Let us all Care for the Disabled in the Society.     

   This is what Justice David Majanja said in his judgment in the case of Paul AnupPkiach &Another versus Attorney General & Another (2012) eKLR: ’’The current physical structure of the Milimani Law courts is such that it is a hindrance to justice seekers owing to the physical barriers that make it a herculean task for persons with disabilities to access the courts. Some of the problems recognized are as follows; Access to the Entry Lobby of the Building is restrictive to people with wheel chairs since there is a step to the reception area. The witness boxes in various courts are raised by a platform of 200mm from the general floor which makes it difficult for the physically challenged particularly those on wheel chairs to access the stand. The parking bays are set at a lower level to the general ground which poses a challenge to move to the raised ground over the concrete kerb stone. Some of the entrances to the court rooms are not wide enough for wheel chair.’’ I do not know whether the situation at Milimani law courts has now been rectified. However, what I know is that what the judge said is reflected in various court buildings across the country.

It is ironical that the judiciary is in the forefront in violating the rights of the disabled.However, the judiciary need not worry as it has the company of fellow violators across the society. We have seen many county governments spent billions to buy ambulances for hospitals in their counties. Anyone will agree that is a good thing. Yet a visit to these hospitals will tell you that they cannot be accessed by someone on a wheel chair or blind because of the design of the building and lack of signage in Braille. I can confidently say all Public service vehicles cannot be accessed by the disabled in society yet the relevant stakeholders like the Matatu Owners association are only concerned about pimping their matatus and fussing over the cashless payment system.

We celebrate the innovation of mobile money transfer services but we do not care or ask why there are no subsidized screen readers for the blind. Yet we know that the service providers will not make losses because they have invested in these subsidized screen readers. The disabled are still unable to access the ATM s of many banks across the country even as the banks pride themselves in being the best.

As we prepare for the digital migration we have witnessed concerned television station fight to protect their investments worth of billions. They have every right to do so. However, it should not be forgotten that apart from the national broadcaster, only one of the stations has sign language interpretation during newscast and the airing of programmes of national importance.

Making profit should not be our only business. We should stop the avarice and care about the vulnerable amongst us. It is not enough to say we have employed the disabled in our companies and the different government ministries. It is not enough for the government to say thirty percent of government contracts are for the disabled. Just like it is useless for most companies and the government to call themselves equal opportunity employers when their websites cannot be accessed by blind people. Let us all play our part.

                                    STOP THESE IRRESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERS.

The easier access to licensed guns by the rich and influential means that the misuse of guns among Kenyans who own firearms is now frequent. Stories of politicians or celebrities who draw their guns in public at the slightest provocation are a constant feature in our news now, what our reporters call ‘’gun drama’’. Recently I learnt that we have a Gun Owners Association. The Association was complaining about the rising levels of guns misuse by its members.What is fascinating is that all the actors in the gun drama have been men. I do not know the reason for the increasing love for guns by Kenyan men and whether it is a good or a bad thing.





Naturally every man has a duty to protect his family or loved ones.Thus, depending on where a man is placed on the social stratum, he will either choose a gun, spear or knife for protection. Those high up on the ladder go for the guns. One would therefore imagine that a gun should be used to protect oneself from imminent danger, when it is absolutely necessary. Since guns are supposed to protect the gun owners and others from harm, it is expected that they will have an added level of responsibility and alertness at all times and be humble. Just like we are told that those who are trained in the martial arts are calm, disciplined men and women who do not throw kicks anywhere, anytime and at anyone. But this is not what is happening in Kenya today. It is almost as if we are competing to show off who has a gun and how fast he can pull the trigger. There are many explanations for this but I think the main reason is selfishness by the attention –seeking gun owners.

This has been aptly captured by Tom Matlackin his article  Men and Guns: An Affinity for Steel (http://www.goodmenproject.com )when he says ‘’Over emphasis on self-protection insidiously turns into self-projection. Guns are sometimes wielded by the untrained to make a statement about personal power or invulnerability—and when I say untrained, I mean untrained in moral values—and this can lead to inappropriate use of them. We see the phenomenon in MMA as well. Martial arts, which was also designed as a set of self- and others’-protection skills, has become more about proving personal toughness or manliness—or even womanliness. But the problem is not the gun or the martial arts skills, the problem is values. 

Perhaps growing up being fed on violence is another explanation as to why there is more aggression and the need to draw a gun easily and shoot without flinching. We have seen so much violence on television and the internet and we now have to practice what we have been fed on. We are products of a violent society. There is need therefore need to regulate what our young children watch and access on the internet. 

We also need to bring up our young men to be less angry at themselves and at the society at all times. Frustrated and angry, these young men can do damage within a minimal amount of time with more serious and lethal firepower. We should teach them to lose the egos and walk away from trouble, fighting only as the last resort.Humility, will not make them lesser men, they must be told. Otherwise they will grow up into emasculated men we are now reading about in the newspapers who will draw guns because a hapless matatu tout flipped the bird at them. The new culture of self-promotion and winning every ‘’fight’’ is what is driving our men to the kind of behavior we are witnessing. This will change if we bring up our boys up to be men of valor without necessarily being aggressive.