Once a man and twice a child

I just lifted that title from Bob Marley's 'Real Situation', that song that goes something like "It seems like: total destruction the only solution, And there ain't no use: no one can stop them now. There ain't no use: no one can stop them now; Ain't no use: no one can stop them now; There ain't no use: no one can stop them now."

So, I am sorry I have been offline for the past two weeks. Blame it on AccessKenya. The guys took the monthly bill for April, but then they disconnected my guys saying that they had to pay for May, yet that was April? It reminded me of the Kenya Power and Lighting Company May power bills that are always inflated!

Anyway, on Tuesday I spent my day with the Committee of Experts at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre. I was astounded at how many people kept on saying 'YES' to the proposed new Constitution (is this damn thing still a draft?), yet they were basing their 'points' on the harmonised draft Constitution. The one published in November!

I took two of them through the Land Chapter at 40 (3) a and then 67 (2) e and that clause that defines public land as that which no heir can be identified through legal means. They saw that indeed here is a problem, especially if your dad, in a patriarchal society declines to include his name on your birth certificate.

If the good intentions of the document were actually there, this could just be what the doctor ordered. But I don't think it is. Worst case scenarios should teach people something. Does anybody know why Mr John Michuki is quiet?

Even after talking about the 'silence' over whether a person can vie for the presidency and the parliamentary seat at the same time, they were still telling me that that was in the proposed law. I gave it to them and asked them to show me, they couldn't! I hope a review of the National Assembly and Presidential Elections Act, the new one that is, will seal this loophole, I hope it can! And DON'T tell me that not everything can be in the Constitution! DON'T!

PS: Who inserted at 'national security' thing at 24(1) d? Government Printer? I doubt! The Attorney General, maybe! The spy agency that is the National Security Intelligence Service, well, blame them, they won't come out to issue a press statement. It will slide! But seriously, national security overrides all other freedoms. That's what patriotism is all about. No?

PS2: Isaac Ongiri of the Star and some other journalist formerly at Capital and now works for is it BBC?( I don't know) insist that the TV opinion polls are doctored because 'NO' gets 71 per cent and 'YES' gets 29 per cent. Well, those who watched the poll like my colleague, the punctilious Man Ngi say the question was 'objective'. But TV polls are grossly unscientific and that's a point that David Ochami of the Standard noted. So if viewers of a particular station will vote 'NO' is that a crime? What space do some people occupy? And does following the maxim 'If you don't know, vote 'NO'" make people enemies of Kenya? Not with civic education by the Committee of Experts.

Meanwhile, let's keep talking. Katiba ni yetu sote!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Cockroach Dance

Image
I went home over the weekend. I came back just in time to pick a pal who is in the country from Sierra Leone. But it is a busy week ahead and I know if I don’t get this posted, it may as well never make it. I have been reading the Cockroach Dance , a book by Meja Mwangi. I picked the book off the shelves at Nairobi’s BookPoint Bookshop on Moi Avenue. I occasionally go in there to browse books so that come payday, I know what I am going to buy. So, one fine morning, I went to the bookshop and in my browsing, I saw this book. It was funny and after reading the blurb, and looking at the price –Sh450—I decided to buy it. It’s my first Meja Mwangi book, and I found it quite fascinating. The guy has talent for telling stories in the most simple way. He has a funny way of expressing his ideas and an acutely interesting gift when it comes to describing scenes. In this book, he traces the life of one Dusman Gonzaga and his neighbours in Dacca House. Yes, this may not familiar, because t
Read more

This is Louis --that interview with artists was tight!

Louis Otieno is one of the few broadcasters I do enjoy watching. Of course (I like that word alot), there is Rama Nyang' and Jeff Koinange. So, I am not talking about broadcasters today, so I will not list all my favourites. That's a story for another day. So, when he moved to K24 from Citizen TV, Louis moved with his name which is already a brand in media circles. He hosts a weekly talkshow, really a discussion like that of CNN's Larry King, that is not only informative, but truly resonates with the people of Kenya. So here he was this Wednesday night with leading artists in Kenya, the cream of the entertainers of this country. There was Nameless and Juacali (all musicians), the talented Arthur K. (a TV music producer), Larry Asego and Kajairo (influential radio personalities in their own right) and one Ben Njiru, a man in a smart suit, I don't know who he is. The chitchat focused on the constitution. But then there was the usual bibble-babble about being left out of t
Read more

Remembering Dr Margaret Ogola (June 12,1958 - September 21, 2011)

One day, less than a decade ago, a close pal asked me who between Dr Margaret Ogola and Grace Ogot had written the award-winning book ‘The River and the Source’. Read a powerful review here “Dr Ogola,” I said, but then he had some doubts. I finally got a copy of the book and showed it to him. I had read ‘The River and the Source’ as a setbook back in Kakamega High School and I enjoyed it immensely. Apart from the gripping narrative about the life, influence, aspirations and the successes of a matriarch, Akoko, I really did enjoy learning a few Luo words like juok , nyadhi and wuod lando. That episode came to my mind as I sat at the back of Nairobi’s Holy Family Basillica this afternoon (Thursday, September 29, 2011) in a requiem mass for the famous Kenyan author. It is difficult to talk about her without mentioning her many works. That’s for the simple reason that Margaret was a super author, and I heard also that she was an astute doctor, a very nice mother, sister and spouse.
Read more