My City, Their Town, Our Blog
Friday, December 6, 2013
Golden Grills Under The Sky
Thursday, December 5, 2013
TRIBAL CHIC 2013
The Tribal Chic fashion show is a glamorous
affair at the Tribe Hotel. Adele Dejak, Mille Collines, Niku
Singh, Nike Kondakis, Penny Winter and Sheila Amolo will
showcase their designs. Tickets cost KES 6,000 and the event starts at 6:30
p.m. For more information, call +254 (0)20 720 0363, log onto:
www.tribe-hotel.com or email: marketing@tribehotel-kenya.com
THE KENYAN MEDIA SAYS “NO” TO GAGGING
It was a time for protests, picking up the camera, taking a few
shots, brief interviews then rejoining the pack to shout anti-Media Bill
chants. Kenyan journalists, media practitioners, owners and civil society
activists took to the streets of Nairobi on 3rd December
to voice their dissatisfaction with the recent Media Bill passed in Parliament.
The demonstrators assembled outside Nation Centre on Kimathi
Street a few minutes past 10 am. Whistles, and pro-media freedom chants and
placards took charge of the busy streets as the procession made its way through
Kenyatta Avenue and Moi Avenue before making a stop on Harambee Avenue where a
signed petition was handed over to government officials at the Office of the
President. A similar copy of the petition was also delivered to the National
Assembly buildings. “The Bill amounts to repression of the media and should
either be completely withdrawn or redrafted afresh,” said Mr. David Ohito, the
Vice Chair of the Editors Guild of Kenya.
The Bill among other proposals placed a fine of KES 20 million
for media houses found guilty of violating the code of conduct while
journalists would be fined KES 2 million. Even after supposed consultations,
the contents of the Information and Communications Bill 2013 are yet to lose
their effect of sending jitters down the spines of members of the Fourth
Estate. The presence of the Media Tribunal and the still hefty fines for
journalists now reduced to KES 500,000 remain among contentious elements of the
Bill.
“I suspect this has been brought about by the desire to take
Kenya back to the days of dictatorship, but those days are gone,” said former
Human Rights Commission of Kenya Chairperson and now Mombasa Senator Hassan
Omar. “No one can succeed in barring the media from doing their work. I am in
utter shock. I thought the Uhuru government would be an improvement from the Kibaki
government but what has been happening in the first days of this government is
something that confounds all of us,” he added.
Among the
demonstrators was photojournalist cum activist Boniface Mwangi, Political
Analyst and Director of ONE, Benji Ndolo and a host of civil rights activists.
“We would rather empower the current Media Council of Kenya than create a new
council that is not free of State control,” added Mr. Ohito. The media
fraternity hopes to reach a reasonable compromise with the National Assembly
when the Bill is brought to the floor of the House.
DECEMBER EDITORIAL: AT 50 ARE WE REALLY FREE?
UP MAGAZINE EDITORIAL
In the 1950s, Kimathi, General China, the Mau Mau and
like-minded Kenyans put their lives on the line to fight for freedom, justice
and independence. 50 years later, Kimathi’s statue stands regal in Kenya’s
capital but the battle is still on—only the characters and weapons have
changed. From the forests it’s now the streets, the blogosphere, the wit,
Parliament and petitions. The Wangari Maathais, the Boniface Mwangis, the
Omtatas, the Davinder Lambas and the masses, the civil
societies and the media are all pressing for freedom—50 years on.
But who exactly are they up against? Poverty, the political
class, the extended unofficial hereditary hegemony aided by condescending
masses—masses contented with food and shelter for today, deaf to the cry for
justice and numb to the feel of equality.It is a classic re-enactment of
Orwell’s “Animal Farm”: lesser animals are quickly subscribing to the
philosophy of other animals being more equal than others.
On 14
November 2013, IPSOS Synovate released the findings of a public opinion poll
whose scope of survey encompassed security, crime, the Westgate Attack, Somalia
security issues, Muslim clerics’ killings and the ICC process. 67% of the
Kenyan population believes that the Westgate attack could have been prevented.
An overwhelming majority feel the laxity of government apparatus allowed the
Westgate attack to take place. In short, the average Mwananchi is aware of the turn of events in the
country, but has given up trying to change anything. He has chosen the path of short
memory or worse, apathy.
And for the leaders entrusted with defending the Constitution,
it beats logic for one to send himself to trial. “The foreigners and ICC want
to jail us,” they say. We say, “Come; let us gag the media and civil societies.
Let us join the continental despots, turn East and save our skins.” Besides the
two media bills meant to slash the beaks off the nosy media, civil societies
and NGOs have the Miscellaneous Amendment Bill 2013 aimed at limiting foreign
funding to a maximum of 15 percent of their total budgets. Well, who provides
supplementary public medical care in the ‘forgotten frontiers’ of Kenya? Who
fights FGM in the arid lands? Unless those services are not too important,
compared to politics of the day.
The Judiciary is not safe either. The principle of separation of
powers matters no more. Recently, six members of the Judicial Service
Commission were suspended and a tribunal set up to investigate them. The head
of this tribunal, appointed by accident or design, happens to have an axe to
grind with the JSC for not being shortlisted for a post he applied for back in
2011.
All the
same, we, Wananchi, down here, the other 99 percent, are doing
just fine. Never has there been more creativity in our ranks; never has there
been more invention and entrepreneurial spirit, in spite of those who purport
to lead us.
So, let’s celebrate the Jubilee, by all means. Freedom is ours,
and it is what you make of it. As an African saying goes, ‘whoever thinks he is
too small to make an impact has perhaps never spent a night in the company of a
mosquito.’ That’s freedom.
THROUGH THE LENS OF NAIROBI’S BRILLIANT PHOTOGRAPHERS- JOE LUKHOVI
Joe Lukhovi (Contemporary Photography)
Joe belongs to the young, spritely photographers Nairobi would love showcasing to the world. He has been working as a photographer for six years. “I chose to do contemporary photography and documentaries because it is a way of telling stories through pictures in a unique and interesting way,” says the lensman with a particular liking for silhouettes.
Joe belongs to the young, spritely photographers Nairobi would love showcasing to the world. He has been working as a photographer for six years. “I chose to do contemporary photography and documentaries because it is a way of telling stories through pictures in a unique and interesting way,” says the lensman with a particular liking for silhouettes.
“There’s this thing about silhouettes that comes out nicely
especially in the evenings or early mornings and that’s the technique I’ve
taken it through.” In 2011, he was in South Africa thanks to “Project Survival
Media” for his photography. Joe who prefers analogue lenses to automatic ones
for the feel of the images, is currently involved in “Photographs for Africa” a
project that aims to cast Africa in a positive light running across Uganda,
Tanzania, Ethiopia and Tanzania.
But Joe has come a long way and gone places and still has a long
way to go. “My work moves with the idea of liberty and expression,” he says.
Joe held his debut exhibition at Kuona Trust in July 2013. This month, he is
heading to Warsaw, Poland courtesy of the Thompson Reuters Foundation to
document events in support of environmental conservation.
For more info, visit joelukhovi.wordpress.com
#kwaniat10
#kwaniat10
We celebrated our 10th anniversary between 27th
– 30th November 2013 by hosting a series of literary and artistic events that
reflect on contemporary writing and its place in the literary history of Kenya,
East Africa & the continent. In this spirit, we hosted Kenyan writer,
Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor whose story ‘Weight of Whispers’ was published in the
first edition of the Kwani? journal in 2003 & won the Caine Prize for
African Writing, placing Kenyan contemporary literature and Kwani? on the
regional and international map. Yvonne launched her debut novel, DUST. We were
delighted to welcome award-winning Nigerian writer Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie to give
the Kwani? 10th Anniversary Lecture Africa and launch the East African edition
of her acclaimed third novel AMERICANAH.
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