Ian's Blog

  We live in a generation that treats kindness like a currency something you spend today so that life pays you back tomorrow. People say, “ Just be nice and good things will come your way. ” It sounds noble. It sounds comforting. It also sounds dangerously false. Because here’s the truth most people don’t want to hear: Being nice will never get you anything. And if it does, it was never guaranteed. Niceness was never meant to be a reward system. It was never meant to be a strategy for success. It was never meant to be a secret shortcut to blessings, opportunities, or popularity. Being a good person is not an investment portfolio. It is not a loyalty card with points you redeem later. It is simply a way of being one that does not promise applause or protection. But somewhere along the way, society distorted kindness into a transactional religion. People started treating goodness like a deal with the universe: “ I helped you, so help me. ” “ I supported you, so support me.” “I d...

  One of the most overlooked truths about human relationships is that no two people ever experience the same person in the same way. We often assume that because we grew up in the same house, under the same roof, with the same mother and father, we must have shared identical childhoods. But in reality, even siblings, raised by the same parents carry profoundly different emotional memories, interpretations, and wounds. What people forget is this: parents are not static beings. They are shaped by time, circumstances, and their own evolving struggles. By the time one child is born, the parent is someone entirely different from who they will be for the next child. A firstborn often meets parents who are young, inexperienced, anxious, and determined to “get it right.” A lastborn, on the other hand, meets parents who are older, more relaxed, possibly more financially stable, or more emotionally tired. Middle children meet versions of parents who are juggling the chaos of life, career pre...

For decades, Kenya’s politics has been defined by ambiguity, personality cults, and a deliberate withholding of critical information from the electorate. Presidential campaigns often revolve around charisma, ethnicity, and dramatic populist promises rather than a clear, verifiable blueprint of governance. Yet elections determine not just who occupies State House but who will run key ministries, shape public policy, manage billions in public funds, and influence Kenya’s developmental trajectory for decades. It is therefore both logical and necessary to demand that presidential candidates disclose their cabinet secretaries, their assigned portfolios, and the Head of Public Service before elections. Such a requirement is not merely procedural; it represents an essential reform aimed at restoring integrity, transparency, and competence within Kenya’s governance ecosystem. The current system encourages political theatrics over substantive leadership. Candidates spend years campaigning wit...

  Many times online, I’ve come across a narrative that honestly doesn’t sit well with me. It’s the growing trend of dismissing university degrees, calling them “useless,” or implying that anyone who went through the academic journey somehow made the wrong choice. I want to say this clearly and gently: do not let anyone reduce the value of your education. You spent four years or even more working hard, showing up for classes, writing exams, conducting research, surviving stress, and pushing yourself through seasons that many people will never understand. That journey is not useless. It is meaningful, it is valid, and it deserves respect. There is a certain confidence that people on the internet have gained these days, especially when speaking down on formal education. They argue that degrees are unnecessary, that “school is a scam,” or that success comes only from entrepreneurship or luck. While it’s true that the world is changing and that there are many paths to success, it does n...

  We like to pretend that morality is a clean, universal standard that right is always right, wrong is always wrong, and everyone who fails should be condemned equally. But real life exposes a far more uncomfortable truth: all of us are selective sinners. We commit the sins we are comfortable with, excuse them, justify them, even spiritualize them and then judge others for the sins we find personally uncomfortable or socially unacceptable. It is one of the oldest human hypocrisies, and one of the most persistent. The sins we comfortably carry Every person has weaknesses they tolerate in themselves. Some people lie easily but react with disgust toward someone who steals. Others gossip freely but condemn people who cheat. Some struggle with lust but criticize people who drink. There are those who have tempers yet judge those who are greedy. Everyone has a moral blind spot,  a category of wrongdoing they downplay because it is familiar, because it is convenient, or because it...

  When your country is constantly mentioned in the same breath as corruption, money laundering, fraud, and terror financing, something strange happens: the world looks at you the same way a parent looks at a child who brings home a “We tried” award. Suddenly, the stigma stops being about the system and starts becoming about you . The sins of the nation follow its people like a bad smell. You don’t just carry a passport; you carry a reputation that enters the room five seconds before you do. At every airport, every bank, every form—your nationality starts speaking on your behalf, and trust me, it’s not giving a TED Talk. An X useer recently shared a painful reality. The kind that makes you die inside: “I can’t do a simple bank transfer from a Swedish bank to a Kenyan bank because the EU has flagged Kenya for corruption, high risk of money laundering & supporting terrorism. You don’t know what a limitation this is.” Imagine that your personal money, your clean money, your hard-...