Major General

So yesterday I was having a random conversation with a Luhya guy and what he told me genuinely shocked me. He said whenever he goes to visit his parents back home, he NEVER drives his car directly there. Never. Instead, he parks the car in a nearby town… then boards a matatu or a boda boda kwenda home quietly like an undercover agent 😭 At first I thought the guy was joking. Then he looked me dead in the eye and told me: “Bro… witchcraft huko ni real. The moment people see you looking successful, driving vizuri, dressing vizuri… some neighbors start planning for your downfall immediately.” I laughed nervously waiting for the punchline lakini this man was dead serious. He started telling me stories of people who suddenly lost businesses, got strange illnesses, family drama appearing from nowhere immediately after “showing signs of making it.” Ati mwingine alikuwa anaenda ushago akiwa na Prado. Within months biashara ikaanguka vibaya mpaka akauza gari . Another guy apparently built a beautiful home and suddenly everyone in the village started “monitoring him spiritually” . Now I don’t know whether this is facts, fear, coincidence ama pure village politics… but the way this guy explained it had me mesmerized the entire night . Meanwhile huku Central nobody even cares. You can literally land with a helicopter, park three Range Rovers outside the gate, build a castle in the village and people will just ask, “Ni ya diesel ama petrol?” then continue with their lives 😭 People from that region… how true is this stuff? Because I genuinely thought witchcraft stories were just African movie scripts until yesterday 😳 Anyway. No Weapons Fashioned against you shall prosper and every tongue that rises against you in judgement you shall condemn.

Leo fare to and from kinoo to westie imekua 200 whole bob. Mwananchi anaumia.

Matatu ziko but fare ni 200/300 to town. Donda wanalipisha vile wanataka

Corporate with have you join a meeting to discuss and plan about another meeting, and that’s not including the number of buzzwords you will hear the entire time anga circle back, rope me in etc. it’s not for the faint hearted fr.

OPEN LETTER TO H.E. HON JAMES ORENGO, SC, GOVERNOR, SIAYA COUNTY Dear Governor Orengo (My Father), RE: REFLECTION, DIGNITY, AND THE PLACE OF WOMEN IN OUR PUBLIC LIFE I write this letter in my personal capacity, not as Governor of Homa Bay County, nor as Chairperson of the ODM Party, but simply as Gladys: daughter, mother, wife, and a woman who, like many others, continues to navigate leadership in spaces that often demand strength while offering little grace. For many years, these spaces were occupied by men, and only courageous women dared to break through. I have reflected deeply on the remarks you recently made concerning me. I chose silence at first, because I have always believed that not every disagreement demands public contest, and not every hurt should invite a public response. Yet some moments require reflection, not because of the individuals involved, but because of what they represent. I have always held you in immense respect. To many of us who entered public life after your generation, you have represented courage, conviction, and the possibility of principled leadership. Many young politicians look up to you for motivation and inspiration. You have been around for a long time, and I have personally regarded you with the esteem one reserves for an elder and, in many ways, with the affection and deference one would extend to a father figure. Indeed, listening to your remarks and the manner in which they were received left me wondering how I would have felt hearing the same words from my own late father - whom I saw for only a few years - and from respected men of his generation like you, to whom I had looked for guidance and direction. That is perhaps why they hurt. Not because political criticism is unfamiliar to me, nor because public office exempts one from scrutiny, but because certain expressions carry weight beyond politics. They say politics is a dirty game, but I did not expect it to become dirtier through your utterances. Words spoken by respected leaders shape culture, reinforce attitudes, and determine what society permits. When remarks directed at a woman carry undertones that diminish, ridicule, or reduce her because of her gender, age, or place in public life, they travel far beyond their immediate target. They become an echo familiar to millions of women and girls who have endured various forms of gender-based violence, exclusion, intimidation, and dismissal in workplaces, homes, and public spaces. They run through the vertebrae like lightning striking a tree. Many women are told to speak more softly, lead smaller, occupy less space, or defer - not because they are wrong, but because they are women. Many endure insults that men in equivalent positions would never face. It is this reality that made your remarks painful - not merely as an affront to me, but because they inadvertently validated a burden many women continue to carry quietly. I do not write this to seek an apology through public pressure, nor to invite sympathy for myself. I write in the hope that moments such as these can remind us all - especially those of us privileged to be in leadership, and particularly in spaces where, traditionally, women were only supposed to be seen and not heard- that strength and dignity are never diminished by kindness, and that authority need not come at the expense of another’s humanity. Governor, despite the distress and untold discomfort this episode has caused me and those close to me, I do not wish to engage you in prolonged exchanges over this matter. I consider you my senior, a respected elder, and someone whose contributions to public life deserve honour and respect. I therefore choose forgiveness. I was humbled just as I was humiliated. More importantly, I choose to leave the door open for engagement, dialogue, and collaboration on matters that uplift our people and propel our community forward. After all, God gave us the responsibility to make our community better & more respectable.

Who are Nairobians going for in 2027?