Last year’s (2019) International Conference on Population and Development in Nairobi adjourned with a rather bitter taste. The ICPD is a quadranscentennial conference that seeks to create awareness among United Nations on sustainable development through population control. This time too, Kenyans were treated to a mellifluous dissenting rendition by church leaders and graft gurus. Family planning, access to modern contraceptives, birth control, teenage pregnancy, abortion rights, comprehensive sex education being the bond of contention. Adamant that traditional values and religious beliefs were indispensable, country leaders made it clear that Kenya is a God fearing country and immorality would never be its portion. Fast forward in August 2020, same Kenyans are still bewildered by the rise in teenage pregnancies to herculean proportions. The Reproductive Healthcare bill is least likely to see the light of day given the depth of our “puritanism”.

Now here’s the bitter reality of our times and lives. As a country in motion, the Kenyan dream thrives in poverty and inequality. More economic disenfranchisement from the already socially marginalized is the fuel that propels our national engine. With nothing to inherit, most folks grew up poor or weren’t just privileged and so got to spend more time, work a little bit harder to create their own wealth.  Incidentally, resources are scarce and skewed yet we all aspire for a happy life. Financial stability, personal freedom, yearly vacations, with lots of gifts and goodies for parents, nieces and in laws. On the flipside, most youthfuls would admit they literally work to pay bills and sustain their breath which is good enough in this handshake economy. Long term plans, savings, investments, life insurance remain a pipe dream in a slumber we are yet to awaken. Suffice it to say, a turn up of your Paddy Irish Whisky or Kensington Gin chased with tonic water creates an effective panacea to momentarily forget how deplorable reality can be.  

So my good readers, this means that any addition of responsibility in terms of mouths to feed, decent education and proper healthcare is indeed a threat to our stability. Those who pay bills understand how grimly a wretched economy compounds it all. While appreciating that people are different and so would their priorities and ambitions, some facts are too conspicuous to be ignored. Well here’s the gist of all these dear folks. Kids in view of the above context, pose the greatest threat to any form of prosperity especially to youngsters. Ideally they are a blessing, a bundle of joy per se but hey this world ain’t that ideal.  Aside from elusive financial stability, there’s need for greater emotional and mental growth people better annex before crossing lanes to parenthood.

Oh I should have mentioned earlier that this piece is a direct message to young graduates with zero connections wallowing in uncertainty as they try to find a foothold in this turbulent economy. Because you are literally fighting battles your parents never won for you. In addition to simmering unmet ambitions, everyone has some social responsibility they feel beholden to in a way. And so with all the rat race for money and opportunities, siring kids should be nowhere close to a hustler’s priorities’. Mark you kids no nothing about financial planning and budgeting, savings for later consumption nor a sporadic VAT. They always want want and want. From toys, daily diapers, Netflix, clads, nanny to Cerelac attention and affection. Realize that satisfying all these requires spending chums which means that you must first be in a position to earn good enough for yourself before you contemplate making babies.    

Eventually when all is said and done it remains a question of what comes first, financial stability versus parental responsibility. From where I sit with what I know, I attest money can flatten mountains, an enabler of other bounties of fortunes and should feature in the top list of any rational young mind. This notwithstanding, if you are palace baby fed by a silver spoon and heir to an invincible dynasty, feel lucky enough to multiply and fill the earth at 21. After all the scripture affirms so.

For now lemme pen off with the noble words of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o that the children of the rich stagger because they are overfed whilst the children of the poor stagger because they are starved, so choose prudently why you would want your kids to stagger.

Meanwhile long live economic liberation, bodily autonomy and personal satisfaction.

PER OMNIA SAECULA SAECULORUM

In 1958, Chinese leaders launched the Great Leap Forward, a movement that aimed to boost the economy through large industrial and agricultural changes. One of the first campaigns to be launched in this initiative was the Four Pests Campaign. Leader Mao Zedong initiated the campaign after concluding that four pests — mosquitoes, flies, rats, and sparrows — were blighting crops and needed to be eliminated. Sparrows especially were blamed for their love of eating grain seeds.

With this conclusion, the population was called upon to kill these pests. Scarecrows and red flags were put up to frighten away the rats, while firing zones were set up for shooting sparrows.

People banged their gongs, drums, washbasins, and anything else that could make loud noises. The sparrows were forced to keep flying until they dropped dead from fatigue. However, after thousands of sparrows were killed, the crops started dwindling, rather than increasing. By 1960, scientists discovered that sparrows’ diets were composed of three-quarters insects, and only one-quarter grains. So Mao replaced the sparrow with bed bugs on the list of four pests in hopes of improving the situation. But it was too late.

Without sparrows around, locust populations multiplied and decimated the fields. Things became so dire that the Chinese government had to import sparrows from the Soviet Union to fight the plague. A caustic combination of locusts’ invasion, pesticide misuse, and deforestation led to the Great Chinese Famine, in which over 30 million people died of starvation.

Well, a number of times we waste our arrows shooting at wrong targets and by the time we realize it’s gotten too late. We spend substantial time and resources on symptoms and side shows even when the larger problem is right before our noses. Case in point scheming overnight on how to cheat exams for a difficult paper, living overboard to attract a moneyed partner or even bribing way into promotions and placements. From the aforementioned, it would be a brighter idea to put a little more efforts into study, work and personality.

Now straight to the point because you, my readers are esteemed men and women who know their trade so I won’t waste your precious time waxing eloquent about mosquitoes and bedbugs.  Being in the midst of a pandemic, it is fair to expect a bit of drag in everything and that’s fine. However it is ridiculous to blame all our deep rooted problems on a bat emanated flu from 0Wuhan. Seeing pot-bellied, graft-enriched and bootlicking cabinet puppets gallivant Afya and Harambee House lecturing Kenyans to acquire Covid permits for everything is as sickening as it is maddening. Like the four wrongfully targeted Chinese pests, our restaurants, churches and booze are merely scapegoats. Covid pandemic simply exposed the stale in our apples. Truth is poverty, inequality, social injustice and poor governance remain our greatest menace towards attaining any meaningful social-economic progress. These are the real underlying and pre-existing conditions with a higher rate of daily unannounced fatalities than Covid, TB and Al Shaabab attacks combined. A poor man is always exposed to savagely precarious conditions from squalid hygiene, cheap formalin laced liquor to blood thirsty killer cops. He is most likely to die from poverty and deprivation projected as kidney failure, heart attack, malnutrition and hypertension.

And so until when we make the hard tackles towards alleviating poverty, social injustice, inequality and poor governance, most Kenyans will remain perpetually disenfranchised. And succumb like the Chinese in 1958. The good thing is that corruption is best fought at the ballot. EACC, ODPP and the judiciary are nothing but a façade to abate the hegemony of political dynasty and elitism. That’s it for now until next time, have yourself a pest free August.

When I was in primary, we read a story about a hornbill and the problems he brought about to the entire forest. The noisy hornbill kept on quacking through the forest. The forest was indifferent to its tirade. One ladybird was however cautious and skeptic of the wanton indifference by the forest. It warned that the noisy hornbill would eventually cause trouble. Everyone simply minded his own skin until one day a hunter was lured by hornbill’s incessant noise. He immediately shot off the hornbill which fell off the tree onto the mushroom next the snail.  In the bud, all the animals including bush rope met their dead end only leaving a lonely ladybird.

In another epic allegory on the emergence and collapse of Soviet Communism George Orwell posits how gullible, loyal, and hardworking animals abate instances of oppression not only from the motives and tactics of the oppressors but also from the naïveté of the oppressed, who are not necessarily in a position to be better educated or informed.  Using Benjamin, an old grumpy donkey, he stereotypically demonstrates how the inability or unwillingness to question authority condemns the working class to suffer the full extent of the ruling class’s oppression.

Benjamin, the long-lived crotchety but intelligent donkey refused to feel inspired by the ideas of rebellion and windmills. Hence whilst many of the other animals worked harder after the animals took over the farm, he maintained the old way. Firmly believing that, life would remain unpleasant no matter who was in charge, that life is inherently hard thus any efforts to change will always be futile. Despite being smart to recall every detail of his long life, he reiterated that hunger, hardship, and disappointment would be the unalterable law of life. Of all of the animals in the farm, he alone comprehended the changes that took place, but was unwilling to oppose the pigs. His cynicism and apathy notwithstanding, when the men attacked the farm, Benjamin rushed to the front line to defend it. However, when it came down to the political debates between Snowball and Napoleon, Benjamin is the only animal who refused to choose a side. Generally speaking, Benjamin would complain about day-to-day life, but fail to link its woes to leadership. He stayed out of all political discussions, which kept him out of trouble. One of the novella’s most impressive accomplishments is its portrayal of the danger of a lethargic citizenry in propagating tyranny among its rulers.

With this I came to a conclusion that one of the most life threatening perils to human kind today is indifference. Even more than hatred, indifference elicits no response and neither is it a response. Conversely it is the complete opposite of social commitment. A person becomes indifferent to another because the feeling of responsibility and respect towards humanity doesn’t mean anything to him anymore. Indifference is something that hurts those who are already suffering pain, as it is a lack of recognition to their humanity, and therefore, dignity.

And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor — never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. Stupefying maternal mortalities in Wajir, teenage pregnancies in Kibera, the educated but jobless, famished plantation workers of Karuturi, the starving Marsabit kids, the homeless evictees with court orders  — not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity, we betray our own.

Of course, indifference can be tempting – more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from the excruciating police brutality, to shrug off as BBI is stuffed down our gut, healthcare and agriculture are undrefunded in budgetary appropriations and CBC is wambling kids into dimwits. It is also much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, to sneer at conversion of Nairobi County into an army barracks. It is after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person’s pain and despair. Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest. Indifference reduces the afflicted to an abstraction.

Perhaps, as a country the countless atrocities we endure could be God’s wrath for our indifferent attitude. We are too frazzled and stupidly subservient to take a stance and speak out. Against an illegitimate system of public plunder and elitism, gross human rights violations, social injustices and dominance as well as electoral bloodbath. Instead, we choose to go to church and pray for more “uvumilivu” impalpably preserving slavery, corruption and misery.

Banishing apathy requires, I believe, recognizing it is beyond being troublesome to be involved in another person’s pain and despair. Moreover, it is in our capacity to give all people who suffer avoidable anguish due attention. That single tweet, like, share or even sign up of a petition cumulatively counts in honouring the humanity of others and of ourselves. So at an individual level, we cannot do it all, though most of us could do more as history has proven hereunder.

While agitating for equal employment rights, elevation to positions of authority and freedom from objectification, left wing feminist of the second wave mobilized a mass boycott of flowers.  Being the ultimate consumers, the idea was to effectively sabotage the entire global supply chain of flowers. This was in response the plight of exploited women in flower plantations whose resentments ranged from sexual harassment at work, squalid working conditions to underpayment by their masters. As a result, they did effectively impale the demand of flowers while mildly upsetting the global economy and their counterpart’s grievances had to be redressed.

To wind up, I refer to the powerful words of Koffie Anan which inspired this piece, “the greatest tragedy of this period is not the vitriolic words and other violent actions of the bad people but the appalling silence and indifference of the good people.”

Godspeed.

In 1976, a professor of economic history at the University of California, Berkeley published an essay outlining the fundamental laws of a force he perceived as humanity’s greatest existential threat: Stupidity. Stupid people, Carlo M. Cipolla explained, share several

identifying traits:

1. They are abundant. The stupid are always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation. So relatable right, there are stupid college professors. There are nincompoops at the university senate, Council of governors, Supreme Court, Harambee House Annex, Capital Hill, State House, Parliament and Afya House
2. The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person. This problem is compounded by biased assumptions that certain people are intelligent based on superficial factors like their job, education level, or other traits we believe to be exclusive of stupidity. They aren’t.
3. They cause harm to others without apparent benefit to themselves (Golden rule of stupidity). A stupid person causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses, thereby lowering society’s total well-being.
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals: Reasonable people find it difficult to imagine and understand unreasonable behavior by imbeciles. When confronted with a stupid individual you are completely at his mercy.
5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person. Consistent stupidity is the only consistent thing about the stupid. This is what makes stupid people so dangerous.

However today in this commentary, I hail the non-stupid. Because the only way a society can avoid being crushed by the burden of its idiots is if the non-stupid work even harder to offset the losses of their stupid brethren. I mean the few intelligent persons, whose actions benefit both themselves and others. Such propel the society into progress, concertedly weakening the destructive power of the stupid fraction.

Those who are polite and courteous when everyone around them is rude and obnoxious. Like Frank, Pascal and Fred. Folks who maintain decorum and etiquette even though that may not get you anywhere in this increasingly ugly world. Colleagues who say please and thank you even though no one says to them. Have you met this rare breed of beings who are overwhelmingly understanding and tolerant with you, even in your very weakness? That friend who constantly nurtures and build, who looks for the best in you and makes you a better you with time. Your bro who gives love, makes effort and shows up as much as he can and makes you feel less alone in this chaotic world. Maybe that charm with such a cool soul whose vibe you constantly crave for.

And to summarize my piece, I draw you to the words of Bianca Sparacino-“Be the person who cares, the person who makes the effort, the person who loves without hesitation. Be the person who bears it all, the person who never shies away from the depth of their feeling, or the intensity of their hope. Be the person who believes in the softness of the world and the goodness of other people, in the beauty of being open and untethered and trusting. Be the person who takes the chance, who refuses to hide. Be the person who makes people seen, the person who shows up. Trust me when I say-be the person who cares. Because the world doesn’t need any more carelessness, any more disregard because there is nothing stronger than someone who continues to stay soft in a world that hasn’t always been kind to them.”

Most importantly whenever you can help people, please do so by giving them a chance to help themselves.

Finally in all this, let’s keep in mind that we are human- we are weak and fallible beings that are prone to get it wrong. We won’t always get it right. We must learn to show ourselves a little mercy and grace.

Have a gracious month, be kind and nice.

During the night of April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg on her maiden voyage. Two hours and 40 minutes later she sank, resulting in the loss of 1,501 lives—more than two-thirds of her 2,207 passengers and crew. This remains one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history and by far the most famous. The disaster came as a great shock because the vessel was equipped with the most advanced technology at that time, had an experienced crew, and was thought to be practically “unsinkable”.

Many brave things were done that night but none was braver than violinists (who initially played in the first-class lounge before eventually moving to the ship’s deck) entertaining voyagers minute after minute as the ship settled quietly lower and lower into the sea. None of the musicians survived the sinking. Perhaps, the music they played (nearer my God to thee) served alike as their own immortal requiem and right to be recalled on the scrolls of undying fame.

The sinking of the Titanic posed a life-or-death situation for its passengers. For one, failure to secure a seat in a lifeboat virtually guaranteed death because the average ocean temperature was about 2 degrees Celsius (35 degrees Fahrenheit). Two, only a handful of swimmers could be successfully rescued from the water. Moreover, lifeboats were in short supply. It seemed plausible that first-class passengers would be more able to secure a place on a lifeboat than people of lesser economic means. First class passengers were used to giving orders to the crew, and they were better able to bargain—even offering financial rewards. They were also in closer contact with the upper echelon crewmembers. In contrast, most third-class passengers had little idea where the lifeboats were located, and they did not know how to reach the upper decks where the lifeboats were stowed. Thus, the first-class passengers would have a significantly higher probability of survival than second-class passengers; in turn, second-class passengers would have a higher probability of survival than third-class passengers.

The Covid-19 Pandemic clearly possess a similar life threatening scenario. Having massacred mammoths Europe, USA and Middle East, it is bound to cause a strife within the poorer African countries given its fragile healthcare systems. However any directive to handle the situation must be made bearing in mind the reality on the ground. At this rate it would even be tragic if in the midst of a crisis people in Kenya die, not because of the virus but because they starved to death, they were brutalized by rogue cops or coz of a preventable disease like Malaria. Already in India, analysts are predicting malnutrition and starvation levels are set to rise in the country.

Far from that, this read is about our batch of our own opulent upper deck Kenyans who breathe the ozone layer. Watch out for them. Politicians, businessmen, mummy pastors and bishops, industrialist, land grabbers and private developers. They live in plush places like Karen or Kitusuru and school kids in Banda or Brookehouse. Mostly sons and daughters of colonial home guards, known to Uhuru by name and face, with a toxic sense of arrogance and entitlement. Again, they got a sharp acumen for profits and delight in exploitation peasants. Lately, they hold pressers daily (trying to speak English through their noses) to thank the president for his good work and keep pestering for a lockdown while urging “fellow Kenyans” to be disciplined. Notice that it’s not that they suddenly care about peons and proletariat that much, but because they dread that the peasant’s infection possess a threat to their very existence. Yet they got so much to lose if they die.

Like in the story of the Titanic, when time and resources get scarce individual self-interested flight/fight behavior predominates. Meanwhile altruism and social norms and power through social status become important if there is sufficient time for them to evolve. The Covid epidemic of presents an epic well-documented, dramatic, life-or-death situation. With no European/Indian/American hospital to scuttle to for treatment, desperate political honchos resort moral persuasions and trivial donations to encourage “working from home” as they look good. Already tails are wagging, daily ministerial briefings with all hat but no cattle. A plummet in production volumes, freeze on foreign donor funds and restrictions on international trade sums it all.

Anyway, when all is said and done elevation of human dignity remains my parting shot. Realize that not even sophisticated machines, advanced technology nor financial capital can exclusively treat a patient, collect garbage from your estates, draft an affidavit, repair that flash unit or even baby sit your toddlers whilst you are busy working on something else. Absolutely nothing can make up for human sweat blood and brains that goes into agriculture production and manufacturing. For human care and service is invaluable, immeasurable thus cannot be limited to abstract mathematical models and simplistic assumptions.

Finally my dear readers, we must be balanced minded and factual in dealing with disease outbreak stigmas. Not the usual vilification and constant lectures that only augment negative stereotypes. Like it is with to the “anointed voices” who speak what the president wants us to hear. Adjusting routines and behaviour without causing further discrimination would be effective in reducing fear that fuels stigma.

Godspeed

Ordinary and normal. This is what I would describe life until I hit the last year of my teenage hood. Being avid in what I did best-playing basketball, reading commentaries and studying was a routine. Anything outside seemed as unattainable as Uhuru’s big four agenda. Understandably so, my routine schedule would not easily give room to anything else that came by. Like a pisshead, I tried and tested several allurements that could potentially make life more tasteful-friends, fashion, booze, women and soccer. Of course none of this pulled a string.

In the course usual travels, I got struck by an unexpected bout at terminal 1B. So I had this awful malaria which had stricken me like the gallant locusts of Mandera. Oh sorry, I’m reminded that they are actually grasshoppers. So devastating was the fever, fatigue, flu and headache that I could hardly stand upright. And it goes on that when time to board had come, I could not be allowed in because I suddenly realized that I had dropped my passport and boarding pass. As I murmured a prayer silently, a young elegantly dressed charming lady tardily walked towards me and handed me my lost and found documents. Her gait was rhythmical and so soothing was her voice that gave me slight relief. She was in a red Aline dress, red stilettos, red watch, and scarf, simply call her lady in red. And that’s how Amanda and I met. It was certainly the launch of a rollercoaster and an epic phase of spiced up life.

Now, honey is only sweet to those who have tasted it. Oh yes mine was natural, concentrated and therapeutic, made by devoted bees from fresh autumn nectar. After a myriad of calls and meet-ups, immense love soared, attraction beamed and admiration simmered hot. Like a fired jet ready for take-off, our affair was unstoppable. There was surely more to Amanda than her adorable demeanor, astounding beauty and mellifluous tone. Our compatibility outstripped that of a lock and key or even a jig -saw fit. We naturally learnt how to put with differences whilst appreciating our similarities. Deep down we connect, four years down the line yet our conversations still feel supernatural, every moment with Amanda is extra-ordinary and our love keeps blazing. Even simple dates and strolls seem spiritual. On a normal day I wake up feeling loved, I work with love, play and study with the impetus that someone truly cherishes and cares. Having heard her sweet-toned voice in the evening, I drift away smiling all the way to my dreams with her profound promise, “Pearl, I will always love you.”

So yeah my dear people, there’s unbounded beauty in love. As far as value systems are concerned, the path of least resistance is the one with people who think and feel like you. Love is great, but there is a necessary reciprocal element to it. Atleast, your partner should be able to match your energy and affection. It is humanly so to question our sense of worth when we love someone who does not make as much efforts. The almost instinctive reaction is to try sell the best version of ourselves in an effort to awaken this person’s interest. Yet, from the little I have learnt, one either loves you or they don’t. There is no third way around it. Sadly, others resort to desperate measures to change someone’s perspective about them; they manipulate, guilt trip, sweet talk and play all kinds of mind games to force the arm of the object of our affection. And guess what, the short-lived ecstasy turns sour.

Because time is up so I got to pen-off my two cents are that finding love, just like a lot of things in life, should not be something to get worked up for. I realize that the sweetest love stories happen when we do not even expect them. As we have always known, a watched pot never boils. When we are busy looking for love, we are likely not to find it. And finally please, when you find your soulmate bless the Almighty and reckon that the sweetness of wine lies in one flavor. If you know, you know.

Somewhere in the holy writ, a parable is told of 10 virgins. It is about some bridesmaid who were in charge of receiving and accompanying the bridegroom to a wedding ceremony. And as was customary to celebrate it at night, the bridesmaid were equipped with lamps. It goes on that five of the virgins were wise and brought in with them lamps with oil whereas the foolish virgins carried no oil in their vessels. Somehow the bridegroom delayed in arrival and they fell asleep. At midnight, the arrival of the bridegroom was announced. Upon realizing they had no oil for their lamps, the foolish virgins asked some from their counterparts. However, the latter didn’t give them any because their oil couldn’t be enough for all. It so happened that when the bridegroom arrived, the foolish had gone to look for oil. The wise virgins went in with him to the banquet and the door was shut. Later on when the foolish ones returned, they were locked out. (Matthew 25:1-13)

To be wise and prudent means being ready to grapple with unforeseen calamities even when least expected. It entails having sufficient oil to maintain the lamp of life which ideally is good health. In particular, not waiting for the last minute to brace with tragedy when it finally strikes. And one of this adversities may just be sickness, accidents or disability. Thus today I want us to talk about health insurance.

In 2007 alone, 1.5 million Kenyan were pushed into poverty due to out of pocket direct costs of healthcare. At the moment, private healthcare financing is at 40% of which more than 25% is through out of pocket medical expenditure. Given our population and poverty index, my breakdown of this suggests that catastrophic healthcare expenditure drives more than half a million people into abject poverty. The 500, 000 households have had to dispose assets in order to meet medical expenses of their loved ones most of whom end up succumbing. Parents have had to change their children’s schooling, migration from uptown to downtown, generally demotion of lifestyles.  Those who’ve got an idea know how adversely devastating this is.

So then, here is a hint of how to fix this crux. Quickly grab a health insurance cover (of course this ain’t about NHIF please) however limited it maybe. So you basically pool funds in form of periodic premiums and in the event whereby one falls ill, the insurance company fully/partly caters for treatment and medical expenses. Unlike other outlays, healthcare expenditure is uncertain in nature, as such one can’t tell when they will next have to incur medical expenses. Perhaps some random infection or a road accident. Really you can’t discern. Obviously you don’t want a funds drive made towards medical expenses when you’ve been actively generating income for a couple of years or months and you had the choice of signing up to a medical scheme.

Nothing makes a happier life than peace of mind. Going about your work study and play confidently. A peaceful mind even guarantees a sound sleep. Because you are certain that much of an anticipated affliction is somehow counteracted. Being an aviation enthusiast, lemme give the example of an Airbus A380. The world’s largest passenger airliner that remains an awe-inspiring sight nearly a decade after it got into operations. The giant bird flaunts a full length double-deck with a typical seating capacity of 525 and is certified to carry well over 800 passengers. As a matter of reliability, the iconic flying elephant is powered by four Rolls Royce Trent 900 turbofans engines and has a thrust reverse systems on the inboard engines to assist when tyres don’t have enough grip such as on a wet runway. Further safety measures encompass the Air Traffic Collision Avoidance System, Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System and a Wind Shear Warning System alongside sophisticated other features to guarantee passenger safety. It’s therefore little wonder that’s since its inception in 2007, the sky monster has never encountered any incidence resulting to fatalities.

Obviously so, if feels cosy and relaxing to cruise on board the superjumbo airliner and barely any safety concerns would cross a passenger’s mind. Nonetheless, this doesn’t completely preclude the possibility of an accident or incident. Notice even sharks drown. It only means that fateful chances are minimized and so in the unlikely event, casualties and fatalities would be substantially diminished. Quite so is the case with health insurance, this is about mitigation of colossal medical expenses when they are incurred.

Being peculiar in nature, health is innately emotive. Therefore to be in good health people go to all extremes possible. However health economists concur that ideally good health is a consumption as much as it is an investment good. This means that good health is acquired in our normal activities such meals, movements, work and sleep. As an investment commodity people invest in good health to gain long term benefits through vaccinations, medical check-ups, physical exercise etc. This further suggests that the wellness you enjoy today is as a result of the previous investment and consumption made in your health. In a nutshell, there are certain activities that predispose us to poor health and disabilities such as heavy drinking, drug and substance abuse, careless driving, junk meals, prostitution and polygamy. Because good health does not just happen by fluke, it is necessary that we adapt healthy lifestyles, normalize health seeking behavior (even when well), consume wholesome meals and avoid physical aggression, basically stay safe.

Why just health insurance, you may ask. They say health is the greatest of all possessions. In addition, the consumptive benefit derived from one’s income depends one’s state of health. For example, depression makes it just about impossible for the affected person to enjoy the niceties of life e.g. play and sleep. Basically no amount of wealth nor money outstrips a state of constant pain, immobility and even disability. Recently, an old friend confessed that it was not until she survived a gruesome encounter with pneumonia that she realized the essence of good health in life. Since then parochials like the locust invasion, Luhya unity, BBI report, Big Four Agenda, Trumps impeachment and Arsenals position in EPL are as  hogwash as Uhuru’s purge on graft. Instead she vowed to celebrate her better health and keep warm.

Finally ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls as the year unfolds, you may want to include underwriting health insurance to top your list of New Year resolutions and priorities. The right time is now for it’s always worth it. And to my dear band of wannabe mothers, don’t you dare engage in coitus minus a healthcare plan. Trust me childbirth is as delicate as it is expensive. Right from test scans, prenatals, nutritional supplements and cravings, the gynecologist all the way to theatrical CS, realize the medical expenses are not anything worth your chicken feed. Especially in this handshake economy! Please first acquire a favourable medical plan before he can cum in and thank me later.

So thanks for your time, it’s a goodbye for now. But next week if inspired, I’ll pen down tips on prosperous insurance schemes available in Kenya based on my comparative analysis. Meanwhile have a risk free 2020.