Sikiliza

Sage Smudge Enough with this nonsense. Not when lives are at stake. I have had it up to hear with ‘rape jokes’, ‘sexist jokes’, body shaming and the casual normalisation of making a mockery of women and their daily struggles and lived realities. This running for Women’s Rep stunt by Maina Kageni of Kenya’s hard earned affirmative action seats to try and at the very least acknowledge and restore some historical injustices that prevented women from being voices of influence and decision making in this country. It took two decades, insurmountable resources, blood and guts to get a semblance of equity in terms of gender equality in the Constitution of Kenya 2010. It is not perfect and we have a long way to go to adjust our attitudes and norms particularly around women in political leadership but this was a huge moment in the long arduous journey. We got our independence in 1963 and it was not until 1969 that we got the first elected woman Member of Parliament. Several wom...

And so I am watching with bemusement at Kenyan’s (sudden) outrage at Mututho’s incredulous and almost manic obsessive policing of Kenyans and their drinking habits. I on the other hand, I’m less surprised with this sad state of affairs. When a journey begins overrunning personal choices its a long slippery path and there is no escaping it. Now conveniently, Kenyans are being reminded to get licenses to hold house parties. Ten bob for your thoughts on what criteria would be used if police invade some dinner party to inspect the validity of their license.   Suddenly there is this thin line between state regulation and invasion of privacy. Soon, there will be a special unit to inspect your bathrooms, bedrooms, your relationships (which are already under a spot light needless to say) and oh we cannot leave out the law that governs uteruses! All the while Kenya is on its knees with a collapsing economy to pay for a ridiculously expensive government, with a legacy of lowly paid ...