Some Missed Opportunities for Progress in History

History contains a record of infinite potentials discovered and countless opportunities missed due to a lack of perception, tradition-bound attitudes and insistence on anachronistic behaviours. Here are some of them:

In the 15th Century, a great number of Portuguese vessels were dispatched in search of a route around Africa, but all of them were repelled by an impenetrable barrier when they reached the tiny Cape Bojador midway down the Western coast of the continent. The barrier was the widespread belief that Bojador represented the edge of the world and that to sail beyond it was certain death. It took persistent efforts by Prince Henry, 12 expeditions, and a very large purse to persuade one bold captain to skirt the cape and break the perceptual wall. Once done, Portugal soon discovered the Southern route to India and became a leading mercantile power.

Interrogating Travel Advisories

The government’s opposition to the latest travel advisory issued against Kenya by the U.S. government is not absurd as some people think. Kenya’s protestation that travel advisories are sabotaging our economy by undermining the fragile yet crucial tourism industry is valid. Sure, it is common practise these days for developed countries to issue travel advisories but just how they go about issuing travel advisories is a matter that requires interrogation.

The troublesome fact about travel advisories is that they have the net effect of instituting an unintended 'trade embargo' and we all know the stigma associated with an embargo. Our tourism sector produces high quality products and services that are renowned worldwide and when a travel advisory is put in place, our foreign clients are scared into staying away or visiting alternative destinations despite the fact that we have spent enormous sums of money marketing our tourist products in the diaspora. Whereas they do not expressly ban trade, they do however discourage trade by scaring clients away.

What is Wrong with our Politics?

Something is very wrong with our politics. Why do politicians have such an obscene sense of entitlement to our votes and what gives presidential aspirants the audacity to expect our votes yet they are not clearly defining the issues that affect us and spelling out how they will address them? Just as it has always been, the Kenyan public is taking the forthcoming general election very seriously not because the electorate is acutely aware of the importance of quality leadership in nation building but because it still matters to a vast majority of Kenyans from which ethnic community the president is going to come from.

Tribalism therefore is readily considered what is wrong in our politics. I am however of a different opinion. The strong desire people have of seeing someone from their own ethnic community at the centre of power is no different from the passionate desire we all have of seeing our fellow countrymen winning a gold medal in international athletic competitions even though the individual athlete comes from a different ethnic community than ours and they alone and their families get the direct benefits of the accomplishments. In much the same way, the desire to see our kinsmen ruling the nation is legitimate and proper and demonising that desire and labelling it tribalism is misplaced and rather simplistic.

The Rise and Inevitable Fall of Njeru Githae

I must admit, I am not easy to impress but Robison Njeru Githae, the minister for finance has pulled off that extraordinary feat; he has won my admiration! Unlike his predecessors, the minister is actually a dynamic and forward-looking man. Personally, I did not know much about the ill-famed man whose bizarre gastronomic proposal on how Kenya should deal with the problem of food shortage became a rich source of biting political satire. Given what was clearly a lack of judgement on his part through his ill-timed and deeply repulsive culinary proposal, I did not know what to make of his appointment to the crucial docket.

Be that as it may, the highly imaginative finance minister is a man with a mission and his forward-looking nature has come in handy in his current assignment.

The Story of Peanut Farmers, Worlds Apart[i]

The people around the village of Jalab, in Senegal, West Africa, and many rural towns of Georgia in the United States depend upon the same essential crop: peanuts. West Africa and United States are two of the biggest commercial producers of peanuts in the world. However, the story of their cultivation and marketing of peanuts is the story of two very different worlds.

The Clergy is Stumbling over the ICC

Many people are quite surprised when the church voices its opinion or makes known its stand on hot potato political issues. But as the salt and the light of the world, the church sometimes has to make strong judgments about what is false, unjust, and evil in the society and this inevitably means making forays into politics where deeply consequential value and moral judgements are made in a democratic society. The dilemma however for the church which has to contend with the pervasive error of privatized faith which is privately engaging and publicly irrelevant is the opposite error of politicized faith through which Christians become “useful idiots” for one political party or another and Christian beliefs are used as weapons for political interests.

Hon. Imanyara's Ordeal was an Occult Ritual

Last week, the legendary Imenti Central legislature, Hon. Gitobu Imanyara suffered an eerie ordeal that has defied explanation. He was waylaid by the gang as he was driving along State House Crescent and bundled him out of his car. His assailants then ordered him to lift his hands and kneel down facing Mount Kenya. They then threaten to kill him and his two sons if he defied their orders to cease and desist from supporting the Prime Minister Raila Odinga. They also ordered him to neither attend the Limuru II (b) conference nor accompany the Premier in his tour of the Mount Kenya region which took place last weekend. But before they could let him go, they ordered him to say ‘Tuko pamoja na Uhuru’ three times.

The way I see it, the bizarre incident which involved chanting with lifted hands while kneeling down facing a specific direction –Mount Kenya which is of spiritual significance to the House of Mumbi, was for all intents and purposes part of an occult ritual. The Imenti Central legislature should thank his God he has lived to tell the tale. He could have been ordained as a human sacrifice. The ordeal was nonetheless horrifying and when he recounted it to his fellow legislatures in the House, they were all dumbfounded.