Monday, April 27, 2009

Little bit of this, little bit of ...

This year started with some challenges. A good friend survived a brain aneurism. That’s the good news. The bad, we don’t know the extent of the damage. Why, we had all just moved states and where she is at is far away. Our connection to her is, (read was) a boyfriend, who has decided to take all control and cut us off. Why? We didn’t respect her privacy, he says. How did we do that? We shared the news with only very good friends. Point to this? We’re all struggling to find out. Meanwhile, a reunion over the weekend almost brought us to our knees over the issue. The sheer frustration of not being able to reach a friend in her time of need, because someone blocks your access and the worry that accompanies that, it can be very confusing. Plus, I know if she woke up, she’d kick him hard in the nuts for the very behavior. So I feel that he’s abusing her, because he can, because she is ill and unable to protect herself. I have genuine fury over all of this. I just came to the full realization that it was eating at me more than I was accepting over the weekend. Prayer. Prayer. Over all things we have little control over. Still, I can’t help enjoying a mental picture of bumping into him and kicking him – hard!

This swine flu thing is ridiculous. I’m grateful this news breaks after my 3 bouts with flu in the past 5 months. Otherwise, I’d have died from imagining I had the damn thing. Swine flu? How scary is anyone who coughs around you right now?

Raila! After I had just praised his behind for beginning to show maturity. I should have known better. Now he wants fresh elections? In the same country that does not have an electoral board? Are these people seriously this callous? This careless? This insane, this stupid? Are they really this incompetent? Is it truly possible to utter such crap, such potentially dangerous crap and sleep well at night? Soon that country will be an extension of Somalia. Anarchy will rule the day. But quote me later on this. The tides are shifting. Change is coming. Where victory will belong to the upright. And what you hear are the winds of change. And many wolves in sheep clothing will be very exposed. Many of whom just sit back and point fingers from what seems to be far away places from politics. Shake up, shake down, shift and change.

I need some knowledge on something. Not advice, not opinion. Knowledge. If I just knew something so I could decide on something else. Inexperience is killing me here. Being 50 will sure be welcome on matters such as these. And everytime I bring it up to people, they start either blaming my attitude, expectations or habits. Which is all fine if they feel that way. Point is, it’s who I am and that probably won’t be changing anytime soon. All I want to know is, what do you know about this? All I keep getting is, I feel, I feel, I feel. I don’t really care about your feelings on this one. Not rudely, just really. What are the facts? It’s strange how these two questions are not different to most people. I’m sitting on absolute knowledge that I’m about to make a mistake. But I’ll make it with the best knowledge that I have at this time.

Them Mavericks are doing ok! Lebron? Whoa! Duane Wade? Him too. Kobe, not surprising, but damn!

Today, I really feel the distance between me and my mum. I'd like to hug her.

Friday, April 24, 2009

On my mind...

Liberia’s president, Sirleaf, was such a breath of fresh air on Jon Stewart’s, the daily show. In came in a president, but over and above that, that African mother figure. That woman who wants to nurture, love and advice you. Not the structured, zombie leader types that dominate the west. A real person. Someone, you could just sit with and listen to her regale her past. And in the midst of all that, intelligence. What a breath of fresh air.

There are two gangs operating in Kenya right now. One is the Mungiki, well known and being sought after by authorities. But what about Kibera residents who have become the executors of law as they deem fit? Law they have no knowledge of, just tidbits of information here and there. How is it possible that these people can cause billions in dollars to a railway company, and a few days later, start planting grass on the very space that had tracks? They have decided they know better than the authorities who are handling Migingo issues. No, they know force. They have that information that the railway line is a bloodline to Uganda. Unfortunately, that’s all they know. Reminds me that I’ve heard before, the most dangerous man is he who knows little but thinks he knows much. Ergo, Kibera residents. Didn’t they recently injure law enforcement because they were disconnecting illegally connected power lines? They shall live for free? C’mon now! These are thugs and hooligans and somebody needs to stop them dead in their tracks. The sooner the better. We don’t need a second set of under informed nuisances ‘governing’ Kenya.

I’m not going to shy away from pointing out that what they’re portraying is the rule of law as they were taught by their inciters in January 2007. It will never be the same again. Short of intensive psychological intervention, we have birthed the likes of M13, who like many of these gangs that are now killing upto over 4000 a month along the Texas/Mexican borders, started with noble reasons. Just as did the Somali pirates. Law has got to be enforced at the law courts and through the appropriate bodies. Anything outside that, every creator of it, has learnt, over time, that they can birth it, but they can’t control it. The solution? Stop it dead in its tracks! The Mungiki, whose onset was as a result of the Molo clashes where kikuyus were being killed with the noble and effective purpose of curbing the executions. However, some greedy upto no good person took advantage, recruited thugs and set up a thug structure. Now they make easy money, have a false sense of power and are simply pushing to see how far they can go. If they can maintain this easy living, they will. And that’s the people at the top. Again, stop them dead in their tracks. I call for this in full awareness that these are everyday people, our brothers, cousins, uncles and friends. Always start with a short, precise amnesty period that’s fully loaded with educational forums for the laws they break. And then shut them down, with no mercy. It is always, always, an issue of national security. Ask the Mexican government and the US/Texas authorities.

Martha Karua, her resignation. Good move. Poorly handled. Unless she targets the majority of Kenyans who enjoy sensationalism, she pretty much worked hard on alienating those who respect maturity. She shouldn’t have resigned when the president was away; it indicates underhandedness and an inability to resolve issues. A childishness of sorts. As were her reasons; not convincingly about principles, but more about ego. Still, she was within her rights and I think she can achieve more from her current platform as long as she avoids the bickering. Something I fear she might become a part of. She might be trying too hard and I hope a true, honest and worthwhile advisor will intervene. Martha is smart and purposed. She needs to trust her abilities and not succumb to the dumb, illiterate shenanigans that are Kenyan politics.

As for Parliament and its stalemate, if I thought even slightly that there was a majority of intelligence in the Kenyan parliament, or an appetite for truth amongst Kenyans, I might delve into that some. But I don’t. I have understood hopelessness, and what it feels like by attempting to understand the masses within Kenya. The deafening persistence to point fingers, take the easy way out, take advantage of things, and the absolute lack of integrity, from all circles, from homes to offices to government is actually quite shocking once anyone tries to understand it. What’s most confusing is the intelligence level of the perpetrators (basically the entire population). It’s not low, which might explain it otherwise. So, I will say nothing in that regard. But as usual will send a prayer request to God for Kenya and its people. “May the good Lord have mercy on us all, the country, it leadership and its followers. May he open our eyes so that we may see. May he give us the strength to face our demons, our mistakes and our truths. May we learn what our roles are and find the strength to be just that. And may His grace shine upon us all and keep us from disintegrating as we seek our purpose and our places in society.”