Friday, January 25, 2008

The 150th reminder.... to the PERSON/S CONCERNED - stealing water... Emailing: Filling a mkokoteni... how strange!, Where is this water coming f

It's is so disgusting to know that while the neighbourhood is getting not a drop of water (the ones who have still retained their meter, like me), we have our new MP, Joho, whose house is pictured in the attached photographs, making sure that whatever little that we do get first fills up their underground tank!

Are these politicians out to do a public service or are they in office to line their own pockets and by extension for selfish ends?

Last week both politicians, again on a Wednesday when the water showed up, it was the Councillor's family member who was stealing water from the pipe leading to the meters and the same applied to Mr. Joho, too. Only this time I have photographic evidence....., I hope.

While we pay phantom water bills every month, I wonder if these people even have meters and get and pay their bills. And if they have these meters why is all this done in such a clandestine manner? For last week, despite this Councillor having a meter, they were stealing water from the pipe leading to them! Why? Is there no end to their insolence?

And our various water bodies, despite having been informed about these questionable practices do scant little to improve their services. Probably because, being a politician in this country is akin to being untouchable.

Of course, last week some 'officials' from the water company showed up and repaired that pipe, but, have they done anything else to investigate why we, with the meters, are not getting water? It's now over a YEAR since we saw anything coming through the pipes and entering our storage tanks.

Please, see below my comments on the pictures.

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:

Filling a mkokoteni... how strange!
Why is this hand-cart filling up from this pipe? For whose benefit? Or are these people making a fast buck at the expense of the various water bodies?

Where is this water coming from
This rubber hose is very strangely fitted to a tap in that dark corner of the parking area (where you can see puddles of water). Do these people possess a meter? Or have they got themselves connected illegally to the main pipe somewhere?

Will the authorities concerned please, investigate this matter?

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The 149th reminder.... to the PERSON/S CONCERNED - stealing water

As I write this latest reminder, one of the family member's of Councillor Kushe, is busy stealing water from the main water pipe, downstairs. This is the big pipe leading to the meters. There's either a leak there at the joint or it has been deliberately tampered with for specifically this purpose.

And this man is supposed to be the Councillor?! What kind of crooked person is he? Are these the kinds of people that were elected to public office? And for the information of my various recipients, him and Joho were both 'elected' under the ODM ticket. Then, they have the temerity of pointing fingers at others (just like them), who have got into public office using equally underhand means.

Anyway, to get back to the main issue of water. Despite, other places getting water it is small wonder that we still don't. Thanks to lawless neighbours and slow acting water officials, business carries on as usual.

In fact, I rang the Water Co. manager, immediately that I found out about what was going on, on his cell phone, but, nothing has been done about it, yet. So, I tried ringing his secretary and she's promised me that she'll get back to me in about 10 minutes after conferring with the guy in charge of such things. But, at last observation, the offending woman who is the Councillor's relative, has quit filling and there's a black rubber tied at the place where the water was coming, from.

Is there no end to the crookedness of these people?

I've just noticed some people who look like they are from the water company who have arrived in a pick-up. I hope that they will solve this recurring problem once and for all, Insha'Allah.

Emailing: The tractor arrived at break-neck speed, Hurriedly opened gate by the askari and it quickly entered, Once inside, the driver leaves it on an


The tractor arrived at break-neck speed
Exactly a week after it left, the tractor came back. The speed at which it came through the estate left a lot to be desired. How safe are the kids who have little space to play, as it is?

Hurriedly opened gate by the askari and it quickly entered
It made a racket as it arrived and the resident watchman quickly opened the gate for it to enter.

Once inside, the driver leaves it on and goes to talk to his buddies
The driver took a while to 'park' it and even then did not switch off the engine but got off and joined his friends near the white pick-up, totally impervious to the noise still going on as well as the noxious fumes and with total disregard for the neighbourhood.

These are his colleagues or buddies or both
Those guys at the pick-up were doing something and he joined them.

They saw me continuing to take pictures, so a guy in yellow T-shirt and white trousers strolled to the offending tractor to switch it off, but couldn't.
Then, a guy in yellow T-shirt and white trousers detached himself from the group at the pick-up and leisurely strolled to the tractor, climbed into it and tried switching it off but was unsuccessful.

He eventually reached inside the engine compartment and somehow managed to switch it off!
So, he got off and reached inside the bonnet and did something which switched off the offending noise and the fumes and peace descended once again in the neighbourhood.

The next day, the truck hastily left.....
The next morning it was the turn of the truck to be left for quite a while to rev and be left idling after which it took off very fast. At the time of writing this, it has still, mercifully, not come back......, yet.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Two Presidents of Muslim Countries...

What an telling example of what a leader should be like!
















Compare the life-styles of the two in these telling pictures...

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Re: Emailing: Check the time the racket started..., The person supervising this standing in the shade with his arms folded, On and on and on. Goind ba

Thanks, Muneer, for your moral support. I keep these lawless things 'alive' by continuing to write about them. First, it gives everybody an idea of how prompt 'officialdom' is in applying the law and second, when I'm forced to inhale those awful fumes and at the same time listen to the racket going on for HOURS, it helps to give vent to my frustrations in a more 'civilized' manner.

As we've recently seen, some others would have taken the law into their own hands and tried to solve the matter that way. Unfortunately, for us, officialdom does not care about 'civilized' ways of addressing injustices and lawlessness in this country. It's only when things come to a head, that they are forced into applying the law....., for their own selfish ends, of course!

And business continues as usual....

Razia.

Muneer Khandwalla wrote:

For all these years, no-one, NO-ONE seems to be able to do anything about this?
Or is that NO-BODY cares?

On 08/01/2008, Raziya wrote:

Check the time the racket started...
Yesterday, during the lunch hour, the tractor, again started it's revving noise, but, this time it was preparing to leave. If you check the timing on the various pictures, you'll notice how long the neighbourhood had to endure the awful noise and the equally foul smelling exhaust fumes not to mention dirtying our newly washed clothing hanging out on the clotheslines.

The person supervising this is standing in the shade with his arms folded
This person saw me taking the photos, but, it deterred him not the least. In fact, after about half and hour, he departed in a white pick-up. He left the rest still trying to solve the difficult and squashy job of exiting the truck park with the tractor (?)

On and on and on. Going back and forth trying to get out
Again, check the time it took them to continue with this backward and forward movement trying to get out.

Out, at long last!
They got out, but, still did not leave immediately.

Spewing black smoke into the washing on the line and leaving. Also, check the charcoal shack in the background with little black bags all set out to be sold.
These people should not be existing within a residential area. They are really dirtying the place and making a mess of our excess road/lanes. Also, that previously written about, charcoal seller's shack can be seen in the picture who continues to sell and continuous to get his supplies, too, despite all the 'officialdom' who have come to see him about the issue. As far as I know, the guys (neither the supplier nor the seller), have no permit and I thought there was a law passed by NEMA, no less, last year in February to the effect that a permit was required to sell any forest product. It seems that we truly live in a very lawless country where people only apply the law to suit themselves.

Preparing to leave...
Back to that tractor and what it's up to. It reversed all that way out of the truck park and then started out of the estate in forward motion.

Going, going, gone.... but for how long...
While the truck (see my email of yesterday), came back in the late afternoon, yesterday, this other monster is still out somewhere. We dread it's return....

Again, check the timing on the pictures. We had to endure the racket and the foul exhaust smell for nearly an HOUR!!!


Razia.
--
M MUNEER

jazajaz@gmail.com

The 148th reminder.... to the PERSON/S CONCERNED

My last 'reminder' was written smack on the controversial election day. I did not have the opportunity or heart to write this last week when thousands of my fellow citizens were going through some of the most horrific times of their lives. My heart goes out to those who have suffered the consequences of political insanity which was visited upon us by senseless mobs who were provoked into this by equally myopic politicians. God help us, all!

This does not mean that my reminders will discontinue, of course. The new office bearers will still have to pay heed to them and improve our deteriorating lot.

We are still without a drop of water and are having to buy it (added financial burden) from the hand-cart guys and yet are compelled to pay phantom water bills just to retain our meters. Add to this the insult of being charged for sewerage, also, every month and it is akin to daylight robbery.

Anybody back in office out there and listening/reading?!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Emailing: Check the time the racket started..., The person supervising this standing in the shade with his arms folded, On and on and on. Goind back a

Check the time the racket started...
Yesterday, during the lunch hour, the tractor, again started it's revving noise, but, this time it was preparing to leave. If you check the timing on the various pictures, you'll notice how long the neighbourhood had to endure the awful noise and the equally foul smelling exhaust fumes not to mention dirtying our newly washed clothing hanging out on the clotheslines.

The person supervising this is standing in the shade with his arms folded
This person saw me taking the photos, but, it deterred him not the least. In fact, after about half and hour, he departed in a white pick-up. He left the rest still trying to solve the difficult and squashy job of exiting the truck park with the tractor (?)

On and on and on. Going back and forth trying to get out
Again, check the time it took them to continue with this backward and forward movement trying to get out.

Out, at long last!
They got out, but, still did not leave immediately.

Spewing black smoke into the washing on the line and leaving. Also, check the charcoal shack in the background with little black bags all set out to be sold.
These people should not be existing within a residential area. They are really dirtying the place and making a mess of our excess road/lanes. Also, that previously written about, charcoal seller's shack can be seen in the picture who continues to sell and continuous to get his supplies, too, despite all the 'officialdom' who have come to see him about the issue. As far as I know, the guys (neither the supplier nor the seller), have no permit and I thought there was a law passed by NEMA, no less, last year in February to the effect that a permit was required to sell any forest product. It seems that we truly live in a very lawless country where people only apply the law to suit themselves.

Preparing to leave...
Back to that tractor and what it's up to. It reversed all that way out of the truck park and then started out of the estate in forward motion.

Going, going, gone.... but for how long...
While the truck (see my email of yesterday), came back in the late afternoon, yesterday, this other monster is still out somewhere. We dread it's return....

Again, check the timing on the pictures. We had to endure the racket and the foul exhaust smell for nearly an HOUR!!!

Monday, January 7, 2008

Action To Support Kenya’s Struggle For Democracy

Action To Support

Kenya's Struggle For Democracy

Demonstration Against

KIBAKI MILITARY COUP OF DECEMBER 30, 2007
+

"Shoot to Kill" Order

WE DEMAND: KIBAKI RESIGN IMMEDIATELY!
Transitional Government to oversee Constitutional Reforms
and Free and Fair Elections within one (1) year

Support
Democratic Transformation in Kenya

Monday, January 7th, 2008
10am - 4pm

&

Friday, January 11th, 2008
10am - 4pm

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Information Forum on Kenya's Current Political Crisis

KENYA: A HOSTAGE OF MULTINATIONAL EXPOLITATIVE FORCES

The Neocolonial Roots of Kenya's Constitutional Crisis

WHEN: Friday, 11th January 2008

TIME: 6-9pm

WHERE: University of Ottawa, Canada (Room, speakers and agenda details will be posted at www.ccr-kenya.com on Monday, January 7th, 2008)

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&


December 27 Elections was a fraud
Kibaki is in Office Illegally
We demand immediate expulsion of Kenyan High Commissioner from Canada since there is no legally constituted government in Kenya
Trade Embargo and sanctions until demands are met

Canada should ratify the U.N Declaration on the Rights Of Indigenous People to domesticate

"Free Prior and Informed Consent" as opposed to "Free Entry"

We urge Canada to focus on the root cause of election crisis in Kenya - the larger deep-seated and long running problem of a stalled transition. The elite, who served during the previous Moi dictatorial regime, hijacked the process of moving Kenya from one-party dictatorship to a true functioning democracy. They are the ones who amassed wealth illegally, grabbed land, practiced corruption, and used ethnicity for personal political gain. (For example, the colonialists alienated the land belonging to the Maasai and Kikuyu, but after a negotiated independence the land was not returned to its rightful owners, but grabbed by the elite and multinational corporations. The Government forced the landless Kikuyus to seek land in the Kalenjin's traditional homeland, the Rift Valley, creating simmering ethnic tensions, which have erupted at this time). The average citizen of Kenya is a captive victim of this charade of pseudo-reformists, who are only interested in ascending to positions of leadership.

What is being fought over is who will have a say in granting mining and oil prospecting rights, and becomes partners of multinational corporations. The constitution that can guarantee the people the right to their natural resources, and thus political and economic sustainability, has been frustrated. The political elite frustrate reforms because it would threaten the ongoing plunder by multinational exploitative forces. As a result, basic things that are taken for granted in functioning democracies, such as free and fair elections, are not constitutionally streamlined, because it might give the people undue influence over the affairs of their country.

CCR-Kenya has warned many times over the last two years about the dangers of holding elections using the current constitution. It is reckless, opportunistic, negligent, and callous for anybody to think again of holding elections in Kenya under a constitution that has so many booby traps for political and constitutional crises that it is a miracle that Kenya has made it safely this far.

The fact that Kenya has held relatively peaceful elections in the last 15 years does not mean that Kenya is capable of holding free and fair elections or that Kenya cannot revert to one-person dictatorship or ethnic clashes or even full scale civil war. Kenya's current constitution is a disaster waiting to happen.

Kenyans cannot afford to count votes, tally results or hold another election (runoff) under the current constitution. The human cost would be too high.

Only a new constitution can protect Kenyans from the murderous wrath of an all, powerful executive seeking to retain power by any means. Only a new constitution can ensure that Kenyans can control their internal democracy to determine how they use their natural resources, and external sovereignty to withstand blackmail from multinational exploitative forces. (For example, the Kenyan elite hands a mineral like titanium, which has immense economic potential to get Kenyans out of poverty, to Canada-based Tiomin Resources Inc., literally free of charge under the "free entry" system).

www.ccr-kenya.com

For more information on the link between natural resource plunder and mass poverty, violent conflicts, wars, environmental degradation, pandemics, and social collapse, please visit www.madaraka.com

Emailing: Welcome to the New Year!, The racket and the exhaust fumes continued for quite a while, just now, Next, the truck after revving for a while,


Welcome to the New Year!
This tractor started it's racket and spewing nasty fumes into the atmosphere.

The racket and the exhaust fumes continued for quite a while, just now
Will there be no end to these disturbances of the peace and our breathing 'normal' air which has no smell of exhaust fumes in it? Even our washing hung out on the line gets affected by it.

Next, the truck after revving for a while, makes it way out...
While the tractor was still doing it's thing, the truck started which added to the racket. It sounded like a huge industry going back to work! These are not sounds meant to be heard on a regular basis in a residential estate, ironically with a hospital right across from this place.

Manipulating it's exit through the gate
Getting out of the gate is always a tight squeeze and involves a lot of going back and forth with total impunity regarding the disturbance caused to the residents.

Out, at last...
Is there any end to this...?

On it's way to where...?
It's anybody's guess as to where this truck goes and if and when it will come back, which thought constantly haunts us.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Are we born to be free?

Are we born to be free?

By Sr. Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood

Freedom is one of the most valuable things there is, although many of us have no idea how precious it is until we suffer the loss of it. It is considered to be one of the basic human rights, and to attempt to withhold that right without very just cause is a most serious sin.

We all like to think that we are free, and that we have freewill when making our choices in life – but let us think for a moment about the realities of the situation. Are we really born to be free? And if so, in what ways? What does this mean for us?

For a start, the amount of freedom we actually have is much more limited than we perhaps realize. Let’s start with simple examples that we can all understand things that concern our physical bodies. How much freedom do we have over yawning, or sneezing, or sweating, or bleeding, or breathing, or digesting, or excreting? How much freedom do we have over whether we can see, or hear, or feel, or get our muscles and limbs to work? I used to be able to run for a bus and climb mountains – but no matter how much I insist I am free to do that now, I cannot do it. I cannot even choose to stand up; if I have been typing for a long time my legs get so stiff I just can’t do it.

I have absolutely no control over what is going on inside my body – I have no idea how my kidneys extract waste matter, or how they can know what is needed and what is to be got rid of. I have no idea what makes my heart beat, or when it will stop. I cannot choose whether I salivate, urinate, coagulate, replicate, deteriorate or disintegrate!

And consider the people I am related to. I had no freedom to choose my parents or grandparents, or brothers and sisters. I could not choose my genetic make-up. I tried to choose when my own children would be born, but this did not work out as I expected. And I had no idea of what sex my children would be, or what they would be like. Some people believe that it is only a matter of time before we will be able to fiddle about with genetics to produce children to order, but then – of course – the little person produced will have had no freedom whatsoever about what he or she will be physically.

So, when you consider all this – it doesn’t really seem as if human beings have very much freedom at all, does it?

And yet, belief in the freedom of the human spirit is one of the key things Allah has revealed down the ages. In Islam, we are taught that it was something Allah granted to human beings which He did not grant to angels. We may not be able to choose what we are physically, but we have to choose what we will do as regards our soul-activity. We are requested by Allah to take control of our selves, and make particular choices and act in particular ways – and here we have absolute freedom. He never forces us. Amazingly, we do not even have to believe in Him, and we may choose to ignore Him or disobey Him whenever we feel like it. Millions of people do.

Some people think our brains are really machine-like and we act more or less like robots according to our physical make-up. I don’t. I am sure we are not programmed robots. We do not react in the same way to given situations; some of us are much more unselfish, honest, brave, generous, forgiving, helpful and able to cope than others. But we don’t have to be. Take a silly example - if we see an old lady struggling up the road carrying heavy parcels, we can choose whether to go to help her, knock her down and steal her parcels, ignore her, or shout rude names at her and run away.

This leads on to an interesting thought. We can entertain ourselves by guessing all the possible things any particular individual might do to the old lady with the parcels. But we all have a feeling of ‘ought’, and this does not depend on that individual’s character or talent at all. We feel that we know what course of action the good person or the bad person, the religion person or the unbeliever, the person of conscience of the couldn’t-care-less person, ought to take.

The concept of ‘ought’ does come, however, with a few restrictions that make the person who does not do what he or she ought to do either more or less guilty. Whenever we say that a person ought to do something, we have to assume that the person is actually free and able to do it. For example, it is quite pointless to say that someone ought to help our old lady if that person is locked up in jail, or unconscious, or is only a child of two or three, or is living in a distant country, or is so mentally ill that they cannot understand that here is a situation in which someone needs help. ‘Ought’ implies ‘can’. We can only be held responsible if we are aware of the person to be helped, and in a position to help.

If we cannot make real free choices then judgment cannot apply to us – it would be totally against justice. Whenever people are not free to make choices, then they cannot be held responsible. The Prophet’s (pbuh) wife Aishah recorded that he made it clear that those whose freedom or intellect was limited – for example, those too young or too ignorant, or whose balance of mind was disturbed – could not be held morally responsible for their actions, either in a shari’ah court of law, (or a UK court, for that matter), or in the judgment to come.

Now, if God can do anything He wants, then it would obviously be perfectly possible for Him to control our minds and our choices. This is a matter that is within the capabilities of human beings themselves, and it would be only too easy for God. However, the very fact that He allows people to choose not to believe in Him and not to do what He wants, demonstrates conclusively that God does not robotize peoples’ minds.

Each of the prophets, including Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, (pbut) taught that what people chose to do with respect to belief in God and obedience to His will made a very great difference to the final outcome of their affairs. Humans have a tremendous ability to love and be kind, or to hate and be destructive. They can choose whether or not to work and try hard, or be bone idle and lie around doing nothing. They can choose to be selfish or unselfish. This means that although they may have all been born with souls of equal worth, they do not remain equal.

Freewill is actually the most difficult of God’s gifts to understand or appreciate. The point of freewill is to make sense of human morality - without it there is no such thing as good or evil conduct, for we should simply be automatons.

So, what about the Muslim concept of al-Qadr, the key doctrine of Allah’s complete and final control over the fulfillment of events, or Destiny? How does one balance the idea of God knowing absolutely everything with the idea of freewill? If God knows in advance everything that will happen, then surely a person’s life must be entirely predestined? Furthermore, if God does not intervene to stop particular things happening, then one can say that He alone is responsible for them. This is linked to the problem of evil. Who is responsible for evil, if God is ultimately responsible for everything? A thief or a terrorist might plead innocence, because he was surely predestined to steal, or to hijack and bomb, and therefore how can it be his fault?

Many people think that all Muslims are fatalists, who believe that since ‘everything is written’ (‘maktub’), and that God knows everything in advance - therefore it must all be predetermined. No human brain has actually been able to untangle this problem satisfactorily – certainly not mine – but the whole business of Allah sending Messengers with revelations surely indicates that humans are expected to listen, and then make choices, and then adjust their lives accordingly (Surah 6:91; 23:73). God in fact revealed: ‘Truly, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves’. (Surah 13:11). These words in the Qur’an make it crystal clear that humans do have the power to change through their own freewill, and these decisions alter their fates.

It must be true that Allah does know everything and every possibility, but humans do not. Therefore, if a human chooses a particular thing, there will be a particular outcome leading to a particular conclusion. If the human chooses a different course of action, then the outcome and conclusion will be different. If you choose to swallow a whole bottle of painkilling tablets, you will die this afternoon; but if you choose to swallow only two, it may cure your migraine and you may live to be a hundred. God, like a ‘master-computer’ knows all the possible outcomes but He leaves the choice to you. We cannot understand it, but Allah can – His ‘intelligence’ is millions of times greater and totally different from ours.

The real truth lies in the realm of al-Ghayb. All that we believers can do is to ask for guidance along our path of life. We may not be able to see the road way into the distance, but we can pray that God will show us the next step, one step at a time.

If it were impossible for people to choose because their futures and destinies were already fixed, not only would God be unfair instead of just, but there would also seem to be very little point in us even trying to live good lives. Fatalism leads to despair and helplessness, defeatism, and hindering people from making any effort to improve either their own lot or the lot of those around them.

What does Allah want for us? He wants us to achieve happiness and success. He wants us to find true freedom. If true freedom brings happiness, then it seems things are not quite as many folks think.

I might be very happy to be free to have a relationship with a different partner every week, or to stuff myself with tasty but unhealthy food, or to spend a fortune on clothing or jewellery or pop CDs, or to smoke, or stay out late worrying my parents, or avoid chores or homework, or have a laugh at my enemies, or earn lots of money perhaps dishonestly, or be famous and admired by lots of people. Surely these are the things that make people happy?

How simple it would be if that were so. It’s so easy for Shaytan to fool people – the way that leads to destruction is so tempting and enjoyable. But stop and think. Many of the richest and most powerful people in the world are the loneliest. People who stuff themselves get all the problems and misery of overweight. Those who are lazy and avoid learning and training in their youth wake up to the realities of failed lives later on. Smokers puffing away contentedly behind the bike-sheds will die young of cancer or heart failure – to the great grief of those who love them. People who are promiscuous usually end up with heartbreak for themselves and the children they later neglect abandon (usually the young fathers) or kill in abortion (the young mothers).

True happiness is to look after that which Allah has loaned to us and entrusted to our safe-keeping for such a brief time – our bodies, our families, our talents, and our sensitivity towards others. This means not being free to give in to our lusts and desires, the things we know very well will hurt us and others in due course.

But here’s the odd thing – the person who gives up that kind of selfish freedom and agrees to be God’s servant will always be truly free. They will know that they have done their best; their consciences will be clear, their inner persons confident and full of hope, and they will never be slaves to their own selves, or to any other person or thing.

God bless you, wasalaam, Ruqaiyyah.

(With acknowledgements to Reflect, the magazine of the Muslim Educational Trust)