THERE COMES A TIME FOR BAD BOYS TO PAY FOR THEIR SINS

DAILY NATION
NAIROBI, KENYA
By LUCY ORIANG'
May 7 2009

To my dear sisters in G10 and others of like mind, I salute you for keeping the fire burning in a week when you have been subjected to the kind of abuse that belongs in the gutter– and this for daring to dream of a Kenya that is calm, collected and focused on reclaiming its soul.

During the past week of No-Sex, your looks have come under scrutiny, your character has come into question, and you have been dismissed as misfits who do not deserve the time of day.

The radio and TV air-time and newspaper columns that have been dedicated to something that has been dismissed as a piece of mischief gives the lie to such sentiments.

The snake has been well and truly rattled. Now we just have to work out how to force it out of the pit so we can slay it and take back our country.

Do not relent, my sisters. Do not give up. We have already lost too much time listening to the never-ending propaganda of those to whom power is an end in itself.

You have been subjected to name-calling and cheap shots about your morals. These are the last resort of people who are running on empty, and there are plenty of those in high places at this time of political upheaval.

You have been likened to prostitutes. Let us not forget who keeps that business alive and thriving. Let us not forget who it is in this country that has sold their souls to the devil for 30 pieces of silver — and a seat at the political high table.

Where were all these holier-than-thou pseudo-prophets when women were being raped in January and February last year? I don’t recall them protesting as loudly as they do today at the cynical use of sex as a weapon.

Babies in diapers have been sexually assaulted in this country to a resounding silence from those who now take the moral high ground and shudder at the idea of a sex boycott.
You can now understand, my sisters, why Kenya is in ICU. Democracy cannot thrive in an atmosphere where we cannot debate the state of the nation without resorting to abuse and dishonest arguments.

We have let them get away with it for much too long. It is time for the women of Kenya to reclaim their power, and you have set the stage for a monumental showdown — if you choose to stay the course.

IT WOULD BE A SAD DAY IF KENYA’S future were to be decided by the number of sexy beauty queens we can produce. The only thing more terrifying would be placing our destiny in the hands of warriors pumped full of testosterone and nothing between the ears.

Your sex boycott has unleashed the kind of venom that is probably only surpassed by the 2007 post-election violence. Be happy. Be very happy. The worst thing that can happen to any campaign is to be ignored.

Now we know which button to push if we are to get The Kenya We Want. And to think that this government spent millions of shillings on a conference at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre whose only achievement was to bore us to tears!

Through the barrage of words that have been thrown your way, my sisters, you have refused to get hysterical. You have refused to respond in kind. You have stayed focused on your goal. This is what people with grand ambitions do. They stay the course, come hell or high water.

My dear sisters, let the snakes hiss all they want. They have had 46 years to prove that they can build the Kenya that we want our children to grow up in. All they have succeeded in doing is to create a war machine that threatens to shake this country to its very roots.

As they engage in endless bouts of shadow-boxing and take this country ever closer to the brink of destruction, we have an opportunity to step into the breach and breathe new life into a country scarred by greed and more greed.

Do this country a favour, my sisters, and take it to the dry cleaners. Scrub its face with a rough towel. Force it to brush its teeth and use ear buds to remove the wax blocking its hearing.

Make the politicians who take pleasure in issuing threats eat their words in public. Make them grovel for running down a country that was once full of promise. Make them spend time in the naughty corner and withdraw every privilege they take pleasure in.
It is a formula that we have applied successfully through the ages to bring around errant children, big and small. This is no time to retreat or surrender.