Kenya Stockholm Blog

Kenya-Stockholm Year In Review: March

A few days before the signing of the peace deal, KSB questioned why prayers by Kenyans in Stockholm were not being answered. This challenge appeared to have upset some members of Wafarisai who went to other forums to condemn KSB for trying to question “Sir God” and even implying that Kenya-Stockholm prayers may have failed because there could have been too many prayers on the line waiting to be answered.

Githuku wa Muirani: KSB News maker

Another theory was that the devil may have been intercepting the prayers through a Satanic satellite installd at the Swedish North pole preventing Kenya-Stockholm prayers from reaching Sir God.

Although the contribution was a piece of humor, some Wafarisai like Mr. Githuku wa Muirani took the matter seriously and responded, saying that those who believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God can submit their needs and desires to him freely. When Pastor Beatrice noted Muirani’s response, she went on the attack immediately, arguing that nobody was in a position to defend God. According to the vocal Pastor, those who were trying to defend God in the face of KSB challenge “were like little children who started drinking spiritual milk yesterday”. The Muirani-Beatrice exchanges did not go further than that and the matter rested there.

It was also in March that Mr. Maina Kiai, former Chairman of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, came to Sweden to deliver a speech about the post election violence in Kenya. Kiai had earned the wrath of the Kikuyu ruling class for taking the position that elections had been rigged by ECK and calling for President Kibaki to step down.

He was delivering his speech in Stockholm on a Friday morning and at very short notice. This made it difficult for many Kenyans to attend the event. According to Tonny Odera, who attended the session and who met Kiai, the Kenyan wondered why Kenyans in Stockholm had failed to surface at the meeting to listen to what he had to say. What Kiai did not understand is that Kenyans here are not paid to attend meetings and given the short notice before the meeting, fixing a day off for many Kenyans could have been difficult.

Mr. Paul Njenga, who is currently serving a jail term, had worked at the residence of Mrs Catherine Kiboi, whose husband died in a house inferno in Norway in 2006. In March, Mr. Njenga put Kenya Embassy back in the news by demanding that he be paid 10,000 kr for work at the residence of Kiboi. Mr. Njenga had told KSB that the amount could not be paid following the death of Kiboi because the Embassy argued that it did not know about the engagement. The Embassy has a series of “sleeping scandals” that surface at KSB from time to time and when Njenga made this demand, he added that part of the evidence about the work engagement could be provided by Mrs Kiboi who had since been hired to work at the Embassy.

Mrs Kiboi’s dilemma was that she couldn’t intervene in the case because she was herself in a very precarious situation. She had just been hired under very sensitive circumstances and trying to plunge herself into the Njenga controversy may not have been in her immediate personal interest especially at a time when the very act of her being hired by the Embassy to replace her husband was in the process of being questioned by Embassy critics who saw it as nepotistic.

It is now believed by keen observers that the Ambassador may have found an underground way of settling Njenga’s pending bill in exchange for confessions from the Kenyan who allegedly wrote a controversial apology to the Ambassador which was subsequently published at an “Embassy-friendly” blog managed by a Kenyan who has been fighting to restore his reputation after he allegedly beat his ex wife senseless forcing police to take him into custody.

According to KSB agents, even Mr. Githuku wa Muirani, Njenga’s brother, did not know about the letter and sources told KSB that Muirani was getting worried that the cunning Ambassador and her sly Assistant, Mrs Awuor, may have been manipulating Njenga mentally in prison to squeeze an apology from him to be used in cleaning the Ambassador’s dirty public image that has also tainted her reputation beyond repair. When KSB reached Mr. Muirani in a moment of investigation, he refused to comment over the issue, probably to safe guard the interests of his brother who had suddenly began to cooperate with the Embassy and even denying facts that are beyond challenge like the land grab at the residence.

As time elapsed, Gerry Midenyo returned from Kenya after casting his vote in the December 2007 election. What was interesting in Gerry’s return was not the fact that he had just returned but a huge “tactical missile” he fired in the direction of the Kingdom of Githuku wa Muirani situated in Norsborg.

Muirani has been one of the prime News makers at KSB in 2008, both because he is always caught in the teeth of controversy and his ability to respond to attacks without being personal. It is also rumored in Kenya-Stockholm that Muirani could be the proverbial “cat with seven lives” because he has a stunning tendency of surfacing to re-invent himself when people think that he has already been destroyed and finished kabisa by scandal.

It is still not clear what may have provoked the Gerry attack on Muirani but according to Gerry, Muirani is one Kenyan who “should stop being tribalistic and conducting a hate campaign against Raila”. Gerry continued to allege that “The likes of Muirani should listen to Kenyans like Mr. Charles Njonjo who has been preaching peace and cohabitation of all tribes in Kenya”.

What can be discerned from Gerry’s tirade is that he views Muirani as a tribalist who is against Raila Odinga and who was taking a wrong position that the post election killings were being perpetrated by other ethnic groups with the Kikuyus being the main victims.

May be, Kenyans will never know the problem between Mr. Midenyo and Mr. Muirani but in March, Gerry did not have any kind words for Mr. Muirani soon after returning from Kenya. KSB hopes that in 2009, Muirani and Gerry will be able to sit down as gentlemen and resolve any differences that might be hampering smooth relations between them. They are both respectable parents and they should be able to sort out their differences. Let us make 2009 a year of real peace and reconciliation in Kenya-Stockholm.

In typical style, Muirani did respond to Gerry but the curious point is that Muirani decided to avoid the main attacks against him, choosing instead, to clothe his response in a jolly and religious language that steered clear from further provoking Gerry into firing new missiles. He wrote:

“Despite all their efforts, they never killed Joseph’s dream and as long as one has a dream in life, one will encounter all types of critics and admirers. Concerning my Christian faith, it’s only God who will judge me and not human beings”. According to what he has said in public, Muirani has an ambition of representing his constituency in Parliament and we wish him well.

Gerry had also questioned Muirani’s Christianity and the fate of funds that had been raised by the Muirani-led UHCK. In his response, Muirani tried to answer all issues raised by Gerry but the key question that remained unanswered was why Gerry had attacked him.

At KSB, the Kenyan Embassy together with our embattled Ambassador Purity has been the “Newsmaker of choice”. When there is ukamwe of news, KSB dogs normally visit the Embassy to check if there are any bones that could be chewed because loyal KSB readers have to be fed otherwise they will begin to call the President to find out what is happening or whether the price of unga needs to be reduced so that KSB can cook some news.

“Is there nothing about the Embassy”, one addict once posed on telephone after two days of zero up-dates. It is like readers have a “right” that KSB be updated. Scavenging for news at the Embassy is not strange because the Ambassador represents President Kibaki while the Embassy is a direct replica of the Kenyan government in Stockholm so why not go searching for Purity during times of news shortage?

THE KINYUA CONTAINER SCANDAL
After Kinyua left for Canada, a bizarre news hit KSB headlines to the effect that a container that was packed with Mr. Kinyua’s personal belongings had disappeared on its way to Canada because of corruption at the Embassy.

According to details of the story, the Embassy had hired a fake company called “VIP Shipping International” to transport Kinyua’s property and part of the scandal had it that the Embassy had engaged the company because it was cheap. When the container failed to reach its destination, investigations by KSB revealed that “VIP International” was actually a fake company that had defrauded several individuals before it was engaged by the Embassy.

Details of the scandal had it that by hiring the company at a cheaper rate, corrupt Embassy officials would then inflate the price by charging the government the “market price” then scooping the difference to be shared among conspirators in the deal.

The plan went wrong because top Embassy staff who were involved in the scandal thought that “VIP International” was a credible company that would deliver the goods and that the theft of public funds in the deal would go unnoticed as long as the goods arrived. Throughout the scandal, the Embassy remained tight lipped while daily prayers were held at the Mission for the scandal to pass quietly so that the looting could go unnoticed. The Kinyua container scandal was however overtaken by events in Stockholm.

THE KENYA “DARLING OF THE GIRLS” SENT TO PRISON
A Kenyan who had been handed over a three year jail term for assaulting a Swedish woman had his appeal thrown out and his sentence increased from three to five years.  The case was titillating because the Kenyan had allegedly fyekad several and smashing Kenyan warembo despite his HIV positive status that was reported by the media.

There was total pandemonium and soul searching among women who had liberally and enthusiastically spread out their sacred goods for sweet consumption after swallowing the Kenyan’s seductive baits which, according to one victim, “were irresistible”. Soon after the story was blown out, KSB’s hot line was jammed with women seeking for a confirmation as to whether the Kenyan was HIV positive, something we couldn’t do under any circumstance.

Some Kenyan bachaleros regretted that the Kenyan had to go to prison because they wanted to learn from him the tricks of quickly heating up the girls (like an electric boiler) in a way that they became helplessly mesmerized with love, mapenzi, nyege… thereby forcing them to hang on to his neck as he walked majestically (holding their thighs) to his crib to consume the soft “raw materials tucked in between” and “packed in fleshy lumps” of different sizes – manyake.

Although he was snatched by the Swedes to be stored safely in prison for reasons of “National security”, some bachaleros are understood to have patched his portrait on the walls of their cribs “for inspiration”. They allegedly bow before the portrait before going out to hunt, a remarkable development which should elevate this Kenyan to a near Saint in the field of catching the girls.

According to police records, he allegedly maintained an active Network of as many as 30 African babes and soft Swedish white cuties whose thongs he teremushad like mabendera. To underline the heroic nature of this son of the soil, the Swedish national TV picked up the story and featured it in a key program watched by millions of people in Sweden. The Kenyan had made history in this country but do I say?

BEREAVEMENTS
On 20th March, sad news arrived to the effect that our dear and soft-spoken Carren Anyango had lost her dear Mom in Kenya. As usual, Kenyans rushed to console the family. It is these kinda moments that you put aside your personal differences and present your face among the mourners to sign the book, a positive thing among Wakenya.

If you want to meet two sworn enemies sitting side by side without physical missiles being fired, get to a Kenya-Stockholm funeral function. This tradition needs to be encouraged in 2009. We all have the so called enemies but when you are bereaved, “the enmity” has to take a back seat because such times are usually very painful.

The point is this: We are all vulnerable and when one of us is bereaved, it is not the time to swear that “Haki. Imemweza, baba yake amekitoa. Let her deal with it because yeye huringa sana! I wish her sista passes away soon”.

As if they had been communicating, the sister of the Uppsala-based Mr. Yusuf Mzee also passed away and Kenyans had to songa karibu. Mzee is not well known among Kenyans in Stockholm, partly because he is very quiet. One guy who knows him well is Mr. Laban Mberi. If you need to spend the night in Uppsala, get in touch with Mberi who will get in touch with Mzee who will fix the thing.

WHEN AMBASSADOR PURITY WAS RECALLED…
There are some people in Kenya who have no respect for Kenyans abroad. In March, a stupid commentator attacked Kenyans abroad, alleging that we claim that “we know everything”. KSB is among voices that came in forcefully to counter the attacks while Milton Muigai and Dick Kamau also chipped in. In the coming year, I hope Kenyans will not accept unproked attacks from home by people who do not understand the harsh realities here. They think money grows on trees and sometimes proceed to vomit on our shoes the way Kibaki and his Mafia cartel does to donors.

Eventually, it was time for the month of March to experience its eventual sun-set with a funny message at KSB. April fool’s day was just approaching and I put up an April fool’s piece that Ambassador Purity had been recalled.

Some Kenyans in Stockholm sent SMS to say “Thank you God!” while other Purity haters rushed to Vasa for one or two as they shouted “hallelujah”. It was a big disappointment when the news turned out to have been a hoax because many Kenyans are waiting for the big day when Purity will pack AND GO! After she took our Jamu to Oslo, she is like leprocy in Kenya-Stockholm.

The most interesting part of the hoax was that a paper printed by the Kenya-Swedish Friendship Association published the news and “thanked the Ambassador” who appeared to have been cooperating with the organization at different fronts.

The organization, which was started by the late James wuod Maggero, hates KSB because of the Maggero stories. They believe that Osewe is a “nut case” who should be crucified but in reality, why should I because I am not Jesus Karast and I am not ready to die for anybody’s sins since Jesus had done so.

They are known to work with the Embassy and the leadership has been unhappy about the anti-Ambassador stand of KSB but that’s life. I have always repeated that we cannot agree on everything and this is an important part of democracy.

Okoth Osewe

December 28, 2008 Posted by makozewe | News & Analysis | Leave a Comment

Kenya-Stockholm Year In Review: February

The month opened with stunning news that a Kenyan woman in her thirties who had been working for a Swedish family was facing deportation to Kenya because she had become sick and thus expensive to maintain due to cost of medical care.

According to information that was gathered by KSB, the woman retracted her willingness to get the case publicized after she was allegedly intimidated by her employer who was once based in Nairobi as a Swedish diplomat. The employer had seized the woman’s passport. Although the woman was later deported, no further information was forth coming.

George Kinyua (2nd fr R) receiving lap top present

It was one of those quiet deportations executed with speed to cover up scandal. In the case of the woman, the employer may have been underpaying her because she lacked status while the employer might have been evading tax for why did the boss with-hold her passport and why wasn’t she having insurance cover?

By the beginning of February, the post election violence was still continuing. To cool down temperatures, Mr. Joseph Munene aka Man Nzoro, appealed to Kenyans in Stockholm to open debate about the general situation, both in Kenya and in Stockholm.

Mr. Nzoro’s view was that Kenyans needed to resist being influenced negatively by events that were unfolding back home and that mainly featured indiscriminate violence, wanton killings, ethnic tension and displacement of people on a large scale.

In making his appeal, Mr. Munene gave the example of a Kikuyu friend in Kenya who was experiencing difficulties because he had married a Luo woman. According to Munene, Kikuyu kinsmen were on the man’s neck because they wanted the woman sent back to Kogelo.

The appeal was followed by several informal debates which tended to cool down tensions between the Kenyan communities in Stockholm. One person who publicly supported Mr. Nzoro was Mr. Wandaka who accused Kenyan politicians of playing the ethnic card for purposes of dividing Kenyans for political mileage.

ENTER MR. MILTON MUIGAI
Despite his forthrightness, Mr. Munene faced a serious challenge from Chebet Keter, a Kenyan woman, who informed KSB readers that although the idea of debate was in order, Mr. Munene had gotten some facts wrong in his presentation. Mr. Munene had claimed that one key reason why post election violence had erupted was because ODM had created illusions in the minds of boda boda operators who, according to Munene, had been told that the government would issue them with Taxis if ODM won elections.

This explanation did not go down well with Chebet who said that she had investigated the facts and found Munene’s assertions wrong. Chebet said that on the contrary, it was Kibaki’s government that failed to honour election pledges, a failure that meant that millions of Kenyans did not want Kibaki in power for a second term especially after he mismanaged the country with his Mount Kenya cartel.

Chebet gave the example of the failure of the government to deliver a new Constitution within 100 days as the debate was picked up by other Kenyans in Stockholm. One of the contributors who has been adding quality to debates was Mr. Milton Muigai who reminded both Chebet and Munene that they were “circumventing” a big point in the debate by attributing the violence to the inability of the Kibaki regime to deliver. According to Mr. Muigai, the problem rested on the manner in which the concept of “Majimbo” had been presented by ODM to voters among other reasons.

Kenyan women in Stockholm are a resilient lot. In February, a group of women led by Pastor Beatrice Kamau set up a new women’s organization – Voice Of Women (VOW) – to look into issues affecting women in Sweden. After its launch in Skarpnäck, the organization remained active throughout the year, linking up with Swedish and International women’s organizations in a bid to address women related issues including empowerment of women, domestic violence, women in politics, the rights and freedoms of women among other issues.

As usual, Kenya-Stockholm is full of rumors and propaganda. In February, certain rumors that had been planted in 2007 persisted and at different points, they had to be debunked.

When Mr. George Kinyua (a former Embassy staff member who was transferred to Canada) was leaving, Kenyans contributed money for a present in the form of a lap top in appreciation of Kinyua’s good work especially on Embassy-Kenya-Stockholm relations.

EMBASSY WOMAN AND PERSISTENT RUMORS
However, the post election violence overtook many news items and the Kinyua story was never exhausted at KSB. Lack of news about the present’s delivery generated rumors that those who were responsible for purchasing the present may have taken advantage of the crisis in Kenya to cool down the purchase then “ate the money”. KSB had to debunk this rumor because the blog site was invited to the handing over ceremony of the lap top at the Hotel where Kinyua and family were staying. In fact, a photo showing Kinyua receiving the lap top was taken at the presentation and the rumor, that appear to have been generated by the enemies of Mr. Jamlik Muritu who was in charge of the present, was baseless.

Another issue that came back on the news in February was the relationship between MOREDEK and the Muirani-led UHCK. When UHCK called a harambee at Bagarmossen church, MOREDEK released a Statement saying that the organization would not be represented at the harambee because MOREDEK had its own channels of helping IDPs in Kenya. For members of MOREDEK, attending the harambee could have amounted to a duplication of work. Another problem was that at the time the harambee was called, there had been no joint meetings between the two organizations that could form the basis of joint work and MOREDEK called for further exchanges.

According to leading propagandists in Stockholm, the main reason why MOREDEK’s leadership had decided to skip the harambee was because of ethnic considerations. The propaganda did not however stick as it was later overtaken by events. The propagandists who were propagating this version of events also believed that KSB was an “anti-Kibaki” blog because of the pro-ODM reports that were streaming through the blog site especially during the opening stages of the post election crisis.

In Kenya, Kofi Annan was making progress with the peace talks and by February 16th, certain points on the Agenda had been agreed upon although the thorny issue of election rigging remained untouched. Among issues that both PNU and ODM had agreed upon were: tackling poverty; addressing corruption in government; instituting land reforms and reaching a political settlement to end the crisis.

Suddenly in mid February, the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm was back in the news. A blogger had picked up the story of a Kenyan woman who works at the Embassy and who had allegedly snatched a young Kenyan man during a counseling process to resolve a long standing dispute between the snatched man and his wife.

After the man was allegedly snatched and the story did the rounds in the blogs, the assumption was that it was all over but in February, it resurfaced. The difference this time was that the woman appeared to have had more sympathy from Kenyans here because she was not only struggling to put her life in order but also trying to lead a normal life with her new catch and, from the point of view of some Kenyans, what she needed the least was distractions from blogs.

PURITY BASHING AFTER THE AMBASSADOR FIRES HER MAID
In a moment of sympathy, KSB is among voices that defended the woman, arguing that she ought to be “left alone” because she had a right to fall in love following the demise of her hubby. The story never ended though and today, a different version is doing the rounds although we won’t go into details.

Another organization that defended the woman was the Voice Of Women which also took the position that the woman ought to have been left alone. Speaking to KSB, Pastor Beatrice Kamau, Chairperson of VOW, said that attacks on the woman were baseless while she also dismissed hot gossip that the woman may have grabbed a total of three men within a very short period of time.

As the Embassy woman came back to the headlines, the Ambassador, Mrs Purity Muhindi was experiencing a different kind of headache. The Ambassador had just fired her cook because she allegedly wanted to hire a new one in what critics saw as an act of tribalism.

According to the scanty facts that became available through different channels, the cook Purity inherited from former ambassador Kinyanjui was not from her tribe and since she had someone whom she thought could do the job, she exploited the fact that the cook was ailing to fire him from the job, an act that did not please some Kenyans who decided to use the story to bash Purity.

At that time, concerns had just been raised by KSB as to whether Purity was operating illegally at the Embassy. This was because Kibaki’s Presidency was facing problems of legitimacy with Sweden not having recognized the Kenyan government officially. The issue was how Purity could have been proceeding with official business with the Swedish authorities at a time when the same government she represented had not been recognized by her hosts in Stockholm.

As the month of February approached a close, good news arrived from Kenya that a peace deal had been reached between ODM and PNU. Part of the good news was that the post of Prime Minister would be created and handed over to Raila Odinga who was widely believed to have won the Presidency before it was stolen from him.

The best part of the deal was that the post election violence could now come to an end and as Kenyans prepared for the setting up of a Coalition government that we have today. Activity in Kenya-Stockholm for the month ended with a call for prayers by the Bagarmossen Church following the signing of the peace deal.

Okoth Osewe

December 28, 2008 Posted by makozewe | News & Analysis | 1 Comment