Dear Angaluki,
What you’re saying is very interesting and I appreciate your insight into this matter of selective application of the law. At the end of the day, it’s about the big money corporations pay local authorities to have their bill-boards erected. Too bad if it makes the environment ugly. In some countries bill-boards have been banned for this precise reason – they spoil the skyline and distract drivers.
Let’s hope one day someone will get round to scrapping outdated laws. But, equally important, the time has come for us all to start caring more about our environment. An integral part of the environment is Health and Safety. Has anyone noticed the “Adopt-a-light” ad on a lamp-post on Moi Avenue (near campus) that actually blocks the traffic lights? Our city fathers need to ensure safety, and aesthetics (who’s in charge of the Beautification Programme?) before letting people erect their billboards and publicity boards/lights etc.
Liz
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Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:14:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: ELIZABETH WACHIRA
Subject: Re: Is it really a crime?
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Hi Arnett,
There was no law that you broke by reading your novel in the matatu (I believe). But here is my take though regarding your incident with the law enforcer: I think he was making a pass on you but in a more intelligent and being modest about it too..Just a thought..
Good day
Odawa
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Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:13:07 +0300
From: larry odawa
Subject: RE: Is it really a crime?
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Well… some of these laws are very antique and outdated…sample this: In Nanyuki town, there is a by-law enacted in 1949 which bars female donkeys from the town following an indecent ‘kinky’ experience that informed the proponents of this law….tongue in cheek. You can read an excerpt from a Nation feature……
Simon Wachira
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Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:22:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: Simon Wachira
Subject: Fwd: Is it a crime? In Nanyuki, female donkeys are barred from Town….read
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Nanyuki stands across the Equator at the foot of the snow-capped Mt Kenya on the Great North Road. If you have the spirit for it, you could travel up this road to Ethiopia and further on to Egypt.
The town is also home to the rare sweet trout fish thriving in the crystal clear waters of the streams and rivers flowing down the mountain. It is the base for mountaineers challenging the imposing Mt Kenya and also serves as a railway terminus.
On market days donkeys – beasts of burden – move the farm produce from the surrounding farmlands. Three or two donkeys are usually harnessed to a single cart packed with sack-loads of grains, potatoes, beans and vegetables.
Nanyuki suffers from settler hangover. There is a by-law enacted in 1949 which bars female donkeys from the town. The town, and its not far-off neighbours of Rumuruti and Nyahururu, were important administrative centres in the White Highlands that also embraced semi-arid plains extending from the Nyeri Valley to the then Dorobo reserves of Samburu District.
The settlers had extensive ranches and wheat fields. They had a railway line with a terminus at Nanyuki to ferry their produce to Nairobi and Mombasa for export. “Natives” tilled the land and looked after the thousands of livestock on the ranches.
Any behaviour that was “indecent” to the memsahibs (white ladies) provoked reactions that led to extreme consequences. With this kind of puritanism, it was hardly surprising that the settlers decided to discipline the town’s donkeys for putting one memsahib in an embarrassing situation as the “natives” watched.
The memsahib was carrying her purchases from a shop to the car. In the vicinity, a female donkey was on heat and two males were attempting to mount her.
The white lady’s attention was drawn by the commotion. She stood petrified, watching the action. Then she collapsed – either from shock or excitement, or both. The matter reached the ears of the authorities and within days, a by-law was tabled before the civic council for deliberation.
The accusation against the donkeys was so overwhelming that the famous by-law of 1949 banning female donkeys in Nanyuki was passed unanimously. It is a by-law that current civic leaders strongly believe should continue in force. And the local residents agree.
Deputy Mayor James Wamai, a Nanyuki resident 37 years, remembers vividly an incident that took place in 1971. A trader had bought a female donkey and on his way home passed through Nanyuki where he stopped to have lunch. He tethered the donkey to a tree as he ate his lunch.
The poor fellow was unaware of the 1949 by-law. His donkey brayed, and since the beasts of burden have a strange way of talking to each other, the town’s 20 males heeded the female’s loud and clear call.
They galloped wildly, scaring people as they dragged the carts along. Some took short-cuts, pulling their carts over open drains and trenches. The carts overturned as the donkeys hurried on, freeing themselves as the harnesses tore off.
Wamai recalls: “The donkeys broke free and were chasing the female donkey through the town streets into the business premises. They caused so much chaos in the town that residents would not like to see a repeat of what happened. As long as there are no female donkeys in the town, the male ones will keep the peace.”
The long and the short of it is that three days later, the female donkey died. For the owner, the worst was yet to come. The authorities invoked the 1949 by-law and the owner of the animal was charged, found guilty and fined Sh500. As if that was not enough, he was ordered to bury the animal.
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Subject: RE: Is it really a crime?
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This is truly a sad situation. I have never bothered to check what gender the few donkeys I see in a village ahead of Nyeri High Scool and Kamwenja Teachers College (it is called Kihuyo and it is where I call shagz) are as they carry H2o from one farm to another. Scared cat that I am since I heard a tale of one mule bitting a male due to excessive aggresssion (thrashings) from the man!!!!
*This is discrimination, the males should be castrated….*
This tale equals the directive in Limuru last year to have donkeys put on nappies!!! These *kanjuras* are just too idle….
Am laughing as I picture the chaos in Nanyuki, Wananchi running from mules chasing one feline all over the one lane that is the town!!!
heeheehhhhaaaa…..
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Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:16:18 +0300
From: Arnette Wambaire
Subject: Re: Is it a crime? In Nanyuki, female donkeys are barred from Town….read
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about the flag guys get arrested wee u must respect the sanctity of our flag symbol i mean without it there was no freedom ffrom the colonial yoke
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Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:47:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: john mbuthi
Subject: Re: Is it really a crime?
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Act of Parliament, 1670
Be it resolved that all women, of whatever age, rank, profession, or degree; whether virgin maids or widows; that shall after the passing of this Act, impose upon and betray into matrimony any of His Majesty’s male subjects, by scents, paints, cosmetics, washes, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high-heeled shoes, or bolstered hips, shall incur the penalty of the laws now in force against witchcraft, sorcery, and such like wrongdoing, and that the marriage, upon conviction, shall stand null and void.
Currently under British law, a Catholic explicitly cannot become Prime Minister. Thankfully women aren´t barred per se…..just Catholic women! Of course if a Catholic was every likely to be elected Prime Minister they would change the law in parliament but it just shows you how out of date the British system is on some issues.
Not long ago, Ireland had two articles in its Constitution which stated that Northern Ireland (part of the UK) was rightfully part of the Irish state. This obviously really annoyed the British Government and the then Prime Minister Ted Heath remarked to Irish Prime Minister Liam Cosgrave something along the lines of “We have to do something about this Constitution,” Cosgrave, not the wittiest of men normally, replied “I know, don´t worry, we´ll give you one.” Heath, the Prime Minister of the “Mother of all Parliaments” was not amused to say the least…..But it is crazy that the UK does not have a Constitution and the resulting power that rests in the hands of the Law Lords is ridiculous.
“And you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart”
Jeremiah 29:13
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Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:25:21 +0100 (BST)
From: Enricah
Subject: British Parliamentary Laws – Archaic???
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http://www.kenyalaw.org/eKLR/
The Bench Bulletin – January 2008, NCLR
KLR to publish Election petition Law Reports – Kenya Law Reports is preparing a special series of law reports covering substantive and procedural issues of the law governing election petitions. The inaugural edition of the Election Petition Law Reports is scheduled to be released early this year.
. . .
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Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:31:28 +0300
From: william mwangi
Subject: Re: Is it really a crime?