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23:54
From: The Diary of One Black Man
Read This Entry & More At The Diary of One Black Man
Obama has made history. He has officially secured the nomination. All the hard work has paid off and there is no stopping this good man!!
Obama Senior
do you know that man wrote a thesis and predicted that the devpt model proposed by the kenyatta/kibaki govt would lead kenya nowehere as opposed to the radical one proposed [...]
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22:20
From: More to Life
Read This Entry & More At More to Life
Was made today (err yesterday, this was started and abandoned due to some minor emergency)
Obama wins the nomination.
Clinton does not concede. (Update) NYT reports Clinton to concede and endorse Obama on Friday. She was literally forced here by her own superdelegates who made no attempt to hide their displeasure at her speech last nite.
Bad Manners:
That would summarize my opinion on her speech last night. Just plain simply bad manners. You know better than that, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Veep?:
That better be in their wildest dreams. Can someone, anyone tell me how you announce to the world that John McSame, err McLame, err sorry McCain is more experienced, is better vetted etc, etc, and then come on and ride on my coattails as VP and expect that the GOP will not announce how my own running mate thinks McCain is better suited for the position than I? If she had wanted that position, she shouldn't have burnt the bridge and the surrounding trees making sure there would never be another bridge built on that issue. Frankly, she needs to get over herself and her "should be respected" supporters. Kwani, the rest of us don't deserve respect?
William Clinton:
Suffering my own personal loss on him, I'm disappointed and saddened. I think this campaign showed me his true colors and I can honestly report that he had me going. I thouhgt he was a much better person than that. However, thank goodness for his infidelities and his dubious sources of $$. We have good reason to just say NO! to her when she comes a knocking for the VP spot, thanks to her decision to stay with this one very Bill Clinton, she is quite frankly, not a viable candidate.
Ickes:
Eeks me out. Maybe he will finally Shut the hell up!!!!
Barack Obama:
Congratulations! Again and again. Go make us proud!
On June 3rd 2008, the democratic party, by nominating black Barack Hussein Obama as their nominee, has made history. MLK must be smiling in his grave. I wonder if even he dared to have this dream.
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20:31
From: Kenyanentrepreneur.com
Read This Entry & More At Kenyanentrepreneur.com
Merali’s two companies have issued profit warnings. He is blaming it on post-election violence, but why do I think it’s more than that? The CEO of his Sameer Group of companies has effectively been fired and because Merali is an astute businessman, he quickly replaced him with another Kikuyu.
Now, I don’t want people here to [...]
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20:25
From: dkFactor
Read This Entry & More At dkFactor
I suppose we can now officially thank government policies in African countries for their failure to expand fixed lines, leading to a projected 22% increase in mobile phone subscribers. 330 million people will own a phone in Africa, in 2008.
E-Governance is a term that has been loosely floating around, slightly misunderstood and highly underestimated. It refers to the use of internet technology as a platform for exchanging information, providing services and transacting with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government (Wikipedia). Basically, we would be facilitating 2-way communication between a government and its citizens using technology, a new philosophy that threatens to reinstitute a government by the people for the people (Like it was supposed to be).
E-Governance cannot exist without internet access - or can it? The same government forces that inadvertently choked land-lines, also cast their noose around internet access bottle-necking it into a snarled jam. For most Africans, getting online is just not worth all the trouble.
All hope was almost lost, when Mobile devices caught on like a wild-fire. These devices will enable new growth markets to leap-frog obstacles developed countries have had to overcome. While multi-media has always perceived to be the future, the real power lies in Text Messaging… 160 characters that will change everything and have major ramifications on public policy.
Here are just a few things for you to think about:
- Disaster & Crisis Alerts (Ushahidi)
- Health camps/vaccination Alerts
- E-Learning in Rural Areas
- E-Transactions (M-Pesa)
- Public Service Complaints about Service
- Employment Alerts
- Communication between health workers to help diagnose and prescribe
- … the list goes on
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19:00
From: Paza Sauti
Read This Entry & More At Paza Sauti
What are Kenyan values? You may wonder why I ask this question, but living in a foreign western country one cannot avoid the constant drum beat championing western values, and after 9/11, the demarcation of them (non westerners) against us (typically Americans) is louder than ever. During this American election year, you will hear a candidate try to appeal to the core values of the nation. Love or hate this drumbeat, one cannot deny that its questioning percussion. Do I share these values? What are my values? What are values anyway? Is there really that value thread shared by those of the same national heritage? These questions are even more confounding when looked at in the context of recently independent African nations. Our nations were defined by European powers, our boarders were drawn based on foreign interests and our cultures within each nation are varied and diverse. We have no particular affinity for ideology and our intelligentsia have not sparked any social movements on the strength of their ideas. So we have no Communism, no Capitalism, no Marx, no Plato, no Mao, we are largely Muslim or Christian and the primary philosophies of our indigenous cultures are fast fading if not all together gone. So what are Kenyan values.
At this point you may be asking what do I need these values for? We have made it so far without clarity on what they are, but before tackling this, let us establish a baseline. So what do we really have? I pose that currently Kenya is primarily a political entity that is evolving into a socio-cultural entity with common values. In a sense, Black Africa hided Kwameh Nkrumah's bidding "seek ye first political kingdom." But in the words of that famous philosopher, Heavy D and the Boyz - Now that we have the political kingdom, what are we going to do with it? Politics does not exist for itself. Harold Lasswell defined politics as who gets what, when, and how. That is where values came in. We have to use our values to determine how to grow and share the mythological national cake. Economics has been defined as The study of how people use their limited resources in an attempt to satisfy unlimited wants. I quote this definition just to emphasis that that the resources are limited and the needs/wants are unlimited, hence the need for a value system to guide these decisions. Without the agreed and articulated value system, everyone with power will push their value system on the weaker members of society. That is why we have a developing country with one of the the highest paid legislators.
History will show that there is one thing that Kenyans from all corners of the country will agree with and have fought for - a corner stone of their values. Each community in Kenya resisted the the advent of colonialism to varying extents, but all the same resisted. From Kisii to Wajir all Kenyans value there freedom more specifically their liberty. What is Liberty - immunity from arbitrary exercise of authority, the condition of being free from restriction or control, the right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing without trespassing against that same ability in others. The infringement on liberty or control does not have to be foreign, it is possible for your oppressor to be your brother. Therefore, from the mob justice matted on a pickpocket to the loathing of the police, chiefs and other exploiting government official, to the disdain of foreign interference in Kenyan affairs, are all expressions of our quest for liberty.
So how do we guarantee our liberty? Majimbo or devolution of power has been trashed as a tribal and divisive form of administration. The key question is why has Majimbo become synonymous with ethnicity, while Majimbo is a recognized and preferred form of government? The truth lies in our history, and the KANU - KADU slogan fight in Kenya's first election. The thinking then, was that our leaders were benevolent and had the interests of Kenyans at heart and would be different from the Mzungu, because they had black skin. Therefore consolidating power in one black man's hands would give us order and direction - positive direction. Nobody thought checks and balances were needed because one of us was king, thus, Majimbo looked irrelevant and its purpose would only serve narrow sectarian and divisive interests.
History has proved us wrong. We now know that the oppressor can be one of your own and consolidating power in one man/woman has been disastrous. We have witnessed land theft, our taxes misused, Kenyans tortured and killed and general mismanagement for personal gain by our own leaders. Majimbo has a unique cure for this. First, it decentralizes power bringing it closer to the people this has the dual effect of having power accountable to specific people and compelling power to align to the people. Secondly, we can affect that power directly, that is the most important government official is your local representative not the kingly president in the capital, therefore our priorities are communicated directly to the person who can address them and the position of power is maintained due to direct performance on those priorities. You do not need a Nyayo Monument or Stadium if pit latrines and wells are the priority. Third, a reduction in ethnicity is inevitable under and devolved system, in addition to seeing performance in regions outside your own, the regions will test out their leaders and find their fools and favorites and realize that ethnicity has nothing to do with performance. Finally and most important, you will have more liberty. If you do not like the policy of your region you can change your government or change your region. Many small changes are easier than one large change. As witnessed in the past elections we voted out almost the entire government, but by hook or crook the king held on.
So how do we organize ourselves under Majimbo, well that is the topic of my next article, but remember whatever increases your liberty increases your life. As Patrick Henry said in 1775 - Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death.
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12:29
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
As you will probably notice I am currently in the process of creating my email newsletter. It is going to be the latest permanent addition to this little blog so any advice on how to make my email newsletter better is very appreciated….oh and of course join it :). To today’s program:
Greetings, salutations and hello. Today’s article is a special treat for me and hopefully for you. It is yet another post that pretty much evolved over the course of a day as opposed to a preplanned article, which is always very very cool.
So a few months ago I was visiting this elderly couple in Country Victoria. In their home, which is absolutely gorgeous for a 100 year old house, they had this puzzle: The puzzle was a mix between a rubix cube and a jigsaw puzzle. You get a cube that is open on one end, a bunch of haphazardly shaped wooden pieces and you are basically meant to fit all those pieces perfectly into the box.
As our brains sweat through the task, someone suggested that I should write a blog post about the puzzle. I thought to myself:
” I own the Displaced African domain, so why not?!”
Today I thought I would share with you 7 elements that I believe that Africa has that are far from being used to their maximum effect. These are 7 elements that we can use to take Africa from the gutter that we currently are in, all the way to the stars and beyond. Without further ado, they are:
1) Pain and Suffering
We have had a recent history filled with nothing but tragedy after tragedy. But we do not use tragedy to move our country forward. When Kenya was bombed in 1998, the reaction of our country was far different to that of the States. The US has mourned, established memorials, investigated 9/11 to the littlest detail, had all media talking about 9/11 and it’s implications, made movies, wrote books, got think tanks working overtime, used it as justification to go protect their interests overseas etc etc etc
They basically did everything imaginable to not only ensure it never happens again, but they emerge stronger as a result. Pain and suffering a lot of the time can be the greatest motivation to get to work and make the world a better place. In Africa we have more than enough to motivate us. Sadly a lot of the time we direct it at each other instead of at solving the root cause of the problem as is the case in South Africa at the moment.
2) Cultural Richness
I have spoken about this many many many times but we really should have had a discussion as a society, post colonialism about how we’d handle some of the important parts of the human experience including the only thing that comes guaranteed with life: death.
In my humble opinion, the way some African cultures handled death was grossly superior to the Western ways we inherited of handling death. The Ashanti didn’t mourn death but viewed it as an inevitable part of life. The Luo people keep the corpse in the dead person’s home and hire professional wailers and mourners to ensure that all the grieving that needs to be done is done as soon as possible. During this time, any debts or scores of the deceased that need to be settled are settled as everyone in the community is given a chance to come and speak to the family members. And then to ensure that, if its a man, his wife and children are taken care of, a member of the family takes the wife and children into his home.
To me, there are a lot of things in those two approaches that strike me as a very healthy way of viewing death. We had a lot of customs and traditions from 1000s of tribes in Africa that were clearly working for a certain period of time…foolish is the man who doesn’t learn or even bother examining his past.
3) Work Ethic
It doesn’t matter where you go or who you speak to, nine times out of 10, Africans are praised for our ability to work and work very hard. That’s why you almost never hear of African people who immigrate overseas and end up poor, destitute and/or homeless. Caught up in the rat race? perhaps. Living beyond their means? perhaps. But Africans tend to work themselves like work horses regardless.
Sure we have our fair share of lazy folk, but we have enough hard workers that it counts.
4) Natural Resources
Say what you will, but Africa is the richest natural resource on Earth. The Scramble for Africa took place because the colonial barbarians kept drooling at just how resource rich our continent was. Needless to say, Africa is currently being exploited and stripped and robbed at an exponential pace. BUT, we still have enough natural resources that it counts.
5) Educated People
Africa is one of those odd places on Earth where you will find people with Masters degrees walking the streets daily in search of work. As I have shared in the past, we love us some degrees and advanced degrees and it’s knocked into our heads from a very young age that no one goes to success but by Bachelor.
This has resulted in about two or three generations of extremely well trained, academically intelligent people of colour. If we could put all the African brains all over the world into a brain trust, it would probably be the wealthiest brain trust around.
6) Young People
Young people can have two things that make them the most powerful forces known to man:
a) A sense of infinite possibility and a belief that we can bring them to life.
b) No sense of shame.
A lot of people look at point b) as though it’s a negative. I think it’s ridiculously powerful. Sometimes when I get in the train and look at Sudanese teenagers who are acting a fool I think to myself:
These people genuinely don’t care what people think about them. They will act however they want without any fear whatsoever of its social consequences. Can you imagine if they put this lack of inhibition and thick skins to constructive use?
It’s no secret that to cause massive changes or bring something new to society you need a thick skin. As Tony Robbins once said, when a new idea comes into society,
First it’s ridiculed and chastised. Then it’s violently opposed. And then it’s accepted as truth that was dismissed by crazy people.
Take points a) and b) above, mix them together and you see why so many of the great movements had young people in them.
7) People in the Diaspora
I think I have discussed this one and will continue to discuss if for a very long time and so I see no need to go over it because while reading some of the above points, I know you have seen some of the ways, we in the diaspora can be a powerful force for good.
So what we will do with this power, is entirely up to us, but make no mistake about it, the power is there.
There you have it, seven things that I believe that Africa has going for it.
To stay a part of the conversations in the Displaced African, please stay a part of the email list or add the Displaced African to your feed reader.
Be blessed and bless others,
Mwangi
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12:17
From: tHiNkEr'S rOoM
Read This Entry & More At tHiNkEr'S rOoM
So this past weekend, the missus moved house. Aside from lacking a swing inside, the new digs is fantastic, up to and including the huge window on one wall of the living room that overlooks a garden. While no one was looking I secretly did a cartwheel to measure the living room. The exact measurements using this metric are a trade secret I shall take to my grave. Suffice it to say they are the exact dimensions necessary for us to unfold our master plan of world domination by producing sleepers that will be introduced into key sectors of industry ready for activation by us at a moment’s notice.
This is the point at which evil laughter should be introduced.
I am of the opinion of hedging our bets my producing as many troops as possible, but my co-conspirator will have none of that, seeing that she is in fully charge of the production process. I am pushing keenly for at least 5 sleepers, to infiltrate the finance, manufacturing, ICT, government and hospitality.
But I digress.
As with all things the move was replete with lessons
- The female of the species, like iron filings to magnet, collects shoes at a prolific rate
- While planning construction (or purchase of a new house) right after bathroom and kitchen, make allowances for a room for shoes (not yours, of course)
- Shoes are heavy. Especially when transported together. Especially when carried up 3 flights of steps. Especially if due to a communications breakdown it is the wrong 3 flights
- The possessions of the female of the species follow closely the handbag rule. What is the handbag rule? The volume of materials inside the female handbag is inversely proportional to the internal volume of the handbag itself. The same applies to the contents of the flat and the flat
- Cushions are bigger than their respective covers
- It does not matter how thoroughly you measure curtains before purchase. They will always mysteriously shrink en route
But at the end of it all everything was unpacked, the broken dishes tossed out on their ears and Phase I of the master plan is nearing completion.
Here’s to many more milestones my dearest. Many many more! 
Light It Up
Roberta is sans insurance, and knowing full well that these are just the circumstances God chooses to exercise his excellent sense of humour, I decided not to chance driving. I would not put it past the man upstairs to have me involved in a menage a trois with a S Class and a VW Touareg that will force me to sell my car and sell my self and my immediate future family to pay for my sin.
But with Angels and whatnots to entertain, God makes excellent use of what appears at first sight to be limited material.
Which is why as I was proceeding to work, minding my own business, the matatu I was in caught fire. Not much of a build up I know, but one minute am fiddling with my phone and the next minute I look up to a classic Babel. The interior of the matatu is full of smoke and with amazing dexterity the tout has effected an exit through the open window.
Why he has departed we are not exactly sure. Until a tongue of flame appears amid the smoke.
Now in most buildings there is some sort of plaque the says things like
“Do not panic. In an orderly fashion proceed to the nearest exit
and assemble at the designated collection point”
What happens in reality my friends is nothing short of the opposite. There is no orderly quiet movement. You can practically hear the audio soundtrack to the situation.There is acrobatic and energetic motion of the human body from all the players. A large woman of motor boat like proportions will attempt to exit the vehicle head first at the same time a large man of Maruti like proportions is attempting to exit the same vehicle from the same window foot first. Where the sum of the parts is larger than the whole of the window, things grind to a halt. There are then shouted instructions to move mammaries and backsides out of the way.
I would have stayed for more entertainment but the thought of a vehicle on fire while my person and future lineage are still within is one that prompts action. A slid open window and a dive and roll through the window are but a moment’s work.
AOB
Airport Official: First name?
Passenger: Batman
Airport Official: What?
Passenger: Batman
Airport Official: (Holding Head) Your first name is Batman
Passenger: Yes
Airport Official: Spelling?
Passenger: Just like it sounds. Batman
Airport Official: Right. And your surname?
Passenger: Superman
Airport Official: Right, that does it! Security!
Mariah Carey
I cannot off the top of my head remember a song I despised as much as Touch My body. I cannot put in words just how much I can’t stand it. Please for the love of Humanity can someone please touch Mariah Carey’s body? Preferably with Anthrax?
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© M for tHiNkEr'S rOoM, 2008. |
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9:55
From: The Diary of One Black Man
Read This Entry & More At The Diary of One Black Man
Save for Hillary Clinton ,No one else gets into my nerves like Kibaki Mwai Kibaki.
Your “President” Kibaki continue to display a shameless lack of remorse by insisting that the people who are held over post election violence face the full force of the law. The president should be the last person talking about the prosection [...]
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9:50
From: Kenyan Pundit
Read This Entry & More At Kenyan Pundit
So I came across this post by Kenyan Entrepreneur and I was just as perturbed as he was.
Why would Google East Africa sign a deal with Wunderman (and who are they…can’t even locate a website?) rather than promote adwords accounts in East Africa? Is it difficult to do online transactions in East [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "What’s Google East Africa’s strategy?", url: "http://www.kenyanpundit.com/2008/06/03/whats-google-east-africas-strategy/" });
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8:44
From: KA-INVESTOR
Read This Entry & More At KA-INVESTOR
The cookie has finally crumbled with the Safaricom IPO being oversubscribed by 532%. Over Ksh.226 billion (Ksh.160.6 billion from local investors and Ksh.76 billion from international investors) was put in applications for the Ksh.50 billion IPO. The allocations were made out has follows: | Type of investor | Amount Allocated | | Local/Retail investors | 21% | | QII’s & Safaricom dealers | 31% | | Safaricom Employees | 84% | | Foreign investors | 15% | Retail investors are now left holding on to a mere 21% of their application (in most cases 420 shares). Sorry for the investors who took loans to finance their applications and for those who opened multiple accounts to ‘maximize’ on their allocations. It is time for them to learn the bitter lessons of the better option IPO. 21% is 21% no matter how many accounts you applied with, the only difference is if you had applied with one account, you would not be chasing around for several refund cheques. Not all those who took loans to finance their application will feel the pain of paying back almost all the money with interest, while their merger allocations are held by the bank as collateral. Borrowing a leaf from Ssembonge its clear that the more an investor borrowed and invested the less the burden and the higher the yield. | loan
amount | cost of
loan | No. of
shares
allocated | Cost of
shares
allocated | Break Even price | Profit at
Ksh. 20 | %
Yield | | | | | | | | | | 10,000.00 | 2,885.60 | 420.00 | 4,985.60 | 11.87 | 3,414.40 | 34.14% | | 20,000.00 | 3,441.20 | 840.00 | 7,641.20 | 9.10 | 9,158.80 | 45.79% | | 50,000.00 | 5,108.00 | 2,100.00 | 15,608.00 | 7.43 | 26,392.00 | 52.78% | | 100,000.00 | 7,886.00 | 4,200.00 | 28,886.00 | 6.88 | 55,114.00 | 55.11% | | 200,000.00 | 13,442.00 | 8,400.00 | 55,442.00 | 6.60 | 112,558.00 | 56.28% | | 500,000.00 | 30,110.00 | 21,000.00 | 135,110.00 | 6.43 | 284,890.00 | 56.98% | | 1,000,000.00 | 57,890.00 | 42,000.00 | 267,890.00 | 6.38 | 572,110.00 | 57.21% | | 2,500,000.00 | 141,230.00 | 105,000.00 | 666,230.00 | 6.35 | 1,433,770.00 | 57.35% | | 5,000,000.00 | 280,130.00 | 210,000.00 | 1,330,130.00 | 6.33 | 2,869,870.00 | 57.40% | | 10,000,000.00 | 557,930.00 | 420,000.00 | 2,657,930.00 | 6.33 | 5,742,070.00 | 57.42% | Form the table its clear that after some point – at about ksh.1,000,000 loans, the incremental value of the yield from loan becomes negligible. This simply confirms that some investors (animals) are more equal than others. Large investors will keep on gaining from the stock market as small investors’ loose out in almost every deal they make. It’s also clear that any price less than Ksh.6.33 will not be good for any one. IPO Politics To some extend the ODM and Africog caveat emptor on the IPO was right. Looking at what has happened to many poor Kenyans who ignored the warnings and went forth to borrow from banks, at hefty interests to be able to participate in the Safaricom IPO; one is only left feeling sorry for them. Contrary to the government promises that Kenyans would be given priority in the event of a massive oversubscription, the same government has ignored them and praised how the IPO has attracted foreign investors (both institutional and retail) at such times is when I wish we had a grand opposition to make noise. Such government excesses will not go unabated with a strong opposition in Kenya.
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8:43
From: Kenyanpoet
Read This Entry & More At Kenyanpoet
KWANI LITFEST 2008 Ideas. Words. Markets. Following the success of 2006, Kwani Litfest (KLF) 2008 is set to bring an even brighter cast of literary icons and events to Kenya during the first two weeks of August for a world-class celebration of African stories. From literary safaris a la Hemmingway to sailboat excursions on the Indian Ocean, plus the usual dose of 'Afropolitan' workshops, dinners and symposiums in the teeming capital of Nairobi, KLF 2008 will harness all of this country's vivid diversity. "Kenya has never been more relevant to global development than today," notes Binyavanga Wainaina, founding editor of Kwani? magazine and contributor to Vanity Fair, National Geographic, Granta, and other notable publications. "For the best writers on the continent to gather in a setting that embodies Africa's greatest hopes and deepest fears is an extraordinary opportunity." The 2008 faculty also includes Chimamanda Adichie, the Nigerian star whose novel Half of a Yellow Sun charmed the world and won the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction; Sierra Leone's Ishmael Beah, whose book A Long Way Gone thrust the plight of child soldiers into western hearts and minds; plus many more prize-winning journalists, authors, influential editors and publishers from across the literary spectrum. In addition to honing participants' skills in poetry, fiction, nonfiction and journalism, this year's litfest will be informed by the horrific post-election chaos from which Kenya recently emerged. The role of the written word in conflict situations will be examined by writers fresh from the field, their experiences and insights sure to electrify colleagues and participants alike. This unique festival kicks off August 1 to 15, 2008. For updates on Kwani Litfest, visit www.kwani.org or email litfest@kwani.org “As to the pure mind all things are pure, so to the poetic mind all things are poetical”
  
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8:05
From: My Life is...Mochalicious!
Read This Entry & More At My Life is...Mochalicious!
I wish I should have just taken the week off…..I felt like crap after Edinburgh BUT…I throughly enjoyed myself.
I don’t know what it is about travelling that makes someone feel exuberant.
Landed in Ediburgh at 23.30pm on Friday and went straight to bed after checking in. The following morning it was sunny in Scotland and the [...]
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1:15
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
Who murdered foreign journalist Trent Keegan in Nairobi? For a long time now keen observers of the Kenyan press have been asking the rather nagging question of whatever happened to our once free and vibrant press? Why is it that too many stories that should receive prominence are quietly being swept under the carpet? Is the press under threat and if so by whom? ---------------------------------- Also published recently: President's and PM's security details clash
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Interestingly many practicing journalists in Kenya will also tell you fascinating tales about stories they wrote that never saw the light of day for one puzzling reason or another. One journalist I know lost his job because he refused to compromise on his journalistic ethics since his superiors wanted a prominent news source to approve all articles he did for a leading daily in Kenya. Those articles touched on security issues. Sadly many people ignore a very simple fact that should be a telling pointer to anybody who seeks answers. That fact is that the Kibaki administration has brought numerous bills to parliament seeking to control the press in one way or another. In fact the Kibaki government 2002 to 2007 crafted more press bills than all the other previous administrations put together. Amazingly you can even take the total number of bills crafted before the said Kibaki administration and multiply that figure threefold and you will still be short of the number of press bills Kenya saw under Kibaki. Phew!!! And to further deal with this “annoying animal” called the press, historians will one day note that it was under Kibaki that the government created for the first time in history, the post of government spokesman I Kenya and filled it with a man whom I will not say much about. But Dr Alfred Mutua, many agree, is a disgrace to the dignified and respected Public Relations profession. But even more disturbing is that there is now emerging signs that Kenya may in fact be a very dangerous place to practice journalism in. Local newspapers have been fairly quiet about the murder of a Reuters journalist in Nairobi last week, when in fact this should have been the sort of news to have created screaming headlines. Last Tuesday night (27th May) friends of Trent Keegan parted with him at a popular bar in Nairobi and the last they heard of him, was as he was complaining loudly to a taxi driver that the fare into the city centre was too steep. Days later his dead body was retrieved from a trench with his wallet still $62 inside intact. He had visible head injuries. Later friends said that his laptop and camera were missing. Already the commonwealth press Union are complaining that the Kenyan government is not doing enough to ensure that the killer or killers of the New Zealand-born photojournalist are brought to book. Kenyans who hear that complaint will only sympathize with the family of the departed scribe who at the time of his death was only 33 years old. They will also feel great pity because they know only too well that it would take a huge miracle for the killers of the journalist to be brought to book. In fact promises to catch murderers (which is what the government will most probably give to the commonwealth press union) mean nothing when it comes to assassinations in Kenya. Retired president Moi himself solemnly told Kenyans that “no stone would be left unturned” in finding the killers of the late Kenyan foreign affairs Minister Dr Robert Ouko. To date that promise remains just that—an empty promise that has yet to be fulfilled. Instead Scotland Yard sleuth Retired Superintend John Troon barely escaped these shores with his life when he came a little too close to finding the truth about that murder. He was the lucky one. A long list of other ordinary Kenyans connected to that murder met mysterious and untimely deaths. Chances are extremely high that the late Mr Keegan came across some information that somebody did not want to see published in the International press. In Kenya more often than not this tends to happen when the people involved are very powerful and wealth individuals (those two go closely together in Kenya). So how do you expect the Kenya police to get anywhere with such an investigation? It is very important that as many Kenyans as possible address the question as to the possible motives of Mr Keegan’s untimely death because therein lies many answers and some of them may give key pointers as to why the press in Kenya has changed so much in recent times. This blogger as always is actively pursuing leads. Keep your eyes focused on this space over the next few days. Check out Kasarani.com, a new way to meet and keep in touch with Kenyans worldwide. You can even start your own blog on Kasarani! Click here to go to Kasarani.com now
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