Demystifying Gender Based Violence

Gender based violence (GBV) is a highly misunderstood human rights concept around the world today. Many people consider GBV to mean violence against women while others view it as a foreign concept unaware of the fact that anyone is a potential victim. Some traditions even praise some aspects of GBV especially wife battering, others demonize male victims of GBV as cowards. 

The world is now calling on each of us under SDG 5 to eradicate the main cause of GBV, gender inequality. Gender inequalities provide a perfect breeding ground for the ugly violence which ends up biting the most vulnerable members of our society.

GBV can be defined as any form of unwelcome harm or suffering inflicted on a female or male person by a person of the opposite gender which is likely to affect the physical, sexual or psychological health of the victim. It involves two parties namely the perpetrator(s) and the victim(s).   

It is our duty to restore human dignity by shinning some light on the shadows of this unwelcome acts of violence that condemn victims to a lifetime of mental and sometimes physical anguish. 

GBV takes different forms and intensities depending on gender relations and cultural context. Statistics indicate that women suffer the most especially in developing economies where most resources are vested in men. In some communities, women are seen as items that can be bought at a price. This coupled with toxic masculinity and chauvinistic tendencies increase men’s propensity to engage in various forms of GBV. It doesn’t mean that men are safe from GBV, indeed, we are experiencing a surge in the number of male victims, and neither does it mean that they are lesser equals in the current fight. We are standing tall to call out on all forms GBV against both male and female members of our society.

In the next five days, we shall be delving deeper into this topic as we brainstorm on ways of eradication of gender based violence in our communities.

Proudly brought to you by safe home initiative, a 6-days human rights advocacy drive spearheaded by Counsel Emma Nyabisi and Antony Ng’ang’a.

My Thoughts on Face masks

I earn 500 a day. I have three children, and a wife. My wife is now a housewife after picking an illness from her previous employment. We’re hoping to seek compensation in court once this COVID-19 tide dies out.

I live in kibera while my workplace is in industrial area. I have to walk everyday from Gatwekera to Industrial area and back. To say the least, life has been an excruciating struggle but I have accepted my situation with gratitude.

You now want me to buy an N95 face mask at 140-200 per day for myself. Sometimes you people joke too much. You probably do not understand that a family of 5 can survive on 200 for three days in this corner of the animal farm called Kenya!

Unless if this mask is also edible after use, aren’t you just killing me slowly but surely?

Be as it may,
Unless if you are a medical practitioner or an employee within a medical facility, you do not have to buy the N95 face mask. Use the reusable masks which have been approved by KEBS. Always make sure that you clean and sanitize them in the evening before using them the following morning.

Why? you may ask. Because its pocket friendly and reusable. Secondly, there’s an even bigger risk of exposing our doctors and nurses if all the 47 Million Kenyans went for the N95. Global statistics indicate a worrying trend of infections in medical facilities due to lack of adequate protection. The country’s current supply may not be able meet that demand! Also, we shall be building our own economy and helping other Kenyans put bread on their tables.

To the business community, I know you might be hard pressed, the economic situation might be hard on you! With the ongoing uncertainties making it even more confusing. But this is not the time to make kill. I you must kill something, then let it be a bat or a rat. Do not fall into the temptation of taking advantage of unsuspecting Kenyans regardless of how lucrative it may sound.

We’re at war and we either unite and confront the enemy together or perish together as fools if we don’t pull together.

Stay home as much as possible! And when you have to go out, kindly observe the set guidelines.

Ahsanteni! Mungu awabariki! Mungu abariki Kenya!

Samples of locally made reusable face masks. Courtesy of FancyAfrique Kenya.

WeshallOvercome

The_artony

Mashida za mayouths

Siku hizi kazi imekuwa kutafuta kazi. Sijui hiyo experience yote inafaa kuwekwa wapi kwa CV. Mavijanaa tunaumia sana. Siku nenda siku rudi – story ni ile ile. Masomo tuko nayo, attitude ni safi, but job haziko. In fact, some tulipata first class hadi some employers wanasema we are over-qualified. Unashindwa kama kuwa diligent ni blessing ama ni curse. Ukipita ni shida, ukianguka ni shida pia!

Mayouths tunajipata tumegive up. Umeapply jobs kama mia mbili, na kila response ni, “Unfortunately, you didn’t qualify. We encourage you to keep checking on our website for new vacancies.” Boss, this message is so boring. Kama hakuna new vacancies, si mtupatie hata kama ni the old ones na tutazifanya pia!

Tukianza biz tena ni ngori! Kanjo ndio hao. Makarao pia ndio hao. Na juu hatuna pesa ya bribes, kila siku tunakamatwa kishenzi. Tunawekerewo bonoko na kujipata ndani. Na tukiuliza maswali tunapigwa risasi. They’re shooting us dead like wild dogs during a rabies outbreak.

Pressure ya wazazi na familia pia ni mob. Maswali zingine ziko too devastating. ‘Otieno alimaliza shule nyuma yako na already ako job. Ashajengea mamake na wewe uko tu hapo ndeee! Unang’ethia tu. Are you serious with your life?’ Ama kukupigia 6AM kukuuliza utaoa lini. Kama kujilisha ni shida, familia nitailisha aje? Surely the burden is too hard.

Niliskia mzazi mwingine akisema, “Afadhali ningenunua Freshian badala ya kupeleka junior university .”. Wamatha wengine wakashout, hapo ni kweli!!

No wonder our sisters are falling for sponsors, and our sons for crime and drugs. Fraudsters have found an easy goldmine. With crafty job offers, our youth are duped into all manner of catastrophes. From Al Shabaab recruitment in Somalia, to ISIS and slave trade ordeals in Libya. Our children are skinned alive in the Arab countries, simply in the search for greener pastures.

Now that apparently no one cares about our plight as youths, do we just sit and curse the day we were born? Do we just idle at the jobless corner smoking weed and wishing death on our parents so that we can inherit the little that they have? Are we doing ourselves any justice by doing things the same way expecting different results?

What if we exploited our diverse skills and knowledge to solve everyday human problems? What if we put our degree certificates aside and got into agriculture and other vocations that will empower our lives? What if we pooled our skills and passions together and see what we can for do together?

There lies great opportunities for us around . Being the vibrant generation of the nation, we can choose to become ambassadors of peace. Mobilize our communities around practical and sustainable solutions to our problems. Join hands in commitment to environmental conservation using systems that benefit the society at large while benefiting our pockets as well.

Although the world might have forgotten us and lost faith in us, we resolve to never give up on ourselves. However hard life becomes, we choose to believe in the beauty of our dreams. The validity of our dreams is not dependent on where we come from. Let us all arise!

We shall make it!

THE MISCHIEF OF SECTION 3(5) OF KENYA SUCCESSION ACT

Counsels and the general public is encouraged to read this for knowledge is power.

Harry Stephen Arunda

Two matrimonial causes compelled the courts to look into the rights of women to inheritance especially those who were caught up in a polygamous labyrinth. In Re Ruenji’s  Estate (1977) KLR 21 Sachdeva J. held that:

  women married under customary law by a man who had previously married under statute are not wives and their children are not children for the purpose of succession, and they are therefore not entitled to a share in the  estate of the deceased.

The marriage was under the African Christian Marriage and Divorce Act. Another case was Re Ogola’s Estate (1978) KLR 18  Simpson J. held that …A man married under statute is statute-barred from contracting other marriages during the pendency of the statutory marriage, and any marriages so contracted are null and void, and the woman so married are not entitled, together with their children, to inherit on the intestacy of the…

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Why Kenya Needs a Paradigm Shift on Road Safety

By The_artony (Edited by Joy Ruguru)

Leading from behind
Preaching water in daylight
While secretly imbibing rum
Under the cover of darkness
A corrupt system
An indifferent people
That cares not unless when affected directly
A rogue culture which is always
A recipe for disaster!

We hid a dragon under our beds
Fed it well and nurtured its claws
Not knowing that it’d come to haunt us
We thought it was OK to blatantly break the rules

After all “rules are made to be broken”

We chastised reformers like stray mongrels

We thought they were outlandish
We thought it was fashionable

To give something small to the traffic corps

For them to look the other way
As we flouted traffic rules and regulations
And used unscrupulous means to milk passengers

And make the most within a short period
We made safety belts a chain of decorations
And speed governors a mere formality
We allowed our greed to override humane obligations

 

And when the roof caved in
We opted to sit back and point fingers
Whilst the axle rested on our own hands
The problem at hand is behavioural

A making of our own culture

An explosive waiting to rapture!

The more we keep blaming others,

The more the lives that get drained away

By the rivers flowing from ‘black spots’

The more  children becoming orphans

On account of avoidable road carnage

 

What if I refused to be that excess passenger?

What if I spoke to a speeding driver

About the imminent danger of speeding?

What if I became a more responsible road user?

What if I said no to drunk driving?

 

It might appear absurd,

Or probably delusional

Or even just cheap talk!

But, there’s no way NTSA

Or any other state organ

Will curb the rising accidents alone

We must all rise, join hands

And speak in one voice

Against preventable road accidents

We must take action in our own small ways

 Yes! It is doable
@The_artony

 

 

Reflections of a Spectator

By The_artony

Kenya is wailing
her health system is ailing
her education system is kneeling
Not in prayer but because of it’s subdued feebleness.

Her sons and daughters are up in arms
viciously charged against each other
each claiming to be in battle for her best interests
It’s hard to tell what will happen the next minute
Whose interests are they claiming to be fighting for?
The commoner’s interests or those of their huge stomachs?
They’re discussing malnutrition over steak 
Entering technical appearances
Just to earn their eating allowances

Drawing undue delays
Just to warrant another eating moment!
Maliciously misconstruing facts and the laws of the land
Just to further their selfish interests

Common men ranting songs of praise
In support of their ‘demigods’
Grossly humiliating those on the other side
Intimidating institutions, swimming deep in desperation

And the elites are not any better,
Like jilted lovers on grapevine
Creating and spreading fake news
Thinking it is funny or popular
Yet lives are being lost,
And children are losing their mothers!
Wives losing their husbands

Lecturers are on strike,
Nurses just resumed work,
To empty drug cabinets!
But this doesn’t seem to mean anything to them,
Their children are studying in Ivy League universities,
And their 10 million insurance is sufficient,
To even cater for emergency medical attention,
For corrective surgery to repair a bruised nose!

Damn whoever said we are a free nation
And that we’re reaping the fruits of the fight for independence!

Let us engage further on ngangaah@gmail.com

@Theartony

REBORN

I thought I was lost,

But that was just a waste of time.

I thought i was useless,

For the one I loved had trashed my love

Apparently my best was not good enough!

So she left me in the chilly cold

With nothing but fading memories.

My heart wailed in regrets,

And my eyes soaked in tears.

My mind clogged in wild thoughts.

I cursed the day we first met,

I despised our first kiss .

I lost faith in myself, I lost confidence in my moves,

I lost taste in the flavour of life.

For she was the impetus of my life!

My definition of life revolved around her curvaceous body,

And the silky hair that fell gracefully over her shoulders.

The charm of her Love had carried me off to a land so far away,

It was extremely hard for me to find my way.

Life without her was just Empty and hollow

My life was crumbling, I hated my life!

I shouldn’t have given my all,

I thought I’d never love again.

But all that now belongs to past,

It’s now long lost in history!

Am now telling a new story,

Of a bold and honest lover,

Courageous enough to clean the mess,

To hold my faint hand and bring me back to life

To love purely and genuinely,

I was lost but found me!

The mountains had mercy on my life,

And brought showers of blessings,

I soaked hard in the goodness of a lovely flower

With a scent so therapeutic,

And a heart so Antiseptic

Her golden smile sparked some magic

I had never imagined a rebirth so dramatic

It was a new definition of both life and Love

I will forever be grateful, Now and forever

I will sing of the magic moments you brought

She believed in me,

Regardless of the disgrace on my face,

She stood strong with me

Through and beyond the healing process

She sang songs of Victory in the battlefield,

I thought she was crazy,

To my surprise she wasn’t

She was heaven sent,

To add the missing flavour in my life

And rebuild the lost glory,

I can now smile back at life

I can dance to the melody of her heartbeat

Now let me love you back,

Allow us to celebrate this rebirth,

Let me hold your hand for a moment

Allow me to sing  ‘shape of you’

For your love was truly handmade for me

Thank you loving me despite the ugly mess,

It’s time for us to fly up in the sky,

lets rise past the galaxies (Like Justin Bieber)

Once There, We shall make lasting memories

Without any fears of falling,

For we have already fallen in the right arms

Let me hold you in the storm,

And keep you warm in the cold!

@The_artony

Mpenzi;

By Antony Ng’ang’a (Wr. Theartony)

(Photo credit; Black art images)

Mrembo kutoka Mombasani,

Napendezwa sana Jameni

Na umbo lako la wastani,

Tabasamu lako lanipa msisimko moyoni

Sauti yako nyororo Kama ndege

Mawazo na maono yako laini Kama pamba

Kusema kweli naona Wewe ndio wanifaa

Ikiwa basi pia nami nakufaa, kuna haja gani Kukata Rufaa??

Naomba tu nikushike mkono,

nikutembeze hapa kwetu mtaani

Nikujulishe kwa jamii na majirani

Baadaye tufike Bara tukawaone binamu zangu

Tuwajulishe kwamba muda umewadia

Tunawirishe penzi letu pamoja dear.

Najua labda hujazoea mambo haya,

Mie pia Sina uzoefu, lakini sioni haya

Nakuhakikishia ya kwamba,

Nitasimama na kutembea na Wewe bila uoga

Nataka ijulikane wazi

Kwamba mapenzi ya kweli bado yapo

Na panapo jitihada, yanaeza shamiri!

Natamani Sana tuwe kielelezo bora

Kwa jamii na dunia mzima

Kwamba yawezekana Tena kwa Sana

Wapendanao kunawiri katika penzi

Wanapoamua na kujitosa ndani mzima mzima

Basi njoo tuanze Safari,

Kwa utaratibu maana sio Rally

Kwa tukishirikiana najua tutafika

Kwani penzi Ni tamu kuliko Asali

Kwa wanaojitolea bila kujali

Pia yaweza kuwa chungu kuliko shubiri

Kwa Walio na uhaba subira

Natamani Sana tufike kilele,

Na kuishi kwa furaha milele

Kwa amani bila mingi kelele

Tuko bandarini,

Tayari Kung’oa nanga

Na kusafiri baharini

Katika bahari la mapenzi

Mawimbi yatakuwepo kwa wingi

Lakini tunayo ari na uvumilivu kwa wingi

Na kwa rehema zake Maulana

Tutajafanikiwa InshAllah!

(Tujadiliane zaidi kupitia; ngangaah@gmail.com)

A test for Kenya’s commitment to the rule of Law;

By Antony Ng’ang’a (Wr. Theartony)

Today is a quite anticipated day. The supreme Court is set to deliver a landmark judgement that will determine the fate of the just concluded elections. Many opinions have been issued and either side is confident that justice will be served. To most, Justice means their side winning the case. The jubilants want UK’s win sustained while the Nasarites want it annulled, that’s what justice means to each faction. I stand before you today to debunk this misconception of Justice, I put it to you here and now, that justice may or may not work to your favour all the time. Learn to embrace the verdict of the unbiased umpire. Truth be told, we can only have one faction carrying the day. It is therefore imperative that each side prepares itself and it’s people for either of the two possible outcomes.

About the content or probable outcome, I may not be in a position to comment directly Because of the respect I hold for the judiciary and judicial processes altogether.

However, I want to make a general comment and say that the hearings revealed many anomalies and procedural mistakes. Though the Iebc has been praised from various quarters for having conducted a ‘good’ election, it is important to note that the mistakes were way too many and some people feel it doesn’t add up.

Secondly, the question that the supreme Court will be seeking to answer is; Did the election anomalies affect the outcome of the elections materially? Do they meet the threshold for annulment of a presidential election??. The standard of proof is above the balance of probability but slightly below the ‘beyond reasonable doubt’  in other words the standard of proof is quite high.

It is clear to my mind that at the end of the day, one party will rejoice while the opposing side will frown. It is my believe that the supreme Court will rise to the occasion and set a sound jurisprudence and that the parties will accept and respect the decision of the court. On the same breath, our political class needs to acknowledge that the rule of law is bigger than any of them.

All is said and done, Let’s remain a united kenya, let’s stick despite political differences. our  forefathers expectation to love and unite shall prevails. Let us all rise above the average mindset and embrace the rule of law. Let us all join hands and take Kenya to the next level. Let us all preach peace and unity.
God bless Kenya! God bless my Motherland! Daima Mimi Mkenya!

Let’s engage more on, ngangaah@gmail.com

Kenya Beyond 8th of August 2017; Painting peace throughout the country

By Wr. Theartony

Have you ever seen any of the ruling class run from shop to shop looking for unga ya 90? Or even seen or heard any of them asking mama Njuguna to add them some ugali sourcer pale kwa Kibanda? Have you ever seen their sons or daughters in the second and third level grade schools and colleges that you and I go to, sometimes struggling to raise school fees? Have you ever seen or heard them bargain for fare to or from Roysambu from 40bob to 30 bob? or seen them loiter around town, hovering aimlessly like stray dogs at least to kill time as they wait for fare to go down??? Seen any of them in the long lines of public hospitals or any other public amenities?

Here’s the reality that you and know very well but are too oblivious to take due consideration of. These people belong to one tribe, the haves while you and I belong to the second tribe of the have-nots or the struggling masses. All these 42 tribes, as used politically are a creation of their own to help them continue growing richer and have more influence in our societies whilst we continue to wallow in a Quagmire of confusion, economically and socially. These people speak in one voice when it comes to hiking their salaries, how then can you convince me that there’s Jubilee and NASA??? while they all reason alike when it comes fattening their own pockets. It doesn’t add up.

On tribalism, this is their chariot to power, a means of sustaining their lavish lifestyle at our own detriment. They’re all aware that if Ng’ang’a and Dinda, Wanjiku and Rumona, Wanjala and Mwadime all came together as one people and speak in one voice, the ruling class would come down crumbling. So as a mechanism to stay afloat, the cause an artificial division and make life so difficult for us that we’re always crying, So that their sons and daughters can go rafting down the streams formed out of our tears.

I went to the same school with Otieno and Metobo, Wanjala and Mwawasi. There’s nothing different, in fact they were more helpful than my own kinsmen. Our diversity should  be our strength. We all pretend to be educated but behave even worse than our forefathers.As a Kenyans, our prime duty is to preserve our lives and keep our neighbors as safe as we can.

We’re all in the same basket, let us not allow anyone to use us as a ladder to power then dump us on the 9th of August, 2017 until the second Tuesday of August, 2022. Let us all rise above tribe or any other differentiation and become the one people that we are meant to be. Let’s say NO to being divided because only you and I know the hell we go through every day in the ghetto as our tribal lords are playing golf, polo and other posh sports in Muthaiga golf club or Wadi Degla.
We’re all painters and our votes are the paintbrush, Let’s paint Peace throughout the country.

Let’s engage more on ngangaah@gmail.com.