Elections for Local Government Heads

On the 22nd of February, the Minister for Local Government, Uhuru Kenyatta, declined to gazette Ms. Esther Passaris as a duly nominated Councillor for the ODM. The decision has led to a furore, and worse.

The crisis in Nairobi, which along with Nakuru have failed to agree on a head of their local government authorities pits the Local Government Minister against the interests of sections of the councillors and the national political parties.

Discussion in an open thread here.

Smoking ban more than welcome

Dan Teng'o on the smoking ban in Nairobi, Mombasa and Nakuru.

"Life is short. And smoking shortens it even further, by a decade, according to a report released by the World Health Organisation in 2004 after a 50-year study.

The Nakuru, Mombasa and Nairobi councils are on the right path. Other councils should follow their lead and ban smoking in public places. It will keep our environment clean and save lives ."

Read more here.

Religio Illicita

Annette Keino on what she she calls, "Protestantism in Kenya and particularly the new kind of charismatic kind." Writing on a prayer rally in Nakuru she is amazed at the "translation" of the Bible.

you have your fair and regular offering of moralistic rants, against alcohol, and western television, against gays and so on, but fairly little about the Kenyan poor, or about the suffering millions. Our religion, in stark contrast to the exhortations of the Christ, is more obsessed with what is clean and unclean than even before the Messianic Covenant was sealed.

Read more here.

No smoking; Nakuru leads the way

Nakuru recently became the frst town in Kenya to outlaw smoking in public places. This trend which has caught on in other parts of the world is considered by some an infringement of personal rights. What do you think?