From: People For Peace
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News
BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2012
Since the news made headlines that women in Kenya batter their husbands, it reminds me of what late Wahome Mutahi wrote long time ago. After Beijing, husbands are called “significant other.” That is also what you call your Thatcher.
;
A girl is no longer a girl but a “pre-woman”. You are likely to get a card from a woman who hangs along Koinange Street wearing a skirt the size of a thumb. You will no longer call her the woman of Koinange Street her business card will read: “Jane Dawn, Sex Care Provider.” She might add that she provides escort service. Hang on a minute before you call her a prostitute or a twilight girl.
The woman you are calling a prostitute will see Muite and Co. Advocates. She will sue you for calling her a prostitute. A car washer will do the same if you call him so. He is to be called a vehicle appearance specialist.
;
Please don’t forget to check whether the car radio is still there after he has cleaned the car, because his new name won’t stop him from wanting to walk away with what is not his.
If by any chance he has taken off with the car radio don’t call him a thief or he will sue you to the end of the world. He is no longer a thief but a personal property appropriation specialist.
If you happen to be of the kind called sugar daddy, that is, you have a habit of telling pre-women that you are likely to make them your survivors of domestic incarceration, your significant other, that is, your Thatcher, will not describe you as a dirty old man.
She will say that you are a “sexually focused chronologically gifted individual.” She will of course not be amused and will eventually go to court and sue for divorce. Magistrate Kidulla will not hesitate to order that you pay something called alimony, that is, real money for being divorced by your significant other.
;
This humorous story tells why some young and educated women today do not want to get married. Instead they would prefer to have a long-term boyfriend – for sex and for companionship. Many marriages today have ended in separation or divorce.
In Central Kenya there is a very strong consensus that alcohol use is the reason why wives batter their husbands. According to the survey by NACADA, alcohol consumption in the area is very high.
Although according to Part 2 of the Fourth Schedule of Kenya new Constitution, the functions and powers of the county government cover, among others, “cultural activities, public entertainment and public amenities, including video shows and hiring, county parks, beaches and recreational facilities and liquor licensing,” time for such entertainments are regulated so that men can have enough time with their wives at home.
The argument is that when the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act, better known as the Mututho Act, came into effect, it was intended mainly to protect families in Central Province where excessive alcohol consumption has resulted into many counties being unable to sire sufficient children.
A lobby that fights for the rights of male victims of domestic violence says its officials will camp in central Kenya for three months to help deal with piling cases of domestic abuse.
Maendeleo ya Wanaume chairman Nderitu Njoka said his plate was full, trying to help battered men get legal redress to pull out of abusive marriages.
Nyoki like Hon John Mututho, who is also the MP for Naivasha says Central Kenya, is a target because is the worst place where women are in the habit of beating up their men. Women beat them because they can no longer cater for their families, provide food or take children to school-above all that they can no longer have sex with their wives.
The rising cases of single parenthood, where women are taking it upon themselves to raise children by themselves, and the piling divorce cases are testimony to the sad state of affairs in the province, according to Mr Njoka.
In November 2010, President Kibaki also lobbied campaign to curb alcoholism among males, particularly in Central Province. Since then, even with Mututho law men are still drinking excessively.
Like Mututho and maendeleo ya Wanaume, Kibaki’s concern was that if alcohol consumption is not regulated then the fertility rates in Central Province will continue dropping dramatically because alcoholism among men has led to rising impotence.
Despite the fact that women in the province have staged protest marches in recent months to stop brewers from selling their toxic wares to their husbands, this has not changed the trend either.
Instead, the problem has become so acute to the extent that a minister went as far as suggesting that men from other provinces should be shipped to Central Province to impregnate the women there.
One thing for sure cannot be denied, that battering husbands and alcoholism is not just a problem in Central Province, it is pervasive throughout the country. Only that media has been paying attention to the area than other provinces.
One of the reasons why men spend too much time consuming alcohol is because Kenya is at crossroads. Many cannot cope with the rising cost of living. Unfortunately no measures have been put in place to check inflation in the country because our politicians do not have good will to do so.
Prices of basic commodities like Unga (maize flour), Sugar are unaffordable, paraffin, among others have gone up by almost over 35 per cent in the last few months. It means that life is unbearable for majority of Kenyans.
Kenya is currently under pressure to adopt an inflation management system favoured by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Inflation-targeting entails publicly pronouncing a goal that all government units set out to achieve — including importing adequate quantities of food and stockpiling fuel reserves — to mitigate impact of adverse changes in prices. Uganda has already adopted.
In the latest IMF agreements with authorities, the government reportedly promised to gradually move towards the inflation targeting method although no firm dates are stated. Kenya is using an inflation management method, which does not strictly adhere to any particular target.
Uganda adopted it probably because it experienced high inflation rates exceeding 30 per cent towards the end of last year but has since managed to bring this down as its central bank adopted a tight monetary policy stance.
Uganda came under pressure to use the inflation targeting method because its inflation rate was rising faster than in any of the other countries in the region.
A number of countries in Africa including Ghana and South Africa have adopted the method, which is favoured by the multilateral lender as a way to reduce volatility on increase in prices in the past decade or so. South Africa adopted it in 2000 while Ghana did so in 2007.
South Africa appears to have been successful so far in sticking to its target. Headline inflation stood at 6.1 per cent in December, close to the three to six per cent target set by the government. The slight deviation from the target is the first one in two years.
Last year, Ghana’s inflation stood at 8.8 from 10.7 per cent in the previous year, higher than its long-run target of five per cent. Since 2007 when it adopted the method, it has not hit the target on an annual basis, raising queries of its usefulness.
People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya
Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail- ppa@africaonline.co.ke
omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org