You can't talk about friendship without talking about Proverbs 17:17; a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. This is one of the greatest proverbial wisdom of king Solomon on matters friendship.
A chapter down, Solomon accentuates the indelible importance of true friendship through inking the scriptures in Proverbs 18:24, There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.
The question that the above wisdom loaded scriptures begs is: Who is this true friend who loves you at all times and sticks closer than a brother? The primeval English proverb, 'A friend in need is a friend indeed,' have crossed my ears times without number since my childhood days. Regardless of how old this proverb is, the truth behind it is a daily reality that can never ever be ignored.
Even though some people will genuinely befriend you, a great number of people befriend you with different ulterior motives and when thier need is met, they disconnect themselves from your friendship lest you need their help in the foreseeable future.
Is it only me who have 'friends' who only call when they have a problem that they need me to help them solve? As unfortunate as this is, there's no shortage of this kind of 'friends.' Most people who are in your life in the name of friendship are in to fulfill their ulterior motives.
Friendship is a value addition zone. This means that: Apart from general social interaction, a true friend must add value in your life on matters self-improvement. Hitherto, there's a misconception that's ingrained in most people's minds that friendships are for insolvent adversarials. As a matter of fact, a true friend is the one who constantly implores you to resist your mediocre mindset and challenges you to think big. My arguement aligns well with the African proverb: Great advice transcends gifting.
I am not ignorant that there will be desperate moments when you'll urgently need material help, all the same, if you attentively hearken to your best friends advice on self-improvement, moments of despair will become a history. Great advice is the greatest moral support that a true friend can accord you.
Unfortunately, most people want to befriend you for material gain rather than advisory. These are the 'friends' who tell you what you want to hear rather than what you need to hear lest they hurt your feelings and ruin their opportunities of gaining materially from you. These are opportunists not friends. To their hypocrisy I say: I would rather have one true friend who challenges my probity than ten who appreciates my idiocy. Any friend who tells you what you want to hear rather than what you need to hear dosen't add any value to your life. These are the 'friends' who make you settle in a comfort zone since they can't challenge your mediocre thoughts.
On the other hand, people who befriend you to sate their ulterior motives are more often than not the very fast people to accuse you of being aloof regardless of your efforts to meet their needs.
Although the saying 'no man is an island ' holds vast truth in it, it doesn't mean that you're to be stuck with 'friends' who don't add any value in your life. There's a role for everyone you encounter in life. Some people will test you, some will use you. Some will love you and others will teach you. All the same, the most important of all are the ones who will bring out the very best in you. These are the people who genuinely love you. Friends who will celebrate your win however smidgen it is and render you a shoulder to lean on during your troubling moments. They will be there for you come rain, storm, snow or sleet without making excuses whatsoever. They will sacrifice their time and resources to first and foremost meet your needs before their own. Friends who will call you not because they need your help but just to check on you.
If you've been hanging around a circle of 'friends' who have not been adding any value in your life, I dare you to break that camp and afoot in search of new friends who will challenge your thinking and deconstruct your comfort zone. Life is too short to live by chance and too precious to be exposed to ruination.
Sunday, July 25, 2021
Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Comrade in Crime
Barely a fortnight after the sentencing of the former South Africa president Jacob Zuma to a 15 months prison term out his defiance, 72 people and counting have lost their dear lives and properties worth millions of rands vandalized where looting has become a full time job for idlers all in the name of protest.
The fact that it's the largest ethnic group in mother Africa, spreading from Sub-Sahara through the Savannah grasslands of East Africa, down to the Victoria falls and all the way to Kwazulu province in South Africa, the bantus find pride in their centuries old humanitarian phrase, 'UBUNTU NGUMUNTU NGABANTU' which in a shortened version is UBUNTU, which literally means: 'I am because we are.'This compassionate phrase finds its origin from the primeval African proverb: 'It takes a village to raise a child.' It's inarguably true that, a child's moral rectitude or lack of it thereof is a direct reflection of the community the child was brought up in.
Unfortunately, most Africans are yet to understand that ubuntu doesn't have a connotation whatsoever. In other words, the term ubuntu dosen't invoke a negative implication on solicitude. Ubuntu is strictly applicable on moral rectitude and doesn't have anything to do with moral turpitude. In simplicity, the term ubuntu is only applicable on matters morality not immorality.
That notwithstanding, the aggression, hostility and unrest contrived by the arrest and conviction of a nefarious member of the society especially someone with a leadership position clearly shows how our morality have continued to decay by each passing day. Instead of letting the victims to carry their own cross as per the injurious consequences of breaking the law, we hold demonstrations claiming that: He is a criminal, but he is our criminal. This bizarre behavior is not only an immoral depiction of comradeship in crime, it's also a conformation of PLO Lumumba's claim that: 'Most of us are probable criminals, it's only that we don't get a chance to exercise our heinous intentions.'
If you think by any chance that my claim is far-fetched, don't look far than the recent ruling of the constitutional court of South Africa that saw the former president Jacob Zuma guilty of contempt of court for refusing to appear before the State Capture Commission to answer intriguing questions on matters corruption that occurred during his presidency.
The fact that he was sentenced to a 15 months jail term has contrived chaotic demonstrations in different cities where looting and destruction of property have become rampant. Unfortunately, this inessential unrest will eventually render the economy of South Africa into an extremely deplorable state amidst covid-19. If anything, this irrepressible unrest has clearly vindicated that: Although he's a criminal, he is our criminal.
It's extremely unfortunate how we mercifully sympathize with politicians who are found guilty of corruption in a total disregard of how mercilessly they impoverish us while enjoying different positions of leadership and simultaneously wallowing in opulence using the public funds that are meant to improve the lives and livelihoods of their fellow citizens.
Our leniency amidst their immorality makes them perceive us as indigent fools who can be subjected to any act of injustice without any complains whatsoever. In other words, we have not only become their enablers towards their dreadful acts on humanity but we have also made them our demigods by protesting against their warranted convictions. That's why they will never ever learn the simplest disciplinary rule of life that: 'Choices have consequences.'
As sure as death, sooner than later, some of the people who are spending restless days and sleepless nights protesting the jailing of Jacob Zuma will soon meet him in prison, regrettably not to sympathize with him but to serve their jail term out of their indefensible fanaticism. Therefore, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
As sure as death, sooner than later, some of the people who are spending restless days and sleepless nights protesting the jailing of Jacob Zuma will soon meet him in prison, regrettably not to sympathize with him but to serve their jail term out of their indefensible fanaticism. Therefore, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
With that truth well encrypted on your finger tips, before you engage yourself in unworthy demonstrations and gratuitous protest following a court ruling where the culprit is lawfully sent to prison, kindly remember that; A society that despises justice can never overcome criminality.
Tuesday, July 6, 2021
Tom Mboya: The president that Kenyans never had.
This week on 5th July 2021, Kenyans marked 52 years since the gruesome assassination of Tom Mboya. Born as Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya on Friday 15th August 1930 in Kilima Mbogo in Kiambu county where his parents were casual laborers in a white highlands sisal plantation, Tom Mboya would later emerge to be an International icon on different capacities. He was a trade unionist, an educator, a Pan Africanist and an activist towards independent Kenya. At home, he served in three different ministries as a cabinet minister.
In his mid twenties, Tom Mboya had already managed to secure a scholarship which saw him graduate with an industrial management degree from Oxford university at 26 years of age. Two years later, he was elected conference chairman at the All-African Peoples' Conference that was convened by the founding father of Ghana, president Kwame Nkrumah. He later helped to build Trade Union Movements across Africa.
In 1959, Tom Mboya was the Africa representative during the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) conference that was held in Brussels, Belgium. Still in the same year, he called a conference in Lagos, Nigeria, to form the first All-Africa ICFTU labour organization where he profoundly talked about Africa Development Strategy.
As a true Pan Africanist, he believed in independent Africa where moving from International aid to intra-african trade would liberate Africans from poverty. His long-term objective as a trade unionist was to see Africa minimize aid and maximize trade. Even though it has been a long overdue, one of Tom Mboya's strategies of intra-african trade was recently realized on 1st January 2021 when African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) kicked off. Noting that it has been 62 years since Tom Mboya's Lagos speech of 1959 on intra-african trade, we can all agree that; better late than never.
It's inarguably true that 1959 was the best year of Tom Mboya's life and the most busy of not the busiest. This is the year that he was invited in Washington D.C. by American Committee on Africa where he managed to secure scholarships for East African students through African-American Students Foundation. (AASF) This scholarship program saw 800 African students travel to the United States of America to advance their education between 1959 and 1963.
On Friday 11th September 1959, eighty-one African students from East Africa arrived in New York City on a chartered flight to start their college education. Among them were the late Professor Wangari Mathai who would later become the first African woman to win a Nobel prize and also Barrack Obama senior the father of the first black president of the United States of America. In the same year, Howard university which is a predominantly African-American institute of higher learning honoured Tom Mboya with a Doctorate Degree.
Tom Mboya's charisma on human dignity, political freedom and economic opportunities for all as stated on his 18th April 1959 speech while addressing American civil rights movement gathering in Washington D.C. caught the attention of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) who was then the senator of Massachusetts and a 1960 US presidential aspirant.
On Tuesday 26th July 1960, JFK who was now a Democrat presidential nominee met with Tom Mboya who had traveled back to the United States in a desperate need to secure travelling funds for more African students who were still waiting to travel to the United States on scholarships. JFK agreed to help with the travel expenses and established the Kennedy Airlift Program which saw more African students travel to the United States to further their education.
The fact that Tom Mboya was a very close friend of Dr. Martin Luther king jr. and had subsequently developed close friendship with JFK is believed to be the reason behind JFK's November 1960 presidential victory where he garnered a lot of votes from African-Americans becoming the 35th president of United States of America.
Although JFK raising to presidency came with vast responsibilities, he continued to support Tom Mboya's initiative through the Kennedy Foundation. Unfortunately, financial remittances were cut short after the November 22nd assassination of JFK in Dallas,Texas.
Five years and seven months later on Saturday 5th July 1969, just like his friend JFK, Tom Mboya at a tender age of 38 years was assassinated for political reasons while leaving a pharmacy on government road which is today Moi avenue. To this day, most people believe that Tom Mboya was indeed the very best president that Kenyans never had.
In his mid twenties, Tom Mboya had already managed to secure a scholarship which saw him graduate with an industrial management degree from Oxford university at 26 years of age. Two years later, he was elected conference chairman at the All-African Peoples' Conference that was convened by the founding father of Ghana, president Kwame Nkrumah. He later helped to build Trade Union Movements across Africa.
In 1959, Tom Mboya was the Africa representative during the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) conference that was held in Brussels, Belgium. Still in the same year, he called a conference in Lagos, Nigeria, to form the first All-Africa ICFTU labour organization where he profoundly talked about Africa Development Strategy.
As a true Pan Africanist, he believed in independent Africa where moving from International aid to intra-african trade would liberate Africans from poverty. His long-term objective as a trade unionist was to see Africa minimize aid and maximize trade. Even though it has been a long overdue, one of Tom Mboya's strategies of intra-african trade was recently realized on 1st January 2021 when African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) kicked off. Noting that it has been 62 years since Tom Mboya's Lagos speech of 1959 on intra-african trade, we can all agree that; better late than never.
It's inarguably true that 1959 was the best year of Tom Mboya's life and the most busy of not the busiest. This is the year that he was invited in Washington D.C. by American Committee on Africa where he managed to secure scholarships for East African students through African-American Students Foundation. (AASF) This scholarship program saw 800 African students travel to the United States of America to advance their education between 1959 and 1963.
On Friday 11th September 1959, eighty-one African students from East Africa arrived in New York City on a chartered flight to start their college education. Among them were the late Professor Wangari Mathai who would later become the first African woman to win a Nobel prize and also Barrack Obama senior the father of the first black president of the United States of America. In the same year, Howard university which is a predominantly African-American institute of higher learning honoured Tom Mboya with a Doctorate Degree.
Tom Mboya's charisma on human dignity, political freedom and economic opportunities for all as stated on his 18th April 1959 speech while addressing American civil rights movement gathering in Washington D.C. caught the attention of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) who was then the senator of Massachusetts and a 1960 US presidential aspirant.
On Tuesday 26th July 1960, JFK who was now a Democrat presidential nominee met with Tom Mboya who had traveled back to the United States in a desperate need to secure travelling funds for more African students who were still waiting to travel to the United States on scholarships. JFK agreed to help with the travel expenses and established the Kennedy Airlift Program which saw more African students travel to the United States to further their education.
The fact that Tom Mboya was a very close friend of Dr. Martin Luther king jr. and had subsequently developed close friendship with JFK is believed to be the reason behind JFK's November 1960 presidential victory where he garnered a lot of votes from African-Americans becoming the 35th president of United States of America.
Although JFK raising to presidency came with vast responsibilities, he continued to support Tom Mboya's initiative through the Kennedy Foundation. Unfortunately, financial remittances were cut short after the November 22nd assassination of JFK in Dallas,Texas.
Five years and seven months later on Saturday 5th July 1969, just like his friend JFK, Tom Mboya at a tender age of 38 years was assassinated for political reasons while leaving a pharmacy on government road which is today Moi avenue. To this day, most people believe that Tom Mboya was indeed the very best president that Kenyans never had.
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