Makozewe

Oct

29

2026

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By Makozewe

Your Vote, Your Voice: IEBC Opens Virtual Door to Kenyans Across Scandinavia

Diasporafeaturednews

Kenyans across Scandinavia have an opportunity to put their electoral concerns directly to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission this Saturday, 31 October 2026, during a virtual meeting on diaspora voter registration and proposed voting arrangements for the 10 August 2027 election. Organised by IEBC, with the Kenyan Embassy playing a supportive role, this engagement marks a major breakthrough in direct contact with the Commission during its Scandinavian visit. It takes the conversation beyond an embassy room and opens it to a geographically scattered community whose democratic rights deserve practical expression. From an Embassy Room to a Regional Conversation The…

Oct

28

2026

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By Makozewe

Stockholm Embassy Talks Open Path to Nordic Voting: Prof Oduol Identifies Four Nordic Capitals

Diaspora, Newsfeaturednews

Kenyans in the Nordic region could secure a significant expansion of electoral participation in 2027 following consultations between the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and diaspora representatives at the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm. Commissioner Francis Oduol, who led the substantive briefing, indicated that the delegation would recommend polling arrangements in Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo and Copenhagen. This could dismantle geographical barriers that have constrained participation. The proposal remains subject to approval by the full Commission. For Kenyans who missed the meeting, the central message is clear: prepare, strengthen community coordination and await authoritative confirmation. Four Capitals Proposed as Diaspora Voting Expands…

Oct

27

2026

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By Makozewe

THE DIASPORA VOTE IS NOT A FAVOUR: Kenyans in Sweden Face a Historic Moment With IEBC

Diaspora, News

Kenyans in Sweden have a long-awaited opportunity to demand their rightful place in Kenya’s democracy. On Wednesday, 28 October 2026, at 10:00 a.m., officials from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will meet representatives of Kenyan diaspora associations at the Kenyan Embassy, Birger Jarlsgatan 37, 2nd Floor, 111 45 Stockholm. The invitation has come late, with the meeting taking place tomorrow. Nevertheless, the issue is too important to ignore. Association leaders who can attend should seize this opportunity to place the concerns of Kenyans in the region directly before the electoral commission. A Right Long Denied For years, Kenyans…

Oct

16

2026

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By Makozewe

The Odinga Dynasty at War: One Family, Four Political Destinations, and the Scramble for the Luo Vote

Analysisfeaturednews

Raila Odinga's first death anniversary has exposed an extraordinary political paradox: a dynasty fractured by competing ambitions, an ODM party stranded between government and opposition, and an increasingly ferocious struggle for control of the Luo electorate. The patriarch is gone, but his political inheritance has become a battlefield where family loyalty, personal ambition and ideological confusion collide. Raila's Anniversary: When Mourning Became Political Mutiny What should have been a solemn commemoration of Raila Odinga's legacy became a spectacle of factional suspicion and political antagonism. Ida Odinga's invitation of opposition personalities, including Kalonzo Musyoka, Martha Karua, Babu Owino and Edwin Sifuna,…

Oct

15

2026

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By Makozewe

Raila’s First Anniversary: When the Vultures of Rumour Came Circling for Oburu

Editorial Commentfeatured, featurednews

What should have been a solemn celebration of Raila Odinga's legacy became a disturbing spectacle of political disorder and reckless speculation about the life of his elder brother. When Remembrance Became a Theatre of Absurdity Raila Odinga's first death anniversary should have been an occasion of profound historical reflection, a moment when a nation revisited the extraordinary political journey of a man who spent decades confronting authoritarianism and reshaping Kenya's democratic landscape. Instead, the commemorations at Migwena Cultural Grounds in Bondo descended into a cacophony of competing chants, political tensions and unsettling speculation about the whereabouts of his elder brother,…

Oct

14

2026

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By Makozewe

The Congolese Music Legend Who Took His Guitar From Katanga To Stockholm

News

From Tanzania's legendary Orchestra Safari Sound to Sweden's Dekula Band, a remarkable musical journey ends at 76, leaving behind decades of infectious rhythms, unforgettable performances and a legacy spanning three countries. The guitar has fallen silent, but the music refuses to die. Gaby Kababa Nkomba, the Congolese-born guitarist, singer and composer who helped carry the irresistible rhythms of Central and East Africa into Scandinavia, has died in Stockholm at the age of 76. His passing on 5 October 2026 brings down the curtain on a musical journey that began in the copper-rich province of Katanga, flourished in Tanzania's vibrant dance-band…

Oct

11

2026

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By Makozewe

Odungi Randa: From Nyayo House Torture Chambers to the Stool of Luo Elderhood

Biographies

The story of Odungi Randa cannot adequately be told simply by saying that he became Chairman—or Ker—of the Luo Council of Elders. His biography runs through some of the most turbulent chapters of Kenya's political history: colonial rule, the struggle around independence, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga's break with the post-independence establishment, the Kenya People's Union, political repression under the one-party state, detention and torture at Nyayo House, and finally his emergence decades later as an elder seeking to arbitrate questions of Luo culture, leadership and unity. It is, in many respects, the story of a man who moved from the margins…

Oct

10

2026

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By Makozewe

Raila Odinga: The Man Who Challenged the State but Left Capitalism Standing

Analysiscapitalism in Kenya, Capitalist Accommodation, Class Struggle in Kenya, Constitutional Reform in Kenya, Democracy and Resistance, Kenyan Political History, Political Liberation, Raila Amolo Odinga, Raila Odinga Class Analysis, Raila Odinga Legacy

A Class Analysis of Political Resistance, Capitalist Accommodation and the Limits of Democratic Reform As we commemorate Raila Amolo Odinga, historical honesty demands that we move beyond familiar narratives of political persecution, electoral injustice, heroic resistance and personal sacrifice. These are established chapters of his political biography. What requires deeper interrogation is the ideological content of his politics, the class forces that sustained his movement, and the economic order that survived his decades of political struggle. Raila was unquestionably a formidable protagonist in Kenya's democratic transformation. Yet political courage is not synonymous with revolutionary consciousness. Opposition to dictatorship does not…

Sep

12

2026

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By Makozewe

Fredrick Valentine Opwapo Ogai: Soldier, Political Detainee, 1982 Coup Participant and Kenyan Exile in Sweden

Biographieskenya exiles, opwapo ogae, SWEDEN

From the Military to Political Resistance Fredrick Valentine Opwapo Ogai, also widely remembered as Opwapo Ogae, was a Kenyan former soldier, political activist, political detainee and participant in the failed 1 August 1982 coup attempt against President Daniel arap Moi. His political history stretched much further back than the dramatic events of 1982. Indeed, Opwapo's life connects three turbulent periods in Kenya's post-independence history: the suppression of the Kenya People's Union under President Jomo Kenyatta, the attempted overthrow of Moi in 1982, and the political exile movement that subsequently developed among Kenyans living in Europe. Official records establish his name…

Sep

10

2026

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By Makozewe

Oyangi Mbaja: The Forgotten Radical Who Fought Colonialism, Kenyatta-Era Repression and One-Party Rule in Kenya

Biographies

Joram Japheth Oyangi Mbaja—whose name also appears in historical records as Jafetha Oyangi Mbaja, Japhetha Mbaja Oyangi, and more commonly simply Oyangi Mbaja—belongs to a generation of Kenyan political activists whose contribution to the struggle for freedom extended far beyond the formal achievement of independence in 1963. He was an anti-colonial agitator, political organiser, trade-union-linked activist, Kenya People’s Union figure, political prisoner and associate of some of the most consequential opposition leaders in Kenya's twentieth-century history. Yet Mbaja occupies an unusual position in Kenya's historical memory. He appears repeatedly in government records, newspapers, histories of opposition politics and human-rights documentation,…