Kenya Stockholm Blog

In a transforming Kenya, a group of people has created a new tribe.
Applied Theories of Expanding Minds shows some of them engaged in ritual
actions with the purpose of changing their community.

Applied Theories of Expanding Minds was filmed in Nairobi, Kenya, during
autumn 2009 and is shown as a videoinstallation consisting of eight
projections.

ZBR Productions was created by Rut Karin Zettergren, Lena Bergendahl and
Jennifer Rainsford in 2008. They show their mutual piece – Applied Theories
of Expanding Minds – as their Final Exhibition at the Royal University
College of Fine Arts.

Opening saturday february 13th 14-20
Open hours: weekdays 12-18, weekends 12-17
Adress: Galleri Mejan, Exercisplan 3, Skeppsholmen, 111 49 Stockholm,
oposite Moderna Museet

Further details, visit the Website

“VALENTINES DAY” CONCERT DEKULA BAND (Ngoma ya Kilo) at Lilla Wien

Venue: “Little Nairobi” Bar & Restaurant:
Date:12-13 Feb 2010 Friday & Sato
Time: 21-01
Address: Swedenborgsgatan 20
Pendel: Stockholm Södra

Karibuni Wapendanao”

Africa Film Festival official poster

CinemAfrica’s Film Festival opens in Stockholm on 24-28 February and offers the best and latest films from the African continent and Diaspora. The 2010 program contains 28 films from 12 countries. Super fresh programs are available from the festivals cinema hall, Sture, Zita, Bio Rio and Klarabiografen of Culture.

The opening film this year is Ethiopian Atletu, a film about one of the sports world’s most fascinating stories, Abebe Bikila. He became famous overnight in 1960, when he ran barefoot to take home Olympic gold in the marathon in Rome. But his history is both dramatic and tragic. At his side stood (the whole time), his Swedish coach, Onni Niskanen (in the movie played by Dag Malmberg). The festival’s opening ceremony will include the film’s two directors, Rasselas Lakews (who also plays the lead role) and Davey Frankel and Onni Niska’s nephew, Ulf Niskanen.

A top attraction is also the feature film, Moloch Tropical, a satirical tale of power mad leaders and growing popular discontent. The film is made by Raoul Peck, born in Haiti and raised in DR Congo, and can be viewed as a fresco of political leadership in his country of birth. Raoul Peck (who also made the films, Lumumba and Sometimes in April) will also be appearing at the festival.  This year, we also show a series of movies about women who have had enough, the women who make up and about women who rebel.

From Egypt, Scheherazades feminist – A thousand-and-a-night, is presented in a talk show environment . In the documentary, I Loved So Much, we are told, in a rare presentation, the story of how Moroccan women were forced to become prostitutes in the service of French soldiers in Indochina.

From South Africa, there is an invitation of famous Shirley Adams (recently nominated for Ingmar Bergman Debut Prize) in a cinematic punch while in the comedy, A Women Like No Other, from Burkina Faso, Mina takes a second husband.

We are also proud that for the first time in history, CinemAfrica will be able to show an African science fiction based on the day in which water and oxygen became hard. For futher info and detailed film updates, visit CinemAfrica’s web site.

Cinema Africa

Mfumo wa Utawala Uambatane na Mfumo wa Vyama Vingi
Makala ya Nguvu ya Hoja kwa KSB Jumapili Februari 7, 2010

Ndugu Mwandawiro Mghanga

Wakenya wengi wanataka kuhifadhiwa kwa mfumo wa vyama vingi. Kwani mfumo wa vyama vingi ulipatikana kutokana na mapambano makali na ya muda mrefu ya wazalendo, wengi wao wakilazimika kusakwa, kukamatwa, kuteswa, kufungwa, kuwekwa vizuizini pasina kupelekwa mahakamani, kusukumwa uhamishoni, kunyimwa haki ya ajira na hata kuuawa.

Mfumo wa vyama vingi ni pato la kidemokrasi la wananchi wa Kenya linalostahili kulindwa kwa kila hali. Nikitazama taarifa ya kamati ya bunge ya urekebishaji katiba ambayo ilikutana Naivasha kuhakiki taarifa ya wataalamu wa katiba inayoongzwa na Nzamba Kitonga, ninaona kuwa mfumo wa vyama vingi uko hatarini. Na endapo mfumo wa vyama vingi nchini ukapuuzwa, basi demokrasi yenyewe itakabaliwa na mashaka makubwa. Maana kutokana na historia dhidi ya ukoloni na imla, mfumo wa vyama vingi ni msingi wa kujenga utamaduni wa kidemokrasi na haki za binadamu.

Tena ni wa kuhakikisha amani endelevu maana unatoa fursa ya mageuzi ya serikali na utawala kufanyika kupitia kwa kura wala siyo bunduki. Hili linafaa kuzingatiwa na kamati ya wataalamu ambayo sasa inatayarisha rasimu ya mwisho ya katiba itakayopelekwa bungeni ili wabunge waijadili na kuiwasilisha kwa kura za maoni za wananchi. Wabunge nao wasiwe na pupa na papara ya kupitisha rasimu ya katiba ya kuturudisha tulikotoka. Ikumbukwe kuwa tunahitaji katiba itakayotuongezea demokrasi, haki, uhuru, amani, maendeleo na ambayo itaboresha maisha ya kila mtu na kabila nchini.

Ingawa pia inahitaji kupigwa msasa, rasimu ya katiba ya kamati ya watalamu si mbaya. Kwani ilimulika kwa kiasi kikubwa sana maoni ya wananchi yaliyokusanywa na Tume ya Urekebishaji Katiba ya Kenya na ambayo yalifikia kilele chake kwa kongamano za Bomas na kutoa katiba ya Bomas. Katika swala nyeti la utawala, Wakenya wengi walitaka mamlaka ya Rais yapunguzwe na kusambazwa kwa taasisi zingine, hasa bunge. Ndiyo kwa maana kamati ya wataalamu ikapendekeza mfumo wa utawala ambapo kutakuwa na Rais atakaekuwa mkuu wa dola na waziri mkuu ambaye atakuwa mkuu wa serikali. Katika kupiga msasa mapendekezo haya, tunaona ni bora rais asichaguliwe moja kwa moja na wananchi bali achaguliwe na bunge.

Awe karagosi wa kitaifa. Lakini waziri mkuu achaguliwe moja kwa moja na wananchi ili wakati wa uchaguzi tuwe tunapigia kura vyama pamoja na kiongozi wa vyama na sera zao. Nacho chama ambacho kitakuwa na wabunge wengi zaidi au ambacho kitafanya muungano wa vyama mkubwa zaidi ndicho kitakachounda serikali chini ya waziri mkuu mwenye mamlaka ya kusimamia serikali. Hili linamulika na kufungamana na mfumo wa vyama vingi maana chama kinachopigiwa kura nyingi zaidi na wananchi kinastahili kuunda serikali ili kitekeleze sera zake zilizopigiwa kura na wananchi kwa kipindi kinachowekwa na katiba, miaka mitano. Huu ndiyo mfumo wa ubunge. Mfumo wa ubunge unatoa fursa ya kujenga utamaduni wa demokrasi ya mapambano ya hoja na maono wala siyo ukabila na pesa.

Wabunge wameupuuza na kuutupilia mbali mfumo wa ubunge huko Naivasha. Aidha, wamependekeza kuwa haki za wafanyikazi, usalama wa kijamii, huduma za afya, nyumba, chakula, maji, haki katika sheria, lugha na utamaduni zisiwe haki za kikatiba. Si ajabu kwamba wengi wa wabunge hao hawajawahi kushiriki katika harakati za kidemokrasi na haki za binadamu nchini. Badala yake walikuwa wakiupigia debe udikteta huku wakipinga mfumo wa vyama vingi. Walikuwa wakichuma mali kupitia kwa mfumo wa ufisadi, uporaji, ukabila, upendeleo, unyonyaji na udhalimu. Wengine wao wako siasani kutetea mashamba na mali ya wizi waliyonyakua na kurithi kutoka kwa baba zao. Wana harakati wachache waliyokuwako Naivasha walishawishika kuunga mkono njama hizi dhidi ya demokrasi maksuudi.

Dunia ni mduara, waliyokuwa wakipinga marekebisho ya kikatiba sasa ati ndiyo wanaotuandikia katiba. Huku wakitumia propaganda kupitia kwa vyombo vya habari, wanapigia debe rais ambaye atakuwa na mamlaka kama ya mfalme. Zaidi ya mamlaka makubwa mno aliyo nayo katika katiba ya sasa, kamati ya wabunge huko Naivasha imemuongezea uwezo wa kuchagua mawaziri kutoka nje ya bunge. Yanayosemwa ati wabunge wataathiri uteuzi wa rais ni porojo tupu katika hali halisi maana mawaziri hawa ambao si lazima watokane na vyama vya kisiasa, watawajibika kwa rais tu wala siyo kwa vyama, itikadi wala sera. Rais naye hatawajibika moja kwa moja kwa bunge, chama cha kisiasa au sera za chama. Atatawala tu kama mfalme kutoka ikulu.

Je, kamati ya Nzamba Kitonga inaweza kuokoa jahazi kwa kuwa na ujasiri ya kuchuja na kuchekecha maoni ya kamati ya wabunge kama maoni ya Wakenya wowote wale katika kuandika rasimu ya mwisho itakayowasilishwa bungeni? 

Mwandawiro Mghanga, Barua pepe: mwandawiro2002(at)yahoo.com

Kenyan dude accepting responsibility

If you have been wondering what may have happened to the “Pregnant paperless Kenyan chick” whose storo was served to KS-Beers for Supper last year, she has delivered a bouncing baby although our spies could not get the gender of the lucky kid because information dried up very quickly when our source panicked for unknown reasons.

A few weeks after the storo hit KSB, interesting developments began to take place. A “Committee of Experts (CoE)” in Kenya-Stockholm began to sit at Vasa Temple on a daily basis to analyze numerous comments at KSB in a bid to put a name on the Kenyan dude who had allegedly been consuming the goods of the paperless chick without a “Strategic Defence Shield” that could protect him from occupational hazards associated with full access to the sumptuous goods “made in Kenya”.

The shield is made of plastic and is known to work even under very high temperatures, high friction and rocking motions known to accompany Mhanyo flights to the paradise of pleasure. When he got to the “cock-pit” with the chick, locked in the gears before reaching “a point of no return”, the guy forgot to “activate” the shield and cruised unprotected. In simpler terms, it is like riding a motor bike without a helmet.

The known risks when you are a naughty bull cruising at “high romantic altitudes” with an unprotected missile include what is called “Balooning”, a dangerous process that can ignite instant crisis if it is not aborted on time. You balloon by shooting the ball into the goal and once it’s in, you are fixed because to undo the process through abortion, you will always be at the mercy of the goal-keeper who spread out her legs and let the ball slip through. It is not the normal football where you can return the ball to the center of the field after scoring.

Unfortunately, you never know that you scored until you get a phone call from the goal-keeper with a coded message saying that “I have missed my flight this month and I am worried”. At first, the guy downplayed the matter so he told the gate-keeper to “update” him about developments. He wanted time to think about it because he got the message.

Another risk of unprotected activity is “baby responsibility” for 18 years, a burden which is known to drive guys to kronofogden aka “krono” with serious economic consequences including personal financial ruin especially if you have been producing different copies of yourself by visiting every store that opens its door for business. In practical terms, you might find your hours at Vasa reduced drastically when you have to report on duty to change diapers, push the pram to the clinic and other unspecified destinations or do the baby sitting because the mother of the thing wants to take a break at the disco with friends. In this case, the Kenyan dude understood that things were really bad when the goal keeper refused to agree to a solution that would expel the ball from her tummy because she was a Christian and she had to keep it.

However, the most dreaded risk of cruising unprotected is landing in a situation where Kenyans have to changaa so that your remains can be transported to the mother land (according to your Kenyan culture) for burial. Just like an Aeroplane can crush at high altitude if there is a serious mechanical problem, your health system can also crush if the goods you have been consuming are infected with a deadly poison called HIV known to cause AIDS (Acha Iniue Dogogo Siachi). For non Swahili speakers, that means “Let it kill me I am not leaving the young chicks”.

Once your whole machine develops “mechanical problems”, is brought to the garage to be examined by Doctors and you are told that your main equipment aka “crank shaft” may have picked up HIV when you were spinning on the “football field” of a bed you acquired at over Ksh 100.000 to increase pleasure, you would be dumb if you don’t begin to count your days on earth. The question is: why should you get into this situation if you can prevent it? We hope that the guy and the chick are healthy.

Saved By KSB Commentators
For Kenya-Stockholmers, it’s all very easy once you kick the bucket and your body is lying at Karolinksa morgue as Kenyans mobilize to raise funds so that you can make that final trip to R.I.P. They will begin to talk about you and the biggest contributors of hot gossip within the community are well known – Watu Wengine, Sam Pippo, Wakenya, Nilisikia and akina Inasemekana ya Kwamba among others.

As they swallow during fund raising, they will be saying things like: “This guy lakini, he is useless because why has he been hanyaring out of control, bedding every chick he bumps into without protection?” Others will be like: “He thought he is the Dume in town, now look. We Kenyans should not be coming to these kinds of harambees especially after people have become stupid”.

In the meantime, the Master of Ceremony, will be pumping people with sweet talk. “Mareja Reja was a good guy. He was liked by everybody because he was very generous (used to waste cash buying vinywaji at Vasa). He could welcome you (the chicks) in his house at any time. He loved being Kenyan (dating many women) and he took good care of all the friends he loved (hanyad all the women he dated without shame). He should serve as an example (through his death) because if he was not loved, so many people could not have come here today (to witness the example of carelessness). Let his death serve as a lesson to us all (hanya unprotected at your own risk) because one day, everybody will have to leave this world (he left early due to his stupidity).

The pregnant paperless chick was actually saved by commentators at KSB because once the Experts identified the bull, they sent underground Press Releases to various rumour channels and Kenya-Stockholm hot gossip Radio stations which all went on air with “Breaking news”. “Inasemekana ya kwamba the guy who ballooned the paperless chick is Man Usitaje Kamwe”, went one broadcast as other Stations added even more clues: “The guy is known to swallow only Machozi ya Simba (Konjakto)”.

By then, the paperless chick was still confused and didn’t know what to do. When the coded ID of the guy was released, real Kenyan men and women began to call him, asking him to take responsibility.  The dude was told that the storo was already at the blog and that in order not to make matters worse, he should take in the chick and save her from tribulations because he was part and parcel of creating the crisis.

According to agents, everywhere the guy went, he was told the same thing while at KSB, commentators began to work overtime, dishing all sorts of advice to the troubled chick at her hour of need. One Kenyan woman in her 50s is reported to have been calling the guy almost daily, urging him to take in the girl because she is carrying her baby. “If she decides to do something bad, you will be responsible”, he was told. With heavy “panel beating” to try and get the guy to accept reality, it was a matter of time before the guy decided to call it a day at the “Denial chamber”. He accepted responsibility for duplicating himself through the known and deep channels that passes in between the valleys where the sweet goods are kept.

As we write, the dude and the chick are a happy couple and since a “paper child” has now come to reality, the couple could as well be talking about having a “long-term relationship” Kipepeo style.

KSB takes this opportunity to congratulate the couple following the birth of their sweet child. Most importantly, we take this opportunity to congratulate the Kenyan dude for having thought about the matter especially on the question of “responsibility”.

Many thanks to KS-Beers who did their work through the “normal way” of “commentarigatan”. We published the storo in good faith and now that it has ended well, everybody should be happy. The guy deserves congratulation for a work well done.  As they say, “All is well that ends well”.

Okoth Osewe

Taken!

If you have been wondering what may have happened to Kipepeo, the cute Kenyan lady who is said to have ignited a scuffle among senior Kenya-Stockholm bachaleros, she has already been taken and indications are that she may never become a chips-funga, at least for now.

Because of “National interest”, KSB has been following developments and the latest is that she is nestling in the crib of a young Kenyan dude who beat all the bachelor odiangabuks in the race to take her home, seemingly “for G”.

In making her choice on what she wants, she appears to have made her calculations carefully, backed by intelligence from her reliable contacts, personal observations and experience. This is because she has chosen a young and stylish dude with “both feet on the ground”. When a KSB agent checked them out during an outing in town, “they appeared to synchronize well”, both in physique and dressing mode. Besides, their personal chemistry is said to have been mixing well, like tea and sugar.

The winning dude is known not to take chances with his dressing style by doing shopping at Myrona, the second hand shop. His clothes are known to be “labeled” with identifiable brands in the market, a quality that may have caught the attention of  the equally stylish Kipepeo.

Apart from the dressing mode, the dude is a smooth talker. According to some Kenyans, he could talk Osama bin Laden out of his hide-out in Afghanistan if he had access to CNN so you can imagine what he can do with a cutie who has caught his attention.

Some competitors who styled their approaches around “Baby I love” rhythms are said to have been dumped within the first few hours while others who were simply “flashing papers” as the major bargaining chips were put on the waiting list when the winning dude ushered Kipepeo into a BMW, took her to a movie and later dropped her home without talking about papers or trying to jazz her with “Baby I love you” talk. The biggest development that day was that a new date was fixed and that is when Kipepeo is reported to have began to pay attention to the dude on a serious note.

Another advantage was that among all the bachaleros who were chasing her, only two had cars. While the winning dude was rolling a BMW, his competitor is said to have been at a big disadvantage because he had a rickety ramshackle that kept on squeaking on the road. The winning dude is said to have advised Kipepeo via sms to be careful and not ride in “Mikebe contraptions” because of the risk of being stopped by police at night. When the mikebe guy called to “pick her up”, Kipepeo began to give excuses. “I am not feeling well”, “my hair is being done today”, “I am going home by taxi, don’t worry” and other endless explanations took over.

As the winning dude made more impacts, Kipepeo changed her cell number to dump the Odiangabuk bachaleros who were on her trail and once she updated the dude about this move, it was like she sent “talk to me boy” signals and the dude did not hesitate. He gave her a new and sophisticated phone for a present, arguing that her old phone (which was not cheap by the way) could embarrass him when they are with friends.

A series of dates that saw them through expensive dinners and swings at exotic disco joints eventually landed them in the guy’s well furnished crib after a Taxi ride. Once home, it is said that the sealing of a romantic deal was a fore-gone conclusion.

KSB is under instruction not to give a lot of detail but according to whispers, Kipepeo’s future in Sweden also appears to be guaranteed because although the “celebrity couple” is said not to have put mapepe on the table, insiders say that they are talking about a “long-term relationship”. At some stage, this could put mapepe on the works, another good reason for Kipepeo to stay.

It is understood that Kipepeo is aware that if she miscalculates, she might land into a chips funga situation and to avoid this, it looks like she has been searching for a sense of seriousness in a guy who is not just interested in “goods consumption” but who can also treat her with respect.

It seems as though she has found her match, a reality which means that losers may have to wait for the couple to enter into crisis so that they can try their luck once again. Indications are that this may be a long wait. What happens in between may become substance for hot Kenya-Stockholm gossip as the cold winter continues to bite and cell phones continue to “warm up” especially during the evening after work! If you want the latest, “press 6” on KSB’s hotline otherwise if you have something hot on the works, you can press 2.

Okoth Osewe

Details:

BMW 316i Compact
Year Model 1995, Distance covered: 22.150 miles
Gear Box Manual
Open roof, car radio, service book
Petrol Driven
Colour Exterior: Black but interior Calypso Red
Remote control; Central locked
ABS break system
Winter tyres mounted on the wheels,
Summer tyres mounted on aluminum
Airbag: For the driver and the front passenger

It’s insured and taxed, easy to park, consume little gasoline/petrol, no animal has ever inhabited it while a non-smoker has been using it. The following has been replaced; Sparkplugs, engine oil, oil filter, air filters and silencer

If anyone is serious and want to  buy, the Price can be discuss after test driving it and feeling how the machine cruise

THE PRICE IS 25,500 kronor

Interested? Contact KSB.

“I (Jesus) HAVE loved you even as the Father (God)  has loved me. Live with my love. When you obey me you are living in my love, just as I obey my Father and live in his love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your cup of joy will overflow! I demand that you love each other as much as I love you”.

“And here is how to measure it- the greatest love is shown when a person lays down his life for his friends; and you are my friends if you obey me. I no longer call you slaves, for a master doesn’t confide in his slaves; now you are my friends, proved by the fact that I have told you everything the Father told me”.

“You didn’t choose me! I chose you! I appointed you to go and produce lovely fruit always, so that no matter what you ask from the Father, using my name, he will give it to you. John 15: 9-16.”

Moses and Pamela would like to thank God because of his faithfulness and kindness. They do take this opportunity to thank Mr. and Mrs. Muirani, Mr. and Mrs. Njenga, Mr. Ken Munge and Ms. Irene Wakonyo, Ms. Sophia Njoroge and Ms. Catherine Maundu who worked tirelessly to organise for the baby shower which was very successful.

They do also thank all those who interceded to God to make the day a successful one. They do also thank all Kenyans and friends who really turned up in big numbers.”On behalf of our daughter, Faith Makena, we are really humbled and may God bless you all and thank you ounce again”.

We are to love each other as Jesus loved us, and he loved us enough to give his life for us. We may not have to die for someone, but there are other ways to practice sacrificial love: listening, helping, encouraging, giving. Think of someone in particular who needs this kind of love today. Give all the love you can, and then try to give a little more.

On behalf of friends of Moses and Pamela,

Bro. Muirani.

Revised Harmonized Draft
CONSTITUTION OF KENYA

Comprising the recommendations agreed upon as a result of the deliberations of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Review of the Constitution in accordance with section 32(1) (c) of the Constitution of Kenya Review Act, 2008 and presented to the Committee of Experts pursuant to section 33(1) of the Constitution of Kenya Review Act, 2008 on 29th January 2010.

Download: PSC Draft to Committee of Experts

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

REPORT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION ON THE REVIEWED HARMONIZED DRAFT CONSTITUTION

Comprising the Recommendations agreed upon as a result of the deliberations of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Review of the Constitution in accordance with Section 32(1)(C) of the Constitution of Kenya Review Act, 2008 and Presented to the Committee of Experts Pursuant to Section 33(1) of the Constitution of Kenya Review Act, 2008 on 29th January, 2010.

Download: Final Report of PSC’s Naivasha Retreat

This is in response to numerous emails to KSB calling for a Socialist view of the constitutional writing process. I hope that much of the key questions raised by readers have been answered in this article otherwise feel free to mail any further questions.

"The Constitution is a piece of paper"

As a political entity, the Kenya Red Alliance (KRA) has a clear position on the Draft Constitution. Everyone agrees that Kenya needs a new and democratic constitution acceptable to all the people of Kenya. For more than three decades, the process of writing this new constitution has continuously been hampered by competing interests within the capitalist ruling class since the days of former Dictator Daniel arap Moi with various ad hoc Committees being set up and partisan Party groupings crystallizing to either subvert the process, hijack or manipulate it to their own advantage.

Although the production of a perfect constitution might not be possible especially when the process is not all inclusive, there is clear indication to suggest that the content of the final Draft of the constitution presented by the PSC will not serve the general interests of millions of Kenyans across the country.

Regardless of whether or not more than one million Kenyans gave their views to PSC on the Draft, the arrangement under which PSC was created and the circumstances of its officials means that the final Draft will carter for the collective interests of the ruling class with differences having been witnessed at the ODM/PNU Party level in far-away discussion settings in Naivasha and other luxury hotels across the country before the two parties compromised to give Kenya a new brand of Imperial President.

Most importantly, the Draft Constitution does not address the most serious issues affecting millions of Kenyans today namely the right to food, clothing and shelter. Under the political and economic arrangement in Kenya presided over by the rich and where millions are living under sub-human conditions, even the drafting of the most democratic constitution will not put food on the table for the starving millions across the country. This is because the constitution is not designed to check the greed of the wealthy owners of capital who control food distribution networks across the country. The consequence is that food prices will continue to rise, inflation will continue to spiral while more Kenyans will enter into the “Starvation list” because the Draft Constitution leaves food pricing on the hands of profit makers and their allies.

Socialists believe that the constitution is a piece of paper whose overall importance can only be recognized if the power to implement its content is on the hands of the majority of citizens with workers, the main producers of wealth, playing a key role in the whole process. However democratic a constitution may be, the general perspective within the Socialist camp is that the capitalist ruling class will always violate the document whenever their interests are threatened especially during crisis or social upheavals occasioned by revolt against repressive laws or revolutionary activity which threaten to overturn the rich man’s system. One quick example will suffice.

The colonial constitution under which Kenya is governed at the moment guarantees both Freedom of Assembly and Freedom of Association but since the Coalition government was cobbled by Kofi Anan, it has been banning public rallies (just like Moi did) even when the conveners have followed the law and served police with notices about rallies, the basic requirement under the current law. In some cases, the government has sent police to shoot to kill or tear gas innocent civilians during demonstrations so, where is the guarantee that under the new constitution, rules will be respected? Kenyans need to wake up and think beyond the constitution. The current constitution allows for freedom of expression but when books that threaten the status quo are published by Kenyans, the banning of books has been used by the State as a weapon to curtail freedom of expression and the right of Kenyans to know. It all boils down to who controls the implementation of the constitution and in whose interest.

In the case of Kenya, much of the drafting, discussion and the so called “harmonization” of the Draft document was left on the hands of agents working for the system. Although PSC members seem to hold impeachable credentials, those handling the document have a duty to ensure that its final content does not threaten the vested economic and political interests of the capitalist ruling class and their foreign backers. Once again, let me give a few examples.

The Draft Constitution increases the number of MPs at taxpayer’s expense without any added quality in governance. At the same time it does not reduce the one million shillings in salaries of sitting MPs who refused to pay taxes on their huge salaries. Is that democratic?

Secondly, the Draft does not abolish private ownership of vast pieces of land therefore, known and well documented land grabbers (local and foreign) like President Mwai Kibaki, former dictator Daniel arap Moi, the entire Kenyatta family, grand children of former white colonial masters owning vast estates in the Rift Valley etc can rest assured that their ill-gotten wealth will not be affected if the constitution is adopted through Parliament. In this sense, the draft is serving the interests of wealth grabbers and their foreign allies.

The content of the Draft Constitution reinforces the myth that only MPs representing capitalist interests can run the Kenyan society through Parliament. For this reason, the Draft has conspicuously excluded workers from the running of society although they are the producers of wealth looted by politicians on a constant basis. For Socialist thinkers, Kenyans who are in the best position to come up with the perfect constitution are the working people. They are the “bank rollers” of the State and, logically, they are the key “Stake holders” in the situation who should have the biggest say. Unfortunately, this important class has been kept away from the process by the rich while their most important interests as workers have been sidelined from the document. Why?

As a single example, the best option would be for the constitution to limit the salaries of MPs by pegging it to no more than the salary of a skilled worker. For Socialists, the argument is that a person who is representing workers and poor people should not have any privileges because of the corrupting nature of privileges promoted by personal accumulation of wealth obtained through systematic looting of State coffers.

The Draft Constitution leaves MPs and top civil servants with millions of Kenyan shillings at the end of every month without pegging a minimum living wage for every worker based on the rate and level of inflation. In fact, the current draft leaves workers with “starvation wages” that condemns them to lives of perpetual poverty and in this sense, the Draft cannot be said to be democratic unless the word “democracy” has acquired a new meaning.

The “Missing Link” Between Presidential and Parliamentary Systems
Another issue is that discussion about the Draft has mainly been based on whether Kenya should have a Presidential or Parliamentary system of government. For Socialists, the two systems are defective because both of them do not allow workers to collectively engage in politics and influence society although it is their money that funds the State. In the minds of millions of Kenyans, there is no other system apart from the Parliamentary and Presidential because vast sections of the population has been brainwashed over the years to believe that only the two systems exist.

From a Socialist perspective, a third option which could have been put on the table if Socialists were in the “Draft team” to present the arguments is the option of a democratic constitution based on what Socialists call a “Workers democracy” that draws its oxygen from the concept of “Democratic centralism”. For beginners, a “Workers democracy” is based on worker-driven politics where workers are represented in Parliament through a “Workers Party” to argue political issues from the point of view of Workers and not from the point of view of the wealth grabbers represented by capitalist MPs. “Democratic centralism” is the equivalent of what the draft gurus have been calling “Devolution of powers”. It would be better to return to these issues in another contribution.

After examining the unspeakable extent of looting of the tax payer’s money, Socialists arguing on behalf of Workers should have proposed a limitation of MPs salaries in the constitution. To give an inkling, think of the amount of money the country could save to be pumped into say, health care, if MPs were to earn Ksh 50.000 each (or less), a condition which would be imposed on all candidates standing on a Worker’s platform. This is a small dose of Socialist politics. We have more than ten million workers in Kenya and every elected President has been taking over office with less than 5 million votes.

The point is that with a population of 10 million, Workers in Kenya can take over power and run society in their interest but this is not possible at the moment because workers have no access to working class politics due to lack of a Movement or Party that can lead the struggle for Workers power.

The position of Kenyan Socialists is that after the disastrous 46 years of experimentation with capitalism, a rich man’s system which has destroyed Kenya and sold the country to imperialist collaborators, it is time to replace the system with Socialism. Kenyan socialists must team up together and convince Kenyans about the need to abolish capitalism, a system which is in crisis, not just in Kenya but internationally.

Kenyans should not just be told that Socialism collapsed in the former Soviet Union and other Eastern block countries when the active population has never been exposed to socialist ideas in the first place. The current Draft Constitution is built on “crumbled capitalist foundations” and the best Kenyans can expect is that it will favor the rich and discriminate against the poor because the document is under the control of the rich. Under the constitution, the police will continue to arrest the poor while sparing the rich looters of the State.

What can be celebrated about the new Draft is that it could open up the democratic space and enable debate to continue about the solution to the crisis facing our country so that Kenyans can decide whether they would like to continue suffering under the rotten system of capitalism or whether they would prefer liberation under a new system of Socialism, the only known system through which society’s wealth can be distributed equitably. The new Draft does not recognize this urgency but seeks to maintain the status quo.

Okoth Osewe
Interim Secretary
Kenya Red Alliance (KRA)

Ndugu Mwandawiro Mghanga

The Members of Parliament have betrayed the people of Kenya, particularly the majority poor and exploited and the struggle for a new progressive national constitution. No wonder the majority of the MPs that are tampering with the constitution in Naivasha have never been involved in the struggle for democracy in the country. They were part of the dictatorship that was opposed to democratic reforms.

While patriots and progressive Kenyans were being persecuted by the Moi and Kenyatta regimes for struggling for liberation from dictatorship, those who are now purporting to decide about the constitution for Kenya were accumulating wealth through corrupt deals. The few of the MPs at Naivasha that were reformers yesterday have now turned into opportunists and traitors and are either silent or collude with those who are manufacturing the constitution which Kenyans should reject.

The MPs went to Naivasha with a mandate to discuss about the harmonised draft of the Committee of Experts that had been improved by various views of the Kenyan people and organisations. However, the MPs decided to exceed their mandate by rewriting the draft constitution and messing it in the process. Rather than listen to Kenyans they opted to listen to foreigners and impose their system of governance chosen by imperialists upon us. They chopped off chapters and sections from the draft that embody Kenyan cultural values, social and economic rights and all that empowers the poor.  They have removed from the draft the wishes and aspirations of the people that have been expressed over the decades of the struggle for the new constitution.

Thus from the imperial president under the present constitution, the MPs have created a King in the new constitution. They have done this by claiming that the majority of Kenyans want to elect their chief executive, president, directly. What they deliberately avoided to say is that while the Kenyan people want to elect all their representatives, they have never wanted to elect a King whether in the form of president or prime minister. In fact, that is why they struggled against colonialism, the Kenyatta and Moi dictatorial regimes. It is for the same reason they struggled for multiparty democracy that has now completely been undermined by the King in the form of a President proposed by the MPs at Naivasha.

As a revolutionary, I cannot afford to be pessimistic. That is why I always argue that a constitution is not Holly Bible or Holly Qumran. There can never be a constitution that is so perfect that it can never require to be changed. Any constitution we shall get will in future be changed again and again to reflect the dynamism of life in Kenya and the world. It is only a good constitution that can last long without the need to change it. No sooner is a bad constitution adopted than is it began to be changed. I am therefore of the opinion that this time round Kenyans must have a new national constitution.

I agree with those who are proposing a yes yes referendum in which we shall vote for either the constitution with the presidential system or with a parliamentary system proposed by Kenyans and for Kenyans and based on the historical and material conditions of Kenya. This has been arrogantly rejected by the MPs who falsely tell Kenyans that the yes yes referendum will polarise and divide Kenyans. Some of them have even proposed that there is no need for the referendum arguing that it will divide Kenyans. It is as if in a democracy, and especially in a class society like Kenya, division and class struggles can be avoided. It is as if under the capitalist system in the country Kenyans are united.

I understand the cynicism, pessimism and a sense of hopelessness that is now growing among progressive Kenyans. How can we justify the energy and struggles we have put for constitutional review for so long if we end up with a constitution that is worse than the present one in terms of governance, many are asking? May be when the document being manufactured at Naivasha eventually comes to parliament it will be rejected by the committee of the whole house. But the chances are slim indeed. Again, should it be passed by parliament then Kenyans will still have a chance to reject it at the referendum. Yet the importance of the referendum in this regard is being questioned even as the propaganda for the king – president is intensified through the media.

This brings me to the argument and the propaganda by Synovate that Kenyans want to elect their chief executive directly, and that therefore they are for the presidential system of government rather than a parliamentary system. In the first place, in both systems the head of governments are elected directly by the people. The difference is that in the presidential system the people elect a head of government and state called president who is not directly accountable to parliament and therefore the people while in a parliamentary system the people elect a head of government who may be either a president or prime minister but who is not head of state and who is directly accountable to parliament and therefore the people.

Under the presidential system Kenyans will vote mainly for a rich individual while paying only lip service to ideologies and political parties. Under a parliamentary system Kenyans will vote both for political parties, ideologies and leaders of political parties. A leader of a political party that has the most votes and that forms the largest party or coalition of parties in parliament also forms the government to practice the policies they promised the people for a given period in the constitution.

As for the King in the form of president proposed by the MPs at Naivasha, let us open the Bible in the book of Samuel chapter eight. It is written that the elders of Israel told Samuel to appoint them a King to rule them. When they insisted Samuel decided to consult God. God told Samuel to provide them their wish provided they understood the meaning of being ruled by a King. Which is authoritarianism, dictatorship, oppression and slavery.

The people of Israel were warned that the King will would be a despot who would rob them of their land, property and make them perpetual servants with no freedom and rights. Despite the advise of Samuel and God, the people still insisted they wanted a King. And so they were given their King. And it came to pass that they suffered for thousands of years under the rule of Kings. If therefore it is the desire of Kenyans to have a King in the place of an Imperial president, they will get their King. And the Kenyan ruling class will have the last laugh.

For the president proposed by the MPs will be added more powers on top of the one he already has. He is both the head of state and head of government. Yet he or she is not required to justify whatever decisions he or she makes directly in parliament. Already Kenya is governed by powerful people and institutions that are only accountable to the president and not the people, from permanent secretaries, heads of parastatals, judges, heads of the army, police, prisons, various commissioners and commissions, ambassadors, etc. On this list will be added ministers.

The president will appoint ministers from outside parliament. These ministers will be accountable to the president who appointed them whatever the talk about seeking the approval by parliament. Like permanent secretaries, the ministers will be above politics and therefore Kenyans will be ruled by the king president and civil servants who are not accountable to the people. In a multiparty system like Kenya, ministers are appointed to implement the policies and programs of their political parties. The presidential system proposed by the MPs will render political parties useless and instead strengthen authoritarianism, tribalism, nepotism, corruption, social inequality and arbitrary governance.

This is good for the present political and economic ruling class that is united in their desire to maintain the present status quo. But it is the bane of those struggling for a democratic, just, equitable and progressive system in our country. Under this system, the chances of person from the peasant and working class to become president, nay King, is the same with that of a camel passing through the eye of a needle.

Yes, the struggle for social and national liberation is not easy; it is long, hard and protracted. Yet it has to continue.

Mwandawiro Mghanga,
Chairman,
Social democratic Party

African Night! AFRICAN NIGHT!
Live music & drums, Saturday 6th February from 21.00-06.00 hrs.
Tube Station-Rågsved:
Venue: Rågsveds Folketshus.

On stage: Africa Faréta Pablo Machine; Vumbi Dekula and Yaya Sella.
Top African Dee Jeys; Dj Jackson; Dj Nganda and the notorious Dj Jimmy.
Entre 50:- SEK
More info at: www.afrojam.se or
www.afrojam.podomatic.com.
All are Welcome!

Jane Nyakairo would like to thank everybody who attended the ”open House” cum Prayer meeting that she had called at her residence following the death of her Sister in Law. Speaking to KSB, Nyakairo said that the meeting reached its key objective of helping her spouse travel to Kenya to attend the funeral of his sister.

Nyakairo also corrected a posting at KSB which indicated that it was her who was set to travel to Kenya. In setting the record straight, she said that it was her spouse who was to travel and not her. Her spouse left for Kenya on the morning of Saturday January 30th and is currently in Kenya.

Nyakairo said that she will continue to be in Stockholm and anybody who comes across her should not question her why she never traveled home after the Prayer meeting. She said that it was important for her to point out this because in the past, some Kenyans had called others to raise funds claiming that they wanted to travel home to attend a funeral but later failed to travel thereby raising many questions.

Okoth Osewe

Photo credit: Keegan Kagwe

Photo credit: Keegan Kagwe

Two sisters, Naomi Njeri and Lisa Muraya, have lost their Dad in Kenya. The Mzee passed away on Tuesday November 3rd at 18.00 Swedish time. As a result of the death, the entire family of both Naomi and Lisa have been plunged into deep mourning.

Kenyans, friends, well wishers and sympathizers are invited to a prayer meeting cum fund raising on Friday 6th November at 4pm at Njeri’s residence located at Trångsund in Stockholm.

The address is Tornsligan 37 (Ground floor). Train to the residence is the surface train (Pendeln) towards Västerhanninge then take off at Trångsund. Those who will be unable to make it to the function can send contributions to Nordea Bank account number 33008212145364.

Further information can be obtained from Mr. Githuku wa Muirani at 0736779031 while the bereaved Njeri can be reached at 0700627913. We have a father who never ever fails. Rock of ages will never, ever fail!

KSB sends deep condolences to the family of Njeri and Lisa during this trying moment marked by great shock and sorrow. We hope that the family will have the courage to go through this tragic experience which, at times, comes without notice.

Okoth Osewe

Dekula Band

6-7-20-21 Nov.2009
from: 21-01 place Lilla Wien Bar & Restaurant.
Address: Swedenborgsgatan 20, Pendel Södra Station

Photo credit: Vumbi

12th November Film and discussion:
“Getting Justice: Kenya’s Deadly Game of Wait and See”

Maina Kiai: To Discuss Documentary

In the beginning of 2008 a wave of violence spread across Kenya. The election results from December 27, 2007, were questioned and lead to riots. More than 1 000 persons were killed and nearly half a million were banished from their homes.

“Getting Justice: Kenya’s Deadly Game of Wait and See” is a documentary about the search for accountability and reconciliation in Kenya. The film gives voice to survivors; it looks at what they desire and discusses some of the issues that they would like to see. It also looks at Rwanda as a contemporary example of how another country has dealt with issues of justice and reconciliation after their major crisis in 1994.

After the screening, we will have a discussion with the human rights defender, Maina Kiai, who uses film as a tool to pursue social justice issues. Maina Kiai is first Chairperson of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

Date: Thursday 12 november
Time: 16.30-18.30
Place: Stora Nygatan 26, Old Town, Stockholm

Please let us know if you can come no later than November 10th, send an e-mail to  anmalan@civilrightsdefenders.org or call us at 08-545 277 30.

Welcome!

Photo credits: Keegan Kagwe

Featuring Ngwatilo Mawiyoo and Shailja Patel

PART 2:

Part 3:

Photo Credit: Keegan Kagwe

Picture credit: Okoth Osewe

It was a pleasure meeting Shailja again, having attended one of her poetry sessions in Uppsala during her stay as the “2009 Guest Writer” at the Nordic Africa Institute. Her poems are powerful and capture Kenya’s realities, especially during the pre and post election violence (PEV) last year. Shailja is fearless and has an in-depth grasp of Kenya’s historical and political landscape. During the 2008 skirmishes, she wrote an open letter to Samuel Kivuitu, then head of the disbanded Electoral Commission of Kenya, challenging his decision to declare President Kibaki winner of the disputed elections.

It was the first time to meet Ngwatilo, who is a young, talented and creative poet, whose message resonates with the realities facing Kenya’s “Hip hop generation”. She recited a poem flavoured with ‘Sheng’ (Nairobi’s slang-based language), which is important in reaching audiences that would otherwise be left out using academic English. Both women play a major role in bridging the generational gap left by female writers who reigned from the 1960s to the 1980s, and are currently retired.

It was a pity that the third guest, Professor Wambui Mwangi of Toronto University, could not travel to Stockholm due to health reasons. However, she is another gifted writer who runs a blog called the “Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman”. During the PEV, she posted a damning essay on the election fraud, violence and those wishing to maintain the “feudal principality of Kikuyustan” as cited by Sokari Ekine, a Nigerian-born writer and an award-winning blogger. Ms. Mwangi also writes for Kwani? (Swahili for ‘So What?’), which is a literary magazine for contemporary Kenyan writers available online and in print.

The shift in Kenya’s political landscape since 2002, has revived the lost literary culture and it is now wonderful to read once again, about prolific women writers like Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye and Muthoni Likimani among others, in the local papers and on the Internet.

Mrs. Asenath Bole Odaga is another writer who is famous for short stories in English and Dholuo (her mother-tongue). Her presence on the Internet is special, because she discusses how her writing is a reminder of the fading Luo values affected by the fast-changing lifestyles, particularly in urban areas. I recall her humble bookshop cum printing store, established in the 1980s in Kisumu town. She’s now gone global and runs a website with an online bookstore. Mrs. Odaga would always stop and chat with people; something she still does as a believer in oral literature and an accomplished educator, who is also concerned with empowering young women.

Professor Micere Mugo, the firebrand writer and a Marxist-oriented intellectual, was driven into exile in the early 1980s when the former President Moi’s regime became uncomfortable with her work at the Nairobi University. Her contribution in political science and literature, awakened many of her students and colleagues who fought for Kenya’s “second liberation” in the 1990s. Her ingenious poems and creative writing are shaped by her roots among the Ndia people of Kirinyaga District, whose storytelling culture is used to interpret politics. They believe in frank debates which should not be censored; thus the perceived threats of her writing during Moi’s leadership.

Ms. Joy Mboya is another artist worth crediting for being among the founders of the space for Kenyan artists in the visual and performing arts in Nairobi, better known as The Godown Arts Centre. In a book edited by Njogu and Olunya-Oluoch (2007), Joy argued that the formation of the Centre had been necessitated by the need for Kenyans to “take charge of their cultural agenda by establishing and managing their own cultural spaces”. She also noted that media censorship and the banning of other freedoms of expression during Moi’s regime, sent creativity “into hibernation” in the 1980s and 1990s. Local musicians also suffered because they could not sing about the terrible political situation, without risking detention.

I met Joy for the first time in Stockholm during Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s meeting with the Kenyans on October 23rd 2009, after the EU Development Days conference. I am very grateful for the copy of a book she gave me, titled: “Kenya Burning”, which contains a compilation of photos taken during the post-election violence in 2008. It was her idea to bring together all those who had taken such photos, and to immortalize their work, as a stark reminder of the rot that engulfed Kenya for that period.

Anyway, back to Shailja and Ngwatilo. The open floor segment for questions and answers was quite interesting, because both artists shared personal experiences as performers based in Kenya but also travel abroad frequently. They informed the listeners that there is still no legal framework to protect artists from exploitation especially the musicians, whose work is pirated and hardly earn royalties. It is probably an area which does not threaten the Kenyan ruling class, so they might not be bothered to streamline it. However, musicians currently earn better and have more recording opportunities compared to a few decades ago.

Kenyan writers still face censorship in disseminating their books, especially if they mention powerful politicians. Although they don’t get banned openly as it used to be in the 1980s, bookshop owners cannot stock them for fear of legal suits, from those who cite libel. Nevertheless, there is a thriving underground market for the sale of such books.

Shailja deconstructed the concept of literacy by explaining that in the literary world, there are many “literacies” because reading or oral literature is not only available in the Western languages. These literacies link artists with their communities. Ngwatilo also said that Sheng helps in reaching the youth through rap music and performance arts, giving them a sense of belonging.

I add these two performers on my list of Kenyan women who are empowered with the gift of gab, and are making a difference in the country’s political and cultural landscape. They are among many others who form the growing community of politically conscious poets, writers and storytellers in Kenya.

Jared Odero

• Ngwatilo
• Kwani:
• Bole Odaga:
• The GoDown Arts Centre:

Below is a thought provoking analysis of political Kenya by one of the writers of Kwani Trust, Mr. Martin Kimani – Milton Muigai

The next revolution in Kenya will not be a violent one, contrary to the bloodletting presently underway. Rather it will be the rejection of the generation of men from whom the leaders of this country have been drawn. The major politicians who were politicians before the majority of Kenyans were even born and who even today enjoy inordinate sway in the country. President Mwai Kibaki was born in 1931. Ex-President Daniel arap Moi was born in 1924. They are still doddering onward, unable to relinquish the reins of power they have held tightly for half a century. Theirs is a generation steeped in venality, in tribal arithmetic, in a cynical nationalism and their values have infected those thousands of young people who are roaming the countryside in a killing fury. The young men throwing stones and shooting arrows and the youthful policemen opposite them shooting tear gas and live ammunition are fodder for the failed politics of a generation of old men who may just take all of us to the grave with them.

I was raised to respect my elders and there are many that I indeed respect. But the time has come to assess in the broadest and most personal terms how the generation of leaders that took this country from independence to the bloody and dangerous present has performed. The oldest of this Generation Disaster as it should be called were born in the 1920s and the youngest of the lot in the 1940s. They can be counted as a single generation in the sense that their vision of what constitutes Kenya and their role in it is widely shared.

This generation has played and continues to play a prominent role in politics, in our intellectual life and in the business community. While there are many among them who are capable and well intentioned the defining characteristic of this generation is failure in leadership. It is not enough to lay the blame on a few individuals. This generation of prominent wazees has defined for us the content of our politics and the ethics of governance. They are our very own Boomer Generation except that the boom in this instance is the sound of our dreams and aspirations exploding violently.

It is a popular pastime to compare Kenya’s performance in economic and human development terms with that of the Asian Tigers such as South Korea and Malaysia. How often I have heard it said that these countries in economic terms were neck to neck with Kenya in the 1970s, only for them to surge ahead in the last three decades while Kenya trod water and in many instances retreated in advances it had made.

The approximately 3% of Kenyans who are above the age of 65 and from whom the bulk of Generation Disaster is drawn have led us to an average life expectancy of 55 years compared to South Korea’s 77 and Malaysia’s 72 – according to the online Intute World Guide which allows country comparison of economic data. The economic numbers are even direr. Kenya’s GDP of $38 billion as of 2005 is only a fraction of Malaysia’s $287 billion and South Korea’s $1 trillion. Per capita, Kenyan citizens have only 12% of their Malaysian counterparts’ sum and 6% of the South Korean GDP per capita of almost $23,000. At the turn of the century, 40% of Kenyans were unofficially unemployed compared to fewer than 4% of Malaysians and South Koreans.

These statistics we can suppose with reasonable confidence have deteriorated in the last three weeks and they mean that Kenya can count itself first among equals only if compared to the Congos and Guineas of this world. Our leaders’ vision is only to be lauded if compared to countries that have experienced genocides and decades-long civil wars. Yet this generation which touts its anti-colonialist credentials, its Kennedy Airlifts, its Makerere pedigree and its ambassador-at-thirty mentality has only managed to take us from one disaster to the next.

I grew up hearing about the inferiority of one tribe against the other, on jokes that now seem like macabre warnings of a day when they would become deadly serious. My elders were ever focused on their belly buttons. Not for them to learn from the experiences of other countries – especially the disasters that were unfolding around us and sending refugees by the thousands into our country. Their language was a curious construction. ‘The Kikuyu are now in power,’ they would say even though I hardly saw a penny from this ‘power.’ ‘The Kalenjin have taken power,’ they complained as President Moi stepped into State House, ‘they will finish us now for sure.’ ‘The Luos can never rule this country; the Kikuyus are thieves; the Luhyas don’t know how to take power …’

This curious construction of language is what has given birth to the present crisis and it has underlain the governance of this country since independence. Such a leap into the illogical to our generation of leaders is the very basis of logical thinking when it comes to apportioning power and privilege among themselves. It has served them well this Spokesman-of-the-Tribe role. It is the position that has enabled all those Mercedes Benzes from Goldenberg, Anglo Leasing and the dozens of schemes to rob the Treasury in the name of fulfilling the privileges of tribal mandarin. Though they developed these roles before the majority of us were even born, their thinking has infected us all. Say what you will about the Opposition, but it too is a gathering of Spokesmen of the Tribe challenging a government largely constituted from similar material.

The one thing that these politics will not deliver to this country is the kind of vision and leadership that led South Korea and Malaysia from poverty to wealth. We may continue ‘cleansing’ ‘those people’ from one area or the other and supporting the powerful on the basis that they are ‘our people’ but perhaps we only need to remember that the cost of our lives is borne by individuals. What does it matter that there is a Kikuyu president when you a Kikuyu living in Mathare? This generation of wazees has infected the country with its self-serving obsession on ethnicity as politics and politics as ethnicity. It has lived longer than most Kenyans can expect to live and yet it refuses to exit the stage. We need to say goodbye to Generation Disaster and ask for a divorce from its dystopian vision even if like a bad guest it insists on staying an extra night.

We only need to respect elders who reconcile rather than divide, who serve rather than seating under large tents drinking sodas while we bake in the sun, and who are determined to follow a vision of a rich, tolerant and open-hearted Kenya.

Martin Kimani lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has previously been a Teaching Fellow at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Shrivenham, UK and an Associate of the Conflict Security and Development Group of King’s College of the University of London where he is a doctoral candidate. Martin Kimani is a member of Concerned Kenyan Writers, a coalition whose purpose is to use our writing skills to help save Kenya in this polarised time.

If there is one Kenyan who has been working very hard to help orphans in Kenya, her name is Mrs Jacinter Njoroge. After setting up the “Phylis Memorial Childrens home” in Kenya, Jacinter has ensured that the home provides food and shelter to an ever growing number of destitute children in our country. To help support the home, Jacinter has called a Party on Saturday November 21st in Stockholm and all Kenyans, Swedes, friends and well-wishers are invited, not just to come and have a good time but also to help in making a difference in the lives of orphaned children in Kenya. This is just one example of what Kenyans can do to their country instead of constantly asking what the government can do for them. Well done Jacinter!

Kom ihåg att svara oss senast 17 november.
Karine: karine@karine.se Tel: 070-444 17 40
Lalla: Lalla.lindstrom@kapsylen.se Tel: 070-74 222 73
Eva: wernlid@algonet.se Tel: 070-543 20 69
Jacinta: jacynjoroge@hotmail.com Tel: 070-395 330 10
Överskottet från festen går till
Jacintas barnhem i Kenya.

Pastor Samson Kariuki: Photo Credit: Keegan Kagwe

Pastor Samson Kariuki and family have been blessed with a baby and on Saturday the 28th of November, Kenyans and friends alike will descend at Pastor Samson’s residence for “Caai wa Mwana”, a traditional welcoming ceremony for the new born.

Through this information piece, all those who are in a position to attend the function are cordially invited at Grytstigen 22 (3rd Floor) in Tumba. To get to the residence, take the surface train (Pendeltåg) to Södertälje then alight at Tumba. From Tumba station, take bus number 836 and alight at Vilstigen bust stop which is the third stage  from Tumba Station.

If you are on wheels, drive up to Tumba then take Stovretenvägen then Habrovägen which is the first road on the left. Drive straight then at the junction, turn right and then right again. This will bring you to Pastor Samson’s address. Get out of the car slowly then look for Grytstigen 22.

In case you need further information about the event or in case you are in difficulty finding the address, please, use your mobile phone and call Margaret at 0735505592. Sometimes, Margaret’s number may be busy so feel free to call Josephine at 0704860251 . If both numbers are busy, you can try Pastor Samson himself at 0704523798.

Share this information with a friend and help make this occasion a memorable one especially for Pastor Samson and family which has been very kind and very humble with members of the Kenya-Stockholm community.

Okoth Osewe

On Monday, 9th November 2009, Dr. Godwin Murunga, who is a lecturer at the Department of History at Kenyatta University, spoke about “Transition to Nowhere? Two Years of ‘Post-Election’ in Kenya” at the Department of Political Science, Stockholm University. He is currently a guest researcher with the Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala. Below is a summary of his lecture.

During Kenya’s post-election violence (PEV) in 2008, popular forces or civil society began a debate around the formation of an interim government that would oversee the transfer of power to Parliament, which would eventually call for another presidential election. The post-election violence (PEV) had offered a new vent to advance the debate, yet it remained at the level of blogs and other media outlets abroad. The popular forces did not include “Wanjiku” (the people) in the debate. Historically, Kenya’s political movements have been steered from the top, and have never included people at the grassroots level. The debate got lost when the mediation talks led by Dr. Kofi Annan began.

Kenya’s civil society had expected that an interim government would implement a radical shift from the status-quo, but the “Political class” found a common interest and opted for power-sharing, to remain in full control. Dr. Murunga decried the fragmented state of Kenya’s civil society which is “episodic in character” and only interested in immediate goals. Unfortunately, only a special segment within the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), remains committed to the democratic process, while the professionals and trade unions don’t play a key role.

Dr. Murunga argued that from the 1980s to 2002, Kenya undertook more economic reforms than political ones, based on recommendations by international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, through structural adjustment programs (SAPs).

However, from 2002 to 2007, there seemed to have been no basis for reforms any longer. There was no focus on what reforms should achieve, nor were they anchored in the people’s voices, if ever. Bilateral and multilateral donors were in favor of President Kibaki’s government and Kenyans were surprised to learn that the country’s World Bank representative was Kibaki’s tenant at his Muthaiga home in Nairobi.

There were calls for institutional reforms during the run-up to the 2007 elections, and many youths were registered as first-time voters hoping that the ballot box would bring the desired change they were wishing for. The political class should have understood the people. The PEV was an indicator of the dissatisfaction among those who had wished for change.

The outcome of the presidential election triggered a serious social protest, since Kibaki’s win was perceived as a civilian coup. Dr. Murunga divided the PEV into three levels: citizen to citizen violence, which was prevalent in the Rift Valley and sections of Nairobi; protests against the rigging; and police brutality in the form of State-sanctioned killing in the name of maintaining “law and order”. Hundreds of bodies which were recovered in Opposition strongholds especially within Luo Nyanza, were bullet-riddled, yet most of them were unarmed. The PEV revealed how the security forces were well-equipped and could be misused by politicians who wanted to retain power.

Ironically, even the Opposition seemed not to disagree in the use of State power to subdue protesters, and thus opted for the mediation talks which led to the formation of the Grand Coalition Government. Dr. Murunga named it the “New Elite Alliance” which is a consensus among the elite who have lost track of the required reforms. Dr. Kofi Annan simply implemented a ceasefire, because control has not shifted from the elite to the people. Many Kenyans are disenchanted with the increasing insecurity and impunity within the Government.

Dr. Murunga argued that there is a “crisis of confidence in Kenya’s leadership” with people questioning why the State has not held to account, those involved in the PEV. The same Government fuels impunity by using the police force for brutality, while in the process of reforming it. He felt that no change can come within the police force as long as it is not separated from State management. However, this thinking was challenged by Mr. Okoth Osewe who wondered how the police can be managed outside the Government structure.

Interventions by Mr. Okoth Osewe
During question time, Mr. Osewe refuted Dr. Murunga’s perception that Kenya was on a “Transition to nowhere”, a subject that was the topic of the day’s seminar. According to Mr. Osewe, the author of Raila Odinga’s Stolen Presidency: Consequences and the Future of Kenya”, Kenya is not in a “Transition” but in a process of “Crisis management” following the rigging of elections by members of the Kikuyu ruling class.

Mr. Osewe argued that a political transition ought to have a known point of departure and a pre-determined destination, a situation that, he said, was not the case in Kenya. He said that the Coalition government was part of managing the Kofi Annan cobbled peace-deal as the country went through the process of reforming key institutions before the next elections.

Mr. Osewe also accused Dr. Murunga of presenting a “one sided” and liberalist analysis of Kenyan politics which saw every political development in Kenya within the framework of the deformed capitalist system of government. Mr. Osewe said that the failure of Kenya’s political system during the last 45 years needed to be acknowledged so that new ideas on how to end the crisis in Kenya could be examined.

While Dr. Murunga said that he had no “magic bullet” to sort out the mess in Kenya, Mr. Osewe said that the bullet is cloaked in revolution. Mr. Osewe said that he could not go into the detail of his solution because the subject of the seminar was not revolution.

Mr. Osewe also opposed Dr. Murunga’s view that Kenyans “were losing the struggle” after the post election violence. According to Mr. Osewe, the democratic struggle in Kenya is a continuous process that, in recent times, has seen the defeat of the one Party dictatorship and the overthrow of the Moi/KANU regime after more than four decades in power.

Mr. Osewe said that the problem in Kenya was that political opportunists, who were also ideologically bankrupt, had taken control of both the struggle in Kenya and the State machine under the Coalition government. Mr. Osewe’s view was that this situation will not change unless Kenyans versed in the science of revolution began to organize for a struggle for power.

Dr. Murunga noted that the Church and a section of civil society have been instrumental in barring the Constitutional review process due to some hidden agenda and self-interest. Reforming all the sectors should be part of the Constitution otherwise impunity will never end in Kenya.

Dr. Jared Odero

Godrey and Phillipa Fund Raising poster in Circulation

Dear Friends, Relatives, Africa Diaspora and members of the Network for Africans Unity in Sweden, on a very personal level, I hereby wish to invite you to come and share with us a wedding fund raising occasion on the 28th November. The Network for Africans and a number of friends are organizing for  Mr. Godfrey and Mrs. Phillipa Akanga who have decided to perform the ceremony of wedlock.

Even though the couple is from Ugandan and marriage is between two individuals, in our tradition and culture, the occasion is community’s business .We, Africans living abroad and far away from our usual villages, do constitute the community we need.

Network for Africans unity believes that we should unite in both good times and bad times. I saw this spirit rising during the fundraising we conducted for returning the remains of Ndugu Hussein Ssembatya to Uganda for burial. Africans came from different corners and we raised the funds we needed at once.

To maintain the same spirit, the Network has dedicated the 28th of November to a get together Party which we are arranging in Sollentuna to entertain you and to fund raise for the couple.

The couple will take an opportunity to introduce themselves to those that may not know them, introduce the wedding idea to friends, relatives and the community as well as kick start their fund raising campaign.

As Africans, we feel it is our moral duty to be there for them and to invite my friends like you to come around and be with us as we support Akanga and Philipa to fulfill their wedding wish.

The event will be a very entertaining Party in the Sollentuna library building- the new “Yes We Can” hall and no entrance fee will be required. To recover the cost of hiring the hall, music and security, food and drinks shall be sold at very reasonable prices by the fund raising committee for the couple.

The dividends from the sale of food and drinks will be our contribution to the wedding. You can as well make a financial pledge to the couple at will or buy goods that may be auctioned during the occasion.

Music shall be provided by DJ Jimmy and Dj Dr Mukasa the best DJs in our community. The party shall begin at 09.00pm – 05am

Address: Sollentuna Bibliotekhuset, opposite Scandic Star Hotel
GPS- aniaraplatsen 2
NIGHT BUSES -Tcentralen to; 697 mot Dandyrydssjukhus, 598 Upplands Väsby, 197 Sollentuna (all stop at Aniaraplatsen bus station)

Pendeltåg- take the last wagon from Tcentralen
Yours indeed :

Samson Mande-Network for Africans Unity
Gofrey Etyang- Chairman,
Fund Raising Committee

Pictures: Keegan Kagwe

Pictures by Keegan Kagwe

PART 6: IMPUNITY STARTED WITH KENYATTA’S LAND GRABBING

PART 7 FINAL: POLITICAL CLASS FEARS CLASS BASED POLITICS IN KENYA

Dual citizenship is here to stay for Kenyans

The draft harmonized Kenya Constitution appears to be here after twenty years of struggle. Wananchi are supposed to study the document and make further recommendations to the Committee of Experts (CoE). Today, the Kenyan government circulated a copy of the Constitution to Kenyans at home and abroad.

KSB was not left behind and our readers have the opportunity of downloading a pdf version of this all important document. If adopted, the document will put to an end governance in Kenya under a Constitution which was designed under conditions of colonialism and which did not put into consideration numerous aspects of Kenyan life that were bound to change with time.

For example, the Colonial style Constitution did not envisage a situation where Kenyans would leave the country in large numbers to become known as “Kenyans in Diaspora”. An estimated 2 million Kenyans in Diaspora have been putting their case since the struggle for a new constitution began and these efforts seem to be on the verge of producing results.

Although an amendment was made on the colonial style Constitution to accommodate the new political situation that introduced the post of Prime Minister after the PEV, the harmonized draft takes the matter a notch higher and entrenches the PMs Office in the Constitution. It also introduces rules and guidelines for the PMs Office, a good move forward in Kenya’s democratization process.

Another new item in the draft is the recognition of political parties together with a line-up of rules for setting up parties. For Kenyans in Diaspora, there is one important entry.

The issue of dual citizenship is well taken care of and if nothing is changed after the draft goes through a National Referendum, Kenyans will be able to enjoy the privileges of dual citizenship. Those who took up other citizenships before the new Constitution was crafted will have an opportunity to reclaim their Kenyan citizenship, a welcome news for Kenyans in Diaspora. Read more about the Draft by downloading it HERE.

Okoth Osewe

ALTERNATIVE DOWNLOAD LINK:

• Kenya Draft Constitution Download (pdf)

Public lecture: Tuesday 24 November 2009, 16:00 – 17:30

John Githongo

Venue: The Nordic Africa Institute, Kungsgatan 38,  Uppsala
Governance Reform from Below
John Githongo
Zinduko Trust, Kenya
Chair: Carin Norberg, Director, The Nordic Africa Institute

The struggle against corruption in Africa has come to rest partly on the initiatives of individuals of great convictions. However, the struggle for a fair, just and equitable humanity risks losing direction if it relies primarily on individual initiative at the expense of collective action and on modernizing institutions at the expense of transforming their internal work cultures for better state-society relations. John Githongo’s presentation will reflect on the essentials to transforming institutions and the role local level ideas and participation can play. He will illustrate this using the Zinduko and Twaweza initiatives that he currently co-ordinates.

John Githongo is a Kenyan civil society luminary best known for his role in investigating and exposing the Anglo-Leasing corruption scandal in the country. But, in fact, Mr. Githongo combines in his impressive professional work numerous attributes. These include his extended work in the field of journalism for which he took the third prize of the CNN African Journalist of the Year in 1995, several engagements as a consultant and advisor to international organizations, enormous interests in research and publishing and also serving as Trustee on many local and international organizations. Githongo has been Director, Transparency International (Berlin and Kenya) from 1999 to 2002. He is the founding Trustee of Zinduka Trust, an organization that focuses on governance reforms from below.

The lecture is open to all interested.

Welcome!

Susanne Linderos
Information Manager
The Nordic Africa Institute
P O Box 1703, SE­-75147 Uppsala, Sweden
Phone: +46 18 56 22 06 (direct)
Phone: +46 18 56 22 00 (exchange)
Fax: +46 18 56 22 90

Visitiors’ Address: Kungsgatan 38, 753 21 Uppsala

KSB takes this opportunity to congratulate Daisy following the delivery of her baby girl. It is a moment that many Kenyans have been waiting for and now, it has come. The baby is yet another addition to the growing number of bouncing babies born to Kenyan parents. At the Apostle Karanja Conference, a total of 27 children were blessed by the Apostle, a sign that not all Kenyan couples are just spreading hot gossip around. They get busy until late into the night as evidenced by the impressive result of their work.

Okoth Osewe

Plans for the wedding between Sheila and Mustaq are at an advanced stage and a series of meetings continue to be organized as 12th December, the date of the wedding, also nears. The clock is ticking! The wedding will take place at Södermalm Church in Skanstull, Stockholm city at 11.00 hrs.

From the Church, the newly weds will proceed to a Reception at Södermalm Christian School located at Hammarbyhöjden (Address Petrejusvägen 42) where guests will be waiting for the couple.

According to information gathered by KSB, different departments in charge of the wedding are meeting continuously so as not to leave anything to chance. It will be the second Kenya-Stockholm wedding since july when David and Madde tied the knot before zooming to Kenya for their honeymoon.

A key personality who is deeply involved in the planning of the wedding is Mrs Margaret Njihia. In July, Margaret is among Kenyans who masterminded the wedding of David and Maddeleine which was staged in Gävle and which was a huge success.

KSB has learnt that the wedding will be documented by top Kenya-Stockholm photographers namely Mr. Keegan Kagwe and Mr. Seidimu ole Ngais. KSB operatives will also be at hand to capture “Momentpix” for the blog site.

With the wedding set for December 12th, Ambassador Purity can, this time, take Jamhuri day Reception to Iceland or Kiruna and few Kenyans will complain because the day will be packed with better action. Further details will be released as they become available.

Okoth Osewe

As many Kenyans are aware, on Saturday, 28th November, Pastor Samson Kariuki and family will be receiving Kenyans and friends alike at his residence in Tumba during the welcoming ceremony of their baby who was born recently.

In this connection, KSB has been alerted that the buses leading to Pastor Samson’s residence are two while we have also been informed that they operate at different times. This information was missing during the initial announcement.

The Party begins at 15.00 hrs and the bus to catch is number 718 which operates up to 19.00 hrs. After 19.00, the bus to target is number 736 heading to Blemura and this should get you to the residence. Other information earlier transmitted remains the same.

Through Mrs Maragret Njihia, the Organizing committee sends lots of greetings to Kenyans in Stockholm hoping that members of the community will make the occasion one to remember.

Okoth Osewe

Kenya Stockholmer Mr. Fanuel Okoth is dead. The Kenyan died last night in Kenya at his home village in Yimbo, Siaya district, where he has been recuperating following a stroke attack which left him half way paralysed.

Mr. Okoth, who was over 70 years old, came to Sweden in the 70s from the former Soviet Union where he was studying. At the time of his death, a group of Kenyans were planning to get him to Sweden so that he could get proper medical treatment.

After he suffered a stroke a few months ago, he was taken to a local hospital but he soon made a dramatic recovery, prompting his relatives to return him home for further care.

Mr. Okoth will be missed by Kenyans who knew him. He was very vociferous on various issues. His death comes barely a month after Mr. Onyango Sumba, a former Kenya-Stockholmer, passed away at Kenyatta National hospital. Mr. Sumba was buried last month.

Okoth Oswe

VUMBI DEKULA BAND IN ACTION

Lilla Wien:
Friday 20th November and
Saturday 21st November
Time: 21.00-1.00
Address: Swedenborgsgatan 20
Söder Station (Pendeltåg)
Come and dance away the evening with Africas greatest live Band in Stockholm city.

Mr. Michael Osumba: "In Critical Condition"

Mr. Michael Osumba, a Kenya-Stockholmer, is in critical condition in Kenya after suffering a second stroke attack. According to reports reaching KSB, Mr. Osumba has lost his ability to talk. “His condition is not good and we are very worried”, a contact who is close to Mr. Osumba told KSB. “Anything can happen”, she added.

When he left Sweden for Kenya about two years ago, Mr. Osumba appeared healthy and strong but after some months, he suffered a stroke which forced him into a coma for two weeks. When he emerged from coma, he lost his ability to walk, forcing him to remain on a wheel chair.

About two months ago, Mr. Osumba lost his mother in Kenya and that was after he lost his eldest daughter who was over 40 years old and who was a teacher in Kenya. Both the mother and the daughter succumbed to illness although his mother was advanced in years.

It is believed that the bereavements devastated Mr. Osumba and that the difficult circumstances could have resulted in his second stroke attack. Family members have requested that Kenyans, friends and well-wishers pray for Mr. Osumba.

Mr. Osumba is a very intelligent man and highly political. Before he left Kenya in the early 70s, he was very close to the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who assisted him to proceed for further studies in the former Soviet Union. He later relocated to Sweden after failing to return to Kenya because the dictatorship of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was harassing and intimidating Kenyans who studied in the former Soviet Union due to fear that they could spread communism in Kenya.

Okoth Osewe

The re-knowned Kenyan group – Necessary Noise – will be in Stockholm on Friday, 4th December in a Pre-Christmas Live bash that is expected to send Kenya-Stockholmers rocking to the wild beats of Nairobi as cold December opens up its doors. The show has been timed before you travel anywhere for your X-Mass hide-out and this makes it special.

The show will feature Mr. Lenny, a leading Necessary Noise group member together with DJ Lastborn who will hit the DJs table as early as 19.00 hrs. Both Artists will be flying from Kenya. The show is being coordinated by Steve, a Kenyan whose interest in music since the early days in Stockhy is well known by the Kenya Party fraternity.

The show has been facilitated in conjunction with the Network for Africans Unity in Sweden (NAV) which has been exciting members of the African community with one Live show after another (Remember Magic System and others?).

The show takes place at NAVs “Center of Gravity” at Bibliotekhuset in Sollentuna (Address Taniarplatsen 2). Further information is on the way but just in case you need immediate details, ring 0762604178, 0704193053, 0737605950 and get your fill.

Okoth Osewe

A young Kenyan lady is currently recuperating at Huddinge Hospital following a stroke attack. The lady, who is barely 30 years old, has been confined in a wheel chair after the stroke left her half way paralyzed.

Kenyans who have learnt about the tragedy have been praying for her to make quick recovery. The attack came as a complete surprise because apart from being young, the lady has been healthy and very active.

The attack has left many Kenyans in Stockholm in a state of panic because of the growing incidences of stroke attacks among both the young and the old in Kenya-Stockholm.

Although some Kenyans have blamed the attacks on excessive consumption of alcohol within the Kenya-Stockholm community, this theory might not be true because in the latest case, the lady is a devout Christian who has never touched pombe.

As the lady was admitted to hospital, another Kenyan lady had just been discharged from another hospital in town, having suffered a stroke which left her half way paralyzed and also confined her in a wheel chair. The lady collapsed in her flat before her former boyfriend called in the Ambulance which rushed her to hospital in critical condition. She was immediately put on an induced coma before going through brain surgery.

For more than six months, the lady was in a coma as Kenyans prayed for her. It was great joy to come into contact with her at the Raila meeting after she was discharged and after making tremendous recovery.

In the recent past, six Kenyans have gone down with stroke – four elderly men and two young women. Out of the four men, one has since died, another one is in a coma, a third one has recovered with partial paralysis of one arm while a fourth one appears to have made full recovery.

Okoth Osewe

New Baby has no milk

A crisis of sorts is brewing in a flat in Stockholm where a paperless Kenyan chick is effectively going through “hell on earth” after delivering a bouncing baby boy to a white Swedish dude.  According to a team of KSB agents who have fished the storo from the deep depths of “Vituko Ocean” in Kenya-Stockholm and who have code-named the Kenyan chick “Lady Babito”, the Swedish father was opposed to the pregnancy from day one after he learnt that Lady Babito’s belly had something coming up and that he was responsible.

The Swede is reported to have gone wild because he was not yet ready to begin baby-sitting while he allegedly argued that Lady Babito had tricked her into the “baby-come-paper-come” game as a strategy of settling in Sweden.

Another problem that strengthened the Jungu’s serious opposition to the pregnancy was that his parents warned him “tusen gånger” (A thousand times) not to ever think about giving them a Nigger for a grandchild under any circumstance.

The Swede then proposed to Babito that she needed to conduct an abortion, an option which Babito refused because for her, she had worked so hard to clinch what Kenya-Stockholmers refer to as a “Paper-Kid”.

At first, the Swede is reported to have thought that the matter was very simple since the case touched on an “accidental pregnancy” that could be flashed out at Karolinska hospital within minutes and the chick would be back walking in the streets two hours after the operation. He was mistaken.

As the Jungu began to amass pressure that Babito book time with the gynecologist to discuss an abortion, the Kenyan chick simply changed tact. She began to get militant and to warn her Jungu boyfriend that abortion was not in her vocabulary under the circumstances and that the baby would not just be carried to term but would also be delivered right here in Stockholm with or without papers.

This position forced the Jungu to review his battle plan. He began to threaten Babito that he would call police to arrest her and deport her before she could even deliver. However, cleaver Babito had her own plans. When she learnt about the moves her boyfriend was making, she melted from his world like thin ice. She moved from the guy’s apartment to begin counting her days away from threats about police. It was not until two weeks ago when she delivered a bouncing baby and a “Nigger-bull” at that.

Jungu Visits His Baby “Empty Handed”
The new born had not entered the world easily. Babito had to go through a CS after doctors concluded that normal delivery was not possible. In other words, Babito left hospital a few days later, both as a mother and a patient. Her boyfriend had shown her the “Red card” as far as accommodation was concerned and with nowhere to go, she linked up with a Kenyan lady who sympathized with her situation and accommodated her temporarily as she began the process of motherhood.

Punde si punde, the father of the newborn got wind about the news. He quickly made arrangements to make a connection. According to sources, the new Daddy was both anxious and excited about the news. When he saw his new boy, he is reported to have been physically elated and since then, he has been making very frequent visits to see his son.

As they say, “experience is the best teacher”. The new daddy has been making visits to see the baby without carrying any goodies. The Jungu has not yet understood that new babies need some things called diapers because they pass waste almost on a constant basis. The Kenyan lady who accepted to accommodate Babito made it clear that she was not in a position to afford the child’s basic up-keep.

She is herself having a baby to look after and the presence of Babito with her baby in the house has been stressful. Just before she delivered, Babito was being assisted periodically by the International Red Cross although the exact nature of this help could not immediately be established.

What is shocking is that although he appears to like his son, the Jungu Daddy has refused to house both the mother and the son saying that he will have nothing to do with the would-be family members, a position that has shocked some Kenyans who are wondering whether the Jungu is a human being or a wild animal.

In the meantime, the Jungu’s paroz do not even want to know the name of the Nigger grandchild. In fact, they are hoping that he won’t be named “Svensson”, a typical Swedish name. Sources say that because of the circumstances, Babito has not officially named her baby although a KSB agent picked up a name currently being used to refer to the baby.

A crisis is brewing because despite her delicate nature, Babito has no permanent abode. The Kenyan lady who rescued her in the beginning has too much on her hands and she told Babito that she ought to look for alternative accommodation so Babito fixed a new abode after another woman from Kenya accepted her in although it is not known how long she will be at the place.

New Baby “On the Verge of Starvation”
Apart from accommodation problems, another major problem facing Babito and her new born is that as a result of her operation, lack of appetite, stress linked to the child’s rejection by his father, depression, psychological set-backs, mounting frustrations, uncertainty, post-natal pressures, paperlessness and serious worries about the future, Babito has lost a lot of weight.

The consequence is that she does not have enough milk for breast-feeding and, according to sources, the baby “is on the brink of starvation”. Since Babito is not eating properly, the situation has been worsening by the hour.

To prevent the baby from starving to death due to shortage of breast milk, those around Babito recommended that the kid be put on formulas, an expensive option that Babito’s helpers are unable to afford. It is reported that the child is feeding “by the Grace of God”.

Paradoxically, the new Daddy has not understood the problem and when he goes to admire his son, he doesn’t carry with him any food or formulas. He probably thinks that the son is feeding on airburgers!

Despite her problems, Babito is reported to be very strong. She believes that she has gone through worse times while she is reported to have vowed to fight on despite the difficulties.

Members of the Kenya-Stockholm community should help Babito by donating diapers and child food at the minimum. She also needs legal help because since she is paperless, she doesn’t know what to do and appears afraid of the Swedish authorities especially after the father of the child threatened to get her deported to Kenya.

She needs a pram because the Jungu Daddy has not yet clicked that kids are normally pushed around in prams, not just admired. Kenyans, friends and well-wishers also need to talk to the Jungu Daddy and pump him with stuff about his responsibilities as a Daddy regardless of the circumstances. You don’t cease to become a Daddy because a child was born against your will.

Most importantly, Babito needs compassion from caring people in Sweden. Her situation is both desperate and tough for a woman who is nursing both a wound on her belly and a new baby. Kenyan women and men alike, fathers, mothers, grandies, singles, everybody should meet to set up a “Support Group” to help this lady because sympathy is good but it’s not enough.

Okoth Osewe

Pictures: Keegan Kagwe

Following good response in connection with assistance of Babito and her baby, the mother wishes to put to hold further help. The Good Samaritan who has been helping in the case has been doing so out of a good heart, the love for the child and the compassion for the mother. Since no further help is currently necessary, personal contact details of the Good Samaritan have been retired from the blog while further appeal for help has also been halted. The child’s mother would like to thank everybody who has been concerned about the situation.

Okoth Osewe

Pictures: Keegan Kagwe

Kenya-Stockholmer Mr. Philip Owili Ongaro is dead. According to sources which confirmed the sad departure of Mr. Owili, he was found dead in his flat today in the morning by his brother who had just returned from safari.

Mr. Owili’s family in Stockholm has been alerted about the news while the body has been moved to Karolinska Hospital. The cause of death could not be established immediately.

The death of Mr. Owili is extremely shocking, coming at a time when Kenyans are preparing for a Memorial service of Mr. Fanuel Okoth who passed away last week. KSB has spoken to Mrs Owili’s wife, Jane and passed condolences to the entire family which has entered into great shock and sorrow.

KSB has been in contact with Mr. Owili on several occasions, the last contact having been last month. The departed Kenyan was a great story teller and spoke the truth about our country, Kenya. He liked discussing African and Luo culture at every opportunity.

Apart from the family who will miss him greatly, he will also be missed by Kenyans who knew him as a steadfast person who was very concerned with the future of Kenya.  Further information will be circulated as it becomes available.

Okoth Osewe

Overwhelming Response Following Appeal for Help

A box of diapers just opened

Following an appeal at KSB for help linked to Lady Babito and her new baby, reports reaching KSB indicate that there has been a massive response which has surprised the Good Samaritan who has been helping Babito. Barely twenty four hours after the appeal went out, a flood of donations of different descriptions began to flow in the flat where Babito lives.

Through agents, KSB has learnt that a mountain of diapers is now packed in the flat and to quote a source, “there is no more space” in the balcony which is packed with diapers. “We are overwhelmed and you people have done a fantastic job”, a source said referring to KSB and agents.

There was also an appeal for formula milk and, according to sources, the amount of milk that has so far been received is enough to feed the baby “indefinitely” and more is still pouring in.

“We are extremely grateful to KSB”, a source at the Good Samaritan’s house is quoted to have told an agent. “It is incredible what can happen within such a short time”, the source added. The baby now has two prams, a situation which has created problems with space while the pile of clothes that have so far been donated is said to be “enough for now”.

A new pram packed with baby clothes had to be detained by a woman donor because reports from the flat where the baby is living indicated that “there was no more space” where another pram could fit.

The family is thankful to all donors who responded with lightning speed following the appeal. In the meantime, sources have confirmed that some donors have been pumping cash in a Nordea account linked to the baby although the exact amount so far raised could not immediately be established because no auditing has been done. The last time an update was made available to KSB by the person in charge, someone had pumped in 500 kr. A comprehensive audit of the help will be made available as soon as it is received from the subjects.

In the meantime, an interesting twist to the saga has also emerged. It is reported that after the story exploded at KSB, the Swedish father of the baby surfaced with a pack of diapers and some milk for the baby. This was positive.

It has also emerged that there are “some people” who have put both Babito and the Good Samaritan under immense pressure after they made a public appeal for help when the situation became desperate.

This new development has prompted KSB’s “Department of Intelligence” to allocate extra agents to try and establish who these people are and why they are opposed to public help for Babito and child in a situation that clearly called for outside help.

Another interesting development is that it has emerged that the Swedish father has another girlfriend who is said to be behind the rejection of Babito and whose romantic interests may be threatened in case the Swedish guy begins to develop serious attachments to both the baby and Babito.

KSB’s agents are working in shifts 24/7 to unravel details that could help KSB readers understand the real puzzle that could have landed Babito in such a difficult situation. As we went to press, an agent reported that she has established that Babito has an Auntie who lives outside Stockholm and who is reported to be unhappy about current developments.

What is not known is why the Auntie refused to help Babito at a time when she was homeless with a new baby and the reasons why she is reported to be unhappy with current developments. The main story may have just began.

Okoth Osewe

Following good response in connection with assistance of Babito and her baby, the mother wishes to put on hold further help. The Good Samaritan who has been helping in the case has been doing so out of a good heart, the love for the child and the compassion for the mother. Since no further help is currently necessary, personal contact details of the Good Samaritan have been retired from the blog while further appeal for help has also been halted. The child’s mother would like to thank everybody who has been concerned about the situation.

Okoth Osewe

An “Open House” has been set up at the residence of Mr. Philip Owili Ongaro who passed away in Stockholm. Friends, relatives and well-wishers are invited to the residence on Sunday, November 29th at Drakensbersgatan 37 at Hörstull in Stockholm. The purpose of the meeting is to set up a “Funeral Committee” to facilitate the late Owili’s body transportation to Kenya. Mr. Owili is survived by his wife, Mrs Jane Owili and three children who all reside in Sweden. For further info, call 0739778560.

Okoth Osewe

Members of the Kenya-Stockholm community have been plunged into yet another bout of mourning following the demise of Coolie and Otie’s Dad in Kenya. KSB has already taken contact with the family and the brothers will be leaving for Kenya as soon as possible. We take this opportunity to send deep condolences to the bereaved family during this time of great shock and sorrow.

We hope that the two brothers, together with members of their families, will gather the courage to go through this very difficult moment of mourning. For messages of condolences, Kenyans, friends and well-wishers can get in touch with the family through Coolie at: Tel 073 9420003. In the meantime, the family has an “Open House” continuously until they depart for Kenya to attend the funeral. Mourners are free to pop in and register their condolences to the bereaved family.

The bereavement comes at a very difficult time when the Kenya-Stockholm community has been hit by a series of deaths of Kenya-Stockholmers, the latest having been the sudden death of Mr. Philip Owili Ongaro whose body was discovered in his flat yesterday and the late Mr. Fanuel Okoth who passed away in Kenya last week.

The two deaths follow the passing of Mr. Onyango Sumba, a former Stockholmer who was buried in Kenya last month. Thereafter, Naomi Njeri, a Kenya-Stockholmer had to leave for Kenya to attend burial following the death of her Dad in Kenya while just before that, another Kenya- Stockholmer lost his Mom, forcing him to travel to Kenya for the funeral.

Okoth Osewe

Vumbi Dekula in action

Due to great public demand, Vumbi Dekula Band will be playing at Lilla Wien on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th when he will entertain fans from 21.00 to 1.00. The address is Swdenborgsgatan 20 (Pendel Södra Station).

Lilla Wien, which is also known as “Little Nairobi” is increasingly becoming popular with members of the African and Swedish communities who continue to enjoy the beats churned by the Vumbi group. Last month, Prime Minister Raila Odinga surprised revelers at the club when he came to have fun there after a busy day in Stockholm during his official visit in Sweden. Raila’s name went down as the most senior politician to have visited the club and the spot where Raila sat has since been baptized “Raila Corner”.

KSB takes this opportunity to congratulate Vumbi and Crew for having set up a base at Little Nairobi at a time when Africans and lovers of African music have no major music point where they can enjoy Live Music all night long. All people who love African music should support and encourage Vumbi and Crew because they are filling a huge vacuum in the African Entertainment industry in Stockholm.

Okoth Osewe

I could go through the original article and the updates bit by bit and explain my view on it and why I see the situation very differently than stated on the blog, but that will still be word against word, and no one can prove anything. My words might also be interpreted negatively towards the mother and other people, which I would not want to do!

Instead I will say that when this article came to my attention, I immediately brought up this with the mother of my son – which was on Monday the 23rd. She said that she was “shocked” by it and that all of the article was a collection of lies and exaggerations. I asked her to contact KSB and tell them that, so that this information would come from the source, not second hand. I also spoke extensively to the moderator of KSB who explained that the articles can not be removed, but he welcomed my comments. Later the mother said to me that she had “gone to the core of the whole story”, and that some kind of mistake / misunderstanding had been made by people she knew.

After having read the last updates and read about all these wonderful people that have been so caring to my son and her mother, I felt so outraged that I just had to send in a posting to KSB! It is so fantastic that apparently so many people have reached out their hearts for what they think is a worthy cause! That they want to help when people are in need! These are the people that will save this world from all the bad things that unfortunately comes out now and then! But in this case, those well wishes are for something that is not true! Someone has written a wildly exaggerated story where very little is true. I and the mother agreed very much both on this when we spoke. When I asked her Monday if she agree that the original posting is lies and crap, her exact comment was “Basically most of it is crap, crap, crap”!

I must strongly point out that my parents have met our son, and find him absolutely adorable! The color of other people’s skins has never been a problem in our family, and, as a matter of fact, my sister is adopted!

It breaks my heart to read this vicous story and these false accusations. Where generous-hearted people are exploited to earn money dishonestly. My exact words Monday to the mother was: “People might believe what is there and might want to give money to you, to my son – to Our son – for something that is not true”.

If the situation had been one where all these lovely people had given to help our son and his mother because our present financial situation is not that good, that would be wonderful. But for them to give, based on this story is terrible! I feel a knife in my heart, for our Son! I feel the honor of a very innocent soul has been used and tarnished! The caring souls who actually reach out are the ones who will make it so something like this does not happen again

According to the former Swedish boyfriend, this response has been agreed upon by Babito, her former Swedish boyfriend and the Good Samaritan

Arrangements for the burial of the late Mr. Fanuel Okoth have been finalised. The body leaves New Nyanza General Hospital on Thursday 3/12 to it´s final resting place in Yimbo, Goma Village, Siaya District where Okoth will be burried. Burial will take place on Friday 4/12.

Meanwhile, the “Fanuel Okoth Funeral Committee” here in Stockholm, together with Okoth’s family in Sweden, has announced that plans have been completed for a Prayer meeting scheduled for Saturday 28th November at Okoth’s residence in Södertälje starting from 14:00hrs.

For those who wish to attend, take pendeltåg to Östertälje, then buss 753 to Fornhöjden and drop off at Fornbackaskolan. The addresse is 44, 2tr code: 2244#.

In case of difficulties, call 074954947 or 0700299650. KSB has also been informed that former wife of the late Okoth who also resides in Södertälje will travel to Kenya to attend the burial together with all her 3 daughters, a son and 1 of the daughter’s husband.

Nina Okoth & daughters, Angelica Mohlin & husband Jesper Mohlin, Agnetha Okoth, Theresa Okoth and son James Okoth have expressed their wish to be present during the burial ceremony.

Fanuel Okoth, whose mother is a sister to Kenyas Prime Minister Raila Odinga´s mother, was one of the beneficiaries of scholarships issued by the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga to pursue studies in the former Soviet Union.

He is one of the few Kenyans who came abroad in the early 70´s. From Soviet Union, he settled in Sweden where he got married to his former Russian wife and got blessed with 4 children. He later got married to a Kenyan lady, Lilly Okoth with whom they have also lived with for quite some time before his death. May God rest his soul in eternal peace.

Ochieng Nyambok,
Chairman,
Fanuel Okoth Funeral Committee

Following the passing of Mzee Goga, the father of Coolie and Otie, Kenyans, friends and well-wishers are meeting today, Friday 27th November at Continental Hotel (located near the Central Station) from 18.00 hrs to condole with the bereaved family during this time of shock and sorrow.

Continental Hotel is a central meeting place and Kenyans have been meeting there from time to time especially following bereavements.

Another meeting will take place tomorrow at Elizabeth’s Salon from 14.00 tomorrow Saturday 28th November. The address is Roslagsgatan 11 and further information can be obtained by ringing 0739239413.

Okoth Osewe

A Committee to help organize the transportation of the body of the late Mr. Philip Owili Ongaro to Kenya has been set up in Stockholm. The Committee is headed by Mrs Hellen Opwapo, ODM-Scandinavia Chairperson, Dr. Margaret Obondo, Secretary and Mr. Mark Agar Gaya, the Treasurer.

The task of the Committee is to raise funds to finance the transportation of Mr. Owili’s body to Kenya for burial accompanied by his four children and his wife, Mrs Jane Owili. The total cost of the project has been placed at 70,000 kr (about 700,000 Kenyan shillings). A funds drive has been set for Saturday, 5th December 2007 although the venue will be announced later because consultations are still continuing.

Mr. Owili’s body was found in his flat last Tuesday. At the moment, the cause of death has not been established because a post mortem report is still awaited. Mr. Owili’s death has shocked members of the Kenyan community who knew him because at the time of his death, he appeared healthy, strong and out-going.

The Committee has appealed for solidarity from members of the Kenya-Stockholm community, Swedes, friends, sympathizers and well wishers. Speaking to KSB, Mr. Mark Gaya said that Mr. Owili’s family in Kenya is awaiting the body for burial and appealed to Kenyans to unite during this time of shock and sorrow and assist the family transport the body to Kenya.

Mr. Owili’s brother is resident in Sweden and, according to reports reaching KSB, he is allegedly not in talking terms with Mrs Owili because of long standing family feuds. It is reported that he has chosen to keep away from the fund raising activities.

A KSB agent has reported that the brother has ganged up with a group of Kenyans to try and undermine the fund raising effort, arguing that family members of the late Owili in Sweden have changed the key lock at Owili’s residence where the brother used to stay with the late.

Committee’s Appeal for Solidarity
According to Mrs. Jane Owili who was interviewed by KSB, the lock was changed through the assistance of police after the brother refused to surrender the key so that the family could have access to Owili’s flat in order to acquire documents and other personal details that were required in the process of collaboration with the Swedish authorities who are in contact with the family as the next of kin. Mrs Owili said that it is Mr. Owili’s eldest son who intervened to open the door in conjunction with police for official reasons.

Speaking on behalf of the Committee, Mr. Mark Gaya said that the Funeral Committee will not engage in any real or imagined family feud between the family and Owili’s brother because the agenda of the Committee is to fund raise so that the family can transport Mr. Owili’s body to Kenya for burial. He appealed to the late Owili’s brother and anybody around him to set aside any differences and help the Committee to fund raise.

Mr. Gaya also said that although Mr. Owili had a separate flat where he was living at the time of death, the Committee will be meeting at his official residence where his wife and children have been residing because, according to Luo culture, that is the house where bereavement has taken place.

Some Kenyans have accused the late Owili’s brother of being inconsiderate and irresponsible for seeking to set up a rival group to fight the family at a time when a huge amount of cash needs to be raised to transport Owili’s body to Kenya for burial.

Those who support him have claimed that the family has made him homeless by changing the lock although the family has countered by saying that they had to have access to the flat as the next of kin after he refused to hand over the keys.

As we went to press, there were no plans by Owili’s brother to organize any rival fund raising. Through KSB, both the Funeral Committee and the family, have appealed to Kenyans and well-wishers in Sweden to support the family and ignore Owili’s brother whom, they say, is also welcome to join in the fund raising activities. Another key member of the Committee is Mr. Oyuga Odada. The Committee tasked KSB with transmitting relevant information to the Kenyan and other publics in relation to its fund raising activities.

Okoth Osewe

The late Mr. Philip Owili Ongaro

Changed Padlock at Owili’s Residence: The Inside Edition (Ukweli wa Mambo)

One positive thing about the planned funds drive to transport the remains of the late Philip Owili Ongaro to Kenya is that despite the existence of certain disagreements between Mr. Owili’s brother and the family, plans for the funds drive have been finalized without major hitches. So far, there has been no indication that the brother is planning a parallel funds drive while the family differences are in no way threatening the smooth flow of the harambee process.

An elder sister of Owili’s wife arrived from London last Friday to be with the family while Kenyans, friends and well-wishers continue to stream into Owili’s flat at Drakensbergsgatan 37 in Hörnstull to condole with the bereaved family. An aura of solidarity with the family has filled the air, condolences continue to pour in while the late Owili continue to be mourned at different forums following his abrupt and untimely departure.

The family has welcomed everybody concerned at the residence at any time while a “Funeral Committee” headed by Mrs Hellen Opwapo, the Chairlady of ODM Scandinavia, has been set up. In fact, the fund raising has began at the residence as a major funds drive is planned for the coming Saturday, 5th December. It is estimated that at least 70.000 kr is needed to transport the body and family members to Kenya for the funeral.

After Mr. Owili passed away, deep anxiety began to rise among a cross section of Kenyans within the Owili circles when information filtered across that the Owili family in Stockholm had summoned a locksmith and changed the key-lock of the flat where Owili’s brother has been residing with the late, the same flat where Owili’s body was discovered on Tuesday last week. The burning issue was that as a result of the padlock change, Owili’s brother had effectively been rendered homeless and left to sleep in the streets. Because of the seriousness of the allegations, KSB decided to investigate in order to bring out the “Inside Edition”.

According to our findings, the fact is that the door-lock had indeed been changed and Owili’s brother had indeed been locked out of the flat. This information was confirmed by Owili’s brother whom KSB spoke to. According to the brother, he was very disappointed that the Owili family had locked the door, making him unable to gain access to the flat. He told KSB that he could not therefore access his room together with his property because the door keys had been changed. He had not even been able to read KSB because his lap-top was in the flat.

He said that he could not understand why the family was doing this to him when he was the person who had been living with the late Owili. He is officially registered at the Owili address and the lock-change appeared bizarre, given that it was being done by his relatives and at a difficult time when Mr. Owili had just passed away. Just like other Kenyans who heard the storo, KSB could not help sympathizing with his situation.

How Police got involved in door-lock change
He disclosed that the wife of the late Mr. Owili had tried to get the key from him when police was still at the residence but that he refused to surrender it. At that time, he said that even the police intervened on his behalf, arguing that he was registered at the address and so he had a right to keep custody of the keys. However, when KSB took contact with the Owili family to find out what was happening and why they had locked Owili’s brother from the flat, the story was as different as the sun is to the moon. Luckily, the two sides were talking to KSB and investigations were easy.

According to the family, the brother had refused them access to the house even though they wanted to retrieve certain important documents and information as they began contacts with the Swedish authorities. This could only be done if they could have access to the flat. Another issue was that Owili’s four children wanted to view the site where their father died because they were not present at the scene before the body was removed, leave alone entering the flat. Only the wife managed to get to the flat before the body was removed.

A third point was that Owili’s eldest son is also a signatory to the lease contract of the flat and since his father had passed away, it was important that he gets custody of the keys for any eventuality. When the brother refused to hand over the keys, the family decided to turn to the Swedish authorities for help. Since Owili’s eldest son is a signatory to the contract, he led the way with contacts with authorities.

When the Swedes looked at the case, it was decided that the lock be broken so that the family could have access to the flat. Johan Petersson, a police officer who spoke to KSB but who was not involved when the lock was changed said that in such circumstances, the person whose name appears on the contract holds much of the influence. In Sweden, it is impossible to change the standard lower and upper locks of a door without police involvement.

While it is easy to change the upper lock without problems, only a contract holder or a person mandated to do so by the contract holder can change the lower lock. This is one reason why the lower lock is normally referred to as “Police lock”. Even when you sublet someone in your flat, you do not share the “Police key” because you can use it to dictate stuff in times of crisis. During a complete lock-change, police presence is recommended to allay any concerns by any observer that a crime is being committed and to protect the person or persons changing the lock from any consequences.

When Owili’s brother came back to the flat, he discovered that his keys had been rendered useless. It is at this point that news began to circulate in Stockholm that the Owili family had locked his brother out of the house.

Intervention by Prisca
In fact, some Kenyans got really concerned about the situation and decided to take matters on to their own hands. Without digging into the details, they were concerned that it was wrong for the Owili family to lock his brother out of the house when the whole family had just been plunged into deep mourning. In the meantime, KSB kept its agents “on high alert” to sniff for any bits of information that could help piece the puzzle.

We soon got wind that a Kenyan lady called Prisca was so concerned that she went to the residence of Owili’s family to try and convince the family to give Owili’s brother the keys so that he could access the flat. Prisca is not just an ordinary person when it comes to the Owilis. She is also related to the family and she was the perfect person who could have intervened in the situation. KSB therefore decided to follow events by tracking Prisca’s steps towards a resolution of the crisis.

According to Prisca, she discovered that the family’s intention was not to lock out Owili’s brother from the flat. After changing the lock, gaining access to the flat and sorting out what they wanted to sort out, the family was open and wanted talks with Owili’s brother to give him a copy of the keys so that he could access the flat but the brother allegedly refused to meet the family. The family also told Prisca that they wanted to personally apologize to Owili’s brother for having found themselves in a situation where they had to break the lock but he allegedly refused to meet them.

Although they were ready to meet their uncle, Owili’s sons insisted that the only conditions were that a witness be present during the handing over of the keys and that the brother sign an agreement that he had received the keys. Part of the deal was that the brother would be given time to sort himself out as plans to transport Owili’s body to Kenya also got underway.

According to Prisca, who spoke to KSB, the family was ready to meet the brother anywhere if he was not comfortable with meeting them at Owili’s official residence where an “Open House” had been set up by the family and where Kenyans continue to meet daily as plans for fund raising also continue. To quote Prisca, “Owili’s sons were ready to meet their uncle even at the Central Station” to hand over the keys but he allegedly refused to meet them.

At this point, Prisca told KSB that she personally approached the brother as an intermediary so that the issue could be resolved but the brother insisted that he would not meet members of the Owili family. This situation created a deadlock with the brother remaining homeless and the sons holding onto the keys with a stern condition that they would not hand over the keys to a “Second party” as a way of getting them to their uncle.

At the time we went to blog, it was reported that progress was being made and that the brother was in the process of meeting Owili’s sons although further information is not available as to the outcome of the expected meeting.

Despite the key-circus, plans for the funds drive are rolling and Kenyans will meet at a venue located at Drakensbergsgatan 2 in Hörnstull on Saturday 5th December to collect cash. Take bus number 4 and alight at Varvgatan. Further info can be obtained by calling Mark Gaya at 0737394258.

Okoth Osewe

The big names of Necessary Noise, Nazizi, Wyre and DJ Lastborn will be at Vasa Temple tomorrow, Thursday December 3rd to meet Wakenya, fans and other Temple members. Time is 21.30. They will then move to Mama Africa to have fun before treating Wakenya and other fans on Friday. The group is jetting in tomorrow morning in preparation for a show on Friday, December 4th at Sollentuna. DJ Lastborn is expected to get Kenya-Stockholmers as close as possible to the Nairobi Disco beats on Friday night. All are welcome. For further info, call: 0704193053.

Okoth Osewe

The Owili Funeral Committee have released an account number where people who will not be able to make it to the fund raising can deposit cash. The Bank is NORDEA and the number is: 38 3000 0000 0119 8300 4324. The account holder is the late Mr. Owili’s son, Mr. Owili Michael Ongaro. Direction to the harambee venue has also been released as follows.

From Hörnstull,  exit Högalidsparken, walk over to the opposite side of the street and into the mini-shopping mall. Walk a few meters and take the entrance to the escalators on the right hand side. Take a left turn when you have exited Drakenbergsgatan from the tunnel. Walk all the way past a fountain through the port. To the left of the port you will see a long staircase upwards, as well as burning torches of light as you arrive.

Okoth Osewe

VUMBI DEKULA AT LILLA WIEN

Dekula Band at Lilla Wien Bar & Restaurant from 21.00 hrs-01 hrs.

04-05/18-19 December 2009/

01-02 January 2010
Address: Swedenborgsgatan 20, Pendeltåg Södra Station

There has been a major breakthrough in negotiations between the Owili family and the late Kenyan’s brother who has been locked out of the flat he used to live in after the door lock was changed by the Owili family. As a result of a deal that was struck on Friday evening, Mr. Owili’s brother has been given the key to the flat ahead of tomorrow’s harambee and given at least 30 days to sort himself out before leaving the flat.

This means that he has until January to relocate from the flat although the option of further negotiations in the future were left open. It was also decided that his ticket expenses will be included in the budget of funds that will be raised by the public tomorrow Saturday to avoid a situation where he could have been forced by circumstances to call a parallel harambee that could have hurt the main harambee.

The deal was brokered by “Three Eminent Kenyans” in Stockholm who were led by Mzee Oyuga Odada. Others in the negotiation team were Mr. Mark Agar Gaya and DJ Jimmy Omodho. The deal was brokered at the residence of the late Owili in Hörnstull in Stockholm and in the presence of other members of the Owili family.

According to the team which negotiated the deal, Mr. Owili’s brother has welcomed the deal and appealed to everybody to turn up at the funds drive scheduled for Saturday at Drakenbergsgatan 2 in Hörnstull, Stockholm. He thanked the three Eminent Kenyans for securing the deal that, he said, has now resolved a major outstanding issue. He promised to be at the harambee to support it so that his brother’s body could be transported to Kenya.

The deal will, most likely, be welcomed by Kenyans and friends who were getting concerned that the rift within the family was casting a negative spell on the impending funds drive. In the meantime, all plans for the harambee have been finalized and Kenyans, friends and well-wishers have been requested by the Committee to turn up in large numbers to help raise cash so that the body of the late Owili can be transported to Kenya to be laid to rest.

The Owili Funeral Committee is being headed by Mrs Hellen Opwapo who is also the Chairperson of ODM Scandinavia.

Okoth Osewe

All Kenyans, Africans, Swedes, people of the world, Friends and well-wishers are hereby invited  to the union in holy matrimony of Sister Sheila and brother shaheen as per details contained in the e-card. Those wishing to attend are advised to regard this e-card as an OFFICIAL INVITATION from the wedding couple. Also, be advised that you can extend the invitation to other contacts at will by sending them the card via mail. Let us unite to make this wedding a memorable one. In case of further information, please call the number of the card. Regards and we meet at the wedding.

Sheila-Shaheen Wedding Committee

42.000 Kr handed over to family

There is an adage in Kenya-Stockholm that every harambee organized by Kenya-Stockholmers for whatever reason “always has its own scandal”. In a developing story that has left some Kenyans in a state of permanent shock, it has emerged that the “Philip Owili Funeral Committee” has handed over 42.000 kr that was raised last Saturday to the family without giving a penny to the late Owili’s brother as per an agreement that was reached last Friday between the Committee and the brother.

The brother has a long running family feud with Owili’s widow and because of differences arising out of multiple squabbles, the brother ended up being locked out of Mr. Owili’s flat where he was living for more than a week (see separate story).

Last Friday, a deal that was negotiated by three Kenyans resulted in the brother being handed over the keys to the flat while it was agreed that he would be part of the Saturday harambee on condition that he would also get a share of the cash to finance his ticket home to attend his brother’s funeral.

At the harambee, Kenyans turned up and raised 42.000 kr. Among the attendees was the late Owili’s brother who also mobilized all his sympathizers to join in the funds drive. Prior to the Friday deal, the brother had planned a parallel harambee towards his ticket expenses.

An SMS that was to be sent on his behalf was put on hold during negotiations because the general thinking was that there was no need to split people during fund raising when cash could be shared in a way that the brother’s concerns could also be put into consideration. When the deal was struck and the Committee accepted it, there was celebration. However, after cash was raised, the Committee retreated to a meeting and decided that all cash would be given to the family.

When rumours hit Kenya-Stockholm that Owili’s brother had been left “empty handed”, cell phones began to warm up as Kenya-Stockholmers took time out to examine what was largely seen as a huge scandal. KSB was woken by a phone call to the effect that the Owili Committee “had played a complicated game that had left the family with all the money”. We decided to investigate.

According to information reaching KSB, a Committee meeting was called on Sunday afternoon at the residence of Mrs Jane Owili, the widow, to discuss the way forward. Committee members who attended the meeting were Mrs Hellen Opwapo, Chairlady, Dr. Margarette Obondo, Secretary, Mr. Mark Gaya, Treasurer, Mr. Oyuga Odada, Committee member, Mrs Jane Owili, the widow and Mrs Jane Odada, Committee member.

At the meeting, it was decided that cash be handed over to the family because the cost of transporting the body to Kenya stood at 45.000 kr and that since cash raised was not enough, no money could be given to Owili’s brother.

Brother’s friends are furious
The general view was that it was better to prioritize transportation of the body so that individuals could seek out ways of raising money for their own tickets including family members. The news that Owili’s brother was left with nothing has not gone down well with some Kenyans who have accused the Committee of “High level conspiracy” to further frustrate efforts by Owili’s brother to travel home to attend his brother’s funeral.

KSB has spoken to both the widow, Mrs Jane Owili and key Committee members who were at the meeting to establish ukweli wa mambo. From what emerges, the issue of Owili’s brother was discussed at the meeting with two Committee members, Mr. Odada and Mr. Gaya, arguing that part of the cash be given to the brother so that both sides could seek new ways of fund raising. However, they were overruled by other Committee members who took the view that the brother did not deserve anything. The vote therefore, tilted against the brother and cash was handed over to the family.

The news has been greeted with rebuke by a cross section of Kenyans who attended the harambee and whose sympathies are with the brother. Supporters of the brother who have called KSB are disappointed that the Committee has not given him a single coin out of their contribution.

“I came to the harambee specifically because of him and after I was told that he would benefit from the money. Even if cash was not enough, he should have been given his rightful share because all his friends came there believing that he would benefit”, a furious Kenyan told KSB.

Another Kenyan said that he spent over 1.000 kr at the funds drive and that if he knew that the brother would walk away with nothing, he could have given him the money directly.

“It is very unfortunate that a Committee being led by very respectable people could do such a thing to a person who just lost his brother and who had just been locked out of his house”, another Kenyan told KSB.

According to Mrs Jane Owili, who spoke to KSB over the matter, she is undergoing a difficult moment and her priority is to take the body of her late husband home for burial.

“When the harambee was organized, my understanding was that money was being raised for Philip and if there was anything left, the first person who ought to have been considered is Philip’s last born daughter”, she told KSB.

The brother has himself talked to KSB and said that what has happened is fraudulent because a clear agreement existed which he respected by mobilizing his contacts to the funds drive. He has appealed to Kenyans who can understand his situation and other sympathizers to help him attend his brother’s funeral.

From a sampling of phone calls from concerned Kenyans, the general line of reasoning is that the Committee may have fooled supporters of Owili’s brother into attending the harambee, a notion that is not healthy. “We have been taken for another ride”, a Kenyan told KSB. The brother’s supporters are planning an emergency fund raising to help purchase a ticket so that he can travel home to attend the funeral.

Okoth Osewe

The late Owili: Body to leave on Thursday

The Memorial Service for the late Mr. Philip Owili Ongaro will take place tomorrow, Tuesday 8th December at the Seventh Day Adventist Church situated at Olof Palmegatan 25 in Stockholm (Nearest Tube is Höterget). The body leaves for Kenya on Thursday December 9th and is expected in Kenya on Friday, December 10th.

Kenyans, friends, sympathizers and well wishers are all invited to the Memorial service. Through Mr. Owili’s widow, Mrs Jane Owili, the family has thanked everybody who participated in the Saturday harambee where a total of 42.000 kr was raised.

The family sent special thanks to the Committee for a work well done. The widow told KSB that the family has had to borrow money to top up the amount that was raised by Kenyans so that the body can be transported to Kenya for burial.

Okoth Osewe

Brother Calls “Emergency Harambee” at Continental Hotel

Mr. Nathan Hassan, the brother of the late Mr. Philip Owili Ongaro, has entered into crisis because he might be unable to travel home on time to attend the funeral of his late brother whose body leaves for Kenya on Thursday this week. Speaking to KSB on telephone, he wondered aloud what may have happened to the “Owili Funeral Committee” members because he could not understand how mature people who are well educated could renege on a clear agreement which was discussed and reached at a meeting by known people.

“I talked to Mr. Oyugi, Mr. Oyuga Odada and Mr. Gaya and they told me that I would get part of the funds raised to help finance my ticket”, he told KSB. “I have friends who came to the harambee. Others from different countries came to support the harambee because I told them that we had agreed to share cash raised”, a dejected brother told KSB on telephone soon after it was confirmed that he had been left “empty handed”.

The brother could not understand what he may have done to deserve the kind of treatment he had undergone at the hands of the Owili Committee whom, he said, he trusted beyond reasonable doubt.

“During the harambee, I talked to Mark Gaya who assured me that I would be given money on my hands after the harambee”, he continued. “I also talked to Mr. Odada who assured me that I was included in the main fund raising”, he added.

Although the harambee went on smoothly without major incidences, tension rose after the brother requested for an opportunity to give a speech. After the Master of Ceremony, Mr. Joshua Oyugi, allowed him to address the audience, he attacked the Owili family for having kept him in the cold for more than a week by locking him out of the flat he was living in together with his late brother.

After the speech, a shouting match between the brother and the widow ensued with the widow insisting that she had to respond to the speech. Although the request was turned down, she did manage to rise and address the gathering. She, in turn, attacked the brother for being a stumbling block in the process of the Owili fund raising but before she could proceed, Committee members rose to call for calm as temperatures began to rise.

At this point, Owili’s sister, who had travelled all the way from London, intervened and also demanded to talk. Some Kenyans did not recognize her and one Kenyan lady demanded to know who she was. Although she was never allowed to speak officially by the MC, she did say her bit and warned those who were attacking her sister to shut up.

Why the brother is being kept away
When the situation threatened to turn ugly, some members of the Committee stood up and, in turn, threatened to abandon the Committee if family members could not behave. It is at this point that things cooled down to allow the harambee to continue. It is against this background that the brother is reading foul-play in the decision by the Committee to exclude him from benefiting from cash that was raised by the public at the harambee.

According to the brother, the Owili family does not want him to attend the funeral on time to address mourners and that this is the fundamental reason why they are allegedly frustrating him. He views the lock-out from Owili’s flat as part of this frustration. What he has not understood is what he perceives as “collaboration” between the Committee and the family on a matter touching on public funds raised after an agreement to help both sides in the conflict.

He told KSB that the Committee had acted illegally in keeping him out of the funds because cash was raised by members of the public as per an agreement with the Committee that he would get his share regardless of the outcome of the harambee. He said that the Committee must be brought to account and to answer questions as to why he was kept out after funds were raised.

Asked why he thinks that the Owili family does not want him to attend the funeral, he said that during his stay with the late Owili, the brother told him “a lot of things” which he wanted relayed to his relatives back home in case he passed away abruptly.

“The Owili family does not want me to attend the funeral to talk about these issues”, he told KSB. He requested that the general public should question why the late Owili was living with him in a different flat for many years when now, he is supposed to have been married to Mrs Jane Owili.

He insisted that in the name of justice, it should be published that the late Owili’s wife “divorced him 24 years ago”. He also insisted that it be made clear that as far as he was concerned, “the Owili Funeral Committee has cheated me and conspired with the family to keep me away from the funds”. It is the brother who discovered the body of Owili in his flat and called police after he returned from a one week safari.

When pressed to give examples of what he knew which could have precipitated a situation where the family was allegedly trying to keep him away from the funeral, he gave several narrations which cannot be published at KSB especially at a time of deep shock and sorrow. He claimed that the family had obtained 80,000 kr from Owili’s Insurance company while he also claimed that the Funeral Agency transporting Owili’s body to Kenya called him to say that the body transportation cost was 24.000 kr and not 45.000 kr as claimed by the family.

“The agency called me and asked whether I could pay the money and this is how I knew about the issue”, he said. He challenged the family to produce receipts to prove him wrong.

“Naked Truth” at Continental Hotel
He said that Owili’s eldest son leaves for Kenya, today Monday, his mother leaves on Wednesday and that the body leaves on Thursday. “All these had been planned because they had money and tickets booked as I was being taken for a ride by the Committee. I feel very bitter”, he told KSB.

If true, the allegations are extremely serious, given that money was being raised from the public on grounds that the situation was desperate. These allegations puts the Committee in a major fix especially on questions of accountability and transparency. KSB has not been able to confirm any of the allegations and at this point, the info is being published upon the insistence of the brother who believes that this is the truth unless the family can prove otherwise.

The brother said that he had been helping Mr. Owili for a long time and that as a blood brother “who suckled the same teats”, he had no reasons for telling lies about his late brother and the entire Owili family. He believes that it will be “a tragedy” if he fails to travel to Kenya on time to attend the funeral of his late brother “to tell the truth”.

According to him, the Owili family is in a state of panic because of what he knows. He has therefore appealed for help from everybody who is in a position to understand his situation.

To address his economic difficulties especially on the ticket issue, the brother has called a funds drive tomorrow at Continental Hotel from 18.00 hrs to Midnight. He said that he is undergoing through a very trying moment but hoped that he will be able to travel to Kenya for the funeral so that his brother can rest in real peace.

He appealed to “all people who love fairness, justice and the naked truth” to come to Continental Hotel tomorrow so that they can hear from him directly about the main issues that led to the conspiracy between the family and the Committee to prevent him from travelling to Kenya. He said that he is ready to repeat verbatim everything published here “as the naked truth”.

Okoth Osewe

Response to the late Phillip Owili’s brother Nathan Hassan on claims of sabotage by the Owili funeral committee

I’m writing as the Secretary of the late Owili’s funeral committee to refute very strongly the assertions made by Mr. Nathan Hassan that we connived with Mrs. Jane Owili to deny him money for the air ticket to travel to Kenya to bury his brother. Firstly, I wish make it very clear to Mr Hassan and all concerned that WE neither want to get involved NOR be drawn into what is obviously a very “infected” family feud. My goal for this response is to clarify to you Mr. Hassan our mandate as a funeral committee and to briefly explain why we made the decision to hand over the money raised to the Owili family.

Briefly, our mandate as a committee was to support the Owili children to bury their father and also to respond to Phillips mother’s plea to transport the body of his son back home to Kenya. We made it very clear to Jane Owili and the children that our priority and immediate goal as a funeral committee was to raise the 45,000 kronor for “begravnings bureau” (the amount is a discount, actual cost is 47,000!). This is the amount required for the embalmment and transportation of the remains of the deceased home.

Raising money for the tickets for the family members was ONLY a secondary goal. The committee informed the family right from the start that the target amount estimated at 70,000 kronor was by no means a ‘small sum’ because during the past month, the Kenyan community lost 3 members and funds had been raised to support the bereaved families. While we were optimistic that Kenyans would support the Owili family, we were also realistic and from the start, we asked the family to look for alternative sources of money to purchase the tickets in the likelihood that we did not reach estimated target amount because we knew that by the 15th of December, the cost of the air tickets would rise.

While the Kenyan community and friends of the Owilis spared no effort during the harambee to raise as much funds as possible and indeed raised a commendable sum of 42,000 we fell short of reaching our primary target On Sunday the 6th of December, when we met after the harambee, the committee had to make a choice of either sending Phillips body home or buying tickets for members of the family. We chose to hand over the raised funds to Jane Owili to immediately (by Monday morning) take the entire sum + 3000 kronor of her own to the funeral services to start preparing the body for transportation home.

At he same time, we asked Jane to dip into her savings or appeal to friends for support to raise extra funds for the tickets. If Hassan wants support to buy his ticket then we are ready to listen. But he is not going to draw the whole committee into mudslinging and family conflicts that we have absolutely no interests in. The committee has worked tirelessly and selflessly to ensure that the remains of his brother reach home and we would urge him to spare us the embarrassment of “washing his family’s dirty linen in public”

Dr Margaret Obondo
Secretary
Philip Owili Funeral Committee

Over 8.000 Kr raised at Emergency Hassan Harambee; The brother on his way to Kenya

The protagonists: Mrs Jane Owili and Hassan Nathan

A group of Kenyans who have been sympathetic to Mr. Hassan Nathan, the late Owili’s brother, have said that the Owili Committee cheated them that cash raised at last Saturday’s Owili harambee would be shared so that a portion would be hived to the brother to help him finance his ticket to Kenya.

Speaking at an “Emergency Funds drive” called to raise cash for the brother’s ticket, the group of more than 20 Kenyans and friends accused the Owili Committee of colluding with the family to transfer all funds to the family while leaving the brother out of the cash distribution. Discussion about the topic was hot and appeals had to be made from time to time for contributions to be limited so that the agenda of fund raising could continue.

The group dismissed a statement released by Dr. Margaret Obondo, the Owili Committee Secretary, who said that the Committee was not aware that cash raised was to be shared and that the brother would also benefit.

Those present told KSB that it was dishonest for Dr. Obondo to have released the statement because during the opening session of the harambee, it was Dr. Obondo herself who made the opening address and said that cash raised would go towards helping six family members in Sweden. “Dr. Obondo named these people and Hassan was one of them. The last person she named was Mrs Jane Owili”, said a Kenyan who added that he was among the first to arrive at the harambee.

The group said that attempts to cover up the conspiracy between the Committee and the Owili family to keep Hassan out will not work because people are adults and they know what happened. They said that Hassan was more related to the late Owili than his wife and after the problems the brother had gone through including being locked out of his flat, the last the Owili Committee could have done was to frustrate his efforts towards travelling to Kenya by keeping him out of the cash sharing deal and denying that such a deal existed when his friends had attended the harambee because of the deal.

During yesterday’s Emergency funds drive at Continental Hotel, a total of 8.120 Kr was raised for Hassan towards his ticket so that he could travel home to bury his brother. Contributors, some of whom attended the Owili harambee, said that they could have raised more money if Hassan had gone ahead with his harambee last Saturday. “We exhausted ourselves financially hoping that Hassan would benefit”, they said.

Those who contributed at the Emergency harambee were: Eric Odhiambo, Brother Banda from Malawi, Jared Odero, Sandy, George Wamuga, Joseph Okulo Misala, Mark Gaya, Albinus Odada, Alice Odhiambo, Hulda Palm, Anna Otieno, Prisca Försman, Nancy Osumba, Mohammed Abdullahi, Man Nzoro, Elizabeth Wairimu, Jasper Orieny, Okoth Osewe, Cathrine Maundu, Huda Ceasar from Uganda and Malko Abdi from Somalia. Earlier in the evening, Hassan’s two friends from Sierra Leone and Gambia also came to console him.

Owili Committee Statement Dismissed
According to Hassan, he needed 6.600 kr to purchase a ticket to Kenya. As I write, Hassan is on his way to Arlanda International Airport to board a plane to Kenya to bury his brother. He thanked everybody who attended the Emergency funds drive. He said that he had mobilized all his friends to the Saturday fund raising hoping that he would get a portion of the cash to go towards his air ticket but that the Committee cheated him.

He said that although Mr. Mark Gaya and Mr. Oyuga Odada had raised the issue of him being given his part of the bargain, both Dr. Obondo, the Committee Secretary, and Mrs Hellen Opwapo, the Committee’s Chairlady, overruled the two. Apart from Mr. Mark Gaya, members of the Owili Committee failed to turn up for the Emergency Hassan harambee.

Speaker after speaker condemned the Committee with one member saying that if the Committee believed in justice, the brother could have been given a share so that those who had attended the harambee to support both the brother and the family could be satisfied that their contributions had gone to meet their expectations.

According to the Owili Committee statement, Hassan could not be given any money because cash that was raised was not even enough to transport the late Owili’s body to Kenya.

This argument was repeatedly countered by those present who said that, since there was a conflict, the Committee could have called a new harambee or given Hassan “even 3.000 kr” as ways of sorting out the balance on both sides were looked into. They said that another option was for the Committee to consult Hassan to find out what he thought about the cash split since he was a beneficiary. “They handed over the money while assuming that Hassan was an outsider”, said a member.

The group said that the position that Hassan would be given money was made public through KSB on Friday night and that if this was wrong information, the Committee should have corrected it at the harambee so that those present could know. “Instead, Dr. Obondo told us that all six family members would benefit and named Hassan as one of them”, said an irate member who added that even Hassan was present when he was being named as a beneficiary. They viewed the Obondo Statement as a poor attempt at damage control.

The group regretted that the Owili Committee was being led by respectable people within the Kenyan society who should have understood the consequences of keeping Hassan out of the financial transaction. They said that they felt let-down and warned Kenyans to learn from the experience. Many of them believe that the Committee was siding with the family in the Hassan-Family conflict, a position which, they said, was wrong because the Committee ought to have been neutral.

Members of the group gave their names to be published at KSB and said that anybody who doubted their views on the issue should contact them directly for further discussions. “The truth is that we were taken for a ride by the Owili Committee”, they told KSB. Mr. Hassan thanked KSB for having helped him mobilize friends and well-wishers at short notice.

Okoth Osewe

Hassan, the late Owili’s brother, addressed friends at the end of harambee which enabled him to travel to Kenya to bury his brother. It was past midnight and some friends had left.

Photos: Keegan Kagwe

Owili death announcement

Find the link HERE

Hassan receives cash from friends (L) as others look on

Serah Nielsen, a Kenyan resident in Stockholm, has lost her sister in Kenya. An “Open House” has been set up at Serah’s house at Västerbybacke 24 (6th floor) in Rinkeby from 18.00 hrs. Kenyans, friends, sympathizers and well wishers are invited to the Open house daily.

There will be main prayers on Saturday, December 19th from 15.00 hrs and all are invited. Serah needs to travel home urgently to attend the funeral of her sister who has left four children behind. At the time of her death, the sister was pregnant and undergoing treatment at a local hospital in Kenya. For further info, call Serah at: 0737881977.

KSB sends deep condolences to the entire family of Serah Nielssen during this time of shock and sorrow. Death is a tragedy not easy to cope with and we hope that the family will have the strength and courage to go through this very difficult moment.

Okoth Osewe

Githuku wa Muirani: To be baptized

Brother Githuku wa Muirani, a Kenyan Christian resident in Stockholm, wishes to invite Kenyans, friends and well-wishers to his baptismal ceremony which will take place on Sunday 20th December 2009 at the New Life Church in Stockholm. The invitation has also been extended to all those who would like to fellowship with brother Muirani.

Speaking to KSB, Mr. Muirani said: “All this is for the glory of the Kingdom of God. It’s my humble prayer that our Kenyan community may turn to God because Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”.

The New Life Church, where the ceremony will take place, is located at Fridhemsgatan 17 (Tube station Fridhemsplan) and the ceremony begins at 15.00 hrs. The Baptism will be through immersion.

Mr. Muirani, who has been undergoing tremendous spiritual transformation over the recent past, told KSB that he was baptized when he was a child when he still did not know much about life and added that the baptism he is destined to undergo on Sunday will be a spiritual one.

He asked for forgiveness from people he may have wronged in life and explained that with the impending baptism, he will become a new person whose life will be dedicated to serving the Lord. Brother Muirani had very strong message to Kenyans. He said:

“We have tried many ways, but Jesus is the answer to everything. Most Kenyans here were raised up as Christians but since we came here in Europe, we started to “worship” European Gods. If we turn from our wicked ways and turn our face to God, he will listen to us and forgive us our sins. Today the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is good news to those who knows Christ”.

Okoth Osewe

Magbeth: Seeking to move on with life

Mashaka, a middle-aged Kenyan dude, may have disappeared into the underground to escape from a police dragnet after he allegedly hurt his ex wife Magbeth who has since been taken into safe custody together with the couple’s two children apparently to remove them from harm’s way. Although the couple split up many months ago, and although Mashaka has been nestling alone in a separate flat, he retained the house keys under some unknown agreement with his ex during the split.

Since he had access to the flat, it is understood that Mashaka used to sneak into the house at night to benefit from “sympathy mhanyos” from the ex especially when experiencing “heavy manyege build-up” but that the situation changed after the ex attracted a new bull who took over the precious goods thereby locking off  Mashaka as a second-class consumer of the coveted goods.

The shock of losing the “post-break up benefits” allegedly took place one evening when Mashaka popped into the flat unannounced (after being warned to keep off because of serious romantic developments) and found his ex being serviced in his former bedroom by the new bull, a situation which reportedly created a huge crisis and thoroughly embarrassed both Magbeth and her new boyfriend.

According to reports constituted from different Kenya-Stockholm satellites, Mashaka is the last person her ex expected in the flat after falling for a new BF and when he showed up without notice, the new couple was on bed although the guy had reportedly not yet received green light to begin body-work because the lady was still inspecting the equipment. When Mashaka opened the door, there was pandemonium, prompting an immediate scramble by the couple for stuff to cover themselves. In the process, the guy allegedly managed to grab a towel which he wrapped around his waist before getting on his feet as the lady dived under the sheets.

When Mashaka first gathered rumours about a “replacement dude” who was allegedly fixing Magbeth’s delicate quarters, he thought he was a tiny minuscule of a person he could crush like njugu karanga (peanut) but when he examined the valleys of powerful muscles that crisscrossed the guy’s body from top to bottom, he became convinced that he could not survive a single battle with him under any circumstance because the guy looked like he had spent many hours in the gym lifting heavy steal-based metallic wheels.

Once he determined that his chances of winning any physical combat was zero, Mashaka decided to apply his remaining logic so he made “a tactical retreat” to evade the guy who is also suspected by Sam Pippo to be hailing from Kabila’s Zaire, a country known for guerrilla war, arms smuggling, mercenaries and blood diamonds.

In fact, it is whispered that Mashaka did not even put on his shoes at the door when he was fleeing from the flat because he wanted to be sure that he escapes so he allegedly carried his shoes with him. A “Hot gossiper” normally based at Vasa Temple in the evenings told KSB that, Mashaka told a confidant who leaked part of the storo that if the guy had caught up with him that evening, Kenyans may have had to call another harambee plus a memorial service at Bagarmossen Church because the guy apparently had the capacity to convert him into past tense without much effort.

Mashaka Having Sleepless Nights
Although Mashaka retreated “to fight another day”, the damage had been done because it eventually downed on him that he had lost opportunities of “emergency mhanyos” he had become addicted to and other similar arrangements which were apparently being tolerated by his ex with the hope that the two could “patch up things” and resume their relationship for the sake of the family. The split had been bitter because Mashaka is reported to have lost his job as part of collateral damage during their matrimonial crisis while family investment also crumbled under the huge weight of circumstances that led their marriage to hit the rocks before it eventually disintegrated.

The juicy Mashaka storo was harvested through a complicated network linked to a close relative of Mashaka who innocently downloaded all the files into the brain of a close friend who then ropokwad the tale unknowingly to another friend “during swallow” before a secret agent eventually got wind and sent an attachment to KSB. In fact, bits of the storo have been doing the rounds in different Kenya-Stockholm Networks and underground Radio stations mainly transmitting from Alby and Norsborg environs.

According to details, Mashaka has not brought himself up psychologically to accept the reality that Magbeth, his ex, can be hanyad after the split by another bull if she likes. Mashaka has been having sleepless nights since he learnt that the goods he used to consume liberally have been transferred into the custody of a rival bull who has been keeping the woman “squeaking with pleasure” as part of rehab in preparation for a new relationship.

When Mashaka eventually found “pants on the floor” near his former double-bed during a stupid “peep in” on the fateful day, he was devastated although there is little he could do because apart from his rival’s physical power, the bull appeared to have been eating good ugali as opposed to Mashaka who had grown thin and weak as if he was constantly on “Swedish potatis”, spaghetti and crazy soup after the split.

According to a source, Magbeth eliminated all possibilities of a re-union with Mashaka after she gathered rumours from Watu Wengine that after their split, the guy dashed to Kenya and hooked up a new chick whom he quickly ballooned secretly before boarding a Kenya Airways flight back to Stockholm. It is reported that Magbeth believes that the chick, who is cooling down in Kenya as her tummy swells by the hour, was ballooned as part of a new marriage scheme by Mashaka who, nevertheless, continued to enjoy sympathy mhanyos from her as if a re-union was still in the works.

When she discovered the underground movements her ex was engaged in, Magbeth decided to move on with life by opening up her strategic honey combs to “new prospects” before landing the Zairwa guy who has been “doing her” as part of a “Test drive” to enable her determine the guy’s romantic capabilities.

She wants to be sure that the guy is a “long distance sexthlete” because this is what she misses most. In other words, she doesn’t want a zombie who will deflate beside her after three minutes thereby creating a new relationship crisis and for this reason, the Zairwa guy was just about to be put on another trial session when Mashaka burst into the room. She was happy that the guy can crush Mashaka in any fight so she doesn’t have to worry about security.

SMS Propelled Grenades
In short, Magbeth decided to begin “window shopping” for new muscles she could engage when her spies told her that Mashaka had been spotted in Kenya and that he had engaged a new chick who had told her contacts that she would soon be flying to Sweden because her charms had mesmerized a “Kenya Diaspora businessman” who had installed a baby in her tummy as proof that their future as hubby and waifero was bound for ever. After he allegedly fixed a new woman in Kenya, Mashaka returned to Sweden to study moves by his ex and this is when he bumped into the Zairwa with Magbeth in his former bedroom.

When he could no longer put up with the new reality, Mashaka is said to have gone to the woman’s flat one evening, started a quarrel and began to beat her ruthlessly. When he was done, he left the flat before the woman mastered all remaining energy and called police. It is understood that when police arrived, the woman was in a very bad shape although KSB could not establish the extent of her injuries. At this point, a man hunt for Mashaka began as police seized the kids and whisked them to a foster home.

A source told KSB that the estranged couple has been engaged in a dirty inter-cell-phone war-fare using sophisticated SMS propelled grenades and mouth to mouth rockets which have been polluting the Kenya-Stockholm atmosphere in total disregard to the crucial climate talks currently going on in Copenhagen to save the planet. In the meantime, the guy has been banned from the woman’s flat, meeting the kids or taking contact with the woman as investigations continue.

Reports say that the guy may, most likely, lose the case if it comes before the court system because of massive evidence reportedly in the hands of police. The situation is so serious that the guy is reportedly planning to relocate to the UK to escape from Swedish justice. It is not clear how long the guy will remain in hiding or when the case is likely to come to court.

Okoth Osewe

Photos: Keegan Kagwe

Dear Members and Friends &  Sollentuna Community

Banyarwanda Cultural Organisation‏ in cooperation with the Banyarwanda Women’s Association and the Network for African Unity in Sollentuna
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

WELCOMES you to an end of the year meeting and Christmas get together table (julbord) evening on Saturday DEC 19th 2009, in Sollentuna.

Venue: Sollentua BIBLIOTEKHUSETS  AMORINA HALL
Aniaraplatsen 2, Sollentuna
(Sollentuna Centrum)

*Opposite Scandic Star Hotel Sollentuna, a few meters from the Pendeltåg Station in Sollentuna, on your right side exit.

Director web map on: HERE 

The X-mas party will start at 19:00hrs with Christmas songs in Kinyarwanda & Kirundi by a free Swedish X-mas welcome drink, traditional Swedish x-mass glög & appetizer followed by a warm East African meal on agashibo (Rwandan National beans), and crowned with a lovely evening dance until your beautiful legs begin to struggle down before you make your journey home!

***Should there be excess funds after meting the budget of this get together, the funds will be used to organise our organisation’s 20th anniversary scheduled for next year. This will be your chance to be part of this momentous event! Info is also contained in our next year’s activity plan which will be read during the ocassion on Saturday.

Without your tireless support and dedicated loyalty, we wouldn’t be on the cusp of turning 20!
You have shared your Kinyarwanda language and dance skills with friends and taught our kids to speak this beautiful language. And here, you have also undoubtedly influenced the opening of our Embassy in Scandinavia .

As the clock ticks towards 2010, let all of us — Africans, East-Africans, Rwandese, Swedes, brothers and sisters of same united world meet up and LET GOOD TIMES ROCK & ROLL peacefully amoug us and all members of the multicultural Swedish society!

Contribution fee for non members: SEK50 for adults and FREE for children (under 18).
 *Among the many surprises are presents generously provided by our Embassy for the benefit of all children.

Special Meals : SEK30, for adults & SEK 20 for kids (over 10 years) and free for those below 10. All subsidised by the Banyarwanda kulturförening (BAKUF). Beverages  of your own choice will be served and will cost differently.

BAKUF wishes you a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2010.
Edward Taifa Defuro! BAKUF
Samson Mande- Coordinator Network for Africans

Friday 18th-19th December.
Saturday 19th December
Place: Lilla Wien Bar
Address: Swedenborgsg.20
Pendeltåg: Stockholm Södra

Time: 21.00 hrs – 01.00 hrs

On behalf of the entire KSB crew, I take this opportunity to thank all readers who have continued to show interest in the blog site. It has been a difficult year and many stories have come and gone. We are now approaching Christmas before closing down the year 2009 to begin a new leg in 2010.

As some readers will acknowledge, it has not been possible to fulfill all the expectations of all readers during 2009. I get a stream of emails on a daily basis with different requests and demands which could not all be met.

There are readers who have been very interested in specific stories and who did place requests for follow ups but due to time factor and a lot of developments in the Kenya-Stockholm scene, some stories had to be left hanging in the middle way as new stories took center stage. I hope that in the coming year, there will be an improvement.

Okoth Osewe

Likewise, there are readers who brought in material which did not make it to the blog site. This was not because the submissions were not good enough but because there were more interesting tales that cropped up after the submissions. For this reason, certain submissions never saw day light at KSB. We hope that these readers are not bitter and that they will continue to make submissions in the coming year in the spirit of building KSB.

Scandal is a very sensitive issue at KSB and whenever one explodes, there is normally a mixture of excitement and disappointment. Naturally, there are readers who enjoy scandal while those involved in scandal may be least enthusiastic about them. There are readers who have very good contacts with KSB staff members but at the same time, they sometimes get involved in scandal which sometimes finds expression at KSB.

One positive development about the above situation is that KSB contacts have, with time, learnt to separate “Blogship” with “Friendship” so that they do not mix the two. If a KSB contact is involved in scandal and the storo finds its way to the site, the latest experience has shown that these contacts do not take matters personally but rather, view it “blogally”. This is very encouraging because such reactions are signs of maturity and acceptance of KSB as a media where both positive and negative presentations are not just inevitable but also part of the game.

We don’t name names especially where scandal is involved in order to protect the identities and integrities of those involved. This is the basic rule of the game and we intend to keep this policy in the future.

Then, there are the so called scandals which happened but never made it to KSB. The truth is that either we did not know about them or we just ran out of time. The problem with scandals is that they are normally timeless and one scandal that was missed in 2009 may find its way at the blog site in 2010 although this is not a matter to dwell on right now. We can only hope that next year, there will be fewer scandals to report, a situation that every Kenya-Stockhoklmer looks forward to.

Sometimes, an event is announced at KSB but when it takes place, agents might not be on the ground to cover it. Some readers have taken offence with KSB for failing to turn up at functions to report on what happened after the events were announced at the blog site. The bottom line is that KSB runs on a voluntary basis and we are under no obligation to cover everything that happens in Kenya-Stockholm.

We might have had a miss here and there but it has to be appreciated that since KSB is not running on any funds from anywhere, stuff can go missing at the blog because of problems with logistics. For this reason, we would urge our readers to go slowly when it comes to blame when an event is not reported here.

Sometimes, staff members are at the scene of action but very little is reported at KSB. Once again, it boils down to time. It takes a lot of effort to process information and avail it to the public once it is collected and this is why established Media houses employ journalists to do the job. No one has employed anybody to work at KSB and so failure of news delivery cannot be blamed on KSB management.

What I can say is that we will continue to strive to bring the news to readers as much as possible but in cases where lapses are evident, we will not take any responsibility. The presence of a KSB agent at a function does not automatically translate into publication of the news at the blog site and no one should take offence.

Having made those points, I take this opportunity to wish all KSB readers a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. I hope that readers will continue to find the blog site useful in the coming year while I also hope that 2010 will be a very exciting year both at KSB and in the daily lives of individual readers. “May your Christmas be Merry and your New year Happy”.

Okoth Osewe
KSB President

Juliet Thugge, a Kenyan resident in Tensta, Stockholm, has lost her mother, Damaris Wambui Kanoru (also known as Cucu). The late Damaris is the grandmother of George Thugge, also resident of Stockholm. Damaris passed away at St Göran Hospital where she has been undergoing treatment and currently, the family has been plunged into deep mourning.

An “Open House” has been set up at Juliet’s house in Tensta, address Glömmingegränd 18 1st Floor near the Shell Petrol Station on E18 between Rinkeby and Tensta. For further information, contact Pastor Samson on 070-7022173, George Thugge on 070-3580593 or Nicholas Maina on 073-7022173.

KSB sends deep condolences to the family of the late Damaris during this tragic moment. It is very sad that the bad news is coming at a time when Christians are faced with Christmas but all is planned by the almighty God whose will always prevails. Grandma Damaris was well loved by those who knew her and her loss has come at a time when it was least expected.

We hope that the family will find the strength and courage to go through this difficult moment. Further information will be released by the family with time. In the meantime, Kenyans friends, sympathizers and well-wishers are welcome to the Open House to condole with the bereaved family.

Okoth Osewe

A group of six Kenyans are stranded at the Central Station in Stockholm after arriving in the country through Denmark. According to information available to KSB, the young Kenyans left Kenya for Stockholm to pursue further education at a Swedish University.

Information about them is scarce and KSB is trying to reach them. However, according to what is known, the six Kenyans were to travel to Sweden through Denmark after which they were supposed to link up with a contact in Sweden who was supposed to wire them to a Swedish university. All the arrangements were reportedly tied from Kenya by an agent who was supposedly paid for the job.

The Kenyans did reach Denmark as had been planned but when they arrived in Stockholm, the agent who was supposed to pick them up and assist them further did not turn up. They therefore ended up being stranded at the Central station where they have been sleeping.

A Kenyan who bumped into them at the Central Station and who alerted KSB said that the situation is very serious because the young Kenyans have ran out of money and so they have no food to eat. They have nowhere to sleep and are spending cold winter at the Central station.

The Kenyans have appealed for urgent help from sympathizers and well-wishers. They need a place to sleep because they are freezing while they have also appealed for food. They are camping at the Central station and anybody who wants to help can go there and meet them or call KSB.

KSB appeals to Ambassador Purity Muhindi to intervene on their behalf by trying to seek for a solution to the crisis of these young Kenyans who appear to have been duped by an Education con-artist with networks in Sweden. KSB is monitoring their situation and will report on anything new.

Okoth Osewe

The family of the late Damaris hereby announces to Kenyans, friends and well-wishers that a fund raising meeting to help transport the body of the departed Damaris will be held on Saturday 26th December at St Eugenia Church located at Kungsrädgården 12 (Tube station Kungsträdgården) from15.00 hrs.

A Bank Account has been opened for those who might be unable to attend the funds drive but who are willing to chip in. Details of the Account are as follows:

Bank: Handelsbanken: 6107- 736 692 762
Account holder: George Thugge
IBAN: SE53 6000 0000 0007 3669 2762
SWIFT: HANDSESS

The family would also like to mention that the late Cucu Damaris is survived by several grandchildren resident in Sweden. They are: Lucy Nilsson, Nancy Dolfe, Mary Thugge, Grace Pettersson, Nicholas Maina and George Thugge.

In the meantime, the family informs the public that due to Christmas celebrations, they have cancelled the “Open House” scheduled for the 24th and 25th December. For further information, contact Pastor Samson at 070-4523798.

Okoth Osewe

Six young Kenyans who have been stranded at the Central station took contact with the Kenyan Embassy today, Wednesday 23rd December but received no help from the Mission. KSB has talked to them and according to information they gave, two of their colleagues went to the Embassy to explain their problem but unfortunately, they were told by an Embassy official that they should return on Monday next week because the Embassy is closed during Christmas. The official added that nothing could be done immediately.

Ambassador Purity at a Sudanese function: She does not want anything to do with Kenyans in Stockholm

“They told us that there is nothing they could do because the Embassy will remain closed”, one of them told KSB. This is despite the fact that the Embassy knew and understood that they were sleeping at the Central station and that they had nowhere to go. The Embassy did not give any ideas on where they were to sleep until Monday when the Mission can look into their problems.

As a result, a Kenyan has now picked them up and decided to accommodate them temporarily in his one roomed flat, arguing that it was inhuman to leave these Kenyans to freeze at the Central Station. News that the Embassy has abandoned these Kenyans will, most likely, shock Kenyans who believe that the Kenyan Ambassador to Scandinavia, Mrs Purity Muhindi, is a kind hearted family woman who minded so much about the affairs of members of the Kenyan community in Stockholm.

According to the six Kenyans, they were conned by a Kenyan woman who lives in Finland and who promised them that they would be slotted into various Finnish Universities under an arrangement which was organized by an agent in Kenya. When the story was first broken by KSB, we had not reached the Kenyans and news indicated that they were to be admitted at Swedish Universities.

Speaking to KSB, one of the Kenyans said: “We travelled to Finland through Stockholm and we were supposed to be met by a Kenyan woman in Finland but she never turned up”. The Kenyan said that when they tried to enquire about the woman, they were told that she had gone on holiday.

Once they discovered that they could not trace the woman, they decided to return to Stockholm to try and make arrangements on how they could return to Kenya because they had return tickets. It is during the process that they were trying to sort their trip back to Kenya that they got stranded at the Central Station with nowhere to go. A Kenyan discovered them at the Station and alerted KSB.

The good and caring Kenyan, who has accepted to accommodate them, has said that the issue should now be a communal affair because the stranded Kenyans do not know anybody in Sweden. He told KSB that he is taking in the boys as a matter of concern and as a human being who cannot see others suffer under the circumstances without doing anything. He has appealed to Kenyans to help in any way possible as their plight is looked into.

When questioned further, the Kenyans said that their parents back home know about their problem and that some parents have tried to communicate with Kenya Embassy but that the Mission has been very unresponsive. All personnel at the Embassy have gone on Christmas holiday including the Boss, Ambassador Purity.

According to information gathered, three of the Kenyans are 21 years old, one is 20 yrs, one is 23 years while another one is 25 years old. The Kenyan who took them in his flat told KSB that the six need to shower and feel fresh because they have not done so for two days. He says that Kenyans in Stockholm need to meet to look into how the stranded countrymen can be assisted.

Okoth Osewe

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. I would like to take this opportunity to Honor and Glorify the Almighty God since its only him alone who deserves it. Am humbled by the almighty God to thank all my friends and well wishers who turned up to witness my Spiritual baptism.

I thank also all those who did send messages of encouragement through phone calls and e-mails. God bless you all and its my humble prayer that many more Kenyans are going to turn up and proclaim Jesus as their Lord and savior in 2010.

How does Jesus’ blood purify us from every sin? In old Testament times, believers symbolically transferred their sins to an animal, which they then sacrificed(see a description of this ceremony in Leviticus 4). The animal died in their place to pay for their sin and allow them to continue living in God’s favour. God graciously forgave them because of their faith in him, and because they obeyed his commandments concerning the sacrifice.

Those sacrifices anticipated the day when Jesus Christ would completely remove sin. Real cleansing from sin came with Jesus, the “Lamb of God”, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Sin, by its very nature, brings death- that is a fact as certain as the law of gravity. Jesus did not die for his own sins; he had none. Instead, by a transaction that we may never fully understand, he died for the sins of the world.

When we commit our lives to Christ and thus identify ourselves with him, his death becomes ours. He has paid the penalty for our sins, and his blood has purified us. Just as Christ rose from the grave, we rise to a new life of fellowship with him (Romans &:4).

” For, whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and per sue it. For the eyes of the lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (1 Peter 3: 10-12).

Merry Christmas to all and a  blessed 2010. May Christ be born in your hearts and His peace which surpasses human understanding be with you now and forever. Amen.

Muirani & Family.

Afrojam Kultureförening proudly presents Afro-Exlposion Live Concert by Pablo Machine, Vumbi Dekula, Yaya Sella, Sammy Kasule, Kumbi Miguele, Blanchand, Boto, Joseph Semafunu, Apollo, Mike and more. Best DJ Malik, Rich’s. Date: 26th Dec and 1st January 2010. from 19 hrs till Late at Sollentuna Bibliotek Amorinasalen. Food and drinks will be available. Entre: 100 kr. Info: afrojam.podomatic.com. Book a VIP tabe via SMS.

Vumbi Dekula will be performing at Lilla Wien Today Friday 25th December during a Special Christmas evening. The show starts at 21 hrs up to 1.00 hrs, time when revellers will have the option of flying to Märsta where Maison Africane will be entertaing fans until morning. Don’t forget that Vumbi will be at Sollentuna together with other African Artists performing Live in what promises to be the largest gathering of African Artists in Stockholm on Boxing day (See Artists below). 

A group of six Kenyans who were rescued from cold winter at T-Centralen by a Kenyan are doing well in their new abode. Although the situation is tight because they are crammed in a one roomed flat, they are out of the cold and good Samaritans continue to pop in to help. Their most urgent requirement is food because the Kenyan putting them up at the moment is experiencing a lot of difficulties in feeding them. To be precise, “The economic situation is worsening by the minute”.

So far, one of the Kenyans has been taken by another good Samaritan from Kenya while another Kenyan lady has promised to take yet another one in her flat during Christmas. The Kenyans are still in bad need of help and members of the Kenyan community are kindly asked to show solidarity with these Kenyans at this very difficult time. The fellow countryman housing them in his one roomed flat should be pronounced a hero. His incredible intervention should stimulate others to act.

On Thursday, a Kenyan popped in and contributed 100 kr so that they could take breakfast because the situation was acute. The latest hope is that another Kenyan has promised to pop in with a load of food on Friday or Saturday. KSB is mobilizing the humanitarian assistance and we appeal to Kenyans and other well-wishers for help during this Christmas which has turned out to be hell on earth for these innocent young Kenyans.

The Kenyan six have been abandoned by the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm which left them to freeze in the cold at the Central Station before they were rescued. At the time they were saved from sub zero temperatures, they had began to suffer from hypothermia after spending two days in the cold. They looked weak, hungry and tired after two days sleeping on the cold floor at the Central Station without food, shower and contact.

When the Station closed at around 1.00 hrs, they had to sleep outside in the street after being chased out by security guides before returning to the station at 5.00 hrs when the station doors opened. The least one could have expected from the Embassy was to accord them accommodation as they waited for Monday when their problems could be looked into.

The Ambassador lives in a huge villa at Nacka paid by tax payer with several empty rooms where they could have been accommodated but because she doesn’t care about the plight of Kenyans in Stockholm, the Embassy chose to chase them away because the Ambassador was “going on Christmas holiday”.

As Kenyans, we are in serious problems if our Ambassador can act in this way when it is clear that the lives of a group of Kenyans are threatened. The question that arises then is why we still need an Embassy in Stockholm when the Ambassador cannot meet even the most basic expectation when a Kenyan is in dire need. If the Kenyans were Swedish citizens stranded in Kenya, they could have been sleeping at a five star hotel before being flown to Sweden.

Since they had already been screwed by a Kenyan woman in Finland, there isn’t much the Embassy was expected to do apart from offering them accommodation then helping them to return to Kenya. However, by abandoning them at the Central station, Ambassador Purity Muhindi has shown her worst side when it comes to barbarism and animalistic behaviour for how do you abandon Kenyans to freeze in the cold without food to eat during one of the harshest Swedish winters? It is even more painful that the only reason was that the Ambassador was going on holiday!

Feeding on handouts
We take this opportunity to congratulate Kenyans who have taken these fellow citizens in during this trying moment. Four are still crammed in a room and we further appeal to well wishers to come to their rescue by taking in more of them. There is a vibrant Christian community in Stockholm and this is the right time for them to show compassion because Christians are celebrating Christmas.

How do you thank the Lord for all the things he has done for you and what do you say to the Almighty God when you are at home eating “Chickling” for Christmas and some countrymen are starving after being rescued from winter? You believe in Jesus but you have not even tried to get in touch to look into the plight of these Kenyans here on earth so why should you preach that people should love others as they love themselves? Surely, it is time for self re-examination and if you claim to be a Christian and you behave like our nasty Ambassador, then you should stop quoting from the bible. This is how I see it.

If you are not in a position to offer accommodation, you can pop in with some food because the situation is extremely desperate. Go to some food store like ICA, Konsum or Vivo and buy Manner-Gryn for ugali, some chicken wings for lunch, bread and milk for breakfast, some eggs if possible and some ribs which can be chomad in the oven to make these Kenyans feel good during Christmas. Don’t just sit there reading KSB and doing nothing because then, you begin to behave like the Ambassador.

Kenya Embassy is not providing food for the Kenyans and the risk is that although they are safe from the cold, they may starve to death if the current supplies run out. In fact, they are feeding on hand-outs so don’t just sit there with your whisky or mikebe celebrating Christmas when your own people are on the verge of starvation after being abandoned by a hopeless Ambassador who is supposed to be representing your country in Sweden. In case you can help or in case you want to meet these suffering countrymen (there is also at least one very intelligent girl), contact KSB for further instructions on how you can intervene.

From this latest example, it is evident that the Kenyan Embassy has failed in its responsibilities of taking care of Kenyans in distress abroad, a basic obligation and a Constitutional right. If the Kenyans had not taken contact with the Embassy, the Ambassador could convincingly argue that she did not know about their plight. We are in a situation where the Embassy was well aware that they were freezing at the Central station but chose to chase them away like rabid dogs. Two of the Kenyans went to the Embassy personally but they were chased away. The case of these Kenyans is further evidence that our Ambassador has failed her own people and that she is ripe for recall.

Despite frustrations from the Embassy, members of the Kenyan community should not follow the Embassy’s example and abandon these young and energetic Kenyans whose only crime is that they have been duped by a Kenyan crook in Finland. As has already been stated, their most urgent need is humanitarian and as you celebrate Christmas, think about them sitting in a room with a hopeless future after they were fooled by a stupid con woman who conned them out of their money before disappearing into thin air, leaving them freezing and starving at the Central Station.

Unlike the Ambassador, be human and get in touch to find out how you can help. Whatever your point of view, you can do something. A single Kenyan housing them is already doing more than he needs to do and popping up with a small load of food should not be so taxing during Christmas for when will you ever genuinely help someone you don’t know? More so, a fellow citizen in distress?

Okoth Osewe

The late Cucu Damaris

The family of the late Damaris hereby announces to Kenyans, friends and well-wishers that a fund raising meeting to help transport the body of the departed Damaris will be held on Saturday 26th December at St Eugenia Church located at Kungsrädgården 12 (Tube station Kungsträdgården) from15.00 hrs.

A Bank Account has been opened for those who might be unable to attend the funds drive but who are willing to chip in. Details of the Account are as follows:

Bank: Handelsbanken: 6107- 736 692 762
Account holder: George Thugge
IBAN: SE53 6000 0000 0007 3669 2762
SWIFT: HANDSESS

The family would also like to mention that the late Cucu Damaris is survived by several grandchildren resident in Sweden. They are: Lucy Nilsson, Nancy Dolfe, Mary Thugge, Grace Pettersson, Nicholas Maina and George Thugge.

In the meantime, the family informs the public that due to Christmas celebrations, they have cancelled the “Open House” scheduled for the 24th and 25th December. For further information, contact Pastor Samson at 070-4523798.

The Kenyan Flag at the Embassy: A source of shame

It looks like Ambassador Purity Muhindi at the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm is failing in almost everything. The Kenyan flag is a national symbol and pride of the Nation. It is supposed to be respected and treated with dignity. This is why when you want to register your outermost disgust against a country, you publicly burn the flag of that country. It is the worst action you can take to show a country’s nationals or leadership that they suck.

The National flag flies outside every Embassy. In the case of Kenya Embassy in Stockholm, it serves as a mark of identification of the Embassy as the seat of power as far as the Kenyan government is concerned. These are powerful features of the flag which Ambassador Purity does not recognize because for her, the flag is just another piece of cloth hanging outside the Embassy. Just as the flag is in “disorder”, the Embassy is equally in total chaos.

The picture of our national flag folded around the mast was sent to KSB by a concerned visitor who was searching for the Embassy. He wasn’t sure whether he had arrived at the Kenyan Embassy because something was wrong with the flag and he couldn’t recognize it. Since a picture tells a thousand words, there is no need of going into detail. One certain observation is that as it is, something is wrong with the flag because it is not flying as it should.

The strange aspect of the situation is that the Ambassador is not alone at the Embassy although the flag has been flying in the wrong direction for months. Top personnel who could have helped her straighten the flag or who could have reminded her that something is wrong with the flag are equally blind. It is not therefore strange that when Kenyans come for help at the Embassy when they have been freezing at the Central Station, they are chased away.

We have people like Arthur Amaya Andambi, First Counsellor, who was posted at the Embassy last year. This brother should have been a soldier instead of a diplomat because when you talk to him on the phone, he sounds very militant, as if he wants to beat someone. He probably thinks that he can scare Kenyans with “tough talk” on the phone. Interestingly, when you meet him in person, he is always in a hurry to go and, just like the Ambassador, he doesn’t like mingling with Kenyans.

When he attended the Maina Kiai meeting, we didn’t even know when he sneaked out after the meeting as Kenyans congratulated Kiai for a documentary well done. At the Githongo meeting in Uppsala, Bwana Andambi was so secretive that no one even knew that a top Embassy official was at the function. Naturally one expected him to register his presence with the organizers so that his presence at the function could be recognized and Kenyans who did not know him could take contact.

I had to introduce him at the end of the meeting before he slipped away and left for Stockholm. If you study Andambi’s demeanor carefully, he behaves more like a Security officer than a typical diplomat. He is the second in command but unfortunately, there is nothing new he brought at the Embassy because nothing has improved. Andambi is one man who should remind his boss Lady Ambassador that the Kenyan flag is not flying correctly and that something should be done.

We also have this guy called Daniel Kipkemoi Kottut, the Second Counsellor who was posted at the Embassy in 2007. When he came, there was a lot of hope and expectation that as a young educated man, he would try and pump some sense in the head of the boss but so far, the situation has grown from bad to worse.

“Collective Amnesia”
Kottut had a fantastic introduction to Kenyans by his predecessor, Mr.George Kinywa, but as soon as Kinywa left for Canada, Kottut began to degenerate. He retreated from Kenyans as he began a life of isolation from his people. His problems began after the post election violence.

Although he was initially “attached” to the Bagarmossen Church where Kinywa left him, he fled from the church as Kales began to slaughter Wakikuyu in the Rift Valley following the stealing of Raila Odinga’s Presidency. As a member of the Kalenjin, he could have employed both diplomacy and PR to counter accusations that his people were killing the Kikuyu instead of abandoning the Church.

The Church was mainly dominated by members of the Kikuyu but as the killings continued, Kottut found the heat “too much” and he disengaged. This was the beginning of his isolation from Kenyans in Stockholm because he never recovered. Today, he is miles away from Wakenya although his hands are tied because he also fears his boss, the Ambassador.

He cannot therefore tell her that something is wrong with the flag because Purity might call the real First Lady, Lucy Kibaki, who may instigate Kottut’s exit from the Embassy. Just like other members of Embassy staff, it boils down to the philosophy ya kuchunga unga isimwagike. They pass under the flag at the Embassy on a daily basis but they have never noticed that something is amiss. This is what Sam Pippo call “collective amnesia”.

If the flag issue was falling under Administrative Affairs, the person who could have taken the blame could have been Mrs Anne K.M. Kesekwa aka Mwana wa ingo. She is the Third Secretary in charge of Administrative Affairs, very quiet and underground. If you want to see her outside the office, you have to wait for the two-hour drinking spree at Jamhuri reception and that is once a year. She dabbles as the Ambassador’s Secretary although she gets better marks than her boss because she understands her tasks while she has a good PR strategy. On the phone, she is always very polite, a sign that she has some level of diplomacy.

Then we have Mrs Habiba Gabo Wako aka Msomali Lady whom many Kenyans have complained about. She doesn’t speak good English and as an Attaché in charge of Immigration, she is the person to deal with when you need your Passport issue fixed. If you want to measure the degree of her rudeness, call her and say that you have a problem with your Passport which you need fixed and that’s it.

You will get your doze of rude responses until you begin to scratch your head wondering how a person with such horrible approach on the phone could be posted at the Embassy as an Attaché. Be careful because you may puke at the crude combination of rudeness and bad English coming from a diplomat. If only she could convert her rudeness into a weapon directed against the Ambassador to sort out the problem with our national flag outside the Embassy, she could be more productive.

Despite her informal style and her almost semi-illiterate mien, the processing of passports has actually improved at the Embassy. Now it takes 3-4 weeks to get a passport renewed compared to 6-12 months in 2004. It is a rare occasion when KSB has to give the devil her dues.

Okoth Osewe

From 1st January 2009, “Ukweli wa Mambo” Editions written in Kenya’s national language, Kiswahili by Comrade Mwandawiro Mghanga, at KSB will be published on Sundays. We have been carrying the Editions on Saturdays and we thank Ndugu Mwandawiro for keeping the “Ukweli wa Mambo” Edition running since it was introduced at KSB. We hope for further cooperation with Mwandawiro in the coming year and also hope that our Kiswahili readers will continue to enjoy the Edition which has been very informative and inspiring.

Makala ya Nguvu ya Hoja kwa KSB Jumapili Disemba 27, 2009
na Ndugu Mwandawiro Mghanga

Ndugu Mwandawiro Mghanga

Krismasi imefika. Makala haya yawatakia wasomaji popote pale walipo furaha, amani, salama na kila la heri za Krismasi. Lakini pia naomba tifikirie ukweli halisi wa maisha katika nchi yetu na kuazimia kupambana kukukuta na kuondoa unafiki na uongo ambao umekuwa sehemu ya utamaduni nchini na ambao unakuzwa, kupaliliwa na kutiliwa maji na mbolea na viongozi, wawe wa kiserikali, mashirika yasiyo ya kiserikali na wa kidini.

Siku Kuu ya Krismasi, ambayo ni kumbukumbu ya kuzaliwa kwa Yesu Kristo, miaka 2009 iliyopita, hivi leo ni sehemu ya utamaduni kote ulimwenguni. Ni siku inayosherehekewa na Wakiristo, watu wa dini mbalimbali na hata makafiri. Ni wakati wa kukumbuka Yesu kwa vifijo na nderemo. Ni wakati wa ndugu, jamaa na marafiki kujumuika pamoja vijijini, nyumbani mwao, na katika sehemu na hali mbalimbali kula, kunywa na kukaa kwa furaha na bashasha.

Ni katika hali hii ambapo tunaomba usalama uwe kwa kila mtu maana kwa bahati mbaya wakati wa Krismasi pia ajali za barabara na za kila aina huongezeka na kusababisha huzuni badala ya furaha. Kwa sababu hii tunaomba kila dereva, hasa wa magari ya abiria waendeshe kwa makini na kwa kujali ili kuhifadhi usalama barabarani. Aidha, katika msimu wa Krisimasi, uhalifu na vituko vya kila aina huongezeka. Hivyo basi lazima kila raia mwema atahadhari na polisi wafanye kazi yao ya utumishi kwa watu vizuri. Lakini uwe ni utumishi wa kweli wa kulinda usalama wa raia. Usije kuwa ni utumishi wa kuzua vitimbi na kuzidisha dukuduku kwa wananchi wanaostahili amani na furaha, hasa wakati huu wa sherehe za Krismasi.

Ndiyo, ni vizuri wakati wa Krisimasi tuandae na kufurahia karamu za nyamachoma, kuku, mapochopocho na manywaji ya kila aina. Tufurahie hata kwa ngoma, nyimbo na muziki unaopendeza nyoyo zetu. Tupige gumzo na kucheka, kwani daima kucheka ni kuzuri maana kunaongeza afya. Tusafishiane nia na roho, tusameheane makosa na kujenga urafiki badala ya chuki huku tukizingatia wema wa binadamu kuliko ubaya wao. Tuombeane heri wala siyo shari, baraka wala siyo bahati mbaya. Wenye kwenda kanisani waende huku tukimkumbuka na kumuenzi Yesu Kristo kwa dhati siyo kwa chati.

Aidha, wakati tunaposherehekea tusisahau Wakenya wenzetu ambao wako katika hali ya dhiki za kila aina. Kuna wengi ambao ni mafukara ambao wanashindwa kula mlo mzuri na wa kutosha kila siku. Kuna maskwata na wale waliyotimuliwa kutoka misituni, ardhini walikokuwa wakipata ridhiki yao na sehemu mbalimabali huku wakiwachwa katika mateso bila makao. Kuna wahanga wa ghasia za baada ya uchaguzi ambao wanadidimia katika shida na mateso ya kila aina bila kujua mbele wala nyuma. Kuna ambao wameshindwa kwenda vijijini mwao kujumika na wake na watoto wao kwa kukosa nauli ama chochote cha kuwachukulia kutokana na ukosefu wa ajira ama mishahara duni.

Kuna wagonjwa mahospitalini na wafungwa magerezani ambao wanahitaji kufikiriwa kwa kila hali. Kuna wanaoishi kwa mitaa ya mabanda pamoja na magumu tilatila yaliyomo humo. Kuna walofa na mafukara wengi mijini wanaolala nje na kuishi maisha ya ombaomba. Tuwakumbuke huku tukitia manani ukweli kwamba kila mtu anastahili maisha ya kiutu, amani na furaha.

Bali tukiwawakumbuka watu waliyoko katika hali mbaya za kila aina, tusijidanganye kuwa hali zao zitabadilishwa kwa fadhila za siku moja au maombi tu. Katika historia maisha ya ufukara hayajawahi kubadilishwa na maombi matupu au sadaka za wanyonyaji. Mfumo wa kijamii – kiuchumi unaowafanya watu wengine katika jamii kuishi kwa kutegemea sadaka haufai thumni wala si wa haki au ukweli. Ndiyo kwa sababu ubepari ni unafiki. Na si vyema Wakenya tuendelee kuishi maisha yaliyoja unafiki, uongo, nyanyaso na maovu ya kila aina. Yesu Kristo daima alikuwa shujaa wa kupinga dhuluma, unafiki, uongo na kila aina ya uovu tena kwa maneno na matendo. Ndiyo kwa maana alitufundisha tuwapende jirani zetu kama tunavyojipenda sisi wenyewe. Alisisitiza kuwa ikiwa huwezi kupenda mwezako unayemuona unawezaje kumpenda Mungu ambaye hujawahi kumuona?

Kila mtu nchini anajidai kuwa Mkiristo au mwenye imani ya kidini. Bali viongozi ambao wanasema ni Wakiristo au washiriki wa dini wanafanya kazi ya kuudumisha na kuuhalalisha mfumo wa unyonyaji wa mtu kwa mtu. Tamaa ya pesa, utajiri na maisha ya kibwanyenye zimewageuza kuwa wezi, wafisadi, matapeli, waporaji wa mali ya umma, wanyakuzi wa ardhi, wapinga maendeleo na vibaraka wa wakolonimamboleo. Tamaa ya pesa pia imechafua na kunajisi kanisa la Mungu,  hata Yesu Kristo akirudi leo sijui ni kanisa gani halitavunjwa na kuchomwa! Kwani wakora na matapeli wa kila aina sasa wanachumia makanisani huku wakiwafanya Wakiristo wa kweli kuwa wajinga wa kutapeliwa na kuporwa Jumapili na hata kila siku mitaani.

Hatuwezi kumkumbuka Yesu Kristo huku tukikumbatia ubepari na maadili ya kibepari. Tutamkumbuka ipasavyo kwa kutambua na kutekeleza ukweli kwamba Kenya imebarikiwa na rasilimali za kutosha kufanya kila mtu nchini aishi maisha bora ya kiutu yasiyo na dhiki na ukosefu. Bora tujipange na kuondoa mfumo wa ubepari. Mungu aliumba binadamu kwa sura yake. Na sura ya Mungu si ya ufukara wala ya ndumulakuwili – maskini na matajiri sawia. Nawatakia Krismasi njema ya mabadiliko!

Mwandawiro Mghanga, Barua pepe: mwandawiro2002(at)yahoo.com

Africa New Year Bash

Mama Africa & Top Ranking Wish you a Good 2010!
Come Party with us

Where?:   At BAR 122. Folkungagatan 122. T-Medborgarplatsen
When?:    New Years Eve + New Years Day + 2:nd of January
Time?:     22-03
For more info and pics check us at www.mamaafricaclub.se and www.topranking.se

Bless it up
MACrew

Dekula Band “Ngoma ya Kilo”
Date: Friday-Sato 01-02 January 2010
Time: 21.00-01.00
Place:Lilla Wien Bar & Restaurant
Add: Swedenborgsgatan 20
Pendeltåg: Stockholm Södra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2dyMBN-NtA

The family of Mrs Jane Wangari Mugo (also known as “Mama Keegan), has suddenly been plunged into deep mourning following the passing of Mama Keegan’s daughter in Law in Kenya. The deceased passed away yesterday 29th December, at the private wing of Kenyatta National Hospital where she was admitted after she fell ill.

The deceased was a mother of four children and wife to Mr. Francis Maina Mugo who is the elder brother of Mr. Keegan Kagwe, a well known Kenya-Stockholm photographer. When he spoke to KSB following the eruption of the sad news, Man Keegan appeared to have been in deep shock occasioned by the death of his Sister in Law.

Following the untimely death, an “Open House” has been set up at the residence of Man Keegan at Lödagsvägen 25 in Hokarängen (Tube to Färstastrand). Apart from funeral expenses, the deceased has left behind a huge hospital bill which needs to be sorted out. Kenyans, friends, sympathizers and well-wishers are all welcome to Keegan’s residence everyday at any time to condole with the grieving family.

There will be a “Prayer Meeting” on Saturday 2nd January 2010 at the same address from 4pm. Further information can be obtained by calling 08-7246193 or Keegan’s mobile at 0762170866.

KSB sends deep condolences to the entire family of Mrs. Jane Wangari Mugo during this trying moment. It is very sad that death has struck at the most unexpected time after Christmas and when the Global community is preparing to welcome the new year. We hope that the bereaved family will gather the necessary strength to go through this very trying and difficult moment. May the soul of the deceased rest in peace.

Okoth Osewe

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through me (God) your days will be many and years will be added to your life. If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.” Proverbs 9: 10-12.

Wisdom begins with knowing God. He gives insight into living because he created life. To know God is not just to know facts about him, but to stand in awe of him and have a relationship with him. Do you really want to be wise? Get to know God better and better.

James: 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

The wisdom that we need has three distinct characteristics:

(1) It is practical – The wisdom from God relates to life even during the most trying times. It is not a wisdom isolated from suffering and trials. This wisdom is the tool by which trials are overcome. An intelligent person may have profound ideas, but a wise person put profound ideas into action. Intelligence will allow someone to describe several reasons why the car broke down. The wise person chooses the most likely reason and proceeds to take action.

(2) It is divine – God’s wisdom goes beyond common sense. Common sense does not lead us to choose joy in the middle of trials. This wisdom begins with respect for God, leads to living by God’s direction, and results in the ability to tell right from wrong.

(3) It is Christlike – Asking for wisdom is ultimately asking to be like Christ. The Bible identifies Christ as the “wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24; 2: 1-7).

Dear Kenyans and friends, as we approach the end of the year, it is good to thank God because of his protection throughout 2009. It was the other day when violence rocked our country and almost everyone became “religious”. The same can happen again if we do not repent our sins to God and asks for his forgiveness. So let us celebrate the end of 2009 and welcome 2010 in the house of the LORD.

“I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD. Psalm 122:1.

We are having an all night service (Kesha) at New Life Church which is located at Fridhelmsgatan 17, Fridhemsplan, and the service will start at 22.00 hrs. Let us depart from our usual ways and let God take control of our lives.

“Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time”.

May the Almighty God bless you all and have a blessed 2010. May our Lord King Jesus reign in your lives forever. Amen.

Bro. Muirani.

MWAKA WA 2010 TUPAMBANIE MAISHA BORA KWA KILA MKENYA
Makala ya Nguvu ya Hoja kwa KSB:  Januari 1, 2010
na Ndugu Mwandawiro Mghanga

Ndugu Mwandawiro Mghanga

Baada ya pilkapilka za sherehe za Krismasi, sasa tumefikisha mwaka mpya wa 2010. Je, mwaka wa 2010 utakuwa mwaka wa heri na fanaka? Kwani mwaka wa 2009 nitauweka katika fungu la miaka mibaya zaidi niliyoishuhudia katika uhai wangu.

Kwanza ni kwa sababu za kibinafsi. Kwani mnamo Oktoba 26 mwaka huu nilimpoteza mama yangu mzazi na mpendwa, Alice Mafundisho Mghanga. Pamoja na yote aliyonifanyia kama mwanaye, pia namkumbuka na kumuenzi mama yangu kwani alitoa mchango wake katika harakati za kupambania demokrasi nchini. Mama yangu alishuhudia watoto wake wote wa kiume wakisakwa, wakikamatwa, wakiteswa na kufungwa na serikali ya imla ya Moi na KANU. Mama yangu alilazimika kutumia muda mrefu wa machungu kusafiri kutoka Werugha kwenda kupambana kutuoana jela Kamiti, Eldoret na Kisumu. Pamoja na hayo, wakati wote alinitia moyo kuendelea na mapambano aliyoyaona kuwa ya haki na kimaendeleo. Ndiyo kwa maana nachukua fursa hii kuwatambua kina mama pahali popote walipo nchini katika juhudi zao za kila siku za kupigania maisha bora na ya kiutu kwa jamaa zao na jamii pia.

Mwaka wa 2009, mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa yaliathiri vibaya kila sehemu na jamii Kenya: mvua haikunyesha jinsi ilivyokuwa imetabiriwa na wataalamu wa hali ya hewa; kilimo kilifeli kwa kuzidi kwa ukame; maelfu ya mifugo ilikufa kwa kukosa malisho na maji na jamii za wafugaji sasa zinadorora kwa kukosa lishe, dhiki na ufukara; chemichemi za maji zilipotea huku mito ikikauka; wanyamapori pia walikufa kwa njaa na kiu; vita kati ya binadamu na wanyamapori viliongezeka; usalama ulizoroteka huku vita vya kikabila vya kuibiana mifugo na kushindania maliasili vikiongezeka; umeme ulipungua na kughalika; ufukara ulikua kila siku miongoni mwa umma; uhalifu ukazidi huku uchumi ukidorora. Huku tukielekea mwaka wa 2010, lazima tukumbushane kuwa swala la uhifadhi wa mazingira ni la kufa na kupona linalohitaji mchango wa kila mtu. Inasikitisha kuwa kongamano la kimataifa kuhusu mazingira lililofanyika nchini Denmark mwaka huu huu, lilihujumiwa na serikali za kibeberu na kushindwa kukubaliana kuhusu mikakati halisi ya kisheria ya kupunguza athari hatari za mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa.
Pamoja na kwamba mvua sasa inanyesha katika sehemu nyingi nchini, njaa bado ni mtikisiko wa kitaifa. Hili linasikitisha. Tena linaaibisha. Na kisha linakasirisha. Mamilioni ya Wakenya kote nchini wanakabiliwa na baa ya njaa. Hata wengine tayari wamekufa kwa njaa. Hivi sasa serikali ambayo imekuwa ikichapa siasa duni na kulala usingizi wa pono huku tatizo hili likikua inababaika na suluhisho za wazima moto. Ni kana kwamba njaa hii imetokea ghafla bin vu. Na ukweli ni kwamba njaa imekuwa nasi wakati wote.

Ni watu wachache tu nchini ambao wana lishe bora na ya kutosha kila mara. Idadi kubwa ya Wakenya siku zote wanadorora katika dhiki, ufukara na ukosefu. Ingawa tatizo la njaa limezidi na kujidhihirisha zaidi nchini kuliko wakati mwingine wowote, si lipya katika mitaa ya mabanda mijini, watu wa jamii za wachungaji na sehemu kame za nchi. Maskwata, wakimbizi ndani ya nchi, wachuuzi, wafanyikazi wa ngazi za chini na wakulima makabwela, hawali wakashiba, sembuse lishe bora. Je, serikali ina mikakati gani halisi na endelezi la kufukuza njaa kabisa nchini mnamo 2010?

Jambo la kutia moyo ni kwamba Katiba Mpya ya Kitaifa itapatikana mwaka 2010. Nina matumaini hayo. Wala sioni kwa nini Kenya ishindwe kuipata wakati huu. Maana kwa kweli Rasimu ya Katiba inayoendelea kupigwa msasa hivi sasa na washikadau wa kila aina wenye nia njema, inakaribia kabisa kile ambacho kimetarajiwa na Wakenya kwa muda mrefu. Wala hatuwezi kupata katiba kamilifu kwani mja si mkamilifu. Pamoja na hayo sina budi kukariri ukweli wa mambo: Katiba Mpya si maisha mapya bali ikiwa nzuri inaweza kuwa ngazi ya kuwania maisha mapya. Hii inategemea siasa na harakati za kitabaka. Maana siasa na harakati za kitabaka ni mama wa mambo yote, yawe ya kisiasa, kiuchumi, kibiashara, kijamii, kitamaduni na ya kila hali.

Ili kuwe na maisha mapya mnamo 2010 lazima Kenya ibadilike kisiasa, kijamii, kiuchumi, kitamaduni na kwa kila hali. Maana siasa mbaya za kibepari hazitatafsiri Katiba Mpya kuboresha maisha ya wengi. Tukumbuke kuwa wanasiasa watakaodhibiti nguvu za Dola na Serikali ndiyo vilevile watakaotafsiri na kutekeleza Katiba Mpya. Nao watatafsiri na kutekeleza Katiba ili kutosheleza masilahi yao ya kiuchumi, kibiashara, kiitikadi na kitabaka. Wakati tukielekea 2010 na hatimaye 2012 tuwe tunakumbushana kuwa watuhumiwa wa wizi, utapeli, ufisadi, mauaji na uhalifu wa kila aina wakiendelea kuongoza nchi hii wataendelea kutafsiri na kutekeleza Katiba Mpya kulinda uhalifu wao tu. Watatunga sheria za kuhakikisha mfumo unyonyaji, udhalimu na ufisadi unaendelea chini ya Katiba Mpya.

Aidha, tusisahau kuwa maongozi mabaya yametufikisha katika hali ambapo tumepoteza uhuru wa kitaifa na kuingiliwa na ubeberu hadi uvungoni. Inasikitisha kuwa Wakenya wengi leo wanaamini watapata haki zaidi kutoka kwa mahakama na sheria za kibeberu, kama za The Hague, kuliko kutoka kwa tasisi zao wenyewe za haki. Hali hii ni mbaya na ya kuogofya. Lakini watu watakuwaje na imani na uongozi wa ulafi wa kuwanyonya, kuwanyanyasa, kuwafukarisha na wa kulinda wahalifu ili kuendelea kuwa uongozini baada 2012? Tunapouwacha mwaka 2009 huku tukielekea 2010 tukumbushane kuwa uongozi utakaorudisha hadhi na uhuru wa nchi yetu ni ule utakaowasikiliza Wakenya, kulinda haki zao za kidemokrasi na kibinadamu na kujenga mfumo wa kiuchumi unaozingatia masilahi ya kila mtu nchini. Na ili kuleta uongozi bora nchini, sharti kila Mkenya awajibike, tupambane kuondoa maovu yote yaliyokuwako mnamo 2009. Kisha 2010 tuungane pasina kujali kabila, umri au jinsia kupambania Kenya itakayohakikisha kuwa rasilimali za kitaifa zinatumika kuboresha maisha ya kila Mkenya.

Mwandawiro Mghanga, Barua pepe: mwandawiro2002(at)yahoo.com

We Need a “Mau Mau of Ideas”

Okoth Osewe

Happy New year to all KSB readers, friends and Kenyans in Diaspora. Obviously, 2009 had its spectacular moments in Kenya Stockholm especially on the social scene but on the political front, there was a lot of silence. Very serious political developments that could have elicited equally serious interventions passed quietly as the “Political elite” of Kenya Stockholm went on an informal recess. Predictably, there were intermittent episodes of reaction whenever the excesses of the Kenya Coalition ruling class went overboard but broadly speaking, key sections of the political fraternity in Kenya-Stockholm behaved as though they had been emasculated, not by the establishment in Kenya but by persistent lethargy, a sense of withdrawal and other circumstances.

In view of the crisis facing our country, Kenyans in Stockholm should try to revive the spirit of struggle to continue contributing to the liberation process in our country. The Iranians, Palestinians, Iraqi’s, Kurds and other oppressed nationalities continue to remain active in the political field as part of the struggle in their home countries so there is no reason why Kenyans in Diaspora should be absent from action when the country is literally burning.

We are living at a time when the Kenya Diaspora community stands the biggest chance of making a huge political impact in Kenya but only through organized political activity especially of like-minded Kenyans. Already, Kenyans abroad have been recognized by both the government and the people of Kenya as great contributors to the country’s economy through periodic remittances to relatives at home. It is not therefore far-fetched to posit that an equally huge contribution towards political changes in our country is possible from Diaspora Kenyans.

The global technological advances especially on the broadband front opens interesting possibilities for the development of a new and very effective media link which could be exploited by Diaspora Kenyans to engage the Kenyan public in political education based on the endless experiences gathered abroad.

The Land and Freedom Army (Mau Mau), which ended physical colonialism in Kenya, was set up because Kenyan veterans of the second World War returned from the battlefield with new experiences and ideas on how to liberate their country. They built Mau Mau, drove the white colonialists away before they were betrayed by home guards who set the stage for Neo-colonialism under which millions of Kenyans continue to starve to death despite the country’s huge natural and human resources.

The above analogy is important because today, the birth of a new “Mau Mau of ideas” is possible especially from the Diaspora using the weapon of technology to reach the masses of the Kenyan people with ideas that can free them from tribalism, liberate them from Neo-colonialism and exploitative capitalist class rule. To appreciate what is possible in the field of struggle, one needs to examine the technology-driven mobile phone revolution in Kenya and its impact across the country. Today, even a grandmother in the back water villages can discuss with a grandson abroad at the comfort of her rural home while the mobile money transfer technology that has spread across Kenya through Mpesa and other Networks is threatening the established banking industry. It is cheap, effective and reachable.

With possibilities of broadband reaching the villages, peasants, the agricultural proletariat, millions of unemployed urban youth, the working class, students and other strategic layers in society, access to communication technology especially video, Internet radio, Voice over Internet and Net TV stations will open up new frontiers of struggle.

Make 2010 a year of regorpment
Diaspora Kenyans could play a critical role when it comes to exploitation of this media to reach the remotest parts of Kenya as the struggle for liberation also continues. If this is to happen, there must be preparations now and Diaspora Kenyans are ahead of the pack in Kenya because they already have access to these technologies. If preparations are to get serious, organization must also be part of it because nothing happens without being organized. It is for this reason that the new decade that has just began entails challenges but only to Kenyans who are serious enough and who believe that they can intervene in the country’s political process.

Diaspora Kenyans may not necessarily engage in a mission for power take over as the immediate agenda. There are Diaspora Kenyans who have been playing around with the idea of seizing power in 2012 especially at various Social Networks like Facebook where an explosion of movements, political Parties and organizations of various sorts have been set up apparently to prepare for a “power take over” come the next elections. While this is positive, a study of these Internet groups show that their leaderships do not understand the dynamics of power take-over in a ran-down, Neo-colonial country like Kenya led by thieves and murderers and backed by imperialist collaborators who abet in the “sucking of the blood of the sufferers”.

Seizing power in Kenya could be easy if you have a population that has already been convinced with both political ideas and strategy. The assumption by Diaspora Kenyans that millions of Kenyans back home are idiots has led to unconscious personalities setting up groups to try and ride on the “Diaspora train” to enter into electoral politics and the field is very jumbled. In fact, the ensuing confusion could even demoralize the very Kenyans at home we seek to liberate. Let me be specific.

We have political parties in Kenya which have no serious political programs then suddenly, you read about an Internet group with a similar problem but seeking to liberate Kenya. Political leaders talk about the fight against tribalism without giving an alternative to tribalism then suddenly, you bump into a Facebook group preaching the same gospel without providing an option. The same case applies in talk about the fight against corruption, nepotism, cronyism and other isms without real alternatives that could be examined, critiqued and challenged by the masses of the Kenyan people. To be precise, you rarely come across a group seeking to organize the much needed revolution in Kenya because of serious limitations. However, not all is lost.

There are very serious Kenyans at home that have set up political groupings while there is a thriving Civil Society which has managed to keep the Coalition government on toes since it was set up. While it is important for Kenyans in Diaspora to organize themselves politically, they should also link up with Kenyans at home who are struggling on the ground as solutions to the crisis are sought from both sides. To assume that only Kenyans abroad have the solution is to undermine the grass roots Networks that are already doing a very good job in Kenya. Politics is about competition of ideas and the challenge facing Diaspora Kenyans is that they need to show that their ideas are superior to the ideas being propagated.  This will not happen without an organized communication link.

If Kenyans in Diaspora seeking political office begin to preach about the same ideas that have failed the country for the last 46 years, they will not appeal to the youth who have the voting power to change any government in Kenya by virtue of their numerical advantage.

The country needs ideas around the issue of revolution to change the system and the status quo and to sweep away the thieving capitalist ruling class that has been stealing from public coffers as millions of Kenyans undergo untold human suffering. The New Year should open up space for new collaboration especially between those who believe that they have a revolutionary mission to liberate Kenya. It is a huge responsibility which, nevertheless, needs to be done, even step by step. Let us make 2010 a year of regroupment in the Diaspora.

Okoth Osewe

Kenyan Workers need to organize politically

One glaring omission in the Draft Kenyan Constitution currently in circulation is that the document does not carter for the interests of workers in Kenya. In any country, workers occupy a special position because they are the creators of wealth and the providers of services that runs a country. With their peasant counterparts who feed the Nation, workers form the most important class especially in a society like Kenya because it is them who toil to pay taxes that are routinely looted by corrupt politicians who have converted the State into an institution through which they can grab the national wealth.

Today, 4th January 2010, Matatu Owners Association has called for a three day strike to protest against police harassment, extortion by police and illegal arrests of drivers and conductors working on Kenyan roads. In any democratic society, strike actions especially by exploited workers living on starvation wages are well recognized as fundamental tools of struggle especially in a capitalist society where the only commodity workers can sell to the capitalist class is their labour power. Going on strike to demand better working conditions as Matatu Workers are demanding is a well recognized demand in all countries where the rule of law is applicable and where the rights of workers are recognized.

In Kenya, strike actions have, since “independence”, been criminalized by the State mainly to prevent workers from paralyzing State activities through the well-tested method of downing tools. Although the Coalition government in Kenya claims to be democratic, Matatu Wokers have been warned that stern action will be taken by the State if they proceed with the planned three day strike that is supposed to begin on Monday, January 4th. Instead of addressing the grievances presented by these Workers, they are being intimidated and threatened with violence by the very State that ought to be protecting their basic rights and freedoms.

When criminalizing the planned strike, Police Commissioner, Mathew Iteere, warned that “We will be on the roads to ensure people carry on with their activities normally. Some of those calling for the strike are criminals and will be dealt with accordingly,” he said. He added that a contingent of police, paramilitary GSU and secret police had been mobilized to ensure that organizers of the strike are dealt with thoroughly.

The tactic of intimidation of Kenyan workers by agents of the State normally works because Workers in Kenya are not a political factor but spectators in the power structure. The reason for the successful emasculation and intimidation of Workers is because this class is not organized politically. In other countries where Worker’s consciousness is higher especially on labour issues, and where trade Union leaders are not pocketed by the State, Workers have a very strong political influence. Apart from lack of organization and poor leadership, there is a myth in Kenya that Workers cannot engage in politics. Many Workers belong to the hopeless political Parties but they have no understanding that with the right leadership, they can set up their Parties and begin to vie for power on a Workers platform.

From Sectorial to National Strikes
Unfortunately, the situation is unlikely to change as long as ideas about a Worker’s Party or a Worker’s Democratic system of government remains the preserve of academics and intellectuals at institutions of higher learning.

In an ideal situation where Workers have political representation through their Party, the current harassment and intimidation being faced by Matatu or any section of striking Workers could not have arisen because it could have been the responsibility of the Party to defend striking workers and address their interests.

In such a Party, workers in other sectors could have shown solidarity with the striking workers through their Party or even Trade Unions because an attack on one section of Workers is an attack on all Workers in Kenya. Today, it is Matatu workers and tomorrow, it will be Teachers, Bankers, Medics, Hotel workers, Factory workers and so forth who will be facing threats through criminalization of strike actions by a rogue State.

Collectively and as a class of exploited people, Kenya has more than 10 million workers and this translates into ten million votes if Workers were to have their own Party. Workers in Kenya are probably the biggest “tribe” in the country and the reason why they have persistently failed to organize themselves politically to compete for power is because they have had no leaders who can show the road to power. If workers are the producers of wealth in Kenya (a point that is indisputable), reason dictates that they should have a say on how this wealth in shared. Kenya is in a situation where the producers of wealth sit aside to watch as the wealth they have produced are looted by corrupt politicians calling themselves MPs.

The impending strike by Matatu workers is not the last one by Workers in Kenya and my view is that it too, will be defeated because the strike has no political support from a single Party including the two giant ruling Parties of ODM and PNU. What will happen is that the State, through its agencies, will make false promises that Worker’s demands will be addressed before the situation gets back to normal. The strike has no support from the Civil Society whose leaders should have shown solidarity with the striking workers even in the name of defending their right to personal security at work, the right to go on strike to demand their rights and the right to demand freedom from exploitation by corrupt traffic police well known for their extortionist tendencies.

While workers in Kenya need to awaken to the realities of Worker’s politics, Kenyans who understand this brand of politics also need to team up to address the question of setting up a Workers Party.

In the past, Teachers and even University lecturers have succeeded in gaining concessions from the State especially on the question of pay rises. However, for the conditions of all workers in Kenya to improve, this class will have to move from sectorial strikes to national strikes with clear political demands such as a minimum living wage for all workers in Kenya. Many workers are doing their jobs under very insecure conditions but the problem is that they cannot raise their voices due to fear or lack of organization.

In a situation where Trade Unions are muzzled despite the glaring need for Trade Union intervention in Worker’s struggles, an alternative way of addressing the problem has to be discussed or examined. It is for this reason that a group of Kenyans teamed up last year to set up the Kenya Red Alliance whose politics, program and structure are in the process of being released to the Kenyan and International publics.

Okoth Osewe
Interim Secretary
Kenya Red Alliance (KRA)

It is with great concern that the Kenya Red Alliance (KRA) has decided to write to you over the issue of the disgraceful Kenyan flag that hangs outside the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm. As you are probably aware, the national flag is a symbol of power, pride and nationhood to all the people of Kenya regardless of where they reside. Government Ministers “fly the flag” when they are being driven around the country in their official cars because they have a duty to the nation and the flag symbolizes this responsibility.

Latest Picture of Kenya Flag outside Stockholm Embassy

The flag is a respected component of the Kenyan nationhood and should consequently be treated with respect. At the UN headquarters, the Kenyan flag flies high along with other flags because it represents the Kenyan nation. Were the Kenyan flag at the UN offices in New York to degenerate and assume the condition of the tattered flag currently hanging outside the Embassy, it would be a big scandal that would precipitate a complaint through the Kenyan representative at the UN or your boss – Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hon Mr. Moses Wetangula.

When the President of the Republic of Kenya or a government Minister travels abroad to meet officials of other foreign governments or to address International meetings, the Kenya national flag is normally part of the decorations because of the national importance attached to the flag. When Prime Minister Raila Odinga came to Stockholm on an official visit, the national flag was availed by the Embassy at the Hotel where the PM addressed Kenyans because of the role of the flag in our country’s standing as a nation. Our athletes normally grab the national flag after winning gold medals because it is a show that our country – Kenya – is the nation responsible for producing top athletes who win at International tournaments.

In your own territory of Kenya-Stockholm, your office normally avails the national flag at the entrance of the hall during national celebrations so that as you receive guests in the company of your husband and other Embassy officials, they are reminded by the Kenyan flag that the event of the day is of national importance. The significance of our national flag needs no further emphasis.

The Kenya Red Alliance is writing to your office because the Alliance believes that the state of the Kenyan flag hanging outside the Embassy is not only pathetic but also disgraceful. The flag looks weather-beaten while due to the impact of blowing winds, it is folded on its mast in a way that it is no longer recognizable as the official flag of the Republic of Kenya.

The situation is worsened by the fact that you and other members of staff sit in that office on a daily basis after passing under the same flag to gain access to the Embassy where you represent the interest of Kenya in Scandinavia. Under its current state and condition, and given the national symbolism attached to the flag, KRA demands that your office take action and rectify the situation as soon as possible.

During your tenure as Ambassador at the Kenyan Embassy, you have presided ever some of the most catastrophic failures at that office. As late as last month, your office sent away a group of Kenyans who were stranded at the Central Station in Stockholm, leaving them to freeze in the cold. To date, your office has not taken any initiative to investigate the circumstances under which these Kenyans ended up sleeping at the Central Station neither has your office tried to establish their fate. In fact, our intelligence show that your office does not know where these young nationals are at the moment after they got stranded in Stockholm.

You cannot say that you don’t know anything about the state of the Kenyan flag outside the Embassy because the issue has been highlighted by concerned Kenyans and friends of Kenya. By refusing to take action when it is clear that the matter at hand is of national importance, you are further failing in your responsibility as the custodian of our national image in Scandinavia. KRA believes that the flag issue is one of the simplest issues that could have been addressed by your Office as soon as the matter came to light. Turning a blind eye to the issue is not going to resolve it and KRA takes this opportunity to warn you that your current inaction is subjecting the Kenyan nation and her people to a lot of unnecessary ridicule.

Kenya Embassy in Stockholm carters for the whole of the Scandinavian countries and therefore, it is important that a better image of the country is reflected both inside and outside the Embassy. The truth is that the disgraceful Kenyan flag hanging outside the Embassy is currently a source of big shame to our country. If there was no Ambassador at the Embassy, one could be led to think that the general deterioration at the Embassy is due to a missing Ambassador. Since you are holding office, there is no excuse or explanation that could clarify the state of affairs with respect to the flag.

This is our first official communication with your office on the flag issue and we urge you to take the necessary steps to correct the situation. If you don’t, we will have no option but to take the matter up with your superiors at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Office of the President and Office of the Prime Minister. If you continue to remain blind to the reality which has been brought before your very nose, KRA will consider lodging a complaint with the Swedish Foreign Affairs Ministry on grounds that the flag is an eye-sore in the streets of Stockholm. This is allowed under the Swedish laws of sanity.

You have failed Kenyans in Scandinavia and this failure should not begin to reflect itself on national issues. KRA will not sit by and watch as the image and general standing of our country is downgraded through acts of irresponsibility and lack of respect to the country’s national symbols. We hope that you will take note and act accordingly.

Yours sincerely,

Okoth Osewe
Interim Secretary
Kenya Red Alliance (KRA)

The entire family of Keegan Kagwe would like to thank all Kenyans and friends who condoled with the family last Saturday following the passing of his sister in Law. He told KSB that he was very grateful for the solidarity Kenyans showed him during a difficult moment. Mr. Keegan set up an “Open House” at his residence following the death of his sister in Law. The late was married to Keegan’s elder brother.

Okoth Osewe

Family Says “Thank You Very Much”

The late Owili: Smooth burial in Kenya

The family of the late Mr. Philip Owili Ongaro has returned from Kenya after the burial of their loved family member who passed away in Stockholm. Speaking to KSB, Mrs. Jane Owili, the widow, said that the family returned last week shortly before the New Year.

She told KSB that the family was very grateful for the huge support they got from Kenyans, friends and well wishers following the abrupt departure of Mr. Owili. A fund raising that was called to help collect cash for the transportation of Mr. Owili’s body to Kenya raised 42.000 Kr overnight.

“We are very grateful for the support from everybody”, Mrs. Owili told KSB. She said that the burial went on well and that Mr. Owili’s friends came from all over the world to give him a final send-off. Reports from the funeral indicated that the late Owili’s home was filled to capacity with mourners who had come to pay their last respects to Mr. Owili.

From Nairobi, the body was flown to Kisumu from where it was transported to Mr. Owili’s home village in South Nyanza by road. Mrs. Owili said that members of the Owili family recognized the big role Kenyans in Stockholm played in helping transport the body of the late Owili to Kenya. Among those who gave speeches at the funeral was Mr. Owili’s eldest son who was accompanied by his brother and two sisters.

Mrs. Owili said that the family was well received back home and added that Mr. Owili’s children had been greatly inspired by the love and affection from family members. Mrs. Owili told KSB that the burial went on smoothly.

The Owili Funeral Committee that was set up in Stockholm will meet tomorrow, Saturday January 9th from 15 hrs to address any pending issues and to dissolve itself since its mandate was now over. The Committee is headed by Mrs. Hellen Opwapo who is also the Chairlady of ODM Scandinavia. Mrs. Opwapo has been in the United States and it is not clear whether she has returned. All Committee members have been invited to the meeting which will take place at the residence of the Owilis in Stockholm’s Central Business District.

Okoth Osewe

Download::

• Revised New Constitution of Kenya (pdf)

Okoth Osewe

Two family members dead

Mr. Joseph Okulo, a Kenyan resident in Stockholm, has suffered a double tragedy following the loss of two very close relatives within a short span of time. Mr. Okulo, who is also known within Kenya-Stockholm circles as “John Holiday”, lost his sister, Nevea Oulu Nyambok, after a short illness. When the news reached the late Nevea’s daughter, Grace Olewe, she also collapsed and died instantly.

Consequently, the family of Mr. Okulo has entered into deep mourning following the twin deaths. The late Nevea hailed from Asego, Kanyadar in Kenya. The bodies of the two are being preserved at the New Nyanza Provincial Hospital (Russian Hospital) as burial arrangements are made.

The family of Mr. Okulo has set up an “Open House” at their residence at Hörnsgatan 135 in Central Stockholm’s Business district where friends and sympathizers can deliver condolences.

The family told KSB that Kenyans have been under a deluge of bereavements prompting several fund raising functions and that they were not calling for any harambee. However, they would like to request Kenyans and friends who may be in a position to contribute to visit them at their residence or deposit contributions at account number 52360 00 4417 at SEB (SE Banken).

“The bereavements have left the family with a heavy burden and any contribution will be welcome”, Okulo’s wife, Mrs Petty Osewe Okulo, told KSB. Further information can be obtained through 0737883068.

KSB sends deep condolences to the family of Mr. Okulo. Obviously, the family is undergoing great shock following the loss of two close family members and, under the circumstances, the family needs all the support possible. We hope that the family will have the courage to go through this very difficult moment.

Okoth Osewe

Mr. Nathan Hassan, the brother of the late Mr. Philip Owili, has sent a “Thank You” message to all Kenyans and friends who helped him raise funds for his ticket to Kenya following the death of his brother Philip.

Speaking to KSB from Norway, Hassan said that he has no words to describe the gratitude and solidarity Kenyans showed him after his brother died. “Without your help, I could not have been able to travel to Kenya to bury my brother”, he told KSB. He said that his trip to and from Kenya was fine.

He said that he was moved by the response of Kenyans at very short notice after he sent signals that he was in distress. “To everybody who helped me, I say thank you very much”, he told KSB.

Okoth Osewe

The Flag before (L) and after fixing (R)

Following exposures at KSB and a protest letter to the Kenyan Ambassador Mrs. Purity Muhindi, the shameful Kenyan flag that has been hanging at the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm has now been fixed. The old, weather-beaten and tattered flag that has been a source of concern to many Kenyans has been replaced with a brand new flag that now hangs outside the Embassy in bright colours.

The Kenya Red Alliance (KRA) takes this opportunity to congratulate the Embassy for having taken action over the issue after it was raised on a serious note. Kenya does not belong to the Embassy or Ambassador Purity Muhindi. For this reason, it is the responsibility of all Kenyans to act as Ambassadors of their country and intervene when the country’s affairs are not being managed as they should be. The responsibility of looking after our country’s interests rests with Kenyans both at home and abroad.

The image of the country is very important and when this image is being subjected to unnecessary ridicule because an official being paid by tax payer’s money is not doing his/her work, it is the responsibility of the citizens to act. When KRA wrote to the Ambassador demanding that the issue be given due attention, it was not out of politics but out of serious concern. We hope that the Ambassador has learnt that the Embassy is not her private property and that it cannot be managed like a family business.

According to sources, there was an attempt by the Ambassador to blame the flag problem on the weather. Strictly speaking, the flag should be raised daily in the morning and lowered in the evening. Because this might not be practical due to the location of the Embassy and other factors, it is even more urgent that the physical state of the flag is examined from time to time so that it does not degenerate to an extent that it becomes an eye sore in Stockholm’s Central Business District.

The flag aside, there are loads of issues at the Embassy which needs to be addressed. Kenyans in Scandinavia need an Embassy they can work with, just like other nationalities and their Embassies in Stockholm. It is shameful that while other nationalities organize functions and invite their Ambassadors to preside over as the Guest of Honour, our Ambassador is permanently holed up at the Embassy and never attends Kenyan functions.

Kenya-Stockholmers do not want to be seen as the enemy of Embassy staff. There is need to cultivate a working relationship with this important institution so that its existence can serve the interests of Kenyan nationals resident in Scandinavia. At the moment, the Embassy has been reduced to issuing visas to European Passport-holders wishing to travel to Kenya and attending to tourists as the interest of Kenyans are routinely neglected.

This should not be the case and Kenyans in Scandinavia should send a delegation to meet the Ambassador and help her understand or come to terms with the expectations of the Kenyan community in Scandinavia. While the flag issue has been resolved, much still needs to be done to enable Kenyans in Scandinavia view the Embassy as their Embassy.

We take this opportunity to thank all Kenyans who contributed (in various ways) in putting pressure on the Ambassador to act on the flag issue. Special thanks to our Papparazzi who has been monitoring the flag and filing reports accordingly. It has been a collective effort that has shown that action produces results. The question which now remains is whether a new campaign is needed for Purity to be recalled so that a new era of dialogue between Kenyans and the Embassy can begin.

We have a Coalition government in Kenya and there is no reason why we cannot have an open Embassy in Stockholm where Kenyans can engage and utilize their potential to change Kenya in various ways. We are in a situation where no Kenyan can approach the Embassy with an idea because the bottom line is that the Ambassador is either unresponsive or sleeping on the job. If she could not even notice the flag problem until she was reminded, Purity needs to call it a day, say good-bye, board a Kenya Airways flight and return to the motherland to rest after her disastrous career at the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm.

Okoth Osewe
Interim secretary
Kenya Red Alliance (KRA)

Mr. David Karoki, a Kenyan national who has been resident in Stockholm, has told KSB that he is not dead as is being alleged by people he believes are against him. Speaking to KSB on telephone, Mr. Karoki said that he was surprised to learn that rumours are spreading in Kenya-Stockholm that he died long time ago and that his remains were sent six feet under.

“Tell Kenyans who have heard these stories that I am alive and well”, he said. The Kenyan named a group of Kenyans whom, he said, were behind the stories. According to him, stories were spreading that he died during the 2007 post election violence in Kenya.

He said that the rumour mongers were saying that he was killed in Kibera slums after Raila Odinga’s Presidency was stolen by Party of National Unity. Denying the rumours, he said that gossipers who were spreading the false information were acting maliciously.

Sounding upset, he also attacked Kenyans who were spreading rumours that he had been sent to prison for unknown crimes. “The truth is that I have been away for long but I have not been in prison”, he said. I went to Denmark then crossed over to London before travelling to Canada”, he said. He believes that there is a group of Kenyans who do not like him for reasons he does not understand.

Mr. Karoki also took issue with Kenyans who were claiming that he was responsible for reporting paperless Kenyans to police so that they can be deported. He challenged those making the allegations to produce proof or stop telling lies about him. “The truth is that I have not deported anybody and people who are talking like that should take me to a court of law”, he said.

He dismissed those spreading rumours as idle people who have nothing to do with their lives. He was concerned that some of his friends who heard about the rumours may have become worried in the absence of information and assured them that he was very fine and eating ugali as usual.

The Karoki case demonstrates how far some Kenyans can go to damage people’s reputations. It is incredible that Sam Pippo aka Watu Wengine could engage in rumours to the effect that a Kenyan had died when he was actually alive and kicking. KSB takes this opportunity to wish Karoki well.

Okoth Osewe

Cute chick Kipepeo posing for a KSB Papparazzi

A cute fresh chick from homeland is creating a lot of tension among Kenya-Stockholm bachaleros who are jostling to lure her into their bed rooms to consume her newly arrived and “tempting to touch” goods. According to sources that are privy to underground dealings, the chick is said to be so beautiful that when she swings into sight, male animals of all descriptions – bachaleros, fathers, divorcees and other single elements floating around  -  begin to get mesmerized by her dazzling charms.

When she was first spotted passing across in a complicated swing to visit the ladies room at a joint in Stockholm, heads could be seen turning at a table that was crammed with male creatures as they began to talk in whispers, trying to establish her identity and status within the Kenya-Stockholm’s romantic hemisphere.

According to sources, the chick has now been nick-named Kipepeo while it has been established that she arrived from Kenya recently aboard a KLM flight. A bachalero who has been trying his luck, told KSB that when you think you have her patching on your laps, you soon realize that she is gone. This tendency is what has influenced the name  “Kipepeo” (butterfly) which is reportedly very difficult to catch when it is patching on a plant with any potential catcher playing the role of the plant. The bachalero refused to go into detail.

The chick is said to have grown up in Nairobi and that she has all the features of a sophisticated urbanite well versed in fashion, Sheng and Party life. “She knows how to dress and when she is present, there is just no way you can miss her”, another bachalero told KSB on telephone.

The problem is that she understands that she is in high demand and that she is using her “irresistible charms” to create hopes in the minds of various candidates before melting away like ice cream in the mouth. A bachalero spent a fortune on her at a Stockholm location and when he thought he had her in the bag, he realized that she had slipped away without notice.

One feature that has been reported is that she does not make any commitments and plays at the “friendship level” but when you think you have her attention and you want to begin to enter into the next level, she melts before you even know it.

This behaviour has prompted some bachelors to begin thinking about a change of strategy because the old methods are not working. It looks like Stockholm bachaleros are not yet used to her Nairobi orientation because they have been away from home for too long. KSB has been told that what is most certain about her is that she does not look, speak or behave like a village girl from Nyalgunga.

There is tension among bachaleros because different rumours and dirty propaganda have been incorporated into the battle plan to catch her for long-term consumption. Some bachaleros are pumping her with all sorts of nasty propaganda to try and defeat their biggest competitors and in the process, anything goes, tempers are rising while tension is high to an extent that some Kenyan observers now fear that if the situation remains unchanged, Kenya-Stockholm may soon turn into another Afghanistan, the epicentre of terror wars.

For example, she was told by bachalero-X that bachalero-Y, who had been chasing her, is actually jobless while in another case, a bachalero told her that the guy she has been talking to is married with a kid in Stockholm whom he abandoned after his relationship collapsed because his wife found him cheating with another Kenyan lady who is also married.

In revenge, another dude told her that the guy who had taken her number is homeless and on welfare. The dude added that although the guy bought her some drinks, he was actually in kronofogden. When she inquired what that meant, she was gladly told that it’s the debt collection agency. She almost chocked with laughter!

The weapon of choice being used by the bachaleros is that they can help her manufacture mappepe although this is not selling as had been expected because she appears to be testing the economic powers of her possible suitors by stretching their wallets to the maximum to see how far they are ready to go in the process of looking for her goods and trying to penetrate into her holy shrine.

Another thing is that she also seems to be “gathering intelligence” from her reliable contacts about different bachaleros and the question is where she will eventually land and how the situation will develop. The game is reported to be very complicated.

Okoth Osewe

The eldest son of the late John Peter Omiti has died in Kenya due to illness. Mrs Pamela Omiti, John Peter’s widow told KSB that the son has been sick for some time and that he passed away yesterday morning.

Mrs Omiti has therefore set up an “Open House” at her residence located at Flygkårsvägen 13 at Täby. There will be a “Prayer Meeting” on Saturday, 16th January at her residence. Pamela is planning to travel home to attend the funeral.

To get to the residence, take tunnelbana to Östra Station (Tekniskahögskolan) then take Roslagsbana to Åkersberg and alight at Hagenäs. From there, take buss no 612 to Flygkårsvagen. Alternatively, go to Mörby Station and take buss No. 629 to Flygkårsvägen. For more information, ring 0704472096.

KSB sends condolences to the family of the late Mr. Omiti furing this difficult time of great shock and sorrow. We hope that Kenyans, friends and sympathizers will show solidarity with the family during this trying moments.

Okoth Osewe

For several years now, it has housed and taken care of young and vulnerable children. It has become a home to many orphaned children. Homes where many people take a moment to reflect on what they have experienced. A place where they take a deep breath and make a decision to face the future with certainty. Here, they are treated with hearty love and given hope to face the future with brightness.

Jacinter (in glasses) with the kids last Chrsitmas

Most recently, it was a bee hive of activity. During the post election violence, the home hosted more than 500 children and women. All flocked there to save their lives from rowdy youths who were craving for their blood. The home not only welcomed them heartily but also took responsibility of feeding them and giving them a place to sleep.

Established by Jacinta Njoroge to honor her mother’s love for the unaided children, Phillis Wambui Memorial Children’s Home has managed to change lives through the support it gets from friends and partners like Rotary Club of Sweden. The centre reflects what a true change an individual can contribute  in society. Jacinta has gone over the common human “comfort” level and indifferent attitude to the effect that someone “will sort it out” to a personal commitment, patience and persistence to leave love marks to a hundred  needy children.

Set at Kambi ya Moto near Kabarak University, the home is a haven to 72 vulnerable children from all over Kenya. Here, they are bonded with brotherly love and sisterhood while they have “mothers” who give them parental love and assist them solve “kiddish” problems, just like mothers usually do.  Jacinta’s eldest “daughter” sat for her K.C.S.E last year. The youngest, who is also her “new born”, is barely two years.  She had been rescued by Jacinta from her grandmother who couldn’t feed her.

The centre has a Primary school which takes care of outside children. The centre also takes care of their breakfast and lunch, Mondays to Fridays without asking for a penny.

I was lucky to visit the home on a Saturday, just after Christmas, not because of the Party mood (which the children’s faces portrayed) but because the day is set aside by Christians around the world for thanksgiving and prayers. The songs, testimonies, comedies and jokes left me deeply touched. They sang and danced with so much enthusiasm, enough to carry you in their waves.

This revealed great contentment and gratification and a clear indication that their future is full of promises – a note of gratitude which they don’t forget to pass to their “mother” Jacinta.
Despite financial challenges, Jacinta, together with her partners, have managed to set a commendably well equipped home. This is best portrayed by the dormitories which are equipped with comfy beds and mosquito nets.

Mother Jacinta says her best moment is time to spend with the kids. And the few days I spent there marked her words.  Her free interaction with the children showed a lot of concern, care and love for the children. I was really fascinated by how an individual can change lives of almost a hundred children from naught to optimistic citizens.

My stay at the home was filled with fun. Jacinta’s eldest “daughter” took care of my craving for hiking and running. Together, we adventured  up and down the hills  to discover rhino caves. We gave Jacinta a shock of her life when we jogged out and came back with a dignified guest. We had just returned from Paul Tergat’s home.

I left the home shingo upande, but promised to return. And the ripe time, I guess, would be Valentine’s day. To give the children more love.

Shiku Steve

DEKULA BAND “Ngoma ya Kilo”

Place: Lilla Wien Bar & Restaurant
Time: 21.00-01.00
Date: 15-16/January/2010
Friday-Saturday
Address: Swedenborgsgatan 20
Pendeltåg: Stockholm Södra

KATIBA MPYA – INAWEZA KUTAFSIRIWA KUWA FIMBO YA MNYONGE
Makala ya Nguvu ya Hoja kwa KSB Jumapili 17 Januari, 2010

Ndugu Mwandawiro Mghanga

Hebu kwanza nichukue fursa hii kwa niaba yangu binafsi na ya wasomaji wa makala haya kutoa rambirambi zangu kwa watu wa Haiti ambao wamepoteza maelfu ya ndugu, jamaa na marafiki zao kwa mkasa wa kimaumbile wa mtetemeko wa ardhi. Pamoja na vifo, mkasa huu umesababisha hasara isiyo na kifani ya kiuchumi na kuzidisha umaskini kwa nchi ambayo tayari ni maskini mno. Wakati tukiomboleza na wenzetu wa Haiti tukumbuke hata sisi Wakenya tunachungulia kaburi. Je, serikali yetu inafahamu methali inayosema “mwenzako akinyolewa na lako anza kulitia maji”? Au inaendelea kuwa nyani ambaye haoni kundule au nzi aliezikwa na maiti? Tunaonywa na wasanifu wa mjengo kila siku kwamba nyumba nyingi, na hasa za mijini, zimejengwa bila kuzingatia kanuni za wasanifu na wahandisi wa mjengo na hivyo ni hatari kwa usalama.

Usiku na mchana majumba yanaporomoka Nairobi, Kiambu, Mombasa na kwingineko nchini huku ikisababisha maafa na hasara tilatila. Lakini bado serikali inaendelea kukubali au kuvumilia kubaki na kuendelea kujengwa kwa nyumba na majumba ambayo yanaweza kuporomoka wakati wowote ule. Je, kwa mfano, mtetemeko wa ardhi kama ule wa Haiti ukitokea Nairobi, itakuwaje tukikumbuka kuwa asilimia kubwa zaidi ya nyumba zimejengwa kinyume cha sheria, na ni makaburi hasa yanayongojea kuwazika wakaazi wa jiji wakati wowote? Mbona serikali inaangalia huku mitaa ya mabanda iliyojaa majumba mabovu na hatari ikichipuka kila siku?

Turudi kwa swala la katiba. Nimekuwa nikikariri kuwa lazima tupate katiba mpya mwaka huu. Ndiyo kwa sababu nakubaliana na wale wanaopendekeza bunge libadilishe sheria ili tupigie kura katiba mbili wakati mmoja katika kura za maoni. Swala nyeti zaidi linalotisha kutuzuia kupata katiba mwaka huu ni lile la mfumo wa utawala, uwe wa urais ama wa ubunge? Basi tupige kura za kuchagua kati ya katiba mpya yenye mfumo wa urais au yenye mfumo wa ubunge. Tusikose katiba mpya mwaka huu. Tupate fursa ya kuanza kuitumia katiba mpya kupambania mfumo mpya wa kijamii-kiuchumi utakaohakikisha kukua kwa utekelezaji wa haki za binadamu kwa maneno na vitendo.

Sura ya sita ya ruwaza ya katiba ya kamati ya wataalamu wa katiba inahusu haki za binadamu. Sehemu ya pili ya suraha hii inatoa orodha ndefu ya haki za binadamu. Jambo hili ni muhimu maana haki za binadamu ndiyo mama wa mambo yote. Aidha, shabaha ya kimsingi ya siasa, uchumi, matumizi ya ardhi na rasilimali, maendeleo, demokrasi na utawala, ni kukua kwa utekelezaji wa haki za binadamu. Hata hivyo, ingawa haki za binadamu ni za kila binadamu, katika jamii iliyogawanyika kitabaka kama ya Kenya, hapawezi kuwa na usawa katika utekelezaji wake hata katiba ikisema hivyo. Maana tajiri na maskini kamwe hawawezi kutekeleza haki kwa usawa wakati mmoja. Ndiyo kwa maana harakati za kitabaka huhusu mapambano ya haki ya kutekeleza haki za binadamu katika jamii.

Haki zako za binadamu ni yale mambo yote ambayo ni yako kwa kuwa u binadamu. Wala hailetwi na katiba. Kwani ulikuwa na haki zako za binadamu mara tu ulipozaliwa, kwa sababu tu wewe ni binadamu.  Kwa mfano, maisha ni haki yako ya binadamu, tena ya kimsingi. Hii ina maana kwamba kwa sababu tu umezaliwa, upo, u hai, maisha ni haki yako. Wala huhitaji kuomba ruhusa kutoka kwa mtu yoyote yule ili uishi.  Isitoshe, hakuna mtu yoyote yule alie na haki juu ya uhai wako, hakuna mwenye haki halali ya kukuzuia kuishi, ya kukua. Na endapo mtu akakuua kwa sababu yoyote ile, basi atakuwa amekunyang’anya haki yako ya kimsingi, uhai.

Ruwaza ya katiba ina orodha ya haki za binadamu, uhuru wa maisha, usawa, haki za watoto, haki za wazee, haki za vijana, haki za wafanyikazi, haki za huduma ya jamii, haki ya elimu, haki ya matibabu, haki ya chakula, haki ya nyumba, haki ya maji, haki ya mazingira bora, n.k. Orodha yenyewe ni ndefu. Kumunyima mtu haki zake za binadamu ni kumdhulumu, kumvua utu wake, ni kuvunja haki za binadamu. Lakini tunajua kuwa nchini idadi kubwa zaidi ya watu hawatekelezi haki hizi kutokana na imla, ubepari na kiwango cha maendelo na uhuru wa nchi yetu. Haki za binadamu zina historia, zimekuwa zikizidi kutekelezeka kufungamana na kukua kwa maendeleo na uhuru katika jamii.

Ikitafsiriwa kimaendeleo, kutokana na msimamo wa wengi, orodha ya haki za binadamu iliyoko katika ruwaza ya katiba, itatumiwa kuhalalisha mapambano ya kuleta mfumo mpya na wa hali ya juu zaidi utakaoleta usawa katika utekelezaji wa haki za binadamu, ujamaa. Na njia ya mkato ya kuhakikisha ahadi za haki za binadamu zilizoko kwa ruwaza ya katiba zinatekelezwa ni kwa kila anaenyanyaswa kujitayarisha kujiandikisha na kupiga kura za mageuzi mnamo mwaka wa 2012. Kila mzalendo awajibike. Tuondoe wezi, waporaji wa mali ya umma, matapeli, wabakuzi wa ardhi, wafisadi, wauwaji, wanaoharibu mazingira, vibaraka wa mabeberu na mabepari.

Tujitokeze, tupige kura kwa kuchagua sera za haki na ukombozi wa wengi wala siyo ukabila, hongo, malalamiko matupu au kutojali. Tukumbuke wale tutakaowachagua kuwa viongozi wa taasisi zote za dola na serikali zitakazokuwapo katika katiba mpya, ndiyo watakaokuwa na fursa kuongoza jamii kutafsiri na kutekeleza orodha ya haki za binadamu katika maisha halisi nchini. Tusisahau, mbele ya mwenye nguvu, mnyonge hana haki. Tutahadhari na waliyoko madarakani leo. Fimbo ya mnyonge ni muungano wa wanyonge wa kupigania ukombozi wao wenyewe. Tunaweza kutumia katiba mpya kama fimbo ya mnyonge ya kuwaunganisha wenye lengo la kupambania na kuleta dola la kutumia rasilimali za kitaifa kufanya shabaha ya maendeleo kuwa ni kuongeza utekelezaji wa haki za binadamu za kila Mkenya.

Mwandawiro Mghanga, Barua pepe: mwandawiro2002(at)yahoo.com

Kenya-Stockholmer in action during the good old days

If you are a Kenyan citizen, you are in an inter-racial relationship involving a white Swedish spouse and your affair is in crisis or has collapsed, take heart because that appears to be the trend within our tiny community. According to KSB’s “Inter-Racial Romantic Index” for 2009 which has just been released by a team of experts, Kenyans are finding it difficult to cope with white spouses, a trend that has seen relationships enter into “cyclical crisis” or led to collapse of long standing marriages with devastating emotional and economic consequences.

Since January last year, four inter-racial marriages in Kenya Stockholm have collapsed out of which two involved two Kenyan women and their Swedish hubbies while the other two involved two Kenyan men and their white Swedish wives. According to KSB’s index, three out of the collapsed marriages involved relationships where young children are involved.

According to the index, a Kenyan guy was involved in one collapsed relationship between a Kenyan woman and her white hubby while in another case, a Kenyan male abandoned the relationship because he could no longer cope with “difficult white conditions” imposed on the relationship by his former Swedish wife.

According to research, the guy began to increasingly find it difficult to cope with limitation of his freedom of movement, a ban on house visits by Kenyan friends, compulsory baby-sitting arrangements to prevent him from engaging in other activities while it is said that the guy was also bored with economic sanctions to an extent that he couldn’t send any cash back home to carter for school fees, medical services or even feed his parents.

In the first case where the split involved another Kenyan dude, it emerged that the bull has been servicing the Kenyan lady when the jungu hubby is away. It looked like the lady had become addicted to being worked up by the guy’s equipment because the clandestine relationship is said to have lasted for “A very long time”. It is said that the guy would pop up during day time when the Jungu is at work and the kids are at school or when the Jungu had gone on Safari.

Once the jungu was away for the night, the guy would arrive when the kids are asleep and leave during the wee hours of the morning before the kids rise up for breakfast. The chick would put the kids to sleep early to enable the dude to arrive early so that she could be done thoroughly.  It is said that every minute was important. Although the guy has an apartment, the chick could not go there because she was in charge of the kids when the hubby was away so she had to make arrangements at her place.

The crisis is said to have reached a climax when one day, the Jungu pretended that he was going on Safari and later arrived in the dead of night by taxi then waited patiently because the bed room door was locked. A neighbor friend had tipped him that his Kenyan wifie appears to have been handling another equipment owned by a black man when he was away but there was no proof.  He arranged with the neighbor to spy through the window as he pretended that he was on a three day trip to London.  Once the scene was set and the neighbor was sure that the bull had arrived at the scene of action, he would call the jungu on his cell phone to take a taxi. The jungu applied total stealth as he sneaked into the flat and hid behind a sofa during the operation.

There was crisis when the Kenyan guy opened the bedroom door (while naked) on his way to download files in the toilet because he came head-on with the jungu on the corridor. Although there was no physical combat, the jungu had proved that the guy, whom he knew as a family friend, was the hustler who was consuming the goods when he was away. From then on, the jungu split up with the Kenyan wifie. Although she tried to shed crocodile tears, it did not help because the jungu had made up his mind.

The KSB index says that in yet another case, a Kenyan lady who split with her hubby accused him of being disinterested in her because he kept ignoring her when in the company of others. Some Kenya-Stockholm pundits who compiled the index say that it’s the jungu who dumped the chick because when the jungu married her, he thought he had hooked up the typical African chick who would be submissive and who enjoyed house-work.

Kenyan’s escape from deportation
The lady is reported to have confused the jungu into marriage by increasing the level of cleanliness in the house soon after their relationship began, doing the dishes loyally, cooking food (complete with ugali spicing), doing the laundry and treating the jungu like a King. It is said that she would insist that the jungu relax on the sofa as she brought warm water in a jar for the jungu to wash his hands before and after meals “the Kenyan way” and the jungu is reported to have been excited.

She is said to have made the jungu “Feel wanted” by tracking him down to find out when he was coming home, welcome him with a kiss on the door, help him remove his clothes, find out how the day was before inviting him to a sumptuous meal she had prepared for dinner. The jungu is reported to have liked every bit of it.

She would then get into her sexy night dress “to increase the jungu’s appetite” before opening the goods for consumption. It is said that the jungu had been single for a long time and when he bumped into the Kenyan chick, his world was transformed in ways he couldn’t describe. Once she bagged her papers, the chick began to change as piles of plates also began to show up in the sink.

She became more concerned with her make up as the house began to degenerate into untidiness. When the matter came up, the chick is said to have began taking the line that the jungu should also be helping with house work because they were “living in Sweden” where men are equal to women.

As the crisis deepened, the jungu started coming home late, prompting the chick to retaliate by also coming home well past midnight. As the crisis worsened, the prospect of splitting up began to take shape in their minds and eventually the couple called it a day and went separate ways.

In another case, a Kenyan who had been on a “Paper Mission” with a jungu lady split up when his wife was six months pregnant. The crisis, which was highlighted at KSB, almost led to the guy’s deportation to Kenya but he was saved by the Swedish Immigration Department which ruled that the guy could stay because his ex Swedish wife was expecting a baby. According to the court, the guy needed to be allowed to stay so that he could take responsibility for his unborn child.

The law was also on his side because in Sweden, all children have a right of access to the father regardless of the circumstances. In allowing him to stay, the Swedish authorities observed that even if he was deported “he would still be granted permission to live in Sweden by virtue of having fathered a child with a Swedish citizen”.

The relationship entered into difficulty when the Kenyan began to hanya a white lady friend of his wife after the wife entered into advanced stages of pregnancy. When the wife discovered the affair, she decided to split up, arguing that she can never share love under any circumstances. The lady later attacked the guy at KSB, saying that the Kenyan had played with her emotions.

Despite the difficulties within Kenyans and their Swedish spouses, there was good news last year because three Kenyans hooked up with jungus while at least one Kenyan wedded a cute jungu lady. Kenya-Stockholmers can only hope that new inter-racial relationships will crop up to compensate for the lost ones otherwise the situation appears to have been tough on the inter-racial romantic front.

Okoth Osewe

As many readers will remember, KSB has been in contact with Dr. Solomon Kimuyu who resides in the United States. Kimuyu is running for President in 2012 and has also written a book titled “Solomon on Leadership” that was launched in the United States last month. Recently he had an interview with the online publication, East Africa in Focus. We reproduce the interview below for our readers.

Dr. Solomon Kimuyu is a Kenyan living in Texas, USA, who unsuccessfully contested a parliamentary seat in 2007. He blames it on the electoral structures at party and national levels. Come 2012, he is going for the top prize, this time, with his own political party. Dr. Kimuyu recently talked to East Africa in Focus about his presidential ambitions and his vision for Kenya.

Dr. Solom Kimuyu: Running for President

What would you say about yourself?

Answer: I was born on February 27, 1950, in Kavete village on the slopes of Muumandu Hill. My parents moved to Athi River, Kenya’s manufacturing, meat and cement production capital, in early 1950s, a trading centre then. My father worked for Kenya Meat Commission, while my mother cared for my older sister at our rural home and tended our shamba in Muumandu Hill. As a child, growing up with other children from different tribes, I had neither tribal language nor barriers. Our first languages were Swahili and English. I was privileged, and indeed enlightened, to interact with children from all tribes of East Africa, whose parents had come for employment, majority of whom never left Athi River.

I have been a follower of Christ since my teenage years. I accepted Jesus as my personal savior on November 30, 1965. I have remained a faithful member of a local Baptist Church.

My father died when I was young, so I was adopted by Southern Baptist Missionaries. The missionaries invested in my spiritual, physical, and academic growth from primary school in Mombasa, to graduate school in Texas.

I am a husband, and father of two grown-up sons and a daughter. I love my family and my country Kenya deeply.

What are your key highlights in life and career?

Answer: My career can be defined in different facets. Leadership has been a lifetime experience for me. I was born into privilege, but endured some trouble too. I learned early that for me to be successful, I needed wisdom, so I defined my trajectory and stayed on course by successfully persuading other people to come along with me. As a young man, I was a fisherman and fishmonger. It was risky fishing in a crocodile-infested river. I somehow dodged death in the jaws of crocodiles that crushed a child by the week. I moved on with my entrepreneurial spirit to Baptist High School in Mombasa and Baptist Seminary in Tanzania. There, I bought my first Volkswagen beetle at age 23, and got married.

After graduation, my wife and I moved to Nairobi. My first professional job was at Campus Crusade for Christ Internation (CCCI). At less than 25 years, I carried heavy responsibilities of leading people, some over twice my age. In 1981, I moved to Texas for my post graduate studies. With a family of five, I had to think business. I made bad business decisions for which I paid a high price. In most cases I made good investment decisions, which paid off.

I have served as a pastor for Athi River Baptist Church; staff at CCCI, San Bernardino, Calif.; secretary at Baptist Convention of Kenya; vice-president for All Africa Baptist Union, caseworker for Child Protective and Regulatory for the State of Texas; and director for Long Term Nursing Home in Denver and Texas. [I am also the ] founder and president for Solomon Youth Centers, Solomon Home For Children International in Dallas, and Solomon Center For Leadership in Nairobi. I was also a Parliamentary candidate for Machakos in the 2007 general elections.

I hold a Ph.D in social work from University of North Texas, and I have lectured at Howard Payne University; University of Central Texas; Texas Technological Institute at Sweetwater; and Abilene Christian University. I am also the author of the first and second editions of Solomon on Leadership.

Why do you want to run for presidency?

Answer: Kenya is facing myriad challenges, among them, international drug trafficking, endemic corruption and extra judicial killings. We are on the verge of collapse, largely caused by tribal differences and alliances.

How far does the culture of corruption go in Kenya? Is it perpetrated by political bigwigs, government officials or citizens? Kenya deserves a president with an understanding of both domestic and international cultures; one who can articulately address and confront the difficulties Kenya goes through.

I bring many years of entrepreneurial experience from industrialised west: leadership and integrity. I will not promise what I cannot deliver.

What is your vision for Kenya?

Answer: It is true that Kenya is changing, but the changes are painfully slow. I envision a Kenya with good highways, clean water, electricity for all, and respect for human rights. I see Kenya as a strong contender in the global market. I also envisage Kenya with dual citizenship, which will expand and accelerate resource transfer from the Diaspora to Kenya.

As President, I will champion repatriation initiatives to “hybrid” leadership in private sector and government.

I will champion the rights of minorities such as the Ogiek, and protect their right to a legacy, for they form a key thread in Kenya’s socio-cultural fabric.

How would your experiences in the United States of America help you develop an efficient government system?

Answer: Having lived in America for more than three decades, I have networks through religious affiliations, business entrepreneurs, foundations, educators, industries and American policy makers who influence international investors toward developing nations such as Kenya.

I strongly support independence of the three arms of government- parliamentary, judicial and executive. I would ensure that each enjoys real autonomy, anchored in the constitution of Kenya, for the service of Kenyans.

What lessons did you carry from the 2007 elections, from nominations through the general?

Answer: The 2007 election was flawed, unethical, vicious and evil. The vices were pushed by all political parties that participated. The nation suffered because of questionable presidential poll results. It has left us with physical, economic, psychological and political scars. It is my hope that future elections shall be better.

What is your take on environmental degradation, particularly with regard to the goings on in the Mau?

Answer: UN statistics estimate that every 20 seconds a child dies in a third world country because of poor sanitary conditions and unsafe drinking water, making the toll more than 1.5 million children per year.

In Kenya 1.5 million children are predicted to die of starvation during the fiscal year 2009-2010. A United Nations report says 443 million children miss school every day because of illness related to sanitation and unsafe drinking water. A 2006 World Health Organization/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation indicates that 62 percent of people in developing nations of Africa have no access to basic sanitation.

Therefore I am in agreement with the eviction of the Mau forest settlers by the Coalition Government of Kenya.

Besides yourself, who among the 2012 presidential contenders have earned your respect?

Answer: I have little knowledge of any of the presidential candidates for 2012, with the exception of the members of 10th Parliament, whose presidential candidates deserve not to be elected president.

What is your view of tribal alliances formed particularly to win an election (balkanisation), especially the KKK – Kamba, Kikuyu, Kalenjin Coalition- that is positioning for 2012?

Answer: As I stated in the beginning, I have no desire, as a candidate and citizen of Kenya, to endorse any specific members of tribal groupings, with calculated agendas for winning a presidential election. That being said, KKK does not represent the interests of Kenyans. This is not leadership.

Who should take blame for the 2007 vote irregularity, Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), or seating President; and how can the possibility of similar mess in future be fixed?

Answer: ECK leadership failed. Serious allegations of irregularities were reported on both sides of the political divide. Man made errors could have been eliminated. Computerization could have solved the problems and increased accuracy of the casted votes. In addition, major political parties – Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), Party of National Unity (PNU) and Orange Democratic Movement – Kenya (ODM-K)- were responsible for the collapse of the ECK.

The electoral commission should be an independent entity. The commission should not be serving at the pleasure of the president.

The constitution must be amended to remove powers of the president over the electoral commission. Citizens need civic education so as not to be bribed by political candidates.

How do you take the chance that you could be the popular political candidate and be short-changed by your own party?

Answer: I will run on my own party ticket and ask the people of Kenya to vote me the fourth president. I know with an empowered population, nobody will be left behind and no family will ever go hungry.

The nation of Kenya is blessed with much diversity of history and culture. Tribalism, just like racism in the west, creates barriers. I urge Kenyans to vote for God-fearing men and women with demonstrable integrity and honor, who represent the best interest and will of the people. For the last several decades, I have been convinced that societal change happens, one person at a time. Together, we will find new ways to prosper in unprecedented manner.

Source-www.eafricainfocus.com

The late Cucu Damaris

Following the death of Cucu Damaris, Mrs. Juliet Thugge and her family would like to thank all Kenyans and well wishers who mourned with them during the difficult time and contributed generously  towards Cucu’s funeral arrangements. May the Lord truly bless you and remember you in a special way.

The body of Cucu left Stockholm on Tuesday 18th January and arrives in Kenya today, Wednesday the 20th.  Mrs. Juliet Thugge traveled to Nairobi  on 18th to take part in the final preparations in Kenya. The date of the burial has not yet been set.

Best regards,
George

Chips funga girl on a treat in Nairobi

Blame Attention on “Culture Shock”; Stockholm is Not Nairobi

The charming, elegant and physically appetizing Kipepeo has caused emotional bruises, cold sweat and dripping of tears as men of all status strive to woo her. Many have realized the game is not only exhausting but also time wasting with the process being a driller of holes in the wallet.

Many, as per the story, may have used huge sums on Kipepeo to try and catch her.  What these dudes don’t know is that this could just be meager compared to what the chick enjoyed at home. In fact, the slippery nickname of Butterfly (Kipepeo) she has earned in Kenya-Stockholm can only be blamed on culture shock.

The reality is that a true Nairobian like her with her kind of charm must have won a lot of attention from Nairobi dudes who are ever ready to please such cute chicks with un-ending pumping of luxurious presents and treats. This is a trend among these Nairobian dudes and many of them do it for company, not with any ill intentions.

Most chicks who attend rave joints in Nairobi must attest to the fact that clubbing dudes are ever so generous to entice chicks to join their tables and just say un-touched farewell after clubbing. The ‘serious’ ones, especially the married and monied class, go to an extent of purchasing cars and houses for the so called cool chicks.

Kipepeo might have expected this kind of treatment or better options, considering that she was in ‘majuu’ as ulaya is commonly referred to here. It was therefore shocking, disappointing and, may be, annoying when she was confronted  with a different set up and understanding.

To her, it’s just normal to be treated nicely with no intention of being taken home for ‘dinner’ or any serious stuff for that matter. If you just used a few kronas on her and felt betrayed – mmmhh, loosen your wallet and welcome to the world of nice guys.

The worst part is, by the time this cute sister realizes that majuu life is kabisa different, the line between serious dudes and players will be thin so she better wake up and smell the coffee! And nature has it that the bad guys always win and this could get her into a ‘chips funga’ situation.

For those in Stockie who are not familiar with the term “chips funga”, it’s that cheap chick/guy you pick somewhere just for one night ‘dinner’ and then `lenga’ their calls if they ever try to contact you. It’s just that simple. You get a ‘chips funga’, munch, enjoy and discard the wrappings.

Chips funga girl or dude could look pricey but could also bite like a cobra if over pleasured so you have to be careful and ensure that he or she keeps her distance after the meal is over and the evening is gone! In any case, who ever goes after the wrapping paper when the goodies have been taken or enjoyed? Kipepeo needs to tread carefully because Stockholm is not Nairobi.

Shiku Steve

It is easy to overlook children, assuming that they aren’t old enough to do much for the Lord. But a young man played an important part in protecting Paul’s life-Acts 23: 16-22. God can use anyone, of any age, who is willing to yield to him. Jesus made it clear that children are important. Give children the importance God gives them. Matthew 18:2-6. Friends of Pamela Karimi and Moses Kibe are humbled to invite you all who would like to come and fellowship with us in welcoming baby, Faith Makena.

Matthew 18:6 “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea”. Children are trusting by nature. They trust adults, and through that trust their capacity to trust god grows. God holds parents and other adults who influence young children accountable for how they affect these little ones’ ability to trust. Jesus warned that anyone who turns little children away from faith will receive severe punishment.

The party is on 30th January and starts at 15.00 PM at Idunsväg 10, Norsborg(T-banan).
For more info. Pamela& Moses 0736916921; Muirani 0736779031.

God bless you all and come and we celebrate Jesus.

On behalf of friends of Pamela & Moses.

Bro. Muirani.

Young kids being blessed by Pastor Karanja last year: Pictures by Keegan Kagwe

A Kenyan baby is needed for the project described below. In case you have a child who can participate or you know someone with a child who fits the description, get in touch with KSB at 0736533068. You can also send mail at makosewe@gmail.com or directlty to Marja who is in charge of the Project. Her email is: mklingstrom@gmail.com

++++++++++++++++++ oo +++++++++++++++++

I work for the production company, B-Reel Film AB, and we are planning to make a campaign for “Save the Children”. We need babies from around the world for the film. What we lack now is a little baby from East Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Somalia, Kenya, etc.) who should be in the age group of 3-15 weeks.

The project is also about Save the Children’s new campaign titled “Life’s Lottery”. It will be shown on the Save the Children’s web site during spring and summer of 2010. The campaign is intended to portray the important work that the organization does around the world and, hopefully, get more people to get involved in Save the Children activites and donate more money.

Filming is next week (any day between January 25 to January 29) and will take about 3-4 hours in Stockholm, probably in Södermalm. The child will be filmed while dressed in fabrics and clothing typical of the country / continent he/she is supposed to represent. In one scene, the child may be in, perhaps, a small cradle while in another scene perhaps only on a blanket or cushion to portray vulnerability in which many children who need help are born. Naturally, the parents will be present during the entire filming process. An allowance of 999 SEK will be paid to parents.

I hope you know someone or can tell others about this campaign so that we can find a baby that can help next week (ie week 4). Thanks and let me hear from you.

Marja
B-Reel Film AB

Ndugu Mwandawiro Mghanga

The Parliamentary Select Committee on constitution has far exceeded its mandate. It is mandated to discuss about the contentious issues in the harmonised draft but instead it has decided to rewrite the draft and messing up an otherwise good draft. Its proposal to remove chapter five from the harmonised draft constitution is regrettable, to say the least. I suspect this decision is brought about by lack of understanding and appreciation of the meaning of culture, especially in the context of national freedom, values and development.

As rightly put by the draft, culture is the foundation of our nation, Kenya. Kenya is composed of a diversity of ethnic groups, languages, religions, customs, geographical locations and ways of lifes -which is culture. Culture is all that has been created and continues to be created by human beings as distinguished from that human beings find in nature. It is about life and society, history on earth. All human activities that manifest their conscious existence on earth is culture. This means that in the process of producing their material needs, people create and recreate culture.

In other words, in the struggle for survival, freedom and development, which is in fact increasing ability to make a living from nature, human beings are ever engaged in the activities of producing and reproducing material culture. And while producing material culture they, simultaneously, produce intellectual culture. Intellectual culture is the manifestation of peoples’ consciousness in nature and society. It is the historical achievements of people in science, education, literature and art. It is about the morals, customs, philosophy, beliefs, values and relations of the people concerned. Intellectual culture is also embodied and expressed by language that also contains and manifests the psychology of a people. It is for this reason that the draft constitution seeks to conserve and develop Kiswahili as our national language and the languages of our various ethnic groups.

Culture can therefore be summarised as the sum total of material and intellectual achievements of a society constituting its traditions and level of civilization that forms the basis for further development and progress. All Kenyan ethnic groups have, over time, created their material and intellectual culture to a lesser or greater degree respectively, depending on the historical, environmental, geographical and other material conditions that exist at a particular place and time. That is why all ethnic groups have always had something to contribute to Kenya’s national culture while assimilating the cultures of others into their own. It is also for the same reason that we should be proud of and celebrate our ethnic and cultural diversity.

Perhaps the recent post election violence may have influenced the MPs in Naivasha to remove the chapter on culture that celebrates the diversity of Kenya’s ethnic groups, languages and cultures. Some people conclude and suggest that doing away with our ethnic identities, cultures and languages and, instead, adopting the use of only Kiswahili and English will end tribalism.

During the national census there were attempts to misadvise Kenyans to avoid answering the question about their ethnic identity. In other words, Kenyan ethnic diversity is seen as a curse rather than a blessing and is even blamed for the post-election violence. Yet the fact is that there is nothing wrong with a person’s ethnic identity. On the contrary, it is not only inevitable but also desirable. What we should fight against is negative ethnicity – ethnic chauvinism – that destroys our common nationhood, humanity, democracy and peace by making us hate, despise, exploit, oppress and discriminate against other ethnic groups.

The truth of the matter is that negative ethnicity has always been used by the elites of Kenya since the time of colonialism to perpetuate themselves in power. Just before, during and after national elections, the political and economic elites of the various ethnic groups deliberately provoke negative ethnic feelings and even organise and sponsor violence against other ethnic groups in order to propel and maintain themselves to elective positions.
They do this by pretending to be champions of the political, economic, cultural, land and land resources interests of their ethnic groups, districts or provinces that are purportedly violated by the members of other ethnic groups. And since it is the ideas of those in power that dominate in a given society at a given time and place, ordinary citizens also imbue and even embrace the ideology of tribalism.

Our ethnic and cultural diversity has never been the cause of tribalism. It is the underdevelopment and myriad of injustices and social problems created by the current political and economic system that is to blame. Chapter Five of the harmonised draft should, therefore, remain to conserve culture and cultural diversity that forms the foundation of our Kenya.

Mwandawiro Mghanga, Nairobi Thursday, 21 January 2010

UPDATE: KSB would like to report that the lady has found a suitable candidate out of a list of contacts and this position is no longer available. She has called KSB and reported that the vacancy is now filled. We take this opportunity to thank everybody who responded and wish them well.

A Kenyan lady is looking for a baby-sitter to be engaged on a long term contract. Interested candidates will negotiate the terms and conditions with the lady who is kind, jolly and very organized. Get in touch with KSB (via telephone or email) for a link with the lady.

Okoth Osewe

African origin of the concept of Ambulance; If you think you are swimming in problems, wait…

Despite progress in Kenya's democratization process, millions of Kenyans are starving to death

There is no doubt that Miguna Miguna’s Canadian-Kenyan citizenship has plunged him into a serious political crisis and opened him to attacks from left, right and center. Given his circumstances, it was fool-hardy for Miguna Miguna to have abandoned his Kenyan citizenship, assumed Canadian citizenship, proceeded to Kenya to illegally acquire a Kenyan Passport and stand for election on the platform of an illegal dual citizenship.

After losing election, it was equally uninspiring for Miguna to have proceeded to assume high political office expecting to get away with the illegal act of acquiring dual citizenship simply because he was serving in the Office of Prime Minister, Hon Raila Odinga. Miguna’s critics are right in questioning his credentials as a defender of the Constitution which he has already violated without recourse.

Miguna’s problems have further been exacerbated by what is perceived by his critics as “sheer arrogance” in his dealings with people and an unwelcome assumption of a “higher moral ground” from where he has supposedly been pontificating and attacking “political opportunists” whom he has allegedly accused of “betraying the struggle”. It is against this background that I wish to respond to Wafula Buke’s onslaught on Miguna Miguna titled “Miguna Miguna, while you were away…” published in the East African Standard (Sunday, January 24, 2010).

The likes of Wafula Buke, former graduates of Nyayo House torture chambers, former detainees, former political prisoners currently inside or outside government, the fraternity of former Kenyan political exiles (at home and in foreign bases) together with numerous unsung heroes/heroines (dead or alive) of the struggle for democracy and human rights in Kenya over the past decades deserve sincere recognition for their invaluable contribution to the struggle in Kenya. There is no way of compensating these patriots for the enormous human sacrifices they made so that Kenya could be where it is today. Regardless of their current stations in life, to undermine their contribution to the struggle is unacceptable and politically suicidal.

Equally prominent in the list are millions of resilient people of Kenya – workers, peasants, students and, most importantly, the youth without whose contribution “in the theatre of war”, the struggle against the one party dictatorship under the authoritarian regime of former President Daniel arap Moi could not have been won. It is the Kenyan youth who took to the streets to pay with their lives for Kenya to become a multi-party state at the height of the Saba Saba uprising.

Back in exile, I cannot count the number of demonstrations we held outside the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm and Statements we released as part of the contribution for change in Kenya. Throughout the 90s, President Moi could not travel to Sweden because of threats of being followed by Kenyans here to remind him about human rights violations, theft of public funds through corruption, political assassinations, ruling by the mafia, extra-judicial executions and a host of other vices. We organized specific demonstrations to demand for the release of the likes of Koigi wa Wamwere and other political prisoners and the repeal of section 2A of the Kenyan Constitution so that Kenya could become a multi-party State. In our struggles, we viewed ourselves, not just as Kenyan exiles but also as part of the protracted political struggle in Kenya.

Whether or not they are in exile, the contribution of Kenyans abroad to the struggle for a better Kenya cannot be rubbished simply because one Miguna Miguna has found himself on the wrong side of the law. Through his writing, and until his gaffe, Miguna made very significant contributions to the struggle in Kenya. It has to be appreciated that writing is part and parcel of the revolutionary struggle regardless of one’s location.

In as much as it was wrong for Miguna Miguna to have assumed that every Comrade active during the anti-Moi struggle has metamorphosized into an opportunist, one does not have to be in Kenya to make contributions to the struggle otherwise the late Ayatollah Khomeini could not have surfaced from exile in Paris, France to assume power following the historic Iranian revolution in 1979. The African National Congress leadership was, for a long time, based abroad as Mandela and others languished in prison.

Eritrea is the newest State in Africa but during the country’s 30 year secessionist guerilla war, the financial support and political leadership of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front was based abroad with a history of having been founded in Cairo, Egypt. Dalai Lama is leading a struggle for greater autonomy for Tibet from exile. The late PLO leader, Yasar Arafat, led the Palestinian struggle from exile, time when he was also called a terrorist by agents of Western imperialism. The leadership of Hezbollah has operated from exile since its founding in the early 80s.

The Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) still operates from exile despite the capture in Kenya of its leader, Abdullah Ochalan by the Turkish regime assisted by the CIA. Examples in which serious political work has been done from outside the country abound.  To assume that the struggle can only be waged when one’s foot is in Kenya is simplistic and ignores both documented experience and changing dynamics of political struggles across the world.

What happened after re-introduction of political pluralism?
Instead of exploiting the unfortunate “Miguna tragedy” to undermine contributions made by Kenyans abroad in the struggle for our country’s emancipation, serious questions need to be asked as to what happened because despite the enormous gains in Kenya’s liberation struggle by way of re-introduction of political pluralism and the defeat of the Moi/KANU dictatorship, millions of Kenyans are facing starvation.

The installation of the Coalition government led by former detainees and political prisoners has not ended corruption, tribalism, mass unemployment, deplorable living standards, stagnant wages in the face of rising inflation, collapsed social infrastructure, land grabbing by the rich, internal exploitation, external dependencies, nepotism, cronyism and other massive failures only identical with the vanquished Moi dictatorship. In his analysis, Miguna’s limitation is that he has not been clarifying why despite the enormous democratic gains in the last two decades, many Kenyans cannot put food on the table, send their children to school or have access to medical services because the public health care system has collapsed.

In the current dispensation, no Party is pointing out that the massive “delivery failure” after Moi’s defeat is intertwined with the failure to defeat capitalism, a system of government in which greed and wealth grabbing by the rich is an acceptable policy. In criticizing former Comrades and consequently drawing their wrath, Miguna’s fundamental oversight appears to have been his inability to point out the wanton ideological lethargy of these Comrades that has seen them retreat into NGO’s, set up ethnic/reformist parties when the country is ripe for revolution and their failure to attack capitalism, a blood-sucking system which needs to be overthrown.

After the Saba Saba uprising, political Parties were set up but they all practiced politics from the point of view of a rotten version of deformed capitalism, just like KANU. What is known about capitalism is that it is a rich man’s system of government that promotes corruption. It is a system designed to produce a few millionaires and millions of poor people. After the much celebrated democratic gains paid for with sweat and blood of thousands of Kenyans, isn’t it time to address the question of a failing political system managed by a minority class of wealth grabbers answerable to nobody but themselves?

Throughout the developed world, politics is about ideological competition but in our country, we remain stuck with ethnic politics, a weakness that has blocked the emergence of class politics at the electoral level and subsequently blocked workers (the producers of wealth) from participating in politics “which has been left to politicians”. Do our liberators lack perspective? Today, Kenya is probably the only country in the world without an Official opposition in Parliament and this condition has been accepted.

Our economy continues to be on the hands of Western multi-national companies and no Party is complaining or pointing out to the masses of the Kenyan people that this is a serious mistake that is hugely responsible for our problems. Almost all our distribution networks, the transport industry, telecommunication industry, key financial institutions (including insurance companies and major Banks), Nairobi Stock Exchange together with leading industries are either foreign controlled or on the hands of local capitalist sharks and their allies.

The country’s wealth is therefore being repatriated abroad with the government acting as a facilitator under a liberalized economic system of government where every profitable public property is on sale under the privatization program. This is why our people are languishing in poverty. Apparently, all established parties are not questioning this defective arrangement. Our politics is controlled by the United States and Britain so we are the leading exporters of flowers in the world presided over by a foreign controlled horticultural industry when our people are starving to death especially in Eastern and North Eastern Provinces because we cannot grow maize.

Despite his current difficult situation brought by his own political myopia, Miguna and others should not apologize for having fled the country to exile. Kenyans involved in Kenyan politics from their bases abroad must also defend their positions because they constitute a “Constituency” that can no longer be ignored in the country’s liberation struggle.

No one owns the struggle, the country has moved on and it needs contributions from everywhere as the struggle continues. Veterans of the struggle should not sit on their laurels or resort to blanket condemnation of contributors from outside the country because despite progress, the country is still under the York of neo-colonialism and imperialist domination. Miguna Miguna has made his mistakes but let us look at the wider picture, stop finger pointing and chest thumping and build a revolutionary Movement or Party that can give direction to millions of struggling Kenyans looking for a way out of the political, social and economic crisis.

Okoth Osewe

A hacker has gained access to Mrs. Jacinter Njoroge’s hotmail account and has sent a mail claiming that Jacinter is stuck in London. The mails are being sent to everybody in Jacinter’s address book while the hacker is requesting friends to send 3.000 British pounds to be refunded by Jacinter once she is out of trouble. The email reads as follows:

“Did you get my previous message ,I sent you an email some hours ago,I left for United Kingdom and i was robbed on my way to the hotel please can you learn me 3000 Pounds today i will return it as soon as i arrive.You can send it through Western Union with my information below

Receivers Name: Jacinta Njoroge-lahti
location/Address:35A Gloucester Road, London, United Kingdom. I will wait to get the Western Union senders details with the MTCN number.Please take this as urgent.

Thanks Auntie J”

This hacking technique is common and last year, Catherine, a Kenya-Stockholmer also fell victim. The hacker gains access to logs of an email address through “Phishing”, a technique in which the hacker mimics a web site or sends mail purportedly from a mail server admin asking for account password on ground that emails are in the process of being verified. The hacker warns that failure to provide details may result in an email account being closed in two weeks.

Jacinter would like to inform all Kenyans, friends and contacts that she is safe in Stockholm and not in any problem. She said that contacts should ignore the email. She is currently unable to access her email account because the hacker has changed the password. She is trying to sort out the problem.

Okoth Osewe

Following the death of Mr. Joseph Okulo’s (John Holiday) sister and niece in Kenya, the family is still in financial difficulties because of the double tragedy. The deceased have not been buried and under the circumstances, the family continues to maintain an “Open House” at Hörnsgatan 137 in Stockholm. The family has therefore appealed to friends, well wishers and sympathizers for help.

Contacts who cannot be able to attend the “Open House” can forward any assistance to Mr. Okulo’s account number at: SEB 52360 00 4417. The family regrets a small error on account number circulated last week. The error has now been corrected. Any assistance will highly be appreciated.

Okoth Osewe

Pro Al Faisal demo in Nairobi

It may be a matter of time before a new terrorist bomb explodes in Kenya especially in the city of Nairobi because extremist Islamic fundamentalists now have enough reasons to attack Kenya once again. Since 1998, Kenya has had two serious terrorist attacks “to teach the country a lesson” and now, we may be on the verge of experiencing another attack unless something dramatic happens. Why?

The Abdulla al Faisal fiasco has left Kenya very vulnerable especially after the government used its security forces to attack Jamia Mosque (the symbol of Islam in Nairobi) during a demonstration by Muslim youths to protest against the arrest and harassment of Al Faisal who arrived in the country incognito and quickly took over the face of “Muslim persecution” in Kenya by the government. His presence in the country was like a “wake up call” to Muslims that the government of Kenya hates them.

Al Faisal had not committed any known crime in Kenya at the time of his arrest and attempted deportation, save for the existence of his name on the US list of terror suspects. The number of Muslims who attended the pro-Al Faisal demo indicates that the Islamic Cleric had support of ordinary Muslims across the country regardless of what their leaders were saying. For Al Qaida, it is unlikely that the mistreatment of Al-Faisal at the hands of the Kenyan authorities will go unpunished and this is one reason why Kenyans ought to be bracing themselves for a vicious attack. It will be a sign of weakness on the part of Al Qaida if it cannot respond and send a clear message to the Kenyan government through a huge explosion that will send Kenyans running helter-skelter in Nairobi or elsewhere in a moment of shock.

Traditionally, Islamic militants rightfully view the Kenyan government as a puppet regime which takes orders from both Washington and London. Following the bloody US war of aggression in Iraq, Kenyan Muslims suspected of having links with terrorists became victims of repeated renditions to Guantanamo and today, some Muslim victims have not been repatriated to Kenya. Al Qaida has never punished Kenya for the renditions. Although Al Faisal passed unscathed through other African countries like Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Angola, Al Qaida (and Muslims alike) may interpret his nabbing in Kenya as the product of American/British influence thus the need to teach the Kenyan government a lesson one more time. Al Qaida is not known to send delegations to State House but to attack with bombs.

Our country is the headquarters of CIA, M16 and Mossad operations in East and Central Africa while in North Eastern Province, both American and British troops have unlimited access to vast and cordoned-off military zones where US/British soldiers can train at will and on a routine basis as they rape Kenyan women. American war ships are known to dock at the Port of Mombasa so that their troops can relieve tension with Kenyan women at the Coast. According to Osama bin Laden, the 1998 August 7 terrorist bomb which destroyed US Embassy in Kenya and in which more than 200 Kenyans perished was a punishment by Al Qaida for Kenya’s link with the United States. Osama has just sent an audio message to Obama to expect continued Al Qaida attacks and targeting Kenya, an American ally and basically, a sitting duck, could be a good start.

The terrorist bombing of Paradise Hotel in Mombasa in 2002 by members of Al Qaida was to punish the country for its links with the Israelis and the choice of Paradise Hotel was not accidental because it was being owned by an Israeli. Since the Nairobi and Paradise Hotel bomb blasts, there has been no further and serious punishment of Kenya because Al Qaida may have thought that the Kenyan government had learnt good lessons. Unfortunately, the government has continued to act provocatively and in a way that suggests that it never got the message. This is another reason why a terrorist attack on Kenyan soil is inevitable.

During the Al Faisal demo in Nairobi, reports indicated that five Muslims were shot dead by police. According to a statement released through revolutionmuslim.com (which has posted the first interview with Al Faisal since his arrival in Jamaica) the prayer of Al Qaida is that Allah bestow upon the slain Kenyan Muslims the honor of martyrs. Be that as it may, Al Qaida will, most likely, want to revenge their deaths and there is no better way of doing so than exploding a huge car bomb at Nairobi’s Central Business District to kill as many Kenyans as possible or sending a suicide bomber to blast one of the five star hotels to kill “Kafirs”.

Kenya is at the mercy of the terrorists
The mass arrest of Muslims in Nairobi in the name of “flushing out terrorists” was obviously a provocation of Muslims and an open invitation of Al Qaida to attack Kenya. The government arrested people indiscriminately and without evidence that they were terrorists. Majority of them were of Somali origin, the home of Al Shabbab. To fuel the fire, Professor George Saitoti, the Minister of Internal Security, claimed at a News conference that members of Al Shabbab, a terrorist group staging an armed resistance in Somalia, had not just infiltrated the Nairobi demo but had traveled all the way from Somalia to organize it.

This claim may anger Al Shabbab members and since majority of those who were arrested were of Somali origin, Al Shabbab may actually find it necessary to set up a real base in Kenya to give the government a real experience of what it feels like to have them in town. In an audio message circulated in the Internet, Al Shabbab’s leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, also known as Sheik Mukhtar Abdirahman Abu Zubeyr, has promised that his forces will, this time, enter Kenya and cause trouble.

The situation is worsened by the fact that the US State Department and experts alike continue to theorize that Al Qaida is regrouping in both Yemen and the Horn of Africa. Under the circumstances, it may be smart for Al Qaida to begin setting up a new base in Kenya as US anti-terrorist work begins to focus on Yemen and the Horn of Africa. In the eyes of Al Qaida, the “ill treatment” of Muslims in Kenya is reason to prompt better ways of dealing with Kenya and a terrorist attack could be a better signal of things to come.

It is notable that last week, Mr. Leon Edward Panetta, the Head of the CIA, made a clandestine four day visit to Kenya to meet with both Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki. According to media sources, the CIA boss had carried a message to the effect that Al Qaida was regrouping at the Horn of Africa while he is reported to have made recommendations on what needs to be done to curb Al Qaida infiltration in Kenya.

“The CIA boss wanted to ask the country’s leadership to be tougher on terrorism and especially al-Qaeda, who America believes are rebuilding fast in the Horn of Africa”, the East African Standard wrote. It continued: “This follows reports that al Qaeda fighters have begun arriving in Somalia to carry out war against states seen by Islamists to be supported by the West”.

For the terrorists, there may be no reason for treating the Kenyan government as a regime that may change its attitude towards Al Qaida and for this reason, it may be time for Kenya to pay through a well coordinated terrorist attack. The terrorists may decide to strike before June when sources say that President Barack Obama may travel to Kenya on his way to South Africa to open the World Cup. The period between now and June is therefore critical. Attacking when Obama is in the country could be the best propaganda coup for Al Qaida.

Sadly, there is absolutely nothing the Kenyan government will do to stop Al Qaida attacks in Kenya because the government does not have both the intelligence and capacity to stop Al Qaida. The terrorist Movement has defeated attempts by governments like Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan and even the United States from stopping their activities and if truth were to be told, Kenya has absolutely no chance even if the United States decides to help. At a time when various commentators are decrying the porousness of our boarders, any sensible observer will agree that the Coalition government will be helpless when Al Qaida decides to strike and this is why Kenyans should brace for an attack sooner rather than later.

The government’s Security intelligence could not even sniff that Al Faisal (a person on US List of terror suspects and who was moving around with his legal Passport) had slipped into the country when security was asleep so how will the Kibaki/Raila government be able to tell that terrorists have sneaked in with a deadly bomb?

To be honest, we are at the mercy of the terrorists and the best the country can do is to wait for the time they will strike and then deal with the casualties. The best preparation the government can make now is to equip hospitals (especially in Nairobi) and prepare paramedics for an emergency occasioned by a huge bomb blast somewhere in the middle of Nairobi city, the seat of Kenya government. The time is ticking…

Okoth Osewe

Place: Lilla Wien Bar & Restaurant
Time: 21.00-01.00
Date: 29-30/January/2010
Friday-Saturday
Address: Swedenborgsgatan 20
Pendeltåg: Stockholm Södra

Wafula Buke has published an unwarranted and unjustified broadside against the distinguished Miguna Miguna that cannot go unchallenged. Apart from green envy that reeks throughout Buke’s article, “Miguna, while you were away (The Standard, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010; Sunday Express, January 24-30, 2010; Weekly Citizen, January 25-31, 2010), the diatribe is replete with factual errors and misrepresentations. Clearly, Buke is enraged by something. But we will restrict this rebuttal to facts, which, obviously, Buke find very difficult to handle.

Buke accuses Miguna of three things: First, that in his recent articles on William Ruto and the KKK grouping, Miguna did not acknowledge that Buke was the chair of the Students Organization of Nairobi University (SONU) while Miguna was the Finance Secretary and that Buke was jailed for five years while Miguna and other student leaders were released after spending weeks in incommunicado detention in Nyayo House in 1987. Second, Buke asserts that those like Miguna who subsequently fled from Kenya, completed their studies and established themselves professionally abroad have no liberation credentials and deserve no recognition as they chose degrees rather than military training. And thirdly, that Miguna is an “opportunist” who returned from exile after the 2007 elections to take positions they are ill equipped and qualified for.

At the outset, it is imperative to mention that Buke is currently employed as a personal assistant to the agriculture minister, William Ruto. This fact ought to have been disclosed to readers so that they could place his diatribe against Miguna in proper perspective. As well, The Standard newspaper allowed itself to be used as the launching pad of an unfair personal attack on Miguna. Miguna’s articles that Buke purports to be responding to were published in The Star; not The Standard. Although Buke’s poisoned chalice was classified as “news analysis”, there was neither news nor analysis in that invective. Buke failed to pinpoint any specific article or portions that he had problems understanding.

Let’s start at the beginning. Miguna’s articles were not about Buke. So, he had no obligation to say anything about Buke. In November 1987, when Buke was a third-year BA student and chair of SONU; Miguna was a second-year BA student, finance secretary of SONU and managing editor of the students’ newspaper, Campus Mirror. After three weeks of incommunicado detention at Nyayo House, Miguna and four other student leaders were released from detention without charge because there was no evidence against them. They were, however, expelled from the University. Shortly thereafter, Miguna fled into exile where he successfully obtained three degrees; BA, LLB and LLM. Miguna became a barrister, solicitor and mediator in Canada where he practiced law for 14 years before returning to Kenya. Miguna also published three books, one in which be lionized Buke. Are these the kind of achievements Miguna should be ashamed of?

Court records disclose that unlike Miguna, Buke was tried, convicted and jailed based primarily on his “confession” to the “crimes” alleged. Was Miguna responsible for Buke’s confession and incarceration?

Buke claims that his girlfriend aborted five times when he was in jail. As sad as that sounds, why is Buke blaming Miguna and not Moi?

In November 1987, William Ruto was a first-year BSc student; three years behind Buke who had repeated twice by that time. Twenty three years later, Buke is one of the personal assistants to Ruto while Miguna is a special advisor to the Prime Minister of Kenya, a published author and a licensed lawyer both in Canada and in Kenya. Between the two former comrades, who should Kenyans be proud of?

When Buke was released from prison, he fled to Uganda, where he was, once again, jailed briefly for embellishing his story to the Ugandan authorities. After the Ugandans released him, he crossed into Tanzania, but only found Miguna’s trails there. Unable to convince the UNHRC to recognize him as a refugee, Buke returned to Kenya, crest-fallen and became a political-hand-for-hire by people like Cyrus Jirongo and William Ruto. Is Buke blaming Miguna for his failures? Is that why he is writhing with jealousy at what Miguna has achieved?

It is true Miguna has been prolific in his incisive political analysis on topical issues, which Buke cannot match. That’s not new for many of us who have known him since our student days. Buke knows that Miguna was the ideological and philosophical backbone of SONU during his time. That’s why he was elected the managing editor of the Campus Mirror. Unlike Buke who was a below-average student, Miguna was always the top of his class. No wonder he graduated with distinction with two of his three degrees. Unsurprisingly, Buke was readmitted to the University of Nairobi more than ten years ago but has been unable to complete his undergraduate studies. If he wants to blame someone for his failures, why not blame former president Moi?

My friend Google tells me that Miguna was the founding Coordinator of the Committee for Democracy in Kenya (CDK); a pro-democracy organization in Canada whose members included veteran liberation generals like Dr. Willy Mutunga, the late Dr. Odhiambo Mbai, Onyango Oloo and Adongo Ogony. We are also aware of the contributions the exiled ANC veterans like Govan Mbeki, Chris Hani and others made towards the liberation of South Africa. Is Buke saying our liberation was fought and won in our prisons?

Buke has very low opinion of thousands of Kenyans who risked everything to flee into exile to avoid persecution. He denigrates their contributions to the liberation struggle. However, apart from being a former prisoner and SONU leader, what exactly are Buke’s achievements? What significant contributions has he made to the struggle? Or are we to take it that being a jailbird is itself a contribution? Does Buke know what it takes for a political refugee to get three first-class degrees abroad?

Buke attempts to gloss over his perennial chumminess with retrogressive forces by claiming that while Miguna was away, he [Buke] adopted new strategies and built new alliances in order to defeat the Moi/Kanu dictatorship. The problem is that the Rutos, Jirongos and Kalonzo’s of this world that he has been associating with since coming from jail have never been involved in any initiative for genuine positive change in Kenya. It is possible, like his byline proclaims that Buke is a “perennial struggler.” A struggler for pennies from the deep-pockets of looters, maybe; but definitely not a struggler for not fundamental transformation of Kenya.

We are also curious about Buke’s views on and involvement in the recent unfair attacks on Miguna by PNU that he refers to approvingly to. Could it be that the envious Buke is so jealous about Miguna’s achievements that he would rather assist PNU in their evil schemes?

It is unfortunate that people who have nothing to offer except their failed lives have conveniently conspired with the enemies of change to attempt to undermine Miguna’s undiluted commitment for the liberation of Kenya. But they should know that Kenyans are very proud of Miguna’s past and present contributions. No amount of envy, jealousy or propaganda will change that. Lastly, Mr. Buke, even my three-year old daughter knows that Miguna returned to Kenya before the 2007 elections. The evidence is in your TV clips.

Ongoro Wamunga

The author a Nairobi based strategic planner, consultant and novelist. He was expelled from Kenyatta University during the same period as Miguna. wamungapaul@yahoo.com

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Sadness and mourning has once again gripped Kenya-Stockholm following the passing of Jane Nyakairo’s Sister in Law. Kenyans, friends and well wishers are invited to an “Open House” cum Prayer Meeting today, Friday 29th January to assist Nyakairo to travel to Kenya to attend the funeral. The address is Röntgenvägen 5, 10th Floor in Flemmingsberg. Further information can be obtained through: 0762105600.

KSB sends deep condolences to the family of Jane Nyakairo which has just been struck by tragedy. We hope that the family will have the courage to go through this difficult moment of great shock and sorrow.

Okoth Osewe

Makala ya Nguvu ya Hoja kwa KSB Jumapili Januari 31, 2009
na Ndugu Mwandawiro Mghanga

Ndugu Mwandawiro Mghanga

Sasa ya mno. Hatuwuwezi kuvumilia tena. Sharti serikali ya Rais Mwai Kibaki na Waziri Mkuu Raila Odinga iwajibike. Lazima tuelezwe kinagaubaga ni nani hasa ambaye ameiba pesa za kuhakikisha kuwa idadi kubwa ya watoto nchini wanapata fursa ya kupata elimu ya msingi na hata ya upili kupitia kwa mpango wa ruzuku maalumu inayotolewa na serikali. Sasa ruzuku hiyo imeibwa na mafisaa wa serikali wenyewe na hivi sasa maelfu ya watoto kote nchini wako katika hatari ya kukosa elimu.

Na hata wakipata elimu, itakuwa ni elimu bure maana hakuna fedha za kugharamia mahitaji ya elimu bora, hasa kwa watoto wa wananchi wengi ambao ni makabwela na mafukara. Kwani serikali za Wingereza na Marekani ambazo zinatoa fedha nyingi za kugharamia ruzuku ya elimu ya kuhakikisha kuwa kila mtoto ana fursa ya angalawa kuenda darasani zimeamua kusitisha kutoa misaada yao. Nami nakubaliana nao, wanawezaje kuendelea kutoa pesa ambazo hazifikii lengo lake na badala yake zinaibwa na watu serikalini ambao wanakua mamilionea kwa uporaji na ufisadi huu.

Umma wa Kenya unastahili kukasirika zaidi kuliko wafadhili. Kwanza ni makosa kwa serikali kuendelea kufanya mipango ya elimu inayotegemea kuendeshwa na wafadhili wa kigeni. Pili ni vibaya kwamba hadi sasa hakuna hatua yoyote ile iliyochukuliwa na serikali dhidi ya wale waliyoiba pesa hizi. Na tusiambiwe kwamba wezi hawa katika idara ya elimu na kwingineko hawajulikani. Polisi wapo; kitengo cha polisi cha uchunguzi wa uhalifu (CID) kipo; taasi ya huduma za ujasusi wa kitaifa (NIS) ipo; afisi ya mkuu wa sheria ipo; macho ya wananchi yapo; na hata tume ya kupambana dhidi ufisadi ipo – taasisi zote hizi haziwezi kushindwa kujua ni nani aliyeiba pesa za serikali. Je, pamoja na ukweli huu mbona serikali ya Kibaki na Raila inakataa kuwachukulia hatua wanaohusika?

Mbona inaendelea kuwalinda wezi na matapeli wakati raia wanaumia? Au ni kwa sababu watoto na wajukuu wao ambao wanasoma shule za kibinafsi hawana shida? Ina maana gani kuendelea kuwa na serikali ambayo imejaa ufisadi na wafisadi? Lazima Kibaki na Raila wawajibike mara moja, wala hatuwezi kukubali waendelee kujitia hamnazo na kupuuza maoni yetu.

Hatua iliyochukuliwa na serikali ya kutumia shilingi milioni arobaini kumahamisha Sheilk Abdullah al Faisal kutoka Kenya hadi Jamaica ni ya ujinga, utapeli na ya ufujaji wa pesa za umma. Wala si dhani inakusudiwa kulinda usalama wa kitaifa kuliko kujipendekeza kwa mabeberu wa kimataifa na kuhatarisha usalama wa nchi yetu kwa sababu ambazo hatujui. Si wezi kumuhukumu raia huyo wa Jamaica kwa kuwa tu tumeambiwa na mabeberu kuwa yuko kwa orodha ya magaidi. Orodha yenyewe imefanywa na nani na ina ukweli gani? Hatujaelezwa Faisal amefanya nini, lini na wapi ndipo akawekwa katika orodha ya watu hatari ulimwenguni? Na ikiwa ni gaidi hatari jinsi tunavyoambiwa, mbona yuko huru nchini kwao Jamaica na aliingia nchini kwetu kihalali na akafanya mambo yake hadharani bila kuvunja sheria za nchi yetu. Mbona serikali inataka kutufanya taifa la kuvunja haki za binadamu wanaotembelea nchi yetu. Mbona serikali hii inafanya mikakati ya usalama kutokana na uvumi unaoenezwa na wakolonimamboleo? Wageni wanaostahili kuchukuliwa hatua ni wale wanaonyemelea na kuingia nchini na kuishi bila kujitambulisha kwa serikali. Aidha, hakuna serikali au mtu yoyote mwema anaependelea ugaidi na magaidi.

Lakini kumpachika mtu jina la ugaidi bila ushahidi wowote na kumdhulumu bure ni kitendo ambacho hakiwezi kuvumiliwa na wale wenye busara na ustarabu. Katika hatua za kishenzi na uhange za kukabiliana na Faisal, ambazo zilizua zogo lililosababisha maafa, majeraha, uharibifu wa mali na watu kukamatwa na kufungwa, waliyofurahia ni nani? Ni al-Shababu ambao walifaidi kipropaganda kwa kutangazwa kwamba wana wafuasi Kenya na uwezo wa kusababisha na kuathiri mambo Nairobi. Kisha biashara ya utalii Kenya ikazidi kupata madhara kutokana na sera za kiusalama za kijinga za serikali ya Kibaki na Raila.

Nayo yanayofanya na wabunge Naivasha ni wazimu mtupu. Si ajabu kuwa wengi wa wabunge wanaoshughulikia urekebishaji wa katiba huko Naivasha ni watu ambao hawajashiriki katika harakati za kidemokrasi nchini tangu uhuru. Ni watu ambao walikuwa viongozi wa serikali ya imla na walichuma mabilioni kutokana na ufisadi, ukabila na uporaji wa mali ya umma uliyokuwa ukiendelea katia serikali za KANU za Kenyatta na Moi. Wengi wa wabunge wanaojitia kutuandikia katiba ni wale waliyorithi mali na mashamba ya wizi kutoka kwa baba zao na wanaoendelea na utamaduni wa ubakuaji. Na huku wachache waliyokuwa wazalendo jana wakiangalia na kukubali, wanyonyaji na wapinga maendeleo wanafanya kazi ya kuandika katiba ya kulinda na kuendeleza utamaduni wa imla, unyonyaji, uporaji na uvunjaji wa hali za binadamu. Wako tayari kutilia manani maoni ya mabeberu kuliko yale ya wananchi wa Kenya. Ni wasaliti.

Wala hakuna aliyewatuma Naivasha kutuandikia katiba. Kazi hii ilifanywa kitambo na wananchi wenyewe kitambo hadi kufikia kilele chake kwa kongamano za Bomazi na uainishaji na Kamati ya Wataalamu. Wamefanya kazi ambayo si yao na wakavuruga na kuharibu kilelelezo cha katiba. Badala ya mfumo wa urais uliyoko sasa wamependekeza mfumo wa urais wa kifalme.

Wameondoa haki halisi za binadamu, utamaduni wa kitaifa, tume ya ardhi, haki za jamii juu ya ardhi zao na mengi ya kulinda haki za wengi ambao ni mafukara. Kwa vile ni matajiri na wana wa waporaji wanahakikisha katiba italinda mali ya binafsi na kupinga mali ya umma. Wengine hata wamethubutu kupendekeza kuwa katiba inayoandikwa Naivasha ipitishwe bungeni na iwe katiba mpya ya kitaifa pasina kura zamaoni. Tupende tusipende. Lo, kumbe harakati urekebishaji katiba hazijakaribia kuisha!

Mwandawiro Mghanga, Barua pepe: mwandawiro2002(at)yahoo.com