The Political malaise that is eating up our society

   The political air around the nation has been hot in recent days and politicians have been their true selves! The opposition has been calling for talks with the government over serious national issues. Security and the disbandment of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) are part of the national dialogue that CORD has been clamoring for. On the other side of the patio, politician from the JUBILEE wing have dismissed all these, and branded it political witch-hunt. Just as in 2013 General elections, the battle lines have been dominantly been drawn between President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and the opposition doyen, Raila Amollo Odinga. Their sycophants are even making the most noise, and blurring the real issues.

  As a nation, we have learnt not to trust our politicians, and this national dialogue it is no different. Depending on which side of the political divide you stand on, this national dialogue is either political witch-hunt or an honest way to address the issues that have plagued our nation. Remember what has just happened to our brothers and sisters in Mpeketoni, Makutani in Baringo County, Garissa and Wajir? Vide some appointments in the government? When our political decibels go down, then we all realize that indeed we have hot issues to talk about. Sadly, our politicians are not the type to trust. The only political immorality that as a nation, we collectively take part in is that we talk, eat and sleep politics. We are mysteriously and inexplicably spell-bound by politics and sadly cheap politics. The same politics that are the bane of all the evils that are menacingly staring in our faces!

  As an electorate and the politicians, as a society, we have destroyed our moral fiber that patriotic Kenyans in the ranks of Reverend Timothy Njoya and others, fought so hard to build. Corruption, negative ethnicity and political skullduggery are all national sports and we proudly take part, war unto you, who doesn’t play ball, after all, this is a nation whereby we have a eating culture, no wonder we equate leadership posts in this nation to loaves of bread, or worse still, anything edible! We suffer from an inter-twined curse of eating and political that has clung onto our skins, like ticks to cows!

  We have a rotting part of our political life! The rot is fast spreading to the entire system. Appointments in successive governments have been aligned along political lines, our political class will never stop eating t the slightest opportunity that comes begging, most of our politicians are self-seekers and hide behind national issues to secretly propagate their interests, most of our Members of County Assemblies members are embezzling funds all under the guise of boarding planes to go to foreign lands to bench-mark and borrow ideas on how to effect devolution! We are sick and the political cancer is fast eating up the entire political system! Leaders in top positions in the government flatly refuse to listen to their conscience and cannot fathom resignations even when it is clear that they have horribly failed in their duties!

  Yet at the backdrop of all these political noise, security, terrorism, healthcare, education, unemployment are killing us at every dawn!

                          Reach the writer at mutuamaundu14@gmail.com, jeanmutua@yahoo.com

When in Amazonia, Jules Rimet belongs to South America!!!

   The action in Brazil has separated boys from men. Tonight is the last day of the group matches as teams battle for the last three slots in the Round of 16.  In Group G, Germany, USA, Portugal and Ghana all stand a chance of advancing and the Germany-USA, Portugal-Ghana clashes promise explosive action in Recife and Brasilia respectively. In Group H, Algeria, South Korea and Russia will be seeking to join Belgium in the second round. Hosts Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Colombia, Greece, France, Switzerland, Chile, Argentina and Nigeria have all sealed their places in the Round of 16 that starts on Saturday in Belo Horizonte.

  However, a chilling statistic that should perhaps offer the biggest scare to European teams is the fact that no European team has ever lifted the Jules Rimets Trophy, on South American soil. The closest they have come is a runner-up spot. In 1962, at Estadio  Nacional in Santiago Chile, Brazil thrashed Czechoklovakia Republic 3-1, Brazil walloped Italy 4-1 at Estadio Atzeca, Mexico City in Mexico ( 1970). In 1978, Les Albiceleste beat Netherlands 3-1 in the final at Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires, in front of their home crowd and then a Diego Maradona inspired Albiceleste went on to pip West Germany 3-2 in the 1986 final at Estadio Atzeca in Mexico. The beautiful game is never known to defy some of these patterns, and history has its place in soccer. On July 13, at the historic Estadio De Maracana, history will once again see South America’s most favorite football child Brazil’s Samba Boys or Les Albiceleste of Argentina, lift the coveted Jules Rimet diadem!

  The Oranges play flair and posses devastating counter attacks, the German machine is as efficient as the Mercedes Benz. It would be great to see Robin van Persie or Philip Lahm lift the trophy on July 13 and pop the champagne, but as the statistics suggest, this might not come to fruition. Three of Europe’s best in Spain, Italy and England are already out. Tonight Portugal could be on the plane home too. Europe is almost vanquished in Brazil, while the South Americans are growing in potency as the tourney enters its crucial and penultimate stages. Lionel Messi and Neymar Jnr are lighting up the tournament with splendid breath-taking displays. One of the planet’s best, Christiano Ronaldo has failed to live up to the huge football expectations and the defenders in Brazil are not as scared of him, as the defenders in Europe. He has failed to torment them and his Portuguese team might as well be headed home tonight after the Ghana-Portugal clash.

  South American teams have taken over the show in Brazil, while their European counterparts have flopped and miserably failed. The footballing gods have once again conspired to deny Europe glory in Brazil. Runners-up is the best that Europe has ever gotten on South American soil and Brazil 2014 might be no different. When held in South America, the world cup belongs to South America.

  In the meantime, let us enjoy the scintillating football that the Netherlands and Germany have treated us to. But word of caution, their fans should not over-blow their expectations in them. Spain’s La Roja Furia brought the Jules Rimet Trophy to Brazil. They came with the tag of defending champions and favorites, but miserably exited after the first two games!

                                 You can reach the writer at jeanmutua@yahoo.com, mutuamaundu14@gmail.com

THE UZALENDO DAY!

  From the matatus and radio stations across the nation, patriotic beats and hymns dominate the air. It is the day when other genres of music take a back-seat and our Uzalendo beats become a national chorus. Miniature flags and national colors in all forms flush the environment and the entire nation is in a patriotic mood. As the President enters the Nyayo National Stadium in his ceremonial car, we all stand up. Ululations and cheers relegate our worries and problems to the backseat! It is Madaraka Day!

  Despite being the victims of terror-loving souls and blood thirsty vampires who take fun in pounding us with grenades, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), illegally owned guns and all manner of crude weapons, we brave the chill and become patriotic for a day. Even the near-impossible cost of living, un-ending corruption laden-scams and sagas, disappointments and heart-breaks from the government cannot deter us. Politicians shed their cheap political skins for a day and feign the people’s interests at heart! It is Jamhuri Day!

  Hard-bitten Kenyans who wake up early and sleep late, those who trek to Industrial Area in their swarms each day, just to eke a living, fill the Nyayo National Stadium. Even our dedicated and disciplined police men and women, for a day leave their tough and deplorable working conditions and put on splendid performances in front of the President! They can afford a healthy smile, a far cry from their harsh conditions at work.  The Kenya Defence Forces show off their military might and the Kenya Air Force in particular leave the entire nation gasping in awe and disbelief as they display their might and power in the air. It is the President’s Day.

  Patriotic Kenyans, come from all corners of the republic, just to perform a play or two before Baba wa Taifa and it is really an honor (I once performed before former President Mwai Kibaki at the State House Gardens, while in the university). Then the president caps the sunny day at Nyayo National Stadium, with a well-scripted speech that suddenly reignites the hope in an otherwise disillusioned state! This is the moment that those who thronged the stadium and followed the action from the comfort of their television sets had been waiting for.

  However, as soon as the President in his armored escort leave the stadium, announcing the end of yet another national Day celebrations, Kenyans quickly put on their old skins. We all open our eyes only to meet the insecurity, high cost of living, scams and scandals in the government, the evil of corruption that is a national sport and the tough Kenya, that is a far cry from the delirium and ecstasy that had filled Nyayo National Stadium moments ago, for the celebrations.

  Maisha ni magumu’, Tunaomba serikali iingililie’ and others are some of the tag lines that Kenyans murmur to each other and wake up to the next morning, after a day of showcasing patriotism, albeit the hell on earth that we live in!

       Reach the writer at jeanmutua@yahoo.com, mutuamaundu14@gmail.com

FOOTBALL IMAGINATIONS STRETCHED TOO FAR!

 The inclusion of 19 year-old Lille forward, Divork Origi into Belgium’s provisional team for next month’s global football extravaganza in Brazil, has broken hearts of many football fans in Kenya. We all had hoped to see him represent Kenya, but it was not to be.

 Harambee Stars tactician, Adel Amrouche unsuccessfully courted the striker to don the national colors and partner Dennis Oliech of AJ Ajaccio. In glee, part of the football fraternity had imagined he would oblige. Sadly to them, he did not and opted to join the Belgium team bound the World Cup. To cut a long story short, the chapter is closed. The son to Mike Okoth, one of Kenya’s best ever strikers will never play for Kenya! Perhaps we should look at some reasons and know why it was never going to be.

 We fantasized too far and wishful thinking got the better of us, the optimistic nation. Call it sterile imagination! Our football is simply chaotic and sobriety is alien, our administrators fight and fuse over endless battles, fights that at best slowly kill our football and the future generations who dream of representing Kenya. We rank low and we are only sinking deeper, while Belgium ranks up high among the world’s best. Stars like Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Adnaj Januzaj and Marruoane Fellaini (Manchester United) and Therbaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid) are a generation to watch! Add robust Manchester City captain Vincent Company, Arsenal’s Thomas Vermalean and Aston Villa’s Chris Benteke. Would have Divork given up this company to come and join our squabble-ridden and politicized football, played in so unfriendly conditions? No, it could not have happened. The lad deserves a place in progressive soccer and Belgium will surely give him that.

 We barely play at the continent’s greatest showpiece (African Nations Cup), we are simply among the dark-horses of African soccer. We challenge at regional level and struggle to win modest championships like Confederation of East and Central African Football (CECAFA)! Most of our friendlies are equally pathetic, so shambolically organized and against weak opponents from whom we barely gain anything! Belgium plies against the world’s best in Europe and across the world and in the best facilities. Luring Divork Origi to Kenya, a young talent with such phenomenal career ahead would have been unfair, morally wrong! Belgium has given the lad a chance to play in the world cup. Kenya, on the other hand have not and cannot grant him this chance: the dream of all footballers in the world.

 Lastly, Kenya has had no part in this lad’s mercurial rise to the top. He has developed from the academy of Racing Genk Club in Belgium and gradually rose to the potent attacker he has turned out to be for Lille in France’s Ligue 1. Not until his performance all along started hitting the news last year, than we started courting him. Attempts by Stars coach, Adel Amrouche were just too ambitious! Origi turned all these down. This week’s inclusion into Coach Marc Wilmot’s Belgium party for the World Cup clearly closed this chapter.

 Young Origi is going to Brazil as part of the Belgium team, not as a Kenyan. The media and sections of our footballing class should stop this obsession with a Kenyan going to the globe’s biggest football bonanza. Let us not fight this hard to have a bite of the omelet that we all did not break an egg to prepare! We are proud of Southampton’s midfield cog, Victor Mugubi, his elder brother, MacDonald Mariga at Inter Milan (Italy) and Dennis Oliech at AJ Ajaccio (France). These are our sons and products of our homegrown soccer. We can churn more of such talents and slowly march to football greatness. Let us stick to that and stop mourning Origi’s loyalty switch to Belgium.

Best of luck Divork, make your father’s country proud and fly the Belgium flag high!

LIFE IS SACRED, RELIGION SHOULD LIVE AND RESPECT THAT

It has so far drawn the ire of the human race, in her homeland of Northern Sudan and across the globe. For marrying a Christian man and denouncing her Muslim faith for Christianity, she has to pay with her life. The woman is pregnant and her crime is leaving Islam for Christianity. She has her story and her accusers have their too. But that is beside the point. In this day and age, marrying form a religion of one’s choice should not be a crime. Neither should denouncing one’s faith for another be considered a crime. It is all the practice of freedom and civilization as the human race. But ridiculous and outrageous things happening in this part of Africa!

  The very religion that preaches sanctity of human life as sacred and created by God is now renegading on it. Some judge has dug into the law and sentenced her to death. For practicing her sincere feelings and emotions as an adult and a free one for that matter, the sincere woman has been sentenced to death. Simply put, you must express your feelings to a person within the confines of a religion! A penalty derived upon religion, the very creed that sanctifies human life, has thrown this to the dungeons and gone for her life.

  

 This is not about fighting religious wars fanned by fanatism and clueless theatrics, no. It is about the world and its acceptance of civilization, respect for human life and the dignity that comes with it. So when a penalty is meted out based on religion, to take away life, then sorry to say but questions must be asked and answered. But perhaps we fear because religion is regarded in some corners as a mystery, unquestionable and free from blemish. But it is not. Whether Christianity, Buddhism or Islam, life must be dignified and respected. We should not use it to deny others their deserved right. When we do that, it stops being religion as it was originally prescribed in the Holy Koran or Bible.

  As the concerned authorities in Northern Sudan go on with the case, on whether to uphold the death sentence or revoke it, they must know that the woman has her rights, rights as a human being and that they must be respected. Anything on the contrary will do more harm than good to religion and all what it teaches vis-à-vis the pragmatism of the same.

  Religion should be a defender for the dignity of life and moral rights of the human race, but not machinery to propagate oppression and defiance of these rights.