On the morning of 12 December 1963, Kisoi Munyao, like many of his fellow countrymen and women, had things to do. Getting ready for independence was hard work and Munyao along with many other Kenyans had been busy preparing for this day, which had finally come.

For Munyao, however, while the day was about celebration, it was also a day for very hard work. While the rest of the country prepared for its Jamhuri party he prepared to complete the final ascent up Mount Kenya so that he could plant the new flag of his newly independent country on the highest peak of its land.

Kisoi Munyao, it seems, understood the importance of symbolic gestures. Did raising the Kenyan flag on Mount Kenya make Kenya any more independent than if he hadn’t bothered? Probably not! If he had not raised the flag on Mount Kenya would Kenya have been any less independent? Probably not! Does this mean that his actions have no value? In my book, his actions are extremely valuable for a variety of reasons.

By raising the flag of the new republic of Kenya on Mount Kenya on the day of independence Munyao was proclaiming ownership of Kenya for Kenyans. He was laying down a marker, he was claiming the land, as it seems. A symbolic gesture, yes, but one with power.

In February last year together with some friends we launched Kenya28Feb. The idea was simple, at 1pm EAT on the 28th of February we would urge as many Kenyans as we could to congregate and sing all three stanzas of our National Anthem. It did not matter where you were, who you were, what you were doing, for those 3 minutes, stop, sing the national anthem and then continue with your day.

Why did we do this and why do we think it is a good idea? We felt that as Kenyans we spend too much time discussing what divides us rather than what unites us. We spend a lot of time highlighting our differences rather than sharing what brings us together. We wanted a participatory positive action, one that any Kenyan could take part in equally, regardless of socio economic status, tribe, location, race, gender, and age. Beyond participation we wanted an action that demonstrated as a country there is more that unites us than divides us. We wanted a positive action that demonstrated ownership. For far to long the symbols of our country have been inaccessible to ordinary Kenyans. I remember being shocked as a teenager to find out that I am not allowed to fly the national flag on a flagpole outside our house. I was equally shocked to learn then that only senior government officials are allowed to fly the national flag on their cars. Our 2nd president in his intellectual insecurities took our national pledge and turned it into a joke. As Kenyans it is very important that we reclaim these symbols as a step in helping us create and establish our identity as a country.

So did Kenya28Feb in 2011 work? More than we imagined! Supermarkets countrywide turned off their tills, played the National Anthem over their PA systems as shoppers and staff stood together and sang, TV and radio stations interrupted their normal programming and played the National Anthem, Kenyans gathered at places of worship, at bus stops, in parks, in schools, in offices, in shopping malls, at roadsides, in technology labs, in government offices and sang. Kenyans in the Diaspora woke up early, went to bed late so they could sing at 1PM EAT. And perhaps even more important all these actions started a debate on what our identity as Kenyans really is and what counts as effective action.

This year we ask you again to partner with us to Sing and Unite! On the 28th of February 2012 at 1pm EAT get together with at least one other Kenyan and sing all three stanzas of our national anthem, in Kiswahili or in English as a demonstration of unity. 1pm, 1 nation, 1 people, 1 anthem, united in 1 prayer for 1 Kenya.

Inevitably some will find the whole idea of a symbolic gesture distasteful. They will say that instead of singing the anthem you should write a strategic plan on how to repair our crumbling roads, that perhaps you should go out and plant trees instead, or maybe they’ll tell you to stop wasting time singing and instead draw a plan to feed and house IDPs. These are all worthy causes, without a doubt. Yet it is ridiculous to say that celebrating Kenya for 3 minutes stops us from working on those causes. As Kenyans we should be constantly engaged in our communities, constantly working to provide solutions to the problems we see around us in our society. My friends who initiated Kenya28Feb are good examples of this, in media, in film, in design, in the arts, in music, in civic society, in technology, in sports, in our companies, in our NGOs, in our foundations, we are constantly engaged with our community and I know most of you are too. So when someone tells you that you should use your time to build the country instead of singing the National Anthem tell them that you are already building the country and singing in an extension of that and then invite them to join you on the 28th!

For those who tell you that symbolic gestures are never important, remind them of Kisoi Munyao, walking up that mountain while the rest of the country partied. Remind them how he demonstrated his love and ownership for his newly independent country in a symbolic gesture. Then invite them to take ownership of our anthem and our nation together with you.

For more information check out 28feb.co.ke

28 February 2012. 1 pm, 1 nation, 1 people, 1 anthem, united in 1 prayer for 1 Kenya. Sing and Unite!

Edit 1: I misspelt Munyao – Thanks Shiko for catching that.

From early January 2011 the Kenya Red Cross has been warning of a serious drought looming in parts of Kenya. In May 2011 Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki declared the drought a national disaster as it became clear that this is the region’s worst drought in 60 years. The harsh and visible reality is that Kenyans are dying of starvation and as crops fail and livestock dies.

My friend Ahmed Salim decided to grab the bull by the horns. He started an initiative based around the concept of Kenyans in areas not affected by the drought sacrificing a meal to help feed Kenyans hit by famine. His target was for 10,000 Kenyans to donate a minimum of KSH 250 to The Kenya Red Cross Society to raise at least KSH 2.5M. Donations were to be made using mobile money services such as Safaricom’s Mpesa and Airtel’s equivalent. The Ahmed led initiative rallied under the banner of FeedKE. The Red Cross MPesa business number to use to donate was publicised as 10000 and the account was called FeedKE. Kenyan Twittersphere was ablaze with the #FeedKE hash tag. In one week 172 donations made amounting to a total of KSH 140,880.

This morning the big corporate players The Safaricom Foundation, The KCB Foundation together with the Media Owners’ Association of Kenya unveiled their appeal called KENYANS for KENYA. They aim to raise over KSH 500M in four weeks and are also collecting donations for the Red Cross via mobile money services, although in this case exclusively by Safaricom’s MPesa other mobile providers do seem to be included in the mobile money part of the appeal as far as I can tell. Social media plays a big role in their campaign and they are using the Twitter hashtag #kenyansForKenya.

Kenyans For Kenya campaign poster

This led to a energetic response from Kenyans online. Many are upset at the corporate community for not throwing their support behind the social media campaign that is already running through #FeedKE and instead launching a parallel campaign that will overshadow the 1 week old campaign. Others, including Ahmed, remind us that all that matters in the end is that Kenyans pull together to help those dying of hunger. Ahmed continuously tells us through his Twitter account that the important thing is that we rally together as nation to stop these deaths from hunger. Nanjira and Marcus have succinct thoughts and summaries of both sides of the debate.

Here is my take. Yes, the immediacy of the problem means that the most important thing, at least in the short term, is that Kenyans now have effective and efficient ways to support the relief efforts. I also understand the big corporate players being wary of throwing their considerable resources behind an initiative they do not control. I wish they had engaged with Ahmed and his campaign. A little engagement from the corporate world with the efforts already running would have done wonders at rallying the nation together.

However, they are bigger practical problems. I have spent the last week telling everyone to donate to the Red Cross’ relief efforts using the MPesa Business Number 10000 and bill account FEEDKe then today the Red Cross in a massive launch of what is bound to be one of the biggest media campaigns ever conducted in Kenya is telling people to use MPesa Business Number 111111 and bill account 111111. I’ve already had someone ask me if the funds they sent to 10000 really went to the Red Cross! The Red Cross had to address this, through its Twitter account, and reassure people that both campaigns were legitimate.

This is the main problem and a big problem. Having different hashtags on Twitter is one thing, having different MPesa business numbers and MPesa bill account numbers for one campaign which relies primarily on mobile money payments as the avenue for collection donations is a ridiculous situation to be in.

The lesson here and what needs to happen in the future is that the Kenya Red Cross needs to own their campaigns. As they plan to launch a relief effort they should develop a strategy that covers donations, communications, social media etc. That way Ahmed, Safaricom Foundation, KCB Foundation and anyone else who wants to help push the campaign just latches on to something the Red Cross is already doing and already owns.

What is shown here is that a mass fund raising plan that does not include a social media strategy as part of its communication planning is incomplete. Not only in the “west” but also in Kenya. Luckily for the Red Cross there are digital communication experts around who can help develop plans that include a social media strategy as part of a fund raising effort.

Thanks for reading, remember to donate!

The United States Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (the “Kingpin Act”) became law in the United States on December 3, 1999. Its purpose is

to deny significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their related businesses, and their operatives access to the U.S. financial system and to prohibit all trade and transactions between the traffickers and U.S. companies and individuals. The Kingpin Act authorizes the President to take these actions when he determines that a foreign person plays a significant role in international narcotics trafficking.

In other words Kingpin Act targets, on a worldwide basis, significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their organizations, and operatives by making it illegal for any U.S. company or any U.S. individual to conduct any financial transactions with them.

Individuals who violate the Kingpin Act are subject to criminal penalties

of up to 10 years in prison and/or fines pursuant to Title 18 of the U.S. Code. Entities that violate the Act face criminal penalties in the form of fines up to USD 10 million; officers, directors, or agents of an entity who knowingly participate in a violation of the Kingpin Act are subject to criminal penalties of up to 30 years in imprison and/or a USD 5 million fine. The Kingpin Act also provides for civil penalties of up to USD 1.075 million against individuals or entities that violate its provisions.

Annually on the 1st of June the U.S. President can write to the U.S. Congress with a list of individuals to be sanctioned under the Act. On the 1st of June 2011, that list contained the names of two Kenyans; John Harun Mwau and Naima Mohamed Nyakiniywa.

Facebook is a social networking service and website operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Facebook, Inc was founded in 2004 and is based in Palo Alto, California. It is a U.S. company. Ownership of Facebook, Inc is shared between Mark Zuckerberg, Accel Partners, Digital Sky Technologies, Greylock Partners, Meritech Capital Partners and Microsoft amongst others. Most are U.S. citizens and U.S. companies.

Remember that U.S. companies and U.S. individuals are forbidden from any financial transactions with narcotics traffickers named through the Kingpin Act. The fines for ignoring the Act range from USD 1 million to USD 10 million and there’s also the not very little matter of the possibility of 30 years imprisonment.

Last night I started noticing adverts on Facebook for John Harun Mwau’s Facebook page. The text for the ad reads:

Success and Wealth are but a state of mind. Discover the principles that guided me to Success on My Facebook Page.

A screenshot of the ad is below:

John Harun Mwau Facebook Ad - Screenshot

These ads are typical paid for, they usually involve some sort of financial transaction. The type of transaction the Kingpin Act forbids.

Until otherwise explained it looks like Facebook, Inc may have violated the Kingpin Act and is putting itself, its owners (such as Zuckerberg), its partners (such as Microsoft – whose technology runs the ads) at the risk of some very serious fines and jail time. All for a few ads which probably generated just a couple hundred of dollars in revenue for Facebook, Inc.

The world is a village. You never know when a “significant narcotics trafficker” is going to buy ads on your service. The real question here perhaps is what will these U.S. companies, such as Facebook and Microsoft, do when they find out individuals they are not allowed to do business with are buying their services?

This is a post I should have written a long time ago yet this is a post I wish I never had to write.

This is a post in three parts, the good, the bad, the ugly. It is long, almost 1600 words. Please read it in its entirety.

The Good

One of the most positive things about Kenya today is the heavy investment in core infrastructure across the country. Kenya fell into a great state of disrepair in the decades of the Moi dictatorship. The Kibaki’s administration greatest positive legacy is addressing this neglect of national infrastructure through Kenya’s Vision 2030 (driving mission: A Globally Competitive and Prosperous Kenya). Most of this development takes place away from the public eye. For example the developments to upgrade Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from the embarrassment it is now into a world class airport, the development of a free port, commuter rail, rapid bus transit system and development of the new transport corridor from Lamu to Southern Sudan and Ethiopia.

For those of us living in Nairobi the most visible Vision 2030 project is the upgrading of Nairobi-Thika Highway which is expected to be completed by June 2012 at the cost of approximately USD 380 million. To be honest, upgrading is too small a word. Thika Road, for decades the home to some of the most notorious traffic jams in the world, is being ripped up, stretched, elevated, and beautified. Those notorious traffic jams, which are now even worse due to the road works, are tolerated because you can see what is coming. Short term pain for long term gain, if you will. It will be a source of great pride when this project is completed!

The Bad

The Nairobi-Thika Highway is one of the least safe places to be in Nairobi today to say the least. The absence of safety measure is shocking in its complete absence along the whole road. It is impossible to drive on Thika Road safely, which would be unacceptable for the smallest road in Kenya yet this is a flagship project of the National Transport Infrastructure plan.

Here are two examples.

Example 1

Harry Thuku Road in the centre of Nairobi CBD is at one end of the Nairobi-Thika Highway project. Harry Thuku Road hosts many prominent and important institutions. For example it hosts the national state owned media house, KBC; the main buildings of the University of Nairobi; the world famous The Fairmont Norfolk Hotel; the equally famous Kenya National Theatre; the Central Police Station (the largest police station in Kenya). In short it is a busy road.

Since the construction started on the Nairobi-Thika Highway and the upgrading of University Way into a fully functional dual carriage way, to leave Harry Thuku Road you would have to turn right onto University way. An evening a couple weeks ago as we drove off Harry Thuku Road onto University Way, I indicated to turn right and entered the road. A few metres in we were confronted with large stones placed haphazardly in the middle of the road and beyond them a steep drop. Things had changed. The dual carriage part of University Way was complete and instead of turning right here you would have to turn left and then turn right further ahead. There was NO sign indicating the change, there was NO sign warning of the steep drop; there was No sign indicating the correct way to go; there was NO warning sign at all period. Add to this there is no lighting, it was at night and it was very dark. All this in the middle of Nairobi CBD metres away from the biggest police station in the country!

The only way to get out of the mess we found ourselves in was to do a u-turn in the middle of a busy road into oncoming traffic. This would all have been avoided with the strategic placement of even just ONE sign warning that the road layout had changed.

Example 2

The Nairobi-Thika Highway is the main access routes to several densely populated parts of Nairobi. One such area is Pangani. A few weeks ago I was dropping a friend home in Pangani and it was one of the most dangerous pieces of driving I have ever had to do. Roads end without warning, some roundabouts are passable others are not, some dual lanes are now single lanes, one way roads are now two way and two way roads are now one way. Again NO signs, NO lighting, NO information. If I had not been with my friend it would have been impossible to find my way. The most scary part is what happened a week later. We set of again on more or less on the exact same route as before. Big changes had been made. Sections that were closed a week previously were now open. Sections that were previously open were now closed. Again NO signs, NO lighting, NO information. My friend tells me that major changes on that road can occur in a few hours. You go to work using one route and on the way home in the evening you find it has all changed and the morning route is inaccessible. My piece of advice to you is DO NOT drive into Pangani at night (or anywhere off the Nairobi – Thika Highway) without a local to guide you. You won’t just get lost. You may drive off a very steep 30 foot drop that has no barriers. The total disregard of safety is very bad.

The Ugly

If my post ended there it would be bad enough. Unfortunately it doesn’t. The Nairobi – Thika Highway is a death trap. Because it doesn’t have clear signage, because it doesn’t have barriers, because it doesn’t have safety measures.
Nancy Adwar is the type of person who can lighten your mood from miles away (more on Nancy below). A few weeks ago when heading back to Nairobi along the Nairobi-Thika Highway the vehicle Nancy was in swerved to avoid an accident with on coming lorry. Nancy was injured in the accident and evacuated to Kenyatta National Hospital where she bravely fought for her life for 6 hours before passing away.

From reports on the accident it seems like the lack of safety measures on the Nairobi – Thika Road highway contributed greatly to the accident. The confusion over which portions of the road are open and which ones are not for example, the lack of signs, the lack of barriers, the lack of lighting all played the their part.

One death on our roads is one too many.

The Nairobi – Thika Highway costs USD 380 million – until told otherwise we must believe that that figure includes the budget for all safety measures. For road signs to indicate changes in the roads; for barriers to protect us from the steep drops; for adequate lighting; for policing.

WHERE HAS THAT MONEY GONE?
Why hasn’t it been used for what it was intended?
What will it take for Kenya as a nation to start taking this seriously?

This morning I sent the email below to the Ministry of Roads at info@roadsnet.go.ke – I urge you to send the same email or to draft your own. When I get a response I will post it.

Dear Ministry of Roads,

Thank you for all the hard work you are doing building up the road infrastructure of our country, Kenya.

However, I am concerned about the lack of safety measures employed by the contractors on the Nairobi-Thika Highway. Specifically I am concerned about:

• The lack of proper road signage indicating where diversions are
• The lack of safe barriers especially where are steep drops on the side of the roads and even in the middle of roads
• Inadequate lighting along the whole road

I believe that these concerns must have been addressed at the time of tendering.
I believe the Ministry wants roads to be built safely as well as quickly.
I believe the Ministry has the powers of oversight over the contractors and can enforce safely rules.

To this end

Would you please let me know, on the record, what the budget for safety measures on the Nairobi – Thika Highway development is and where the money has been spent?

Thank you.

The Minister of Roads in Kenya is Franklin Kipn’getich Bett. We are also using the Twitter hashtags #AskBett and #FranklinBett to raise these concerns.

Nancy Adwar

Nancy Adwar

Rest In Peace Nancy.

A couple of pictures from the Smooth Urban – Atemi Live! concert on 07 May 2011 at Kifaru Gardens in Lavington, Nairobi.

We are extremely proud to be Kenyan!
We are proud of our beautiful country!
We are proud of our diversity cultures and traditions!
We are proud of our heroes!
We are proud of our high achievers!
We are proud of being hustlers!
We are proud of our hoods!
We are proud of our tribes and twengs!
We are proud of our kanges and our mats!
We are proud of our artists and musicians!
We are proud of our industries and farms!
We are proud of our sports teams!

On the 28th of February 2011 at 1pm EAT, wherever you are, at work, in the supermarket, in traffic, in school, on campus, in hospitals, in churches, in mosques, in temples, in synagogues, on sports pitches, in court, on your farm, at police stations, at armed forces barracks, in matatus, in buses, on the beach, in the game parks, at the airport, in parliament, in State House, in your homes …
On the 28th of February 2011 at 1pm, we stand
On the 28th of February 2011 at 1pm, we unite
On the 28th of February 2011 at 1pm, we shall speak in one voice.
On the 28th of February 2011 at 1pm, let’s sing our beautiful and powerful National Anthem, all three verses.
On the 28th February 2011 the world will watch as Kenyans stand UNITED;
1pm, 1 nation, 1 people, 1 anthem, united in 1 prayer for 1 Kenya
We are Kenya!

Website: 28Feb.co.ke
Email: unite@28feb.co.ke
Twitter: @Kenya28Feb
Facebook Page: 28FebKenya
Bloggers: We need your help!

I have many brothers and sisters.
My parents have well over 20 siblings. Each.
All those uncles and aunties means I have a lot of cousins. Expect we do not have a word for cousin, many African languages do not. The children of my parent’s siblings are brothers and sisters, thus, I have many brothers and sisters. The plus side is the centrality of family and by extension community is one of the many things that makes Africa great. The reality side, however, means that there are many brothers and sisters I know only vaguely at best. Others, however, I know very well and are amongst my best friends and business partners.

But this article is not about family. It is about phones.

Nokia is a member of every African family. One of those distant relatives you don’t know very well who over the last 10 years has become the family favourite. In my extended family for example, my grandmother has a Nokia phone, my parents have Nokia phones, I’ve had many Nokia phones, my nieces and nephews have Nokia phones. That is at least 4 generations of Nokia phone owners. 4 generations within Africa, some in the diaspora, some in megacities others in small rural villages. Some charge their phones on electricity generated by nuclear power, others charge their phones on electricity generated by a guy riding on a bicycle with a dynamo. When Nokia say the connect people we decided to test that and they did.

My first mobile phone was a Motorola – a proper brick with a proper antenna. I knew it was time to change when bouncers wouldn’t let me carry the phone into the club because, “they use them as weapons, mate” (who “they” were was never really defined but it was clear that these brick phones in their hands would cause a lot of damage). So I went out and bought a Ericsson which looked a lot better than it functioned. After a couple of months of looking good I decided, reluctantly, that I really should be able to talk on a mobile phone so I ditched the Ericsson and got my first Nokia – the world famous 3310. And just like that Nokia became part of my family.

The 3310 was eventually exported from the UK to Kenya and climbed up the food chain as it were eventually ending up with one of the patriarchs. I upgraded to the “Banana Phone” the Nokia 8110 and on and on it went peaking with the Nokia 6230 a marvellous beast of a phone (hello bluetooth). The 6230 is probably responsible for my friendship with JKE amongst other people. I used it for nearly 5 years and it is the only Nokia that I never sent up the food chain as I used it until it gave up and died completely after long and glorious service. Nokia was true and reliable member of the family.

Then things started going wrong. New handsets that would die after a couple of months for no reason, handsets with keypads that would fade completely after a few weeks, handsets where you couldn’t open the battery cover without a jackhammer drill, handsets where the battery cover would pop off every minute. Finally my patience wore out when a brand new Nokia wouldn’t display contact list names no matter where the numbers were saved, handset or SIM card. It was time to kick Nokia out of the family.

But wait, some interesting developments, Nokia Kenya offered me a Nokia N8 for a month for a test run. “Take it for a month, ” they said and “let us know what you think”, they said and “be as honest as you want” they said. That sounded fair enough. Despite my long relationship with Nokia I had never owned any of their top-of-the-range products and it would only be fair to see them at their best before excommunicating them forever.

As you can probably tell this is not your usual phone review full of stats on battery life and number of megapixels on the screen. For that you are better served elsewhere. This review is much more personal. This is about family. Also it is about whether Nokia still knows how to make phones worth buying.

The N8 I received is green. A yellowly green rather than a green green if you want to get technical. This is good because it:

• looks like no other phone I have seen around and thus is harder to steal theoretically
• I will not be mistaken for a Gor Mahia fan with a green phone especially since you can actually get the N8 in AFC Leopards’ blue

This phone feels expensive and the big responsive touch screen confirms it. The screen needs a paragraph on its own. This screen is brighter and has more colours than my TV, that probably says more about my TV than the phone but, in this instance, you literally do get the picture.

Oh and what a picture it is! With its 10 megapixels camera I almost forgot I was carrying a phone and spent most of my time with the gadget taking pictures. This camera on this phone has transformed my day as I go around taking photos for my #NikoWapi tag on Twitter where people try to guess where I am based on the photos I upload from the phone.

Setting up internet access and email accounts on the phone was relatively straight forward as well. Here unfortunately is where the N8 stops punching its weight. Once you are online the lack of native apps for the most popular social networks for example makes the Nokia experience more tedious than with other smart phones. The same with Gmail and other web based apps. It is unsurprising to hear that some enterprising people have hacked Android onto Nokias. Considering this phone is a big player aimed to compete with other big players such as the iPhone, high end BlackBerries and high end Android phones this is a serious setback.

But for many people this may be the wrong comparison to make, if you are on Nokia and want to move up to a bigger, better, badder phone you bound to enjoy the N8. If you want a well built phone with screen that will light you up like KPLC never will, you are bound to enjoy the N8. If you want a phone that makes a style and fashion statement as well as high end functionality and durability, you are bound to enjoy the N8. If you want a smart phone that does the simple things well as well, then you’ll enjoy the N8. Sending and SMS is a simple as it always has been, which is a BIG advantage as many smart phones unnecessarily complicate the simple things such as calling and txting. This looks good, is durable despite the acres of glass on it (I can’t identify any scratches or marks on it after carrying around everyday for a month which is pretty impressive when you consider where I take myself and what I put my phones through) and considering it costs KSH 40,000+ it should be all those things.

So Nokia still knows how to make phones this is good news because Nokia knows Africa. I wish we would all stop waxing lyrical for simple phones with flashlights and instead pushed Nokia for more smart phones for the masses.

As for this phone being part of the family – well one thing is for sure, if you do end up with one you’re not going to be handing it over any time soon!

Interview with Paul Gathogo. Paul is a developer taking part in the Nairobi edition of Random Hacks of Kindness 2

Interview with Victor Kebane. Victor is a developer taking part in the Nairobi edition of Random Hacks of Kindness 2

Interview with Judith Owigar Nairobi lead for Random Hacks of Kindness 2