Mfalme Mwema

Many movies that are set in historical points have the singular challenge of getting all the factual details right. This is never easy. The 1985 adventure film King Solomon Mines was a fantastic but horrible little tale full of anachronisms and replete with inaccuracies.   Based on the book of the same name by Sir H. Rider Haggard , the book created the genre known as lost world . I remember reading this book in the eighties and being fascinated with the adventures in dangerous lands full of cannibals, witches, powerful African kings, and priceless wealth that was only rumored about. (It helped dehumanize Africans making the colonists perceive us as subhuman, an idea that still persists to this very day.) So what is that thing, anachronism? Anachronism is a literal device placing someone or something out of its proper time period. It comes from a compound Greek word meaning ‘against time’ to show events, places or things that are out of their time. This technique is sometimes use...

The Christmas holidays were coming soon.  Kayamba could not hide his excitement. This would be the first time that eight-year-old Kayamba and his two siblings would be traveling upcountry to see his grandparents. The night before the trip, his parents bought him a children’s digital watch for Christmas. They told the children to sleep early since they would be travelling at six in the morning.  Kayamba couldn’t sleep. He kept checking his watch.  He didn’t want to be left behind. At six the next morning, Kayamba’s parents and his siblings picked up their luggage for the fun trip ahead. The sun was just rising when they got to the bus station. The five of them got into a new colorful bus. It looked smart in the inside and felt very comfortable.  There was some fot music playing from the new speakers above. Kayamba’s family occupied three seats. Their parents had a seat each while Kayamba and his two siblings shared one seat. Although they were squeezed, the children d...

The last few days have stirred up deep pride in the Church of Jesus Christ in Kenya and Africa at large.  Last week,  several church leaders in Nyanza openly called MP's and local politicians, hypocrites. The ecclesiastical leaders charged that the political leaders were doing little to help people get out of poverty.  They added that these politicians were only interested in political  succession battles.  As was expected,  the politicians from ODM,  the powerhouse in the region came out fighting. Characteristically,  they lashed out at the church leaders almost questioning their moral  credentials. Yesterday,  Evangelical Alliance of Kenya and other Christian religious organizations united in the call for them to be included in the 'handshake'.  They argue that they represent a critical segment of society. As expected,  the backlash was severe.  The constant criticism was on 'tithe eating',  'offering loving', '...

Christianity in Kenya is a daily reality, as seen through this street art.  'Re-situating reason as the foundation of our society and engine of its aspirations must now be an urgent task of our activism' the author emphatically sums up this opprobrium against the church. Yet the author (and the paper) have colluded to ignorantly launch barbs at Christianity. In summary, this piece tries to explain why religion (yet the author has the church specifically in his mind) and its growing role in Kenyan politics is a retrogressive idea. His idea is that reason and religion (church) can never co-exist. He goes further on a historical fishing (mis)adventure in shallow historical waters. His intention is to prove his personal notions by trying to get history to align with his fantastic ideas. Let me quote a few of his blunt sayings. 'Human beings need spiritual fulfilment. But when religion becomes a substitute for strategic action to solve our problems, then our society is...

We began building the concept of Christian Political theology. This concept is important because it lays the foundation for born again Christians to fully engage in politics at all levels of governance. (The assumption is that Christians still are afraid in embracing politics as part of our God given divine mandate on earth. I believe this is a hangover of 'this is not our home, we are just passing by, have nothing to do with it' philosophy, which has effectively been debunked.) We dealt with the concept of God as the source of our political opinions and man as the object of these opinions. We did say that the welfare of man and his environment is the object of this theology. Let us go further into the concept of man and delineate the genders. It is evident we have a lot of work to do to bring in the woman fully into the political life of Kenya. Last week, Kenya got three women governors. This was a great step forward. We would like to see a situation where women engage ...

I woke up this morning to the whole street freshly plastered with a candidates campaign posters. Most are red and the road looks like a sea. (Was this the parable spoken before by the fathers?) These guys were obviously illegally busy last night. Dirty tricks! Anyway, today is the beginning of the next four weeks. My wife  Gakii Njeru  made me a sumptuous breakfast of 2 sausages, bacon, bread and 2 cups of tea - 6 pieces.  😋 I battled the chill and was surprisingly welcomed to seemingly empty school. In 2013, the male and female lines spilled over in different directions into the estate for several kilometers. Not this time. I checked my voting details and as usual, station 1. This can be really slow.  There will never lack drama especially when you are in the same line for four hours. The usual mumbling about the slow movement. (Someone will not get my vote. I cannot ng'ang'ana for four hours then vote for just some uncouth fellow who feels it his/her right to be...

If you live in Nairobi, then you know that matatus are the most important mode of transport. However, they are not the best form since matatus are unregulated and undisciplined. Matatus are always in a rush, breaking traffic laws and increasing fares whenever it rains. Therefore, it takes courage to travel in matatus and especially if you are a lady. Many times, getting into or alighting from matatus requires extensive acrobatic skills so as to avoid injury. Precise calculation is required for this simple feat. Since most matatus are still in motion although passengers are disembarking, it is important for ladies to know how to alight from moving matatus. Firstly, early in the morning after getting dressed, take stock of your life. A simple fall could cost you your life. Matatus are notorious for going beyond your stage; they may suffer from an undiagnosed form of recurring temporary deafness. In order to stop them, your skills must include the ability to shout at the top of yo...

"Jesus spent more time teaching on money than on heaven and hell combined" Apostle Geoffrey  Kiriungi, Jesus Wave International Breakthrough in money will cause an overcoming of 70% of demons.  To be able to justify this claim, let us as first look at doctrinal concepts - the concept of abundance.  You cannot rise higher than your faith. Your faith cannot go higher than knowledge because faith comes by knowledge. Romans 10:17 'So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.' Prosperity is provided in the redemptive work of God as one of the seven blessings of salvation. Genesis 22:8 'And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.' Provision is part of the redemptive work of God. 2Corinthians 8:9 'For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be ...