The case of Cheptoo, a Kenyan refugee facing deportation, is typical of a growing stream of young and energetic Kenyans running away from the country to escape from poverty and deprivation. Cheptoo is not alone. There are several Kenyans in her category who are here but who have already succeeded with their paper work.
Some of these Kenyans could be the same ones undermining her struggle for survival while others have converted it into a subject of ridicule. The case of economic immigrants looking for greener pastures is not unique to Kenyans. The problem with the Cheptoo case is that her strategy is out in the open while it is deemed weak by an assortment of “Kenya-Stockholm” experts who have supposedly examined the details.
The negative comments on the Cheptoo case are based on a growing and vulture-like culture among Kenyans in Stockholm to reduce one another to garbage or non do-gooders. The community is adopting a debased culture of brutality in the face of suffering, celebration in the face of perceived failure, and an inclination towards “adding petrol” to the fire even if it is a Kenyan brother or sister roasting in the furnace to near death.
In the past, it was possible to blame the messenger who was excavating these stories as a matter of pass-time but now, the real hyenas are surfing to feast on each and every calamity that befalls a country man or woman here in Stockholm. I dare say that slowly, I may be emerging as an angel who may one day sit at the right hand of the father because what KSB readers have been treated to since the comment section was opened reduces the main stories to sheer headlines that starves the reader of dirty detail.
Look at what happened after the Hellen story popped up in the open. Her enemies (real or imagined) came out to feast on the sensational details with gusto, occasionally volunteering new and dirty facts in the case as Hellen faced a bashing from left, right and center. Hellen was in the process of making her papers although she may have miscalculated with the Aftonbladet publicity by making statements that were viewed by Kenyans here as undermining the integrity of the Nation and Kenyans in particular. The story was published at KSB as a human interest story which had already been published in a leading Swedish paper but what happened?
Then Mr. Antony Adiwa got into problems with Lenza over a ticketing issue thereby creating a huge crisis which will take time to deal with. This time, Kenyans went back to the Internet archives to dig out a mountain of past errors in the Adiwa business to be brought at KSB for supper. It was a free for all and every commentator made sure that Mr. Adiwa felt the heat. KSB could not stop the comments after shreds of evidence allegedly of wrong doing began to line up one by one. As examples that pointed to wrong doing were poured out, names were also dropped. Adiwa’s failure to counter the allegations only added credence to possible guilt.
Our little Cheptoo and the lust of bachaleros
Now, the reputation of Adiwa is at stake while the reputation of his Agency is hanging on the balance because of fellow Kenyans seeking to get even. Throughout the Adiwa attacks, nobody was heard calling for forgiveness of sins. Members of the Bagarmossen church simply retreated to their apartments instead of providing direction towards possible atonement.
Is there anybody who has travelled to Kenya and came back without a problem with an “Adiwa ticket?” I think so. Did they also come up to defend Adiwa? The answer is no because they were also enjoying the beatings for no apparent reason. There was no stone that was left unturned and even the heavier “Jungu stones” were turned in a moment of rage.
There should be no mistake about this commentary. Kenya-Stockholmers found to be preaching water while sipping red wine should definitely carry their own crosses on the day of crucifixion and KSB will not be there to defend anybody.
Even in Kenya, suspected perpetrators of post election violence will now face a home-made tribunal where they are expected to defend themselves. What is notable is the brutality with which Kenyans in Stockholm are calling for accountability and the lack of mercy even in cases where there has been no direct wrong doing to a particular person. Take the case of Tonny.
He simply said that he was homeless after he was chucked out of his former wife’s house following a stroke attack on the lady. That was enough to open the flood gates of rebuke and ostricization. The family of his ex did not even have to defend themselves for allegedly having thrown Tonny out because there was a whole squadron of commentators to aim and fire missiles of different capacities.
From Tonny’s apparent lamentation, KSB readers learnt more than they had bargained for about Tonny as a person and how his life is allegedly organized. Just like Mr. Adiwa, the usually vocal Tonny has not made a single response to a million accusations. That was after Clay Onyango was treated to lengthy lectures of sorts that do not have to be repeated here. Interestingly, some Kenyans are very happy with the comments because they argue that as you make your bed so must you sleep or tuna on it.
Our little Cheptoo has not just been subjected to a thorough beating but she has become an object of sexual lust by bachaleros thirsting to lay her on their idle and king sized beds that may not have been rocking for weeks. One daring bachalero captured her showering with him in his bath tab on Christmas day. He was even sure to “rise to the occasion” as Cheptoo (whom he christened “Chep”) swings towards the kitchen to make him “that evening tea” and blah blah blah.
Should commentators get away with anything anonymously?
Further, Cheptoo’s picture has gone through an avalanche of analysis and consequently given rise to a deluge of conclusions about her. Although her refugee bait to the Swedish authorities had a village setting which positioned her as a victim fleeing from Female Genital Mutilation, commentators have already poked holes on the story to posit that she looked much more sophisticated to fit into a set up where she could have been hiding in a muddy maize plantation after fleeing from the knife.
She may have weaved her bait with the understanding that the Swedes might not be suspicious with “a case of the knife” at 21 years but commentators may now have jogged the minds of the authorities with presentations to the effect that at 21, she had already passed the “cutting age”.
Application of make-up, well trimmed eye brows, an innocent posture and other additions in her looks were all combined to package her as a disco-oriented stylish urbanite whose roots pointed more to Nairobi than some grass thatched hut near some maize plantation where she claimed, she hid before boarding a plane to Sweden. Yenyewe, picturing her from a maize plantation to a “knife and fork based” supper in KLM cruising at higher altitudes could be hard and people could just have hit the mark.
I sympathized with a fellow blogger who was reduced to “a beast” after he allegedly beat his ex senseless. The dressing down was almost spontaneous while the venom “tasted” like that coming from “rattle snakes”. This blogger, we were told, has been preaching peace in Stockholm but the way he was descended upon must have scared every potential wife beater or molester of women for it was harsh to be exact.
The blogger has not posted anything about the incident at his blog to give direction, a sign that when scandal hits home ground, silence could as well be golden. Some fans questioned why I have not exploited the story to attack the blogger. The answer is that I was already in shock at the sample of attacks by “comment brigades” and I was just too terrified to come online”.
It looks like Kenya-Stockholmers may have to brace for more intelligence and entertainment from the comments section which some people believe, was a sign that “democracy had come to KSB” where Osewe has been the arch dictator. I warned several times that commentary might come with its own complications but some Kenyans took these warnings as defenses.
Now that the commentators are here (just like the green-horns), some readers have began to understand the reality of the new situation at KSB. There will be no room for people to say anything anonymously hoping to get away. The hand of censorship will be at hand to chop down comments that put other people’s reputations at risk without tangible evidence.
A lot of water has already passed under the bridge during the “comments initiation period”. While, readers are encouraged to use the comments section to correct wrong doing, emphasis should be placed on building and not destroying one another because we are very far away from home.
Okoth Osewe
About the Author
Bwana Osewe,you are surely the MASTER of summisation of scandals and tribulations of” WAKENYA VS WAKENYA in Stockholm that was…….”,and you have scribed it in a candid and open manner.I further reiterate that you have projected KSB forum to its pupae stage thereby capturing all cross section of positive and negative crticism if not skepticism and thats democracy in it self. Further more you have shed the sportlight on contacious issues that needs to be tackled by wakenya in order to avade stanting progress(individual,family or collective progress).Having said that,i would like to request you to have a day,of your book (RAILA ODINGA`S STOLEN PRESIDENCY)signing and buying day……..By the way before i rest,kenyas tax payers money is being used to fund all diplomatic missions and staff abroad including stockholm,querry is:why has purity not commented or showed caurse in genuine issues affecting WAKENYA in stockholm..please KSB sniff!!something.We need to put her at check apende asi pende!!!!!
Osewe, your synopsis on KSB commentaries depicts the mood of Kenya-Stockholmers who are fed up with individuals that don’t portray the community positively. For Adiwa, it was “just a matter of time” before the reality came out in the open. Kenyans have been quite supportive of his travel agency, but what did he expect after so many blunders? There are many other Kenyans who have been stranded because of him, but did not comment on their experiences.
All commentators focused on Adiwa’s incompetence in bookings and did not get personal with him, which is a clear sign that they do not want to damage one’s reputation beyond the given topic. A similar trend was witnessed in the case of Clay Onyango. People stuck to the topic and even avoided earlier blog war stories that took place between him and KSB.
The Kenyan blogger was not even mentioned by name, yet people know him. Most commentators are mature enough to limit themselves; otherwise both Adiwa and Clay have more dirty garments that if washed at KSB, could cause another Tsunami.
Tony just opened a can of worms by going public at KSB. Interestingly, he had sympathizers too. However, given the sour relations with his ex wife’s relatives and his poor record of treating her, it was time to tell him that an African man should do better. After all, he has been provided the necessary papers, so what more does he want?
Tony has Heteroplus which he should hold onto for survival. Many African communities acknowledge that men are the providers, not beggars or parasites, as he wants to show after being given the necessary survival tools. Many Kenyans want progress and not stagnation from noisemakers like Tony, who always blame others for their individual mistakes.
On Hellen Awuor’s case, she brought it to herself by seeking sympathy through a Swedish newspaper, yet had damaged young Brian Arwa psychologically, with her sly moves to make papers. Kenyans had to use KSB to box her into reality.
These attacks are there to shape us so that we remain respectful to our community. Look at Grace Nduta’s recent admission that she had spent 28 days in jail, for reasons she wanted to remain private. Kenyans respected that and not a single person commented, yet might be ready with missiles to hit her.
The case of Muirani went cold after his half-hearted response that left readers yearning for more.
Cheptoo’s case shows one who was possibly misled to go to a Swedish tabloid for sympathy, almost like Hellen’s case. Many Kenyans don’t know her, but by twisting her way to reach the Swedish audience with the hope of earning sympathy, she landed into the hands of Kenyans too. It is true that many Swedes cannot differentiate between a rural and urban Kenyan, but Kenyans have the sense of sniffing out those differences.
Cheptoo’s story is weak because we know that many girls facing FGM cannot afford to buy tickets to Europe. She is an economic immigrant who should have been smart enough to deal with her claims for asylum secretly, because there are other Kenyans here who are underground, but know that the Swedish newspapers will not help them.
When these stories go to Swedish newspapers, they only help in reforming the Swedish authorities, but don’t assist many to live in Sweden. Very few refugees live in Sweden on account of their newspaper stories.
There was a Tanzanian woman who used the FGM story a few years ago and through a Swedish newspaper campaign, she managed to get her papers. However, Africans knew that the story was bogus.
All in all, long live the KSB comments section. It is the engine of this blog.
Very well put Osewe. You are extremely right in that we need to be humane and support each other especially being so far from home. Solidarity is something perhaps Kenyans in Stockholm, and indeed elsewhere abroad, need to be educated in and about.
However, if I may be so bold as to ask, does the extension of the olive branch include the likes of our beleaguered diplomats in Stockholm? They have repeatedly come under fire and ridicule for implied and factual mistakes, and yet no reconciliatory messages of have been forthcoming. Are they perhaps the exceptions?
KSB: Ndugu Muigai: I am not sure whether to call it an “olive branch”. The intention was to present an “assessment” of the direction of comments. Simply put, the comments do not constitute “a war” on the news makers to warrant “an olive branch”. When you talk about “mistakes” you need to point them out so that they can be corrected if need be. Embassy staff (esp Lady Ambassador) are in a rather unique situation because they are supposed to render services to Kenyans here and they are paid with tax money to do so. They need to continue being under public scrutiny and there will be no change of policy at KSB. Kenyans at home have put the Coalition gov on toes and they have had to be arrested/tear gassed. There is no reason why the Ambassador should not be kept running. What is your take on the little Jamhuri day that was held in Oslo?
Ndugu Osewe: Granted mistakes have to be pointed out, rectified and apologies rendered by the offending parties. However in the aftermath, the spirit of healing and looking for the way forward should hold supreme. It is in my opinion a case of human nature and also unfortunate that our Ambassador chose to avoid controversy by moving Jamuhuri to Oslo, as this only serves to entrench the notion of nonchalance on her part. I would surmise that in all it boils down to personality and character traits. We all deal with crises in different ways; some tend to side-step or go around them, while others face them head-on by taking the bull by the horns as it were. I personally do not see anything sinister in HE Ambassadors Jamuhuri stunt, naturally I do not mean to imply that you do, but however logically assuming that her prowess at diplomacy should be unravelled at the embassy, her handling of crises so far does reveal startling contradictions in regard to the position she holds and the office she occupies.
KSB: Point noted. Issues that have been raised about the Ambassador’s weaknesses and short-comings could be addressed but, as you point out, this requires a degree of boldness and a fearless ability to confront the issues with the parties concerned. Sergon and Kinyanjui did it and there should be no reason why Purity should not be able to do the same. Her policy of silence and “revenge activities” against Kenyans here will not work in her interest on the long term. She is using the “Salim tactic of ignore them” which is outdated in the multiparty era. I am in agreement with your general thesis on the matter.
KSB is just telling it as it is. If we are not self-critical, we shall never improve as Kenya-Stockholmers. In cases where the likes of Adiwa seek to profit by short-changing Kenyans, there is just no point keeping quiet.
Other parasites like Tony and Hellen who seek sympathy by “stepping” on others, should know that time cathes up with their sleazy habits. Even Benard Madoff, of the current infamous Ponzi Scheme at NASDAQ in the USA, has been nabbed.
As Osewe put it, Ambassador Muhindi should only expect reprieve if she plays ball with all Kenya-Stockhomers and not just a section poached for free food and drinks to waste tax payers’ money. She will remain KSB’s fodder for the asking during her tour of duty.
Bwana, Osewe,as the pricipal KSB scribe,i requested you humbly “in a need to know basis” if you can launch your book(RAILA ODINGA`S STOLEN PRESIDENCY)live i.e book day so that someone like me who is an ardent “KSB CHECKER” to get you to sign my book….and may be make it a chick chat forum giving some insights to wakenya who have the same aspirations like you……i mean you inspire poeple if you dont know.I would like to get your response on that querry.
Private eye: Thanks for your compliments. Obviously, the book will HAVE TO BE LAUNCHED in Stockholm where Kenyans, friends and other well wishers will all be invited. Initially, the “Launch committee” thought that the big date would be Sato 27th December but, as you probably know, majority of venues are closed in Stockholm because of Xmass (besides people are bizzi with the holidays) so the launch may have to be pushed to January which is just two weeks away. I will be very glad to share my experience with you and other Kenyans with similar interests. Kenyans in Stockholm are very brilliant people and we need to take new steps as we address the crisis in our country. I will keep everyone updated.