Just like in Kenya, the debate about the draft Constitution continued to rage in Stockholm during the month of February. According to Mwandawiro Mghanga, a Kenyan who was formerly exiled in Sweden, the Constitution that Kenyans had written had elevated the country’s top leadership from an Imperial president to a King. Mwandawiro made the remarks in an opinion article that was published at KSB.
Contributing to the same debate, I argued here that in as much as it was important for Kenyans to have a new Constitution, it must not be forgotten that the Constitution is a piece of paper that could be violated by the ruling classes if their interests were at stake. My position was that the promulgation of a new Constitution could advance the democratic struggle in Kenya but that the document alone could not be relied upon to put food on the table or guarantee Kenyans health services if its implementers are not acting in the interest of the masses of the Kenyan people.
Apart from politics, other developments took place during the month of February. During the first week of the month, Moses and Pamela organized a highly successful baby shower that was attended by a cross section of Kenyans including Mr. and Mrs. Muirani, Mr. and Mrs. Njenga, Mr. Ken Munge, Ms. Irene Wakonyo, Ms. Sophia Njoroge and Ms. Catherine Maundu. The combination of top personalities who attended the event was significant because majority of those who attended are the same Kenyans who congregated to set up the ill-fated Kenya Christian Union (KCU), an organization which later turned into a battle ground of “Christian wars” ahead of Apostle Karanja’s second visit to Sweden.
At KSB, sensational news can come from any direction. As the month progressed, news about a paperless Kenyan chick, who was ballooned by another Kenyan, came back on the limelight. This time around, it was good news because the chick had delivered while the Kenyan who was responsible for distributing the “fireworks” also accepted to take responsibility for his actions. The couple moved in to live together in what many observers hoped, would be a life of eternal bliss.
In Kenya-Stockholm, intermarriages, especially between black Kenyans and white Swedes, are a permanent feature of the tiny community. As older relationships wither or collapse, new ones are started because the generations come and go. What changes are the dynamics of these relationships and in February, the famed Kenyan, Masumbuko, entered into problems which nearly led to his deportation had he not been saved by Anika, a secret girlfriend he had been hanyaring on the sidelines when his Swedish girlfriend was heavily pregnant. The game ended when Masumbuko split up with his first girlfriend to live with Anika who helped him fix his Mapepe.
A year could be very long although it could also be very shot. In February, a significant change happened at the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm. Ms Jenipher Awuor, the second in command after Purity, was recalled. Awuor’s departure was a big blow to Ambassador Purity Mihindi because she is the only member of staff who fused well with Purity’s personal chemistry. Apart from her pompous style and authoritarian methods of leadership, Awuor had somehow perfected the art of keeping away from Kenyans, a trait that was inherited by Purity when she was posted at the Embassy. The two Embassy ladies seemed to share a general dislike of Kenyans because they believed that Kenyans consume too much booze.
Okoth Osewe as Miguna Miguna
However, what made Awuor grab headlines at KSB was her tendency of acting as a “hand bag carrier” for Purity during official functions. When she was eventually recalled, no Kenyan shade any tears because her departure was more of good riddance than a significant loss. For many Kenyans, what was important was that Awuor was replaced by a new staff member by the name of Mr. A. Andambi. Initially, Andambi kept a very low profile, probably after being warned about the unpredictability of Wakenya. In fact, one could sympathize with Andambi because he entered the scene when Purity had been working hard to isolate key Embassy staff from Kenyans here.
If Andambi was to come in and begin an aggressive integration program, he could have rubbed Purity on the wrong side because he could have been seen to have been opposing official policy of “no interaction”. Andambi appears to have taken his cue because although he tries to exploit every opportunity to mingle, he makes sure that he does not overdo it. In short, he knows that there is a limit as to how deep he can penetrate without hurting Purity. Andambi’s biggest nightmare is that if he makes any miscalculations, a phone call to Kibaki by Purity could lead to him packing his baggage back to Kenya even before the end of his “tour of duty” so it is in his interest that he toes the line.
Without politics, Kenya Stockholm becomes very boring. At some stage, active Kenyans have always intervened in the country’s politics back home and this is a very strong tradition. During the month of February, Mrs Hellen Opwapo, the Chairlady of ODM Scandinavia, blasted William Ruto, the renegade ODM MP, for his disruptive activities within the Party.
Responding to allegations of corruption, Mrs. Opwapo called on Ruto to “step aside” and allow for investigations into the corruption allegations. ODM-Scandinavia is one of the political Parties that has remained active in Stockholm and the intervention of Mrs. Opwapo was not out of the blue. It can only be hoped that the Party will keep itself busy by providing direction to political events back home.
On the Entertainment scene, winter was beginning to ebb away and Sound of Blackness threw a “Spring-break Jam” Party to warm up Wakenya and prepare them for Spring after one of the coldest winters in Swedish history. It is about the same time when Chebet, a Kenyan teacher, called on Kenyans interested in the teaching profession to get in touch with her for some tit-bits.
February was also the same month when calls for the resignation of Ambassador Bethwel Kiplagat from the Truth Commission intensified in Stockholm. According to views that were expressed, Kiplagat could not chair the Commission because he had been implicated in several human rights abuses while others alleged that he may have been linked to the murder of former Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Robert Ouko.
As February came to an end, news arrived in Stockholm that a Kenyan Weekly had mistakenly published my picture thinking that I was Miguna Miguna, a Kenyan who works at PM Odinga’s Office in Kenya. Naturally, I seized on the opportunity to confront the paper and demand for corrections although I never had time to follow up the matter because it was petty. The Weekly had portrayed Miguna Miguna negatively using allegations which could not be authenticated but that is how the Kenyan gutter Press operates.
Okoth Osewe
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OSEWE YOU are GOOD…this kind of column..ROCKS BIG. Keep it up!
WOW – you interviewed Mwandawiro Mghanga – why are you not kneeling in prayers right now. When people risk their lives for you you are supposed to treat them like Jesus. Act like this dude is Jesus because he is.
KSB: Kamatana, what exactly are you saying and how is your beef connected to this thread? Why should someone kneel in prayers? who risked their lives for whom and for what purpose? Which dude are you talking about? Back to you.
Mr Osewe Can you please enlight your leaders who is carrying Purity Muhindis hand -bag aka toilet now since ,I dont think Purity can manage to operate properly without a carrier who assists her with taking care of her toilet-handbags.Many will agree with these views because as a saying says masters business cannot fuction and operate fully without lawful and obidient slaves.
Also I am happy you featured in a positive way someone who is not a Luo!!!
a flurry of activities Uhuru and Ruto plus others named by Ocampo the Six PEV war-criminals banks transfers to other names, not even family names, in new trust funds Accounts.
Listen if the Sudan President Bashir as stated by Wikileaks has accounts Britain at the Lloyds Banking Group, according to the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the British have yet to freeze his accounts!
what hope do Kenyans have to see the Ocampo six accounts abroad frozen, forget about Kenya Kibaki will not allow Uhuru na Mama Ngina’s bank accounts to be Frozen sources say she and her son Uhuru have a joint signatory to all Kenyatta family accounts. As for Ruto and the other Six? not sure!
Does A Vp of a Failed State need such a Funny drug-warlord Paradise where only previlaged drug -barons live when Kenyas Displaced (IDPs) are living in tents three years since last elections<http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/VP%20to%20move%20into%20new%20official%20house%20by%20April%20/-/1064/1079594/-/14yna7kz/-/index.html
KSB: Mwandishi, please, note that this section is intended for comments related to storos published at KSB, not fishing storos from other sights then making a point here. Many KSB readers have the capacity to read the Nation so you don’t have to use this section as an extension of the Nation. Although pasting links to support your claims is allowed, a continous campaign to link from other sites will be rejected by the system which has an internal spam-filtering facility.
I mean that Mwandawiro is an impressive patriot, and no there is no beef what gave you that impression? Don’t assume beef where there is none.
KSB: Kamatana, running this place is not easy. Sometimes, I miss the point of commentators and this prompts me to seek clarifications. Sometimes, readers challenge me and I have to respond. Ndugu Mwandawiro’s public record in the struggle does not need any further emphasis. All is well that ends well.
Have you ever wondered why it is that decisions made by the executive just make you wonder what kind of advisors are surrounding the president and if they really do have something in the space between their ears? Have you wondered why it is that certain key posts in government cannot be filled by any other tribe outside GEMA or the Mount Kenya tribes as some would like to call them? A good example is the Finance docket. What tribe is the minister of Finance? What tribe was his predecessor? And what tribe was the acting Finance minister before the current appointment? What tribe is the PS? What about the Central Bank of Kenya? What tribe is the governor who was appointed instead of a very capable and brave Kenyan woman called Mrs Mwatela? Remember her?
But closer to the subject of my post today let us take a look at security. What tribe is the head of intelligence in Kenya? What tribe is the new police commissioner? What tribe is the minister in charge of internal security? Did you know that all the ministers in this docket during the Kibaki administration have come from the same tribe? Mere coincidence? Or will you choose to give me an Alfred-Mutua-spin answer to counter my facts. Remember the one about the government having more Luhyas than any other tribe according to a Mutua audit. That made me think that maybe the government employs too many watchmen and cooks. Excuse my joke but my mother hails from the land of ingokho, feelanga free and natuma-salamu so I guess I am allowed this joke.
Kenyans need to know that there is a good reason to everything and many of the answers can be found in history. As I told a friend the other day, to understand the Kibaki administration you need to understand the Kenyatta administration because the difference between the two is continuously blurring before my very eyes every day.
To shed more light here, lets go back to 1964. The then infant Kenyatta government was just beginning to settle in and the mood deep inside that administration at the time is important to note here. That mood was ruled by one central emotion; fear.
Let me explain. In that year some rather frightening events unfolded in rapid succession. The year started with a very bloody coup in neighbouring Zanizibar. The coup was orchestrated by a Ugandan policeman called Okello. One description of the events in Zanzibar in Januray 1964 sums it all up rather neatly. They said that there were “rivers of Arab blood flowing on the streets of the Stone town.” Closer to Nairobi, this was closely followed by a very serious army mutiny at the Lanet barracks in Nakuru. Details of it are still very scanty to this day, but Tom Mboya played a key role in finally getting things under control. Read more about this in an earlier Events across Africa and especially in Nigeria where military coups were happening at a speed that is almost similar to the way that country produces movies these days, were causing even more fear in the corridors of power in Nairobi.
The writing was clearly on the wall. The priority had to be how to survive. Development and fair appointments based only on merit would have to take a back seat. It was clear that any wise African president had to find people they could trust and preferably folks they could speak to in their mother tongue. And this had nothing to do with properly understanding instructions. This led to a very dangerous precedent where the president’s closest advisors increasingly became people form his community and ultimately from his village. To prove it, it is instructive to note that at the height of the Kenyatta administration, oaths were taken by senior offivcials in government and the security forces to ensure that the presidency would never cross River Chania (that is the river that divides Kikuyus from Kiambu with their close brothers from Nyeri.
What many Kenyans may have not realized at the time is the grave danger of having all your closest advisors being people from your village who all think and reason the same. What do you think that does to the quality of decision-making?