With both Christmas and New Year “now behind us”, and just like everybody else, challenges of the New Year have began. Most likely, New Year promises have been made at different levels and the task now is to begin to implement them.
Kenyans who have been following events in our country must have started the year on a negative note following the signing of the “Media bill” by President Emilio Mwai Kibaki, an unpopular event that has sparked a new wave of protests and condemnation of the President by stake holders of different shades of opinion.
At the New Year Party I attended in Märsta and which was thronged by over 100 people from different walks of life, I met a Kenyan who told me that he had decided to stop smoking after many failures. The reason why he was talking about this important resolution was because in the past, he kept information about the resolution to himself and so he had no external pressure that could help him drop the habit.
As I left the venue, he encouraged me to ask him (any time we met) whether he had stopped smoking. That sounded positive until the following day when he called me to say that there is no need of me calling him because he was back to smoking in full swing. He even justified this abrupt U-turn by saying that he made the resolution under the influence. It was a funny joke but he quickly jumped onto a new topic.
He told me how Kenyans had deserted Vasa after the price of drinks shot to 45kr a glass of the thing. This was not news to me and I reminded him that the price had since gone down because the joint was almost going bankrupt after Africans who have been chilling at the place fled to look for a new joint that could save their wallets from economic attacks during these difficult times of global economic crisis. After the close-down, the Kenyan fraternity simply relocated to a hide-out at Sveavägen that is also very close to Rådmansagatan tube station. We promised to keep in touch.
For KSB, a New Year resolution was made to “spice up the blog” by setting up a link or category that could be used to expand humor. A “Jokes link” will also be introduced in response to readers who keep on sending jokes via email which never get published because they have been “off topic” from the point of view of Kenya-Stockholm.
If it is jokes you are looking for in the Internet, you can get your feeds until you drop down because of the millions of sites peddling jokes. Despite this argument, some readers whom I have had the opportunity to discuss with think that KSB should not be so “rigid” with just Kenya-Stockholm kinda stuff. We will give it a trial and see how it goes during the New Year.
If Ambassador Purity Was in Power in Stockholm…
I don’t know whether it is temporary or permanent but a spy just told me the other day that Njoro has closed down his blog. I did try to access it and sure, it was closed down according to wordpress. Last year, Ole Ngais closed down his blog followed closely by Pastor Muraya. Although the decision of these Kenyans to close down blogs needs to be respected, the move is negative from the point of view of diversity.
As a blogger, I know running a blog is not easy and brother Muraya and other Kenyans have even wondered how I did manage to write a 464 page book on such a serious subject within such a short period of time while at the same time blogging and taking care of other serious stuff.
I think it’s because for me (and many writers who cannot stop), writing is more of a way of life than a profession. It is like preaching although you deliver through the written word. When you get in here, you must understand the dangers, depending on what you are writing about (your passion).
You could be safer writing about cars or flowers but when you try to expose scandal in the car or flower industry, you could pay with your life. You can be killed like Ken Sarawiwa of the Ogoni Movement or detained by a dictator like in the case of Ngugi wa Thiongo and other writers who have had to spend time in prison. Some people have not been happy about what is published about them at KSB (even if names are not mentioned) and you could imagine what could happen to me if they were in power in Kenya-Stockholm.
Imagine what could happen if Ambassador Purity Muhindi had the power to eliminate me or send me to prison at the stroke of a pen. Haki, I would be gone by now because KSB intelligence has whispered what she thinks about me – a nut case who should be crucified although not like Jesus Christ. A true preacher does not stop until the last day. Starting to preach to people is more of a call (if it is not business). I first got an article published in a newspaper in 1986 (more than 20 years ago) and I was just starting so readers can imagine where I am coming from.
I am very sad that I have been unable to share part of my writing experience with new comers because of their perception of me “as an enemy” to be attacked and not a mine field of experience they could benefit from. I have had lots of discussions with Munala wa Munala with whom I once had an “inter-blog war” and upon reflections over time, we are now good friends. He told me that he has been very busy to update his blog and promised to be back when he is through with his project.
Blogging: Of “Bullet Proof Vests” and “Shock Absorbers”
All the same, I hope the retired bloggers are just “chilling” and that one day, they will make that return. I know that Ole Ngais and Muraya have just started families and it’s not very easy with little babies just downloaded and changing equations within the family.
Of cause, there is the “confrontation” part of blogging especially if you are dealing with sensitive issues and here, what is necessary is both experience and patience otherwise you may become emotional and mess up stuff. You need to be both cool and strategic. You also need “bullet proof vests” or “shock absorbers” to help during attacks while the most important thing is that you need to be “scandal free”.
If you have cheated people out of their money in some kind of business or beat your ex-wife in a moment of rage, you could lose the moral ground to comment on conmanship or wife-beating because you have been a culprit who could be doing time in prison if you were brought to face justice. This is just one example.
In Kenya, the confrontation is between journalists looking for a story and politicians who feel affected by those stories. To understand the depth of the problem, Kibaki has just signed the controversial “Media bill” to try and control what can be and what cannot be published. This is tragic to say the least and it is surprising that key politicians who are known to take a stand have not passed a comment on this draconian move by His Excellency.
In the meantime, anybody who thinks that KSB will be closed down may have to wait, may be for the 2010 resolutions. Just imagine waking up one day to find a message that reads that “KSB has been closed down by the authors of the blog because of blah blah blah”. It could be like something serious must have happened to this Osewe of a person otherwise how why did he close down?
The truth is that the blog simply replaced the monthly KUWA Bulletin (KB) which I edited for seven years from 1997-2004. When conditions dictated that the Bulletin be folded, the Internet had come of age and my decision to blog did not require any effort. I am planning to begin bringing the archive of KB here at KSB so that readers can fathom a bit. The files are just chilling at their current resting place and may be, they need to be brought out because they are not serving any purpose in the archive.
As an expansion plan, I could may be add a link to reminisce about the past in Kenya-Stockholm. One day in March 1996, I went to Carlslund Refugee Reception Centre to meet a group of Kenyans who just arrived in Sweden and who traced me to come and advise them. Today, they are very important people. Some have brought their families to Sweden and started new lives while others have built new careers and they are doing very well. When I look back, I get to understand that life is a journey. We have just passed through route 2008 and still moving. There are those who never made it to cross over with us. Happy New Year and may all KSB readers have a Prosperous 2009.
Okoth Osewe
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