Will Harambee Stars finally deliver……?

Harambee Stars start their journey to end a 13-year absence from African Nations Cup (Afcon) with an away match against Sierra Leone on Saturday, hoping to banish past painful memories of disastrous campaigns. 

The group also includes continental powerhouse Black Stars of Ghana and Walia Antelopes of Ethiopia.

It is a tough battle to top the group and guarantee our slot in the 2019 Afcon in Cameroon. 

Failure to finish top leaves us with the ‘easier’ task of finishing as one of the three best runners-up from the 12 groups. Either way, it is an uphill task!

Victor Mugubi, fresh from a successful maiden season with English giants Tottenham Hotspurs, leads Stanley Okumbi’s charges.

Kenya is playing catch-up to The Cranes of Uganda in the regional battle for supremacy, further increasing the pressure of East Africa’s former giants to grace Africa’s ultimate football bonanza since the last outing in Tunisia in 2004. 

While Stars have failed in their last seven attempts to qualify for Afcon, The Cranes ended their 38-year absence when they played at the 2017 edition held in Gabon.  

In the road to Russia 2018, Uganda currently trails group E leaders, Egypt by two points. It fancies its chances of making history by becoming the first East African nation to play at the World Cup.

Kenya lost out in the preliminaries last year, making France 1998 the only time we came close to qualification, before Nigeria’s Super Eagles edged us.

The road to Cameroon 2019 has heavy stakes for Kenya, once the region’s conquerors in the beautiful game. 

It marks the start of a journey, rich in imagination of playing at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. It is also a chance for Kenya to join Africa’s big boys and probably rekindle the good old days in 1980s and 1990s when Harambee Stars were a continental force. 

Uganda has since taken over the mantle. 

This will be the first full campaign for Stars under the new Nick Mwendwa-led Football Kenya Federation. 

The new office promised to lead the country to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The test starts on Saturday!

Failure to be part of the Africa’s top 16 nations in Cameroon 2019 will only leave Kenya once again dreaming to be part of the continent’s best five countries to Qatar in 2022!

A win tomorrow will get Kenya off to a perfect start on the road to Cameroon. 

Defeat will however, re-ignite the old fear known to every Kenyan football lover; Harambee Stars always fall short when it matters most!

Kenya’s Political Dawn....

Jakoyo Midiwo, Member of Parliament for Gem and an ardent foot soldier to Raila Odinga, the National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential candidate, headlines a list of major casualties from the hotly contested primaries within the opposition coalition.

The lessons to those considered lieutenants to Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta finally got decisive blows from the voter!

Midiwo’s close ties to the opposition chief failed to endear him to the ordinary mwananchi, a wave that also claimed high-profile politicians within the JUBILEE coalition.

William Kabogo, the controversial governor for Kiambu lost in the JUBILEE nominations that also saw six other incumbent legislators dethroned in Uhuru’s backyard.

The resounding defeats to the men and women, considered fierce defendants to Uhuru and Odinga, signals a new dawn where politicians can no longer ride on the names of their party bosses to clinch seats. 

Political sycophancy is no-longer a life-saver to most of the politicians who have in the past failed to deliver on their election pledges, coupled with numerous allegations of misuse of public funds and abuse of office.

The modern-day sycophant who metamorphosed from the late Joseph Kamotho’s, Shariff Nassir’s, Ezekiel Barng’etuny’s and Kariuki wa Chotara’s of the 90s!

  

Kenyans can now defy their tribal political chieftains and vote in men and women of their choice. 

It is a path that promises to sweep aside the cheap politics that have for years ailed the nation since the introduction of multi-party democracy in 1992.

The general election set for August 8, is likely to deliver more shockers and blows to the politicians whose empty rhetoric hopes to ride on the JUBILEE and NASA euphoria, to power.

This statement of intent by the Kenyan voter resoundingly hit members of the national and county assemblies.

In most counties, Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) paid dearly for the unprecedented wastage of public funds and cheap political bickering.

Wanjiku has finally woken up! It is no longer business as usual at the ballot box!

Unlike the past, Wanjiku is not rubber-stamping those hand-picked by the nation’s political heavyweights!

Allegiance to Uhuru, Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, William Ruto and Musalia Mudavadi is no longer the ticket to political power! 

The winds of political change are blowing! Sycophants and cronies are no longer guaranteed a smooth ride to power!

Wanjiku takes all the plaudits for the new wave, but a bigger challenge awaits at the national stage.

Kenyans should break away from being herded into a single basket, disguised as the Kikuyu, Luo, Luhya, Kalenjin and Kamba nations!

The near-colossal following to the current political heavyweights based on ethnic lines still rules.

The voters should adopt issues and ideologies. This will ensure that only the best win the race to state house.

It will give the likes of Abduba Dida, Ekuru Aukot, Martha Karua, Philip Murgor and the many Kenyans who can lead but are disadvantaged on the basis of gender, tribe or financial muscle.

Meanwhile, the axe awaits serving legislators who have not delivered on their election pledges made to the electorate in 2013.

August 8 will throw more big names into political oblivion for the next five years!

Wenger’s Dilemma!

Arsene Wenger, the French engineer regarded as Arsenal’s greatest manager, is facing justified if not heated calls from the club’s supporters to call it quits following Wednesday’s 5-1 drubbing by Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, first leg match.

The humiliation all but ended the English club’s dreams in Europe’s biggest club competition, fueling cries for the Frenchman to leave.

Wenger, like most other managers in the modern game is fast turning to be a victim of a fiercely competitive field, which no longer remembers the legendary status he brought to the club, since 1996.

He is a legend, not only at Emirates but in the football world. Remember, in the 2004-2005 season, he led the club to the league title, in a 49-match unbeaten record that may never be broken!

To many of the club’s legends like Ian Wright and Martin Keown, Wenger is the fighter who has taken in way too many punches in a glittering career.

Every painful defeat must be pushing the respected Frenchman closer to the exit door, for a club that perhaps drawing from the struggles faced by rivals, Manchester United when Sir Alex Ferguson retired, are reluctant to see him go.

With three Premier League titles, six FA Cups, a Champions League runners-up medal in 2006, Wenger’s record matches the best in the game.

He is the longest serving manager in the league and has taken the club to the group stage of the Champions league every season since 1996!

Sadly, lack of a trophy since 2004 has seen Wenger endure pressure every season, with managers and former players saying that his belly no longer burns to win.

Jose Mourinho, the Manchester United gaffer and one of Wenger’s fiercest rivals once described the Frenchman as a ‘specialist in failure’.

Since Wenger’s last triumph in 2004, Mourinho has won three Champions League titles and a dozen domestic titles in England, Italy and Spain, a fact that cements his claims against Wenger.

The Premier League title has been shared amongst United, Chelsea and Manchester City, relegating Arsenal to fight to fight for the top-four since 2004.

Oliver Kahn, one of Germany’s most decorated goalkeepers said most of the club’s players no longer respect Wenger, following Tuesday’s disastrous night at The Allianz Arena.

Kahn added that the lackluster performance by Arsenal’s record-signing, Mesut Ozil showed that the stars no longer play for the manager when needed in the big matches.

True to Kahn’s assertions, Arsenal’s seasons have been marked by horrible showing in the big matches, either in the league or against Europe’s elite.

Familiarity has borne contempt and the club seems comfortable to finish in the top-four every season.

Stars like Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie left for other clubs to enjoy European and domestic glory, away from Highbury and Emirates. 

Alexis Sanchez’s and Ozil’s delayed contract talks are attracting potential suitors who can guarantee the two trophies!

Arsenal’s tribulations are not entirely Wenger’s making. His big names have consistently failed him when it matters most.

Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Emmanuel Petit, Tony Adams, Sol Campbell, Lee Dixon always stood up during the big games, a thing Ozil, Sanchez et co shy away from.

His stars let-him down as much as his excuses after every chastening defeat do!

Sadly, the buck stops with the manager!

Wenger is facing arguably his toughest time and must make a decision on whether to negotiate for a new contract in the summer or take his final bow from The Emirates. 

The club is headed for another trophy less season unless the likes of Ozil, Cech and Ozil lead the rest to mount a late yet unlikely onslaught for the league and FA titles.

Meanwhile, Antonio Conte at Chelsea and Mourinho, both new at their clubs are coasting to honors in their maiden season at their respective clubs, as Wenger agonizingly watches another spell go into smoke!

Wenger has a decision to make but it should not be fueled by the heated cries from the emotive supporters.

Gary Neville, one of United’s greatest right-backs and who faced Wenger many times, castigated fans who hurled the abuses at their greatest manager.

As he enters his last four months in the Arsenal dug-out, Wenger’s legacy remains untarnished and like Ferguson, he deserves a dignified exit.

The calls for him to go intensify with every defeat but the players must take their bit of the stick for the big games when they show no ambition, putting on lethargic if not silly shows on the pitch.

It remains a Catch-22 for both Arsenal and its most successful manager!

                                                                                              

Inside Kenya’s Public Health Crisis

Kenya’s public health crisis, in its second month of a doctors’ strike, took an unlikely path on Monday, when the court jailed seven leaders of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) for contempt of court, a sentence reversed by the Court of Appeal two days later.

The seven are free but operations in public hospitals are nearly grinding to a halt as a reluctant government drags its feet to halt the worsening crisis.

A Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) of between 150 to 180 percent pay rise, signed in 2013 is the genesis of a crisis that has to deaths of patients due to lack of services in a nation that prides itself in hosting the biggest referral hospital in Eastern and Central Africa!

The strike that has seen about 5,000 practitioners down their tools also seeks to push the government into addressing under-staffing and provision of quality services and facilities in public hospitals.

Sadly, as the stalemate continues, ordinary Kenyans are reeling from the dire consequences of a crippled public health system.

Dozens have so far died due to the strike despite the government playing down the figures.

The deaths have not however led to swift action from the government to call the medical practitioners to the negotiating table.

In 2012, doctors went on a strike over the deplorable state of the public health system, where patients come face to face with horrible conditions in search of services.

Poorly-equipped and remuneratedpersonnel, over-stretched services, in-adequate medicine, patients sleeping on cartons on the floor while many share beds, under-staffing and corruption are some of the sector’s biggest concerns.

Kenyatta National Hospital is the only public hospital that offers radiotherapy, which is a key part of most cancer treatment processes. Each session costs at least Sh 500, which is beyond the reach of most of the ordinary Kenyans.

Many of them require about 25 sessions! 

The cost at private hospitals such as MP Shah, Aga Khan and Nairobi Hospital averages Sh 10,000 per session, making it a preserve of the rich!

Cancer, like any other disease does not afflict only the rich who can afford treatment. It hits Kenyans from all walks of life. 

Woe unto to you if you can only fit in public hospitals; is the silent message from the government!

Both the central and county governments failed to put up Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines used to scan and detect cancer in patients. 

The total cost in all the 47 counties is about Sh 9.4 billion, yet much more billions have been looted at both levels of governments. 

Successive political leaderships have intentionally failed to improve the sector and the reasons are not far away.

Most of our politicians, top government officials and their families seek services in state-of-the-art private hospitals, which are beyond the reach of most Kenyans grappling with economic hardships.

They travel abroad for specialized care.

Two former Health ministers, Beth Mugo and Anya’ng Nyong’o once sought cancer treatment abroad. No better irony describes our neglected public health sector.

The two, just like other ministers and past governments had no interest in improving the sector.

When a nation’s Health minister travels abroad for medical services, it is a damning verdict of how poor the system is back at home!

While the two and many others sought quality medical services on foreign land, at least 22,000 Kenyans die annually from various types of cancer. There are at least 28,000 new infections each year.

Despite being one of the most important human needs, quality healthcare in Kenya is a preserve of the rich. Politicians, top government officials and their families and relatives belong here.

They are out of touch with the realities of a nearly-crippled public health system!

As the battle gets uglier by the day between KMPDU and the government, ordinary Kenyans are feeling the heat.

The government may not be in a hurry to strike a deal with its doctors. Granted, none of its officials seek treatment in these dilapidated facilities! They are meant for the ordinary Kenyan! 

The strike speaks more to the poor state of our public health system, neglected by successive governments.

Meanwhile, the crisis is getting dire by the day and ordinary Kenyans are paying with their lives!