My Views on Nothing|Anything|Everything

Kenya is on the verge of making history as the second African country to decriminalise homosexuality. The High Court will on the 26th of April give the dates when they will make the rulings on the case where three Queer Rights NGO’s moved to court to challenge the constitutionality of sections of the penal code which criminalise homosexuality. Between 2010 and early 2014, nearly 600 people have been prosecuted under section 162, which, apart from arrest, has laid the groundwork for discrimination, physical and emotional violence, blackmail and harassment. It’s on this basis that the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission went to court as co-petitioners to challenge the constitutionality of the impugned section based on the premise that they infringe on citizen’s right to dignity, privacy and non-discrimination which are protected by the constitution. Represented by Senior Counsel Paul Muite, the 3-day hearing was an emotional roller coaster with the courtroom packed t...

Sauti Sol attempted to speak out about politics two days ago and it backfired spectacularly but also showed us where we are as a country. I feel that Sauti Sol are disconnected from Kenya and Kenyans. I disagree with the amalgamation of lack of education and political affiliation. Their reductionist attitude towards ignorance based on slogans and their lack of appreciation for people's democratic right to support either of the two parties. I get what they were trying to do; remain neutral and call for agenda based discussions but they ended up with condescending platitudes which wound up everyone. They sound like they live in a different country and are feeling sorry for the mere mortals down here. They might have it in their best interest to do a bit of consultations before doing a post like this again. I feel like they need to understand why people are on the streets. I feel like they need to understand disenfranchisement and why people are looking for hope and what politi...

We equate protests/civic action to poverty. We equate poverty to unintelligence. Our online interactions clearly and sadly show it. Pauline Aoko, a career (26 years) demonstrator by her own self confession, was interviewed on KTN today. She is a middle-aged lady from Kibera who was preparing for her weekly tear gas supplements. When asked why she was going to the street, she said that she was fighting for her rights for a good and that she was prepared to die for it. She said that her kids asked her what would happen to them if she the police killed her during the protests and she told them that she will have died fighting for their rights. That threw me off but I understood it a bit more. Kenyans are suffering. Kenyans are feeling the sustained and ever- expanding gap between the rich and the poor. Kenyans are feeling the effects of social and economic marginalisation that has taken place by regime after regime. In spite of devolution, the county governments still get a paltry 12...

I feel like we are taking David Ndii's call for secession too literally and completely missing the point. I believe this was an article meant to spark uncomfortable conversations and inspire thoughts on the state of our nation but we would need to think about it beyond individuals and emotions, first. We need to start addressing David Ndii's reasons for calling for secession and stop the sideshows and victim mentality. If you're feeling offended then you're part of the problem Kenya is not a nation. Kenyatta senior and his thieving cronies lost their chance to unite Kenya at independence and we are paying for it ever since. We have had 2 tribes leading Kenyans since independence and we have great economic instability that is tearing this country apart somewhere at the border of Central Kenya and Rift Valley. This might boil down to the fact that we do not acknowledge Kikuyu and Kalenjin privilege. It's pretty hard to see privilege when you're in it an...

This is a good time to realise the power of stereotypes and their role in the dehumanisation of others to the point of indifference in death. The narrative of Luos as violent hooligans has led to a very dull national response to their plight because we figure that in some way they deserve it and why were they going to protest anyway. Our biases have bypassed our logical interrogation sense and has blinded us to the reality of targeted killings, police brutality and what I would call something short of crimes against humanity. This is however the most effective and time-tested way of hardening masses and creating opposition that you cannot handle. Even at full capacity, the armed forces cannot possibly handle an all-out uprisal and once the people realise that, only then will they realise the power that they hold. The level of violence we are currently witnessing is not quelling unrest. There has hardly been any unrest. The protests in Kibera were nonviolent.No shop ...

We judge the effectiveness or admirability of women in politics by their ability to withstand oppression, suffering and violence meted out by society. We tell women to look up to Wangari Mathai and use her as an example of women who didn’t have power handed to her on a silver platter but instead fought for it. We have glorified struggle as a necessity for change and have used it as a reason to maintain the status quo and normalize the oppression of women as a part of society. We use examples of icons like Wangari Maathai to speak out against affirmative action. She would be ashamed. In the light of increased women in spheres of public influence both in public service and in the corporate world, we are deluded to think that gender equity has been achieved. We are not even close. There several structural and systemic factors that ensure that women are not at the same level as men when competing for the same positions and perhaps if we understood them a bit more the...