Mwaura And Family Says “Thank You Very Much”
Mr. Daniel Mwaura, the Chairman of Narc-Kenya Scandinavia, would like to thank all Kenyans and friends who turned up during the welcoming ceremony of his three month old daughter, Nyambura, in Stockholm on Saturday 29th November 2008.
Baby Nyambura being blessed
The event, which was attended by over 80 people was a memorable occasion which attracted one of the biggest crowds in Kenya Stockholm. Parents came with their children who played freely as adults conversed with each other as they had fun during the evening.
Prayers were led by Pastor Beatrice Kamau and Brother Samson who held the baby during a moment of prayer as the guests raised their hands in the air to ask God to guide and protect the baby. One could witness genuine love and affection in people’s faces as the invited guests chatted freely. It was a welcome break from Kenya-Stockholm blog wars that had characterized scene during the past two weeks and various protagonists met and discussed the blog situation without tension.
Pastor Beatrice Kamau was one of the Chief Clerics who presided over the occasion and she attacked people who had converted the bible and the word of God into a big joke. Addressing the attentive crowd, she said that she was shocked when she recently heard someone addressing God as “Our Dad in heaven” and said that both the bible and the name of God deserved serious respect.
She told the gathering that there are all kinds of pretenders preaching the word of God in Stockholm and gave the example of a Nigerian drug peddler who was found hiding drugs in a bible while pretending to be a man of God.
“When they are caught, these people say that they are preachers while the truth is that they are drug traffickers”, she said.
Among speakers who addressed the audience was Mzee Gerry Changa Midenyo who criticised Kenyans practicing tribalism in Kenya and in Stockholm. Mr. Gerry said that his tribe is Kenyan, stating that he could speak many languages. He drove the audience to laughter when he spoke Kikuyu, Luo Luhya, Kamba and Masaai languages. Mzee Gerry warned that Kenyans needed to unite and to live in harmony.
Another speaker was Mzee Peter Mukundi, who said that himself together with Mrs Hellen Opwapo had been approached to organize a “Kenya Christmas dinner table” so that members of the community could interact during Christmas.
He said that he appreciated the honour that had been bestowed upon him and Mrs Opwapo and encouraged Kenyans to support the idea for the sake of unity within the community. He said that information will soon be availed through KSB and other channels so that the idea could be brought to reality. The idea came from Mr. Clay Onyango, a Kenyan resident in Stockholm who was nevertheless absent from the function.
Speaking to KSB a day after the event, Mr. Mwaura said that his family was very touched with the support and solidarity they received during the function. “The whole family was happy and I take this opportunity to thank everybody who came to join us in welcoming my daughter”, he told KSB.
Kikuyu traditional songs to welcome the child rent the air as guests danced in unison. Mrs Grace Nyambura and Mrs Lillian Olin led the guests in chanting Kikuyu songs.
There was plenty of food and drinks and everybody appeared satisfied. Attendance was by invitation and those who were present included Mr. Martin Ngatia, Mrs Hellen Opwapo, Mr. Laban Mberi, Mr. Mrs Margaret Njuhia, Makan Macharia, Munala wa Munala, Mr. Githuku wa Muirani, Mr. Joseph Munene, Ms Catherine Waithera, Mrs Sarah Kinuthia, Mrs Jane Chege and her sister Naomi, Mrs Mercy Newman, Mr. George Thage and his sister, Ms Winnie Njoki Mukaru among others.
Okoth Osewe
Unanswered Questions On Kashito Case Part 2
Is there any possibility that David Aquinas Kashitoshito may have been buried in Sweden? One Kenyan who plucked the rumour from the atmosphere right into the Internet was blogger Munala wa Munala who wondered aloud why it was becoming almost treasonable for Kenyans to ask questions on critical issues within the community in Stockholm. Passing a comment at KSB, Munala wrote:
“In the name of transparency and accountability, is it wrong for Kenyans to ask some burning questions? With all due respect, there are rumours that the late Kashito was not a Kenyan citizen and that his body was buried here in Sweden. Can someone from the Mr. Muirani committee shade some light on the above?”
The following day, Friday November 28, 2008, Mr. Muirani, the Chairman of the embattled Kashito committee, did shade some light over the issue. According to Muirani, who released a statement via the Njoro blog, the body of Kashito had been deposited at the Lee funeral home in Nairobi and was buried (the same day he was releasing the statement) at Langata cemetery in Nairobi.
The Muirani statement was not copied to KSB, probably because Muirani is upset, angry or irritated with the blog for having published the first installment of the Kashito story which tended to put him under serious pressure as the Chairperson of the Kashito committee.
Commentator after commentator went after Muirani’s jugular with Fagilia even urging him to avail information “as soon as possible” in order to prevent the personal reputations of Kashito committee members from being damaged by what was increasingly snowballing into a “Kashitogate” kinda scandal”.
If Muirani has developed a grudge with KSB on the basis of the story, we may have to ask the question as to why he continues to “preach forgiveness of sins” and reconciliation because KSB scribes had to surf a long distance to Njoro’s hide-out in order to get what Muirani was saying and only after a tip off by a KSB spy.
Prior to Munala’s concerns about rumour that Kashito may have been buried in Sweden, a different kind of rumour was doing the rounds over the phone where “Kenya-Stockholm Olympic rumour mongers” had retreated to do business with an assortment of contacts and fans who were thirsty to get the latest update on the Kashito front.
In the absence of official details from Kashito committee which appeared to have been hoarding information, Kenya-Stockholm rumour mongers were doing “booming business” in air time and you digested a different version of the story depending on the channel you tuned to. In fact, leading channels in the business were all busy for long periods and you had to try several times before going through to the Chief Executives of the numerous Rumour companies that have sprung up in Kenya-Stockholm.
CREMATED
Appalling as it sounds, KSB is one of the biggest customers of different Stockholm-based “Rumour Networks” that feed the markets in greater Kenya-Stockholm consumer base. Just like the Global economic crisis that is starved of capital, the rumour sector has a tendency of going into crisis when there is acute shortage of stories and it is during these “hard times” when KSB normally goes looking for Purity at the Kenyan Embassy. Now that there is something, the “Oslo Jamhuri” can wait.
To get back to the Kashito thing, another rumour that was hot mid this week had it that Kashito’s body had been cremated because the body could not be transported to Kenya since Kashito was allegedly not a Kenyan passport holder. According to one of the channels, Kashito had a Botswanan passport which he allegedly acquired after he moved to Botswana from Kenya before travelling to Sweden for further studies.
When the Kashito committee visited the Embassy early last week to look for help, the Ambassador is reported to have refused to meet them allegedly because of the Kashito passport problem. The Passport factor was said to have been responsible for the failure of Kashito to use his Kikuyu name during his interactions with Kenyans in life because he was apparently afraid that any blowing up of his real identity as a Kenyan could be catastrophic to his designs.
The issue is said to have been so sensitive that even the Kashito committee steered clear from getting his names out in the open until the names were broadcast by mrseed.com. A top Narc-Kenya official did admit that when he met Kashito in life, the Kenyan told him that he was a Nigerian, information that tended to confirm that there was something funny with Kashito’s identity.
The Ambassador is whispered to have kept away from the Kashito committee because of potential scandal that could have blown out in case things turned ugly. The rumour that the body may have been cremated for the ashes to be transported to Kenya had it that since Kashito was holding a passport from Botswana, working out documentation through the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm for his body to be transported to Kenya was going to be mission impossible.
If the papers were to be worked out from the nearest Embassy of Botswana in Scandinavia, a similar problem was bound to arise while there would be nobody to receive the body in Botswana even if the paper work went through. This problem was apparently well known to the Kashito family and, according to the rumours, it is the impossibility of resolving the problem that reportedly led to the decision of the family that close family members travel to Sweden to view the body before it could allegedly be cremated and the ashes transported to Kenya. This is not to suggest that the body was cremated but to explore the rumours. Continued in Part 3 below…
Okoth Osewe
Unanswered Questions On Kashito Case Part 3
Although Mr. Muirani admitted that the Kenyan Embassy helped with “translation” of certain documents, he did not indicate whether the Embassy also helped with documentation for transportation of Kashito’s body, a service that could have been worth mentioning because it was more important than translation.
In his statement that the Embassy helped with translations, Muirani did not say whether the police documents that were translated were acquired by the Kashito committee which took them to the Embassy for translation or whether they were given to the Embassy by Swedish police. In fact, Muirani’s statement tended to suggest that the documents originated from the Kashito committee which may have acquired them from the Swedish authorities before taking them to the Embassy for translation.
The problem with this omission is that if Kashito was a Kenyan citizen, police documents could have been released directly to the Embassy which could have proceeded to translate them automatically then open a file for the case. This is what happened in the case of Juliet. Is the Kashito file at the Embassy? May be, Kottut knows better.
Another party that was entitled to the documents according to Swedish law were Kashito’s immediate family members who could have acquired them then passed them over to Kashito committee which could, in turn, have taken them to the Embassy for translation. This channel of communication was only necessary if the Embassy did not receive the documents directyly from the Swedish authorities.
However, the biggest omission in the Muirani statement is that it failed to mention whether the Embassy also gave “clearance” to the Swedish authorities and the relevant airline that Kashito’s body could be transported to Kenya. Without this clearance, no dead body can enter Kenya from abroad. To elevate “translation services” as the most important business the Kashito committee went to do at the Embassy could raise new and complicated questions.
One issue that Kenyans kept harping on is where cash to transport the body came from. If you asked rumour mongers in the absence of information, the answer was simple. Transporting Kashito’s ashes to Kenya was not too expensive and, in any case, a person’s ashes also constitutes “the body” which has to be buried anyway so? This theory found impetus from the fact that Kashito’s parents and brother never accompanied the body to Kenya, an act which some Kenyans here found strange.
SHOULD KENYA-STOCKHOLMERS RE-EXAMINE THEMSELVES?
According to latest information gathered by KSB, Kashito’s father is reportedly a top police officer in Kenya and once complications arose in the case, the father, mother and brother booked a flight to Stockholm and arrived without the knowledge of some members of the Kashito committee which, nevertheless, was split between an “inner core” of the Committee that appeared to have been in the know about events and an “outer ring” which was permanently kept out of the information loop.
Some members of the outer core were openly complaining to Kenyans that they didn’t know what was going on. This group believes that it had been kept out by core members who were named as Mr. Muirani, Mr. Samson and the Kinuthias.
For example, the “outer core” was never consulted before the cancellation of the harambee that was scheduled for November 28 while they read about the arrival of Kishito’s family members in the blogs. Most importantly, they didn’t know how 20,000 kr that was realised by the Committee was raised while they were never consulted when Muirani led some Committee members to the Embassy.
The agenda with the Embassy was also not known to these outsider committee members. As reports hit the blogs that kashito’s body would be transported to Kenya, some committee members complained that they didn’t even know the airline that was transporting the body, leave alone where money had come from.
According to one “outer core” Committee member, it is very possible that initial meetings at Kinuthia’s residence raised 7,000 kr. However, this member said that unless there were very huge contributions, it was difficult to understand how the amount was raised because not all Committee members were updated. While it was great that money had been raised, the outer core members believed that they had a right to know how money was being raised by virtue of being Committee members.
One question that may linger and that may come back to haunt the Committee is the cause of Kashito’s death. This is because the Njoro reports indicated that investigations would take at least three weeks after which Kenyans expected to be told what Killed Kashito. The subject of the cause of death is very important to many Kenyans because Kashito lost his life at a very prime age.
Before his death, he packed some items and sent them to Kenya through someone who was travelling back home. That was a Wednesday. He was supposed to show up at the airport the following day to say bye-bye but he didn’t because he had already died. On his table was a note from Psalms 23 “The Lord is my shepherd…”. What is not known is whether he wrote this note deliberately before he went to sleep or whether the note was written much earlier before he died.
Now that a statement has been issued by the Chairman of the Kashito committee, Mr. Muirani, it is hoped that the Kashito issue will come to a permanent rest in Kenya Stockholm. Despite the rumours and whoever is spreading them, the death of Kashito remains a tragic event to both members of his family and the Kenyan community at large.
Regardless of the rumours, the Kashito committee deserves credit for work done while the Kinuthias should be accorded the “Thank you” they so much deserve. The Kenya-Stockholm community should use the Kashito case to re-examine itself in all relevant aspects. The work of KSB in the situation will always be to bring the story as it is as this is bound to help with further analysis. In this self-proclaimed mission, KSB will continue to have friends and foes alike.
Okoth Osewe
Breaking News: Ambassador Moves Jamhuri To Oslo
This year’s Jamhuri day Reception will be held on Friday December 12, 2008 at Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel, Holbergsgate 30, Oslo, NORWAY. The event will begin at 13.00 to 15.00 hrs.
It is the first time in Kenya-Stockholm’s memorable history that Jamhuri day Reception will be held in Oslo. There was no further details at the Embassy’s web site where the Jamhuri message was posted in Kiswahili sanifu.
Okoth Osewe
Taabu And Sister Leaves For Kenya
On behalf of Mr. Albert Taabu and family, Mr. Steve Khadir would like to thank all Kenyans, friends and well wishers who attended the memorial Prayer meeting at Vällingby on Wednesday 26th November following the demise of Mr. Taabu’s father in Kenya. During the event, 12,344 kr was raised and Mr. Taabu together with his sister are travelling to Kenya on Friday November 28th to attend their father’s funeral. The organizers of the event says “Thank you very much”.
Okoth Osewe
Unanswered Questions On The Late Kashito’s Case
Hardly a day passes before you hear something like “Wakenya in Stockholm ni wabaya sana”. There are Kenyans here who believe that someone is always trying to destroy them and any failure has to be blamed on another Kenyan. There is one who lost his driving license after the Swedish police caught him driving while zonked.
When he emerged from the shock, he began to blame a friend he had been drinking with claiming that the
Kashito at a Nyam Chom in Stockholm: Picture Courtesy: Munala wa Munala
friend encouraged him to drink although this crooked friend knew that he was driving. The only reason why the friend did this, he reasoned, was because the ka friend wanted him to lose his laiso.
And then, there is the breed of Kenyans always blaming their countrymen for spreading rumors as if rumor mongering was invented by Kenyans in Stockholm and as if this art is exclusively practiced by Kenyans (Kibaki would say “kwendeni huko”).
Rumor is part and parcel of every society (including the Swedish society) and to suggest that Kenyans in Stockholm are evil because they like spreading rumors is to say that other communities do not practice rumor mongering, a conclusion that, according to sociological research findings, is not correct.
Kenyans in Stockholm are very hard working people and if they spread rumors, they are just acting normally. Of cause! The rumor can be hot or cold depending on what has happened and rumors are mainly fuelled by lack of information or contradictory situations which do not make sense but which are being pushed as pure logic. Take the latest rumor for instance.
After Kashito passed away in his sleep, all sorts of rumors have filled the air. A harambee that was supposed to be held on Friday November 28th was cancelled without explanations and if rumor was flowing water, what happened later in the Kashito case has fuelled the kind of rumors that could fill the biggest water tank available in Stockholm.
At first, Bryan Njoroge aka Njoro, a Kenyan who was deeply involved in the planned Kashito harambee and who has been circulating briefs about Kashito, told Kenyans that at least 60,000 kr was needed to settle Kashito’s hospital bills. He wrote:
“It is understood that there is no financial pressure at the moment while investigations to determine the cause of death are still underway but when these are over, in about three weeks time, then the bills will start coming in. It is then that the body will be released for burial. At the discussion-open house, a rough bill estimation was made of about sixty thousand Swedish crowns as expected to come up”.
DID KASHITO HAVE MEDICAL BILLS TO BE SORTED OUT BY KENYANS?
Here we go. There was “no financial pressure” yet every Kenyan who understood the circumstances knew that Kashito’s body had to be transported to Kenya thereby creating one of the biggest financial pressures known among Kenyans in Stockholm under the circumstances.
According to Njoro, 60,000 kr would be needed when the bills “start coming in”, a statement which suggested that medical bills had accrued and that Kenyans needed to get ready to sort this bill out.
Earlier, Kenyans had been told that Kashito was a student here meaning that he had the right to medical care as long as he held a valid student’s visa which comes with medical insurance so even if he had been ailing, why should Kenyans in Stockholm foot his medical bills? Kenyan rumor mongers began to smell a rat but they still kept quiet, save for whispers here and there.
The suggestion that Kashito may have been sick and that his medical bills needed to be sorted out came after the Kenyan community had been told that Kashito was a healthy and youthful Kenyan who passed away in his sleep in the wee hours of the morning. Some multiplications and additions started tallying like the Kenya December 2007 election results.
According to Njoro’s statement, the bills would have to be sorted out and “it is then that the body will be released for burial”. What Kenyans were being told here is that once they had fund raised to sort out the medical bill, the community would still have to fund raise to transport the body home because (according to logic based on Njoro’s statement) the body would not be released before the bills were sorted out. The need for cash was so urgent that two accounts were provided to facilitate the process. Njoro wrote:
“For those willing to make a donation and might not make it to the fundraising event, an account number is available for deposition. The account is 8327-9 993 590 272-7, Swedbank and the account holder’s name is Anne-Serah Kinuthia”.
At this point, everything seemed to have been running smoothly and Kenya-Stockholmers were preparing themselves psychologically for the gigantic fund raising on 28th November that was set at Flemmingsberg. Although question marks had been cast by the advanced layers of rumor mongers on why the medical bills had to be sorted out, there was a general agreement that Kashito’s body had to be transported to Kenya by all means. Then, something happened, firing all the known rumor mills in Kenya Stockholm, from Norsborg, Hallunda to Alby, Tensta, Rinkeby to Vällingby.
Mr. Richard Nganga Chege and Mrs Margareta Chege, Kashito’s parents, arrived in Stockholm accompanied by their son Mr. Charles Saa Nganga to collect the body. It is rumored that this arrival got the Kashito Stockholm Committee that was planning fund raising by total surprise prompting Njoro to make it a “Breaking news” kind of item because of its unexpectedness.
It was expected that the Kashito Committee in Stockholm had links with family members in Kenya and that a big event like the arrival of Kashito’s parents in Stockholm should have been pre-empted by the Committee instead of being converted into a “breaking news” event and AFTER they hand landed in Stockholm.
KASHITOSHITO’S HIDDEN NAMES
In the past, all Committees that have organized the transportation of bodies of Kenyans back home have had close contacts and almost daily communication with family members back home. In cases where family members have had to travel to Sweden to accompany the body, this fact had been known in advance.
When the brother of Ayieko Singoro, a Kenyan who died in Uppsala, travelled to Sweden to accompany his body, the fact was well known in advance by the Committee while when relatives of the late Mwangi (who used to work at the Canadian Embassy) arrived in Stockholm to collect his remains, the Mwangi committee was part of the planning of the journey from Kenya.
In the Kashito case, the Committee was caught unawares and what the leadership did in a public display that it was still in charge was to “break the news” after the event had already happened. By “Breaking the news” the Committee was avoiding a situation where Kenyans would wake up in the morning to find that Kashito’s parents were already in Stockholm together with his brother without the news having been made public earlier.
For many Kenya-Stockholm rumor mongers, the breaking news story was a cover up for a major crisis in the situation – evidence that the Committee was not in touch with the family although it was fund raising to “sort out medical bills” and to raise cash for the transportation of the body to Kenyan for burial.
Where did Kashito’s three family members get cash to travel to Sweden to accompany the body when Kenyans were preparing to empty their wallets to fund raise so that the body could be transported to Kenya? This is another key question that the Kashito Stockholm committee has never commented on thereby fuelling even more rumors. If Kashito’s family was financially well off to an extent that they could afford to pay for three air tickets within such short notice, why were Kenyans in Stockholm being kept in the dark?
For example, there could have been no problem if the Kashito committee told Kenyans that the family was capable of sorting out the bills but still proceed to fund raise for those who wanted to contribute. It could have been accepted and Kenyans could have contributed without stress. Instead, the Committee went ahead and cancelled the November 28th fund raising without explanations soon after Kashito’s family arrived in Sweden, fuelling further rumors.
After an analysis of much of the rumors in circulation, the sixty four dollar question is where money came from to sort out the huge bills at a time when Kenyans here were being told to fund raise. The explanation that was given by the Committee was weighed on the balance and found wanting. In any case, how comes the Committee did not know Kashito’s real names following his death because a key Committee member was described as a “close family friend” of the Kashito family.
According to Kenyans in Stockholm who have called KSB on a serious note to question the circumstances, Kashito’s real names were rushed in the blogs soon after these names were published on the Kenya-London based web site mrseed.com. After Kashito’s story was broken at the site, the Stockholm committee appears to have instructed Njoro to report that Kashito was not just “David Acquinas” as Kenyans had been told. Suddenly, the Committee had made a big discovery.
According to Njoro, “Kashitoshito’s, it can now be revealed, real names were David Aquinas Nganga but Kashitoshito is the name he preferred to use. He has a sister in London, Ann Nganga who is now in constant contact with the Kinuthia family and the Kashito Fundraising Committee. The Kinuthia family and the Ngangas are close family friends and neighbours in Kenya”. Information about Kashiot’s sister based in London had also gone missing in Kashito committee reports until the mrseed story. Did the Kinuthia family know Kashito’s real names and if yes, why was it made an “it can now be revealed” kind of news by our Njoro?
Surely, if Kenya-Stockholmers begin to germinate rumors in these kind of situations, who should be blamed? Rumor mongers or “information keepers”? In our next installment, find out how the Kashito committee was bullshitted by Ambassador Purity who refused to meet its leaders and the controversy about Kashito’s nationality.
Okoth Osewe
Jamhuri Plans For Kenyans In Holland Ready
As Purity Muhindi sleeps at the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm and holding information about this year’s Jamhuri day celebrations close to her chest, her counterpart in Holland, Her
Purity entertaining Sudanese at a Party after abandoning Kenyans in Stockholm
Excellency Prof Ruthie Chepkoech Rono, has gone public with information about the 45th Jamhuri celebration in The Hague.
According to an invitation card sent to Kenyans in Holland, the event will take place on Friday, December 12th at Crowne Plaza Promenad, van Stolkweg 1 between 17.00 and 19.00 hrs. The Lady Ambassador will be accompanied by her husband Prof Paul K. Rono.
Back in Stockholm, the Embassy is still sitting on information. The latest announcement at Embassy web site is an invitation for Coffee the Ambassador made to Kenyans in Denmark early this month. There is no information about what happened at this “Coffee drinking break” while it is not known whether the Ambassador just walked back to Stockholm immediately after drinking Coffee because there is no information either as to whether she gave a speech.
KSB believes that the Embassy should release information about Jamhuri celebrations so that Kenyans interested in attending the event can plan their schedules.
Okoth Osewe
Martin Ngatia Says Ambassador Purity Should Be Recalled
Mr. Martin Ngatia, a Kenyan politician resident in Stockholm, has attacked Mrs Purity Muhindi, the Kenyan Ambassador to Scandinavia, for “surrounding herself with weaklings” at her secret meetings with Kenyan dignitaries during their excursions in Sweden because these weaklings are incapable of challenging the Ambassador’s guests at private dinners.
Speaking to KSB in response to a recent secret reception of a group of Kenyan dignitaries at her residence, Mr. Ngatia said that Ambassador Purity should stop being primitive because Kenyans have been meeting government officials before her arrival at the Embassy about two years ago.
“The Ambassador is a beneficiary of hand-picking by Lucy Kibaki and it is high time the Kenyan government recalled her because she is an embarrassment to Kenyans in Sweden” Mr. Ngatia told KSB.
“Kenyans are not man-eaters who could swallow government officials. The repeated hiding of these officials as they spend tax payer’s money is uncalled for”, he said.
He said that it is a big scandal that despite the presence in Stockholm of both ODM and Narc-Kenya branches whose mother Parties are currently running the Kenyan government, Ambassador Purity has continued to keep politicians from both Parties away from their Stockholm branches with impunity.
“This is unacceptable and should not be allowed to continue”, he said. He said that if it is the politicians who do not want to meet Kenyans here or their Party branches, the Ambassador should say so.
Mr. Ngatia also criticized Kenya government officials who allow themselves to be kept away from Kenyans by an Ambassador who has not been elected by anybody but who is the beneficiary of tribalism and nepotism. He said that it is the responsibility of these dignitaries to demand an audience with Kenyans in Sweden instead of allowing themselves to be controlled by an assuming Ambassador.
“If these politicians cannot meet people, we will never be able to change Kenya”, he said. Mr. Ngatia wondered how some Kenyan politicians, whose freedom of Association is routinely violated by the Ambassador, could meet and talk to white Swedish state officials confidently when they cannot even meet their own people resident in Sweden after they have travelled a long way in the name of building Kenya.
AMBASSADOR’S RESIDENCE NOT A PRIVATE VILLA
“There is nobody who knows and understands how Swedish officials think and operate more than us. Kenyan Politicians on official duties in Sweden could benefit from the experience of Kenyans who live here by being exposed to them”, he said. “This cannot happen if the Ambassador herself is ignorant about this fact”, he added.
Mr. Ngatia warned that the Ambassador should also not use the excuse that the Embassy cannot afford to entertain many Kenyans with food and drinks when meeting Kenyan officials because Kenyans are capable of buying their own food and drinks even at the most expensive hotel in Stockholm.
“The Ambassador should know that Kenyans in Stockholm are not interested in consuming tax payer’s money. They are interested in productive exchanges with Kenyan officials for the benefit of our country”, he said.
The Kenyan politician said that Kenyans in Stockholm should not allow the Ambassador to convert the Embassy into a private Office and to use the residence as a private villa by allowing her to get away with secret meetings with Kenyan dignitaries because these facilities are paid for by the tax payer.
“Kenyans must speak up and tell the Ambassador that Sweden is not Kenya where village Chiefs and headmen cannot be told that they are wrong”, he said.
He said that it was unfortunate that some Kenyans in Stockholm had allowed themselves to be manipulated by the Ambassador using food and drinks. “When they are secretly invited to secret meetings, these Kenyans are expected to behave by not raising issues”, he said, adding that this was unfortunate.
“When they are told to clap by the Ambassador”, they ask “how loud” and “when they are told to jump, they ask how high?”, he added.
Mr. Ngatia said that such Kenyans should be exposed and shamed for having sold their conscience cheaply in exchange for food and drinks. He said that the struggle against Ambassador Purity Muhindi should continue until the Coalition government understands that she is a big problem in Stockholm and should therefore be recalled as soon as possible.
Okoth Osewe
Breaking News: Mr. Albert Taabu’s Father Is Dead
Mr. Albert Taabu, a Kenyan Artist resident in Stockholm, has lost his father in Kenya. The Dad passed away this morning and Taabu’s family is in deep mourning. Friends are meeting at Taabu’s place to discuss the way forward. Mr. Taabu plans to travel home as soon as possible. Further information will be communicated as it becomes available.
KSB sends Mr. Taabu deep condolences at this time of great shock and sorrow. Losing a father is not an easy experience and we hope that the family will have the courage to go through this difficult moment. Taabu can be reached at: 0734294786.
Okoth Osewe
Clay Debate: Message To KSB Commentators
It has been a hectic week here at KSB. I take this opportunity to ask commentators to close the Clay debate because the point has been made. Unless something new comes up, it is my humble submission that we move on. I hope that Commentators will find this request meaningful.
Okoth Osewe
A Vote Of Thanks
I take this opportunity to thank all friends, contacts and well wishers who have sent messages of congratulation via phone calls, SMS, email and the Kenya-Stockholm blogsphere following the impending release of my book, “Raila Odinga’s Stolen Presidency”.
It has been a difficult period, putting together this book amid lots of activity in my life and I am glad that the book will soon be available to readers.
I would encourage interested parties attempting to “review the book” before it comes out to wait and read it. There is no doubt that a book of this description will stimulate further debate on the subject of last year’s troubled election and this should be healthy.
I have also noted the concerns and rebukes which have come up following the butdoisay incident. I have nothing personal against Clay. I have been unable to respond to attacks against my person at Clay’s blog because I considered them petty, given the heavy stuff I was dealing with.
Blogging could be easy when you are dealing with your personal diary but when you venture into the realms of information gathering, processing and dissemination as part of a Public media project within the blogsphere, then you have to narrow your style within basic rules of the game because this is where credibility (from the point of view of Media politics) hinges.
I must say that I have been deeply moved by the battalion of soldiers who came in to defend me against what they perceive as a plethora of unwarranted attacks, complete with drivel.
I believe that the point has already been made and hope that the Kenya-Stockholm community has learnt something new out of the drama. I also hope that the high intellectual standard of debate injected by new names will not scare Kenya-Stockholmers who might be academically challenged but whose contributions should form part of the collective as the political struggle in our country continues.
Okoth Osewe
New Attack On Clay And His Blog
As a passionate reader of KSB, I also felt that the purported “response” from Osewe to Clay Onyango regarding his upcoming book was outdated. In intellectual terms, this is fraud on the part of Clay and just confirms that he has no ethics. The article was archived at KSB on November 15, 2007 (http://kenyastockholm.com/2007/11/15/). Today (Nov. 20) Clay denies at his blogsite (Butdoisay) having received it from Osewe. But then he openly bloopers by answering commentator “Kanyunja” that it was from Osewe. I quote him: “Hi Kanyunja, this article was sent in by Osewe to butdoisay …” Readers, where is the truth?
Clay has been caught with his “pants down” and is now using lame excuses to dissociate himself from intellectual fraud. He defends himself by claiming that he has never fabricated an article about Osewe. Read his ‘personalized’ response at KSB insulting Jerome Msomi, who asked why he is provoking Osewe. Instead of answering why, he asks him: “Why dont [sic] you fight OMENAS that are stuck on your teeth? butdoisay….” This is his normal reply to people: too much brawn but no brains.
Besides the above, Clay’s biggest challenge remains on how he sources his information. If the claimed response was meant for the original story on Osewe’s book, why did he start a new thread and not just add it as a regular commentary? He should remember that: “A reporter is only as reliable as his or her sources.” As a blogger, he should have detected that it was fishy and meant to portray Osewe in bad light as a tribalist. Anyway, not all Kikuyu are chauvinists and some wise commentators have separated the wheat from the chaff in this story.
Clay lacks originality and reminds readers of the Norwegian-based chief of intellectual fraud, Sammy Korir, of the African Press International (API). There are all sorts of rumors flying around Stockholm, but the worst I have heard concerning Clay is that he did not manage more than Class Seven in Kenya; the old primary school education system. If this is true, then you can see how this reflects upon his thinking many years later. The lack of further education remains an impediment in his life.
Clay has never written any article analyzing social aspects in Kenya or Sweden. He is a vulture who scavenges around for stories and quickly cuts and pastes them at his mediocre blog called “Butdoisay.” He then often gives short comments below them ending with “butdoisay…” His process of disseminating information leaves a bad taste in the mouth of any reader. Many of his pasted stories reflect his thinking and possibly behavior, because they often focus on “below the belt” issues.
Another intellectual fraud by Clay is not respecting sources of information. He infrequently acknowledges that he has “lifted” information from a certain site and hardly gives the Internet link. This way, he wants to show he has researched and could even claim ownership of the story, because he co-signs: “Lifted from…, title by butdoisay.” There is nothing wrong even in the journalistic world to honor sources of information. In fact, it adds credence to the author.
Clay has no intellectual purview and his blog remains a place for cheap entertainment when one has nothing serious to read. He startles readers by his copycat tactics of dashing to KSB, picking an article, then adding a photo or two to make it “original” as if butdoisay owns it. He has now claimed that he does so to gauge the opinion of his readers. Where’s originality? Clay does not have to fill his blog daily with plagiarized material to prove journalistic prowess.
Legible materials at Clay’s blog are often from commentators, especially when attacking Osewe for his critical appraisals of the Kenya Embassy in Stockholm. Osewe’s consistent attacks are well-researched even if reported from his “field agents”, whom he normally acknowledges. When he calls the Kenya Embassy hangers-on “Bootlickers”, he explains why he deems them so. However, Butdoisay attackers only personalize matters by focusing on Osewe and not critically assessing his written stuff.
Current calls for unity at Butdoisay are not new. Clay is known for creating organizations and abandoning them after gaining personally, without accounting for the loss of public donations by faithful contributors. If a Kenyan is interested in starting a welfare organization, she/he should just recruit and register members as per the laid down Swedish laws, instead of blaming Osewe. Why bother with the status quo (i.e. old members of the Kenya-Stockholm community?). Just register an organization and move on because no Kenyan is prevented from doing so. After all, the former Ambassadors used to interact with many Kenyans even in the absence of a unifying Kenyan group. Not all Kenyans have ever been united under a single welfare banner, so it is a fallacy to claim that Ambassador Muhindi can only interact with Kenyans through a welfare group.
Osewe’s book has not even hit the book stores, yet some Butdoisay hangers-on have already charged on matters about it for which they have no inkling. Books are first read then criticized. But at Butdoisay, the author is put on the chopping board first for work that is not yet delivered. Why? Because of his personality and not for what he has written.
Osewe has written internationally acclaimed reports and remains clear on his ideological standpoint politically, both to his friends and foes. One article that Osewe wrote and got published in the critically acclaimed “New African” magazine concerned the brutal murder of the late Ivory Coast man, Gérard Gbeyo, in a small Swedish town called Klippan, in 1995. This is a serious magazine that attracts African academics that critically assess issues concerning Africa and the African Diaspora. Osewe has also written other articles, not just stories, which have been published in the editorial columns of Kenya’s mainstream newspapers.
Clay Onyango reminds me of the intellectual dwarf, Mulili, in the book called “Betrayal in the City” by renowned Kenyan playwright, Francis Imbuga. He provides comic relief in many of his typo-infested postings at Butdoisay. I cite two postings: One on Nov 3, 08: “2 Swedish twins try to commit suicide on Londons [sic] motorway”. 2 twins? Come on, even a primary school child in Kenya knows that twins represent a pair so there cannot be two twins. The title should have read: “Swedish twins try to commit suicide on a motorway in London.” Somebody even corrected him that there is nothing like 2 twins, unless they are more than the pair shown. He has no sense of apostrophes and other quotation marks because many times he does not use them. In this title he writes “Londons,” yet it should be London’s. In proper English there is nothing like Londons because there is only one London.
Second example: Clay recently cut and pasted an old photo of President-elect Obama sitting with one of his male relatives outside a grass thatched hut in Kogelo. The title read: “From a thatched hut to the White House,” yet the so-called White House photo was Capitol Hill’s. He was not aware until a commentator wrote this: “By the way the top picture is of Capitol Hill not White House.” Suddenly “Mulili” realized and changed it. However, he posted the original gaffe on Nov. 11, but did not know it was wrong until he was corrected on Nov. 12. There is nothing wrong with basic typos in publishing, but Clay’s blunders prove that there is something inherently wrong with his intellect because his vocabulary base is very shallow.
Clay thrives in character assassination and enjoys the growing blog traffic when he posts baseless and negative information about others. He was once questioned by an earlier Butdoisay commentator named Carol, after a post he had cut and pasted from a Klu Klux Klan website mudslinging then presidential candidate Obama. She saw no relevance in this, given that she expected Clay to portray a positive picture of Obama. He also cut and pasted quite a few articles from then African Press International owned by the infamous Korir, which portrayed Obama negatively. He only changed tact after seeing that Obama was going to win and today pretends to portray him positively.
Another example is Clay’s (also pasted) alleged API’s fraudulent phone interview with Mama Sarah Obama in Kogelo, or the pasting of the most stupid claim by API that it was awarded USD 500,000 to “strengthen” its online media work. Both were posted on Nov. 9 at Butdoisay. When API was shut down recently, Clay disowned it by posting a note on Nov. 17, exonerating himself from earlier “support” through cutting and pasting its ridiculous stories. He even wrote at Butdoisay that if he had been Korir’s fan, he would have been congratulating him. However, his note in Swahili after the claimed $500,000 API award, insinuated conviction in API’s stories. I cite him: “Butdoisay comment: Korir can the mcdonalds [sic] meal I offered you in Stockholm produce an income on my side? Kidogo tu……butdoisay.”
Butdoisay remains nothing but a farcical interlude in the Kenyan blogosphere.
Ni Mimi Caro na Nimesema
KSB NOTE:
Haya. They have started fighting again. This article has been edited a bit and expletives plus personal attacks have been removed to make it stick to the issues. KSB encourages open debate free from malice and character assassination. Contributors are advised not to use KSB to fight personal wars or to try and get even with their enemies. For ethical reasons, people adversely mentioned have a right of response.
Mr. Osewe, Why Is Clay Onyango Provoking You?
Mr. Okoth Osewe, mine is just a humble question. Although I am not a Luo, I am one Kenyan who finds your writing very interesting. One thing I would like to know is why Mr. Clay Onyango is provoking you without reason.
Clay has gone to KSB archive and lifted an old commentary you penned a year ago during election campaign (15th November 2007). The article questioned why Kikuyu chauvinists are afraid of Raila Odinga and it was written when in Kenya, a disease called “Railamania” had just erupted in Kenya.
With his “cut and paste” blog (because he lacks the power of analysis), he posted the old article at his blog in a way that suggested that it was you who just mailed it to him. This is because he did not indicate that the article was “lifted from KSB” and proceeded to impersonate you by making it look like you communicated and sent it to him as a “reaction”.
You have also sent me mail saying that you did not post the article. In the publishing world, this is unfair and could constitute a violation but that is not my point. In fact, the bait is so strong that if I had not read the article before, I could have been misled to think that it was fresh.
The rabid commentators at his blog appear to have swallowed the bait – that the article is fresh and has just been posted by you in response to Clay’s cutting and posting of information about your book on Tuesday.
In the lifted article, it was very clear that your reference to “Kikuyu chauvinists” who were afraid of Raila was a direct reference to “Kikuyu ruling class” and their supporters and not the masses of Kikuyu people. To quote the article, you wrote:
“If you ask me, the masses of Kikuyu workers, peasants, students and millions of unemployed Kikuyu youth who form the bulk of Wakikuyu should have nothing to fear because they are like millions of poor Kenyans suffering across the country under Kibaki”.
“It is the Kikuyu ruling class and their friends in business who are afraid of Raila. The problem with Kikuyu chauvinists spreading malice against Raila today is that they have deliberately refused to differentiate between the corrupt elite draining Kenya on the one hand and the poor Kikuyu masses on the other, the same poverty-stricken class that has nothing common with Kibaki and whose members are living side by side with other ethnic groups in slums across Nairobi and other regions”.
This is a very clear class analysis of the situation at that time and someone needs to be very stupid to suggest that you are attacking Kikuyu masses as “chauvinists”. In fact, some Kikuyus even voted for Raila because they did not agree with Kikuyu ruling class led by Kibaki. Why is Clay promoting mad-slinging at his blog?
I think Clay is being malicious. To lift an old story purporting it to be your reaction to a recent posting and then allowing it to be taken out of context by rabid dogs starved of stories to chew deserves a comment and it is good that KSB is now open. I want to pull punches.
I am a University student studying sociology (Mastering if you like) and I first came into contact with your articles when a fellow Swedish student lifted an article from your KSDA website and used it as reference in class. I am not holding brief for you. I am just raising my voice against what I think is “intellectual dishonesty” although this may be a bit advanced because I may be reacting to postings by lumpens.
You have just written a book on a sensitive and difficult subject and I think that the best people like Clay could have done (if they are educated enough) is to wait and read this book then spew their critiques for evaluation instead of engaging in cheap manipulations at his “cut and paste” blog. Kenyans have been asking why members of the community in Stockholm cannot engage in anything productive and you have thrown a big challenge in the ring that does not deserve distortions and manipulations.
I know you are very bad news at defending yourself but Kenyans too should make their voices heard because Clay has destroyed many lives in Stockholm. I rarely comment on these blogs but may be, I need to begin because I am getting upset and I will decide soon whether to get into the boxing ring if this is what it will take to lift the level of debate.
Jerome Msomi
KSB NOTE:
If you have published a book, you have to be calm and expect both positive and negative comments, both constructive and reactionary criticism. From a literary vista, I find your intervention very intrepid. There is a difference between being “literate” and being “educated”. It is the educated elite that casts the literate masses under the welter of metaphorical verbiage thereby conjuring illusions into terrific realities. I welcome your educated comments hoping for further exploratory expositions at KSB Forum on topical issues.
DJ Ali Kiba In Stockholm For Sato Bash
DJ Ali Kiba (R) In Stockholm
The Saturday 22nd bash at Sätra, Redline Disco has been sealed with the arrival in Stockholm of DJ Ali Kiba and crew. According to the Sound of Blackness that will be moving boogy machines to the venue, this Sato the 22nd will be special because it is the first time a Guest DJ has been wired up for the Kenya Party fraternity this year. Kenyans will remember DJ Otieno who shook the crowd to its very foundations at Norsbog sometime last year. Mark your diary and don’t complain later that you were never told. Remember, the Obama celebrations continues well up to 20th January so there is the big excuse to go out for some Obama swallowship anyway. Before Obama says “I Prezzo Barry Obams from Kenya…” we just can’t be sure so the boogy-boogy has to continue to remind everybody that Obama is one big Export getting ready to Blacken the White House in a Black Suite and Black shoes with a totally Black First Lady and Black kids so lets Party….
Tonny Odera Invitation To HIV Conference
HETEROPLUS KONFERENS 2008-Nov.28
Language of Conference. Swedish/English
PLACE .Folketshus Medborgplatsen (Sensus lokalen)
THEME-G.I.P.A-HAS SWEDEN DELIVERED
Kl.08.30 –Kl.09.00-Registration of Delegates
Kl.09.00- Kl.09.10-Introductory speeches:
Anthony Odera-Heteroplus
Johanna Fredriksson-P.G Väst
Kl.09.10-Kl.09.45-Legal and policy position in Sweden
Andreas Berglof- Ombudsman -Hiv-Sverige
Kl.09.45-Kl.10.15-Cege Gustav Heden R.F.S.L Politiker
Kl..10.15-Kl.10.30-Coffe break
Kl.10.30-Kl.11.00-Gun Zakaarias-Sociologist –Philanthropist-Social Issues affecting positive people in Sweden
Kl.11.00-Kl.11.30)Medical perspective Research into hiv/aids
Marie Larsson Ph.D Associate Professor Linköping University
Kl.11.30-Kl.12.00 –Young Swede Living positive(Personal experience Kl.12.00-Kl.12.30- Question session
Kl.01.00-Kl.02.00 pm-Lunch break
Kl.02.00 pm-Kl.02.30 pm. –Questions to presenters from morning session
Kl.02.30 pm-Kl.03.10 pm.-”Att Lämna Rädsla”-Film by Caroline Ayodo Odera/Maria Winberg
Kl. 03.10 pm-Kl.03.45 pm-Break out sessions
Kl.03.45 pm-04.00 pm-Group presentations
Kl.04.00 pm-Kl.04.30 pm-Conference ends
Kl.07.00 pm.kl.12.00 pm. Mingling Noaks- Ark (Info to be availed at the conference)
About KSB
New Book On Kenya December 2007 Election Crisis: In Circulation
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