WONDERFUL WOMAN

You are the essence of existence,
Without you, there is no patience or existence,
Created as a masterpiece, you are a marvel of nature,
Without you there can be no man.

You are wonderfully sculpted,
Your curvy physique, the embodiment of lustre,
Illustriously gifted, you lure man,
Your allure spellbinding.

You are breath taking, men brake at your sight,
With eyes, icy testosterone you break,
Seeing through the specious deviousness,
With confidence you devise.

With you, a man is more special,
Without you, most are empty species,
With you, creativity ensues,
With your love , peace ensues.

Delicate and delectable, like a fresh flower,
In the morning dew, you dazzle,
Dizzy, do you leave most,
With your scent, fresh as an aromatic perfume.

You are the rock upon which hope is built,
Though at times pained,
You pen the story of man.
Whenever there are pangs, your plans subsist.

As a mother, you nurture man and child,
Without you, this world, a man's,
would be nothing,
With you, darkness turns into sunlight.

Exquisite, emotional, sensational, sensual,
With empathy, you carry on,
When rest beckons,
You reckon, being all that, you can move on.

In a man's world, you are a joy,
Without you, the world would be a ploy,
With you, the world is a rock,
Without you, it would be a wreck,

Woman, quintessentially sultry,
The salacious are sundry,
Without you, there would be a void.
Woman, you are the essence of existence!

I dedicate this to all the women. I support the cause of women empowerment in all its forms!

WOMEN CAN AND SHOULD DO BETTER

Sometimes I read and observe women lament about the unfair treatment that society and especially men mete out to them with a snigger and utter disdain with what I would allege to be good reason.
Women as a percentage outnumber men. This translates into first and foremost votes should we choose to look at electoral office. If women were to take the mantle and elect their own, this would mean that all over the world we would not need positive discrimination to empower women as If they are a marginalised group. We would in essence have more Angela Merkels, Gloria Aroyos and Imelda Marcoses. In fact this would in effect curtail these testosterone fueled wars that we have on this earth.  The problem  seems to be the apathy with which they regard their very own sisters.
Women seem hell bent on sabotaging each other rather than elevating each to higher echelons of society be it in business or other sectors of society. With more of them in political office, they would then enact laws that ensure more of them take up leadership positions not just by virtue of greater numbers but their ability to lead which needless to say is no less than men's.
Feminism has in a way become too militant and deviated from empowerment and sort of devolved into antagonistic madness which at times has targeted their very own, instead of uplifting them. Women should empower each other to be greater rather than be lectured to by those who have achieved certain status in society which come with higher financial rewards and respect from across the board but negated by lack of a grand plan to positively influence the cause of women leadership.
Women in the UK for instance are routinely paid less than their male counterparts in the same roles. The issue has festered for generations and no solutions have been forthcoming, albeit mooted. There are advances promulgated towards ending this malpractice but we are yet to reach that nirvana of equal pay.
From time immemorial we have had strong women, the likes of Nefertiti and others who charted the course of society and history in general by their mercurial leadership and oratory. Women can and should emulate these and others who were able to lead patriarchal societies. There are numerous excuses for inability and lack thereof of leaders female. Not many stand out as reason, when exhaustively examined. The root cause can be easily subverted If their course can be changed to that of valuing each other , rather than taking on their usual cat like tendencies and clawing at those deemed capable and instead supporting them to purvey this cause which to me is a misnomer and seems like inverted snobbery in terms of sex.(The lack of aforesaid).
Looking at Kenya there are very few women in positions of power who can influence society. It's great to see some who can doing their best to empower the girl child. With more of these new generation trickling through institutions of higher learning and empowered to dream I see a day when there will be more of these ladies occupying their rightful place in leadership. This in so many ways will create a more amicable and peaceful world. Due to the nurturing nature of women this will simply purvey into greater social discourse and a better world for us all.
It's my humble submission that should women believe and be daring enough, without instigating negative and demeaning attitudes towards each other, they would  easily eclipse men to positions of power in whatever sphere of life they choose. It's not up to men to help women curtail themselves of this vicissitude to achieve  this lofty ambition. Women can and should be able to map out a golden path to attaining this that I could call a special project which I passionately believe in.  With a bit of sisterly love, cooperation, careful coordination and strategic planning this is quite attainable once the negative attitudes and stereotypes have been alleviated and ameliorated as should be the case.

I dedicate this article to all those aspiring ladies who think they have it and are willing to get to the apex of life while uplifting each other by being upstanding members of their societies wherever they may be.

LETTER TO MY MOTHER

Love is the most wonderful of virtues! To be loved or love is like Utopian reality. Every man thinks his mother is the best. Real or imagined, mothers form the greatest link to what a man becomes in life, just as a father is likely to positively influence his daughter.
This I say, for in part I read -She's the incarnation of nature, that which is within us which can not be without, for it stays with us from the commencement of life to the time we go back to whither we came! There is an African proverb that states that a man who has never eaten food apart from that cooked by his mother, thinks she is the best cook! ha ha ha, fathom that!
The ululations upon which I can heap on my very own are extensive, exhaustive and rather sentimental, but then again I am just a man. Lucky are those of us who have been around the block long enough to know that we hold our own in stratospheric regard yet they could be the worst of parents. A mother's love supersedes every other. More so If it's pure, but then again is there any mothers without a pure love for their children?
As this is personal yet dedicated to the one I loved albeit absent to read this or be told of it, her love shall forever burn within me. It shall and remains the greatest weapon she bequeathed me,to fight for what I believe in, and against the ills of society; wherever that society might be. She taught me to love myself first and foremost. It's that red ember that lights up my path everyday even when amber comes on. For If I fail in everything else,love keeps me trudging on like a rock hurtling downhill! Love is unstoppable, can't be hidden, it flummoxes, it's a challenge, it's a mirage, a figment of the imagination.
Yet after all has been said and done, it's the only virtue that allows others to flourish It's through the streams of love that peace can be ploughed and irrigated. Love knows no boundaries, no borders, no rules, it just exists. It's Godly, it's everywhere. When all else fails, love takes over, It's the El Capitan of all things necessary and positive. For love we fight, for it we save life, It's only in love as in dreams that everything is possible. Even though we are inherently evil, love can delete that file of cruelty.
Mine was loved by her society. She was intelligent, affable, caring, responsible but most imperative, she gave back to society more than that society ever accorded her. She got what she deserved, respect and honour for being an outstanding and upstanding member of her community. It's that forthrightness and her willingness to follow the common diktats of decency, decorum, and doing for others what you wish upon thyself that I hope to emulate.
Each and everyday I appreciate and love the lessons. I remember with nostalgia, the one rather favourite lesson. It goes thus-If you didn't want to do it you should not have. That always followed on tasks completed in mediocrity of which normally riled her set high standards. She introduced to me the concept of guilt. That you are guilty until charged as being guilty. I say that in jest, she had no cruel bone in her physiology.
I would go on forever about my mother! It would make little sense and as I do detest to bore with long missives without the adequate epithets.
 Let me sign off by saying to all those who will read this, whose mothers are still around, TREAT THEM RIGHT. LOOK AFTER THEM IN OLD AGE( OR ONCE YOU ARE EARNING EVEN IF SHE STILL EARNS TOO). THEY ARE DIAMONDS,ALREADY REFINED. MOST IMPORTANTLY LOVE THEM BACK BY DOING RIGHT BY THEM.

I would like to dedicate this message to all mothers for this forthcoming Mother's day! And those who would like to be! Be the diamond that this world needs, Light it up, Teach it whether it reciprocates or not should never be the issue. GOD BLESS ALL MOTHERS AN WOMEN IN GENERAL AS EVERY WOMAN IS A POTENTIAL MOTHER NATURE CONCURRING! 

A POLITICAL LESSON FOR AFRICA BY TANZANIA.

The scene is set. Two warriors! One a former Prime Minister, Lowassa. The other, Magufuli, fondly referred to as "The Bulldozer" for his insatiable appetite to tarmac roads across the vast land that is Tanzania. The ruling CCM's favoured son. Both, true believers in their cause, but does not every politician believe that they are the Messenger? The Chosen One? "The people have asked me to run". Very funny in deed if it was not deadly serious. What can the rest of Africa learn from Tanzania? Quite a lot! They hold their general elections with a remarkable level of peace. There may be discord but that is politics for you! They are a calm people. What is it that makes Tanzanians more capable of propagating the cause of democracy by peaceful purvey?. The answer is simple. They are the progenitors of non-tribal politics. They will bicker and blubber about anything and everything . Dire electricity supply, poor roads in Dar es Salaam, the capital etc. The one thing they will not do is slaughter each other. Examined critically, there's a realisation that this is rooted in history. The founding President Dr. Julius Kabarage Nyerere sowed the seeds of unity through Socialism. I am not necessarily advocating for Socialism, it's in the past. What is evident is that in the advent of the political push for independence, Tanzanians under his stewardship did not take up division as a means to an end.(Neither do I mean that other countries took it as a choice). The country has more than 120 tribes compared to a paltry 43 in Kenya and 56 in Uganda. Yet to all intents and purposes, peace has been hard-wired into their system. Most of Sub-Saharan Africa, The North, West and South should endeavour to emulate this wonderful blueprint.(Some notable exclusions are Botswana, Ghana and Mauritius, just to name but a few).Tribalism creates dire consequences. It creates failed or failing societal systems and thereby whole governments. Tribalism propagates distrust, appropriation with intent to deny, poor allocation and mismanagement of resources as well as proffering dockets to incompetent persons. Africa as a continent has been quite lackadaisical when it comes to development. Challenged, definitely not. The challenges fester from within. There's a lack of the necessary goodwill. The people are divided. Part of it might be rooted in the past, but and this is a big but, How come Tanzania does not froth in that sea of depravity? I can understand that colonialism might form part of the basis for the argument. That would only bring the case of divide and rule, which of course I cannot deny. T In a rebuttal of the above, I will state with conviction that, time would and should have been the essence of the healing process from the ills of the past. Africa has had enough time to rise from the burning embers of a past, poor. This cannot form the basis of a tangible reason,it is merely an excuse.The discrepancy which in a way forms a contradiction of sorts, is that the other democracies mentioned above underwent same or similar colonial leadership. Having liberated a people from chains, the continent should have emulated the masters at the genesis of freedom. It's sad and rather unfortunate that tribalism alone forms the basis of poor leadership. It creates cronyism (apart from tribalism there are other factors that can form cronyism and it foments sycophancy). Africa could do well to emulate Tanzania! I would like to take this opportunity to commiserate with Hon. Lowassa but ultimately ululate with the President Hon. Magufuli. May you continue to be that speck that East Africa and the rest of the continent can look upon. May you always be that oasis of peace as a progenitor, in this, a desert of TRIBALISM. As an update to this article, the president fired the head of Muimbili Hospital which is state run and was facing poor management, he cancelled luxury first class travel for government officials and generally hit the ground running. He epitomises what a good leader should be. The writer has decided to make this brief as it's rather painful to continue. WE WAIL FOR AFRICA. THERE IS STILL HOPE. ALL IS NOT LOST. GO MAGUFULI GO, GO TANZANIA GO! GOD BLESS TANZANIA, GOD BLESS AFRICA!

THE STATE OF MENTAL HEALTH IN ENGLAND. It’s unfortunate, rather sad and absurd, that the mental health department is in disarray, depleted. In intensive care. Starved of resources, this once able and available service lies on shredded black sheets of despair. From the loss of beds, consolidation of services with the inevitability of proximity negation to patients: the service is tattered, uncouth, uncaring and uncoordinated. The little that is left of the system is in dire need of restructuring, funding and general directional change from the Department of Health. The inequities and vagaries that abound leave a lot to be desired. Even emergency care never emerges. The prevalence of poor medical care, an uncompromising, physically usurping and draining system, decrepit and assumptive medical diagnosis, oh the afflictions of the system are numerous! From the ill-conceived cuts, too late and poor intervention the complaints are endless! The severity of the secession is creating a system where other ills of society that can at times be associated with mental health are thriving. One noteworthy instance is shoplifting or other petty crime in order to buy drugs and /or food which is generally shunned when recreational substances are brought afore. This sometimes occurs as people afflicted with mental health could at times face a dual diagnosis of alcoholism or drug misuse. These problems are generally compounded by a most lax system that is unaware of what has put it in intensive care in the first place and even if it does, shows little sign of a willingness to ameliorate. The situation, to a professional, is dire beyond comprehension. The professional can understand what afflicts the system but for mere service users it impossible to fathom why it would be so difficult to get a service for which the general populace pay taxes. The worst fallacy which has been perpetuated and constantly watered to mature propagation is the myth that people with mental health issues are violent. It’s unfortunate that in this day and age in a rich first world country mental health is so misunderstood. The stigma is so severe that there is no serenity for one is shunned by family at the onset of any outbreak or a recurrence of a condition if such is organic. The fear by an ignorant society of one committing violent acts creates an atmosphere that is not conducive to the public good of communities in general. People walk around pointing fingers, raising eyebrows, talking in hushed tones and more often than not making indirect and mostly snide remarks. “That is the madman” “He is calm”, “He is drunk”. It is rather obvious imbibing alcoholic drinks or smoking stimulants can trigger a certain level of psychotic states but this is so relative in nature and is dependent upon each individual. It is exceptionally lonely for anyone with mental health issues. First and foremost you are shunned by a system that has little comprehension of mental health and then family and friends. The writer can understand if the reader can’t fathom how real this could be. And ye; it is as real as life and death. What makes it more miserable is the historic nature of the racial connotations involved. The perception that black people as more difficult to handle is a case in point. This has and continues discourage most to shun the services in the knowledge that history will repeat itself and they will be treated disdainfully. The past treatment typically involved unnecessary sectioning which only resulted in a community which felt greater antagonism from the system rather than care and compassion and understanding which were initially sought. With the advent of successive governments things have continued to wallow into the depraved state we have today. The labour government was not as hell-bent on committing the same mistakes. The current government guided by an ideology of cuts to all departments has led to the stream skinning rather than lining of services with the mediocrity and alacrity deserving of wanton abandonment and abolition only in comparison to slavery. Services have been redacted, increasing travelling journey times due to the proximity. This has created a permutation where those who find it more difficult to travel for whatever reason including inaccessible welfare benefits still have to. Insulted and injured, most services are so phased that without charities playing a leading role this dented desolate situation would only have become worse. The NHS Mental health section needs a complete and utter realignment if the own goals are to be picked from the nets. For the net has been woven too tight and thrown too deep and the fishes can no longer swim. A system that is keen to antagonise seekers of service. A system that endeavours not to protect but to detect. Without having a clear and definite end goal in the treatment of those afflicted. Community treatment has been mooted but that seems like a way of secluding the patients with all the freedom to roam and do nothing. Society can’t take care of its own by throwing them in places where there are no services except skeletal or caricature like services. The community is then tasked with policing the “mad”. What stigmatisation! What antagonism of the ill. Some so grossly abject that it is utterly ridiculous. The system shows an alacrity and intent to entrap service users and ensure they are arrested so as to receive service by force even if the same is disproportionate. Beds- lack thereof. No admissions except to those thought to be dangerous to society. The psychos. That is how society calls them. There is still hope that this most unfortunate of situations shall be reversed so it can revert to the caring and coordinated one that it is well capable of. The Writer is a 2nd Year Psychology Student at University of East London @ Stratford.

WITCHCRAFT IN THE NAME OF RELIGION

Witchcraft has unfortunately found a place in a few churches that have sprouted out of nowhere. It seems so easy to register a church and start worshipping but seemingly all is not well in the name of the Father!
The evil is rapidly taking root in the UK(especially in London) where a minority of increasingly radical and fundamentalist elements of the Christian community are practising in secrecy.
The purpose is as perceived by the perpetrators of these grotesque and murderous activities is exorcism of evil spirits from the victims.
It's widely encouraged and condoned, in mostly deprived areas of North and South London. It must be stated that other parts of the capital are not alien to this debilitating scourge of brainwashing from pastors who use lies and manipulation to persecute and then torture and fatally wound their own congregation.
The sufferers are predominantly children below the age of 16. The practise is usually favoured by some immigrants of West African origin spearheaded by The Democratic Republic of Congo. There are others as well who are not averse to casting aspersions that create disharmony, are deterrent to religious and spiritual growth, are contrary to and obfuscate the teachings of the Holy Bible.
Today's pastor in most of these churches, is hell-bent on amassing wealth,womanising,confusing his flock, preaching about offering with a frequency that leaves a lot to be desired, and creating an atmosphere of pervasive fear of non-existent evil.
The church as it was known 2000 years ago is slowly but certainly disappearing. With the advent of a multitude of denominations, competition for worshipers is intense yet at the same time numbers of church going individuals have dwindled and continue to do so.
The origins of these ambassadors of evil can be attributed to deep seated and acknowledged practises of voodoo also known as juju passed down from generation to generation.
These churches do not seem to have a regulatory body that oversees them as they are independent and crop up just like wild mushrooms.
The abhorrent brainwashing that permeates every stratosphere of these mostly unregistered churches is terrifying and blood-cuddling to say the least. How they manage to convince sane people that their offspring(or those entrusted to their care) are possessed by evil and need to be exorcised is baffling.
The pastors are not malleable in thought, they lack a conscience and their invasive influence is encumbering on their congregation.
The various established churches need, as a matter of urgency, to act with protracted and unrelenting gusto to root out the rogue elements who are killing in the name of God, whose God-not my God!
The radicals are taking over and spreading the message of death using myopic articulations which are self-serving and hypocritical. Their diabolical discourse is what dissuades open minded non Church going Christians and people of no faith from seeking the comforts of the church. They subtly deny others the peaceful and unwavering love that God can procure to those who seek the true meaning of life and existence without the aversions of religious dogma.

It's utterly horrifying and absolutely terrible for parents and carers who are led astray by believing that their children are purveyors of evil.The state should investigate and pounce on these denominations and their adherents to save innocent people from harm.