Thursday, June 5, 2014

SAUTI SOL JOIN RED HOT LINE-UP FOR MTV AFRICA MUSIC AWARDS KWAZULU-NATAL




The trend-setting top afro pop band from Kenya: Sauti Sol, will be among a few selected African stars who will be joining on stagepreviously announced performers including international artists: French Montana, Miguel and Trey Songz, at the 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards this weekend (7th June) in Durban, South Africa. MTV Base revealed (3rd June) that Sauti Sol join the final acts added to the crazy talented line-up at the influential music awards ceremony.

This is also the first time for Sauti Sol to get nominated at the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA). Sauti Sol have been nominated in the Best Group Africa category alongside P-Square, Mi Casa, Big Nuz and Mafikizolo. Sauti Sol - previous winners of a Channel O Africa Music Video Awards among numerous local and international accolades, are set to release their third album "Live and Die in Africa" later this year.

Sauti Sol members speak:  "At this point, we are super grateful, beyond explanation, for the nomination and trust that our fans have played their part best in the voting process. Let the best band win!" enthuses Bien Aime Baraza. Savara Delvin Mudigi adds, "This nomination has made us realize that we have a solid fan base from allover the world, but especially in Africa. We had a lot of people reaching out to us from West Africa." Sauti Sol have received wide acclaim and celebration following the the big MTV nomination in the competitive category: Best Group In Africa. Band guitarist Polycarp Otieno says, "Sauti Sol can't thank the fans, mainstream media, radio stations, DJs and blogs among many others including family for the tremendous support and promotion." Willis Austin Chimano reiterates, "We've felt the love; especially in Tanzania during the MTV Road to MAMAs Tour. Asanteni sana!!"

Public voting for 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards continues online until midnight on 4th June 2014. You can still vote for Sauti Sol (Kenya), Nominees (Best group) 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards by logging into: 


2014 MAMAs will be held at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, this Saturday 7th June. The event will premiere on MTV Base (DStv Channel 322), MTV (DStv Channel 130) and other partner channels around the continent from June 2014.

ENDS --

Management/Bookings: 

Anyiko Owoko (Sauti Sol Publicist)
anyiko@sauti-sol.com

Marek Fuchs (Manager)

For more: 

SAUTI SOL

The GoDownGig May Edition

The GoDownGig May Edition
We heard "Uliza kiatu", we were "Afro Jazzed", and "had we paid our dues?" #TheGoDownGig was one of its kind. Check out how it went down.







Friday, May 16, 2014

BuyMore Kenya Set To Launch A Student Discount Card At Daystar University

#TECHONOLOGY



p
icture this: a discount card built for students and one that can give students particular discounts in stores around the institution. Sounds like a dream right? No, wrong. And the shock, the discounts are unlimited for a card that costs KES 300 a year; renewable at the same subscription.
Well, this is what BuyMore Kenya wants to bring on the table for Daystar students. The start-up company at Strathmore University is a discount system built for students in various universities, colleges and high schools.

Led by Tony Kuchio, John Adams Opiyo and James Bukusi; the pilot is currently running at Strathmore University b using an electronic card; linked to an NFC chip that can give students particular discounts in stores.


And it is not just at restaurants; the card can be used for discounts at electronic stores; movie theatres, social events, photography and the list goes on and on. These businesses are in partnership with BuyMore.
Given that it’s an electronic card; it is able to create a breakdown trail allowing the user (student) to see how much money they have saved over a period of time, and in extension, enables merchants and anyone looking to break into the student market to see where the students spend most of their money.

With the start-up already scaling their discount card to various other universities in Kenya and later on East Africa; the estimated market pool of college and university students in the country stands at an estimated 1,200,000; and that potentially triples when scaled to the EA community.


Rumor already has it that BuyMore plans to roll the pilot launch at Daystar Nairobi Campus Valley Road; before heading to Athi-River campus. But you know those are just unconfirmed rumors and speculations and who knows what will happen. But this card will be a great relief saving platform for students.

BuyMore makes money on the sale of the card to students via a subscription model. They also sell the NFC enabled phones to the storeowners and sometimes make a fee off that.

To Tony, John and James- Daystar awaits the BuyMore cards.

-Nairobi’s UP Magazine named BuyMore as a tech-startup to watch in 2014. Find them on Facebook and twitter @BuyMoreKenya.

By Embukane Vincent Libosso.



Avoiding Road-Trips & Long Journey Blues

#TRAVEL

I love travelling a lot and experiencing new places- the new sights and sounds just blow me away. But also, when travelling a lot over long distances, long journey blues are inevitable and are always bound to happen. When they do; the journey becomes boring and, both treacherous and torturous.

Company will always be fun to travel with. Travelling with a company gives you a great avenue to share stories, make jokes and have fun along the way. If you are travelling with one, be open and share your stories and travelling experiences with the rest of the people.


Take snacks with you. Snacks and drinks for the road take your mind away. They are staple of long car journeys. You will not just pass time but also avoid hunger since when you hungry; the journey tends to become long and a nightmare.

Another best way to pass time is to listen to music. Carry your favorite music gadget and ensure it is well charged and that you have the best genres of music- that you love and enjoy and can groove to. Music videos are also entertaining; so make sure you update your iPod; mp3 and the memory card on your phone and that you have the best ear/head phones with you.


Videos too are a good pass time especially if you have an iPad, galaxy tab, latest iPod or laptop. Stock up the latest series you love or those classic movies you’d love to watch once again or those you enjoy watching over and over again.

Carrying books and magazines for the long trips is always advisable. Be it by air, or road, novels and magazines take you to a fantasy world and make you forget you are travelling.

When doing self-drive; it is important to take relaxing short breaks so that you are able to allow your body to relax before continuing with the journey. Nature calls; stopping to stretch or even just lunch breaks are important and help you psychologically.

Finally, take pictures and lots of them. Carry along a camera and snap away everything that you feel is attractive ad you’d want to remember. Latest phones today have great camera apps and editing apps too; this will keep you busy.

Now, time to hit the road! Remember feel free to share with us your travelling experiences and what helps you to avoid long journey blues.

By Embukane Vincent Libosso.












The Rise & Rise Of Xenophobia In Kenya

Walking down 1st Avenue and 14th street, in the heart of Eastleigh, one senses fear in the air. People hurriedly walk down the untarmaced road. It is sunset and the muaddhins’ call to prayer from nearby mosques echo each other. I stop a young lady to talk, but she has no time, I could see the nervousness in her face. This road has suffered more than a dozen terror attacks in one year and is now undergoing a police crackdown which begun as a hunt for terrorists but has morphed into a harassment of Somalis in their own homes.
The heightened tension has spread to Somalis in South B and C where the crackdown has been tinged with outrageous demands for bribes, regardless of citizenship. Khadija Malik, a single mother of three retells of a loud banging at her gate. “They came in at about 12:00 am reeking of alcohol. There were five who walked in and demanded to see our papers. We showed them. Then I asked if they wanted to see my house-help’s documents and they replied, ‘That one is ok’. My house-help is not Somali. They made us pay KES. 5,000 before they left.” The frustration wells up her eyes as she rummages in her bag and hands me her Kenyan Identification. “I was born in Kenya. This is my country and this is how they treat us,” she says.
The next morning, I visit the South C neighborhood where the eerie silence of the streets is an ominous sign of the nightly police visits. At a kiosk near Five-Star Estate, Mama Njeri, the shopkeeper tells of stories she has heard from residents in the vicinity. “People are not happy. The Police treat them like ATMs. It must be hard being a Somali. They are my customers and they are just innocent. We don’t have problems with them here and they are being punished for nothing,” she says. Swaleh Abdi who pops in to buy a loaf of bread and a pint of milk retorts, when asked about the nocturnal police visits: “We are suffering walahi. My grandparents suffered like this in Somalia. There is nowhere safe for Somalis, even if you are born here.” Swaleh is distraught when he tells me that he is a student at the University of Nairobi and has ambitions like everyone else. It is clear that the acute marginalization of Kenyan Somalis feel will do little but foster resentment.
Amongst the unfortunate Somalis who have been rounded up and held at the Kasarani Stadium is the son of Ismail Osman, a 63 year old Kenyan citizen who is an ethnic Somali. He says that police officers in his neighborhood had arrested his 32-year-old son who has a mental illness and was not carrying identification. “We don’t know where he is,” Mr. Osman said tearfully, showing his son’s Kenyan citizenship papers. “The process is confusing.” The camp internment of Somalis at the Kasarani Stadium is carried out without any form of trial or hearing for the Kenyans, refugees, asylum seekers or illegal immigrants. In April, Tana River Senator Ali Abdi Bule was close to spending his night at the ‘camp’ when was arrested as he was driving on Juja Road with his two children and a bodyguard on board. He was charged with being in the country illegally. The humiliation dragged on for hours at the police station after his identification was at first dismissed as being fake. He was eventually released when the police acceded to its validity.
Since the invasion of Somalia by the Kenya Defence Forces, there have been 84 bombs and grenade attacks around the country, not to mention the Westgate tragedy. Although there have been few convictions of any suspects and Al-Shabaab itself has not taken any credit for many of the attacks, the onus is on the police to prove that it is a Somali problem. Even though many of the suspects are non-Somalis, the entire Somali community in Kenya has been tried and found guilty by a growing number of the Kenyan public. Former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga released a statement on April 9 regarding the misdirected and ill-informed nature of the crackdown, “We have seen in the past that it was not just Somalis who are involved in acts of terrorism. We saw some young people from the Luo, Luhya, Kikuyu and other communities arraigned in court on suspicion of engaging in acts of terrorism,” he said.
Finding people with strong anti- Somali opinions is not a hard task on social media where anonymous bravado fuelled hate speech is the norm. We caught up with people working in various places in town to hear their views face-to-face. Karen Thimba, a store owner says, “I think the government is doing a good job. These outsiders are destroying our country. If you are not guilty, why are you afraid of being searched? It was Otieno Kajwang who created this Somali terrorist problem by opening Kenyan citizenship to illegal Somali terrorists. They should go back and build their motherland instead of buying fake papers and bringing us bombs and terrorists.” When we ask of the human rights violations against the Somalis, she tells us, “What about the thousands of lives lost and hundreds of hostages held by Somalis in Somalia? Why don’t you talk about that? Who are doing all those nasty things in Somalia and making the country unbearable for anyone to live in including Somalis! Somalis! And now they are bringing it to us.”
Willis Omondi, a matatu conductor at the Odeon stage tells us the solution to the Somali ‘issue’. “If you Somalis could save your energies to resolve the issues in your country all your problems will be 75 percent solved. Kenyan Somalis have failed us in allowing terrorist to thrive and flourish amidst them and we are paying for it. It is time to bring back peace and security back to the country by all means necessary.” On the question of whether human violations against Somalis is justified, he answers: “That is the only language they understand.”
A by-stander who was listening to the conversation, later just identified as Mwaura piped in emphatically: “Kenyans are only fed up and it’s high time for the government did something before it’s too late. Even people in South Africa are fed up with them.” Sensing rising temperatures, I quickly moved away and walked on to Moi Avenue where I met Phyllis Makau an attendant at a perfume shop. We speak of the Police operations. “You know many of these people send money back to al-Shabaab”, she said hesitantly, “and then the al-Shabaab hide amongst them when they are here. I don’t trust any of them.” When asked about if she had any proof, she was adamant, “people know these things. Where else does this terrorism problem come from?” When asked why there wasn’t a terrorist problem in Kenya’s history before, she admits, “I don’t know. But it’s here now and it came from Somalis. Look at their country, now they are bringing war here.”
The blind prejudice against an entire community reminds one of the run up to the 1984 Wagalla massacre which is yet to be fully addressed by the previous Kenyatta government and subsequent regimes.
After enduring dreadful conditions at the unsanitary Kasarani caged stadium area, a woman died while in custody from what the police reported as a ‘common cold’ as she awaite deportation. Her ailment was agitated by the lack of blankets, adequate food and medication. Al-Amin Kimathi, social justice activist and human rights defender together with officials from the Kenya Human Rights Commission, were the first to be let into the Kasarani Police Station where those rounded up were being held before they were taken to the Kasarani Stadium. The footage of their visit showed Somali men, women and children, many of whom had their Identification Cards At hand. Al-Amin tells us that it was a question of money. “We spoke to people in the cells who told us that the Police were demanding KES 20,000. Later on, the bribe was reduced to KES. 5,000 but there were still people who could not afford that.”
Despite the laws protecting all immigrants, security officials seem to be going about their business of deportation with a hand of impunity. While human rights are clearly being abused, many Kenyans we spoke to are okay with this, so long as security is restored. Probably the worst outcome of the whole affair is an escalation of violence on both sides; police on the one hand continuing a ‘shock and awe’ approach to crackdowns and terrorists on the other, hell-bent on revenge.

The legality of police operations
• The forced entry into the homes of any person requires a warrant under the penal code, which has not been issued to the Police conducting the operations.
• There is no system of monitoring how many people in total have been arrested and their specific charges, how many have been released and how many are still at the Stadium.
• Detention for more than 24 hours is unlawful as per Kenyan and international law. The Terrorism Act does permit the Police to apply for an extension of the 24 hours but none have been applied for. There are people who have been detained since April 5.
• Persons detained are in an open stadium with no protection from the elements, they are not allowed to use the facilities such as the toilets and they are all mixed together, children, men and women. This goes against a wide array of domestic and international laws against torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
• On 10 November 2013, a tripartite agreement was signed between the governments of Somalia and Kenya and the UNHCR, following months of negotiations. The agreement establishes the framework governing the voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees over the next three years. A pilot phase will take place from January to June 2014. The current forced repatriations go against Kenya’s pledge.
• The repatriations are also a contravention of the non-refoulement principle enshrined in the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of which Kenya is a signatory. The principle ensures that a refugee cannot be returned to the dangerous place from where they fled. This includes all illegal immigrants because they have 40 days to apply for refugee status as soon as they are detected by authorities.

By Amal Mohamed
http://www.upnairobi.com/dt_portfolio/the-rise-and-rise-of-xenophobia-in-kenya/

The Man Behind #KenyaImNotATerrorist

#KenyaImNotATerrorist is the controversial campaign and brainchild of Hamza Egal and Muna Ismail. We had a brief chat with Hamza Egal ,a lawyer, father and Kenyan Somali, about the deeper issues that face not just our nation but the continent at large.
Where are you from and where were you born?
I was born in Saudi Arabia to Kenyan Somali parents but raised in the United Kingdom from age 1. Kenya has always been home as we spent every vacation here up until mother’s passing in 1996, when we decided to move back to the country permanently.
Were you personally affected either by the Eastleigh attacks or the Mass detention of Somali’s at Kasarani Stadium?
I was not directly affected by either. But in the aftermath, I did have an unfortunate encounter with the police who knocked on my door late one night when my family was asleep. They very forcefully demanded to conduct a search. I did not protest, for the sake of my family’s safety, but told them they were welcome to enter as guests. They conducted their search and, naturally, found nothing suspicious. Speaking in Swahili, I mentioned to them that we are all brothers here, regardless of ethnicity, and that whatever we do impacts the nation. I asked them to be deeply conscious and not cause harm or pain to innocent people.
Who was your target audience with the campaign and why?
The campaign was aimed at all Kenyans as well as the greater international community. I tend to see myself as an upstanding citizen who will speak out on behalf of those in our nation who are being unfairly treated. I was severely disturbed at all the stories and instances of ill treatment against innocent Kenyan Somali’s and also felt that the Somali community was being poorly represented in international media. This is just the start. It’s going to take many more thorough and open discussions about our differences and complexities before we can learn to respect one another as Kenyans and as Africans.
For more from Hamza Egal, visit his personal blog at: www.365insightafrica.blogspot.com
by Liz Maelane
http://www.upnairobi.com/dt_portfolio/q-a-with-the-man-behind-kenyaimnotaterrorist/

Diary Of A Kenyan Taxi Driver

have been swerving potholes and drunkards on these roads for the last ten years and witnessed scenes etched forever in my memory. Last night a girl fell flat on her face and managed to laugh as she picked herself up and left her dignity in the puddles. She straightened her muddied dress and tried to balance on unbelievably high heels. She looked like those newborn giraffe calves learning to walk and you had to admire her ambition.  I’m sitting in traffic, drumming to Ken wa Maria and chuckle when I get flashbacks of these funny incidents. Many customers using the EasyTaxi app means that I get jobs regularly and nearby my parking spot. It’s a win-win situation. It hasn’t stopped the strange happenings on these streets though.
Considering the glimpses of alcohol induced insanity I have seen, you can imagine my delight when I was called to pick up my ultimate hero, none other than Honorable Mututho. I felt the tears well up as I tried to conjure a greeting as he entered the vehicle, but all that came out was a quivering “H-h-a-a-bar-i,” I coughed and tried to get a hold of myself. I immediately commended him on his superb work and spent most of the ride listing to him the incidents of alcohol abuse I had witnessed. I can remember trying to count the furrows on his forehead from the rear-view mirror as he spoke with so much zeal against alcohol that I thought he partook in something else. We immediately bonded.  “We won’t stop. I am here to implement the law.” This was a man after my own heart. “Keep it up Afande” I told him when he stepped out. I should have taken a photograph!
This series is sponsored by EasyTaxi and gives an insight on the quandaries, adventures and encounters experienced by taxi drivers on a daily basis.
Started in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2012, EasyTaxi is the world’s largest taxi booking app and is now available in Nairobi, Kenya! EasyTaxi redefines the taxi experience by helping passengers find a ride in a safe, convenient, and fast manner with just a touch of your smartphone! Find a taxi the easy way with EasyTaxi. 
The EasyTaxi app is available for FREE on all android, iphone, and windows phone devices – just search for “EasyTaxi”.  Download today! For more information, please visit facebook.com/EasyTaxi254
http://www.upnairobi.com/dt_portfolio/diary-of-a-kenyan-taxi-driver/