Wednesday's Walk Around Town

So what's been going on in Nairobi these days?

Well, major political moves going down with the presidential election coming up in March 2013.  Alliances are being made and then broken and new ones made; just typical Kenyan politics.  Two of the potential candidates have pending cases at the ICC for inciting violence in the last presidential elections in 2007.  If one becomes president how will that work out I wonder?  Also on the political front, MPs just opened a newly renovated Parliament, where each of the 350 chairs cost $3,000; you do the math.    Meanwhile the Kenyan people who have actually paid for the chairs can barely buy food for their families due to the rising cost of staples like rice and maize.
 

In a year-long drama, a probe into the conduct of the Deputy Chief Justice of the Kenyan Supreme Court has determined that she should be fired due to misconduct.  In the wake of small scale terror bombing, security at many public places has been stepped up.  The DCJ refused to have her bag checked, pinched the nose of the security guard, and threatened the guard with a pistol she pulled out of her car. Needless to say the DCJ is appealing the findings.  And so the drama continues.

On a more sober note, the Kenya Defense Force has, for the last year, been pushing the Somali terror group known as Al Shabab (who apparently have links to Al Qaida) away from the Kenyan boarder.  KDF has worked their way from the Kenya-Somali border to just before the port city of Kismayu; the Al Shabab stronghold.  As they continue to work with other African Union forces, Al Shabab has been creating havoc in refuge camps in Dadaab & Wajir and in the city of Nairobi by bombing public areas.  The sad thing is they have recruited discontented Kenyan youths to kill their fellow citizens.  Parliament is in the process of implementing an anti-terrorism bill into law.

Poaching of elephants are on the rise with orphaned baby elephants being reported daily to the elephant orphanage.  The increase in poaching coincide with the arrival of Chinese investment and the huge influx of Chinese in Kenya.  It is a common pattern in Africa; where Chinese investment go, poaching follows.  Additionally, lion killings are also on the rise; this is due to human-wildlife conflict over resources as human populations spread into previously untouched areas.  Perhaps someone should remind Parliament that the tourism sector is the backbone of the Kenyan economy.  I’m just sayin’!

What to pray for?  

• Against impunity and corruption in Kenyan government.
• A wise, godly man or woman to win the Kenyan presidency.
• The campaign against Al Shabab to be resolved swiftly.
• Justice done for the security guard who appeared to be too unimportant to matter.
• A fair and transparent presidential election.
• Safe roads, improved traffic laws and less corruption in the police force.
• Reduction in food prices and fuel prices.
• Peace in Kenya.