NADYA SOMOEI

Seven poll officials fired on eve of Kenya elections

Monday August 08 2022

IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati. PHOTO | NMG

By NATION AFRICA

Four officials of the electoral agency, who were found holding a meeting at the home of a former member of the county assembly (MCA) aspirant in Homa Bay, in western Kenya, have been fired.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) showed the officials the door for committing an election offence.

Three others, two in Webuye East and another in Webuye West, both in Bungoma County, were also sacked for similar reasons, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said during an election preparedness update in Nairobi on Monday.

Homa Bay County IEBC returning officer Fredrick Apopa said the officials were wrong to attend the meeting. “You cannot be in a meeting with politicians when the law requires you to be neutral,” he said.

Mr Apopa said the officials were reported to have been meeting an MCA and a parliamentary aspirant from a political party, among others.

It was not clear what the group was discussing.

But residents of Kanyikela who stormed the meeting and took the suspects to a police station claimed they were planning how to manipulate Tuesday's elections.

Mr Apopa said investigators are looking into the allegations and will take necessary action if the suspects are found to have committed an electoral offence.

Some of the people to be questioned are residents who took the suspects to the Ndhiwa Police Station.

“The outcome of the investigation will determine whether they will be charged. It will be up to the police and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to take legal action against them,” the IEBC official said.

The suspects included a presiding officer, two deputy presiding officers and a clerk.

The meeting took place in Riat village, Kanyikela ward, Ndiwa Constituency.

Residents disrupted the meeting and frog-matched the suspects to the police station.

Other IEBC officials attending the meeting escaped after noticing the crowd surging towards the home.

Mr Apopa said the IEBC has a system for filling a vacancy created by the dismissal of an election worker.

*Story has been updated.

In the headlines

Afropop star Kizz Daniel arrested in Tanzania

The Nigerian afrobeats singer-songwriter Kizz Daniel failed to show up for a paid concert on Sunday night in Dar es Salaam.

Tanzania to sell first T-bond to EAC, SADC citizens

Northern Corridor most costly in the world

Kenyans are reading, who is writing?

EA won’t sleep well until Kenya counts the votes

'Leaked UN report' on DRC invasion rattles Rwanda

Kenya polls: The four men seeking to succeed Uhuru Kenyatta

Sunday August 07 2022

The four contestants in the August 9, 2022 presidential election. From left: Raila Odinga (Azimio), William Ruto (Kenya Kwanza), David Mwaure Waihiga (Agano Party) and George Wajackoyah (Roots Party). ILLUSTRATION | JOHN NYAGA | NMG

By SILAS APOLLO

More by this Author

Kenya goes to the polls on Tuesday in a closely fought race to elect the fifth president since independence from Britain six decades ago.

From an initial shortlist of 17, four candidates were cleared to run for president, the smallest number since multiparty democracy in the early 1990s.

The incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta has served two terms and cannot run again.

Raila Odinga, 77, former Prime Minister

Azimio la Umoja Coalition Flag Bearer Raila Odinga in Siaya Town.

Azimio la Umoja Coalition flagbearer Raila Odinga. PHOTO | POOL

Born in 1945 in Maseno, Raila Odinga is the son of independent Kenya’s first Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. This will be his fifth stab at the presidency, having been on the ballot in 1997, 2007, 2013 and 2017.

Mr Odinga attended Kisumu Union and Maranda primary schools before joining Maranda High School. Mr Odinga is a graduate of the University of Leipzig in East Germany with a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering attained in 1970. In 1974 he was appointed group standards manager at the Kenya Bureau of Standards before his promotion to deputy director in 1978.

In his political journey, he was at the forefront of the push for constitutional and political reforms. President Daniel Moi’s police state detained him on numerous occasions. He would later flee to exile in Norway in 1991. He returned in February 1992 and joined the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy at the height of the clamour for multipartyism.

He was elected Lang’ata MP in 1992 on a Ford Kenya ticket. He would later ditch the party over leadership wrangles that followed the death of his father and joined the National Development Party, on whose ticket he first sought the presidency in the 1997, coming third after Moi and the late Mwai Kibaki.

He joined Moi’s government after a merger between KANU and NDP and was appointed minister and Kanu secretary-general. But in 2002, he led a mass walkout from Kanu after Moi endorsed Uhuru Kenyatta as his successor, to form the National Rainbow coalition with Mr Kibaki and others.

He fell out with Kibaki ran against contested in 2007 and was named Prime Minister in the grand coalition government that was formed after months of violence.

William Ruto, 55, Deputy President

Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate William Ruto. PHOTO | NMG

Dr William Ruto is the deputy president in the Jubilee administration and leader of the United Democratic Alliance, on whose ticket he is contesting the presidency under the Kenya Kwanza Alliance.

Born in Surgoi, Uasin Gishu County in 1966, Dr Ruto began his education at Kamagut Primary before joining Wareng Secondary School and later Kapsabet Boys High School. He attended the University of Nairobi, where he graduated with a BSc in Botany and Zoology in 1990, before attaining MSc and PhD in 2011 and in 2018 respectively.

After serving as Eldoret North MP from 1997, Ruwas in 2013 Uhuru Kenyatta’s running mate. They won the election and he became the first deputy president under the 2010 constitution.

In October 2014, he served as acting President when Mr Kenyatta briefly relinquished power to attend to his criminal case at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Dr Ruto had in 2011 been named one of the six individuals who had sponsored the 2007/08 post-election violence. Like with other post-election violence cases at The Hague, his collapsed due to insufficient evidence blamed on witness tampering and failures by the ICC prosecutor’s office.

Ruto was a co-founder and member of the Youth for Kanu 1992 (YK92), a grouping that campaigned for the late President Daniel Moi in the 1992 General Election.

Dr Ruto served as an assistant minister in the Office of the President and then towards the 2002 elections which Kanu lost, he was promoted to Minister for Home Affairs. He also served as Minister for Agriculture and Higher Education in the grand coalition government from 2008.

George Wajackoyah, 63, lawyer

Roots Party presidential candidate George Wajackoyah. PHOTO | NMG

Aside from his pledges in reviving the economy and fighting corruption on the campaign trail, Prof George Wajackoyah will be remembered more for his radical proposals on legalisation of marijuana and harvesting of hyena testicles for sale, among other revolutionary ideas.

The immigration lawyer is the candidate of the Roots Party. A former Special Branch Prof Wajackoyah is a law graduate of the University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom. He also holds masters degrees in law from the University of London, University of Warwick and the University of Baltimore, Advanced Diploma in French from the University of Burundi, among other academic qualifications.

He was born on October 24, 1959 in Matungu, Kakamega County in western Kenya. Prof Wajackoyah has had an interesting past. In 1991, he was forced into exile following his involvement in the investigation of the murder of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Robert Ouko.

At the time, he had been deployed then director of intelligence, James Kanyotu, to look into whether anyone in government had been involved in the matter. This involvement in the case would put him at loggerheads with some people in government, who accused him of foul play, leading to what he says was his detention and torture before he fled the country. He returned in 2011.

The lawyer has promised to legalise the growing of marijuana for industrial and heritage purposes, serve as the Immigration minister as well as appoint a person of Asian ancestry to the Trade ministry if he is elected President. He also wants to revive local industries and promote indigenous agricultural products like coconut and mukombero.

Mwaure Waihiga, 60+, lawyer

Agano Party Presidential candidate David Mwaure Waihiga. PHOTO | NMG

David Mwaure Waihiga of the Agano party is a lawyer and has vied in previous elections as an MP, Senator and governor. He also tried his hand in the contest for the presidency in the 2013 General Election. He however quit the race and vied for Lamu governor.

His most recent attempt at an elective position was in 2021, when he received the greenlight from his Agano party to contest the Nairobi governor’s seat after Mike Sonko was impeached. No election was held, though.

He had also tried in 2011 to contest for the Kamkunji MP’s seat after the High Court nullified the victory of Simon Mbugua. He lost, coming fourth in a race that was won by the Party of National Unity candidate Yusuf Hassan.

Mr Waihiga, an advocate with more than 35 years in practice, is a graduate of the University of Nairobi. He also has a masters degree in leadership from the International Leadership University and is currently studying for a PhD in leadership.

His law firm, Mwaure Waihiga & Co. Advocates, is based in Nairobi but has offices in Malindi and Lamu.

He describes himself as “a strongly committed born-again Christian and evangelical who is also an ordained minister, a reverend and an apostle.”

If elected, he would like to be remembered as the president who slew the dragon of corruption, bureaucracy, misadministration and tribalism.

He has also promised to recover all stolen wealth through corruption scandals.

In the headlines

Seven poll officials fired on eve of Kenya elections

The officials included a presiding officer, two deputy presiding officers and a clerk.

Afropop star Kizz Daniel arrested in Tanzania

The Nigerian afrobeats singer-songwriter Kizz Daniel failed to show up for a paid concert on Sunday night in Dar es Salaam.

Tanzania to sell first T-bond to EAC, SADC citizens

Northern Corridor most costly in the world

Kenyans are reading, who is writing?

EA won’t sleep well until Kenya counts the votes

'Leaked UN report' on DRC invasion rattles Rwanda

East Africa won’t sleep well until Kenya counts the votes

Sunday August 07 2022

IEBC officials compile data on presidential elections results at the Bomas of Kenya on August 11, 2017. PHOTO | NMG

By Charles Onyango-Obbo

More by this Author

On August 9, the cultural politics of East Africa could be reshaped in ways it hasn't been in 37 years. Either Deputy President William Ruto or veteran opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga will become the fifth president of Kenya.

Both men are Nilotes. It is the first time in Kenya that the leading claimants to the throne have both been Nilotes.

At the wider East Africa level, in 1985 in Uganda, Milton Obote, who had returned to power as president in a disputed election in December 1980, was ousted in a military coup for a second time — the first having been in 1971 by Field Marshal Idi Amin. In Kenya, Daniel arap Moi was deeply entrenched in the one-party rule.

For the four-and-half years Obote was in office, for the first time there were two Nilotic leaders in power in East Africa.

Cultural kinship has had a considerable impact on geopolitics and foreign policy in ways that are often not fully appreciated. For example, President Moi appointed General Lazaro Sumbeiywo Kenya's Special Envoy to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development-led Sudan peace process between 1997 and 1998.

He then appointed him mediator in the Nairobi-anchored peace process in 2001. Kept by President Mwai Kibaki, Gen Sumbeiywo helped bring the bacon home in the form of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement aka the Naivasha Agreement on January 9, 2005 by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the government of Sudan. The CPA ended the 25-year-long Second Sudanese civil war.

The complex relationship of the South Sudanese political class with the Kalenjin establishment in Kenya (including Moi confidant Mark Too, who is credited with breaking the ice on the South Sudan crisis), and the Nilotic kinship partly accounted for Sumbeiywo's success. He was speaking a language the South Sudanese "could understand".

The inverse is also true. Moi waded into the South Sudanese peace process at the tail-end of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. This time, though, he sided against the victims, giving succour to some of the leaders of the genocide, including one of its masterminds, Félicien Kabuga. Kenya is also alleged to have sold ammunition to Rwanda Army-Interahamwe forces during the genocide.

Critics speculate that Moi's lack of empathy could have been down to the fact that the genocide was happening in the Central African Bantu heartland.

Because of the CPA, which partly birthed an independent South Sudan in 2011, whether it is Ruto or Raila, there will again be two East African leaders with Nilotic roots. It could prove critical to regional efforts to shepherd the war-wracked South Sudan's troubled 2018 peace deal to be implemented and, ultimately, whether the postponed 2023 election happens.

Also read: Why Ruto and Raila seek first-round victory

Furthermore, because Nilotes are an East African-Horn of Africa minority, they are given to a peculiar form of class-driven grievance politics, even when they have power – as was the case of both Moi and Obote.

Raila and the former leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M), the charismatic John Garang, are the few that didn't fit the mould. In their case, they represented the opposite -- an over-the-top pan-Africanism.

Ruto didn't play in the foreign policy arena while Deputy President, so he will only show his hand if he wins on August 9, but he will fall into one of those spectrums.

It is a factor that could be a spot of bother for Uganda President Yoweri Museveni if Raila wins. Museveni has set out his tent as the elder East African statesman and often casts himself as the First Pan-African on the continent today.

If Raila emerges victorious, he would be the only leader who would come to power with pre-existing pan-African credentials rivalling Museveni's. With his father having been leftist and pan-African icon Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenya's first vice-president, he brings greater pedigree to the job than Museveni.

The two men, as it happens, are also agemates, both being 77 years old. Museveni was never part of the Raila fan club, nor was Raila part of Museveni's. There is a likelihood of competition for the elder and pan-African crown between them. Both men, however, are renowned pragmatists. When candidate Raila visited with Museveni in Kampala in May, observers didn't miss the fact that the Ugandan leader, who had been viewed both in Kampala and Kenya as a Ruto patron, was unusually courteous. One of Museveni's saving graces, if it is one, is that he doesn't hang too long onto a slippery branch.

Read: I'm not taking sides in Kenyan polls: Museveni

Raila is deeply entrenched in the Democratic Republic of Congo and, like outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, is known to be close to President Felix Tshisekedi. There will be continuity of the Uhuru approach to the DRC, which was mostly clearing the path for Kenyan business.

Ruto, on the other hand, riled the Congolese in February when he mocked them for wearing trousers at their chests and saying they had no cows. The Congolese were up in arms, and Ruto apologised for wounding their pride. He will need a major charm offensive for the Congolese to forget. Men's trousers and cattle can be emotive issues.

Coming to power as a politician with his most fanatical base in western Kenya, Raila would have to do something about the dispute over the football-field-sized Migingo Island. Museveni has said the water around it belongs to Kenya, but the fish belong to Uganda.

Being leaders from central Kenya's mountains, Kibaki and Uhuru didn't invest their capital in asserting Kenya's claim. Raila wouldn't have that luxury.

Ruto would face no such pressure either. He would likely take a "keep Museveni happy" line, and Migingo wouldn't be top of his priorities.

In a regional context, a Raila presidency could see the rebound of the Lake Victoria economy, which is already underway, and the new nexus of wealth being crafted in the triangle between Kisumu, Mwanza in Tanzania and Port Bell in Uganda. Already, the resuscitated Kisumu Port and the ramping of investments in the zone by the three countries has given that economic zone a new lease of life.

In a first, in 2014, 14 devolved Kenya counties — Bungoma, Busia, Homa Bay, Kakamega, Kisii, Kisumu, Migori, Nyamira, Siaya, Trans Nzoia, Kericho, Bomet, Nandi and Vihiga — formed the Lake Region Economic Bloc, a mini sub-region aiming to spur greater development in the Lake Basin region. It is a platform that would get a lift from a Raila presidency and create a new blue economy dynamic at the heart of the EAC.

The approaching change of guard also comes at a time when there has been a dramatic improvement in the Rwanda-Uganda relations and cold war that led to Rwanda closing the border between the two countries in 2019.

Some bold and high-visibility diplomatic forays into Rwanda by Museveni's son and Commander of the Land Forces of Uganda's People's Defence Forces Lt-Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba earlier in the year led to a much-welcome thawing of relations between the two former bosom allies.

Kagame visited Uganda for the first time in four years in April and cut Muhoozi’s birthday cake, and Museveni visited Rwanda for the first time in five years to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali in June. Travelling by road, he was visibly delighted with and soaked up the applause he received, posting gleeful tweets about it on his Twitter page.

Hadn't it been for that break, a President Raila would have left Museveni uneasy with a President Kagame to the west giving him the cold shoulder and a Raila to the east, distrustful of him.

On the other hand, a President Ruto, seen as a Museveni mentee, would make the national security establishment in Kigali lose some sleep because then they would have not one, but two “unfriendly” leaders on their path to the sea. Kigali and Kampala might have been de-risking for the Kenya vote when they buried the hatchet this time. Now, the only thing left is for the Kenyans to count the votes without shaky hands from August 9, and East Africa will have its answers.

Charles Onyango-Obbo is a journalist, writer and curator of the "Wall of Great Africans". [email protected]

In the headlines

Seven poll officials fired on eve of Kenya elections

The officials included a presiding officer, two deputy presiding officers and a clerk.

Afropop star Kizz Daniel arrested in Tanzania

The Nigerian afrobeats singer-songwriter Kizz Daniel failed to show up for a paid concert on Sunday night in Dar es Salaam.

Tanzania to sell first T-bond to EAC, SADC citizens

Northern Corridor most costly in the world

Kenyans are reading, who is writing?

'Leaked UN report' on DRC invasion rattles Rwanda

Kenya police under pressure to break post-polls chaos cycle

Saturday August 06 2022

IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati addresses the media on July 28, 2022, flanked by Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai (left) and Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti. PHOTO | LUCY WANJIRU | NMG

By MARY WAMBUI

More by this Author

By FRED OLUOCH

More by this Author

Rights watchdogs and the international community are keeping an eye on the conduct of the Kenya police, arguing that their action during this election season is critical to causing or averting violence.

This year’s elections have been described as critical, and international players are watching to see if Kenya has graduated from the pattern of post-election violence since 1992.

In 2017, protests in Kisumu were blamed for several deaths, including that of a six-month-old baby, who was bludgeoned by police as they hunted for demonstrators in their homes. Police have heavily deployed in areas seen as potential hotspots, including Nairobi, Kericho, Nakuru, Kisumu, Uasin Gishu and Mombasa.

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has mapped the six counties as likely to experience violence during the polls. These have in the past experienced violence triggered by hate speech, fake news and non-acceptance of election results.

Joining in the calls for peace is the US, which has called on Kenyans to use the opportunity to showcase their democracy to the world as they make their voices heard in their elections.

“We urge a peaceful and transparent democratic process, which is critical to delivering a more prosperous and secure future for all Kenyans,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement came hours after the US Embassy in Nairobi issued an alert imposing movement restrictions on its citizens and staff in Kisumu County over possible violence, for which it received a lot of flak.

Later, it clarified that it had no specific intelligence about violence but was simply cautioning staff from touring one of its outposts in the country at this time.

“Kisumu hosts a significant number of US Embassy personnel and is a frequent travel destination for American citizens. The US Department of State had no greater responsibility than the safety and security of US citizens overseas and routinely issues security alerts surrounding elections, health conditions and extreme weather ensuring US citizens have information that helps inform travel plans,” said a statement from the embassy.

But rights organisations say police could influence post-election events. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR) says that, based on past highly competitive elections, violence is likely to occur in the top candidates’ strongholds as tension rises over the results.

Despite assurances by the government that the elections will be peaceful, Kenya’s neighbours remain jittery as they have been every election time since 2007 when Ugandan and Rwandan traders lost goods worth $50 million to vandalism and transport disruptions on the Northern Corridor.

Read: Northern Corridor braces for ‘tough’ week of voting fever

The months leading to, and after elections, are violent in Kenya due to the rise in inflammatory political rhetoric and ethnicised narratives that cause divisions and hate among the public. According to the KNCHR, supporters of strong candidates who lose in the polls are likely to turn violent, especially if the leader does not accept the results.

“The commission, therefore, calls on sufficient contingency measures by all actors, including the Inspector General of Police, to deploy additional security to these areas, and swiftly, in line with human rights principles and standards, contain any such incidences before they escalate,” said KNHCR chairperson Roseline Odede.

In its latest monitoring report released Wednesday, the commission cites five deaths related to political violence between February and August this year. Two of the deaths were as a result of road accidents involving vehicles associated with aspirants, while three died from injuries inflicted by members of opposing factions.

Twenty-eight assault cases were reported by both police officers and members of the public in Nairobi, Kericho, Kisumu, West Pokot, Isiolo, Mombasa, Bungoma and Kisii counties, and 44 cases of threats, harassment and intimidation.

Longstanding conflicts between communities in the Kerio Valley are likely to impact voting patterns in the region, with the commission warning that it is likely to lead to voter suppression, as some affected localities have seen residents displaced and relocated from their polling stations while those left behind are apprehensive about their security should they choose to remain and cast their votes.

These areas include Mandera County, where political opponents are said to be disguised as terrorists to attack opponents’ motorcades with guns and or improvised explosives; Nakuru County, where an operation to wipe out members of a local gang has been cited as causing tension; and pasture-related conflict in Elgeyo Marakwet County. Seventy-three cases of inducement and undue influence have also been reported by the commission in Nairobi, Bungoma, Isiolo, Kakamega, Kiambu, Kilifi, Kirinyaga, Kisumu, Kwale, Meru, Migori, Mombasa, Nakuru, Nandi, Nyamira, Nyeri, Samburu, Siaya, Uasin Gishu, Wajir and West Pokot counties.

Data from the Inspector General of Police shows that election violence cases have reduced to about a quarter of what was recorded in 2017.

In the headlines

Seven poll officials fired on eve of Kenya elections

The officials included a presiding officer, two deputy presiding officers and a clerk.

Afropop star Kizz Daniel arrested in Tanzania

The Nigerian afrobeats singer-songwriter Kizz Daniel failed to show up for a paid concert on Sunday night in Dar es Salaam.

Tanzania to sell first T-bond to EAC, SADC citizens

Northern Corridor most costly in the world

Kenyans are reading, who is writing?

EA won’t sleep well until Kenya counts the votes

'Leaked UN report' on DRC invasion rattles Rwanda

Kenya election: Deep fakes, propaganda, libel inundate social media

Saturday August 06 2022

The ‘deep fakes’ have increased in the final two weeks of elections campaigns in Kenya as they seemingly target the less informed. PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK

By VINCENT OWINO

More by this Author

The final stretch of the campaigns has witnessed outright propaganda and manipulated videos and audios online spaces, signalling a rebound of fake news.

From fabricated videos made to misrepresent a candidate’s opinion to invented phone calls alleging plans to rig elections and fake statements claiming foreign support for a specific candidate, the ‘deep fakes’ have increased these final two weeks as they seemingly target the less informed.

Their propagation by influential political figures, including serving governors and members of parliament with verified accounts on Twitter, has raised eyebrows, with some calling for their investigation by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC).

Influential leaders from both sides of the frontrunner coalitions have in the past two weeks propagated fake material that is either critically injurious to the reputation of their opponents or carefully crafted to boost their own side’s popularity.

In one such videos shared by leaders in Raila Odinga’s camp, subtitles are manipulated to depict Deputy President William Ruto as hurling threats in his local dialect to non-members of the Kalenjin tribes who reside in the North Rift region.

Dr Ruto was, however saying the exact opposite in the original video. He was reassuring the other communities that they are safe living in the region and should go about their business.

Another was fake audio shared by an MP in Dr Ruto’s camp, claimed to be a leaked phone call between Junet Mohamed, the secretary-general of Odinga’s coalition party, and an official of the electoral body attempting to rig the elections.

Twitter has since flagged and removed some of the fake materials shared by both sides, but not before they garnered dozens of views and attracted outrage from users.

Some of the accounts that propagated manipulated materials have been suspended.

Political influencers

A number of the materials have also been picked up by small-time political influencers and have found their way into other social platforms including WhatsApp and Facebook, sparking fear and anger as the election nears.

“We have seen a spike in false information around key election events. We saw it during primaries, the debates, and as we get to the final days before elections, this is likely to get worse,” said Alphonce Shiundu, Kenya Editor at Africa Check.

“With more people getting to social media, the peddlers of doctored videos are stepping up their pursuit for hearts, minds, and votes, by all means necessary including creating videos to spread incendiary propaganda and fear.”

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission had warned that the propagation of hate speech and disinformation on social media platforms, especially at this time, could spark electoral violence, urging the outfits to double down on their efforts to bring down or deny the senders a platform to spread such material.

In the headlines

Seven poll officials fired on eve of Kenya elections

The officials included a presiding officer, two deputy presiding officers and a clerk.

Afropop star Kizz Daniel arrested in Tanzania

The Nigerian afrobeats singer-songwriter Kizz Daniel failed to show up for a paid concert on Sunday night in Dar es Salaam.

Tanzania to sell first T-bond to EAC, SADC citizens

Northern Corridor most costly in the world

Kenyans are reading, who is writing?

EA won’t sleep well until Kenya counts the votes

'Leaked UN report' on DRC invasion rattles Rwanda

Afropop star Kizz Daniel arrested in Tanzania

Monday August 08 2022

Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe, better known by his stage name Kizz Daniel, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. PHOTO | POOL

By BEATRICE MATERU

More by this Author

Nigerian Afropop star Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe aka Kizz Daniel, is under police custody in Tanzania.

The afrobeats singer-songwriter failed to show up for a paid concert on Sunday night in Dar es Salaam.

The Buga-hitmaker is currently on his “Afro Classic World Tour”, which sold out in Uganda on Saturday. He was to perform in Tanzania’s coastal commercial hub before heading to Rwanda on Saturday, August 13.

He has toured the United Kingdom and the United States, where thousands of fans turned out to watch him perform.

In a viral video on social media, the Nigerian singer and his companions are seen being taken by Tanzanian police officers from Johari Rotana hotel to Oysterbay Police Station, both in the city centre.

“I told you yesterday...I begged you for two hours, apologise to the police now,” an angry voice is heard saying.

Livid fans

Kizz Daniel did not show up at the Summer Amplified concert at the Ware House arena in the heart of Dar es Salaam, causing his waiting fans to be livid.

The enraged Buga lovers are seen in a video on social media trashing the stage the global star was to perform on. The concert tickets were going for Tsh50,000 ($21.6) to Tsh20 million ($8,650).

“We acknowledge that this has resulted in disappointment for our loyal customers and long-time valuable stakeholders involved,” said Damian Mapalala, Str8up Vibes head of communication, in an apology statement released early Monday.

Str8up up Vibes are the organisers of the event.

Mr Mapalala said they would take “appropriate action in handling this matter with rigour, and assure the public and the fans that paid and attended”.

The reasons for Kizz Daniel skipping the performance remain unknown.

In the headlines

Seven poll officials fired on eve of Kenya elections

The officials included a presiding officer, two deputy presiding officers and a clerk.

Tanzania to sell first T-bond to EAC, SADC citizens

Northern Corridor most costly in the world

Kenyans are reading, who is writing?

EA won’t sleep well until Kenya counts the votes

'Leaked UN report' on DRC invasion rattles Rwanda

Tanzania to sell first Treasury bond to EAC, SADC citizens

Monday August 08 2022

Bank of Tanzania. PHOTO | FILE

By MOHAMED ISSA

More by this Author

Tanzania’s Treasury is seeking Tsh130 billion ($55.6 million) from the sale of a five-year fixed rate bond to its citizens and those from East and Southern African trade blocs.

The bond on auction on August 10 is the first to be opened to the East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) blocs, of which Tanzania is a member.

The five-year paper will be auctioned by the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) at a coupon rate of 8.6 percent.

In a June notice, the central bank said the government had gazetted a new law removing restrictions on the sale of its securities to foreign investors.

“BoT wishes to notify the general public that new Foreign Exchange Regulations, 2022 have been issued under the Foreign Exchange Act, Cap. 271, through Government Notice No. 294 of 2022, published in the Government Gazette on May 13 2022,” the banking regulator said.

Tanzania last offered a five-year Treasury bond at auction in May at the same fixed rate as the one on offer, worth Tsh116.37 billion ($49.8 million). The weighted average yield to maturity is 8.93 percent.

Read: Investor interest at Dar bourse shifts to T-bonds

In the headlines

Seven poll officials fired on eve of Kenya elections

The officials included a presiding officer, two deputy presiding officers and a clerk.

Afropop star Kizz Daniel arrested in Tanzania

The Nigerian afrobeats singer-songwriter Kizz Daniel failed to show up for a paid concert on Sunday night in Dar es Salaam.

Northern Corridor most costly in the world

Kenyans are reading, who is writing?

EA won’t sleep well until Kenya counts the votes

'Leaked UN report' on DRC invasion rattles Rwanda

Kenyans are reading, who is writing?

Monday August 08 2022

Abdullahi Bulle founder of Nuria bookshop on Nairobi's Moi Avenue on August 4, 2022. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NMG.

Summary

Publishing is not the only place where the country literary scene is seeing a revival. There are now organisations like Gabriel Dinda's Writers' Guild that are building confidence and careers, especially of younger generation neophytes, by finding ways to publish their work.

By TONY MOCHAMA

More by this Author

Beyond the noise of political campaigns and public rallies happening in Kenya since the beginning of the year, the country’s literary scene has also been quite busy, if the flurry of book launches in recent months is anything to go by.

Earlier in the year, renowned PR practitioner Gina Din Kariuki launched her autobiography, Daughter of Africa, and others have followed, from book launches in restaurants outside Nairobi to upmarket venues like the Nairobi Club, where former Attorney General and professor of Law, Githu Muigai launched what he called his magnum opus, Power, Politics and Law, a fortnight ago.

The last weekend of July saw the launch of the much anticipated tell-all Presidents’ Pressman by Lee Njiru, the retired long-serving State House press secretary and personal assistant to president Daniel Arap Moi. The launch was in Nakuru County.

The same weekend the Alliance Francaise in Nairobi hosted the pre-launch reading of a poetry book by Kanunah Jerusha and John Sibi-Okumu.

The day was capped by the much-anticipated launch of Silas Nyanchwani’s Man About Town, a collection of essays which was preceded by an event at Cheche in Lavington of the launch of erotic poet Eudiah Kamonjo’s Black Coffee, Steamy Nights book.

Read: Pushing limits with erotica poetry

All this coming the year after the Covid-19 pandemic just proves that Kenyans are writing.

Ahmed Aidarus, the proprietor of Prestige Bookshop on Mama Ngina Street in Nairobi’s central business district — and the Cheche branch in Lavington — concurs.

“We run the Jahazi literary workshops at Cheche, free of charge for younger writers, and from the output, there is a lot of younger literary talent,” said Aidarus.

He also hosts Goethe Institute readings at Cheche, and this September, he will be hosting a reading by Christopher Kloebe from Germany from his book The Museum of the World.

Aidarus’ belief in Kenya’s recent literary revival of sorts is such that he is now publishing local writers at his Aidarus Press. He recently released writer Stanley Gazemba’s Footprints in the Sand.

Andrew Kim at the Prestige bookshop in Nairobi's Mama Ngina Street on August 4, 2022. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NMG

Jacob Aliet, a self-publishing author, believes that as technology gets more democratic and liberalises printing and the quality of self-published books gets better, it means more books can be published locally and authors get to keep the bulk of the book earnings.

“Traditional publishers give authors a miserly 10 percent of proceeds from their creations, claiming costs on printing, marketing, distribution and editing to justify it.”

These are roles that Aliet thinks the savvy modern writer can successfully take on and minimise costs.

He cites his latest book, Unplugged: Things Our Fathers Did Not Tell Us, which he says has sold about 800 copies in the past eight months at Ksh1,000 ($8).

For independent bookshops like Nuriah on Moi Avenue, in Nairobi, which puts a 20 percent mark-up on the retail price of local books, selling 800 copies of a title, as Aliet claims, would certainly put it as a national bestseller.

Nuriah, owned and run by Abdullahi Bulle, has a Whatsapp group — for local writers whose books it stocks — where they interact on matters books.

John Mwazemba, the regional director of the Oxford University Press says he has no issue with self-publishing authors or books.

“My philosophy is that a book can be self-published but shouldn't bypass the editorial process. A self-published book edited professionally could still compete content-wise in the market.

''The challenge is that some people think that self-publishing is a licence to bypass the editorial process when actually it inevitably leads to errors in books. In essence, a book doesn't have to go through the traditional publishing channels, but a good editor should be engaged. And a great manuscript needs a good editor just as it needs a good author,” said Mwazemba.

Benedicto Tong a book customer inside Nuria book store located along Moi Avenue on August 4, 2022. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NMG

To get more people to write and get published, organisations like Gabriel Dinda’s Writers’ Guild are building the confidence and careers, especially of younger generation neophytes, by facilitating the publishing of their works.

Poet-journalist Jacob Oketch is a staunch defender of poetic licence, which is the right of the writer to write without judgment of how “meritorious” or indeed “deep” one’s work is.

He says; “What a writer writes is what he feels is valuable and pleasurable to him, and that, as a poet, feels joy and happiness after the writing of it. It is all quite ‘self-contained.’” He argues that writing is ''coming to being” even when one’s work is dismissed as an exercise in indolence.

This is a sentiment the recently published Njiru, might take comfort in. His book, Presidents’ Pressman, although flying off the shelves, has been criticised by a section of readers for presenting alternative facts.

Because the content is based on political events that many readers lived through, it is expected that people have different interpretations of what happened depending on their political viewpoint.

Oluoch Madiang, playwright, writer and book reviewer, is harsh on Njiru’s effort. “This is simply an anthology of half-tales that would have been aptly titled President's Apologist.’’

Madiang's overall take is that by their nature, autobiographies are lies and alternative truths and that their narcissism may be the reason why one shouldn't feel bad that the likes of former AG Charles Njonjo and former spy chief James Kanyotu didn't pen their personal stories.

But Kenya’s biggest book story so far this year, is the winning of the AKO-Caine Prize for African short story writing by Idza Luhumyo, who writes on Kenyan Coastal identities. This is the fifth Kenyan to win after almost eight years.

Read: Caine Prize winner speaks highly of local storytelling

But Dr Tom Odhiambo of the Literature Department of the University of Nairobi and moderator at Goethe-hosted AMKA literary space isn’t optimistic.

“AMKA mentored Okwiri Oduor the 2014 winner, but she only resurfaced eight years later with her highly unreadable first novel Things They Lost, whose title is not even original. Makena Onjerika’s Caine winning prize story Fanta Black Currant in 2018 was first workshopped at AMKA, but she never returned since Caine to mentor others.’’ He is waiting to see how current winner Luhumyo will turn out.

Read: BOOKS: Who tells Africa’s story, and how do they do it?

Whatever the real situation is, even naysayers will have to agree that there just may be a big book and literary revival taking place in Kenya, even if some of the works being released are not of the highest standards.