THE EYE OPENER

The answer is really simple, impunity and insecurity. Of course we can’t leave out corruption. Many African countries are busily using all their limited resources fighting off a group of militias who are fighting for only God knows what. We simply do not understand the right channels to go through so as to solve a crisis. I think we need to learn a few tips from our European counterparts. We believe that only violence will give us justice. Almost if not all the countries in Africa have experienced some form of violence, some even leading to loss off lives of so many innocent people a good example would be the Rwandan genocide that claimed almost a million innocent lives. Our nearest neighbors, Somalia have been fighting for almost 20 years.

The incumbent presidents or rather leaders have had a great role to play in all this. Why would a person want to remain in power for the rest of his life while they claim to be exercising democracy? Some have even changed the constitutions in order to fit their mean ambitions at the expense of their citizens. People really like to see change but while we continue to support this people I don’t see it coming any time soon. All the disguise elections eventually lead to violence. I think people in Ivory Coast. Kenya, Egypt, Libya and Zimbabwe will definitely agree with me, at least if you are really a visionary person. The bloody coups like the one which saw our foreign affairs minister trapped in a hotel for a few days during an official visit to that country really make us less competitive with the rest of other countries of the world.

While we are busy concentrating our so limited resources in reverting all these, our economies continue to sour, That’s when our children never go to school, that’s when farmers don’t plant. The outcome is always devastating. We become poorer and poorer while our western counterparts continue to prosper. They even laugh at us if you may ask me.They will even pretend to support us but in the end they reap the benefits, after all we are just the the third world.

But there is hope, so much hope; we only need to start thinking right. Think of the consequences of all this rather than the benefits. Let’s concentrate on building our countries for many years to come. It’s never really too late to begin. Talk to your friends about this and I can assure you that when we really begin to understand that fighting for an individual in the name of a supporter is foolishness. I hope you will begin to think straight after reading this.     `

Imagine you are late for an interview. In this case I mean really late. You only have like a few minutes before the deadline. Your life depends madly on this job. At home you are the first born and everyone is banking on your job for survival. You meet a man who has badly been injured and there is no one to be of any assistance, just you. You are also on foot! Saving this man would be the best thing to do, but on the other hand it would mean you will never get that job, in that company to be precise. So what would you do? Would you walk away and have time for the interview or would you help the man in need. Well in depends on you. Just think about this for a second.

It’s on 1^stApril. Well you all know this day, but not all of you. Let me try and remind you for you who might have forgotten. Its day of the fools, I mean not you but for lying. Sounds funny don’t you think. Well that’s not the point am trying to bring home. You are late from work and you really want to surprise your girlfriend back home. You even bought her a nice gift. Reaching home, you walk into your bedroom and there you find her naked in bed with your best friend. On the floor is a used condom. On seeing you they shout, “APRIL FOOLS DAY!’ What would you do? Well I don’t want to know, at least not for now

Sister Blessing Akinyi, the church gossip and self –appointed arbiter of the church’s morals kept sticking her nose in the other members’ private lives. Church members were unappreciative of her activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence. She made a mistake,however,when she accused Elder Mwokovu wa Jehovah,of being an alcoholic after she saw his pickup truck parked in front of Mama Pima ‘s Yokozuna bar and restaurant in Muthurwa one afternoon.She said its obvious that anyone seeing his pickup truck would know what he was doing. Elder Njuguna, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just walked away. He didn’t explain, defend, or deny; he said nothing. Later that evening, Elder Mwokovu Njuguna quietly parked his pickup truck in front of Sister Akinyi’s house and left it there till day break. Question is if you are Sister Blessing Akinyi, what will you do?

You are a member of the police, in this case the secret service, the CIA or even the anti terrorist unit. You have sworn under oath to protect your country at all costs. Nothing should come first before your country, not even your own family breaking your oath would guarantee you being charged with treason and we all know that is not the best experience you would want. Now it happens that on this day you are seated with your expectant wife at home chatting over so many niceties. You don’t even want to think about your work at such a great time. Suddenly your sweet wife begins to bleed, a sign that the baby is coming, At least you are going to become a dad again. Have in mind that her last delivery she had to be operated. At this time there is no one at home. Suddenly as you are busy putting her in the car your phone rings from work. A terrorist has been spotted near your area and you are required immediately to help in his arrest. Well, would you leave your wife in that condition or would you respond to the call of duty.Don't also forget that you are not able to call for help or an ambulance at least not today; it had to be that way. Do you have the answer to this one? I hope so.

While the woman tied up the row boat with an expertly women hemp rope, the man could only stare ahead, dumbstruck. As they walked into the house she said casually, “It’s not much, but I call it home. Sit down please, would you like to have a drink?”.”No, thank you” he said, still dazed. “Can’t take any more coconut juice”…..”Its not coconut juice”, the woman said. “I have a still”, “How about a pinacolada?”

Trying to hide his continued amazement, the man accepted and they sat down on her couch to talk. After they had exchanged their stories, the woman announced, “I am going to slip into something comfortable, would you like to take a shower and shave, there is a razor upstairs in the cabinet in the bathroom. No longer questioning anything, the man went into the bathroom. There in the cabinet was a razor made from a bone handle. Two shells honed to a hollow ground edge were fastened onto its end inside of a swivel mechanism. “This woman is amazing”, he mused.”What next”. 

 When he returned, she greeted him wearing nothing but vines strategically positioned and smelled faintly of perfume. She beckoned for him to sit down next to her. “Tell me, she began suggestively, slithering closer to him. “We have been out for a very long time, we have been lonely. There is something am sure you really feel like doing right now. Something you have been longing for all this months. You know”, she stared in his eyes.

He could not believe what he was seeing, “You mean?” he replied…”I can check my email from here?”

Then recently I heard that a group of people from that region were claiming that they do not belong to Kenya. Now, where do they really belong? Their ID cards are all saying they are from Kenya. And why should they begin to claim that right now when we are just about to go to the polls. I think its just being selfish. Maybe these people are being controlled by a few influential gentlemen although they don’t deserve that tag. I hope that is not the case.

Ever since I was born I have never been told that Kenya was divided into two countries, at least I don’t remember. I have always known our country to be a one peaceful nation that has always been an envy of so many nations. Maybe you also grew up with that in mind. These claims really piss me off; knowing that they also grew up grew up with that too. Every region in Kenya needs another. Because we all depend on one another for so much that I can’t even imagine someone talking about secession.

What about if every other region starts having the same thoughts? The luos begin to say that they want to be a country, the kalenjin the same and so on. What would become of the country that our fore fathers fought so hard to gain its independence? What would be the future of our children? I think we both love peace and we know the consequences of insecurity, I think we have been there before. So these brothers of ours I think they need to sober up and begin thinking straight. Let there be a solution to their claims by the relevant authorities so that we end this weighty matter. I think then we will be doing a lot of justice to our beloved country. Have a Kenyan mind,wont you?

He managed a cold sweat. Martin was forced to remember all the debts he had at once. And he had several. It seemed that this Mr. William had somehow remembered his own and on such a time when the month was not in its best time of any one having money on him. He owe him 10000 bucks.He knew he had to find a way of paying up the debt because the man he was dealing with was not the type to mess up with. He painfully racked his brain for a solution but nothing came up. His worried long face seemed to be sharing his agonies save for his receding hairline. He was still in the middle of this situation when he thought he heard a commotion in class 8.Thats when he decided he wanted to relieve his stress on the culprits who were somehow messing up with his private problems.

Apparently a fight had broken up between John, the naughty student with rather silly ideas and Mike the school sanitary prefect. John had refused to sweep the classroom and when confronted by the authority he had turned physical. Mike did not want to lose his ego and so he responded vehemently. Other students were feasting hungrily on the free movie on offer. The guys were sprawled on the floor, each one trying to get the better of his opponent. Blows rented the air. There was a lot of clapping and cheering. And that’s when Mr. Martin entered.

Everything went silent. All the pupils silently went back to their sitting places save for the two masters on the floor. The teacher’s angry face spoke volumes of how far he would go on correcting the situation. Even if it meant beating them up all by himself. He asked what had led to the fight but nobody was willing to give the answer. Of course nobody was willing to do that. Everybody understood perfectly what sharing a dose of the teacher’s angry temper is felt like. So the silence persisted. The two fighting masters were still on the floor, their heads down. The silence persisted. His rather blood shot eyes swept the classroom as if hoping to get the solution from its dirty walls.

“It seems like nobody is going to give me the answer. Well you are all on punishment. You will go to the farm for the whole week. Meanwhile you two idiots on the floor run to my office now”. He said in his deep voice. Nobody moved for a second. Then the sanitary prefect slowly and shamelessly moved out under the watchful eye of the teacher. John did not move for even an inch. The teacher angrily looked at him with the hatred that a man of God hates Satan. He still did not move. The tension was now rising in the small classroom. Then the unexpected happened.

With a clean sweep of his feet, he knocked down the deputy who was caught off guard and quickly stormed outside hot on his heels. The deputy was knocked down head first. Blood was dripping down his sharp forehead. He was confused for a second. When he regained his senses he felt his forehead and when he felt blood he immediately ordered the whole classroom to pursue the escapee. They all did with him also in pursuit. But John was never caught, at least not on that day. The deputy had many problems already and this one only piled up to the list of his stresses. But he somehow had to deal with both.

I am a very sensitive person. My sensitivity reaches its peak whenever I hear a confrontation involving kids, or rather when they cry. I was busily munching my hum bugger in my house when I suddenly heard a kid crying outside. I mean within the confines of the estate I called home. My curiosity could not give me even just a second. So I decided to go and check what could be the matter with this kid, having rarely heard a cry in the ever quiet estate.

The kid was crying so hysterically that I felt a lot of pity for him. Besides him was a beautiful lady who I took for being a mother. Another kid with bushy hair was also standing nearby and seemed to be mocking the other one. I mistook them for being siblings or very close friends and the lady to be their mother. I just assumed she was trying to solve the problem her sons were having, so I just went back to my house and continued with the activity I had been doing earlier, munching you know what. Apparently what I had assumed earlier was not the case as I later came to find out. I was completely wrong.

The kid that was crying belonged to another race while the other one was also from a different one. Apparently the one crying hard hit the other ones ball so hard that it had gotten a puncture. You will have to blame the spiky thorns on the fence for this one. It was just a simple mistake if you asked me.So the kid called his sweet mother for intervention, in this case I mean the other kid who was the owner of the ball. His mother could not even think twice. She gave the poor kid a resounding slap that almost ripped his ears off. She went farther to warn him that he never wanted to see his dirty face near his son again because they were very different. Surely this was just a kid and he never understood what ethnicity meant. Simply because he was from a different region did not qualify him to be treated that way, at least not from a mother who had gone to school.

I couldn’t sleep that night, peacefully I mean. I could not expect such a thing to be happening in this century where everybody is quite literate. These are stories that one would only wish to experience in a dream, not even in a movie. But it was happening. This world would be so peaceful when we stopped looking down upon other people simply because they do not belong to our race or ethnic background. Knowing someone to be of equal value to you would solve so much of this vice. Serving a person without bothering to know where he comes from would surely be the greatest achievement we could have.

You will all agree with me now that ethnicity is a bad disease. A curse that needs to be reversed. Because it denies us so much. Those with a bit of experience know what I am talking about. Eliminating this thing really begins with you. Stop despising other people for no reason. And that would be the real change that the world has so much been looking for.

The other day I was watching the news on my plasma TV when I saw the happy face of the minister for energy holding in his hands a bottle containing a sample of oil. I could not verify but my belief is that it was the much coveted black gold. We all know how coveted this thing is.It brings about a lot of many transformations in the country. Every one knows at least how much we can reap from the much branded commodity.

A few years ago nobody would have believed that our country would ever get such a lucrative mineral, at least not me.I always used to hear about this black gold from my grandpa who is far much knowledgeable than a few guys my age combined. Only the likes of the Middle East countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, I wonder if it’s in the Middle East were known to be perennial power houses in the lucrative business. Our African counterparts such as Sudan, Nigeria and Libya are also known to be the major power houses when it comes to matters oil. One would surely term such a discovery as a great blessing. I think so too, but for how long will it continue to be a blessing?

One would call it a blessing in disguise. Yet another would call it a calamity in waiting. Come to think of it for a second where the Kenyan oil was discovered. For those who might still be in the dark, I hope there is no one though, it was in Turkana.Ngamia one to be exact. This should be an irony don’t you think. Well, for me it is.Turkana is a semi arid land in Kenya that has been neglected for so long.A place where water never exists. It is an area where you never here about electricity. There are so many poor people if you ask me.Their source of livelihood is their livestock. It’s a place where you will never find a good road. Not that they don’t need these things but is there anyone to do these things for them, will it be their members of parliament, maybe not. So I should think that the discovery of oil in their land is a blessing for them, at least it should be.Turkana

I heard that the people in Turkana received the news of the discovery with mixed reactions. Some said it was a good thing. Others thought otherwise. Of course this was expected in a land where illiteracy prevails. Some argued that the discovery was awesome but they argued that have they also discovered water? To them water is far much better than having the oil, I have to agree with them on this at least for now.

I believe that the discovery of the commodity would do a lot of good to these people and also for the whole country. Let’s hope it will open up the region with electricity, water and education. There will be a lot of investment in the region and the economy will grow. But will this really happen with the land where it was discovered already in controversy? I heard that the land was sold to the exploration company by certain influential individuals in the government and some businessmen.

In as much as the discovery is a good thing, we also have to look at the consequences when this valuable resource is not well managed. So much can be gained from it.The national GDP would swell and that would be used to finance other projects. Leaving this commodity to a group of scrupulous, hungry men would result to no benefits. There could even be war against ourselves. And when this happens nothing profitable would come out of it, at least not for our country. It would go into different pockets and this would be the curse I was talking about earlier.

I think we have many examples to draw our references from.Many countries with oil have been faced with so many strife’s as every one wants to control resulting to war. Take for instance Nigeria which has a lot of oil but due to mismanagement the country is ever in civil war with warlords wanting to control the mining. We all know what happened in Iraq and Sudan I don’t need to remind you. I can’t also forget Libya.

With all those references and examples I hope we will not be caught in such a situation. Let the resource be a blessing and not a curse. Let’s use it to benefit our country and grow our fragile economy which is in dire need of this mineral. Let our brothers and sisters in Turkana have something to smile about a few years from now rather than wish they had never been born in that region. This will be the greatest thing for all of us. Have a rational mind and maintain peace, wont you?

The other day my friend Mike and I travel led to Kiambu for a business trip. We were actually doing business for our company. Mike had a Mwangi for a surname while I had a Wasike for mine. The journey was great of course courtesy to my powerful range rover sports car. Don’t mistake me for thumbing my chest so hard on this one because it is the truth.

We arrived at a small town I am sorry I can’t remember its name and I didn’t want to remember it either. The town was very busy with people speaking a language I had not the slightest idea of a single word. In simple terms I didn’t understand. My friend Mike was a native of the language and was very fluent. I had begged him several times to teach me but he had remained adamant.But I think he will do that one day.

We decided to have our lunch at a popular eating joint before proceeding with the business. I think if you have ever been in such situation before you would easily understand that business flows well on a full stomach. My friend was greeted in his native language; he seemed to be a celebrity in this area. The same guy greeted me in the same language and when I seemed not to understand, Mike explained the reason which you already know. The guy then proceeded to ask for my name and when I told him I was Frank, he asked for the other I mean the surname dismissing frank as not being a good name. He shook his head and his attitude changed suddenly.

We asked for our food and Mike’s came first. When I asked why my food was being delayed nobody could give me an answer. I just kept wondering. It came after such a long time when mike was half way through with his. I didn’t complain though, at least my mother taught me this one.

Later on a group of his friends joined him and struck a heated conversation, in the language that I never understood. My friend tried his best to tell them to talk in a language I could understand but I don’t think they bought his pleas. And when they did this later on I tried to contribute but I was vividly ignored. So I just sat there foolishly busy perusing my phone until they left. We later footed the bill and left. I kept asking myself why people were so insensitive. My friend could also not understand why. I promised myself to never set foot in that town again. To this day I still cannot understand what is so much in a surname.Well, do you?