Tailor made

This world never ceases to amaze me, just when the puritants and catholics were putting up their bravest fights yet to stop human clonning and organ germination , one 33 year old Le Trung was creating for himself a custom made girlfriend. and i mean literally!


The super chick is made to be able to read for her boyfriend, clean, and even do accounts. She even speaks two languages! Awuoro

MPs and Tax: We are Missing the Point

Of late the Kenyan MPs have found themselves in a very awkward receiving end. The media is replete with calls for them to show leadership and pay taxes. now those two words are not words that the MPs are used to seeing in one sentence without a negating word between them. even the proponents of the grand opposition are again missing the oportunity on this one and instead leaving it to one Muthamia to bask in the media glare and glory.

Kenyans are very unhappy in the wake of high fuel cost , high food prices, reducing wealth in the Stock exchange and so on. All these problems when some of the most well paid people in society adamantly refuse to pay their taxes. But i have always argued here and elsewhere that we are missing the point. I argued that the clamour for MPs to reduce their salaries was misplaced and I also hold that asking them to pay taxes is misplaced.

Lets start with the salaries. at 800,000 the MPs do not even earn what senior managers in blue chip companies earn in this country. They cannot even start to talk about the perks. But why is it that we allow leaders of our publicly listed blue chips to earn so much money yet we do not raise a finger? Why do we agree that they could take home so much money? It is because they are equaly expected to give as much in terms of performance. So by demanding that they lower the perks we are actually puting the horse before the cart. The real issue here is performance and what we should be doing is insist on them to deliver on their KPIs. If the MPs helped strengthen our economy, better our national unity, increased our collective pride, it would not matter to me how much they earned. Just like no one bothers what the blue chip chiefs earn as long as the wealth is created for shareholders

secondly on the taxes: After being close to 3 aspirants in last years election, I understood why they MPs are under preasure not to part with even a single cent. The whole exercise was extremely costly. since am a scientist, I believe that nothing comes from nothing. Nothing ever could. So when these guys use so much money, its only clear that the money will be expected back. be it loans, or savings or even donations. the same favor would be expected. further the MPs are expected to maintain a certain societal status. For that matter they will jalously gaurd what they have. Our solution therefore would be to control the expenditure during campaigns and have the MPs declare their source of funds. One other way of doing it is to restrict the campaign period to maybe 3 months.

Additionaly, the MPs may accept to pay the taxes after all but pass on the favor back the other kenyans. how would they do that? by increasing their allowances to cover the tax deductible so that the net remains 800,000 as before. What will stop them?

Kujivunia kuwa mkenya

Are you having really big problems feeling proud to be Kenyan? I agree with you and I feel you. but I also may be having just the required remedy for your situation. why not take a deserved free drive to Kericho. Yes you can since Shell has now reduced the cost of fuel by a whopping 15 /= (15!) meaning the third rate petrol vendors will have to reduce it by 20 at least in order to compete.

Secondly the road has been fixed beautifully all the way from Naivasha to Kericho. Indeed when the books are written about Kenyan governments, the grand coalition govt will be feted for doing a brilliant job on the roads. The last time I used the stretch between Gilgil to Kericho, I fell sick from the fatigue and frustration from motorists, dust and if not dust then mud. This time the ride was supa and I had time to look up and enjoy the great scenery. This country is indeed beautiful. The rolling hills, the wide plains, the brown, the gray and the green complement each other so beautifully like a wide canvas painting.

This time we were going to Kericho to witness the wedding of my long time friend Ngetich.( people still wed in spite of the world economic downturn! surely love is the most defiant of all emotions) The ceremony that was to start at 10:30 at the scenic Rays place in Kericho was delayed till after 1 in the afternoon but it was all good and we were happy that the man lived upto our expectation of him. Ever since I knew him, Ngetich has never kept time and we used to joke during the committee meetings that he would be late for the wedding and he was. I hope he will also be late when he is called to heaven. Beautiful ceremony full of color, song , dance and mursik! And the heavens held their peace and never poured like they do every day in this sweet town.

Urenga School update

This is an update on the last posting bragging rights and action plan. I have finalised the fund raising and submitted to safaricom foundation. I wish to sincerely thank all of you for the great encouragement and especially No Spin and Florence for the contribution. I am not only forever indebted to you but also tutored by your kindness, generosity and trust.

Here is the full list of contributions:

Watching your mouth

Its often said that what you don't know does not hurt you. That's a common catch phrase for those who believe that ignorance is bliss. But in corporates its clear that what you don't know really does hurt and can hurt real bad.

My friend narrated to me a story how he had sneaked out of office during the busy hours of mid morning to attend an interview at a leading firm in industrial area. He was running late by the time he got to the notorious Haile Selasie round about. There was this bully in a menacing Toyota landcruiser who kept on pushing him out of the road and sometimes cutting him in the chaotic traffic jam. He felt belittled and slighted. But he knew that his small toyota corolla would not stand a chance with the bullbars on the landcruiser. However he insolently dodged the guy and managed to get in front of him but that was not enough , he stuck his head out and threw some f** words at the rouge driver and even asked him who he thought he was to bully people like that on the road. Not getting enough of his rage out. he showed the guy his middle finger before dashing off. By the time he got to the Nyayo round about, he was clear of the bully and the rest of the drive was without any drama. Got at the venue 10 minutes late, hurried and harassed. Organized his papers and thoughts and got to the reception. the sweet receptionist confirmed his name knowingly and to his relief told him he had to wait a few minutes as the main interviewer who would be his CFO hadn't arrived. After what seemed like 20 minutes he was ushered into the large plush boardroom for his panel interview and who was sitting right at the head of the long table??? The bully! and he was wearing a queer smile!

The poor guy experienced what we used to call in college a brain lock and simply failed the high profile interview. The big career leap evaporated before him like rain water in the Sahara.

But this is not the only time such things happen. In the corporate world sometimes, employees bad mouth their bosses mentioning some unutterables not knowing that the listeners may themselves be going to bed with the said boss. such careless talk can not only be career limiters but also career assassins.

A colleague of mine never utters anything controversial until he is sure of the associations of all the people around him. Else he will just throw in a generally accepted remark here or there.

However on the other hand this kind of thing may also be counterproductive since people then become prisoners in a free world. mostly all that is required is have your facts and be confident about what you are saying without making hurtful comments.

Mentoring

Today I was asked about how to be a good mentor. the person in fact wanted a mentoring manual. She has been invited to mentor young professionals in Nairobi and thought I would provide the best insight.

Well lets just start by saying that the inquiry really did massage my ego! I have been a mentor to a couple of people but even I at the beginning sought out manuals and articles on mentoring even in the internet. I got quite a bit of information but did not feel really satisfied.

However after swimming in the joy of being considered a man of such high wisdom , I gave my friend just three things I thought were worth considering when it came to mentoring:

That 1. a mentor is very much like a counselor. Your duty is not to provide answers or direction but to help the mentee see clearly or with another eye, things that may be obscure. The mentor may also help the mentee see these issues from different angles. eg if it involves job development, to be able to see it from the managers perspective. 2. that the mentor must start with what the subject knows and build with what he has. There is no point telling the person that 'you know what lets talk after you acquire a degree'. or lets talk after you get 3 years experience. 3. That at the end of the relationship, the mentee should be able to say she/he made the decision, or he achieved this or that. If she says you helped her or held her hand or showed her this or that then you shall have failed as a mentor.

Finally i thought time with a mentor needs to be as brief as possible. I normally meet with my mentor for less than 20 minutes at any time. I normally initiate the meetings and I always come out feeling I drove the meeting and made the decisions. My mentor often asks very few but thought provoking questions and his examples or pointers are normally very brief but sharp. He often has an easy eye contact and is often looking quite at home with anything I say.

Having said that, mentors are great people to have since they actually give you a great shortcut in life, they help you see the ditch which may have been veiled as a soft landing patch. they help you see the thorns in the greener grass yonder and so on.

dadhood bliss

I have not been to a formal (read public) function for a long while. most of the functions i attend are private or informal ones where people don't have to glance at their watches yawn or doze off. jana i was at my daughter's graduation from nursery school. and boy did she look lovely. The function should have started at 12:45 so i made sure my desk was clean by 12 and all delegations were made in time and then braved the jam to the school. got there just before 1 and got podium seat. The place was packed. Faces aglow and sweet marashis all over. animals sure do love their young. But the wait was too much, the function just couldn't start and music after music was played until my belly started to show signs of wanting to be filled. i wondered what was cutting as my smile slowly turned into a frown. after asking around i learned that the guest of honor was the one keeping the ceremony. he made us wait a whole one hour, then when he came we were told to stand up and clap to show him respect.

shortly the entertainment started and again i was simply shocked at what those kids were able to do. my small girl also recited a poem you should have seem me struggling to control the excitement in me as she went through the lines and the crowd clapped and oooed in approval while cameras clicked. 'she is just as sharp as the dad', i told myself. only problem was that somehow almost everyone here was a paparazzi and after a short while, we who were sitting could no longer see the kids performing, the cameramen and women had taken up all the view and we were left with their tired backsides to stare at. even the guest of honor whome we had awaited for all that long wasnt spared!

But becuase kids are loved so much, everyone wanted to cash in. unsolicited cameramen who produce prints as the ceremony is going on were selling those prints for 150 /- instead of the usual 50. the teachers had charged us 500 /- to hire a graduation gown for the small people and on top of it we were required to pay a further 1000 /- for a suvenir framed picture of the baby in the graduation atire replete with cap.

The function however ended on time as per the program even the guest of honor did us a favor and did not lecture us for too long. After that the satisfied parents with wides grins on their faces were treated to snacks while others like us took our babies home for real big party!

Staff Motivation and Fraud

I have been thinking a lot lately about staff and demotivators. really the kind of things that drive staff to levels of risking their very employment to call for strikes, sit ins and general lethargy or go slow. this is also in the wake of business threatening strikes being reported from Kenya Airways and the likes. the teachers strike for pay is now almost part of our own culture as Kenya.

A number of things get said about motivation and employee moral but none ever gets to to be specified about the role of moral hazards in the part of senior business leaders in companies. The one thing that does get ignored by managers most times is like parents do with their kids they assume that their junior staff do not see what they are doing. that the staff aren't aware of reasons why this manager is keen on getting this project complete as opposed to the other. or why this thing is being pushed etc. Employee gets demotivated when they realise that while the senior manager or CEO refused to give a raise or refused to approve a training, conference or overtime citing cost cutting or cost leadership, the same manager signed a huge over priced tender since he had a major cut in it. from that point that staff will go on a go slow or engage in his own fraud at his level. such staff then start to look for any means possible to get advantage from the company and may even start stealing from customers. We have seen how this is capable of bringing down companies.

In the past i used to think that what ails our nation most was tribalism. Well i still think this is a major problem. but a much bigger issue is really the acculturation of fraud. the vice is so in the blood of Kenyans that they don't see it. they only see the ones highlighted by the media in the scale of anglo leasing etc. I was talking to someone and he could not see that buying goods at staff price to sell outside at market price was actually defrauding the company!

Last Wednesday i left work feeling extremely low after i realized that a colleague i respected so much was actually defrauding the company i work for and making big money out of every contract signed. i got to know that he was the force behind contractors who keep on getting contracts in spite of repeated mediocre service and permanently delayed projects. I felt like strangling the stupid villain. but he is quite a rich dude now and i was made to understand that he is a hot live wire. touch at your own peril.

But driving home, i couldn't help but see other forms of fraud, like the driver who cut in front of me, or the one who disrespected the lights or even the one i met head on on the wrong lane also known locally as overlapping. All this to me is fraud but it appears we have become so accustomed that the person who avoids such things is the abnormal one. Its a real sad state of affairs

Thinking of Faustin

In the quantum of solace, the villain coerces a former dictator to sign off rights to own what appears to be a wasteland in his country. his reward? being helped to take over his former position as the country ruler. His loss? someone else will sign and he will be killed. The wasteland in question turns out to be the only source of water for nearly half of the South American continent. In short the Villain is seeking to control the water source serving a whole continent and he is going to get it courtesy of a single signature of a man whose only desire is to rule.

That story resonates so well with the sorry situation in DR Congo and indeed most parts of Africa. Today am thinking so much of my dear friend Faustin. Faustin is a Congolese whom i met when i was a religious guide in Nairobi. He had come with his half brother to Nairobi to seek treatment for the brother. They did not have much and he told sad stories of the senseless war and displacements in Congo. I like Faustin for his passion, hard work and focus. within 3 short months, he was able to learn English and Kiswahili and be able to get jobs teaching french privately and doing simple translation in Kenya. after a short while he managed to get scholarship for a Masters course at Daystar university and even landed a job as a journalist. in the meantime he could write short articles on the life in Nairobi for sale to some publications in Canada and Belgium. Today he is a doctoral student in Swansea university in UK.

Yesterday i got a long mail from him outlining how the war in DR Congo is planned , executed and perpetuated. We see women and children running and hear gun battles but Faustin asks how the poor rebels, some of whom do not even have formal education are able to get those sophisticated and expensive weapons. I hear even a simple shotgun is very difficult to aim and fire. how have they mastered these great killers. Someone is playing quantum of solace with the poor greedy leaders of Africa who are willing to mortgage their whole nations for leadership opportunity. This blog entry is dedicated to Faustin and many people like him whose energy, intelligence and passion is being wasted due to a useless war and due to visionless greedy and myopic leaders of our time.

Faustin, looking at the history of great people in the world and how small efforts changed whole generations, do not despair but continue to believe in every small step you make. Knowing that bit by bit fills the bin

Arduous argument with Q

yesterday i had a lengthy and tiring argument with one of my friends. Let me call him Q. Q believes that in this world you cannot get anywhere unless you know someone 'strong' somewhere he further believes that knowing that someone aint enough, he must help you get some strong deals in high places for you to make supplies. We even went into argument and he strongly believed that Obama won coz he had some strong pple backing him. now this was different from what i thought coz i thought the man was disadvantaged from start. it was Hillary who had the strong backings , strong name etc. Obama won coz he had the small people in mind but Q told me i was too naive. That nothing is ever black or white, that there are several shades of gray. Now i have several problems with that school of thought.

one, because am one person who does not know strong people. so by telling me that, it only goes to tell me that i am headed no where. i wont take that!

two, because i believe immensely on the goodness of people. i have seen it here in this very blog. people i hardly know and who hardly know me sent me money for our project in Urenga. All due to good will. People in urenga probably think i know some people in high places and that's why i have been able to put up those classrooms and pay school fees for disadvantaged girls but they are wrong. very wrong

third, coz i think this mentality is to blame for all the problems we have had as a country. I even believe that the presidency is often fought for like that in Africa since its supposed to give you free access to strong deals, read corruption opportunities

fourth am angry because these kinds of corrupt people are the ones who have messed up the NSE for us honest investors. Everything was going on well till 2005 when lazy rogue brokers who loved shortcuts came into the market and started to manipulate it with abandon. This very blog was started inspired by the NSE. but later the market could make no sense at all due to all that greed. I have since painfully and regrettably reduced my participation in the NSE and even comments on the goings on have reduced on this blog.

Q is also actually geneticist (sorry if misuse the term) who also believes that success is genetically passed on. He believes that Kelenjins are genetically wired to run long distance races. Somehow he has funny facts to prove it! Even he tried to prove that the genetic make of Brazilians is tailored towards footballing agility! I hate such beliefs since they make me feel helpless! unfortunately Q is one of those people bless with power of speech and is very convincing.

of Bond stunts and Rain floods

Every time i watch a James Bond movie i always come out feeling smarter and tougher. after watching Quantum of solace yesterday, i couldn't help but feel fully equipped to handle all the nasty villains of this world. getting back home to find a major blackout, i felt heroic opening the doors and flashing my mobile phone looking for bad smart men who could be hiding there. i always feel i could kick like that, jump , run and turn my pens into lethal weapons like James Bond. Its the feeling we used to have as young boys in Kisumu after watching the open air (walk-in he he) kung-fu movies brought by factual mobile cinema or Kenya film corporation. the following day all the boys would be black-belts with deadly blows and flying kicks. But bond movie stunts are normally a pure genius.

And even though the movie is just that, movie, the concept of hologram that was done by CNN during the coverage of this years elections in US was way out of this world. tele-posting reporters from Chicago, arizona and the like to a central studio was a masterpiece of television. It added much spice to the whole thing.

But yesterdays bond movie did not help me know how to drive through the floods that blocked my way back home. It had rained like the heavens very life depended on it and our south c with its black cotton soil, portholes and poor drainage could not handle the water. even today there were families whose houses still had flood water. It reminded my wife and I of Kasagam in Kisumu. but Kasagam floods were good since the water mostly came from burst river banks and if you were lucky, you could get fish trapped behind when water retreated though also left behind would be snakes, and all sorts of debris.

However apart from the floods, the broken submerged cars and traffic jams i normally just love the coming of rain.


PS. one annon has told me to stop pushing it but i have to share this forward sent to me by w friend:


OBAMA DEFEATS MCCAIN


Chungwa Moja Ni Maisha Bora

(the fonts were in orange! )

Obamic Inspirations

A lot has been said about Obama's blackness and the significance of his being the first African-American (Luo-American according to my friend Ken) in the highest office in the planet. Most people have said that what Obama will do as president is not important rather than what he has already done as an underdog winner. But I suppose Obama is a lot of something to very many different people.

first being an orphan, am sure it resonated very well with millions of Kids. His having been raised by grandparents is something many kids in his Siaya and kogelo village alone can significantly identify with. Am sure the same is shared by those million Americans who shed tears on our screens yesterday.

Another thing is that he was initially also raised by a single mom. and there are many like him. kids of single parents some of whom may feel that they are disfavored just for that simply reason. Further that his parents divorced at such an early age. Divorce is a major problem in America and elsewhere. also that he was son of a drunkard who could not settle on any one woman as wife. Many people find themselves in such situations and his win will encourage them that 'Yes They too can!'

But there are other similarities like his 'wrong' name Husein,Barak and even Obama. The fact that Barak could stop smoking and abusing other drugs with the support of his wife must give great courage and inspiration to many people who are caught in this addiction and any other major addictions.

But all in all my major lesson from the new president of the universe again to quote Ken is that if you are so down and so low then you have to work real hard , real smart and real different.

Was his life story that of fate? isnt it fate for all of us. In all the stories, i coulnt help but miss the mention of another great Luo brother Thomas Joseph Mboya. Whose briliance could not be stoped even by the bullet. More than 3 decades after he was felled by chauvinist coward evil men of the first kenyan administration, the
bye-product of his great vision is being toasted as probably the greatest president of the world ever!

Congratulations Obama

It was a historic moment, historic speech and historic win. i was part of that moment. I congratulate you for being a fulfillment of a dream, being a beacon of hope, taking such huge responsibility to fulfill the expectations of a world in crisis.

And congratulations to your family, friends managers and also to Mccain not only for accepting his defeat but really accepting that your time had come. For being a gentleman. More also for making you big by being so big himself. For to win is great but to beat two great people; Hillary and McCain in the process of beating a great history of odds ,of pain , of discrimination is greater far than most things.

demolitions and good roads

What do you make of the demolitions of the buildings along thika road? The government says they must be pulled down to pave way for 10 lane superhighway. tres bien. But does it show that the government has finally decided to act on illegal allocations or does it mean someone is not thinking out of the box? Who said that a thika road must pass through Thika Road (???) i mean must we expand the current one? why cant we just put new thinking into it and do a completely new road through somewhere else?

But if you have driven to Nakuru in the recent past then you would appreciate the goodness of a well done road. Naivasha is done so well it looks like cherembes or majuu (a term my sheng pal uses to refer to a first world) with clear markings, good width, good grip. its just pleasure. But you have to watch out that you are not overtaken by that pleasure, policemen with speed guns hide just after the last hill towards Naivasha, and if you are doing anything more than 100km/h you either pay a cash bail of 4,000 or go to court. yes even if its 101km/h! Of course there is always a third way. the bribe way. i think those cops there are making a killing. am sure they take home upwards of 20,000 Kshs per day in bribes. so much for they 15K monthly salary.

I used this road last week to attend a funeral in Nyahururu. after the branch off at gilgil, you don't meet too many people and you can go at good speeds thought the road is a little challenged at this point. Driving on this expansive flat area, i couldn't help bu notice the beauty of this country, no wonder people were willing to kill for it last January. We passed ol kalau ( refered to as orkarau localy) before orjorolok (lol). the land and even climate and atmosphere of nyahururu reminded me so much of my rural. Even the soil and roads look strangely familiar. We celebrated the life of a man who has lived a very long and fulfilling life having even been taken to the concentration camps during mau mau. I felt like asking him to pass my regards to my relatives who had gone up there before him but then i wondered if they would understand each other. those guys spoke luo. What language is spoken up there?

On the way back , the lure of Nyahururu falls (thomsons) could not be resisted and we had our lunch at the lodge against the backdrop of its roar. beautiful place with nice grass. i saw many lovers in twos on the grass. it costs you 50 bob to spend quality time with your soul mate on the picnic grounds. So for 2000 bob you could actually do a season of picnics. there are even cameramen to take you spectacular photos the ones that come out as if you are drawing water from the fall , washing your hands or swimming against it!

the magic of the place made us leave nyahururu towards 6pm. and we stoped several times along the road to buy vegetables. nice succulent carrots, cabbages and potatoes sold so cheap that we wondered loud if they were real.

Oh No. I hope not

Yesterday was a sad day for me. the day when our MPs decided in one voice to reject the Waki report and throw away the baby with the birth water. It was sad because the violence not only cost people friendships and families but also lives. It was sad because the main reasoning for its rejection was only to save a few careers. But it also taught us great lessons. What we don't know is what may happen next. was January the worst? I surely did not expect Raila to agree to the rejection of the report. We should not allow people to kill with such abandon and let them go free.

This violence especially in the Rift Valley is somewhat historical. And by choosing to protect the guilty , Raila shall have inherited the culpability of the killers of '92 , '97 , 2002 and so on. Even those who fed Kikuyus to the crocodiles in the Kerio Valley in '97. For a man who has spent his whole life fighting for justice and common good, it would be a sad way to conclude a career. Was it worth it? Is that what you get for being the most politically detained man in the history of the country? Its sad like Kibaki, spending more that 40 years of a brilliant career building a rare image of a gentleman politician, only to throw all that out for 5 years of presidency. sometimes people really fail to see the trade off. That now through history Kibaki will be remembered as the man who failed to unite the country, refused to accept defeat and led Kenyans to near civil war and national collapse. As a man who brought us to the lowest levels of tribal considerations and created the deepest divide. Yet for more than 40 years he has been known as the gentleman of politics. All for a miserly 5 year term!

I still hold on to hope that Raila will see that he would rather lose the next election or indeed the current PM seat than block the justice for the over 1300 dead Kenyans and those thousands of IDPs. I hope he will be the golden boy of Kenyan politics. In another chat we were having with a group of friends, i was told that you do not gain anything from good history. so what if people remember you as a thug or murderer. after all you achieved your personal goals and lived the life you wanted? But that to me is a very uncultured argument of uncultured people and Raila, having been brought up by cultured and honorable people, should not buy it.


And yet the report is not only about punishment or justice, its also about what has gone wrong with our systems. our police force, our culture of greed and tribalism, our pride as a people. It gives serious recommendations on the constitution, governance and so on. But politicians will simply look at the one thing: That it threatens their own career ambitions!

Am sad.

Waki - opportunities

Political entrepreneurs could right now be laughing as they draft their business plan. The Waki report that has hit hard on some key pretenders to the crown has provided an unmatched opportunity. That's why i keep wondering where the proponents of grand opposition are holidaying. there will be no other time to show their relevance like now. This is the time for them to stage an Obama and upset the apple cart once and for all. Normally opportunities to rewrite history don't come too often. But what presented itself to Raila and Ruto in 2002 to put paid the career ambitions of the likes of Saitoti, Biwot and Kalonzo, being the clamor for constitution and change is now over and the likes of ababu have a new great frontier to exploit. they can now push the idea of Grand opposition and take the game to Raila and Ruto by pinning them down on integrity and accountability. With this report, it will be an uphill task trying to revive those careers of the likes of Uhuru and Saitoti especially if it goes to the Hague and that's how Martha too will get her big break.

However Ababu Namwamba and his colleagues of the Grand Opposition have not even hinted a position since the Waki report came out.

By the way, what happens to the awards of honorary doctoral degrees awarded the other day to the principals after Waki revealed that death and destruction in Naivasha and other places were planned in state house?

Bold Waki did us proud

The man called Philip Waki and his team actually did me proud. when he was appointed, i told myself that nothing concrete would come from him. He would try to make the principals happy so that he could land a fat job maybe like a chief justice for example. after call Chesoni had a similar fate. My eyes were instead focused on Kriegler (sp. Who i supposed being a foreigner (and white :-( ) would have a non-biased approach and give us a true report of the issues. But instead its Waki who has shown character and said the hard things that Kriegler could not say. while the old man chose to play court poet with the principals, Waki went for the throat and told even his direct reports that they were squarely directly individually and severally responsible for the near collapse of our nation. He touched all the taboo subjects and accused even sacred cows. To me Waki has shown us himself he showed that he gat balls. He managed to do what the other older man Kiviutu could not do.

He did not protect us from the truth but rather brought it out loud and clear knowing full well that its truth that's sets a people free.

Another bold man is Pastor Nganga of neno evangelical centre. he said that the Bible said women must not wear men's clothes but rather wear long dresses that cover the knee. short skirts and trousers are not African and definitely not Christian. I wonder what made him think that long dresses were African in the first place. i thought we never put on dresses and that's why in traditional dances, we always put on those skimpy short sisal or leather skirts. he further said that women in minis distract men in worship and invited rapists upon themselves. to start with rape has never had anything to do with attraction or lust. it has always had everything to do with power and domination. most rapists are sexually codependent people or persons with low self esteem.

secondly what i would find distracting in Pastor Nganga's church would be those women who normally roll over the floor when he is 'blowing his healing and exorcism spirit' the way they roll over and kicking in all directions to me would be more distracting in a church setting than a woman in a trouser. and the bible says men must never put on a woman's dress and vice versa. But during bible times there were no trousers when did those become men's clad?

However i may agree with him on the mini-skirts and tight trousers but for a completely different reason. being that by exposing their thighs,cleavage and behind too much, women have denied men the excitement of mystery ,imagination and discovery. One of the rules of power states that you must be scarce if you want to be powerful i think the same applies to the power of attraction. no wonder men are these days very lukewarm when it comes to these things.

Your Parrot Died By Lance N.

Laughter is good. I found this joke in askmen website and literally fell off my seat:

A man is sleeping in bed when his telephone suddenly rings.
“Hello, Senor Rod? This is Ernesto, the caretaker at your country house.”
“Ah yes, Ernesto. What can I do for you? Is there a problem?”
“Um, I am just calling to advise you, Senor Rod, that your parrot, he is dead.”
“My parrot? Dead? The one that won the international competition?”
“Si, Senor, that's the one.”
“Damn! That's a pity! I spent a small fortune on that bird. What did he die from?”
“From eating the rotten meat, Senor Rod.”
“Rotten meat? Who the hell fed him rotten meat?”
“Nobody, Senor. He ate the meat of the dead horse.”
“Dead horse? What dead horse?”
“The thoroughbred, Senor Rod.”
”My prize thoroughbred is dead?”
”Yes, Senor Rod, he died from all that work pulling the water cart.”
“Are you insane? What water cart?”
“The one we used to put out the fire, Senor.”
“Good Lord!! What fire are you talking about, man?!”
“The one at your house, Senor! A candle fell and the curtains caught on fire.”
“What the hell?” Are you saying that my mansion is destroyed because of a candle?”
“Yes, Senor Rod.”
“But there's electricity at the house! What was the candle for?”
“For the funeral, Senor Rod.”
“WHAT BLOODY FUNERAL?”
“Your wife's, Senor Rod. She showed up very late one night and I thought she was a thief, so I hit her with your new TaylorMade Super Quad 460 golf club.”
“Ernesto, if you broke that driver, you're in serious trouble!”

of belts, bellies and beers

In the days when Zambia had a copper belt, Kisumu also had a belt. but it wasnt a mineral belt but rather a beer belt. It was actually a shopping center near the social hall otherwise known as wanainchi. the name stemmed from the fact that the area was surrounded with several bars, restaurants and 'lodges' (actually just sin rooms) Wanainchi was incidentally close to our estate and in the night we could hear the likes of Owino Misiani belting their benga away into the night. The Gor Mahia songs were very popular and i could hear him sing them over and over. in these joints the patrons often ask for an encore after parting with a small amount the musician can even put your name in the song if your pocket smiles nicely.

Well that was then. But last Thursday i saw another beer belt. this time in the heart of Nairobi. actually just at the Nairobi West shopping center. I have never passed by the center in the evening or night. and this day i made the blunder of blunders by trying out a short cut near the shops. Cars were packed till the road with only a small passage left for pple like us to pass. Invariably we got into a gridlock since another car came from the opposite end. being Kenyans where road courtesy went for lunch and has never returned, neither of us was willing to yield ground and we stayed there for like ages before another young man who washes cars there came to our senses.

All the pavements and even part of the parking lot had patrons downing their favorite drinks and enjoying hearty chat music and nyama choma. Kenyans will not divorce nyama choma even though cases of gout and related issues are increasing by the day among young upwardly mobile.
what shocked me was that the place is like a sea of bars some small with a few patrons others having patrons spilling out onto the streets like a defiant beer belly.

But i was not interested in that beer belt of nairobi, i was instead looking forward to taking my wife for some good music near nyayo. the place is not your ideal joint. seats are hard to come by and even walking space is a luxuryy given the size of the crowd. But from the cars packed outside, you can tell that this might even be above your class! The musician called Omondi Refa was doing his best belting hit after hit. mostly originally done by others. but his style is unique and he is a young man dressed like a teenager. its difficult to associate him with ohangla. from his dressing he should be singing the likes of "...watuuu, munajua ni aje ?..." yet the patrons were people above middle age whose mid rifs have already formed a permanent grand opposition.

Even though we weren't able to dance since the place was packed to capacity, we enjoyed watching those who could, try their styles out. Now when watching those young Congolese dancers on Citizen, you would think dancing is an easy thing. maybe they should be warning pple not to try that after a certain age or size. it was simply hilarious watching those not so young men and women try to shake their heavy waists around and throw their arms in the air like Koffi Olomides dancers. funnier yet was odd couples of very old men trying to impress some gals who seemed as old as their last born daughters. yet on the other side i could see rather slim guys with partners of the plus size. truly opposites attract!

But Refas efforts are not in vain and his music at the stadium has actually created a small economy. beer sales seemed to be doing well even though world economy is in a coma. and Obama shirts, badges, capes etc were also going like hot nyama choma. just outside, newspapers vendors did good business as did sausage vendors, there was even chicken roasted on open fire and you could get it with ugali, chips etc. Even the favorite nyama choma was available. Maybe Akina McCain could learn a few tips on economic stimulation from the musician.

Researchers and Research methods

Lets just start by stating that am a scientist by training and inclination. However lately science and science researchers have been leaving me rather dumb founded. My having an advanced training in statistical analysis and probability only makes it worse. I have read a number of science research results with a lot of shock.

sometime in the '90s . I think early-mid '90s, when i was actively involved in AIDS awareness campaigns, we were one day shocked when one researcher gave us his results pointing out to the fact that the virus' spread was accelerated by consumption of believe it or not , fish. He had very detailed analysis replete with figures and examples. he pointed out the luo, luhya, iteso , and some communities in uganda, malawi, tanzania where HIV was prevalent and whose main dish was fish based. Well i was just dumb founded. but i cant remember how that research went.

then just recently i read again another research where the scientist was trying to explain men's dalliance with prostitutes. his hypothesis and conclusion was that men who frequent prostitutes are actually men with stronger genes. so he said that those men were simply under pressure from the natural law of selection to propagate those superior genes for greater common good of human species survival! He went on to state that if you look around you will see that most prominent men , who he assumed posses some of these superior genes either had multiple sexual partners, wives or concubines and/or also used services of sex workers. He had figures and examples to support that.

Another research revealed that water was not good for your skin after all. guess how it was performed. the researcher took one pair of twins (since they share most of the DNA) one was made not to drink water at all while the other took the recommended water ration of 10 glasses a day. the experiment took one month after which the researcher tested the skins for moisture content. he found out that there was no difference. ok lets not even start with alpha being a non biased estimate of theta!

and late '90s early 2000s, a friend of mine told me of his participation in a study in Kisumu. the study was based in Kisumu's Lumumba dispensary and was financed by Bill-Melinda gates foundation. a group of them were asked to get 'cut' and then continue being sexually active. they were not encouraged to use condoms during the period of the study. however they were to visit the clinic every week for check up during which visit they would get paid 200 shillings allowance. additionally they got free medical care whenever they fell sick. After a few years , just about 6 short years, the study concluded that HIV spread is reduced by 60% through the cut! Raila gave his great support the other day and story goes that men in that region are trooping to the centers for the magical circumcision. Never mind that Africans are the most 'cut' people in the world and is generally leading in infection rates.

ok lets forget about scientists and researchers for a while. This years home expo at the KICC was both very encouraging and revealing. one, that Kenyans though faced with tough times are still very innovative and full of hope. most people were asking a lot about solar systems meaning the energy thing has hit all of us real hard. secondly that most people i met seeking information on home purchase and mortgages were young ladies either in their late 20s or early 30s. Like Moi said last week men be afraid be very afraid!