The Kenyan Man Did Not Rape The Girlfriend!

A Kenyan man who was accused a month ago for raping his girlfriend has been sentenced for two months. The man called Mr. Clay Onyango from a rehab centre in Stockholm. He was accused of raping the girlfriend 20 times but there was not enough evidence to prosecute him on the rape charges.

According to Mr. Clay, the man said he is not in jail but in a rehab centre where he is enjoying playing golf, swimming, playing football, going to the gym and grilling on Saturdays for 3 hours. When Mr. Clay asked him about the meals; “It’s wonderful and better than home, I get an ice-cream after every meal and I am happy because I will be free soon”, said the man.

While he is enjoying himself in a Swedish Prison/rehab, a reflection to our Kenyan prisons rings in someone’s mind. Assuming that he was in a Kenyan prison, he would not have had a chance to talk to anybody. Telephone is out of bound for a Kenyan prisoner. The prisons are in a bad shape and the best you can get out of Kenyan prisons is sleeping in turns since they are too congested and if you are lucky you can get some Ugali with coloured green water and salt.

It’s unfortunate that there are so many innocent Kenyans going through this kind of hell. There is no petty crime and a serious crime; you all end up in these filthy prisons.

By: Clay Onyango.

A Woman President To Replace Mr. Kibaki In 2007!

Fraudulent political parties and poor nominations processes should not deter women political aspirants to participate in the 2007 General Elections. Women must fight for their rights in order to realize equal representation with men in all spheres of decision making. This move will put to past cases of gender imbalance, discrimination, exclusion and poverty. The Kenyan government under Kibaki´s leadership has been negating on its promise to implement the Affirmative Action Bill.

The government of Kenya committed itself to uphold gender equality and women empowerment by ratifying the Convention on Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women and therefore should take all measures available to reduce gender imbalance and inequality. About 22 years ago, the world convened in Nairobi to mark The Nairobi Women’s’ Conference and formulated the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies. These strategies were to among other things; put an end to gender inequality.

The government of Mr. Kibaki was to increase women’s representation in all government institutions.  Kibaki has failed to empower women and his promises are almost melting. Women have got big power when it comes to voting but this time Kibaki has failed them. If Kibaki is a leader enough, let him support a woman president because since 1963, he has been supported by women and it is his turn to give his support. Even though the president made a directive that 30% of civil service positions be reserved for women, this directive cannot hold if it is not enacted in the Kenyan law.

African women, despite their poverty-riddled lifestyles have managed to lift themselves up from doldrums to fight for their rightful position in the society. Kenyan women must not allow poverty and exclusion to take away their determination to succeed in 2007 elections. Kenyan women face numerous hurdles every time they enter into politics, these includes cultural beliefs that women should not head political offices.

Kenyan women are often rigged out during political parties’ nominations or sometimes their male counterparts will start up a commotion to cause political violence at any slightest opportunity. Women must support each other by voting for one of their own. Women are the majority of the Kenyan population and should therefore take advantage of their large number. Affirmative Action rule in Kenya is long overdue and women need to push hard for its enactment.

In Kenya, there are 3 women presidential aspirant; Hon. Charity Ngilu, Dr. Julia Ojiambo and Nazlin Umar. If all Kenyan women can stand behind them then the women will become another threat in Kenyan politics. The above women are strong and we need to give them support to sent Mr. Kibaki to Othaya where he belongs. Kenya is unable to progress because of bad leaders. Kibaki has done his best and let us respect him by not giving him another chance. The media has been biased when covering women aspirants. The media should be at forefront to support women if the war on gender equality is to be won. Women will not win this war without the support of the media.

By: Munala wa Munala.

WHY AFRICANS ARE ALWAYS TIRED…

For a couple of years many Africans have been blaming it on lack of sleep, too much pressure from job, poor blood, but now the real reason has been found:

We’re tired because we’re overworked. Here’s why:

1. The population of Africa is 800 million: 200 million are retired. That leaves 600 million.
2. There are 200 million in school, which leaves 400 million to do the work.
3. Of this, there are 100 million employed by the government. Leaving 300 million to do the work.

4. 50 Million are in the armed forces & related jobs; which leaves 250 million to do the work.
5. Take from the total the 150 million people unemployed. And that
leaves 100 million to do the work.
6. At any given time there are 50 Million people in hospitals. Leaving 50 Million to do the work.
7. There are 20 Million people in prisons. Leaving 30 million to do the work.
8. 1 Million are Chiefs, Kings, Queens, Presidents, Ministers, pastors, Voodoo or Juju Masters. Leaving 29 Million to do the work.
9. Now, 28,999,998 Africans are out of Africa . In Europe, USA , Asia etc.

That leaves just two people to do all the work. You and me… but you’re sitting there on your chair, at your computer, reading these useless mails instead of working………… That leaves one person, only me, to do all the work….

CLOSE THIS WINDOW N GET BACK TO WORK   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Mr. Mwaura Daniel.

Published by: Jamii Crew.

Is Kenya ready For A woman President?

From 1963-66 there were no women elected in parliament. I will give you statistics so that as we focus our eyes on the future we know what doors are open and which remain to be opened. Numbers speaks volumes. If we make decisions on how resources are going to be distributed, the voices of women have to be heard. We cannot afford to be represented.

Poverty is central to our ability to access power. Unless you are able as a girl to access education, you get married. It cuts across to the home; to be able to be an ambassador. In primary school the numbers are almost 50:50, but they drop as we move higher to secondary school, colleges.

In Kenya, only 36 women have made it to parliament since independence (with no female representation in the first two election years i.e. 1963 and 1966). The current ratio of women to men in decision making in political and public life is saddening: with men having four to five times more positions than women.  This is according to statistics from the Gender Report, published by Africa Woman and Child Features (AWC), and data from the Electoral Commission of Kenya for the 2002 elections.

Looking at: political parties, political parties determine governance in Kenya, and we are not in control of the political parties. So we are left out.  in the 2002 elections, 34 political parties participated with a total of 1,035 parliamentary candidates.  For every 23 male candidates there was 1 woman candidate.

In parliament a similar ratio was evident in the number of elected Members of Parliament (MPs) where, for every 1 female elected MP there are 22 male elected MPs. The greatest disparities were recorded in Nyanza province, where none of the women candidates who vied for parliamentary seats made it to parliament while in North Eastern there was no single female candidate.

In the local authorities, the ratio of vying female candidates to their male counterparts in 2002 elections was 1 to 17. Consequently, more men were elected for these civic seats than women on a ratio of 1 to 21. There are also grave inequalities in the civil service, the judiciary and other sectors

Challenges to realizing 50:50 representation in leadership remain:

• Cultural attitudes toward women and women’s leadership. Cultural biases are the main cause of blatant gender bias toward female leadership. These include tribalism and clanism. In constituencies with urban populations of mixed tribal groups and a larger number of political parties, tribe and party affiliation have been a determinant of how voting goes
• Inadequate political networking where many candidates do not have viable links with their political parties at the sub-branch, branch and national levels.
• Poor planning, lack of effective strategies and inadequate use of information by women candidates.
• Merging by political parties affects women’s chances for nomination where it is not uncommon for parties to sacrifice women candidates at nomination stage, in favor of male candidates who are perceived as stronger
• Difficulty in securing party nominations, where procedures by parties are not clearly articulated.
• The obvious lack of financial resources amongst women to run an efficient and effective campaign, and the late disbursement of the funds to women candidates in the event of sponsorship.
• Poverty, corruption and ignorance of Kenyans, resulting to bribery, and increased electoral offences such as vote rigging.

Some successes that have been realized include:

• Steady increase in the presence of women in decision making at parliamentary, government, civic, and community levels. This however by all means falls short of the targeted 50:50 ratio.
• The presence of women leaders continues to inspire other women to contest for various positions at different levels of governance. Their achievements encourage communities to entrust their leadership to women. e.g. the assistant chief in Kabuta sub-location, Muranga District.
• Research has shown that biases against women candidates have significantly subsided.  Accordingly, the possibilities of women candidates being accorded a fair fighting chance have increased with time, with the reasons advanced for favoring women aspirants including capability, gender sensitivity, and positive attitudes.
• Capacity building of women electoral aspirants: Skills acquired by the women are useful to them as they exercise their leadership in the different areas of their lives Benefits include the ability to strategize better; new knowledge gained especially relating to electoral laws and procedures; and better knowledge of voter’s perceptions and voter patterns.

Some recommendations to realizing 50:50 representation in leadership include:

• Revisiting our definitions and language regarding leadership by expansion to mean not just elective leadership, but also leadership that is exercised in the private space of the family and or village. Women who are already leaders in the private space will then begin to get the recognition they deserve for their role in our families and homes. They will also become encouraged and begin to venture more often into the public space of elective office, bringing with them a transformation in the brand of leadership.
• Seeing to the enactment of the draft constitution that guarantees increased opportunities for women in decision-making fora.
• Women candidates must capitalize on the indication that voters are looking for change in leadership, and demonstrate to voters that they are the best alternatives.
• Women candidates need to understand their constituents and voters well, consider their collective and individual problems, needs, and aspirations and then address them in their electoral strategies.
• While direct financial support may be provided to candidates to facilitate their campaigns, women must tackle the issue of being able to understand and deal with financial problems in their constituencies.
• Implementing partner organizations must enhance their lobbying and advocacy skills to realize 50:50 and see men and women governing together.
• Rigorous increase of civic education on gender, governance and voter education
• Working with the media to support aspiring and women leaders.
• Active participation by women in the governance of political parties.

When we look at the statistics, they tell a story. The story tells us that there is a cloud that hangs on women’s heads. There are break thoughts, but as we work for the 50:50 it is important to realize how high we have to jump. We want to see enactment of the new constitution. As a delegate of Bomas I want to walk to the seat I sat on right here in this room and see the fire burning for the constitution. We are not asking for favors, but we are asking for our rights. It is coming from our insides. That as women we bore the candle and let it burn.

Let us see the candle burning until we get our constitution. In the constitution are gains for women. They must not be sacrificed at the altar of political expediency. We need to encourage women aspirants for public office, we need to urge them to continue and when we have the critical mass, we can be heard in parliament. As implementing organizations of the GGP, we have a role to play in mainstreaming media. We shall do it to ensure that this eagle flies. Leadership of women has started and is going to penetrate the clouds.

Lifted from Kenyan women website.

Published by: Munala Wa Munala

Found in a Kisumu City restaurant’s menu:

Chapat mwoto………………….10/-
Mandas mwoto………………..5/-
Chae okombe moja…………..7/-
Sukwos (Squash) Bila suga……………5/-
Sukwos naongeswa Suga…..7/-
Njugu Bila Ngos……………..10/-
Ugali ya Bel (brown)…………5/-
Smak (samaki) chemsa…………15/-
Nyama abula (rost)…………20/-

Warning : Vistas suld not get in without peksen (inspection) wewe tatwangwa na nyundo.
 
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