Posts for Random Thoughts Category
THIS IS HOW YOU SURVIVE KENYAN ROADS: The Bradford from Sweden Series (I)

THIS IS HOW YOU SURVIVE KENYAN ROADS: The Bradford from Sweden Series (I)

DEAR Bradford,

It is just as well you texted, pointing out that a month has gone past since the press conference. You also said you are still alive –and would like to stay that way. That is good to hear.

In fact, when you told me that our roads have attempted to murder you five times in a span of two months, I thought you were throwing around some Swedish humour. That is why after you asked if there is a special school one needed to enrol into to learn driving on our roads, I referred...

Why that Western name is only leading Africa to poverty –not heaven

Why that Western name is only leading Africa to poverty –not heaven

IT’S not every day that you get to contradict a clergyman in front of his congregation. Perhaps that’s because it requires guts –and to some degree, a deficiency of wisdom. I’m neither stupid nor brave.

I’m also not a radical, never been. In fact, I am remotely rebellious. Ordinarily, I am the arbiter. So, it was...

Ours is a country of great paradoxes…

Ours is a country of great paradoxes…

MY teacher said a paradox is a contradiction. I don’t question the wisdom of tutors. Neither should you. So yes, ours is a country of great paradoxes.

Let’s step a measly few months into the past. The calendar reads February of 2018 and the sun had been baking the region with unbridled impunity. The resultant effect...

10-plus-1 gory medieval punishments that may cure our corrupt forever

10-plus-1 gory medieval punishments that may cure our corrupt forever

Angry, mad, livid! That’s the kind of Kenyan I have been for the past month or so. So angry that I feel these people stealing from a population that’s as burdened as us deserves worse than the Sh1 million fine or 10-year max jail term the law subscribes. I don’t know about you, but I...

Maish, Mama Nyokabi, hungry cops and my brown croc briefcase

Maish, Mama Nyokabi, hungry cops and my brown croc briefcase

Just the smoky tail of the noisy Kenya Bus is visible beyond the junction. The front half is hidden by the vibandas lining the road. It’s missing the last window pane too. I am fixated by the flapping piece of the polythene covering the hole. Looks like a panicky bird attempting to fly away off...

Unraveling the death of Murugi’s marriage after 15 million bob wedding

Unraveling the death of Murugi’s marriage after 15 million bob wedding

Perhaps you are wondering why a rich guy whose head is beginning to grey is doing seated on a bar stool, in a joint like this, on a day like today and in a weather like this. Well, don’t. But if you can’t help it, look around.

The music is young, the girls younger, but the...

Four months after 15 million bob wedding, couple wants split…what the devil?

Four months after 15 million bob wedding, couple wants split…what the devil?

Murugi married Sylvester four months ago in a wedding ceremony that cost at least 15 million bob. The chef was flown in from Hotel Regina Louvre, one of the finest in Paris. He brought with him vintage wines, including a 150-year-old bottle of Chateau Latife 1865 brand that cost Sh2.5 million.

Décor was done by an...

Candid conversation with childhood river

Candid conversation with childhood river

 

Dearest River, I am seated here, on your bare bank because I must have a conversation with you. I have to because you and the rest of the natural world have been heard describing my species in such disparaging terms as; ‘catastrophic creation’, ‘God’s biggest blunder’ and ‘self-centred suicidals’.

First of all, I don’t even think...

Friends! The overrated, over-hyped burden. Or are they…?

Friends! The overrated, over-hyped burden. Or are they…?

Believe it, Christmas is just 10 months away. Yep! Looking to the front, is what they call it. Most of you think I should make reference to the Christmas that is barely a month gone. I won’t. And that’s because the month in question is longer than the other 11 combined.

But on second thought… what...

Of my girls, a man called Muchiri & why I’ll knock a random fellow’s tooth off

Of my girls, a man called Muchiri & why I’ll knock a random fellow’s tooth off

It is evening of a Thursday before a long weekend. There is no work till Tuesday for most Kenyans and Nairobi is happy. So happy that I bumped into a girl while crossing the road on the way here. She smiled softly and apologised.

Any other day, she will drill a hole in your toe...