Jameni yesterday after dustbowling I made the mistake of coming into town for other shuglis and going into Naivas Kenyatta Ave-Moi Avenue Junction. Little did I know what I was in for!

1. It is obvious that afflueza has ARRIVED WITH GUSTO in this here our beautiful Kiinya. Watu wana pesa dear frens. The joint was packed to capacity. Lines so long it takes ten minutes before you are served by a cashier. Walking space is kidogo sana. Shopping carts are full to BRIM with all sorts of the usual middle class fare. Food counter where cakes and chips and other junk are being sold has a huge huddle of waiting customeres .. herein is the problem.

2. Despite the clear Affluenza in the scene above ( I have been fortunate enough to see several cities majuu and in Africa and this scene would not be out of place with the best of them) 40% of the well dressed, moneyed pipo I saw there were..and there is not gracious way to say this...FAT! . The funny thing is the tu-momos are wearing tight tight things despite the size and the male tumbos can probably act as floating devices should they take a swim. Which leads to 3 below.

3. Is it time for GoK to declare obesity a national disaster before things get worse. A fat, unhealthy population will have SERIOUS national security implications because it will imperil things like big 4 HEALTH. A fatter population is more sick, less active in enhancing GDP and the ripple effect will be disastrous.

Kenyans, tugonge gymu jameni otherwise we will all be fat, fat, fat like South Africans. Now even the kids are becoming ka momos. In our heydeys we played footie, climbed trees, run races, explored the neighbourhoods, chased birds, had boxing matches and generally had an active life so obesity was an unheard of thing.

Isatragedy.

This is a sign that kiinyan economy is growing.We are literally at consumption stage

Sad but true. When South Africa economy was red hawwtt in the 80s and 90s our mu-cousins hupo got very very fat. Americans now are the fattest in the world due to many decades past of prosperity. As their economy now collapses and more become homeless obesity levels are dropping fast!!! Bachina pia are now battling with an obesity problem for the first time ever in their history.

Americans and their kids:

1 in 4 Americans is OBESE (which means basically 95% are either fat OR obese)
https://www.forbes.com/s...fographic/#62c42bc74bad






South Efrikens:

61% are fat or morbidly obese. Source:
http://sunbirdafrica.blo...ty-in-south-africa.html



Chinese:

10% of men and 15% of women are obese. Source:
https://www.theguardian....-problem-chinese-cities



Have you noticed that in all these cases it is the American style diet that is the cause: The minute the KFCs, Chicken Inns (knockoff of KFC), Mcdonalds, Pizza Inns and so on move in your country is doomed to obesity my brodas. Kenya if you are not careful, you are next!

This is an inevitability. Obesity is a disease of privilege. Most people prefer to just do the minimum in life. The response you will get from government will probably be to shift the formal definition of obesity upwards. That's what American government did to soothe their electorates feelings

I disagree. Kenya's economy was actually much better in the 1970s and 1980s. People could afford a lot more back then in terms of housing. Back then a junior accountant could buy a 3-bedroom home in say Ngumo or South B. Also today, 60% of city dwellers live in slums. I would say less than 20% lived in the slums during the 1980s and 1970s.

Like teh Langata Rd primary school land grab and teargassing the school kids. Land grabbers hawana aibu.

Unfortunately for you the evidence belies this vicious lie.

https://af.reuters.com/a...ews/idAFKBN1GZ0TK-OZATP

The problem with this airtight poverty theology of yours is that it belongs to the 1980s and 1990s and some are still using knowledge they read in woebegone books from that bygone era forgetting that Kenya made great leaps forward economically after 2002. In fact even the official poverty statistics may be misleading because the economy is largely informal so it is next to impossible to track the economic activities of those in the informal sector, many of whom are listed as under the poverty line merely because the government has no formal data on them (KRA returns not filed, no bank account registered, MPESA activity may not be registered in the person's own name, business highly informalised etc etc)

Have you been to the slums lately? My friend there is a HUGE OBESITY problem there as well! Go to any slum in Kenya and you will be shocked to find 1 out of ever 5 people there are not just FAT but OBESE. Don't believe me? Read hapa and weep!

https://nairobinews.nati...tus-found-kenyas-slums/

Slums of today are not the slums of the 1980s my mubroda, even despite the dire conditions there is huge economic activity going on there that was absent in the 1980s and in fact many middle class people (and even rich - eg landlords and thriving business owners) live humo humo!

As the economy of Kenya has been growing at 5% plus for the past 17 years more or less, the rising tide has lifted ALL BOATS in Kenya and poverty is reducing at rapid clip as obesity sky rockets.

Obesity is a co-disease of Affluenza and there is no doubt that affluenza has been with us for quite some time now.

Is there more work to be done in reducing poverty? Absolutely. But tackling obesity too will now become a big problem, even within the slums. Gava needs to start mechanisms in place to get people live healthier more active lives so that it does not become yet another national disaster IMHO.

Source of this stat?2009 population census says otherwise