Kenya Stockholm Blog

Awuonda Funeral Meeting At Continental Hotel

A Meeting to set up a Committee to oversee the disposal of the body of Mr. Moussa Awuonda, a Kenyan Journalist, will be held on Tuesday 27th January 2009 at Continental Hotel (near T-Centralen) in Stockholm.

The information was released by Mr. Ken Aroka, a Kenyan who has been close to the Awuonda family and who is part of a team to co-ordinate the formation of the “Awuonda Funeral Committee”. Mr. Awuonda passed away last week in Stockholm following a long illness.

Kenyans, friends , sympathizers and well wishers are all welcome to the meeting which will begin at 18.00 hrs. It is at the meeting where details of the Awuonda burial will be discussed and later released to the Kenyan and other publics. Anybody with any issue is welcome to raise them at the meeting.

Okoth Osewe

January 26, 2009 Posted by makozewe | News & Analysis | Leave a Comment

Trepidation At KSB As Comments Degenerate

This piece appeared here on 26th January 2009 and has just been recycled because of its relevance:

There is a general sense of disappointment at KSB because after opening the comment section for KSB readers to air their views on various topics, our worst fears have been confirmed – that the move could lead to a gradual degeneration of comments to an extent that readers will be treated to degrading and below the belt presentations that will serve more to wreck other than build unity between the Kenyan community in Stockholm.

Since the comment section was opened, very respected members of Kenya-Stockholm who have been unlucky to fall on the negative end of the news have had their characters assassinated with some of the most powerful vitriol while others have had their reputations destroyed, probably beyond repair.

We at KSB had to stand by helplessly as Kenyans took one another by the horns, digging the filthiest of dirt linked to opponents and casting them here in the name of comments.

During the opening stages of the comments, some individuals like Hellen Awuor (mother Chentelle), Bryan Arua, Clay Onyango, Antony Adiwa and Antony Odera became major casualties of heavy bombardment from opponents who took advantage of negative aspects of the news that covered them to show them dust.

There are others who were not named but who could easily be identified following the explosion of certain scandals at KSB. These Kenyans suffered the wrath of commentators with the same, if not worse effect than that of their colleagues who were named.

We have in mind both the blogger who had an altercation with his ex and the “Chairman” who had a similar encounter with his wife. In both cases, police were called in to intervene and the suspects were taken into custody before being released.

While we don’t support the actions of the above Kenyans that may have exposed them to attacks, and while we appreciate the fact that there were very constructive comments that were rendered by mature contributors, any rational person who has been following events at KSB in the recent past will agree that in certain instances, the comments simply went overboard as open matusi was dragged into commentary and names dropped as participants tried to outplay one another, forcing KSB to begin editing comments to protect people’s reputations and to send signals that there is what is acceptable and what is not.

Mud-slinging, intrigue, hatred and calumny
In another twist of events which also caught our attention, some commentators simply veered from both the subject matter and line of commentary to expand the parameters of debate with devastating consequences. They cleverly utilized the ingredients of current discussion topics to seek out their enemies as they threw provocative pointers targeted at specific individuals or groups of individuals.

Once these enemies detected that they were being sought or targeted indirectly, they in turn came out armed with new and lethal missiles which had nothing to do with the original debate but which tended to expand the war to new and fresh territories.

The end results was that a commentary which started as a result of the Chairman’s story ended up with someone being told that his mouth “was drooling with pus because of his injured tongue”. The guy had proudly announced that he had just been blessed with a baby girl but unfortunately, the baby ended up being referred to as a “chicken” in a moment of rage. Another example will suffice.

Using the inclination that the crisis that was facing the “Sheamani” may have been linked to promiscuity, some enemies went ahead to name certain women in Kenya-Stockholm whom they accused of perpetually practicing prostitution and KSB had to delete the names in a moment of censorship.

We carried the story that detailed events that led to the Chairman landing in custody. But when commentators took over, KSB staffers had to retreat into the banker to watch the missiles on radar screens as they were unleashed through a battalion of the Chairman’s enemies who appeared to have been coordinating attacks with terrific power.

After the comment’s section was opened, some Kenyans thought that it was a historic moment because “democracy had come to KSB”. A blogger who attacked KSB for having closed the comments section was among the first casualties and the firepower was so intense that after a few bombings “Gaza style”, he closed down his blog and went into retirement. The democracy he was calling for put him out of business and at a terrific speed which stunned observers.

Is what we are witnessing today the kind of “democracy” that pro-comments readers had envisioned? Because of my understanding of Media politics, I knew this was coming and I took a lot of time to warn that opening comments had its own consequences. The sensation that was at KSB before the emergence of comments has now proved to have been a “Tea Party” because the main boogie appear to have taken over.

Under the Freedom of expression Act, some comments could not be approved while others dumped as long as names were not being named. Even under this arrangement, there are individuals whose characters are currently in tatters because of anonymous commentators who took advantage of the new developments at KSB to get even.

As we continue to follow events, we appeal to contributors to put themselves in the shoes of those under attack because anybody could slip and your story could land at KSB. Obviously, readers need to express themselves as much as possible. However, personal abuses, naming names, using offensive language and engaging in character assassination is what we believe should be avoided.

We encourage readers to use the opportunity to comment responsibly because if focus is concentrated on personal attacks, it is inter-personal relationships that will end up being destroyed probably for ever.

There is a point when “a comment ceases to be a comment” and becomes a pure abuse. We encourage readers to use the new facility with dignity and to take advantage of the possibility of sending comments anonymously to try and build, reconstruct and encourage positivity as opposed to the current situation where what is being promoted is intrigue, hatred, calumny, mud-slinging and sheer malice.

Okoth Osewe

January 26, 2009 Posted by makozewe | News & Analysis | 16 Comments