I am not a Catholic but its activities are not strange to me because my Church’s way of worship is somehow similar. The Catholic Church has the highest number of Christian following in the world. That is why everything that is done by Catholic leaders all over the world attracts a lot of attention.
I remember the world following with interest when Pope John Paul II was sick, his funeral and later election of the new Pope Benedict XVI.
Now back to my subject, Kenya had Cardinal Maurice Otunga for a long time, he later retired and died. I really admired Cardinal Otunga’s humility, to many he was truly a man of God and disserved his post as a Cardinal. Archbishop Ndingi Mwana aNzeki took over from him when he retired, he served for 10 years and people hoped he will be appointed a Cardinal after the death of Cardinal Maurice Otunga.
This did not happened, Archbishop Ndingi retired this month and succeeded by someone I least expected Bishop Njue. This came as a shock to me and my Catholic friends because of his biased way of talking.
Within a short time, his biased way of talking about issues has come in the public, when he declared that the Catholic Church does not support Majimbo, which is advocated by the opposition parties. This obviously shows he is supporting the President and his party, which is against majimbo. Other Catholics including Bishops have come out to say that was not their stand, read more here.
So now my question and that of many others, what did the Pope see that we did not see in Bishop Njue to appoint him Cardinal? Most of my Catholic friends feel Bishop Rotich of resurrection garden would have been a better person for Cardinal.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
I look forward to the time when there will be no more ethnic clashes in Kenya?
Tribal clashes are common in Kenya and get worse during elections. Just recently there were clashes in Sondu area after politicians where attacked in Kisii, earlier in the year clashes erupted in Mt. Elgon, the problem has not settled to date.
Some years back there were clashes in Molo District, which got many families displaced, some have never returned to their homes. After sometime peace returned and for some years it has been peaceful. Suddenly the clashes in Molo District erupted again last week, residents moved with their families to churches and other safer areas.
During the clashes people’s houses and crops get burnt, some loose their lives in the fights. Causing a lot of suffering in the family, after working so hard to build a home and settling a family. Children’s education is interrupted when they have to move and cannot attend school. Those doing exams may not perform well under such conditions, like now KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination) is on and then next month KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) will be on for a week.
These clashes are more prevalent during elections, like now. That is why there were clashes in Sondu and now Molo. Clashes are believed to come about because of land issues and in most cases are instigated by politicians to scare people who may have bought land in areas perceived to belong to other communities traditionally. Otherwise these communities normally live together peacefully if politicians don’t interfere in their peace. So politicians should stop this suffering of innocent Kenyans.
That is why people want change because the government with all the resources is not doing enough, church leaders and other organizations who should be speaking out against this are all busy talking about political issues.
Read more on insecurity on kenvironews
Some years back there were clashes in Molo District, which got many families displaced, some have never returned to their homes. After sometime peace returned and for some years it has been peaceful. Suddenly the clashes in Molo District erupted again last week, residents moved with their families to churches and other safer areas.
During the clashes people’s houses and crops get burnt, some loose their lives in the fights. Causing a lot of suffering in the family, after working so hard to build a home and settling a family. Children’s education is interrupted when they have to move and cannot attend school. Those doing exams may not perform well under such conditions, like now KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination) is on and then next month KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) will be on for a week.
These clashes are more prevalent during elections, like now. That is why there were clashes in Sondu and now Molo. Clashes are believed to come about because of land issues and in most cases are instigated by politicians to scare people who may have bought land in areas perceived to belong to other communities traditionally. Otherwise these communities normally live together peacefully if politicians don’t interfere in their peace. So politicians should stop this suffering of innocent Kenyans.
That is why people want change because the government with all the resources is not doing enough, church leaders and other organizations who should be speaking out against this are all busy talking about political issues.
Read more on insecurity on kenvironews
Friday, October 26, 2007
African child, born poor lives poor for how long?
If there is one thing I hate terribly is to see children suffering. There is a lot of suffering in Africa because of poverty; one amazing thing is that the poor give birth more than other people. And the children of the poor are likely to be poorer as chances of taking them to good schools and providing them with the basics of life are reduced drastically.
Having many children with no proper income results to a lot of suffering, even when contraceptives were free in health centers in Kenya (I don’t know if they are still free now) you will still find that the poor women in urban centers and rural areas don’t bother to access the family planning services. Some say their husbands don’t want then to use contraceptives, some are restricted by their religious beliefs and some just don’t bother.
As a result the poor give birth to many children whom they cannot provide for adequately. With the very little income they earn through casual labor in the industries or farms in the rural area, it is very difficult to improve their living conditions. Living conditions for the poor in rural areas is even worse compared to urban centers. I have seen men in rural areas who just as their women work in farms to get food for the family but some do not work.
When the rural woman gives birth to another child, she is weakened and may is not be in a position to work for a few months. On the other hand the man may not be bothered, he would just go to the shopping center to idle and listen to news (especially now during campaigns) from a shopkeepers radios because he doesn’t own one. He just doesn’t care what happens at home and what the family will eat.
This leaves the woman with no option but to send older kids to work in other people’s farms to earn some living. With free education now at least the kids can go to school, but when they have to work to earn a living for the family, they would have to stop going to school.
Child labor is very common in Africa and Kenya even when the government introduced free primary education. Some parents still send their kids to school but in the evening, they are sent to work for people or sell foodstuff like groundnuts, at a time they are supposed to do their homework. The result of all these is that children perform poorly in school; most of them drop out of school or fail to join Secondary school because of poor marks. Then the cycle of poverty repeats itself many times in the lives of the poor.
I see so many children, some as young as 10 years old selling vegetables and ground nuts in Nairobi city center and its outskirts. A good example is kids waiting for shoppers leaving supermarkets and begs them to buy their vegetables tied in polythene bags. These children normally sell as late as 8 pm in the night. Some are in tattered clothes and get affected by the cold and dust. Children are also used as beggars by their parents or guardian; Child trafficking is also a big problem in Africa. It is child labor and abuse in all forms.
International bodies NGOs and governments have been fighting child labor and abuse for a long time, but still a lot has to be done. This is why there are street children, children who ran away from abuse by parents or beg to take some money home to feed the family.
It is not easy to stop people from giving birth to children they cannot take care of or force women to take contraceptives. However I believe a government can come with laws to protect such children from suffering. A friend from Kenya in the US told me it’s a crime to leave young children in the house unattended. Neighbors would report the incident and if it continues the kids will be taken away.
Though it would be sad to loose ones kids just for a small mistake, when one is capable of taking care of them. I think such a law can work well for Kenya and African if the governments set centers to care for such children and prosecute the parents who abuse their children. While the parents are in custody or released they can be counseled on the need to plan their families, need to give a child proper education in order to improve their standards of living.
Having many children with no proper income results to a lot of suffering, even when contraceptives were free in health centers in Kenya (I don’t know if they are still free now) you will still find that the poor women in urban centers and rural areas don’t bother to access the family planning services. Some say their husbands don’t want then to use contraceptives, some are restricted by their religious beliefs and some just don’t bother.
As a result the poor give birth to many children whom they cannot provide for adequately. With the very little income they earn through casual labor in the industries or farms in the rural area, it is very difficult to improve their living conditions. Living conditions for the poor in rural areas is even worse compared to urban centers. I have seen men in rural areas who just as their women work in farms to get food for the family but some do not work.
When the rural woman gives birth to another child, she is weakened and may is not be in a position to work for a few months. On the other hand the man may not be bothered, he would just go to the shopping center to idle and listen to news (especially now during campaigns) from a shopkeepers radios because he doesn’t own one. He just doesn’t care what happens at home and what the family will eat.
This leaves the woman with no option but to send older kids to work in other people’s farms to earn some living. With free education now at least the kids can go to school, but when they have to work to earn a living for the family, they would have to stop going to school.
Child labor is very common in Africa and Kenya even when the government introduced free primary education. Some parents still send their kids to school but in the evening, they are sent to work for people or sell foodstuff like groundnuts, at a time they are supposed to do their homework. The result of all these is that children perform poorly in school; most of them drop out of school or fail to join Secondary school because of poor marks. Then the cycle of poverty repeats itself many times in the lives of the poor.
I see so many children, some as young as 10 years old selling vegetables and ground nuts in Nairobi city center and its outskirts. A good example is kids waiting for shoppers leaving supermarkets and begs them to buy their vegetables tied in polythene bags. These children normally sell as late as 8 pm in the night. Some are in tattered clothes and get affected by the cold and dust. Children are also used as beggars by their parents or guardian; Child trafficking is also a big problem in Africa. It is child labor and abuse in all forms.
International bodies NGOs and governments have been fighting child labor and abuse for a long time, but still a lot has to be done. This is why there are street children, children who ran away from abuse by parents or beg to take some money home to feed the family.
It is not easy to stop people from giving birth to children they cannot take care of or force women to take contraceptives. However I believe a government can come with laws to protect such children from suffering. A friend from Kenya in the US told me it’s a crime to leave young children in the house unattended. Neighbors would report the incident and if it continues the kids will be taken away.
Though it would be sad to loose ones kids just for a small mistake, when one is capable of taking care of them. I think such a law can work well for Kenya and African if the governments set centers to care for such children and prosecute the parents who abuse their children. While the parents are in custody or released they can be counseled on the need to plan their families, need to give a child proper education in order to improve their standards of living.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Laxity by the authorities during campaigns
Parliament has now been dissolved and the stage is now set for elections. However I have noticed some strange things happening that were never the case before campaigns started getting hot.
Matatus have gone back to their old ways of disobeying traffic rules, Matatu drivers overlap on roads causing 3 to 4 lanes on roads that should only have one way on each side, they do this in full view of the police. I was shocked to see more than 20 matatus overlapping on Ngong Road making the road chaotic for other motorists. At first I thought the police were not around and the matatu drivers were aware, but I was shocked to see policemen at the junctions as usual.
The other strange happening I have see lately is that hawkers are back on some streets of Nairobi in the evenings. I was shocked because they have not been around for a long time. They are so relaxed one would think City Council askaris are all on leave.
It had not occurred to me that this is campaign time until I heard comments from people that its campaign time, so no one will arrest them. Then I also remembered how matatus where overlapping on the roads in full view of the police and said yes its campaign time.
It is very interesting that the authority relax rules to attract votes from wananchi obviously to the government side. If the government has performed well then they should continue performing even to the last minute because people would vote for them if they are satisfied. I don’t believe that relaxing rules that are there to maintain law and order in the city, should be relaxed during campaigns to please voters.
9th Parliament is dissolved and the drama begins
Matatus have gone back to their old ways of disobeying traffic rules, Matatu drivers overlap on roads causing 3 to 4 lanes on roads that should only have one way on each side, they do this in full view of the police. I was shocked to see more than 20 matatus overlapping on Ngong Road making the road chaotic for other motorists. At first I thought the police were not around and the matatu drivers were aware, but I was shocked to see policemen at the junctions as usual.
The other strange happening I have see lately is that hawkers are back on some streets of Nairobi in the evenings. I was shocked because they have not been around for a long time. They are so relaxed one would think City Council askaris are all on leave.
It had not occurred to me that this is campaign time until I heard comments from people that its campaign time, so no one will arrest them. Then I also remembered how matatus where overlapping on the roads in full view of the police and said yes its campaign time.
It is very interesting that the authority relax rules to attract votes from wananchi obviously to the government side. If the government has performed well then they should continue performing even to the last minute because people would vote for them if they are satisfied. I don’t believe that relaxing rules that are there to maintain law and order in the city, should be relaxed during campaigns to please voters.
9th Parliament is dissolved and the drama begins
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