Feeds

13686 items (0 unread) in 79 feeds

• March 01, 2009
• 22:24

  What’s Coming: Fall Out Will Cause Some “To Sing Like Birds”

   » ‎ You Missed This
  JM Kariuki, Kenya Remembers You
  
  Today is March 2nd. On a day like today in 1975, the then popular MP for Nyandarua North, called Josiah Mwangi Kariuki or JM Kariuki was murdered. The man was killed in such a gruesome way that I suggest if you are eating while reading this, you should finish eating before reading the next paragraph. Or stop eating to read on.
  
  JM Kariuki, one of the first whistleblowers in Kenya. He paid for it with his life on a day like this one in March 1975.
  
  There were signs of torture, like cigarette burns but what is more, the MPs private parts had been cut off and stuffed into his mouth. The body was then soaked in acid to prevent it ever being recognized again. Still the body was found because wild animals cannot eat a body doused in acid. And then one of his wives was able to identify the badly disfigured and burnt body from a mark or scar of sorts on his inner thigh (where the acid did not reach, obviously it was mainly concentrated on his face).
  
  Despite strong leads developed by a parliamentary select committee (led by the late Elijah Mwangale) that investigated his grisly murder, those responsible for this most heinous crime have never been brought to book to date.
  
  But what I want to bring to your attention today my dear friends is a particular aspect of this popular legislator’s life that most writers have ignored when analyzing this assassination. JM was extremely wealthy. So where and how did he make his money?
  
  A few clues. JM was President Jomo Kenyatta’s very first press secretary. There is no doubt that he experienced first hand the colossal land-grabbing and corruption right when it started at the heart of Kenyatta’s very first administration. It is also quite possible that he shared in some of "the loot" that came in those early days.
  
  The human conscience is a strange thing and for some people it haunts them into confessing what they did and into also “selling out” their partners in crime.
  
  JM Kariuki grew to become an extremely vociferous voice against land grabbing and the rapid creation of millionaires within the Kenyatta kitchen cabinet at the expense of the masses. Hence his popular quote of "I don’t want to see a Kenya of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars.” Insiders in Kenyatta’s government must have been puzzled how somebody who had benefited from the system had so suddenly turned against it.
  
  Indeed JM will go down as one of the first real voices of opposition to corruption in the Kenyatta regime. It seems that many times whistle blowers are usually bad guys turned good who actually once participated in the evil they feel so compelled to expose.
  
  Fast forward to 2008. Constable Kirinya participated in the execution of numerous Kenyans until his conscience gave in and he decided to run for his life and spill the beans. (His story was first told here in Kumekucha.) Because of his brave action, we are able to understand much more clearer how the police were involved in mass murder of the very citizens they took an oath to protect. Amongst the guilty who were gunned down and murdered, you can be sure that hundreds of innocent, mostly povery stricken Kenyans lost their lives in the process.
  
  My whole point is that it is looking like the prayers of many ordinary Kenyans are being answered and what we are now witnessing is the conscience of some individuals giving in and spilling the beans of what is exactly happening. In some cases we are seeing former allies falling out and selling out each other. The best example here is what seems to be happening between Agriculture minister William Ruto and his former mentor Cyrus Jirongo. Information reaching this blogger indicates Jirongo got wind of an evil plot by Ruto to heap all the blame on Jirongo for the maize scandal and thus divert attention completely away from himself. And yet it is believed that Jirongo and Ruto acted together in the maize scandal. So what Jirongo did was spill the beans on the meetings that took place between Ruto and Martha Karua. This was simply a warning salvo to Ruto that he should not even think about selling out Jirongo. Well it seems to have worked like magic. because Ruto is so quiet now and the whole matter has dissapeared from the news.
  
  Just carefully watch what happens in Kenya next. I can guarantee that people will fall out and others will be betrayed and the result will be that some parties will start to “sing like a bird” (to quote the famous Mafia expression). Songs of freedom because they will reveal the truth which will set Kenya free from the stranglehold of the political class.Kumekucha

  

  

• 16:18

  Where Were You When Kenya Was Burning?

   » ‎ What An African Woman Thinks
  
  I went to the Kenya Burning Exhibition yesterday. On display was a collection of photographs chronicling the end of the election period last year and the violence that ensued thereafter.
  
  It took some pulling myself together to set me on my way.
  I was afraid to go because I was afraid of remembering and I was afraid not to go because I was afraid of forgetting.
  
  I went.
  
  I was reminded.
  
  It was a sobering experience.
  
  Just so you are forewarned, some of the photographs on display are quite brutal. The most grisly of them, though, are displayed in an enclosed space, and viewer discretion is sombrely advised.
  
  That is probably why the organisers thought the exhibition was unsuitable for children. They created a separate play area, away from the display, for children to be kept busy while their parents walked the aisles.
  
  I am informed that some parents defied this arrangement and insisted that their children see the photographs with them. They wanted their children to see 'reality' stark as it was.
  
  I passed by SocialSphere Blog some time yesterday and this particular blogger was speculating on how two key events, first 9/11 and now the economic crisis are shaping the current generation of Americans, the millenials, in a very particular way.
  
  That, coupled with my visit to the Kenya Burning Exhibition, got me wondering about our young people in Kenya and how the Post Election Violence of last year will shape them. I wonder how these photographs, and the events they depict, will impact upon, perhaps even define, the next generation in Kenya-especially those who were old enough to have at least a basic understanding of what was happening, but who were not yet old enough to vote during the last election. Will they take a step back or a step forward? Have we driven them into negative ethnicity, or are they going to find the courage to reach for a better way to be, to ensure that what happened will never happen again?
  
  I predict at least, that they will be a Haki Yetu/Our Rights generation. They are already visibly more feisty, more defiant, more rowdy and, in many ways, more hardened than we are. On the face of it, it is a welcome change from the pathetic way in which our generation has allowed its rights to be trampled on time and again and done nothing.
  
  I worry though, about the ways in which this new awareness of their rights will be channelled. In selfish or unselfish ways? Negatively or positively? For the good or detriment of society? This is what remains to be seen.
  
  As we wait to see, if you are in Nairobi and have not yet visited the Kenya Burning Exhibition at the KICC, there’s still tomorrow, and, as a recent bonus, Tuesday. It is well worth your time.
  
  Never Forget. Never Again.It's my window, but I don't own the view.

• 12:07

  Trial by Fire

   » ‎ Words Much Like Poetry
  by Kerri Miller (Guest Author)
  
  I am withstanding the fire of lies
  you have thrown against me.
  Charcoled black
  I stand firm upon what is real.
  The deceit you spread
  comes toward me with little effect
  or emotion on my part.
  
  I am separated from you forever,
  I dwell with the trusting and pleasant,
  not the vindictive and dishonest.
  Affected?
  Sure I am.
  But it feels so much better
  being away from you
  than it did having you near.
  Your mouth pronounces words of gossip
  and you speak of things you have no idea.
  
  It was only one day
  that you were my disaster
  and now it’s a new day;
  with my life ahead of me
  I walk firmer than ever
  more aware of what not to do.
  Given the ability to see inside people’s hearts
  I looked at yours
  and everything was black
  and why would anyone want that?
  
  12-04-03
• 11:53

  Addictions

   » ‎ Words Much Like Poetry
  in all its unscrupulous splendor
  and the pleasures of plunder
  it deprives me of my tranquility
  with its treacherous virility
  
  I am bathed in its eerie mists
  intoxicating and enchanting it persists
  yet without substance and respite
  my very being pursues it despite
  
  the withdrawals agonizing and crippling
  all is dark in the moment, the abyss grappling
  then a momentary silence of the moan
  with a faint hope it'll last past the morn
• 11:41

  Heal Me

   » ‎ Words Much Like Poetry
  I submitted this poem to Poetry.com and it qualified for the semi-finals in May 2002. It was published in the poetry collection book 'Letters from the soul' slated to have been released in Fall 2002.
  
  
  Sing with me
  mother nature
  as I am one with thee
  in my gloom,
  and glee
  
  sigh with me,
  at the dusk
  and darkness
  in my heart
  hark, my cry
  when on my knees,
  heal me!
  
  and rise with me,
  at the dawn,
  of the new me
  stronger
  no longer
  bound
  but free
  for always

• 7:40

  Arturs: Immortal Ghosts of Exotic Impunity

   » ‎ You Missed This
  Just like smelly skunks, the sickening ghosts of Artus brothers are in no hurry to leave our shores. The damning report by Muitie-led parliamentary committee exposes the real source of power that protected the Armenian drug dealers. In her attempts to sanitize her political standing, Martha Karua is one ambitious politician who will find it very hard to weave herself out of some of these nefarious political schemes. Her rants and empty pontifications only reduce to an elite propagandist.
  
  Stanley Murage may be gone out of State House, but the present Wanjohi-Kabue tiff is a replica of hitherto Murage/Wambui-Lucy wars. Exploiting the EXECUTIVE mad rush to auction anything still left standing in Kenya, the reign of economic and political mercenaries remain supreme. Add ex-CID boss Joseph Kamau to the mix and you find a potentially INTRA-DNA explosive mix.
  
  Only in Kenya do you find the head of public service CLEVERLY leaking top information to the press to divert national attention from ELITE INFIGHTING among the ruling class. The gatekeepers are must have completed the MASTER PLAN to legally OWN Kenya no matter the choice of the electorate.
  
  If you dreamt that Kenyans went to the polls (nay dogs) in 2007, then you better wake up from the delusion and see Kenya and her real owners who will stop at NOTHING to mortgage the tenants occupying their properties.
  
  The Artur brothers just like the Anglo Leasing scam before then are the twin faces defining the present regime. Their only crime was impatience to flaunt RAW POWER secure in the knowledge that sampling ROYAL FLESH earned them immunity and utmost protection.
  
  Royal flesh
  With top government bosses Michael Gichangi, Muthaura, Gituai and Wako sanctioning offering unfettered protection, the Artur brothers literally owned Kenya o behalf of their political masters. Asking the role of one Mary Wambui in all is akin to inviting the regimes apologists to a shouting match.
  
  You don’t have to be a neurologist to see where the source of ULTIMATE POWER behind the Arturs. It is unfortunate the abrasive hit men had to leave before accomplishing MISSION 2007.
  
  Well, the present global downturn may demand responsibility from financial CEOs to ensure no rewards for failure. Contrast that with Kenya's obtuse case impunity from the Arturs who were handsomely rewarded with police escort even after breaching airport security and beating customs officials and a CID officer.
  
  What is more, the Casanovas continued flirting with ROYALTIES for cover as they plotted more lethal deals within our borders. We surely live in interesting times and populate a uniquely owned property Kenya.Kumekucha

  

  

• 6:52

  Working towards a smaller Nairobi

   » ‎ Startups in Kenya

  Tags:  migration  

  Going to primary school in the boondocks after living in the States for years I was ridiculed heavily for my American accent, pudgy frame, 'Boyz n the Hood' hairstyle, and feather-soft palms. Not wanting to fall into that stereotype I worked hard at fitting in with the crowd. I swam in the river, played football barefoot, shed the weight, and did most of what was expected of a 12 year old boy in rural Kenya (Ok, Egerton University is not that rural anymore, but it was still mashambani in the early 90s). With time my peers accepted me and I no longer stood out like a sore thumb.
  
  Sad thing is once I joined a rural high-school, the cycle began all over again. Now, I know most of us have war stories on just how tough high-school life was and what we had to go through; but I'm pretty sure there are few who can top my experience. I did not go to high-school, I went to work in a hard-labour concentration camp where in exchange for labour in the farms and buildings we were given food, housing and education. Unfortunately I did not know this on my first day at school, and so in my struggle to fit in, I volunteered for the piggery assignment.
  
  The horrors of the piggery are best left to another post, but because of it and other similarly involving farm assignments in form one and two I became highly proficient in running and managing a small-scale farm. It is amazing how with good agricultural techniques, proper irrigation, and a disciplined labour force, a 20-acre piece of land could self-sufficiently feed 400 people all year round. And I'm not just talking beans and maize, but also chicken, milk, pork, turkey, mutton, fish, sausages, and a full vegetable menu.
  
  I eventually came to Nairobi, and my palms and fingers have lost their calluses and I can no longer wield a jembe like a Samurai's katana. Business integrated with technology is now what puts bread on the table, and I get my veggies from the supermarket. Nonetheless I'm still nostalgic of those days when I was part of a community that was able to feed itself very well even with limited resources.
  
  Anyone who has come to Nairobi after growing up into adult hood in rural areas knows the one great attraction Nairobi has over their home area: "opportunity". Some will call it money, but I think it's more than that. In Nairobi, there is a sense of hope that even if you did not meet your goals today, tomorrow has good prospects. That might explain why Nairobi is always on the move with choking vehicular and pedestrian traffic from 6 am to 9pm; as its residents follow up on their prospects. In rural areas the situation is markedly different, and residents will display a much more subdued ambulation, with early retirement at the setting of the sun.
  
  "Oh, if only rural areas could offer more opportunity, I would be the first to move back."
  
  All right, enough day dreaming, if something is going to change, it won't happen because some supernatural force wills it so. It can only happen if working together, Kenyans create opportunities in rural areas.
  
  Today I share with you the opportunity I hope to create, and it deals with the most basic and most crucial of economic activities; farming for food security. Through a close friend I am now in possession of a very high quality cultivar of sweet potatoes. Now for those who don't know ngwacis (sweet potatoes) and their leaves, when compared to other food crops are a super food crop; rich in nutrients, easy to cultivate, hardy enough to survive with limited rainfall, and surprise surprise, having several culinary preparations.
  
  I am currently piloting the cultivar on a one acre piece of land near Tala and have entered into talks with 15 farmers in Kiambu to set aside some land for more trials. A bigger challenge will be to educate the maize-obsessed public on the superiority of the alternative ngwacis. A manifestable success of this campaign will be to see Kenchic serving quarter na chips za ngwaci; or Uchumi stocking processed ngwaci flour.
  
  Of course growing ngwacis will not automatically reverse rural-urban migration but I'm hoping that it will at least show people that even rural, drought-prone, economically stagnant areas can have opportunity.
  

• 1:10

  New York City Blues (A Reprise)

   » ‎ Words Much Like Poetry
  
  
  my cobalt city,
  my indigo restraint,
  i thought to grow my wings here,
  to hone each gallant feather
  upon the flustering streets,
  the agitated walkways
  that run several countries
  and cultures deep,
  i did not expect an aviary
  to bound out of the metropolis,
  to spring closed and laud my seizure,
  but it has, but it did.
  
  i've gauged the reach
  it would take to appropriate my license,
  the unending azure sky
  needs only half as many strides to cross,
  and the good auspices have gone calling on others.
  come then defeat and take their place,
  let our association begin,
  turn me 'round the city's bend,
  tap me in celtic fashion
  at the entrance to the empire state,
  roam with me the botanical gardens
  and that place, central park,
  mourn with me, also,
  the ground that numbers nil.
  
  hide from me, though,
  my lady liberty,
  sight of her would surely persuade me
  to shed my winter skins,
  to stand taller as the trees do
  when the birds return their weights,
  to quiet the strums of the guitar blues
  and sway instead to the rhythm
  of unseen drums,
  marching me along to battle once more
  for the immunity of flight,
  the prerogative to soar.
  
  Image: Wamuhu Mwaura, Blue New York, 2009