Feb. 22 | It is with shock and disbelief that we have learnt of the passing on of the Hon John Njoroge Michuki, EGH, MP the Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources last night at Aga Khan Hospital Nairobi following an illness.
The Hon John Njoroge Michuki has had an illustrious and chequered career having served both in public and private sector for most of his life.
The late member was born in 1932 at Muguru village, Iyego Location, in Kangema, Murang’a and went to Kiangunyi and Muguru Primary schools, and later proceeded to Nyeri Intermediate School and Mang’u High School for his Secondary Education.
In 1961 he joined Worcester College, a constituent College of the University of Oxford, United Kingdom where he studied Economics, Finance and Public Administration. He served as a District Assistant, District Officer and was appointed...
Feb. 21 | MUNYORI BUKU
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta is concerned by false and unfounded claims of hate speech at the prayer rallies that he, Eldoret North MP William Ruto and other leaders have addressed in recent weeks.
These claims do not come from the authorities charged with the responsibility of policing incitement, conflict or hate speech. They also are not evident in straight reporting by the free media.
Instead, the devilish allegations come from self-appointed commentators on the opinion pages of the local dailies and TV talk shows.
The commentators confess that they do not attend the rallies; they also confess that the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has not raised an issue and admit that the media have not recorded them.
They fail to understand that NCIC cannot act when no law has been flouted. What is more? The...
Feb. 20 | ANYANG’ NYONG’O
I want to pay tribute to a beautiful young lady who passed away this week: Agnes Muthakye. Agnes died at the tender age of 51 plus. She would have been 52 next Saturday, February 25, 2012. She died on the eve of Valentine’s Day, February 14 and we remember her with love because she was such a lovely and loving person. She lived with albinism and suffered from it and for it most of her life.
Albinism (from the Latin word albus meaning “white”) is a congenital disorder characterised by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect of an enzyme involved in the production of melanin.
Albinism results from inheritance of recessive gene alleles and is known to affect all vertebrates, including human beings. While an organism with complete absence of melanin is...
Feb. 17 | BY ANTHONY KAGIRI
The tit for tat parable seems to be having a ride on Kenyan marriages as battered men finally come out to expose it all.
Women who have from the days of our fore fathers faced all manner of violence have learnt to retaliate and theirs is turning tragic.
Whereas most women are said to endure a few slaps and verbal abuse men are facing lethal weapons such as pangas, boiling water and even hired goons.
And if you thought the violence is limited to physical beating you are wrong. Many ‘errant men’ are denied their conjugal rights and food in the name of revenge in our homes. I remember a case in my village where the wife and the children would cook early and eat all the food before the jobless man got home.
What has surprised me is that Kenyans seem to be having a field day and some women have praised their colleagues for...
Feb. 15 | BY RAILA ODINGA
(This is a speech delivered by Prime Minister Raila Odinga before Parliament on Wednesday, February 15)
According to the Chinese calendar, this is the year of Dragon.
Dragon is an artificial creature that is believed to climb to the heaven. This is auspicious as I believe this is the year Kenya will enter the era of true democracy and economic prosperity under the devolved government structure.
The high expectations we hold for our country are shared across the world. Three weeks ago, I joined Heads of State and Government and CEOs of global corporations at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Pessimism reigned in Davos because Europe was gripped in the debt and the global economy was clearly slowing.
But Africa was an exception.
In a panel I shared with President Jacob Zuma, President Jakaya Kikwete, Prime Minister Meles...
Feb. 14 | NGUNJIRI WAMBUGU
Ethnic violence is nearly always a result of political competition based on personality stereotyping. This is because personality stereotyping involves the making of general statements about an individual or group so as to depict them as ‘less than human’ than ourselves, with the sole intention of splitting that person or group from the wider humanity. These statements include a recent one by an MP from Eastern who said that ‘Wajaluo Wajue Kenya Inawenyewe’ in one of the on-going ‘peace’ rallies.
Unfortunately personality or group stereotyping is actually very dangerous as it introduces emotional ‘poison’ in a society because of the de-humanizing effect it crates. Politically it then leads to situations where political opponents and their respective supporters view each other as enemy combatants in a do-or-die...
Feb. 10 | WOLFGANG FENGLER
Throughout the slums of this world, poor children are dreaming of becoming football stars and playing in the World Cup. Some of them from Kibera – Kenya’s largest slum – had a shot last weekend, when the International School of Kenya hosted the third “Mini World Cup”.
The event involved more than 60 teams made-up of Kenyan and international children from all walks of life. Two teams from Kibera made it to the top eight teams of the tournament, keeping their dream alive to win the “Cup” in one of the next years. The great thing about football is that all teams, no matter what their social background, have an equal opportunity to win. They start on a level playing field, and they all play by the same rules. When the final whistle blows, there is no reason why one of the teams from Kibera should not lift...
Feb. 8 | LEE BRUDVIG
This week, the US government stands in solidarity with people around the world and here in Kenya who are observing the ninth annual International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C).
Zero Tolerance Day fosters awareness of the harmful effects of female genital mutilation/cutting and renews the call for communities to abandon this inhumane practice. It is estimated that 100 to 140 million women around the world have undergone this procedure, and three million girls in Africa, including many in Kenya, are at risk every year.
In the United States, the procedure also takes place among some immigrant communities, and we have worked with health and legal professionals to sensitize practitioners about the negative consequences of FGM/C.
FGM/C refers to a procedure involving partial or total removal...
