It is commendable that the Maasai have retained their culture despite the Westernisation maelstrom that has blown other local cultures to smithereens. Notably, Moranism is a quintessential part of the Maasai culture.
Morans were, and still are indoctrinated to be valiant young men who can protect their families, community and its property. No wonder they were adored and revered in their community. However, with the advent of state governance the role of morans as defenders of their people was weakened tremendously. Symbolically, however, they remain the vanguards of their community and still revered.
This is why it is depressing to hear that a gang of morans went on rampage and terrorised the very people they are supposed to protect. They descended on Ewaso-Nyiro trading centre, Narok, armed with swords, clubs and spears and roughed up shoppers and looted goods, including beer. By so doing, they soiled name of true morans. This should never happen again. They should be rounded up, stripped of the coveted moran title and put where they belong – jail.
Abducted, drugged and desperate
Mr Dennis Mosiere is concerned that police are not doing enough to arrest a gang that attacked him recently. He claims the gang of men and women abducted him on September 7 and stole his two phones, among other valuables. They also took his ATM and forced him to surrender pin numbers for his ATM and M-Pesa. He woke up the following day in a strange room feeling groggy and was unable to recollect much. He suspected he had been drugged.
Mosiere immediately reported the incident at Central Police Station and was told to return after two weeks. On Tuesday, however, he received a call from a stranger who claimed to be a policeman from a chief’s office in Westlands and claimed that someone had been arrested with his phones. Mosiere was however, not convinced.
He thought this could provide a lead to the police and walked to Central Police hoping that they would track down the caller. He was told to wait for the stranger to call again and trick him to come to town so that he could arrested. Alternatively, he was told to wait for the two weeks. "Is this the best way to deal with crime?" he asks Commissioner Mathew Iteere.
PROTEST
Have our teachers gone knuts?
The teachers strike, says Onyiego Felix, was seen by some of them as an opportunity to engage in comedy and try out other hilarious stunts.
Their unorthodox protest antics, he says, left the public either in stitches or aghast with shock.
Now that the dust has settled it’s time for the members of the noble profession to take stock of their actions. He says they should to face the pupils and explain why the behaved the way they did.
Parents and children might now be forced to look at the teachers with ‘new lenses’ given their cavalier conduct during the strike. Still on the strike, Mr Majanga Juma says the behaviour of the teachers was unbecoming and accuses some of them engaging in acts of hooliganism.
He claims, unlike in the past when their protests were peaceful, the teachers caused disturbances in the streets and even used abusive words against Finance Minister and Prime Minister’. "They called the PM kigeugeu. In Kisumu they burnt an effigy of Kenyatta. This was uncalled for." Is this the new style of protesting, Knut Secretary General David Okuta?
DON’T YOU FORGET
Were UoN students’ grievances addressed?
On July 27, some University of Nairobi students wrote to PointBlank complaining about the state of affairs at the institution. They claimed that "behind the scenes, things were not good enough" at the respected citadel of knowledge. They were particularly concerned about Masters of Business Administration lecturers who they accused of failing to return marked copies of continuous assessment tests and of delaying examination results by over two months. They also accused the lecturers of being rude and of denying them an opportunity to meet them. Lecture halls, they said, were in deplorable condition without public address systems and air conditioning.
Is it still business as usual for MBA lecturers, Prof George Magoha, Vice-Chancellor, UoN?
Bitter story of sweet potatoes
Sweet potatoes lover James Wanzala is an angry man. For the past three months, Wanzala says he has been making fruitless trips to his regular supplier at Muthurwa market.
"My supplier tells me that sweet potatoes are scarce this days and the situation is the same everywhere," he says.
He says he was recently in Western Kenya, a major supplier of the tubers, but still could not find the potatoes. "Can someone, please, tell me where to get them?"
Wanzala also wants Agriculture Minister Sally Kosgey to explain this ‘unusual scarcity’.
Point of Order
Re-advertisement of IEBC top vacancy suspect
Writing from Garissa, Mr Ismail Arte Rage says he reads mischief in the re-advertisement of the position of the chair of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). The vacancy was re-advertised after it only attracted four applicants.
He claims there is no need for re-advertising the vacancy as it was prominently advertised and many people read it as attested by the number of applicants for the posts of commissioners.
Those who were interested applied for the position, those who were not interested did not apply, he says. He argues that deadlines for submission of applications are an important disqualification criteria and the IEBC’s post should not be an exemption. He fears that ‘uninterested’ people might apply for the position, and carry their disinterestedness to the helm of IEBC if hired. The re-advertisement, he claims, negates the fair selection process that was expected from the selection panel.
"The re-advertisement also brings the feeling that there were certain individuals expected to appear on the applicants’ list and did not apply," he says. He claims that politicians might mobilise their allies to apply and exert pressure on the selection panel during and after the interviews. Instead of calling for fresh applications, he says, the panel should have picked and interviewed qualified candidates from the huge pool of applicants for the commissioners’ posts. Does Arte have a point, Ekuru Aukot, IEBC recruitment panel chairman?
Naivasha town needs divine intervention
Mr Alexander Chagema is convinced that something is seriously amiss in the dusty lakeside town of Naivasha.
He says unlike any other place in the country, crime rate in Naivasha is unusually high. Naivasha, he says, is rarely in the news for positive reasons. The latest incident involved a man stabbing his estranged wife to death before taking his own life.
According to him, what Naivasha needs is divine intervention and Christians should organise prayers to "exorcise the forces of evil that seemingly have taken over the town." They have consistently and dutifully parading people who have benefited from their God-given powers to exorcise demons and offer healing.
These powers of divination and healing are seriously needed in Naivasha," he says. Are things this bad in Mr John Mututho, MP for Naivasha?
