Transforming Kenya; mirroring the Judiciary.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will-Romans 2:12

I am at the Judiciary Transformation Framework Workshop. I have been asked to indicate what I feel. Challenged, motivated, shocked and humbled to interact with people who have served this country for over 30 years in the judiciary. They say the former judiciary was intimidating, you could not express yourself, you could not state your issues, your needs, your aspirations. You just worked, like a robot might they add. They are amazed, pleased and thankful that they get to attend a workshop. A transformation workshop where they get to interact with the judges, with senior management. Better still, where the core rule is “no titles”. 30 years of titles, traded for three days of equality and no titles. Three sacred days of owning this great institution. To most of them, it’s priceless. To me, it’s humbling. Four months of serving this country in the judiciary, my mornings have purpose, my days direction, my interactions experience, my career satisfaction.

As I jot this, as people continue to introduce themselves, I wonder, should I be documenting this? Then almost instantly, I answer in the affirmative. Yes I need to let Kenyans know, the feelings the members of the judiciary have about the transformation process. A process introduced by the will of the Kenyan people through the Constitution of Kenya 2010. It seems the Constitution opened up a decade of “business unusual” in this great Republic. From the conduct of public officers, to respect for human rights, matrimonial property, elections and the electoral process, and many other spheres of our daily lives. The Judiciary probably has had the most illumination of the new Constitution, its aspirations, its values and principles and those of the Kenyan people. The Constitution has finally made the Judiciary a judiciary for Kenyans. The work of the judiciary is finally being owned by the persons, otherwise known by the Constitution as public officers. The enthusiasm and optimism guaranteeing the perfection of the Judiciary's core business, to administer justice for all Kenyans and to set, in the Honourable Chief Justice, Dr. Willy Mutunga's words, “patriotic and indigenous jurisprudence” 

The Judiciary Transformation Framework gives four key pillars to guide the process of Judicial Transformation.

  

Pillar 1-People focused delivery of Justice,

Pillar 2- Transformative leadership, Organisational culture and professional staff,

Pillar 3- Adequate finance resources and physical infrastructure and

Pillar 4- Harnessing technology as an enabler of justice.

Kenyans bear the pride of innovation. With mobile-banking possibly being the biggest money exchange media in Africa and quickly gaining international interests. Kenyans now pride themselves for having ratified a solid and concrete Constitution. As a result, they can now rest easy for Justice is in their courts. It has been said that “peace is not the absence of war, but the presence of Justice”. One of my greatest motivations in joining the judiciary was, one, to serve my Country, two, to work in the Judiciary and to draw from its professionalism but most importantly, to take pride in my future years in saying, “ I was part of it”, I was part of the transformation”.

Kenyans need only look to the judiciary to know what good leadership can bear. Results, impacts and delivery. There must be skeptics in every game of change. But there must be some shifts, pleasant and unpleasant. It is however the compromise that we must make. I have experience the shift. I have watched people dream and speak out their dreams for the Kenyan judiciary. I believe that Kenya is transformed in the eyes of the Judiciary. Its values reinforced. The constitution jealously guarded. Still we move.....we continue to become better.

The closing is phenomenal. A phenomenal lady speaks. She has worked in the Judiciary for 35 years. She has been through the regimes. She bears the transformation right from the depth of her heart. She challenges us. She says the judiciary is taking a phenomenal turn. I can feel her energy. In the hot Eastern sun, I realise the staff members are awake. Not just awake, AWAKE!..I shut my eyes, to internalise her wisdom. I scream from the depths of my bones, quietly, internally,...AWAKE KENYA...AWAKE!!..I think about a book I am reading, Greg Mill's “Why Africa is poor”, I nod, “Africa is poor because our leaders have made this choice”....It stings, but said it must, “Kenya refuses to transform because Kenyans have made this choice”. It all boils down to leadership.

I look forward to the cocktail. To end a wonderful collegial interaction and to chatter away as I gulp my glass of non-alcoholic wine. I know one thing, the employees in the Judiciary are different. They see things differently now. We dance to “Mkenya Daima” for the 3rd time. The sense of patriotism and public service sinks a little deeper. I know..this is an Institution I want to be associated with. This is my avenue to serve this great Republic.

Vote Kenya; vote in honour of our fallen men and women in uniform

Honour and statesmanship

Saturday 10th November 2012, young Kenyan policemen are pursuing cattle raiders in Baragoi, Samburu County. Most of them, fresh recruits from the Kiganjo Police Training College, a walking distance from my birthplace. Family and friends had gathered at the college in August this year for the colourful passing out ceremony. Most of these young soldiers, the hope of their families. Aged 20-26 years of age. In the prime of their youth. Most of them glad that they can finally make ends meet. All of them ready to serve this great nation. Upon the conclusion of the ceremony, they are put in police tracks and transported to their first areas of posting. Most of them en-route to North Eastern Province. Still, they smile as they bid their relatives goodbye. “We are out to serve this country”, they say. “We shall give our all”, they promise. What 40 or so of them do not realise is that their all, means their lives.

Two years ago, my mother called me, shaken and out of breath, “Jose had been shot” she said. Jose has been what?! How? Where? By who?..by “bandits in Pokot” she said. “They were way-laid and attacked. Most of them did not even fire back. But God is great, he has been airlifted to the Kenyatta National Hospital and is stable. Call Shiku and see how she is doing”.

Jose is like a brother to us. Shiku is like a sister to me. We love each other, grown up together and shared the joys of childhood. Between that phone call and the hospital was a nightmare. He was lucky, we were lucky, the gun shots, four on both thighs did not hit any bones. The surgery was successful and within two months, Jose was back to work, serving this country.

I called him last night, to see whether he had been sent as reinforcement to Baragoi. He wasn't sure whether they would send him out. “I am worried”, I say to him. I pray they will not send him out there. I do not want to live with the nightmare of what could befall him. But in his characteristic soldier self, he says, “but they need reinforcement, if they send me out, I shall go”. I pause and think, our soldiers are really passionate about this country, but are we passionate about them? Do we care to think what their needs could be or what difficulties they encounter in their line of duty. People I love are in the forces. I am in the forces as my heart and family are in it. Therefore, I worry when we lose 40 soldiers to armed militia. Militia more equipped than our own security forces. I want to scream when the police commissioner admits to a tactical mistake. I shall tell you what a tactical mistake does, it renders wives husband-less, parents childless, siblings brother-less. It paralyses this nation in terms of security.

Shall we sit and watch as our leaders commit these policy murders. When the highest percentage of our budget goes to defence and security, yet our soldiers are ill equipped to respond to a line of fire when ambushed trying to reinforce law and order? We send inexperienced policemen to deal with dangerous criminals and do not rethink this policy decision when more than once, a quarter of fresh recruits die within their first years of service in hardship areas.

Do we think ourselves helpless in the face of such policy blunders? Indeed we are not. We are armed with information and experience and we can vote in honour of our fallen heroes. We can vote to restore security. We can vote to save lives. We can vote for people with clear and practical policies about the things that this country truly needs; security and peace, rule of law, food, health-care and creation of employment.

Vote Kenya; vote in honour of our fallen heroes in Somalia, in Tana River, in Baragoi and anywhere else in this great Republic. Watch-out for people who have amorphous promises that will yield nothing but five wasted years, wasted lives and a wasted republic. When we vote without policy consideration, we commit our children to starvation, we send our soldiers to pits and valleys of death, we send our doctors to private practice at the expense of public healthcare, we dissipate peace and all forms of cohesion, we sacrifice talent and growth at the alter of unemployment. If for nothing else, vote in honour of our men and women in uniform. Those that are out in the wild defending our borders and keeping us safe. Keep them safe on March 4th 2013. It will be an act of honour and statesmanship.   

Inspire and change the world.

About three months ago, a close friend shared a page (inspirationalfriday.com) that was calling for women to nominate other women who have/had inspired them. With unexplained enthusiasm, I wrote to the team and nominated two inspirational women. Women who had drawn me to myself. Who, in the first 10 minutes of meeting, I felt like I had known them for a lifetime. I nominated Aya Chebbi and Delphine Konda. I have been inspired by many great women, my mother being the greatest one. But I wanted the world to meet Dell and Aya. They exuded an energy that I wanted others to draw from. Their stories have been featured and many have been inspired.

On days I feel like abandoning the things that matter to me, I think of these two women, draw from their inspiration and remind myself that service runs not on easy wheels and that inspiration lubricates the wheels of service. These two remind me, just as Leymah Gbowee in “Mighty Be Our Powers” that you can tell people of the need to struggle, but when the powerless start to see that they really can make a difference, nothing can quench the fire. The powerless being the uninspired and the fire being inspiration.

Inspiration comes to us, takes a grip of our entire beings and runs the show. Perfectly and in direction. The greatest misconception is that inspiration is only drawn from casts in our television sets or acclaimed influential persons. Inspiration comes from ourselves, our surroundings, our employees, our situations. It comes when sought. It comes when needed. It works when let to work. It is effortless. Yet it is the one thing common in everybody who has made a difference. Its use synonymous with change and after, the world...

I am inspired by my continent. Its vastness and diversity. Its creativity and impossibilities. I am inspired by nature, it calm self healing powers. Its power to sustain. I am inspired by mothers who in their situations of poverty set their children to school and ensure that they are fed. I am inspired by my grandmother. Who even in her old age has the time to care for my invalid aunt and bed ridden grandfather. Ensures they are bathed, clothed and fed everyday before she goes to sleep. I am inspired by her relentless energy, characterised by her  dozing spells by the fireplace as she waits for their food to cook. Her sheer love...

I have met a new breed of people. Who refuse to make excuses in fulfilling their ambitions. Who refuse to sit and watch their communities waste away. People who look to the front and see the pasted mountings of their future and those of their countries. Work out the solutions in their heads and get to work. In most cases, those I have met look back and wonder how they did it. They always run to "inspired" as their source of energy. Whatever inspires them...makes them better people and changes the world. Inspire, it is the easiest way to change the world.

Giving water where the earth cracks.

Mentoring: Creating a better me, for a better you.

Nine years ago, I was a lot younger and impressionable. I had a clear mind of what I wanted to do and the path I wanted to take.  All I wanted to do was pass my O levels. The path I wanted to take is that of making my parents proud of me. That was it. I assumed I would figure out the rest later. In the meantime, my goal was to master chemistry and add it to my A-subject list and my course would be accomplished. With the passion of young love, I accomplished my course. Then happily went home to await the results. For two years after High School, I stayed home, farming for a year and doing an accounting course I hated for the other year before joining the University to study Law.

For eight years I thought about the High School students who, like me, would leave High School and stay home with nothing to do. Not because there would be nothing to do but because they would not know how to do it. I identified the need to mentor them. Teach them the values of volunteerism. Build their confidence and open up their minds to a world of possibilities. Change their attitude from competition to cooperation.

I started doing it.

Why Mentorship?
Young adults are impressionable. They make decisions not because they have conceptualised the future but because their decision is in with the times. We cannot blame them. We have been there. So we cannot afford to sit and watch while we can actually influence some of these decisions positively. Sometimes even influencing them to be made, out with the times.

Investing in young people is a commitment that is receiving attention from all quarters. Even by the highest institutions such as the United Nations and national governments. Indeed as they say, there can be no future without young people.

But how do we ensure that young people across the board continue to take part in crucial decision making processes? by scrambling for the minimum travel slots granted by conference organisers? by locking in the information we hold so nobody else benefits from it? by regarding ourselves as too important a people to do community service? by living in the deception of mind that we shall hold our youth forever?

We need to have some facts in mind; youthfulness like age is for but a limited time. We should therefore strive to be the best in our time,  make the best of our time, have the best in our time and leave the best for other's time. This means sharing, mentoring, progressing and impacting.

I believe that we are quickly moving to the age of intellect. An age when investing in people's intellectual capability will yield the most benefits. This mean tapping and nurturing talent. Entertaining even the most crazy of ideas. In other words; giving water where the earth cracks. Creating a better me, for a better you.

Mentorship; defining her face
Opportunities abound that need to be shared with others. Life lessons and experiences only manufactured by time. By living a certain age. Visualised by looking back at our own experiences. Actualised by looking forward, to another's future.

Mentorship is a two faced beauty. Feeding the nostalgia of a past leading to successes and failures. Resting on the ease of a shared vision for another's less troubled future. There is no justification to allow a person trend a path, explored by ourselves and found to lead to a bitter end. Yet, we can redirect that person, save them time and precious energy and lead them to a path that brings worthy experiences.

The only face never aging, moulting of phases and diversified in breadth is that of mentorship. It cuts across generations. Adds value and is kept young by the unending acts of generations mentoring others and mentoring their own. It knows age but surprises by reciprocating the wisdom of old with young experience.

In my mentoring younger people, I find myself learning more than I teach. Its a beautiful thing. One whose face we must always seek to cup.

The hummingbird generation

Today I have a reason to post. I have a reason to sit and ponder about the little acts that I do to improve my circumstances and of those around me. I post in honour of the late Nobel Laureate Prof Wangari Maathai. Exactly a year ago, the world lost this great woman to ovarian cancer. Her spirit and her legacy lives on. Nature celebrates her as I do every single day.

A friend asked me how I manage to juggle a full time government job and global youth work. Without hesitation, I told her that global youth work keeps me alive. Knowing that I make a difference however little, feeds my zeal. It satisfies me to know that even though I do not have enough time to do all the things I would like to do, the little I do, makes a difference. The late Prof. Wangari Maathai challenged us to be like a hummingbird. That even in the face of great risk, danger and situations that seem impossible, personal effort and sacrifice matters a great deal. 

Nelson Mandela said that sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. I believe that we can be that generation. I have observed with admiration as young people refuse to be used as puppets to cause strife. I have seen them assert their rights only after elaborating their duties. I have watched as young people born in poverty rise beyond their limitations to create better livelihoods for others. Young Ugandans assert equal rights for all. Young Senegalese foster democracy. Young Nigerians speaking the language of sustainable development. Young Kenyans rewrite the slum story. Young Europeans speak out against the curtailment of the freedom of expression. Young North Africans topple dictatorships. Young Togolese shed their dignity for better governance. I have seen them be the hummingbirds. Doing the little they can and collectively standing in the gap for their nations.

Can you imagine a world where everyone feels responsible to ensure that people live in peace. That the hungry are fed and the poor taken care of. That human rights are respected and duties honoured. A world where selfless service thrives and capital gains thrown to the periphery? Can you imagine? If young people can live it, so can alot of others. 

You see, it does not matter what position a person holds in society. It does not matter how much time they have to spare. I have discovered that you can push yourself to any length just to see a passion fulfilled. Time is never a challenge. It is an enhancer. It should never be an excuse not to do. 

We can be that generation. We can be the hummingbird generation.

What about African Youth?

Is it? living through a chosen lens

There I was, in the middle of that vast warm land

There I stood, expectant and full of bliss

Warm, green and magnificent in the face of that yellow sun

I watched

As they traversed my space and gave me an identity

Not allowed to react to that Identity, there I lay

I chose to allow that identity upon my frame

Troubled and deeply in pain,

I focused on my priority

To give my branches a new green

Then came those who looked upon my height in awe

Those who thought I was extraordinary

The source of their thoughts not defined

Rather cast upon a glance at a branch, at some branches

Those that resisted the unkindness of the undefined sun

Those that retained their green

Then I began to bear a new kind of seed

A different kind of seed

One whose dispersal was uninhabited

One whose skin was hard and resistant

One that gave me a hope of universal influence

The lens slowly tilted

A new identity I got

One awash with word on my new kind of seed

One influenced by the resilience of this new seed

Some dispersed never to return

Some dispersed and finding their way home

All I loved with one embrace

Senegal; the sky that bears the vision of democracy

People who have met me can attest to the fact that I love my country. I am deeply and madly in love with Kenya. I take pride in my Nationality. I take pride in the excellence of my country men and women. I am what they call, Mkenya Halisi (Truly Kenyan). This love for my country informs my identity, it cannot be displaced, it cannot fade. Kenya is my one and true love.

But a funny thing happened. In May, 2011, I met Senegal. I was on transit to Cape Verde for the 3rd African University on Youth and Development organised by the North South Centre of the Council of Europe. I had tried to get a Senegalese visa for the 36 hours I was going to be in on transit through Dakar. However, the French Embassy in Nairobi could not process the Visa for the reason that the notice given was too short (not to mention that it was over five days). So here I was, staring in awe at the expansive exotic city of Dakar protruding beautifully over the clear blue Atlantic waters. I felt a tiny spark of love, mid air, for this city. I thought it was magnifique.

I looked in awe from the KQ aircraft at the African Renaissance Monument. I couldn't help but notice that the representation of the male figure of the monument, was supporting and leading the female, and carrying the child sitting on its shoulders. I immediately thought of how much I would have loved to hate that depiction of patriarchy, (atleast to my eyes), and in turn dismiss the city of Dakar, quietly wish away the 36 transit hours and embark onto the culturally rich country of Cabo Verde.

(I shall not delve into a discourse about this monument at this point)

The first 24 hours went by rather fast I must admit. They say first impressions last, well I didn't get to feel Dakar outside the confines of the Leopold Sedar Senghor International Airport, but I had ideas of how it could possibly be. An Airport police Officer, (I did not get his name, I wish I did!) out of the kindness of his heart ensured that we (my friends Cate and Job were with me) were fed and comfortable in the tiny holding space at the Airport. I was thrilled at the gesture. I was humbled and wondered if the Kenyan Authorities would do the same. Well, I think I'm pushing it....

In March 2012, the 3rd Congress of the Global Young Greens and 2nd Congress of the Global Greens were set to happen in Dakar. I was excited about two things; that I would meet most young green advocates at this congress and secondly, because I would actually get the chance to tour Dakar and explore the spark I had felt mid air close to an year before. The notable thing to mention is that I arrived in Dakar on 25th March 2012. This was the day of the Presidential run-offs. With a mixture of excitement and fear of the unknown, here I was, having chosen to focus on the greater likelihood of a peaceful election. I wasn't alone, hundreds of Green advocates had come to Dakar for the congresses.

Later that night and into the morning of March 26th, courtesy of the Honourable Minister for Environment in Senegal, Hon. El Ali Haidar, we got out to the city in a convoy to celebrate the victory of the opposition in the elections. On the streets I noticed that different people had different expressions. Some gleamed with great excitement, others looked solemn. Yet there they were, on the streets openly sharing their feelings without fear of being attacked.

That will always be one of the most powerful experiences in my life. To see a country with diverse political preferences choose to respect this diversity. It was a powerful message for me, a peace advocate. I swore to document it. It reminded me of the change of regime in Kenya in the year 2002 and the united celebration of the victory of the opposition. I was young, I couldn't vote and may not have appreciated the unity as much I did in Dakar. It reinforced my hope and love for African States. It symbolised the possibility of a united Africa.

I experienced the power of a peaceful relegation of power. The hope of the fruits yielded by a constant struggle for democracy. I was moved to tears especially because I only qualified to vote in the Kenya General Elections in the year 2007. I had blamed my vote for the thousands of people who had been displaced in the post election skirmishes. I needed reassurance that democracy, peace and elections could indeed be bedfellows. I felt the joy of the Senegalese people. I felt proud. My friends coming from other parts of the world looked on at the magnificent show of democracy in a continent they had possibly read negative literature about. I fell in love with this democracy and with it ignited the spark into a flame of affection for this country, for the Senegalese people, for the democratic values they demonstrated.

During the congress, I witnessed selfless service from young green Senegalese volunteers. They brought with them rich discussions. Within these discussions, a constant reminder that progressive decisions could only be made by people ready to listen and accommodate one another. These lessons saw the re-birth of the Federation of Young African Greens. This Senegalese spirit breathed democracy into its processes and a sense of unity we Young Greens from Africa share.

I made special friends at this congress. I struggled with the little French I had picked up along the way and learnt a few Wolof words. I returned in July, en-route to Cape Verde and re-affirmed the strength of my affection for Senegal. I am still exploring this affection, I am learning the language of her people,the language that she inspired me to study. I am hoping I can get time to stay in Senegal for no less than half a year in the future, volunteer as an English teacher and discover the special things about this African State. I am hoping that the tears shed in Dakar can flow to Nairobi and reinforce the strength of Democracy Kenya almost lost in the years 2007/08.