Author: NLM writer

The book I review this month is called Mizizi: A Collec­tion of Essay on Kenya’s History (University of Nai­robi Press , 2013). I guess that some of my readers are tired of my constant return to Kenyan history in my reviews. I beg their indulgence because I just can’t see how Kenya can develop, how all the bureaucratic dreams stated in the Kenya Vision 2030 document, all the aspirations of the new Constitution, all the hopes that the devolution of the government, the desire by Kenyans to be individually Kenyan – as in belonging to some community or some other…

On August 10, the Daily Na­tion published a rather curious opinion article titled “Why Some Ethnic Groups Become the Sub­ject of Hate without Even Trying.” Pegged on the terrible Mpeketoni terror attacks and pretending to take a scholarly approach by quoting renowned scholars to give it a veneer of credibility, it claimed that other Kenyan communi­ties hate the Kikuyu because of the abil­ity of members of that ethnic group to become merchants or “middlemen mi­norities” whenever they settle in other parts of Kenya. In fact, it compared the plight of mi­grant Kikuyu to that suffered by Jews, who have agonized…

In the beginning there was Abebe Bikila, the imperial guard who ran barefoot atop Roman cobblestones by torchlight in 1960 and became the first black African to win the Olym­pic marathon. The Ethiopians owned the distance then, winning three consecutive gold medals at the Games with Bikila and Mamo Wolde. That was before boycotts took them off the global stage, before the prize money arrived and the Kenyans came by the dozens, then the hundreds, to take over the roads. Now Bikila’s countrymen and women have been coming off the track and onto the hardtop and restaking their country’s original…

All national newspapers splashed retired Presi­dent Daniel Arap Moi’s 90th birthday celebra­tion on their front pages. TVs gave the story prime time slots. This was okay as Moi is among the county’s most prominent personalities having been president for 24 years and staying in politics longer than any Kenyan alive. Anniversaries and commemorations make excellent subjects for journalistic stories. However, media’s treatment of the Moi anniversary stories left many readers and media watchers wondering. The praise-singer approach adopted by practically all media was surprising. Instead of giving a rounded picture of the historical subject and earnest and honest reports on…

In this interview with Tom Odhiambo, 82-year old Elimo Njau – real name Rekyaelimoo – talks about birth in Tanzania, education in Uganda and settling in Kenya, where he eventually set up Paa ya Paa Art Gallery. Paa ya Paa is a preeminent art gallery in Kenya, which has survived the ups and downs that afflict Kenyan art, since 1966. Elimo turned 82 on Sunday 24th of August this year.   Odhiambo: How did you end up in Ken­ya? Elimo: The first time I was invited to paint murals on the life of Jesus Christ at the St. James and…

Someone once suggested, in the heat of the strug­gle for multiparty democracy, that those found flashing the multi-party (two-finger) salute should have their fingers chopped off. No fingers were severed. But the terror unleashed on the proponents of multiparty democracy in the late 80s to mid 90s struggle was equally brutal if not worse. The police, determined to thwart free expression and association, let loose state terror on political dis­sidents. Many were detained, killed, maimed and exiled. The powerbrokers intent on forestalling de­mocracy did not succeed. As though echoing the great words of re­nowned French writer Victor Hugo, thus “One…

 In less than a year, the world will celebrate the eight hun­dredth anniversary of what is commonly regarded as the foundation of the rule of law. On June 15, 1215, the senior nobility of England compelled King John to ac­cept a charter affirming that the powers of the king were limited by law. Notwithstanding some antecedents, no such unqualified, audacious taming of royal autocracy had ever before been attempted. The most enduring provision of Magna Carta, subsequently numbered Article 39, affirmed that “No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled or in any way…

I attended the 27th Swahili Colloquium at the University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany, from 08th – 09th June, this year. This was a two-day event followed immediately by an­other two-day symposium, ‘New Dynamics in Swahili Studies.’ I was surprised to learn that the Swahili conference had been held at the Univer­sity of Bayreuth for the past 26 years. The conference highlighted, to me, the significance of Kiswahili as a language of choice and use for mil­lions of people in Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo, the DRC, Somalia, South Sudan, the Sudan, parts of Malawi, Zambia and Zim­babwe. You…

While MPs and governors have millions of shillings in CDF and county budgetary allocations the senators have nothing.  It would be understandable for the Executive to try and frustrate Devolution, for it mutilates its power by decentralizing both authority and resources. In the natural need of self-preserva­tion, the presidency together with the en­tire Executive would, given leeway, want to kill the new system of governance that threatens to give regions and masses the much sought self-determination. The Legislature, however, is the people’s voice. It is expected that MPs, in both the National Assembly and the Senate, would, through legislation entrench…

  As Aden Bare Duale, a take-no-prisoner poli­tician who makes no apologies in defending the Jubilee government to the hilt, hurled a bar­rage of invectives at Bomet Governor Isaac Kiprono Rutto, Deputy President (DP) William Samoei Ruto merely ob­served from the sideline. Duale, Leader of Majority in National Assembly, was in his usual element. And when the DP stood to address the crowd already incensed by Duale’s outburst, he appeared to pick the cue from his protégé: He too rammed into the pro-referendum crusaders and the Opposition head-on. “Their agenda is not about the push for more money but politics…