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The face of Insecurity in Kenya

For some citizens of this vast nation of ours, Kenya, insecurity started after our former president Mwai Kibaki sent forces to neighbouring Somalia to topple Al-shabaab. This is an Al-Qaeda affiliated group in the Horn of Africa that has spread terror and destroyed everything that once made Somalia. For these Kenyan folks, before these terrorists from the north took on vengeance attacks, Kenya was the most peaceful of them all. I mean after all we are comparing it to Somali, South Sudan and the DRC. This is a mistake, and here are the reasons. Insecurity is not something new; it has been there before KDF incursion into Somalia, before Westgate Attacks, before Mpeketoni attacks. Insecurity and its threat level do not simply increase because an area of interest to the economy is affected. We have treated insecurity with different magnitude. When the coastal areas known for its tourist attractions are affected the threat seem to be of a national issue, and not when it happens in
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Deconstructing the myth of helpless, poor women of northern and north eastern Kenya

The northern and north eastern regions of Kenya are one of the most vulnerable region in the country. This is due to climatic, institutional, livelihood, environmental and cultural contexts that have shaped the development pattern in the area. The recurrent of droughts, inter clan conflicts and other forms of insecurity in the region has led to heightened vulnerability of the populations and hence underdevelopment. These communities, diverse as they can be, have experienced insecurity, cattle rustling, malnutrition, and droughts, among other things that have made them vulnerable. The most affected by these events are mostly women, children, disabled and the elderly. In as much as women are highly affected, they are also one of the most resilient groups in these parts of the world. Thus, their efforts, desire for change, and ability to make the best of out of the challenging situations that they face are occasionally overshadowed by the mainstream narratives. The communities tha
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A speech I wrote for a job application that never went through-LGBTQ rights

Ladies and gentlemen, On this day we are gathered here to talk about human rights, something that has been talked about for decades and appears quite straightforward and clear. Our presence here today shows that human rights for all are not a reality yet and we have to change that and give every human being their inherent rights to dignity and recognise the universal declarations of human rights as stating that. These rights apply to all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Denying people their inherent rights and dignity because of their sexual orientation and identity violates not only the international laws and norms we swore to uphold but also our moral obligations to our fellow brothers and sisters. For long, the members of LGBTQ in Africa have faced discrimination, assaults, threats on their lives and being driven out  of their homes for being themselves and loving another human being, an act of love that should not generate hate and fear.  Today, the gay a
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PATIENCE, WHAT PATIENCE?

Patience is a virtue they say, patience, patience, patience……..patience, an art you master because smacking people on the head with your shoe is a crime or simply because you are a non-confrontational coward hiding behind an “innocent face”. Patience is the art of learning how to hold your handbag close to your chest while sitting in a matatu so that the lady with the largest hips decides she has to squeeze past you to get to the last seat leaving the empty ones behind. You hold your bag close because, a slip in memory and that thing with its content will be on the floor and you will have your face rubbing against someone’s behind as you retrieve it! Patience is a virtue they say. Patience is sitting next to a lady in a matatu, hot day, stuffy matatu, sweaty people and she decides it’s the most appropriate time to unpack her snack. A boiled egg that could have been a cockerel, an annoying one at that, the one that wakes up the entire neighbourhood. She isn’t done yet! She will pl
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Changing nature of State security.

The traditional approach to security threat as either external or internal in nature has been challenged by time and occurrences around the world that shaped political responses to these particular threats. The problems faced by states are now more intertwined as states evolved over the years and new challenges emerged as a result of these interactions. Once state’s major threat was external military attack, currently it's home grown terrorists, the role of police was internal peacekeeping and order, now its pursuing domestic drug dealers and unlike outside state borders, on the other hand military’s tasks not only resemble that of internal security, but the rules of deployment has also been modified by international law. Additionally, the provision of services that were once entrusted to states, like security, has been delegated by states to private security providers instead. All these changes did not occur in vacuum, it has been aided by major developments in the global syst
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Animal prints and my primitive understanding of fashion

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This is what a dress three size bigger looks like, maybe four...it doesn't matter, I made my point :-) Fashion scares me quite a bit. It is one of those things I do not really understand, it terrifies me when I get to see what it has done to people on the streets, its horrible! It was easy back when I was a carefree child untouched by leopard print skirts and zebra inspired handbags and belts. I am not saying I wore this animal inspired clothing, no , on the contrary I try as much I can to understand why someone would dress up like a leopard. Well, I tried and till now, I have no idea why. Fashion to me is about comfort, comfort and more comfort. It was fun wearing cardigan, a T-shirt with my favourite cartoon character, a maroon trouser and sneakers, that was longtime ago, back when I was eleven. Now its complicated, I am too old for that and too young to dress in a potato sack. Being reminded that life is too short for crappy clothes with the hope that I might enshroud
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A little bit of nothing

“We are all crazy but our degree of craziness do vary”, a quote I heard somewhere long time ago, and the one who said I do not recall. This quote however, does explain a lot of things that tend to happen in places that are highly frequented by people. Based on my every day experience, if I were to proclaim that majority of people I encounter are a little bit light in the head, I will be doing humanity an injustice. Thus, I choose to call them, highly confident people who live in a parallel city of Nairobi. For instance, matatus are not only a mode of transport, as I have come to learn, but a cuboid/rectangular (I am not good with shapes) structure with seats and windows that can move your tired and beaten body to your desired destination. And in this vehicles that occasionally serve as a moving club that plays ridiculous songs, there are customers; some angels and some a reincarnation of the Sith lord himself. Why would a woman built like a baby hippo squeeze herself between em
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