HOW TO ACQUIRE A KENYAN PASSPORT:

DO YOU NEED A PASSPORT?

You should read this. The cost of acquiring a Kenyan passport has gone up and these are the new rates:

– Ordinary 32 page passport has been increased to Sh4,500,
– Ordinary 48 page passport Sh6,000,
– 64 page passport Sh7,500,
– East African one will now cost Sh940,
– Diplomatic 48 page passport will cost Sh7,500,
– A 32 page service passport will cost Sh6,000,
– Temporary permit Sh300,
– Certificate of identity Sh3,000,
– Replacing a lost passport one will need to cough Sh12,000,
– To replace a valid but mutilated passport one will need to pay Sh10,000,
– A temporary passport will cost Sh3,000.

– To acquire emergency travel documents he or she will part with Sh1,600
– To regain citizenship will cost Sh5,000.

– Registration for citizenship by marriage will now cost Sh30,000,
– Registration for citizenship by marriage to spouses and for widows and widowers from East African states Sh5,000 each,
– Registration for citizenship for widows and widowers Sh20,000.
– Citizenship by registration for lawful residence Sh200,000,
– Registration for citizenship for children and persons with disabilities Sh20,000,
– Registration for citizenship by stateless persons Sh2,000,
– Registration for citizenship by migrants Sh2,000,
– Registration for citizenship for descendants of stateless persons and migrants Sh2,000,
– Renunciation will cost Sh20,000.

– Transit visa will now cost Sh1,600 depending on the exchange rates.
– Ordinary single journey one will cost Sh4,000 and multiple journey will be Sh8,000.

Those who will be visiting Kenya for:
– Prospecting and mining will pay Sh250,000 per year to get a permit,
– Agriculture and husbandry Sh100,000,
– Proscribed profession Sh100,000,
– Employment Sh200,000,
– Specific manufacturing Sh100,000,
– Specific trade, business or consultancy Sh100,000,
– Approved religious and charitable activities Sh5,000 and,
– Ordinary residents Sh100,000.

Those seeking permanent residence but lost citizenship will need to pay Sh15,000, others Sh500,000 and spouses of Kenya Sh50,000.

Students’ as well as dependants’ pass will now cost Sh5,000.

WHO IS YOUR FRIEND?

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character. 1 Corinthians 15:33

Someone once prayed to God to help him know his friends. Because he knew his enemies. In this life we are living, most of the people we call friends are actually our own enemies.

“Man to man is so unjust. You don’t know who to trust. Your worst enemy could be your best friend. And your best friend your worst enemy. Some will eat and drink with you. Then behind they susup on you. Only your friend know your secret so only him could reveal it.”

“Ni kuri na arata a ma na arata a maheni.”

Events of the recent past have made me take a deeper look at these so-called friendships we claim to have. We are walking around with people we found ourselves with. Not people we deliberately chose to have in our lives. Tulijipata.

We are ‘friends’ with some people because of what we can get out of them. Interests. Someone is your friend because you buy them keg or you sleep with them. Could be you have a beautiful sister and you are his bridge to her. Remove the beer, the sex, the money and this ‘friendship’ collapses.

In Biology we learned about parasitic relationships and symbiotic relationships. Some people in our lives are just parasites. They honestly add no value to your life. Actually they are giving you anaemia. They will suck you to death then move on to the next host (victim).

Select friends that lift you up. Friends that build you. Friends that make you become a better person.

WHO IS A BLOGGER?

My attention is drawn to the improper usage of the word BLOGGER in Laikipia County. People are calling themselves bloggers without knowing the meaning.

A BLOG (noun) is a website containing a writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites.

To BLOG (verb) is to maintain or add new entries to a blog.

A BLOGGER (noun) therefore is a person who regularly writes material for a blog. Regularly.

– Is Facebook a blog? Facebook is “an online social media and social networking service”.

– What about Twitter? Twitter is “an online news and social networking service where users post and interact using tweets”.

– Whatsapp is “a freeware and cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP service. The application allows the sending of text messages and voice calls, as well as video calls, images and other media, documents, and user location”.

Those three are NOT blogs. Simply put, just because you have a smartphone, Facebook and Twitter accounts don’t make you a blogger. You need an active BLOG to become a BLOGGER the same way you need a butchery to become a butcher, hotel to become a hotelier and pharmacy to become a pharmacist.

Anything short of that is impersonation.

https://fwangai.wordpress.com

THUITA MWANGI:

TM:

Two letters that mean different things to different people. Some call him Thuita Mwangi. Others Twitter Mwangi, Tokyo Money, Team Mafisi, Team Mapesa.

I have to admit that this was the most qualified individual in the 2017 gubernatorial race. He had the expertise in public administration, he had tall friends in and out of Kenya, he could woo investors, his political speeches never targeted individuals but was issue based and had deep pockets.

But the gods conspired against him. The Tokyo Embassy scandal hovered above his head.

Some people also felt that he was extremely old. For visible reasons.

There was also this small issue of wanting to be big during campaigns. Who does that? Walking around with chase cars and bodyguards only works for a governor or president who is already in office. If you are not accessible as a standing candidate, how about when you are a sitting governor?

His campaign team was also a sham. You can’t bring Njanjo from Nyahururu or Nancy from Ngobit to Nanyuki and expect they will tell us anything. No. You cannot bring some Nairobi people to Laikipia whose language and mood they don’t understand and expect victory.

During the controversial Jubilee nominations he missed a podium finish. Instead of wasting his time camping at Jubilee Headquarters he immediately resigned from the party and vowed to go for it as an independent candidate. Two days later he withdrew from the race altogether.

A coalition was midwifed bringing together Thuita,Ndiritu Muriithi, John Mwaniki, James Mathenge and Woodboy Mwangi. All these men combined could only beat Joshua Irungu by a measly 2,000 votes.

Ndiritu became the Governor, Mwaniki his deputy, JM vied for speaker of the County Assembly, failed and has been nominated for the position of CEC Health, Woodboy has been nominated to be the Chief Officer for Sports and Youths.

But what about Thuita Mwangi? The last I heard of him he had been ‘appointed’ by Ndiritu Muriithi as his ‘advisor’.

What does the future hold for him? Will he get a state appointment? Will he be back in 2022? Or will he go into political oblivion?

Only time will tell.

WARUGURU CATHERINE WANJIKU:

KNOW YOUR MP:

WARUGURU, CATHERINE WANJIKU

1. Education:
– Kanyama High School Mathira (KCSE, C-)
– Karatina Institute of Theological College College (Diploma)
– Kenya Institute of Management (Public Relations Management)
– Karatina University (Business Management)
– Kenya College of Accountancy (ongoing)

2. Employment:
– 2007 — 2009 ~ Joskaki Hotel (pillar)
– 2011 — 2013 ~ Access Kenya (cybercafe attendant)
– 2013 — 2017 ~ Laikipia County Assembly (Nominated MCA)
– 2017 — Kenya National Assembly (Mp, Laikipia County)

3. Membership to committees (12th parliament)
– Members service & Facilities Committee (Vice Chair)
– Departmental Committee on Lands

4. Marital status:
Single

ALI AMIN MOHAMMED DEDDY:

KNOW YOUR MP:

ALI, AMIN DEDDY MOHAMED

1. Education:
– Nanyuki Primary School (KCPE)
– Inoro Secondary School, Nanyuki
– College (Nil)
– University (Nil)

2. Employment:
– 2004 — 2007 ~ Community service (sports, infrastructure and community empowerment)
– 2004 — 2007 ~ Kenya Football Federation, Laikipia East sub-branch (Chairman)
– 2013 — 2015 ~ Laikipia East CDF Committee (Chairman)
– 2017 — Kenya National Assembly (Mp, Laikipia East)

3. Membership to committees (12th parliament)
– Departmental Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

4. Marital status:
Single

5. Contacts:
0722889222

“KEEP SHOUTING”, POPE TO THE YOUTH:

KEEP SHOUTING, DON’T BECOME ANESTHETIZED, pope tells young people.

Pope Francis, starting Holy Week services leading to Easter, urged young people on Sunday to keep shouting and not allow the older generations to silence their voices or anesthetize their idealism.

The 81-year-old Roman Catholic leader led a long and solemn Palm Sunday service before tens of thousands in St. Peter’s Square, many of them young people there for the Catholic Church’s World Day of Youth.

Drawing on biblical parallels, Francis urged the young people in the crowd not to let themselves be manipulated.

“The temptation to silence young people has always existed,” Francis said in the homily of a Mass.

“There are many ways to silence young people and make them invisible. Many ways to anesthetize them, to make them keep quiet, ask nothing, question nothing. There are many ways to sedate them, to keep them from getting involved, to make their dreams flat and dreary, petty and plaintive,” he said.

“Dear young people, you have it in you to shout,” he told young people, urging them to be like the people who welcomed Jesus with palms rather than those who shouted for his crucifixion only days later.

“It is up to you not to keep quiet. Even if others keep quiet, if we older people and leaders, some corrupt, keep quiet, if the whole world keeps quiet and loses its joy, I ask you: Will you cry out?”

The young people in the crowd shouted, “Yes!”

2022 CAMPAIGN TEAMS:

Did you vie in the just concluded party nominations and general election?

Did you lose?

Do you aspire to vie again in 2022?

I have something to tell you.

Lunacy, it has been said, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The difference will be the same.

Every self-respecting aspirant by now ought to have done a postmortem. You should be knowing where you went wrong. Retrace your steps. Watereire ikinya ha?

Going forward you should figure out how to avoid repeating those mistakes.

Above all, REORGANIZE YOUR CAMPAIGN TEAM. Variety is the spice of life. Inject new blood. Bring in new faces. If Fideljesus was riding in your lap in 2017 send him to the back seat in 2022. Or boot. You cannot afford to go to battle with the same front line as the last time you lost.

Here is where you need to prepare your team well in advance. Don’t hibernate like my friend and expect you will return in December 2021, campaign for 7 months and win. Spend these 3 or 4 years sharpening your axe. Then in 2022 you shall use little strokes to fell great oaks.

Ni hayo tu kwa sasa.

WILLIAM RUTO 2022:

Over the last couple of weeks the Deputy President has held indoor marathon meetings with various counties’ leadership:

March 27 – Nakuru County leaders
March 22 – Kisii County Mps
March 20 – Nairobi County Mps
March 15 – Women Mps
March 13 – Meru County Mps
February 27 – Kiambu County Mps
February 20 – Tana River County leaders
February 20 – Nyeri County leaders

The list continues to grow. He is expected to meet delegations from more counties in coming weeks. I see this as a thinly veiled strategizing in readiness for future aspirations. As he once said, “Siasa ni kujipanga my fren.” The best time to make friends is before you need them.

2022 is taking shape right in front of our eyes. – How strategically placed are you as an individual and us as a County?
– Will we be mere voting machines or we will enjoy a piece of the National cake?