Kenya Imagine

Post-independence land-grabbing in Kenyan uncovered

noreply@blogger.com (updates) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:10:00 +0000

Business Daily publishes a must-read report on land grabbing and settlement schemes (not the noun) in post colonial Kenya. Alcohol and greed feature prominently.

I am a little irritated right now

noreply@blogger.com (updates) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:07:00 +0000

One of our bloggers Amina Mohamed read a disturbing blog post. She says why.

Freedom for the thought that we hate

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:06:00 +0000

Individuals and groups have a right to their opinions and beliefs. There is absolutely no compulsion for anyone to participate in or even approve of any of these acts. If you don’t like it, don’t do it. But that doesn’t give you the right to impose on someone else.

Gathara's libertarian streak is showing.

Uganda is “under attack”

noreply@blogger.com (updates) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Uganda is under attack and, as always, it’s the mothers of the nation who are to blame.

An anti-homosexuality bill has been tabled before the Parliament of Uganda. Many have risen to denounce and oppose it, both within the country and from across the globe. Many others have risen to support it. Some in the Church have argued in favor of the capital punishment in the Bill, others have argued for life imprisonment. The ones arguing for life imprisonment are actually considered to be in opposition to the Bill. After all, in Uganda “homosexuality is already an offence under the Penal Code of Uganda as is same-sex marriage, which is prohibited by the Constitution.”

Dan Moshenberg shows why Uganda is NOT under attack.

Constitutions don't make Homophiles

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:52:00 +0000

...if the written law and social values were two cats, gay rights a mouse and we had only one bell, which one ought we to bell first? The more vicious one of course...

Matathia on priorities.

Gay Census; useful first step

noreply@blogger.com (updates) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:35:00 +0000

My honest opinion, and I will accept chastisement for my ignorance, is that homosexual Kenyans are far safer, far far safer with the government than they are with the Kenyan public. This is one of those issues like the Mau debate, or caning in schools, or the death penalty where the state will be more likely to defend and protect human rights than the public, the media or even civil society leadership will be to sue for it.

Syzygy Mandaea explains why he thinks gay Kenyans are safer with their government than they would be without: human rights, healthcare and violence.

Tribal Democracy of one man one vote and one Kilometre one vote

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:17:00 +0000

"One man one vote" is not an unreasonable request, so GEMA should have it, but GEMA should accept a federal system with regional assemblies catering to the needs of the other communities, two houses of parliament, the current house which is reorganized to reflect "one man one vote" and an upper house with equal representation from all regions. This should be modeled in such a way that while the main tenet of universal suffrage is adhered to, the rights of some Kenyans are not trashed in favour of others.

Salah weighs in on Kenyanness and the representation debate.

Reformed Church erred in hosting ethnic caucus

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:50:00 +0000

My father is an ordained minister of the RCEA, and has served it in various parts of Kenya since the mid 1970s. I am also as Kalenjin as anything else I might be, owing to my blurred ethnic heritage and command of some Kalenjin dialects. I grew up in the RCEA, and remain committed to its confession of the Christian faith, even when I'm part of faith communities outside the North Rift, where the Church's presence is strong.

Jesse Masai testifies.

Deconstructing and Reconstructing Gender

noreply@blogger.com (updates) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:04:00 +0000

When the Jamaican reggae maestro, Jimmy Cliff sung “Many Rivers to Cross” in far-flung Jamaica in 1972, the philosophical thread was certainly universal binding all struggling people who may or may not have envisioned the connection. But as one decodes the encrypted archeological relics of the living legend and the Noble Peace Laureate, Wangari Maathai , in her memoir: “Unbowed,” there is no doubt that she has wandered across many rivers—the pain, the frustration, the persecution and the humiliations finally gave way to the authentic and infectious smile on the back page of her book.

A review on Wangari Maathai's Unbowed.

Scar

noreply@blogger.com (updates) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:02:00 +0000

A casual doctor's appointment yields unexpected results. She is diagnosed with breast cancer. She slumps into her seat in shock and sadness. Her heart sinks into her abdomen with a thud! Her first instict is denial. 'No.. This cannot be. I eat healthy and exercise regularly.. How can this be? I cannot have cancer.'

"Don't worry, we caught it in its early stages," the doctor tries to reassure her, 'you'll be fine."

Read more on a breast cancer diagnosis, and details on breast cancer in Kenya.

The Patriot

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:54:00 +0000

I can still hear J.MKariuki speaking from the grave, saying that "it takes more than a flag and anational anthem" to make a nation.

Jesse Maasai on patriotism this Kenyatta day.

Why I do not read Kenyan newspapers

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:14:00 +0000

The Kenyan press have reduced their journalistic investigations to harmless rumours and their analysis to regurgitation of corporate press releases and boring belches from aging technocrats.

Salah returns to KI politics with a scorcher.

A Report on NextLevel: Interviews

noreply@blogger.com (updates) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:42:00 +0000

Several weeks ago we launched Next Level, a mentorship program for the arts. We were overwhelmed and excited by the number of applicants.. and the range in talent.

Published hereis a progress report on the process: the interviews of the finalists, and what next.

Kenya Should Invest in Sports

noreply@blogger.com (updates) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:39:00 +0000

In his inaugural article for Kenya Imagine Nicholas Oyoo Ochieng makes a case for Kenyan sportsmen and women. Sports, he argues, is a very lucrative business, and Kenya should harness the opportunity since we have some of the world's best athletes.

More.

Major-General Ali demoted

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Major-General Mohammed Hussein Ali, Police Commissioner since 2004, has been relieved of his duties and appointed to head the Postal Corporation of Kenya. (KBC, Reuters, Daily Nation). The new Commissioner of Police is Matthew Iteere, the immediate former Commandant of the General Service Unit.

Updates has a quick report and analysis of the Police Commissioner's demotion.

Our Negotiated Reality

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:35:00 +0000

He is quite possibly in this legislative reversal to ensure that he extracts from Lucy Kibaki, or any of her male relatives, the goat which the Njuri Ncheke adjudged to be his due. Thus, his Bill is compromised.

Eric Ng'eno returns; the red rag this time is Gitobu Imanyara.

Pfizer

noreply@blogger.com (updates) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:59:00 +0000

Pfizer has just been forced to cough up a couple billion dollars. The fine wasn’t because of a lawsuit, but because the company had been marketing drugs illegally. This is utter madness. What happened to the good old days when some idiot claimed that the writing on the labels was so small that he ended up taking Viagra instead of vitamins and almost… this and the other, you finish the line.

Mengo and his wit... .

I watched Mau Forest go up in flames

noreply@blogger.com (updates) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:56:00 +0000

This story is a true manifestation of stark cruelty towards natural resources and the environment at large. It gives a small window to examine the extent of damage that human beings can put themselves into while pioneered by greed and selfishness. It sheds light into the fast-growing culture that society; knowing or unknowingly promotes o ignoring impunity. The direct result of bad decisions, bad leadership and graft is evident in this story bringing forth complete destruction and environmental degradation.

Boniface Gachugu narrates.

Good Hair: My Life as an Expatriate

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:17:00 +0000

As a black woman living in England, I can never do that. Even the hairdresser at my university - and she was black- couldn't do my hair for my graduation until I had a weave put in (which she then washed and massacred).

Nanjala's hair enjoys, if that's the right verb, the expat life.

Kikuyus for Change, and Kalenjin collective responsibility

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:39:00 +0000

It is tolerably clear that the Kalenjin political class arranged the relevant bits of the post-election violence, tolerably clear that they were acting in their capacity as leaders of the Kalenjin nation in doing so, and tolerably clear that there is near-unanimous Kalenjin support for the consequences (if not, perhaps, the means) of PEV. That is why it ought to be conceded that Kalenjin bear collective responsibility for it.

Kikuyus for Change have argued that anti-Kalenjin ethnic bigotry is wrong, and that Kalenjin bear no communal responsibility for PEV. Only one of those things is true, I think.

What Kimani Maruge knew

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:42:00 +0000

Kenya Vision 2030 cannot result in development; it's just a script for our total re-colonisation.

Omtatah Okoiti knows what did Kimani Maruge knew that Kibaki doesn't.

The Never-ending House

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:18:00 +0000

While there are IDPs still living in tents, it is difficult to see why we should let the Vice-President have 17 million bob worth of toilets.

Updates has an open thread about the Vice-Presidential house.

New York Times issue on women insulting

noreply@blogger.com (updates) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:05:00 +0000

On Sunday I got to read the much-anticipated New York Times Magazine issue dedicated to women of the developing world. Before I comment on “The Women’s Crusade,” the lead story by Nicholas D. Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn, let me make one thing clear: I have deep respect for the couple. In 1990, Kristof and WuDunn became the first couple to ever win Pulitzer Prize in journalism for their coverage of China’s Tiananmen Square. In his career, Kristof has gone where few of us journalists would dare go. His continuous commentary from Darfur exposed the Sudanese government’s atrocities against civilians and earned him another Pulitzer in 2006.

Condescending? African mass of one people?

More... .

The Artificial Construct of Keeping It Real

noreply@blogger.com (updates) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:59:00 +0000

Wannabe. Oreo. Coconut. Fake. All of these contumelies will be familiar to anyone who, at some point, has been accused of "acting white." It could be something as simple as preferring heavy metal over hip-hop, or having the "wrong" accent. Whether warranted or not, the insult serves to put the recipient on notice that their behaviour has been interpreted as a form of cultural betrayal. While the situation may be more familiar to black people in the West, the accusation is not limited by geography. Even in Kenya, where we do not suffer the social disadvantages of being a minority, and where the effects of colonial racism have arguably been less devastating than the United States, it is still possible to face the charge of somehow letting the side down through one's behaviour.

More... .

Negative Ethnicity and North-Eastern Province

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Waweru) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:03:00 +0000

Once the tribe became the symbol in elections and employment, discrimination and subjugation of minorities followed; and so completely eclipsed have they been that their plight remains unheard.

Negative ethnicity is still alive in North-Eastern Kenya: it is perpetuated by criminal yet tolerated practices that turn individual grievances into clan conflict, guaranteeing constant tension in the region.

Xudayi returns with a long and comprehensive look at the NEP variety of our national pastime.