Oh death, where is thy sting?

Oh death, oh death where, where is thy sting? Oh death where, where is they victory?
This statement rings melodious in my mind. It is from Handel’s messiah, and I can listen to it endlessly, without getting tired.

But for the last few days, I sing it in my heart as I think of Easter. And the resurrection. It is said that Jesus overcame death…and this is supposed to be the core of our salvation, i mean, we who are christians.

And just the other day, some ministers perished in a plane crash. And we saw the victory of death. At least over Kibaki.

Deaths victory for him was so much that he decided to go back to Godly ways. In the process, he asked Kenyans to pray and be forgiven…what have Kenyans done to be asking for this forgiveness?

The sting of death is...when people were massacred in Turbi, Northeastern province, and Kibaki did not call for prayers. Neither did he send those army jets we see being paraded on national holidays to protect the lives of these very deserving Kenyans.

The sting of death is ...only when cabinet ministers die?

Death’s victory. And I’m thinking, who is the winner when Kenyans in North-eastern are dying of famine (which can and should be prevented)

Who is the victor, when money is allocated to the wrong projects, and the rest of the country continues to suffer endlessly?

Who is the victor, when unscrupulous people steal from the public coffers and enjoy a lavish lifestyle, while the rest languish in untold suffering?

I am still wondering, in this death and resurrection period…oh death, where is thy sting?

******

The Media Maverick columnist got it all wrong
In his weekly column, he starts by saying that news people forgot the fourth medium- the internet, that they could exploit “to a staggering effect” to inform netizens of the Marsabit plane tragedy.

He goes on further to claim that the Daily Nation only carried a 2*2 inch photo on the internet edition of the ill- fated planes’ tail. He surely did not look better into that site because I personally uploaded those photos. Or maybe his browser had a problem?

While it is true that the BBC website offered its readers “the story in pictures,” and had a wealth of links such as country profiles- it is not true that the Kenyan online news continues to be basic and static. Indeed. The first place everyone –even those in Kenya who have internet access - go to whenever there is breaking news, is the websites!

And there is evidence that our audiences are always satisfied with the services they receive because of the tremendous amount of feedback we (online editors) get through e-mails and comments on the site, and through online discussion forums.

Most Kenyan online news sites are constantly updated throughout the day, using the last technology applicable.

It is not true that the country has refused to accept the online platform as a major news medium. If this where true, the millions of online readers at nationmedia.com would have already shifted their base, to the so called intenational channels, who, by the way, rarely report anything positive from the region.

On the fateful day, as the president declared 3-days of national mourning, no less than 30 minutes elapsed before a full update was posted on the daily nation website, in addition to the breaking news story that was already there.

If the media maverick wants to do a critique of online journalism, there are several avenues he could start with, not the sizes of photos posted on the sites.