic rights, capitalism will not deliver because it is not its nature to do so.  Unless it is amended to address capitalism, new constitution will not be a roadmap to salvation but a signpost to self-destruction.

Sudan – Kenya Eying A ‘Juicy’ Morsel,Al-bashir Is A Passing Cloud

For record, i personally believe that if one truthfully study the
 genesis of Darfur Conflict devoid of NGOs sensationalism and Western
 interests the conclusion would be that the Arrest Warrants by ICC for
 Al-Bashir are malicious. Second, Kenya should pursue her own interests FIRST. Regional and
 African
interests NEXT, and lastly the so called international law/interests. In
and reconciliation in the Sudan, it would have defeated that goal by
arresting Al-Bashir. Also there is AU Stand that ICC should go to hell.
 Kenyan interests in the Sudan are vital; a number of Kenyan institutions
are
 investing in the Sudan (mostly South), a good number of Kenyans are
 working
 there etc etc... WHY jeopardize that for malicious ICC Warrants?

 Third, I thought ODM is part and parcel of Kenyan Government. WHY does
is
 that ODM is impotent while being in Government? Also Minister Najib
Balala
 of ODM accompanied Al-Bashir, so why does ODM claim now that they had no
 idea? Isn't Balala part of the so called Pentagon of ODM?

If its true that even Raila had no idea that Al-Bashir was invited, then
 it can only be read that their current "rapprochement" with Kibaki is
over.
 If that is the case, then we can argue that since Kibaki has secured his
 legacy by promulgating a New Constitution, he has no need of Raila
 anymore.
 It has happened before!
 In short, who is fooling who?

Kenyas' Inflation figures 'deflated'

Doubt as to the veracity of these figures has actually persisted since last September when the national statistician re-engineered the weightings of the various components of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and changed the methodology of calculating inflation from arithmetic to geometric formula.


By a stroke of the pen that was the official launch of the new methodology, the rate of inflation fell from a high of 17 per cent in September last year to about five per cent.

The KNBS has maintained the official line that its processes and standards are in tune with the international practices.

But that alone will never take away the glaring realities that consumers confront in the retail shops on a daily basis.

These doubts gain credence when the official figures are so glaringly incongruent with what everyone’s experience has been in any given month of the year and the KNBS’ explanation of the changes.

Take last month for instance. The reality is such that petroleum and kerosene prices went up by an average of Sh5, electricity prices rose on account of upward adjustment of the fuel cost segment of the monthly bills, prices of wheat products were up, one litre of milk now costs Sh6 more than it did at the end of July.

But the official figures released on Thursday show that inflation was down by a margin of 0.4 per cent to 3.6 per cent on account of the recent cuts in mobile phone tariffs and a drop in the price of maize.

From a lay person’s viewpoint people would need to meet basic needs first before going for secondary ones such as buying airtime – hence energy or milk would have more weighting.

The frequency at which these items are bought would also matter.

An average consumer would probably buy airtime twice or three times a week, but has to spend on basics such as energy, milk and bread daily.

Going by the latest inflation data, significant changes in the prices of five key consumer goods can be completely neutralised by a three shilling drop in mobile phone airtime and an equally marginal drop in the price of maize is rightly raising eyebrows among consumers of the data.

It must be stated here that doubts over the authenticity of inflation figures are not unique to Kenya.

The more fundamental question is the fact that crafters of the new CPI index have contrary to the global practice completely blurred the distinction between headline and underlying inflation that reflects the performance of monetary policy.

In an environment like ours where monetary policy is increasingly being ignored by private sector players and targeted at facilitating government borrowing, phasing this figure out has only eased pressure of probity from the Central Bank of Kenya – an advantage that its peers elsewhere do not enjoy.

It may be irritating that these questions continue to arise nearly a year after the new inflation figures were introduced, but the KNBS must know that this is a subject whose examination can only intensify especially under the new constitutional dispensation in which citizens have been granted the right to know.