THE CONDOM AND THE CHURCH

The condemnation of the condom by the church reminds me of past errors of the church such as the claim that the earth goes round the sun which the church vehemently condemned. It all begun in 1512 when Nicolas Copernicus came up with the heliocentric model that stated that the sun was at the centre of the solar system and that the earth went round it. The church vehemently suppressed the theory and went on to forbade him from publishing his book “De Revolutionbus” which had articles to support his theory. The church thus forced the people to believe that it was the sun that went round the earth

In 1600 Giordano Bruno was burnt to death after the church found him guilty of heresy and that he claimed that the sun was at the centre of the solar system. In honour of his death and his fight for the truth a statute was erected in 1890 the same spot he was burnt, the statue was mainly erected as an emblement for freedom of thought.

In 1616 Galileo Galilei took up the heliocentric theory and held his ground that the earth goes round the sun, he was tried for blasphemy by the church, since he was stating contrary to the scripture such as Psalms 93:1, 96:10 which have text stating that “the earth is firmly established” and the church interpreted it to mean that the earth never moves but it’s the sun that moves round the earth. Galileo was found guilty of blasphemy and was sentence to life in house arrest.

In 1687 Sir Isaac Newton invented the reflecting telescope and it became clear that the sun was the centre of the solar system and that the earth went round the sun and not the sun going round the earth.

In 1822 the church finally permitted the publication of work dealing with the theory that the earth goes round the sun

In 1992 Pope John Paul II officially agreed with the theory that the earth goes round sun.

From the above it took approximately 500 years for the church to accept the truth the earth goes round the sun and this was after many years of misleading people that it’s the sun that goes round the earth. This was after many philosophers and great thinkers were killed and imprisoned on claiming the truth yet the church did not hear, all in the name that it was contrary to the scripture. What also need to be noted from the above is that the church is not ALWAYS right. And that the church is so conservative and it may not be able to compete with the present reality of the time and technology.

What most people should know is that the bible was written on cultural context and misinterpretation of the Bible has led to suffering of many people throughout history. Slavery and discrimination of the female gender was all caused by misinterpretation of the scripture and that why unlike the Holy Koran which is also recognized as a source of law in many countries the Bible is not since it can easily be misinterpreted.

It is said that history repeat itself. And maybe that can be very true and it may take 500 years for the condom to be accepted by the church as a way of preventing HIV/AIDS, Sexual Transmitted Infections (STIs) and also be used for family planning.

In a research carried out in Kenya by  Kenya HIV Prevention Response and Mode of Transmission Analysis, it showed that there are approximately 100,000 new infections of HIV/AIDS annually and 44% of this are from stable relationships such as marriage this is much greater compared to new infections from sex workers and clients which is at 14.1%. This may send an awkward message that it’s safer to have a sex relation with a sex worker than your partner in your relationship. But do not get me wrong, am not saying that people to have sex relations with sex workers but rather am showing the importance of condom in sexual relation since the low percentage in sex workers in new infection maybe the fact that they use a condoms.

My opinion is that condom can be used to control the spread of HIV/AIDS and also stop unplanned pregnancies. Unplanned pregnancies mainly lead to abortions especially among the youth which may lead to the death of the woman since the abortions are conducted using dangerous means since it is illegal in Kenya and done by untrained people. Unplanned pregnancies may also lead to a big family which the parents may not be able to provide for leading to poverty, malnutrition and also increase in crime in the society. The church should also be at the frontline to teach the congregation the importance of faithfulness in marriage and the church leaders should practise what they preach and the cases where church leaders are involved in sexual offences should cease to exist, since if the church leaders themselves cannot control their own sexual behaviour how do they expect the people to behave? But most important and especially to the youth they should know that abstinence is the 100% sure way to stop abortions and HIV/AIDS since the bloody truth is that AIDS IS REAL!!

THE CHINA MAN,

"All that glitters is not gold" Chinese companies have flooded Kenya and have undertaken alot of projects most of them through loans-debts- like expansions of the Kisumu airport, rehabilitation of the Moi International Sports Centre, expansion of Thika-Nairobi highway, the Sondu Miriu power plant and oil exploration in northern Kenya,r mining coal in Mui and vry soon they are also involved in installing CCTV cameras in Nairobi Metropolitan myb its bcz they are hardworking and are timely in finishing their job.......bt do u rember how colonization begun it begun with missionaries who brought the Gospel and b4 we realized it we were chased out of our lands and we lost our freedom...China is an upcoming superpower and to have power u need slaves, hope we shall not be among its slaves when it rises to power bcuz today we talk about modern colonization where u make a country ur debtor and u use that to controll it.its my hope Kenya will nt fall in the trap of modern colonization bt all in all china does a good job bt hope there is no hiden,malicious intentions...LONG LIVE KENYA!! bt keep in mind "When the deal seems so sweet think twice".

THE JUDICIARY BLACK SPOT

The judiciary is moving at a supersonic speed on the super highway of reforms, but has it got an accident at a black spot on its road to the Promised Land? After March 4^th election, the results were announced declaring  Uhuru Kenyatta as president, Raila Odinga filed a petition to The Supreme Court  seeking the court to declare the election invalid,  but The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Uhuru Kenyatta. Not everyone was pleased with the ruling since it was received with political reaction. If a person supported Uhuru, of course it was a ceremony for the birth of a new president; on the other hand, if a person supported Raila Odinga, it was a funeral to them since they had to bury their dream of being lead by the son of Jaramogi. The Supreme court was criticized on a number of things such as rejection the 800 page affidavit on court procedure bases, this affidavit contained evidence to support Raila’s case but when the court gave the judgment it stated that Raila had not given sufficient evidence to prove his case. The court was also criticized relied on legal authorities from countries such as Nigeria and Uganda whose democracy record is not upright. It was also stated that the judgment was read in a casual way, on the day of giving the final judgment, since the judges did not read the whole judgment as is normally done in courts. To put a hot nail on the wound, just recently the High Court recently terminated a 20 year old Goldenberg Case where the country lost billions of shillings “thanks” to Judge Joseph Mutava, who released the master-mind of the Goldenberg scandal, Kamlesh Pattni .Judge Joseph Mutava is being investigated by the Judicial Service Commission on his conduct and also his relation with Kamlish Pattni. The Director of Public Prosecution, Keriako Tobiko said they will appeal the case to the Court of Appeal but they are being frustrated by some issues such as; the judgment which cleared  Kamlesh Pattni went missing from the High Court registry and only resurfaced after 18 days and it is believed this is part of a scheme to defeat any avenue for appeal, since an appeal should be filed to the a higher court( The Court of Appeal), 14 days after the day of judgment, in this case the 14 day window of appeal has already lapsed but an appeal can still be possible if Prosecutor will give the judge reasonable reasons for the delay.

In most Courts of Justice, there is always a black spot called “political influence” and this ends up causing the death of justice to many people. For instance, in 1992 and 1997 general elections Kenneth Matiba &  Mwai Kibaki respectively, would not successfully file a presidential election petition against Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi because the court at the time acted as a puppet of the “big fish” of the society and justice was measured with the depth of a person’s pocket. I have a strong belief that Kenya has moved from those miserable years and am bloody sure the “Mutunga’s Courts” is a reformed court and was not influenced politically or bribed on giving its ruling and that is why the judiciary has not got an accident at the black-spot neither has it had a puncture to slow its speed or stop it towards a reformed judiciary. KEEP UP JUDICIARY!!

KILLING THE MESSENGER

The death of Senior Counsel Mutula Kilonzo hit many Kenyans with a jaw breaking blow. I will not jump the gun and state he was assassinated or murdered but throughout Kenya’s history, Kenya has a “good track record” of sending its heroes to the cemetery. Heroes who fought against inequality before the law, corruption and stood firmly for what is right and so far no “big fish” has been held accountable. It all begun after independence in 1965 when Pio Gama Pinto a socialist Politician was shot at close range on the driveway while waiting for the gate to be opened and it is said he was murdered for his socialist ideas, no sooner had Kenyans recovered from the loss of such a hero than Tom Mboya was shot on the 5^th of July 1969 at Moi Avenue, Nairobi while   visiting a pharmacy. Isaac Njoroge was arrested and hanged for the murder of Tom Mboya but during his arrest he asked: “Why don’t you go after the big man?” and Kenyans have never known who the "big man" was and up to now we are still in the dark. It is said Mboya was murdered to remove political competition for the presidency seat as he was seen as a political threat for the top seat. Mboya can be attributed as a King Maker since thanks to him USA has a president named Barak Obama, since it is due to Mboya’s Scholarship programmes which sponsored Barak Obama Senior to USA and during his education there he met and married Stanley Ann Dunham who then became parents of Barak Obama. In 1975 the “peoples millionaire” J.M Kariuki was bloodily killed it is said he was killed for his courageous fighting against corruption, unfair distribution of land after independence and his continuous complain against the widening gap between the e rich and poor. In 1991 Robert Ouko was murdered and his body found by a heard boy dumped in the bush, his murder was so controversial that Kenyans were forced to swallow a bitter lie that Ouko shot himself to the head then set himself on fire while dead!! It is said he was killed due to his plan to give a report on political corruption in the Government of Kenya at that time. Many Kenya heroes have suffered the same fate, heroes such as Alexandra Muge, Mugabe Were,Odhiambo Mbai just to name a few and just recently the death of George Saitoti is still raising eyebrows due to his political ambition as potential presidential candidate and his harsh fight against Drug Lords who have invaded Kenya.

Kenya may never know who the “big fish” are, who have existed since independence and have continuously killed our messengers who have brought the message of the fight against  corruption and standing for what is right, But am sure Kenyans have heard the sounds of the war drums of the fight against corruption and we  will fight till we win this battle and war, since they can kill the messenger but not the message, in the words of Fred Hampton I will conclude by saying “You may kill a revolutionary but, YOU WILL NEVER KILL THE REVOLUTION!!”

KENYAN GREED SYNDROME

 I read a story of a crowd of angry men who brought a woman before a Wise-man and asked the Wise-man, “This woman has been caught in the act of adultery and the law commands us to stone such a woman. So what do we do? And the Wise-man answered, “Let him who is without sin be the first to throw the stone at her.” And before long no single man was left standing at the scene. They all went!

I bet most of the Kenyans are angry with the greed of the legislator and would like to stone them, for their demand on higher salary and  that the Salary and Remuneration Commission reviewed their salary downwards, but before we go to the street and demonstrate, before we seek one million signatures from Kenyans so that we can recall the election or before we beginning stoning the legislators lets first think about the one million dollar statement : “ let that Kenyan with no greed cast the first stone”

All Kenyans generally are greed (I stand to be corrected) either directly or indirectly, is just that the greed manifests itself in different circumstances, forms and capacity. Just to give an example; how many times have you read or heard the news and saw a petroleum truck that has overturned and saw Kenyans siphoning oil from it yet they have witnessed other Kenyans burn to death on such an activity? How many times have you seen a beer, bread or a soda truck having an accident and see Kenyans running to the scene not to help the accident victims but rather to enjoy the “free products” of the accident some even going to an extent of stealing from the accident victims? How many times have you entered into a matatu and the conductor failed to ask you the fare and you just walk away without paying? We have just come from a general election the other day and I bet you have a campaign material either a cap, t-shirt, poster or anything that falls under this category for a politician you did not support yet you took his cap, t-shirt  reason being...it was for free!!and if you do not have I bet it’s because you were not exposed to such an opportunity .This example which are just among the few in our society have  one conclusion which can be observed and that is people  like free things. This free things in the long term leads to greed because we want everything even the ones we have not worked for and that’s the main characteristic of greed and that’s why  a hyena is known to be greedy because it eats what it has not hunted. More so, the main argument the politicians are giving in their quest for higher salaries is that members of their constituencies see them as ATM machines and they always ask them for hand-outs commonly known as chai(tea).

I think it is a high time we change the “free philosophy” in our society. Maybe this philosophy came with the colonisers when they brought many gifts to the Kenyan community chiefs in order for them to support them conquer  other communities that did not support them and these chiefs were awarded with wealth and high position in the colonial government  and since then Kenya has had this idea that a leader must have wealthy and be  very rich and that’s why( maybe) one of the reasons Kenya  has had  a long trail of rich presidents and politicians or maybe we may blame our upbringing in schools where we saw prefects been given small  free gifts and hence many students struggled to be prefects to enjoy such free gifts or even serving with a lot of favourism when they did not report their friend to the teacher and we grew up in the belief leadership is a matter of personal benefit.

We are now in 2013, a new generation of Youth have emerged and I think we need to change the rules of the jungle and the tables must turn. We need to remind each other of leaders such as Dedan Kimathi, Wangari Mathai, JM Kariuki, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and many other around the world who put their lives in service of people not for their own interest but for society benefit, of which the fruits we enjoy today on the other hand we also read in history about leaders like Id Amin Dada & Mobutu Sese Seko who because of their greed they messed with the lives of their people and the economy of their country. Look at like a country like DRC which is endowed with valuable minerals but due to its greedy leaders like Mobutu the country is among the poor countries in Africa.

As a new generation I think it’s a high time we stop using old fashioned ways of raising our demands. We will demonstrate until when? Why can’t we use future oriented techniques to ensure that we put the last nail on the coffin of greed and bury it forever and ever and ever to be forgotten? Just the other day we demonstrated when the Members of parliament wanted to award themselves heavy send-off packages and yet still right now when they are demanding for higher pay we may be tempted to demonstrate again....this sends one message that the demonstration did not convey any message to the minds of politicians. Thou am not against demonstration which I always think is the best way to voice the injustice in the society, why can’t we also develop modern methods which will change the direction of Kenya leadership once and for all because by the end of the day it’s not only our leaders that are greedy but each and every Kenya is a victim of such a vice either directly or in directly. I think we should form youth groups and go to schools or even call for youth conferences and share or teach each  other  about service to people and leadership skills cause am sure everyone has something to share and through this will be able to understand the problems facing our society due to greed at different levels such as  in our family, community, constituencies, county, national and international level and with no time we shall have developed new leaders who will defiantly enter into history to serve as a source of inspiration to future leader and generation.

Do not get me wrong am not against philanthropic Kenyans neither am I against free things from the government such as free education and now free laptops and milk. But free things from the government such as free education is an economic strategy to increase the revenue of the country, whereby the government will offer free education to the people, who will eventually get jobs and the government will tax them hence increase the taxation income unlike when majority of people fail to get jobs due to lack of education qualifications and go to casual employment which are rarely taxed.

President Uhuru on the opening of the 11^th parliament he stated that approximately 50% of the government revenue is spent on paying government civil service and I think this may increase due to the fact that members of parliament have increased from 222 to 349 and more civil servants are being employed for the ongoing devolution program. And I think as a developing country, we should be investing more than 60% of our revenue in infrastructure and income generating activity in order to achieve vision 2030 or else by the time we    achieve that vision we will be heavily in debts.

In my opinion it’s no time to point fingers towards our politicians because by the end of the day the other fingers point towards us, because it’s us who voted them there. It will begin by each one of us learning to eat his own genuine and honest sweat and training ourselves to be leaders not to benefit ourselves but our society and leadership is not about a heavy monthly pay but rather having heavy ideas for the development of the Kenyan society and history has proved this right look at leaders like Mobutu Sese Seko who seeked to enrich themselves and how they perished.

As for me and myself I chose not to cast the first stone, because am a greedy Kenyan in one way or the other, but to walk out of the stoning scene but at the same time to support the Salary and Remuneration commission for undertaking their constitutional mandate as per Article 230 of Constitution. SAY NO TO GREED AND WALK THE TALK!!!

WILL UHURUTO WALK THE TALK?

Politics is over, it is time to get back to work, It’s time to make the promises a reality. Uhuru’s government has made two crucial promises to school students:-

1)      Free laptops

2)      Free school milk

These promises are very rosy & I bet all Kenyans are excited to see them come true. But before the celebration of these promises begin; let’s ask a question that might call off the party: Which rat will bell the cat??

First, ICT is a developing concept in Kenya and per a research in 2009 by Information and Communication Technology, said 90% of teachers are computer illiterate, will the percentage have gone down by 2014 to meet the ICT student next year or will the government hire new ICT teachers & yet they are unable to pay the present teachers who frequently strike?

Secondly, my opinion is laptop should have begun with high school first so that if they graduate and become teachers they will be competent to train the primary ICT students. It is a rule in all training institutions that the learners begin with the concept or theory then the practical or application. Even in military you begin with the training how a gun works then you’re given the gun. This principle should also apply in here; Students should be given the theory of computers, then they be given the laptops not immediately they land in class one. Or at least they should change the syllabus.

Thirdly, the past government (but I appreciate the fact that this is a new government) was unable to supply free text book worth approximately Ksh.700 to every student, what about a laptop projected to cost about Ksh.12,750?

Fourthly, in rural areas no classes and classes are held under trees. Should government first create an ICT conducive environment before the laptop is brought in because how will they learn in rainy season?

Fifthly, electricity is not yet in all parts of the country, but well I know they are solar powered laptops but the sun is not always there, will there be learning in rainy season?

Sixth, Kenya children basic needs to be addressed sufficiently before investing on other things. I think students need to be given better clothing and food before a big investment is made on an item that they may not use since they will be unhealthy & unfit for the learning to take place.

Lastly, free milk, well it will make our school children healthy. But will it be on constant supply, because after every rainy season there is always no milk even for a consumer who wants to buy it with his own money....now, what a student who will get it for free?

Well, am not pessimistic neither am I the doubtful Thomas but am an optimistic who likes to know the framework of how things work, but I believe these two pledges are possible, because if Kenya planned The Thika Super Highway and we achieved, if we planned the Konza Techno City  and the LAPPSET transport network and have all begun what is impossible for us??

More so Kenyans will get employment opportunities, especially  ICT  professionals who should take this opportunity to enlarge their skills or businesses so that they will take advantage of this also farmers should improve on their daily production and all Kenyans should be ready to give to Caesar what is Caesar's .LONG LIVE KENYA!!

SHOULD KENYA RETHINK VISION 2030?

SHOULD KENYA RETHINK VISION 2030??Charles Dawin in his theory of evolutution said that the only species that survived are the ones that were able to change.History has proofed this right and over the years we have seen Kingdoms and companies collapse because they could not change. Kingdoms such as The Roman Empire that was almost the ruler of the world at a given time in history, one of the reason the kingdom collapse was that it was unable to change its war tactics and when the enemies learnt them, they crashed the kingdom. Companies such as Motorola which was the master of mobile phones in the world market delayed to change from analogue to digital mobile phones and before they knew it Nokia had taken over the market; the same fate was suffered by Ericsson. Also company like Kodak, which was known for its cameras and films filed for bankruptcy petition the other day since it was unable to change to digital cameras which had taken over the market...back here in Kenya companies such as Telecommunications and Posta are suffering the same fate since were unable to adapt to modern communication and now Safaricom is the master of Kenya communication....Don’t get me wrong that am comparing companies with a country(Kenya) but am emphasising the need of change. The vision 2030 is a Master plan, and one of its best plan is the construction of a world-class technology hub called KONZA TECHNO CITY(savana silicon) one of its kind ever made maybe in Africa, but if this city was planned to incorporate the 2012 technology, by the time we reach 2030 technology would have changed a lot and this city would not be relevant! And it will suffer the same fate as history has proved since it will not be able to have changed to the 2030 technology at that time since it was planed according to the present technology of 2012.....maybe the Vision 2030 plan should be revised annually to incorporate the latest changes in technology so that techno city will remain relevant even in the 30th Century and this should apply to all plans, for instance if electrical cars were to be the main cars in Kenya, in future, will the roads & parking places have instalments to charge them ....and that why I think Kenya should RETHINK VISION 2030.