The Inbetweeners

  please note that this post reflects my opinion of the current moment and it is subject to, and ought to, change in light of new information or the evolving situation. I rarely delve into contemporary political issues. This is because, for most of my life, I have been able to ignore Kenyan politics because I was not the base politicians pandered to; I am the base politicians dog whistle to, and backroom deal with by virtue of my middle-class stature and membership in Kenya's dominant tribe. This means that I had lived my life, relatively apolitically; a privilege I know. However, this changed in 2021; when class interest was mobilised in our politics. I am talking about the hustler vs dynasty paradigm. While both of these classes have evaded a concrete definition, an issue so problematic that the 'dynasty' tag was dropped altogether and is now referred to euphemistically, the impact they have had on our politics is...interesting. Not because its' proponent, William Ru...

I doubt this will be a long post because my thoughts on this issue are being fleshed out. But, in recent months I've become aware of something peculiar; the willingness of African governments to scapegoat colonialism as an excuse for the failures of their policies. The logic is rather simple; our debt is high because colonialism prevents us from being treated fairly. Our people are suffering because colonialism produced unbalanced underdevelopment in the nation. Our institutions are weak because the colonizers installed a system of governance that could not accommodate them. And while there is truth to these arguments, their deployment as tools of rhetoric cheapens the reality of the situation. It turns the history of colonialism, and the suffering of the people within it, into another political tool. Just another way to deny and dismiss the material reality of the people, today. Just as the colonisers did .   No man mastered this technique quite like Robert Mugabe. Following a di...

Let's start at the beginning.  Last week on a podcast, Love Island alum, and current influencer, Molly-Mae Hague made a boo-boo. The 22-year-old influencer said: " You're given one life and it's down to you what you do with it. When I've spoken about that in the past, I have been slammed a little bit, with people saying, 'It's easy for you to say that, you've not grown up in poverty, you've not grown up with major money struggles, so for you to sit there and say that we all have the same 24 hours in a day, it's not correct.' And I'm like, but technically what I'm saying is correct . We do - so I understand that we all have different backgrounds and we're all raised in different ways and we do have different financial situations,  but I do think if you want something enough, you can achieve it."  And the internet blew up.  This statement is damning. Not only does it reveal her privilege, but it also revealed her ignorance. F...

Dear Kenyans, I understand that we are tired; I am tired too. I am tired of wearing my mask. Tired of staying away from my friends and family because I don’t know if I could infect them. Tired of being resilient, of being hopeful and of being cautious.  But above all, I am tired of seeing the increasing number of dead and infected pass by. Knowing that each of those numbers represents promises unkept. Knowing that each of those numbers represents communities in mourning. Fearing that one of those numbers could be me.  So, I will not remind you of those numbers. Because, for better or worse, many of us remain unaffected by the virus. And it is this distance, that allows us to look past the coronavirus. This distance permits my selfishness as I bemoan the containment measures. As I join others in calling for a return to normal.  But this is normal . If normalcy is conforming to a standard and the realisation of expectations; we now live in a world where we expect to stay ho...

I tend to write the posts while I am at Church. Partly because it keeps me awake and alert, subsequently sparing my family the embarrassment and God the dishonour of my falling asleep at my post. But mostly because, at its core, church is a time for introspection and reflection in a community of like-minded people who can hold you accountable. Now, while I may not share their beliefs, I do benefit from the introspective and reflective culture that has been cultivated. So, today I write this in Church and I find myself writing to prevent the former, rather than engage with the latter. I have nothing to say about my week. Was I anxious? Yup, but how is that new? It continues to manifest in the same ways and impact my life in the same ways. What lessons did I learn? Perhaps those who proclaim their power the loudest, often have the least amount of power. To quote Tywin Lannister, "Any man who says 'I am King' is no true king at all." True power, desires to perpetuate its...

The working title for this post is "Falalalala Lala La La." For no other reason than, that this phrase represents a sort of release of musical tension. Without needing to write the preceding words, the song, if you are familiar with it, started playing in your head; almost subconsciously. Not only does this demonstrate hermeticism in action, as I have changed your reality, albeit minutely, but it provides a lovely framing device for what I want to talk about today. It has been a tense week. I started a new job and had to check imposter syndrome rearing its ugly head as I tried to learn from a place of neutrality, not defensiveness (because imposter syndrome makes me feel like I don't belong or I am undeserving, I get defensive). In so doing, I learned something about myself and the way I operate in the world; ideas and their abstract applications fascinate me. It is far more interesting to discuss how Schrodinger's cat is both dead and alive, and the philosophical ...

  To be honest, this week has been a bit of a blur and of perfectly warranted anxieties. To extract what I have learned would be like wiping crude oil off a bird's wings. But I will try? Delivery matters. I listened to two people delivering the exact same speech and was reminded of the difference between communicating a speech and merely saying it. The former conveys the implicit meaning the words attempt to capture, while the latter expected the words to stand on their own merit. I know this to be true, for music because it is something I struggle with. Due to my perfectionism, I want the presentation to be technically perfect, forgetting that the purpose of music is to express the spirit, not just communicate the text. This is a lesson I keep forgetting, so it was nice to be reminded. I am not where I want to be. Not who I want to be. But equally, not so far removed from that ideal that I feel pressured to change substantively. The dissonance between my ideal and reality is, rat...