KITCHEN TALK

Who is to blame for the Violence that rocked the country in 2007?

Bishop P. Mukangu
Members of Parlianment unanimously must vote to pay the ECK commissioners or risgn and go home. We can't have a government that does not respect the commissioners that witnessed the election. You are being dishonest and hypocritical to refuse to pay the ECK commissioners. If you think that you are clean you are deceived and dishonest. How can you use a long bridge to cross River Congo twenty six kilometers wide and then after you have reached the promised land you plan to destroy the same bridge
in total disregard that without it you could not be where you are? How can you condenm a cow of being contaminated without condenming the meat and the milk of the same cow unless you are ignorant or hypocritical? MPs should know that Kenya is no longer the same after forty six years of education and independence. People have studied political science and leadership while our leaders have burried their heads in the sand of ignorance and the seas of corruption. If God would exercise justice and play the video of your lives, more evil than good would be displayed on the screen of your lives sending you to hell in shame. It would be wrong for you to recieve any pay for self-righteous services. You should pay the ECK their dues immediately unless you want that money so you can increase your own salary at the expense of others. This is also another corruption case for which MPs will create a commission of inquiry to spend more of that money. Be honest be morally sound to pay ECK commissioners.
Who were the pioneers and the engineers of the negative and voluble statements that forced the people of the Rify Valley and Nyanza into volence, destruction, and death, way before the December election result was announced? How many times has Kenya witnessed violence every time we have elections unless you have forgotten?
Who promised Kenyans a flood meaning destruction of life and property, and disruption of the governance that we all have witnessed? Who appeared on the TV stations to champion the destructive change we have witnessed in this country? Who interfeered with the work of the ECK to the point where the commissioners were to be protected by the government forces in order to complete their work? Are the commissioners to blame for the work done under high pressure, distress and inappropriate environment created by the same beneficiaries of a highly corrupted election campaign? Who should be sent home packing, the politicians or the ECK and why?

Self-righteous Service of PM VS. True Service of the Chief Secretary Francis Muthaura.
If true service is to be understood and practised it must be distinguished clearly from "self-righteous service" that is going on today in our parliament and government. Self-righteous service comes through human effort. It expends immense amounts of energy calculated and scheming how to render the service in oder to demand appreciation and repute.
True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside. We serve out of whispered promptings, and divine urgings. Energy is expended but it is not the frantic energy of the flesh.
Self-righeous service is impressed with the "big deal" It is concerned to make impressive gains on ecclesiastic scoreboards. It is campaign style of deceptive service. It enjoys serving, especially when the service is titanic. True service finds it almost impossible to distinguish the small from the large service.
Self-righteous service requires external rewards from the electorate. It needs to know that people see and appreciate the effort. It seeks human applause with proper religious modesty of course. True service rests contented in hiddeness. It does not fear the lights and blare of attention, but it does not seek them either. Since it is living out of a new Center of Reference the divine nod of approval is sufficient.
Self-righeous service is highly commercialised, hence highly advertised through the media because it is concerned about results. It eagerly waits to see if the person served will reciprocate in kind. It becomes bitter when the results fall below expectations. True service is free of the need to calculate results. It delights only in the service. It can serve enemies as well as friends.
Self-righteous service picks and chooses whom to serve. Sometimes the high and powerful are served because that will insure a certain advantage. Sometimes the low and defenseless are served because that will ensure a humble image. This is the greatest weakness of the media in the world. True service is indiscriminate in its ministry. It has heard the command of Jesus to be the "servant of all" (Mk 9:35)
Self-righteous service is affected by the moods and whims. It can seve only when there is a "feeling" to serve. True service ministers simply and faithfully because there is need. It knows that the "feeling to serve " can often be a hindrance to true service. It refuses to allow the feeling to control the service, but rather the service controls the feeling.
Self-righteous service is temporary. It functions only while the specific acts of service are being performed. having served, it can rest easy. True service is a lifestyle. It acts from ingrained patterns of living. It springs sponteneous to meet human need.
Self-righteous service is without sensitivity. It insists on meeting the need even when to do so would be destructive. It demands the opportunity to help. True service can withhold the service as freely as perform it. It can listen with tenderness and patience before acting. It can serve by waiting in silence.
Self-righteous service fractures community. In the final analysis it centers in the glorification of the individual. Therefore it puts others into our debt and becomes one of the most subtle and desctructive forms of manipulation known. The result is the rupture of community. True service, on the other hand, builds community. It quietly and unpretentiously goes about caring for the needs of others. It puts noone under obligation to return the service. it draws, binds heals builds. The result is the unity of the community.
Question: Should we continue to pay members of Parlianment big salaries for campaigning for 2012? Is that the reason we voted them in 2007? Is it the highiest fraud and corruption practise that has gone unrevealed and unchallenged? Shouldn't they stop this self-righteous service which is nothing but campaign strategies to position themselves for 2012? They must get down to work like Muthaura or resign.