This article follows directly from Part 1: Understanding Surveillance Oppression in Kenya. However, it can be read on its own as a separate self-contained document. Reccommendations The following are some recommendations, which when followed even in part, will inculcate an attitude of defensive security, not only during political agitation but also as a pre-emptive strategy…
Colonial era Political dissent monitoring via spying operations and subsequent repression via government-sanctioned violence and extrajudicial killings have a tragically rich history in Kenya. It started in the 19th century when the British recruited missionaries and mercenaries as porters and guides as they colonised our territory. As they crept into villages and communes, they planted…
Although proverbs are cherished for their elegant brevity, wit, and their perceived truths, they possess an inherent unfairness. Proverbs oversimplify our experiences and cast a broad, unyielding judgement on those who do not conform. This is despite the fact that the truths that they bare are always incomplete. This is also why it is easy…
Hope and Despair Since becoming a republic on 12th December 1964, Kenya’s political landscape has oscillated between optimistic epochs of a bustling democracy and dark interludes of authoritarianism. As with many African nations, ours started with the celebration of our independence from British colonial rule. But this joy waned fast when our first president, Jomo…
I wish I could see you as vividly as I see my reflection in the mirror. I wish you were here. Right now. I wish you could hear me as clearly as I hear my thoughts. Technology has not yet provided the tools for me to reach out to you in the future, and neither…
I arrived in Kilifi at the break of dawn on the midnight bus from Nairobi. In the final moments of the trip, as the bus crossed the Kilifi Bridge — the longest bridge in the country — I caught a grand mural of colours as the sun reached above the ocean to claim the skies,…
As it has been for millennia, all Jewish boys are required by Jewish law to be circumcised on the 8th day of their birth. Since Jesus was a Jewish boy, well. However, the question of whether Jesus was circumcised was once a significant issue of debate, one that received comment even from the great Saint…
I remember when it first dawned on me that I was not just merely perpetually sad, negative, unmotivated or for the most part indifferent, but, that I was actually suffering from depression. At the time, I was only old enough to sprout three or four strings of hair on my chin, and I had not…
“I, Uhuru Kenyatta, in full realization of the high calling…do swear that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance to the Republic of Kenya…and that I will obey, protect and uphold the sovereignty, integrity and dignity of the people of Kenya.“ These were the words that, at the time, the President-elect of the Republic…