… a forum for the web community of UN agencies, and international development civil society organizations interested in using their expertise to show how the Internet can promote development.
So Web4Dev is like a BarCamp where UN and government bigwigs turn up. You have a bunch of techies doing brilliant things in techie world, you have a lot of activists, development people, concerned citizens doing brilliant things in the development sector and you throw them together and see what they come up with together. Should be very interesting and informative.
Last night a bunch of us from Skunkworks met with a group of Web4Dev delegates at Pizza Garden. It was one big idea exchange. I heard many innovative ways on how to get more people involved in our online conversation, new exciting things you will soon be able to do with RSS, cooking with grandmothers! Oh and I got to mess around with an iPhone for the second time in 4 days.
Today’s programme at web4dev is full of the usual opening ceremony formalities and expert panel discussions. Tomorrow we dive into the code and projects.
Aside:
Apparently the UN complex in Nairobi is actually in Italy!
BarCamp Nairobi 2.0 is in full swing at Strathmore University in the heart of Nairobi. In the first two hours we are discussing everything and anything to do with everything and anything with a technological bent. The final two hours we will focus in on this year’s theme, Innovation.
The short talks cover a wide range of issues (as you would expect at a BarCamp!) so far we have:
this list will grow as more people turn up. If you are in Nairobi and reading this, get to Strathmore University NOW (Ole Sangale Road, off Langata Road, in Madaraka Estate. If using public transport, take matatu number 14, which leaves town from the corner of Ronald Ngala and Mfangano Streets and goes directly to the entrance of Strathmore University (the last stop).
We are recording as much of the sessions as we can and will upload them as podcasts.
Margaret Thatcher was a dominating public figure for over 30 years in British and international politics. She won three general elections in a row, was a formidable Prime Minister, influenced a generation of politics and her policies still influence debate on issues as wide ranging as taxation in the UK to land reform in Zimbabwe. After her elected political career she still commanded great respect and had a lot of influence as her public speaking and book deals show.
In 2002 she suffered a series of strokes and aware of the damage a gruelling schedule would have her doctors advised her family to withdraw her from public life. There was also the question of preserving the dignity and integrity of this public colossus by protecting the effects of her illness from the public eye. Lady Thatcher retains her dignity even in ill health.
Kenneth Matiba is a colossus of the Kenya politics, a hero who put his limbs and his life on the line fighting the brutal dictatorship of Moi. He was instrumental in the democratization of Kenyan politics as a leader of the “2nd liberation” which forced Moi to accept multiparty politics and political freedom for all Kenyans.
In 1990 Matiba was detained, in solitary confinement, without charge or trial in the Kamiti Maximum Security prison and tortured at the torture chambers of infamous Nyayo House in central Nairobi. As a result of the torture Matiba suffered a stroke that nearly killed him. He survived to vie for the presidency in 1992. It is generally accepted that Matiba won the 1992 Kenyan general election although the massive rigging machinery employed by Moi regime doctored the result.
It is now clear that the effects of the stroke Matiba suffered under Moi’s goons are advanced. He can not read and he can not sign documents, his speech is slurred and his mobility is impaired. Matiba turned up at the Electoral Commission of Kenya session held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre Thursday last week to present his papers as he intends to vie for the presidency in this years general election. It was painful to watch and left me shaking my head at the TV saddened at what I was seeing. I was not alone.
Where is this hero’s family? Why are they not protecting him like Thatcher’s family are protecting her? Matiba should not be making public statements leave alone vying for the presidency. Where are those who have his interests at heart? Why subject him to this? LET THE MAN KEEP HIS DIGINTY. My goodness has it come to this? Matiba deserves better, a whole lot better.
If any good can come out this terrible situation it is this, Matiba’s condition remember is a direct consequence of the torture he suffered under Moi’s orders. Remember the brutality of the Moi dictatorship directed towards anyone who did not agree with him. Remember how Moi, Kibaki’s “Envoy of peace”, trampled over and tried to destroy ALL our independence heroes and heroines (and then turns up at their funerals full of crocodile tears). Remember also that while, “Matiba was fighting Moi, Kibaki was saying in parliament that proponents of change were trying to fell a Mugumo tree with a razor blade” to illustrate his argument that one party rule was here to stay. Remember this also before you approach me and insult my intelligence telling me that I should not vote for this or that presidential candidate because they would be dictator yet you do not provide a single evidence of intellectual proof to support that ridiculous claim, remember that we, the Kenyan electorate, kicked out a dictator in 2002 and we all know who welcomed him back.
The situation: I am upcountry with no talktime on my pre paid phone. Christmas was coming up and the ability to communicate to the world beyond this village is vital. At the same time an unexpected vehicle emergency had wiped out all my cash and the nearest ATM machines are over an hour way (due to the terrible state of the roads) and it was raining badly.
But I had a credit card, a laptop and a WAP enable mobile phone. I convinced a good Samaritan (a younger cousin having his arm twisted) to sambaza me KSH 100.00 of mobile phone airtime with promises of greater rewards in the not to distance future and thus began my quest for mobile phone juice. I plugged the phone into the laptop, connected to Safaricom WAP and was on the MamaMikes website in a jiffy. I pulled out my credit card and purchased a Safaricom airtime “gift” of GBP 15.00 about KSH 2,000.00 for myself. (This remains my largest one time mobile phone airtime purchase to date). The whole procedure took around ten minutes.
Ten minutes later I got a call from MamaMikes to “check on a few things”:
Q: You are Daudi A: Yes Q: You are in Kenya A: Yes Q: You are using you are using your credit card to buy Safaricom airtime A: Yes Q: For yourself A: Yes YOU LAZY MUPPET (OK the MamaMike’s guy didn’t say that but I could hear him thinking that. I could have quickly become the inspiration for a new joke:
What is the height of laziness?
Using your credit card to buy Safaricom airtime via MamaMikes, like that cartoon Mental, because you can not be bothered to walk down the road to the kiosk.)
I explained my situation to the MamaMikes rep, he asked me to confirm some credit card security details and satisfied I was not committing credit card fraud sent the airtime to my phone, which enabled me to send my nearest and dearest (as well as a Western Union stealing muppet ) Merry Christmas txt messages and thus preserve world peace.
My second MamaMikes story. It’s my birthday and I am happily typing away at work when my phone rings. MamaMikes would like to know where to deliver my card and birthday cake. What a pleasant surprise. Since I was heading downtown we agreed that I could pick it from their office. One hour later I turn up at MamaMikes and collected a fantastic cake, purchased for me by a fantastic person, a fantastic number of miles away from Kenya.
That evening the family couldn’t believe that a cake ordered by someone half way around the world over the internet had arrived before the cake they ordered from a bakery half way up the road. It brought home to the people around me the power of this thing called the internet.
MamaMikes is a fantastic story of how Kenyan entrepreneurs are connecting Kenyans in the Diaspora to Kenyans at home. You can send airtime, flowers, supermarket vouchers, cards and even pay school fees direct to the school via MamaMikes no matter where you are in the world. It is also an example that e-businesses can and do thrive in our country. This makes MamaMikes an inspiration to many of us.
However, the ultimate respect from me came the day they started offering “Ngombe ya maziwa” via their website. A healthy Friesian cow for dairy purposes for USD 740.00. They helpfully add: Ideal for someone with a small shamba close to a milk depot where they can sell their milk.
A dairy cow via the internet, now you all know what to get me for my birthday next year.
The Show lasts one week, each day has a guest of honour, for example the Chairman of the ASK, the Minister of Agriculture and the Vice President. Wednesday, however, is when the real action takes places as this is the day that the President, in his role as Patron of the ASK, is the guest of honour.
The Show is unlike other big presidential events in that it is not a public holiday and it is not a political event. This means that the usual entourage of political cronies conveniently find something else to do. This gives the military space to put on a show at the Show and they do!
Here are some clips from President’s Day at the Nairobi Show this year featuring All Kenyan uniformed forces brass bands encompassing Kenya Army Band, Navy Band, Air Force Band, Police Band, Prisons Band, GSU Band, NYS Band and the Administration Police Band. These clips are from the military tattoo at the end of the day.
The first clip features the lowering of the National Flag and the Playing of the National Anthem. We have a very beautiful, majestic, powerful anthem. The drum major then requests permission from his Commander-in-Chief to lead the bands off the field and they start marching off.
The second clip shows the band starting to march off the field. When the camera moves to the right you see half of the presidential motorcade, moving into position waiting to rush in. When camera moves to the left (with the band at the far end of the field) you see the other half of the presidential motorcade waiting to reverse into the field.
The final clip features the Mass Bands giving the President their final salute and with all the ceremonial details dealt with the Presidential Escort Unit swings into action.
The main part of the motorcade drives into the field, the lead cars reverse into the field from the other end.You can even see the Presidential Press Service cameraman rushing to get his tripod into the PPS Benz station wagon. The President then walks down from his seat and says his goodbyes gets into his stretch Benz and the motorcade starts moving.
The Presidential Escort Unit jog next to the car incase any muppet decides to do something crazy. And then they are off. Being the Show all the top military brass are there and you can see number plates like CGS (Chief of General Staff – the head of the Armed Forces) 00KA01 (Head of the Army) 00KN01 (Head of the Navy) and COP 1 (Commissioner of Police) all joining in the motorcade. Civilian leaders are there you can see a Benz with SNA (Speaker of the National Assembly) and cars with the National Flag which carry Ministers. (The Presidential Limo has the National Flag and the Presidential Standard.) Anyway check out the clip for yourself below.
(Apologies for the running commentary during the final clip – my bro and I tend to get a little bit excited about things like this oh and it took me ages - bleeding ages - to upload these clips on to YouTube! Like 3 weeks!)
For one reason or another Kenyans find me tribally ambiguous. That is to say when they meet me they find it hard to determine which tribe I belong to. Many times it even goes further than that as people automatically assume that I belong to THEIR tribe. This has led to some ridiculous situations in the past.
For example, when I was a teenager, before mobile phones and txt messaging, back in the day when you actually had to go up to the door or – if we are being honest here- the back door (or neighbours door even) of the house of the girl you were courting in order to let her know that you were there and ready for your stroll around the estate, before you even got to her door, or even the gate of their compound you would have to get past the main gate of the estate usually manned by 3 or more watchmen, from different tribes, all of whom would hustle you for a little this or that as they know they stand between you and the most beautiful girl in the world.
Watchman A would address me in Maa
Watchman B would address me in kikisii
Watchman C would address me in Kalenjin
Then we go to buy chips the guy talks to me Kikuyu; we head to the movies the girl selling tickets would unleash Dholuo and on and on.
In November 2007 this tribal ambiguity means that every once in a while an acquaintance or even a complete stranger will lean in and start sharing with me about how WE need to keep strong because THEY are after US. Or how WE are under attack from THEM and need to come up with strategies to protect OURSELVES. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) when they really want to unleash the latest tribal conspiracy they revert to their vernacular language and I am left nodding away seriously (I play along because I am fascinated at this massive smoke screen of ethnicity that blinds our country). If you want to know what the latest tribal nonsense is just ask me.
Observation 2
There is a copy of a Memorandum of Understanding floating around the internet which claims to be a legitimate copy of that signed between ODM presidential candidate, Odinga, and the National Muslim Leaders Forum (NAMLEF). MOU’s have become notorious in Kenyan politics ever since Kibaki tore up the one he signed with coalition partners before the 2002 election days after he moved into Statehouse. ODM were quick to point out that the MOU circulating on the internet is a fake but honestly you do not need them to tell you that. I refuse to believe that whoever came up with this fake MOU expected it to be taken as seriously as it has. (If you haven’t seen it get it here - PDF 280 KB) (Thanks M4!!).
Section (v) of the fake MOU is pure comedy.
(a) Coast Province shall be henceforth known as Jimbo La Pwani.
(ouwwwwww kinky!)
(i) Impose a total ban on open air gospel crusades by worshippers of the cross in Coast and N. Eastern province.
(Throw in no preaching at bus stops and most Nairobi commuters would sign immediately).
(j) Outlaw gospel programmes on KBC.
(WOOO HOO no more “Brother Paul” and his fake sermons!)
(k) Impose a total ban on the public consumption of alcoholic beverages in Coast and N. Eastern province
(NO BOOZE AT COAST? Wololololololololo. That sound you hear is tourists downing their pints at Voi! Set up a Kiosk on the Coast Province border with a big sign reading, “Last Booze Before Mogadishu, Yemen, Mumbai.”)
(l) Quash the recent legalization of mnazi, busaa, muratina, kaluvi.
(How about Kumi-Kumi, isn’t Kumi-Kumi haram too? And Muratina was legalized? I did NOT get that memo jamani!)
But the best one, the absolute best one, drum roll please:
(m) Close down Farmer’s Choice in Jimbo La Pwani.
(HEHEHEHE seriously this is apparently one of the conditions of the MOU. That Raila would have to close down Farmer’s Choice in coast. LOL. No sausages in coast! Hehehe. Come on now come on!)
But don’t laugh too loudly. There are some people out there who are taking this MOU very very seriously!
Observation 3
Julie Gichuru is my new heroine, not because she lights up news every day, which she does, but because last night when she was interviewing the thief and crook (and parliamentary aspirant and KENDA party boss) Kamlesh Pattni on NTV about halfway through the show she looked like she’d like to do nothing better than punch the muppet in the face. She looked very irritated with “Brother Paul” sitting there talking about, “let he who has no sin cast the first stone.” There are two people in Kenyan public life that make my blood boil every time I hear their irritating voices. Kamlesh Pattni is one. The other is Kibaki’s Envoy of Peace, Moi. I do not know Julie’s political stance but I have a feeling she will not be voting for KENDA. And really it has to be said when you have Kamlesh and Moi rooting for you to win an election there must be something wrong somewhere.
Observation 4
There is an advert which has been airing on KTV during prime time which bangs on about, “wacha domo, fanya kazi” kiswhaili for, “stop making noise(in a time wasting kind of way), get to work”. The ad features no people. You have a black screen with words pop up. Every time a negative word crops up on the screen, such as domo in this context, it is in orange. Every time a positive word turns up it is in blue.
“Kazi Iendelee” is the official campaign slogan for Kibaki’s re-election bid and blue and red are his official campaign colours. So even though no one claims responsibility for the ad during the airing and even though it does not mention any names or political parties, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the ad is Pro-Kibaki and Anti-ODM. I noticed the ad because it is very clever and also because it is the first negative ad I have seen aired on Kenyan TV. (Because something is clever does not necessarily mean it is good).
Earlier this week as I was driving into work at the Ngong Road/Mbagathi Road roundabout I noticed a suspiciously looking characters lurking behind the car. Just as I was driving away he placed something on the back of my car. Again it was cleverly done in that it was placed just as I was moving away which meant that had I not been paying the man special attention I would not have noticed it, and even if I had the flow of traffic behind me would have kept me moving forward. Anyway I decided to follow the roundabout and parked the car further ahead to check what he had put on the car.
A sticker!
With the word DOMO written on it and crossed out (and placed upside down)!
Now I am as easy going as the next fella, but sticking political messages on a car I am driving without my permission in such a charged political environment is just not on. So I took out my camera and decided to go and have a chat with the gentleman in question.
As I approached him I noticed he was handing out stickers to pedestrians so I got a couple off him. I asked him what the stickers meant. He said the stickers were for a campaign. I asked what campaign (this is when he started getting nervous and started looking around). He said it was for a peace campaign. (OOOOOK!) I asked him if he was affiliated to any political party. He said absolutely not. He stressed this. Then I asked him how come his T-Shirt had the Kiswhaili word WACHA in Orange. (Wacha loosely translates as “leave it, leave it alone, don’t”, orange is the colour of the main opposition party the Orange Democratic Movement. Again the message is clear, negative words highlighted in the colour of the main opposition.) He did not reply and started walking away. I asked him who he worked for. He turned around and told me he worked for, The Electoral Commission of Kenya. Before this he was just a guy giving out stickers for a candidate, after that statement he was masquerading as an employee of the ECK on official business. That is a crime.
That is when I decided to pull out my camera and inform him, not ask him, that I was going to take a picture of him doing his work. He told not to take any pictures. I replied that he is in a public street, and claims to be a public official on official business as part of a Peace campaign for the ECK, why would he object to having his picture taken. I also informed him that he had placed his political sticker on my car without my permission and that posing for a picture was the least that he could do. This line of argument did not win him over. Instead he gestured to his colleagues on the other side of the roundabout and they started running away quickly, but not before I took a picture of the back of his t-shirt.
I’ve been timing them every morning since but they seem to have relocated. So if do come across them, let me know!
I have joined the Global Voices Advocacy team as one of the sub-Saharan reporters in their network of bloggers and online activists throughout the developing world that is dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and free access to information online.
I have also joined Global Voices as one of the sub-Saharan reporters. My focus on Global Voices will be to highlight blogs, bloggers and blogposts which cover any human rights issues in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In effect I am a foot solider under the joint command of two of the most engaging bloggers out there, Sami, Head of Advocacy at Global Voices, and Ndesanjo, the Sub-Saharan editor at Global Voices!
Global Voices Advocacy …
… seeks to build a global anti-censorship network of bloggers and online activists throughout the developing world that is dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and free access to information online. The aim of this network is to raise the awareness of online freedom of speech issues and to share tools and tactics with activists and bloggers facing similar situations in different parts of the globe. The network is meant not only to provide support to its members, but also to produce educational guides about anonymous blogging, anti-censorship campaigns, and online organizing. By collaborating with software developers, activists, and bloggers, the network hopes to design new and more appropriate tools to protect our rights on the Internet.
Global Voices aims to
Call attention to the most interesting conversations and perspectives emerging from citizens’ media around the world by linking to text, photos, podcasts, video and other forms of grassroots citizens’ media being produced by people around the world.
Facilitate the emergence of new citizens’ voices through training, online tutorials, and publicizing the ways in which open-source and free tools can be used safely by people around the world to express themselves.
Advocate for freedom of expression around the world and to protect the rights of citizen journalists to report on events and opinions without fear of censorship or persecution.
If you come across or know of any blogger, blog, blogpost I should be aware of please let me know, I will be very grateful.
If you are interested in writing a regular round-up of Kenyan blogs for Global Voices, following in the footsteps of brilliant pioneers such as Mshairi and Afromusing, please get in touch with Ndesanjo.
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2 comments Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 10:22 AM
barcampkenya
) Merry Christmas txt messages and thus preserve world peace. 
oh and it took me ages - bleeding ages - to upload these clips on to YouTube! Like 3 weeks!)
