Munene, the journey...

"You speak very good English, where did you learn?" a person I just met asks. "In Kenya, in school…" I calmly reply. "Wow! You speak English in Kenya?" He continues. "Oh yes, we do …" The conversation goes into how we do (not) live with lions as pets and how I don’t run like "all" other Kenyans they've seen on TV. If you are wondering, this is an actual conversation I have had with persons I have met here in the US. This is not to say every conversation I have had goes this way. On the contrary, in the greater Washington metropolitan area where I live, this is the exception. Any time I have to field questions about Kenya, however, I feel as if the responsibility to represent Kenya and communicate its brand is upon my shoulders. This is despite not getting any training on this aspect of my travel experience. Some other well-meaning people have said, once hearing I am from Kenya, that they visited Uganda, Rwanda, Bots...

President-Elect Trump successfully ran under the banner of making America first, reducing foreign 'interference' and trying new ways to work with partners on the international scene to solve some intractable challenges. The first tenet, in my opinion, is something that should interest African nations, because of the collective acknowledged viewpoint of making Africa work for Africans. Looking back at the powers that scrambled for Africa more than 125 years ago to present day, we see challenges that have been brought about by the fact that Africa still remains a playground for western powers. The Democratic Republic of Congo fails to move forward due to the strong interests that keep fueling violence in order to continue the parasitic extraction of the vast resources with little benefit to the people of Congo. The CFA countries of Central and West Africa still depend on precolonial arrangements with France to manage their monetary policies, stealing the initiative fro...

We have been lying to ourselves that our leadership is the problem. No, it's not. The problem is with us, Kenyans. We are in fact the core of the problem. Why? We already know why. We refuse to take responsibility for ourselves, for our families, for our communities and for our nation. And so the country has gone to the dogs (the dogs are doing much better by the way). We want to change the world, we want to change our country, yet we cannot even change ourselves. And, therefore, we remain where we are. In fact, we are where we want to be. We cannot truly want one thing and get its opposite, the universe does not work like that. We love wallowing in our own filth, like pigs wallowing in a mire. And yet we complain about leadership or a lack thereof. We wait on a few people to do the work and lead us, but they are busy enriching themselves on our taxes. And no, the so called charity organizations are not in the work of charity, they are in business, just like everyone else. ...