When religious fanatics die from treatable ailments

By Njoroge Kinuthia

Some things border on the bizarre, and this is one of them. A woman takes her 27-year-old anaemic daughter to hospital in Kerugoya. The doctor advises that the patient be given blood transfusion, but the mother, a devout Christian, objects saying that their faith does not permit transfusion.

The doctor obliges and explores alternative interventions arguing: "We respect the faith of the patient and we cannot force her to accept certain procedures that require consent". This begs the question, should patients be allowed to put their lives at stake just because their faith does not allow some or all medical interventions?

Threaten to kill

The answer to this question is simple. Our Constitution (Article 26) says that every person has the right to life. This means that no one has the right to take away life. Life belongs to God and, perhaps, the State, which will punish anyone who kills or threatens to kill. As much as there we have freedom of worship, it doesn’t allow anyone to commit suicide in the name of obeying the scriptures. That’s PointBlank’s sermon today.

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Blaming rains just won’t wash, KP

Mr Gachiengo Gitau is accusing Kenya Power of testing Kenyans’ "collective intelligence a bit" by proffering explanations that are not convincing for prevalent power outages.

Kenya Power, he claims, has trivialised claims by Ernest Nadome the Secretary General Kenya Electrical Trade and Allied Workers Union (KETAWU) that shoddy contractors could be to blame for the intermittent outages.

While Mr Nadome’s allegations have not been verified, Gitau believes that it is Kenya Power’s explanation that the rains are to blame for the power failures that should be "discarded in the darkness".

"Rain and thunderstorms are not a recent invention. We even had the dreaded El Nino, but we never had a situation where even the President was humiliated with a black out in front of international guests," he says.

He wants Kenya Power to give a more convincing explanation rather than keep on blaming the rains for this sad state of affairs. Is advocate Gitau stretching his lawyering mind too far by declaring the rains innocent Eng Joseph Njoroge, Kenya Power Managing Director?

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Hell’s Gate by any other name...

Following last month tragedy at Hell’s Gate where seven people died, some Kenyans have been calling for a change of the park’s name. They admonish that the power of a name should not be ignored.

However, according to Mr Ashford Kimani, changing a name won’t change anything about Hell’s Gate.

Quoting Shakespeare, he points out that a rose by any other name will still smell as sweet. Hell’s Gate, he notes, owes its fame to the gorges and changing its name won’t make the gorges disappear.

"It is a defeatist move to ask the Kenya Wildlife Service to change the name of Hell’s Gate national park simply because a tragedy happened in one of its many gorges. If tragedies are to happen there again they will."

Safety measures

Kimani rightly notes that it is not names but the measures taken by those in charge of the national park that can help avert tragedies. "If we should change Hell’s Gate name we should be prepared to change names of very many other places whenever tragedy strike," he says.

Kimani is happy with KWS for ignoring the name change calls. He, however, wants the conservator to bolster safety measures at the park to avoid such tragedies in the future.

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Road section that shames Kura

There is a section on Outering Road near the Embakasi round-about that should make the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) and the Vision 2030 board feel ashamed, according to Mr Richard Wambua.

Wambua says the about 250 metres stretch up to the National Oil fuel station has "suddenly developed ravines" and is the primary the cause of the snarl-ups along the road.

"We have heard grand stories that Outering Road would be expanded (only God knows when this will happen) but for the time being, Kura should ensure that this section is made motorable," he admonishes.

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DON’T YOU FORGET

Will Mavoko ever make terminus shoe-friendly?

On March 23, Mr John Muthusi wrote to PointBlank wondering whether County Council of Mavoko was justified to continue collecting levy fees from buses and matatus owners at the Mlolongo bus terminus.

Muthusi alleged that for a long time, the terminus has been dirty and filthy but the council never seems to notice.

"You leave your house looking sparkling clean but when you get to the bus stop, your shoes get dusty and filthy. If you are unlucky, you also develop a running nose." When it rains, he adds, "the mess doubles due to mud".

Muthusi pleaded with the council to tarmack the terminus to save residents the agony. Will the council ever heed Muthusi’s advice?