Dispatch from Mombasa

I had to impress. It was the only way that I could prove I was capable of loving. After all I had been accused of being a dull lover; too conservatively stuck to tradition and incapable of expressing emotional attachment to the one I claimed to love most. I had spent sleepless nights planning for the day. My only intention was to make it a surprise to her. I had already in my wardrobe full red-hot-love attire, a red shirt, a red tie, red suit, handkerchief, socks and shoes. I had even gone to the extent of ordering for fresh carnations which would cap the day. My baby had to love me and for her I would do everything. In any case as my people say kwa mwendwa gutiri karima. So I set off for the office in high spirits. My heart beat and footsteps rhymed. I carried along a smile that refused to die, whistling a love song after another and planning for that evening. What will go wrong definitely will and the first indicator of wrong turns for the day was a missed step at door to t...

  The world was silent when we died- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Half of a Yellow Sun The attack on fisheries minister Amasson Kingi rally is an indication that something is seriously, seriously wrong here at the coast. The fact that a group of people can invade a meeting and order people attending a government minister’s function to leave  and even hack his bodyguard indicates that there is more trouble at the coast than we think. Yes, the police can easily blame the minister for having not informed them about the meeting but me thinks we are in a democracy where free speech and association should be part and parcel of our lives. Again Kingi and former industrial judge Stewart Madzayo had nothing to fear as they were on homeground. My worry is that the people who were attacked are not in the local lingo “Kenyans” as one would want to put it, but Coastal leaders who have an interest of the coastal resident at heart. I am worried because there is something ...

Burning tyres smoke along the King'orani road as riot police engaged Muslim youths in running battles after an Islamic cleric was shot dead by unknown people at Bamburi along the Mombasa-Malindi road. Photo by Gideon Maundu. Source www.nation.co.ke The death of controversial cleric Sheikh Aboud Rogo Mohamed under an assassin’s hail of bullet was enough to turn Mombasa into hell’s kitchen. Sheikh Rogo a controversial figure in life was followed by controversy in death and hours after his death his followers made sure that Mombasa burnt, death rent the air and property worth millions was destroyed. When the guns fell silent four people among them three police officers lay dead with another bigger number injured. It is still not clear whether the chaos that rocked the town and mainly targeted churches in Mvita and Kisauni had an unidentified hand as was claimed by the Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Further, no one can tell whether the chaos were spontaneous and meant to show di...

Garissa killings show need to expose extremist religious beliefs. by  Rev Fr Wilybard Lagho How long shall Kenyan religious leaders call attacks of places of worship the work of criminals and merely apportion blame to security laxity? Is this not a simplistic response to a complex problem whereby religious leaders too have directly or indirectly failed to prevent such horrendous incidents of violence?  This is the question I ask myself as I read the various statements made by political, Christian and Muslim leaders following the slaughter that left seventeen Christian worshippers dead and another forty-seven seriously injured. As religious leaders we must consider a new way of dealing with religious extremists and discover another approach to enhance peace in Kenya There are two reasons why religious leaders in Kenya are reluctant to address the religious mind set of armed gangs who kill people they demonize as unbelievers. The first is the leaders’ fear of ...

Since the country experienced the first grenade attack during campaigns for the new constitution in 2010, there has been a consistent rise in the number of attacks and the loss of life and property. Such attacks have been witnessed in Nairobi, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Eastleigh and now Mombasa and about 30 people may have lost their lives while many others have been maimed for life due to the attacks. Of all the places that have been attacked Nairobi seems to have a fare share of the unprecedented and cowardly aggression with such places as the Kampala coach bus station, Eastleigh and the Machakos country bus station having been attacked. On its part, the Government has blamed every explosion on Somali’s Al-Shabab Islamic militia group. For that, it has promised not to “leave any stone unturned” in the investigations to unearth the perpetrators of the heinous acts. It says that the attacks are carried out because the Kenya Defence Forces are in Somalia pursuing the Al-Shabab ...

The world has been shocked by an online video that shows the brutal treatment of an Ethiopian housemaid Ms Alem Dechasa, 33 by people who are said to be her employers. Ms Dechasa is said to have later committed suicide in a Lebanese hospital probably to escape from the jaws of her tormentors or because of stress. The story that was exclusively aired by the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation last month and is now posted on social network site You tube shows the late Dechasa being manhandled by two men as they try to subdue her and put her into a vehicle. The story of Ms Dechasa brings us close to what we have heard and seen about the treatment of women working in Middle East countries and if it is anything to go by, then the experience is not only brutal but a gross violation of human rights. You might wonder what the story has to do with Kenya. In the recent past there have been claims by many Kenyan women who worked in Arabic countries as domestic servants about the mistreatm...

The road to political Siberia for Mvita MP Najib Mohamed Balala began when he dared criticize the political high priest of the Orange Democratic Party Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga by claiming that the party lacked internal democracy and stifled dissenting voices. On top of that Balala went to bed with the sworn political enemies of the Prime Minister and especially the group allied to William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta. For him it was not a matter of if but when he would find himself out. This would be confirmed by a show he did with K-24 dubbed “Face the Nation” in which it came out clear that the relationship between him and the Orange was damaged beyond repair. The forces allied to Baba worked round the clock to ensure that he was severely punished for daring the gods of the most popular party in Kenya. So as Balala retreats to his cocoon to count his loses one by one, and to also strategize how he is going to rise from the ashes there are those who are busy toasting their...