MY WATCHLIST...............

Check out this watch list...

Title	URL
21 Jump Street	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1232829/
Think Like a Man	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1621045/
The Five-Year Engagement	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1195478/
One for the Money	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598828/
The Sitter	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1366344/
Crazy, Stupid, Love.	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1570728/
Horrible Bosses	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1499658/
New Year's Eve	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598822/
Bridesmaids	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478338/
We Bought a Zoo	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389137/
Tower Heist	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0471042/
50/50	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1306980/
The Hangover	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119646/

A SALUTE FOR OUR POLICE OFFICERS

When a robbery, carjacking, homicide, murder, rape and many other criminal activities take place we all are quick to blame the police for incompetence and inefficiency. We blame them for contributing to road carnage, perpetuating corruption among other vices. Few of us take time to analyze the conditions under which these officers work as they endeavour to maintain law and order in our country.
While we are busy condemning the police, they have to brave the rainy and muddy conditions not forgetting the blazing heat in Mombasa and other locations to restore sanity on our roads, to pursue and smoke out robbers and carjackers to their hideout. This police officer who has to spend the entire day out in the sunny and hot conditions cannot afford even a half litre bottle of water to quench his thirst or to wash off dust from his throat. On the other side of country in areas like Nairobi, Limuru, Naivasha, and Meru among others, the officers stationed here spend the better part of the day chasing criminals and controlling errant motorists out in the rain. How many of us offer a bottle of water to the dehydrated officer or an umbrella to the drenching traffic cop?

TO EVICT OR NOT? ...........THAT'S THE QUESTION.

The coastal people have for many years complained about historical injustices and marginalization. Successive governments have chosen to ignore these outcries and this can partly be blamed for the formation of the Mombasa Republican Council. MRC has been claiming to fight for the rights of the indigenous coastal people through calls for secession and boycott of 2013 elections. For the past few weeks now a row has been brewing in Likoni due to the planned eviction of over 120,000 squatters from a 930 acres farm. The owner of this piece of land is back to reclaim his farm after many years of absence, armed with a court order for eviction of squatters. He claims that he was forcefully evicted from his land at the height of the Likoni clashes in 1997. In the period that he was absent the squatters have put up permanent residential homes and commercial buildings, there are also schools and places of worship on the land. The owner has also moved to court to have the Police Commissioner committed to a civil jail for failing to execute the court order since 2001. In Takaungu another standoff looms as the Mazrui family seeks to enforce a court order for eviction of an estimated 10,000 families from their 9,100 acres land.

HIERARCHY OF NEEDS DOES NOT APPLY IN KENYA

On the road to self-actualization, the first step is fulfillment of biological and physiological needs which include food, clothing, shelter, drink, sex etc. The next most important step is fulfillment of safety needs which include safety, protection, law, order, stability etc. The other two needs that one needs to achieve before attaining self-actualization are Belonging and Esteem needs. To me Vision2030 is a self-actualization need and I find it wrong for us to spend hard-to-come-by resources on higher level needs when we cannot offer security, safety and ensure rule of law in our nation. Provision of basic healthcare for all has been a pipedream in Kenya yet we have a vision of crossing the poverty line for all by 2030. The education standards have long gone to the dogs yet we expect to produce professional to lead and grow this nation to great heights. I have often been told that one cannot scale a tree from the top but I think in Kenya anything and everything is possible. Not that I am against Vision2030, but it beats all logic to spend time and money of functions to commission a project aimed at achievement of a 2030 objective when a every day objective of providing internal security is not addressed.
Kenya is no longer the peaceful Island that it was. When communities are not butchering one another in Tana Delta; grenades are exploding in matatus and churches in Garissa and Eastleigh. In the meantime the Executive are busy opening 400 million residences for their fellow political class and receiving honorary degrees on Everything and Nothing. It surprises me that we can afford a 400 million residence for one family yet we are unable to procure a piece of land and build habitable homes for thousands IDP's. A police officer dies in the line of duty and he/she is quickly buried and forgotten yet when a politician dies while attending to personal matters and we form a commission of inquiry whose proceedings are brought to our television sets every evening just as a reminder of his/her "importance".

HOW ARE YOU AND ME DIFFERENT????

Yesterday I had a candid discussion with a brother from another religion and he posed questions that we all Kenyans need to ask ourselves every day. If indeed we are as different as we purport to be, why is it that we all undergo the same stages in life. When I get hungry or thirsty does my brother/sister from another tribe or religion not undergo the same. Are the illnesses that my brother/sister from the other religion/tribe suffers from not the same as those that I suffer from. When I die why brother or sister from the other community of religion will have a death similar to mine. Or will his/her death be different? So what are the differences that we see in people of tribes or religions different from ours such that we will not bat an eyelid as we slash them with machetes? Why is it that we will hurl grenades in a congregation full of women yet when one of our own is arrested we are up in arms protesting. My religion teaches me that we were all created in the image and likeness of GOD. I thus believe each and everyone of us regardless of our different faith or tribal extraction we are all a replica of GOD.

MY TAKE ON OUR NATIONAL SECURITY

For the past one month or so we have read in newspapers and watched on our television sets the atrocities being committed at the Tana Delta by rival ethnic communities. Some of us have had the chance to witness this first hand and I don't envy them any bit. I really feel sorry for those that have lost their loved ones and property in this mayhem. Just like the majority of you I long for a peaceful coexistence with my neighbour without regard to their colour, gender, height, weight, ethnic origin or any other distinctive difference.

This presidency that many of us were so optimistic about in 2002 has let us down not once but countless times. During the nyayo era our economy had been crippled by endless corruption and embezzlement of public funds. One of the many promises that led to the landslide victory of the current president was his promised to unilaterally eradicate corruption. As we near the end of his second term, a majority of his cronies and members of his kitchen cabinet have been mentioned in one scam or the other and corruption has become a way of life for the high and mighty in Kenya. I only hope the new found judicial independence will be our saving grace.

THE JOURNEY TO A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE CONTINUES..........

For the last seven weeks I have been hitting the gym for not less than one hour every five days of the week and I am happy to report that changes are noticeable. Not that the journey has been easy but I pride in the fact that I have the commitment to achieve my desired goal (to be under 90kgs) by the end of the year. My work out plan has mainly focused on aerobics sessions which comprise of body toning routines, abs workouts, step exercises, zhumba dancing, tae bo among other routines. Upon completion of the one hour aerobics session, I spend another thirty or so minutes doing some weights reps.

On this journey, I have encountered some challenges which may have hampered my desire to loose more weight on a weekly basis but that notwithstanding I am happy of the progress made. One of the challenges I have faced is the temptation to indulge in some not so healthy cuisine. Like I pointed out in my earlier post, my appetite goes on the overdrive when a nicely prepared meal is set in front of me and the result is that I tend to eat a bigger portion than is desirable. I am also a lover of pizza and more so with a sizable topping of cheese and as you all know this is not a healthy meal. I have however restrained from visiting any fast food joints during this period and most of my meals are now home cooked. I have also tried as much as possible to control the portions of my food intake on any of my meals in the day with my lunch consisting mainly of fruits.

MY QUEST TO A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE

This is my story about my journey to a healthier lifestyle which I hope will inspire you to start living a much healthier lifestyle. I am in my early thirties and I weigh a whooping 116kgs and my height is about 5.7ft which takes my BMI to over 30 which simply means I am obese. The recommended BMI is 18.5 to 24.9 which means I have to loose close to 40kgs if I have to be within the normal BMI range. My total body fat also currently stands at more than 30% whereas the acceptable body fat is 18% to 25% hence my job in terms of losing weight is well cut out for me.

My weight at birth was 4.8kgs and as I grew up I was always the heaviest among my peers. In fact when I joined high school, I was so rounded that on the first day I earned the nickname “Yokoh” (“Yokozuna” if you prefer it in full). At home my older siblings never out did me in weight though they were a couple of years older than me. The fact that I was not active in sports in my formative years also contributed to my weight.