Calling Mr. Njenga Gikanga
Could Mr. Njenga Gikanga get in touch with KSB as soon as possible. There is a confidential matter that has come to my attention and which needs to be forwarded to him for immediate action. It regards his property in Kenya. The last time I had contacts with Mr. Gikanga, he was living in Västerås. If you have information on how he can be reached, please get in touch as soon as possible because it is urgent.
Okoth Osewe
News: Picture Of The Moment Page
The “Picture Of The Moment Page” page has now been set up and is under development. CLICK HERE to have a look.
Okoth Osewe
KSB’s “Picture Of The Moment” Series To Be Set Up
As many Kenyans will probably admit, I have lots of pictures of Wakenya taken at different functions. 
Sometimes, I make a picture slide then post at KSB but many pictures still remain to be seen. Sometimes a Kenyan poses at a function and gives authority that the picture could be posted at KSB but then things do not work out and the snap ends up at KSB archive.
Further, there is no time to send pictures to every Mkenya via email and this is frustrating because I end up with many nice pictures whose owners have never seen. For this reason, KSB is setting up a page for the “Picture Of The Momemt” together with a similar link.
Through this arrangement, Kenyans will be able to download their pictures as they appear at KSB. On a long term, the pictures that appear at KSB will be collected in an album and made available because they belong to Wananchi.
There will be a strict selection of pictures and only those which pass scrutiny will be posted at KSB. Pictures deemed not portraying a good image of the person will not be published.
In case your picture appears and you want it pulled down, let me know immediately. Majority of pictures were taken at public functions but there is a lot of flexibility in their publication at the blog. Feel free to let me know if a specific picture makes you uncomfortable so that we can discuss the way forward.
There is a time when a Kenyan lady had cheated her Swedish husband that she was working overtime when she was at a Kenyan disco shaking stuff the whole night. Kenyans had cameras and pictures were being taken liberally.
When I zoomed on her and took a shot, she looked happy on the arms of a Kenyan bull. Seconds later, a friend updated her that the picture could find it’s way at the blog and it is at this time that she rushed back to me to make a humble request – that she had cheated her Swedish husband that she was going for “night shift” so that she could have good time with Wakenya and that the picture should not be published at KSB. I sympathized with her and called her to witness the picture being deleted.
I thought that this was the way to go for why should KSB pile up more problems on her matrimonial front when she had to sneak out like a teenager just to have fun? In the end, I appreciated her honesty and trust. Many of these kind of pictures could still be in the archive and so let us work together to create harmony at KSB during these difficult times of national reconciliation.
Okoth Osewe
Important Information To My Contacts
This is to inform all contacts that I have lost my mobile phone and my regular number “46736533068” is temporarily out of use. I have ordered a new SIM card with a similar number. In the meantime, I can be reached through my alternative numbers or via email. You can also try 0700362235.
Okoth Osewe
Kenya Birthday Parties, Invitations And Crisis
Hardly a week passes by without a birthday Party of a Kenyan child or grown up being thrown here or there in Stockholm. In the last 4-5 weeks, I have been invited to at least 4 birthday Parties while I have held one and invited friends. I have already been invited to two upcoming parties and it sounds cute.
At these parties, you get to meet Kenyans and know new ones while you also get an insight into the personal Network of the person throwing the party. Almost all birthday parties are normally “closed circuit” events and attendance is normally by invitation. The process of invitation can be complicated and extremely tricky because some times, a good party could quickly degenerate into a war zone with ballistic missiles being fired without warning.
Obviously, you want to invite all your good contacts at these parties while you hope for nothing short of a good time. A house party is not the place where you expect to see punches flying after a confrontation or even blood being spilled but sometimes it happens.
Another problem with invitations is that sometimes you inadvertently miss to invite a good friend and the miss becomes a liability because the friend begins to think that you have transferred him or her to your black book ie the book of enemies. You meet the friend and the talk is like “you organized a birthday party last time and you never even invited me”. You then begin to explain how you were stressed that week and how the miss has nothing to do with your friendship and blah blah blah.
Another scenario is where you invite someone and he or she doesn’t turn up and doesn’t send any apologies. It is your turn to make conclusions. It still depends. May be you threw an invitation just to test whether a disagreement you had the other day had been personalized and when the person doesn’t show up, you hurry up to transfer the name of the person into your black book or you put him or her “under observation list”. If you are religious, you forgive the person and continue to act according to the guidance of the Holy spirit.
I talked to a friend last Sato and he was telling me that in Stockholm siku hizi, the trend is like you invite me to your party and I don’t come then you wait until I invite you to my party then you “show my party the red card”. That is, you don’t come and you don’t call to make any apologies.
At that point, the game is at a draw. You then begin a “cold war” with the person ie you don’t take contact and begin to behave like he or she doesn’t exist because after all, the ka person doesn’t pay your rent and that kinda “hard talk”.
The same case applies to “Open houses”. You have one and I don’t come or send apologies then you wait until I have one. You don’t come and you don’t send apologies. It has become a tit for tat game or, in better terms, unalipa kisasi.
A MORE DIFFICULT SITUATION
But that is just the lighter part. Concerns are growing on how to deal with another emerging situation. You invite friends and they come then when the Party is at its climax, one of your guests gets a phone call from someone who was not invited and guess what?
The guest proceeds to invite the person, pandisaring vi deadly. Eti “we are really having a good time here and you are missing out big. Akina Osewe, Mberi, Susan, Marky, Man Nzoro, Man Keegan, Munala wa Munala, Sound of Blackness, the MAD Crew, Hamsini group wafariasi and everybody is here. You have to come now because the party is ending in the morning”. Haya!
The second class guest then makes quick transport arrangements and arrives at the Party, sometimes by taxi. As the host, you rush to welcome the new guest and although you recognize that the person had no invitation, you extend affection and invite him or her to join the party. However, you begin kukua na wasiwasi.
This is because you know too well that the kaguy does not agree with a close friend of yours who is present at the Party and you also know that the new guest is a “trouble maker” whom you had yourself excluded from the guest list because you didn’t want shida. The person has a history of ulevi and when zonked, the person has a tendency of getting into useless arguements with everybody, sometimes chokozaring guests with “we mshenzi kwenda huko” talk.
Once the new guest makes contact with the enemy at the Party, things begin to change. Matusi begins as “cool down…. cool down” appeals also begin to pour in. Then suddenly, a guest throws a very heavy matusi that prompts the uninvited guest to jump on the table, in the process, spilling everything in different directions.
“Mimi hamunijui… don’t play with me… who the hell do you think you are?… I can beat you right now” are the kind of hard stuff flying up and down with the voice boxes set to maximum frequency and tuned to clarity. Still standing on top of the glass table that cost you a fortune and where you relax with your tea, coffee or kanyawaji after work watching news on your plasma, the guy is holding a bottle of half-finished whisky on his right hand and waving it in the air, getting ready to strike at anybody. The bottle, that was just a few minutes ago a property you bought from the system to entertain visitors has been converted into a rungu. You begin to panic.
This is happening in your flat and with time, the whole place suddenly becomes a lethal battle ground. You can’t fix a resolution from the United Nations for peace keeping forces to be sent in because there is no time. You have to intervene personally with your limited muscle power.
You rush and get the new guest by the throat in a moment of trying to restore order but the shouting continues with new matusi being spewed without notice. The matusis are so big that they cannot even be published. You realize ya kwamba Kumedhuka.
The new guest is more powerful than you and breaks from your grip to get on a new and lethal attack. The guest who was tusid then adds more fuel into the fire by spilling a drink in the direction of the enemy and before you think about the next step, mangumi are already flying and some neighbors have began to surface to find out what is happening because there is a lot of commotion. It is past midnight and some guests decide to melt from the place to avoid getting into the statistics of “collateral damage”.
A powerful punch meant to flatten the opponent’s face could miss its target and land on your nose or mouth leaving you with a deformed nose or a big and long term mapengo. Getting artificial teeth from a Swedish dentist could be expensive at a time when some of your bills are threatening to get to Inkasso (debt collecting agency) so you dash to safety. After all, you will call Nani and find out how it went.
As the host who has entered into an abrupt crisis, you try to mobilize a small battalion of friends to help with peace-keeping but it is too late because someone has already called the police and blue lights are flashing outside your door. The birthday party has become a big mess and you begin to contemplate the kind of propaganda that will be spreading in Stockholm. You know Osewe was there and you quickly design a “damage control mechanism”. “Bwana Osewe, I know this thing has happened but please, don’t put it in the blog”, you make a kind request. Hi ni ungwana kweli?
Even if you have irreconcilable personal differences with another Kenyan, why use another Kenyan’s Party to settle scores? Don’t get me wrong. The party I threw last week-end ended well and the last guests left in a taxi. But in recent times, the above scenario has played itself in Stockholm on at least two separate occasions when guests were invited to house parties and blood was spilt.
It is not possible to have a community of Kenyans in Stockholm where everybody agrees with everybody but why not keep your differences away especially when a good friend has given you the honor of being at his or her place once in a while so that everybody can take a break and have fun? If you have to sort it out physically, why use your friend’s flat as a boxing ring?
Okoth Osewe
Kenya 2008 Grand Nyama Choma On July 26th At Fittja
This year’s “Kenya Grand Nyama Choma” is up and once again, the Kenyan Disco grou
p – ”Sound of Blackness” has risen to the occasion. As per the poster, the event takes place on Saturday the 26th of June at the traditional Fittja Beach and everybody has been invited.
Apart from the successful children’s BBQ that was organized by the Kenyan group, M.A.D (Making A Difference), the July 26th Chama Choma will be the first major Kenyan Nyama Choma this summer and probably the last this year unless new plans come up.
I haven’t received the pictures from the MAD BBQ but I hope to connect to the leadership next week and report on this very encouraging event. An agent told me that Paparazzi Keegan was there and I hope he will come in handy with the images. Back to Nyama choma.
On June 6th, Africa Renaissance, a new group in Stockholm, organized a Nyama choma at Fittja Beach which was well attended although the crowd was mixed up and one had to use a lens to trace Wakenya.
Akina Mwaura, Makan, Sundy, Caroline, Jane, Ross (from Uppsala), Marky, Man Opash, Trubadur, Odero and others were there but still, it was nothing compared to what Kenyans are used to.
The music was a cocktail of tunes to reflect the nationalities that were represented although Wakenya could not complain because they were well taken care of. I saw Wakenya dancing in circles to the rhythm of both Mugithi and Mayaka so…
What was missing was the typical Kenyan Party flavor reminiscent of traditional Nyama chomas during the summer and this too was not a misnomer because the thing was not meant to be typical Kenyan. Of cause, there are some Wananchi who later complained that Nyama choma had been hijacked although they could not explain whether Wakenya had patented the word “Nyama choma” which was used for mobilization.
Some Kenyans did not even know that the thing was not a pure Kenyan past-time and only noticed that something “was wrong” when they discovered that they could not put names on several faces they were bumping into at Fittja.
To admire the Kenyan nationalism, kuna ndugu moja who came to ask me why there were several “foreigners” at the Nyam chom. He thought that anything with the name “nyama choma” should be purely Kenyan. I enjoyed him that the strangers were not actually foreigners but Kenyans who were new in Sweden. He was a bachelor and when he spotted a Ugandan cutie shaking her stuff provocatively with the kilos packed in an extremely short trouser, he abandoned my explanations and zoomed in her direction. I don’t know what happened later.
The June 6th Nyama choma was an African treat although the idea may have been borrowed from the Kenya Fittja tradition. It is for this reason that the 26th July treat by Sound of Blackness may be interesting to Wakenya especially those who have been starved of a collective outdoor Kenyan activity.
Another angle is that many Kenyans could not attend the June 6th Nyam chom because it was organized on a busy day. It was a Friday and a Swedish national day while many students of Kenyan extraction were also graduating. Several student parties had been thrown here and there and this tended to split the Kenyan crowd in different directions.
Regardless of the circumstances and the politics, one certain thing is that this summer is not passing without a Kenya Nyama choma and kudos to Sound of Blackness.
Okoth Osewe
Why Nothing Will Happen To Kimunya After Grand Regency
There are Kenyans who genuinely believed that after Narc took over power in January 2003,
the new government would bring corruption to a permanent end. Others believed that thieves who had stolen from the tax payer during the Moi dictatorship like Professor George Saitoti, Kamlesh Pattni, Daniel arap Moi and his sons, Nicholas Biwott and others would be brought to face justice and possibly chained behind bars for ever if found guilty. What happened?
Saitoti was made the Education Minister by Kibaki and now, he is the Internal Security Minister in the Grand Coalition after he rigged himself back to Parliament by stealing votes at his Kajiado constituency.
Moi has been roaming the streets a free man after he stole more than US$ 3 billion from the toiling Kenyan tax payer. While voters did their part by keeping three corrupt sons of Moi out of Parliament, Kibaki didn’t. Instead of investigating Moi, he allowed the former dictator to campaign for him during the last elections which Kibaki rigged to return to power.
Kamlesh Pattni is a free man after millions were spent in a Commission of Inquiry to investigate him for stealing billions of Kenyan shillings belonging to the tax payer. The Report of the Goldenberg commission is still gathering dust on the shelves, not to mention that at one point, Kenyans woke up in the morning to read about corruption scandals involving members of the Commission itself.
Nicholas Biwott, who was Moi’s right hand man for decades and who was once described as “untouchable” is still “untouchable” today despite a pile of evidence about his corrupt dealings when he pulled the strings as a member of Moi’s kitchen cabinet. Biwott was not just corrupt. He still remains a suspect in the Ouko murder case but nothing has happened to him.
The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission set up by Kibaki has not prosecuted a single thief although its boss, Aron Ringera, is earning a monthly salary of Ksh 2 million.
Chris Murungaru resigned from his Cabinet position in Kibaki’s government because he was tainted with corruption beyond “acceptable levels” but nothing happened to him. The same case applies to David Mwiraria, former Finance Minister in Kibaki’s government who resigned in the heat of the Anglo-leasing type corruption scandals that awoke Kenyans from their stupor and convinced the nation that the monster of corruption was far from being tamed. Kiraitu Murungi resined together with his pal Mwiraria but today, he is a Cabinet Minister appointed by Kibaki.
Moody Awori, former Vice president in Kibaki’s government, was heavily tainted with corruption especially the Anglo-leasing scandal but he served his term until he was thrown out by voters so what will happen to Kimunya?
Scandal after scandal followed Kibaki´s government but no one ever went to prison – the Helicopter scandal, the Naval ship scandal, the 18 Anglo-leasing type scandals that were exposed by Githongo, the Kirinyaga Construction company scandal, the Ksh 2.4 billion Cowboy contractor scandal together with numerous mini and mega scandals that were well documented by concerned groups, government agencies, Commissions of Inquiries, Parliamentary Committees, Media reports and International organizations.
A common denominator in all the major corruption scandals that came to light during the first five years of the Kibaki dictatorship is that no action was taken and victims are either serving in today’s Grand coalition government or walking free so what was going to stop Kimunya from trying his hand on corruption since he had the opportunity as Finance minister?
FREE-MARKET SYSTEMS ARE PRONE TO CORRUPTION
In the latest Grand Regency scandal, only the most naïve Kenyan believes that Kimunya acted alone. There is no way he could have pulled such a deal single handedly and one does not need to go far to find out who else might have been involved.
President Mwai Kibaki travelled to Libya to discuss the deal with the Libyan government and what does this tell the curious observer? The Hotel was under the custody of the Central Bank of Kenya so the Boss of the Bank must have been involved otherwise how did it change hands? The Intelligence boss has been named as an accomplice while a law firm connected to the Minister of Foreign Affairs has been cited as having been part of the team which sealed the deal so Kimunya is not alone. The agenda was to raise funds for PNU election campaign. Despite these details, nothing dramatic has happened to those connected why?
Corruption is built within the system of capitalism that exists in Kenya and until this point is clearly understood, illusions will continue to exist among the masses of the Kenyan people that it is possible for pro-market capitalist ruling classes to one day set up a government that will be able to fight corruption. The Grand Regency scandal is a manifestation of a general rot within the system which also allows MPs to legally steal millions of Kenyan shillings in salaries when millions of Kenyans cannot put food on the table.
Under the system, politics is business, not a preoccupation aimed at transforming society to the better and politicians view their positions as opportunities of building personal business empires and acquiring colossal amounts of wealth at the expense of the tax payer. Corruption comes about because the process of wealth acquisition through public office does not include following the accepted rules of getting rich within the framework of capitalism – buying and selling at a profit.
A Cabinet Minister like Kimunya has multiple opportunities of stealing from the public so he does not need to go through the process of “doing business” to get super rich. What he needs is a chain of state bureaucrats who can agree to a corrupt deal with kick backs flying at each and every stage of the corrupt deal thus Kimunya needed the cooperation of the Central Bank boss because Grand Regency was under his control. A go ahead from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was key because the deal involved another foreign power. Most importantly, such a deal could not have proceeded without the knowledge of the President who travelled to Libya to discuss it. Some buddies of the President have been named in the media as having tied the deal together.
What the Grand Coalition has done is that it has made it much more difficult for certain corruption scandals to go through because of political competition within the same government and this is progressive.
According to the theory of corruption under capitalism, ODM (a pro-market Party) would find itself facing numerous corruption scandals if it took over all the major instruments of state power regardless of who is the president. There is no single country in the world running on a free market system of government that is known to be free from corruption in high places and Kenya is no exception.
STEPS TOWARDS FIGHTING CORRUPTION
Kimunya has resigned but nothing will happen to him because even after resignation, he has a duty to protect his colleagues still in government. These colleagues (including the President) are the people who are in charge of instruments of State power. Even if Kibaki is involved in the scandal, he will not resign simply because Kimunya has resigned.
Those involved will not push Kimunya too far because of the risk of him exposing others who are still in hiding. These are the rules within the system and those who think that the culprits will be brought to book are unconscious about certain realities within the system. What happened to Mwiraria who resigned Kimunya style or Murungaru Chris?
If the government manages to reposes Grand Regency, that will be the greatest achievement. Commissions of Enquiries could be set up but Kenyans have seen them come and go without action, sometimes without even the Reports of these Commissions being made public. Reports of both the Sungu commission on the murder of Dr. Ouko that was set up by Kibaki and the Ndungu Land Commission have not yet been officially released to the Kenyan public.
An effective fight against corruption has to begin with a system that could reduce monthly theft of public funds through MPs salaries, life imprisonment of thieves like Kimunya and company caught red handed in the act and confiscation of property found to have been acquired through corruption. Resignations and Commission reports are time-buying events which alone will never fight corruption in Kenya.
Okoth Osewe
The Life And Times Of George Kinyua At Kenya Embassy
When Mr. George Kinyua arrived in Stockholm after Julius Mwandembo was recalle
d, Kenyans here did not know what to expect because Kinyua appeared a very quiet dude. Obviously, he must have been updated about problems in Stockholm with Wakenya and probably advised to take things easy.
Once he understood the Kenya-Stockholm terrain, Mr. Kinyua decided to employ a unique formula, not just to reach Wakenya but also to survive. As per tradition, Mwandembo, his predecessor, took him through the routines of introduction in Stockholm, Embassy staff filled in the gaps while he also began to make his own perceptions. When he eventually settled down for business, he went for the setting up of a Church in Stockholm which he would use as a base for inter-personal operations.
Kinyua linked up with Pastor Samson, a Kenyan, together with other Kenyans who believe in Jesus Christ as their personal savior like Jamlik Muritu to set up what became known as “Outreach Ministries” aka Bagarmossen Church.
It is still not clear why Mr. Kinyua did not join other established churches with Kenyan presence like St Klara Church although some Kenyans have theorized that the Kenyan or East African wing of St Klara Church was under the control of Pastor Beatrice Kamau who did not agree with the Embassy on several issues.
If Kinyua was to join St Klara, his membership could have complicated the situation for the Embassy because of the difficulty of reconciling his diplomatic duties with religious connections at a church where an anti-Embassy personality like Pastor Beatrice was the dominant force.
As he went about looking for ways of fitting in Stockholm, Kinyua discovered that there was a small grouping of Kenyan Christians who did not belong to the mainstream church groups but who were interested in setting up a Church of their own. Part of their isolation was that they either did not agree with the leaders of the existing groups or differed with their methods of preaching the gospel.
Apart from Pastor Beatrice who was leading St Klara Church, another Kenyan who was deeply in Church business was Elizabeth Nyaore who was running a church in Märsta. However, Kinyua decided to ignore Elizabeth to go for something pretty independent.
Within a short time, the Outreach Ministy began to expand and to spread its tentacles among Kenyan Wafarisai. It attracted the attention of a section of Kenyan Wafarisai as the new church embarked on an aggressive recruitment drive never witnessed in Stockholm before.
The new church gained the name “Bagarmossen church” because it was located at a venue at Bagarmossen centrum. Fresh Kenyan Christians who had never been seen before like Mr. Muraya soon surfaced at the church as other countrymen like Ole Ngais also joined in. Paparazzi Keegan Kaagwe found the sermons interesting and hooked up as did Kenyans like Lissa and Mary Mwangi, Naomi Mambui who all became members. By virtue of her husband’s job at the Embassy as First secretary, Mrs Catherine Kiboi became one of the most high profile Kenyans to join the new church. However, things were not all rosy.
PROBLEMS
The establishment of Bagarmossen church created some ripples because some members of St Klara and other churches began to defect to the new church which suddenly began to offer competition to St Klara church.
Key preachers at the new church were Kinyua, Pastor Samson and Brother Jamlik Muritu who mesmerized the crown with emotional sermons of different wave lengths. As news hit Stockholm that an Embassy official had set up a church in Stockholm, trouble began to surface.
Kinyua was not just preaching at Bagarmossen church. He was also attending the Church in his diplomatic car. Opponents of the government began to generate propaganda to the effect that government funds were being used by a Kenyan diplomat to prop up a Church at Bagarmossen.
There was no evidence to support the allegation but according to the propagandists, Kinyua had not just set up a church but was also using a government car to ferry potential candidates to the church to be recruited in a moment of halelujah. For critics, the question of a government car being used on a Sunday for a private mission amounted to misuse of public funds.
The appearance of Mr. Kinyua as a preacher at the Bagarmossen pulpit only lent credence to the perception that the setting up of the church was a well choreographed operation by the Kenyan Embassy to try and build a crowd it could rely on for support amid attacks from opposition elements that the government of the day was corrupt and needed to be overthrown. In deed, many Kenyans could not understand how a newly posted diplomat could suddenly decide to set up a church from nowhere.
As criticisms increased, Kinyua decided to change strategy. He stopped preaching at the pulpit but continued being a member of the church. Instead, Pastor Samson took a much more higher profile to appear as though he was the one in charge and not Kinyua.
As he was retreating from open preaching, Kinyua also began to attend Kenyan functions, probably to fight off charges that he was partisan and only attending functions of Bagarmossen Church members. The diplomat began to understand the petty politics in Stockholm and consequently, began to represent the Embassy at various functions and this new strategy paid off because perception of Kinyua also began to change.
Kinyua was posted at the Embassy during the “blog age” and whenever there was a crisis that required Embassy attention, he is the officer who was in charge of the heat. A tactic which worked is that he never shied away from answering phone calls. Even if it was clear that he was not giving any internal information, he tried to maintain a phone call as long as it took with long winding answers. In this way, he avoided ready charges that he was unavailable or did not want to take up questions during times of crisis.
TRANSFER TO CANADA
However, an event that led to the acceptance of Kinyua as a diplomat that was out to reach out to Wakenya was when Juliet Kavinga was murdered in Stockholm. A Committee was set up by Kenyans to oversee the Juliet case on behalf of Kenyans but what Kinyua did is that he made sure that the Embassy was deeply involved in the Kavinga case.
In the spirit of “opening the Embassy” Kinyua allowed the Kavinga committee to hold a meeting at the Board room at the Embassy, a new development that suggested that the Embassy was opening up to Wakenya. Kinyua also had with him a file the Embassy had opened in the Kavinga case and gave certain details of the case that helped the Kavinga committee to follow the case. To crown it all, Kinyua was the main speaker who represented the government during the Memorial service of Kavinga that was held at St Klara church.
Apart from the Kavinga case, Kinyua used to attend court cases involving Kenyans who landed on the wrong side of the law. This was important in fighting attacks that the Embassy was less concerned with Kenyans who were facing criminal charges.
The diplomat became so liberal that although he was a Christian, he used to attend Kenyan parties to articulate Embassy policy. The last party he attended was at Norsborg where Kesofo had called a “Unity Party”.
Things appeared to have been going on well for Kinyua then suddenly, KSB got news that he was facing a transfer to Canada on a promotion. This installment is long and will be continued.
Okoth Osewe
“Emerging Leadership Initiative” Boss In Stockholm
Mrs Connie Kivuti, Executive Director of the Kenyan based Emerging Leadership
Initiative (ELI) is in Stockholm and will meet Kenyans on Friday 11th July at an “Open House” at Upplands Väsby from 18.30.
Speaking to KSB on telephone, Connie said that she would like to introduce Kenyans in Stockholm to ELI’s activities with a view to establishing common areas of interest where Kenyans in Stockholm could work with her organization.
According to a brief statement outlining ELI’s mission, “Emerging Leadership Initiatives is a, non-profit making organization with a Mission of empowering and developing Africa’s emerging leaders through leadership development, entrepreneurial training, Vocational Skills and micro-funding for business start-ups”.
Eli’s vision is “An empowered community, equipped for the development of others” while its target group are mainly vulnerable youth and women.
“Women and Youth are Africa’s greatest asset and its numeric strength. However, they lack relevant skills for leadership and livelihood. They are also faced with an environment of increasing crime, violence, drug abuse, poverty and joblessness among other challenges such as being locked out of the decision making institutions”.
ELI’s target area is diverse and encompasses Killings, rapes, robberies, carjacking, drug abuse and drug-peddling in Nairobi’s Eastlands area, vices that Connie says, are so common that crime has become the order of the day.
PLAYING COPS AND ROBBERS:
“Eastland is in the larger Nairobi province, has a very high rate of unemployment especially among youth and, as a result, the crime rate is high as depicted recently in Dailies”.
Connie says in a statement that “This state of affairs has been highlighted in Newspaper articles titled ‘Dying Young in Eastlands’, and ‘Playing Cops and Robbers’ dated May 10th 2004 and December 4th 2005 respectively”.
She adds: “It is common knowledge that most criminals operating in Eastlands are aged between 15 and 25 years according to police reports”.
In her Stockholm meeting, Connie would like to get in contact with and invites all like minded individuals, leaders of different organizations and the Kenyan community in Sweden – Stockholm in order to share her vision of the community she works with. The following are the details of the meeting:
DTATE: Friday 11th July 2008.
TIME: 18.30.
ADDRESS: Hembygdsgåden, Hagvägen 2, Pukslagargatan.
LOCATION: Upplandsväsby (Surface train to Märsta). The venue is just next to the Train Station.
Further information can be obtained through Mr. Daniel Maura, Narck-Kenya Scandinavia Chairman, Tel: 0736694039.
Okoth Osewe
A Brief Look-Back At Kenya Embassy In Stockhom – Part One
When I took contact with the First secretary, Mr. Daniel Kottut to ask him to question authorities here why a non Kenyan was about to be deported to Kenya using a Kenyan passport, Kottut sounded scared about something I did not know. He could not even speak properly.
An agent later told me that there is a general belief among top Embassy staff that when I call, anything they say can be used at the blog. For this reason, they either become jittery or avoid my phones altogether.
This was not the case with Mr. Julius Mwandembo, James Kiboi or even George Kinyua, all former First secretaries. Mwandembo got a safe landing because he got a good introduction to Kenyans in Stockholm by Mr. Francis Mwongo, a security officer posing as a diplomat.
During his days, Mwongo was seen by Kenyans in Stockholm as the link between the Kenyan community and the Embassy. He was very social and despite his “security profile” many Kenyans accepted him at functions without any ugly scenes. In fact, only the more advanced layers of the Kenyan community knew that Mwongo was part of the Kenya external security apparatus.
Mwongo was very close to Mr. Clay Onyango in them days and when he was recalled to pave way for Mwandembo, he held his farewell party at Clay’s residence in Tensta. Although Mwandembo adopted quickly to his new environment and managed to penetrate even further into the Kenyan community, he did not inherit close contacts he had been introduced to by Mwongo. For this reason, both Clay and Mwandembo did not develop the kind of rapport Mwongo enjoyed with Clay.
Mwandembo chose to develop his own independent contacts, sometimes burning his fingers on the way but getting along anyway. Although Mwongo chose functions he attended carefully, Mwandembo had no such limitations and went almost everywhere.
At times, this demeanor landed him into problems with other Embassy staff members especially when some sensitive information about the Embassy was published in KUWA Bulletin which I was editing. He was always suspected “because he was the one who was always with Wakenya”, an Embassy contact once told me. Mwandembo was recalled and after some time, James Kiboi arrived.
The situation with Kiboi was a bit different. It is rumored that Kiboi was posted to Stockholm to get him away from Nairobi because after he finished his stint at the Somali Peace Talks, he had to be promoted and there was no immediate post for him at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He had already served as a diplomat in Ethiopia and if he had to be transferred to another Embassy, he needed to be promoted as an Ambassador.
The problem is that there was no immediate solution to his promotion so he was dumped in Stockholm as he awaited for the situation to develop. Mukiri Kinyanjui was the Ambassador in Stockholm and when Kiboi was posted here, it appears like he had some special powers because the Ambassador reportedly could not tell him what to do.
When he started mingling with Kenyans, he was allegedly warned by Embassy staff to be careful with Wakenya but he brushed aside the warning, arguing that he had dealt with tough Somalis who were shooting themselves and brought them to negotiate therefore there is no Kenyan he could not deal with regardless of their political affiliations. Kiboi was also tough because he knew that he had been posted to Stockholm to prevent his promotion in Nairobi so he did not listen very much to advice from Embassy staff including Ambassador Kinyanjui.
Kinyanjui took it very easy with him because he understood the complications. Kinyanjui came to grips with the frustrations Kiboi was undergoing and gave him a lot of space. In the cause of his work, Kiboi used to go to missions which were reserved for the Ambassador and Kinyua knows this. When they went to Eskilstuna one day with Kinyua to preside over a function in which KESFA (Kenya Swedish Friendship Association) was also involved, it is Kiboi who took center stage as Ambassador Kinyanjui cooled own.
Within a very short period after his arrival in Stockholm, Kiboi was already mobilizing a group of Kenyans in Denmark to try and organize them as a community, much like an Ambassador. At the Embassy, it is mainly the Ambassador who normally has the privilege of maintaining a gardener. But when Kiboi arrived in Stockholm, Njenga Muirani, the Ambassador’s gardener, had his duties extended to cover Kiboi’s residence which was, by then, too bushy that the neighbors began to complain.
When Ambassador Purity was posted to Stockholm, she sacked Njenga and later refused to pay him 10.000 kr for work the Kenyan did at Kiboi’s residence. Njenga was to be paid on a Monday but Kiboi died on a Sunday. Up to date, it is not known where Njenga’s money went because the Ambassador does not know.
Just like Mwandembo, Kiboi broke from tradition at the Embassy “ya kuogopa Wakenya” (fearing Kenyans) to mingle with anybody. To appreciate the seniority of Mr. Kiboi at the Embassy, he is the only diplomat (apart from the Ambassador) who was assigned a Benz car. At the time of his death in Norway, Kiboi had gained recognition among Wakenya here as a down to earth diplomat. Because of the power he wielded, Kiboi goes down in history as the only diplomat who was replaced by his wife (albeit in a different capacity) at the Embassy following his death.
Kiboi broke diplomatic rules at will to strengthen his relationship with Wakenya and when Narc-Kenya Scandinavia was being set up, Kiboi was the guy who led Beth Mugo and company to Mwaura’s residence in Alby to help set up the Party.
By accepting to be part of a political Party in Stockholm, Kiboi was breaking Kenya diplomatic etiquette that prevents diplomats from openly taking sides politically. Nobody knows what could have happened if he continued working at the Embassy because he died.
Then, Mr. George Kinyua entered the scene with a totally different design. In our next installment, we examine Kinyua’s strategy, the mystery surrounding his transfer and conclude with the dilemma facing Daniel Kottut who is increasingly becoming a prisoner at the Embassy.
Okoth Osewe
Kenya’s SDP Planning Branch In Sweden
The newly re-launched Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kenya is planning to build 
a branch in Sweden. Mr. Mwandawiro Mghanga, SDP Chairperson, is currently in Sweden to help co-ordinate the building of the Party branch and to establish political connections in the interest of SDP.
Discussions are underway with Kenyan political groups in Sweden and individuals with similar political orientations to explore ways of setting up the Party branch in Sweden and how to direct the anti-capitalist struggle in Kenya.
Mwandawiro is also the Chairperson of the Kenya-Cuba Friendship Association currently involved in the struggle for the release of five Cubans imprisoned in the United States on trumped up charges.
The SDP Party is very Socialist in its program and it is likely to attract Left-leaning Kenyans and other progressives looking for a way out of the capitalist crisis in Kenya.
Okoth Osewe
“Clay Fabricated Attack On KSB”, Says Petersson Murimi
Mr. Petersson Murimi, a Kenyan currently facing deportation to Kenya after being stripped of his Swedish citizenship, has told KSB that a story circulated in the Internet by Mr. Clay Onyango alleging that he has never taken contact with KSB about his situation was a forgery.
Mr. Petersson called KSB to find out why the blog site had suddenly gone silent on the story and why KSB stopped taking contact with him without explanations. Apart from helping bring his case to light, KSB has also been purchasing air time for Mr. Petersson to help him communicate after he made an appeal to KSB.
When he was reminded about the story and circumstances under which it was circulated, he said that he knew nothing about it and that Clay was trying to mess up his situation for reasons he didn’t know.
“Clay called me one day and told me that he was going to Italy. He wanted to know why I was giving you (Osewe) details of my case which you were using to attack the Embassy and I told him that it was only you who was helping me with the case”, he said.
“I was shocked to read in the Internet that I had written to Clay and that he had published a letter in my name. I don’t know where he got what he wrote”, Mr. Petersson told KSB. Asked why Clay would create a story of that magnitude and at a time when he was in deep trouble, Mr. Petersson said that Clay has always had bad motives with Kenyans while pretending to be good.
“Look at what he has done to me. He has allowed Milton Obote to attack me because of reasons I don’t know. Who is Milton Obote to want to know why I am facing this situation and why is Clay using him?”, he posed.
Mr. Petersson challenged Clay to produce the letter he purportedly wrote and added that Clay has been doing a lot of damage to his case using underground channels.
He wondered how a fellow Kenyan could make a story about him containing false allegations, sign his name and circulate it in the Internet at a time when he is fighting his deportation from Sweden. He also wondered why the attack was directed at the only Kenyan whom he was relying on for help. “I know Clay does not like you because you write the truth. But why should he try to make my situation worse using fitina?, he posed.
Mr. Petersson also wondered why Clay had stolen his picture from KSB and published it at his blog when it was KSB that he entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the copyright of the picture. “My understanding is that if I was dealing with Clay, I could have given him a different picture”, he said.
CLAY TESTIMONY AT GERRY MIDENYO CASE
“If I wanted to give the story to Clay, I could have done so. I left him out because I know him. Tell Clay to pull down my picture from his blog including the story because I am not part of his dirty games”, he said. Mr. Petersson used to be good friends with Clay but they fell out for some unknown reasons.
KSB has not been able to comment on the Petersson story since it surfaced because we have been investigating the case. What is not clear is why Clay has decided to use huge fabrications and outright lies to attack KSB and me in particular using the Petersson case and without any provocation.
Mr. Petersson promised to grant a comprehensive interview to KSB as soon as I return to Stockholm in a few days from an external assignment. According to Mr. Petersson who sounded angry and upset, Clay could be on the Embassy’s pay role because he could not understand how Clay developed the guts to falsify the story. Petersson said that if Clay wants to joke around with his case, he will expose him because he knows all the criminal activities Clay has been involved in.
When reminded that he could sue Clay for defamation, he said that there was no need as he was still in custody. “The best way to deal with Clay is to tell Kenyans the truth about him”, he told KSB.
“I cannot deny that Clay called me and he has been doing so to find out why I am dealing with KSB. But I am not part of the letter he wrote and this is what I can stand for”, he said.
He thanked KSB for stopping his deportation and hoped that a “Defence strategy” that was stalled after the Clay lies were circulated would proceed. To prove that he stood by the publicity at KSB, Mr. Petersson said that he is ready for a video interview so that Kenyans and others interested can know the truth about the matter. He appealed to Kenyans in Stockholm to support him and ignore the likes of Clay whom, he said, are only interested in increasing other peoples sufferings.
Mr. Clay is known to have testified in a case in which Mr. Gerry Midenyo, a Kenyan based in Stockholm, was sent to prison for allegedly assaulting a Tanzanian national at a Kenyan Party. Responding to a story published at KSB about the case, Clay said that it was his responsibility to testify if he witnessed a crime.
Gerry claimed that Clay had been paid to testify against him and continues to hold grudges against Clay. KSB may have to recall the Gerry files from Swedish authorities to establish the truth about Clay’s role in the case although this is not a priority at the moment.
With the new developments, the Clay-Petersson battle may have escalated in many unexpected ways and KSB may have to dig deeper to unearth why Clay has decided to help in bringing down Mr. Petersson at this critical time and why the blogger “is looking for trouble” from KSB when all that we are doing is to show solidarity with Mr. Petersson. In the meantime, KSB’s Defence forces are moving to the boarder to await for further instructions from the Commander in Chief.
Okoth Osewe
My Take On “Just A Woman” Comment
Johnny raised pertinent issues but ended up asking Osewe to: “take it easy with the Ambassador as she is just a woman trying to do her things”. What if the Ambassador was a man and the phrase reads like: “take it easy with the Ambassador as he is just a man trying to do his things.” Would it have raised eyebrows? What if we put the same phrase in Swahili to read: “Achana na Balozi. Yeye ni mama anayefanya kazi yake/vitu vyake” or “Nenda pole pole na Balozi. Yeye ni mwanamke anayefanya kazi yake”.
What many reads might not have noticed too was Johnny’s reference to the person holding the immigration docket at the embassy: “I think it’s some woman who came here recently.” He clearly has a gender slant towards women because he sees her more like “some woman” other than an officer assigned duties.
I think that Johnny is an old-fashioned African male who still belives that women are lower in gender ranking. He might not have consciously meant to demean the gender status of Ambassador Purity Muhindi within this context, because he even exonerates her from the disputed attempted deportation of a Kenyan in Stockholm. However, I think the “just a woman” phrase sounds yesteryears in today’s world of “feminism”.
I leave you with Led Zeppelin’s 1969 lyrics from “She’s Just a Woman” so that you figure out what it means.
Led Zeppelin: Living Loving Maid (She’s Just A Woman)
With a purple umbrella and a fifty cent hat,
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.
Missus cool rides out in her aged Cadillac.
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.
*Come on, babe on the round about, ride on the merry-go-round,
We all know what your name is, so you better lay your money down.
Alimony, alimony payin’ your bills,
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.
When your conscience hits, you knock it back with pills.
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.
* Chorus
Tellin’ tall tales of how it used to be.
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.
With the butler and the maid and the servants three.
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.
Nobody hears a single word you say.
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.
But you keep on talkin’ till your dyin’ day.
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.
* Chorus
Livin’, Lovin’, She’s just a woman.
http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=7744
Roffe
Children’s BBQ At Fittja Beach This Saturday
On Saturday July 5th, Making A Diference (M.A.D) will host a BBQ at Fittja Beach from 14.00 and the focus will be the kids and the teens. It is not the first time M.A.D is organizing an activity of this nature in Stockholm. Last time, they were at Alby with a kids past time which was very successful and which brought home the need for Kenyan parents to get together and address the needs of their children.
It was interesting seeing the kids working it out during a session of dance competition with DJ Kajoe working them out. The Teenie’s disco followed although it was later infested by ma adalti who 
decided to kill the night at the place.
The public face of MAD includes Sundy, Man Nzoro, Cathy, Winnie and Sarah Nielsen with others on the background. Since the beginning of the year, several Kenya adult parties have been organized by groups and individuals and the kids have been completely left out, save for a few private birthday parties where attendance is normally by invitation only.
The MAD function at Fittja is open to the Kenyan, African, Immigrant and Swedish publics and apart from enabling the kids to have fun, it will be a good opportunity for parents to catch up with one another as kids do their stuff in the background.
Indications that MAD will be around for quite some time has been visible in Stockholm where a scan by KSB has revealed that a couple of babies mothered by Kenyans are either on the way or have already been
downloaded.
When I attended a private kids Party at Österberga recently, a married Kenyan lady appeared to have been in her final stages and the other day, I heard from a KISS agent that she had downloaded a baby girl! That is the way to go because organizations like MAD have to be kept busy, now and in the future. The agent suggested a story line but it was killed by KSB’s Editorial because of preservation of “individual privacy law” at the blog.
Then, I attended another birthday party at Alby where a friend was turning 45 and there she was – another Kenyan lady alikuwa amebeba. From my experience in calculating the weeks and months, the days and hours, the minutes…seconds and what have you, it looked advanced although agents have not reported any download yet. We wish her good luck. She reminded me of purity (NOT PURITY MUHINDI). I mean the word “pure” because she only consumed water.
Then, I was invited to another birthday party at Skärholmen the other day and guess what? There was a double sighting of two ladies belonging to two men whose names cannot be mentioned. As per my pesa nane math, the tummies seem to have been filled up during winter or thereabout, time when its normally cold. After understanding the new developments, I came to terms with why the two friends went out of circulation during winter. Some people or watu wengine call it “underground movement” although not the Mwakenya type! It is the Movement where you retreat under the sheets with someone.
I approached the two pals separately and both of them made my day. They were rightfully proud of their
uploads and spoke confidently about the need to increase the population of wananchi in Stockholm. It was like Kenyans must be active in all fields especially in Sweden where there is need to produce an Obama.
If a Kenyan has done it in the United States, what are Kenyans in Sweden waiting for when they have been shown the way. “It may be me or it may be another person but it has to be done” and that kinda a talk. I could only say “oyez”… aha… that’s right….exactly….sure…aha…
They are very good friends and, to my stupid mind which sometimes runs around anti-clockwise, it looked like they had conspired to increase the weights of the women at the same time because when I tried to measure the sizes of the tummies just by running my eyes around like a tape, the tummies were kinda the same size – proof that the Olympic games might have taken place at the same time.
It is like Kenyans are in some kind of “Child race” because according to another report, another Kenyan woman who has never been playing the “baby games” is expecting her first born. I knew about it because I heard someone talking about a “baby shower” for her and when I stupidly asked whether she was PG (she was not at the scene), I was answered with another question – whether I thought that “baby shower” means washing babies. It was funny and I couldn’t help giggling.
The above developments mean that MAD has an uphill task in the future and they need the support of all Kenyans especially those who are in the “baby go round” sessions.
The MAD leadership has said that consumables for kids will be free. KSB takes this opportunity to congratulate the MAD leadership for their contribution in making a difference on the kid’s front. If you have a child and you are reading this, Fittja Beach is the next stop this Sato. We say: let the children play!
Okoth Osewe
NOTE: Pictures were taken from a past MAD function.
Johnny Under Attack On “Just A Woman” Comment
Johnny, your article left me wondering! You watered down all what I thought was good by making a sensitive comment. I could not stop asking myself weather you are new on the planet earth! It is like you were dropped from Mars recently.
You wrote: “take it easy with the Ambassador as she is just a woman trying to do her things.” I consider this as pure male chauvinism, prejudice and adverse view against women. If Purity is weak as an Ambassador, it is not because she is a woman. Remember that a woman is an adult female human being.
A female is no less superior to a male. Johnny, the current world has moved from such thoughts. Your comment was embarrassing and degrading. I never thought I would live to read/hear such from a Kenyan living utomlands (assuming that we are role models to those who are back home). Even old people at home know that it is sensitive to make such a comment against women.
I have never met the Ambassador, neither have I entered the Kenyan embassy in Stockholm. I have read a lot about their inefficiency, but I cannot make a conclusion as to whether Purity is weak or not. You asked Osewe to take it easy on her. If Osewe is dissatisfied with her performance, as a Kenyan, he has rights to express his dissatisfaction.
Gone are the days when Kenyans used to say Kanu ni baba na tena ni mama even when we all knew it was not. Women, as human beings are supposed to carry out their duties just like their male counterparts.
As a woman, I demand that you apologize to all women. This is a sensitive issue and can not be taken lightly.
Chebet Keter
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