Dispatch from Mombasa

Once a journalist; always a journalist. So Joe Khamisi a veteran journalist has decided put pen on paper and blow the whistle about what he calls the politics of Betrayal in Kenya: Diary of a Kenyan legislator. I have not had a chance to read the book but I guess the whole thing smacks of sensationalization of betrayal by a betrayer. But, again, are we not all betrayers at one time or another? I know that by writing this piece I am bound to be accused as a betrayer to Khamisi’s betrayal of the betraying political class. I first came to know Khamisi while serving as a junior information officer with the Ministry of Information and Communication at the Mombasa Provincial Information Offices which are housed at the Kenya Broadcasting corporation Mombasa offices. Khamisi was then the Managing Director of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. Most of the employees working for KBC felt betrayed by Khamisi who was supposed to be their key to Canaan. Under his non betraying ey...

Early Saturday morning as I did my health jog in a field near where I live I took a fall that nearly hurt my knee. It is at this area where there is a stone on the track which nobody has ever bothered to clear from the way. Of course it has not been my first time to stumble at this stone. I have done it before but told myself that I will not let that stone stumble my path again, promised myself to be more careful. But anyway, Shit happens and I had only done two rounds of the track and deep down I still felt that I had the energy to do more. I actually intended to do more- say ten when I fell down in a sack like thud that left my legs lifted high up in the air and my eyes looking into the heavens wondering, wow how did it happen? The few people who had come to the field early were dying with laughter and wondering how on earth did he fall that way. I mean he could not have seen the imminent fall and taken care. You mean that is how adult men hit the ground? And a host of other una...

Life is full of stress and the television news scene does not help make matters easier either. This is because our news is almost predictable to a point. Raila will attack Kalonzo, Ruto and his folk will attack Raila and Raila’s supporting politicians will respond with even more lethal salvos. But I think I have a suggestion that could be a solution to our boring way of predictable politics. It would save us from the wind driven politics of the Prime Minister. It would also save us from the politics of Kalonzo Musyoka who doesn’t care whether the wind blows or not as long there is a central route. But these can only change if we borrowed our politics from the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and South African President Jacob Zuma. We would be saved the agony of the dullness of having to deny positions that we have defended in the past for the sake of a headline. It would help us avoid the monotony of seeing colorless politicians who think that audiences car...

On December 1st the world will be marking the world Aids day. Much of it will be lost in pomp and fanfare organized by civil society activists, non-governmental organizations and government fat cats all of whom will be having one thing in common, that at the end of the day they will make a quick buck at the expense of remembering all those who have been felled by the HIV Aids scourge. They will also line up school children to vigorously wave flags at no one in particular ostensibly in passing the message that Aids is a killer. For the adult women they will ensure that the red ribbon is pinned at the farthest tip of their breasts so that it stands out clear and sends the message that aids is real. For me the world aids day will be different, it is a time that I want to dedicate to two most important people that fell because of these cruel disease whose origin has remained a matter of conjecture and blame game between the west and Africa over who is really responsible with its origin....

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In my neighborhood, we live at the mercy of petty drug addicts who are called “Teja ” Now a Teja is a person who is so addicted to hard drugs like bhang and heroin and will do anything to ensure that they get a fix of the substances. And their modus operandi is in a way simple yet lethal and has left tears in many a woman.   What they usually do is lay about on matatu stages just like any other customer. Mostly they will hang near the window of a vehicle and when it is just about to move, they will grab a woman’s purse and disappear mainly in the labyrinth of alleys that is characteristic of Mombasa.   Usually they work in a hunting pack and when a person shouts thief, the rest of the team will join in shouting thief in a way aimed at providing a decoy more than helping capture the thief. When they raid people’s homes they will steal small things like sufurias and spoons, irons and DVD players. If you get one in the cookie jar he will tell you he was just trying to see if...

Dunga must be wondering what hit the Samba boys. The first time that a goal has been scored against them is also the first time that the team packs its bags and leaves South Africa. Dunga must be wondering what went wrong. At a time when his team had everything going, the Dutch with their bald heads overturned everything. And  as if that is not enough Phillipe Mello was red-carded for a hard tackle on Brazilians Arjen Rorben. But anyway, Dunga should take heart. This is Africa and it is proving to be the graveyard for big teams. He should be counting himself lucky he did not leave at the preliminary stages. He should at least pat himself on the shoulder for having done exceedingly well above England, Portugal and the defending champions Italy. His star players like Kaka, Robinho Lucio and goalkeeper Julio Ceaser must be wondering what their so called superior close knitted game gave them. Balderdash!!! Well it is not fair to punish a man who is already down, but truth be sa...