Report Acts Of Violence In Kenya

At the end of January I attended a media forum organised by Internews Network. The forum was for the media to examine the way local and international media covered the post election violence. A self-assessment session. It was a fascinating way to spend a morning. The room was filled with hacks. Newspaper journalists, TV reporters, radio presenters, from the broad spectrum of media houses in Kenya. The big national broadcasters, the vernacular radio stations, the religious radio stations, and yes even the bloggers. I was invited to attend and to speak as a blogger and I gave a presentation on the way the blogosphere had covered the election and the post election violence.

In a session towards the end of the forum the discussion moved on to what we all could have done better in terms of our coverage. One statement that stood out for me was a comment that a lot of the reporting of the violence by Kenyan reporters/bloggers read like it was done by strangers. Kenyan reporters/bloggers were writing about things in their own country like strangers. For example, we all talked about Rift Valley militias like they are some kind of abstract phenomenon. Who are these militias? Who is funding them? Where do they live? What were the doing the day before the election? What do they call themselves? What are the names of the members? As Kenyans journalists they felt that these are the things they should have covered from the beginning.

The same applies to the victims. We always complain about how Africans are reduced to statistics. Remember when Al Qaeda bombed the US Embassy in Nairobi and western media reports named the foreigners who died and left out the Kenyans, or when flight KQ507 went down and we heard international media reports which named a list of nationalities and ended with “the rest were Africans”? Well here we are in the middle of the greatest crisis our country has ever faced and we couldn’t even name our own victims.

A few reporters spoke out against this criticism. One reporter said that as a Kikuyu woman she would have to be mad to approach the family of a victim of “stray” police bullet to ask his name as the public felt the police were working to protect the Kikuyu, and would have to be completely bananas to try and interview members of any Rift Valley militia who were busy running around rounding up Kikuyus. Valid points perhaps but they were quickly knocked down. After all, the moderator remarked, as professional reporters you must have more than one way to find information. Just because you can not approach the family directly is no excuse not to be able to identify the victim of violence or to do a story on the identities behind the militias.

A couple of people raised another concern, that it was completely unrealistic for us to think that it is possible to name all or even most of those victims of violence. They felt that it was nice in theory but in reality it was unworkable. An Indian journalist who has been based in Kenya for the last few years as a foreigner correspondent told us about the example of Calcutta.

After riots in Calcutta left over 3000 people dead one of the newspapers, I think it was the Calcutta Daily Telegraph, launched a project to name each of those victims and it succeeded. 3000 people and they wrote all their stories. If they can, we can too.

It is unacceptable that people, our people, remain numbers. It is unacceptable that as Kenyans we can feel comfortable in the continuing anonymity of the ultimate victims of the post election violence. And let us be honest, we are cowards if we continue in this way.

It takes guts to look death in the face, to find out whom this person was, where they worked, where they went to school, to hold their children, to speak to their partners. To find out what their dreams were. It takes guts but it is necessary.

Take the example of James Odhiambo:

1. James is 24 years old.
2. James is the sole breadwinner for his family.
3. James works at a petrol station as an attendant.
4. One of his colleagues at the petrol station is called Brian Oluoch.
5. James was killed in Lurambi at the junction on the way to Shikoti, Kakamega in Western province, Kenya.
6. According to eyewitnesses he was shot by the GSU.
7. The police were unable to pick James’ body, as they did not have enough fuel for their vehicle.
8. James Odhiambo was buried on Sunday 13th January 2008.
9. James was buried in Homa Bay, Nyanza province.
10. Brian and other friends from the area travelled to Homa Bay to comfort the family.
11. If you would like to help the family directly you can contact Brian on +254.724.912.015

The national media declined to run James’ story so how do I know about it? I know because Mr.Michael Arunga, who works for World Vision in Darfur, was on holiday in the area at the time and took pictures, which he allowed Afromusing to post on her flickr account. Afromusing then wrote a blog post with all the information above she put on her personal blog and on Ushahidi.

Report Acts Of Violence In Kenya

In one blog post of 399 words James went from being just another number. James went from being just another dead body in the “over 1000 causalities” of the post election violence in Kenya to being James. Afromusing’s post is disturbing and saddening. It is also powerful and necessary. Afromusing’s blogpost and Michael’s pictures humanised the death of a young man, personalised it, and made it real and relevant.

This is why the Ushahidi project is so relevant and so necessary. We as Kenyans are guilty of having short-term memories. Yesterday’s villains are today’s heroes. We sweep bad news and difficult decisions under the carpet; we do not confront the issues in our society and get shocked when the country erupts as it did two months ago. Ushahidi gives everybody, anybody, the opportunity to get his or her experience recorded. Through SMS, through email, through the internet, through meeting an NGO worker who will write down what happened and share it with us. Ushahidi is a project that has to be owned by those who use it; they have to believe in it. They have to trust it; they have to feel a part of it. Ushahidi is not the end but the beginning. We have the information, we share it, and people will run with it. Hopefully we will get the stories behind the numbers. Just as with James we can inject a little humanity back into the lives of these people who were killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The project is recording not just incidents of deaths, but of all the violence. The project is not recording just the negative stories but highlighting the doves who are working for peace in our communities as well. And the project needs all your help to survive. Ushahidi needs your help, needs your votes. Please vote for this project on the Netsquared challenge. You can find full details on how to do this here. After you vote, please get involved by submitting your experiences and those of the people around you to the database. Instructions on how to register to vote are here and here.

Thank you.

Report Acts Of Violence In Kenya

© Mentalacrobatics for Mentalacrobatics, 2008. | Permalink | One comment

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Where are the ODM pentagon members?

Last night’s report that they had been arrested and shot have been rubbished by the police. The police say they have not arrested any pentagon members. Which of course leaves the possibility that they were apprehended by another branch of the security forces for example the army. What I do know is that many senior opposition figures are attempting to contact them with no success, which in itself is pretty scary. Of course this could all be part of an elaborate plan to keep the location of the ODM Pentagon secret, especially from those of us outside the inner circle such as myself.

Those of us in Nairobi with a network of information are lucky. The further you get from Nairobi the wilder the rumours. For example, in Kakamega in western Kenya, the story circulating is that all the members of the Pentagon are in jail for treason/sedition and their lives are in danger.

I suspect that until Odinga appears on TV or at some other public forum these rumours will not die down.

I feel in the Kenya we have today (despite the chaos of the last two days) it would be impossible to keep the arrest, shooting or death of key opposition leaders secret for long. Someone somewhere would have leaked that information, which would have made its way into the media. For this (albeit flimsy reason) I feel that the Pentagon are safe. I hope I am right.

Will the rally at Uhuru Park go ahead?

Last night ODM announced a rally for 14.00 at Uhuru Park today where Raila would be sworn in as the “People’s President”. The police were quick to ban the rally stating that correct procedure had not been followed. In addition the police added that any member of the public attending the rally would be, “dealt with”. This has not stopped large groups of people trying to make their way to Uhuru Park out of Kibera only to be met by security forces with tear gas. For those who know the area, the area around Mimosa court was the scene of fighting amongst rival gangs, pro and anti government. Ngong Road earlier today was also a no go area.

If the Pentagon are unable to attend the rally for whatever reason then i doubt it will go ahead. The problem is with the media blackout no one knows whether the Pentagon will or will not attend and so may just end up going to Uhuru Park anyway. Having gambled a large part of their credibility in ensuring the rally does not go ahead I expect the police response to be vigorous.

Are supplies getting through?

I met a clever blogger stocking up on supplies at Uchumi Ngong Road a few days ago. I gave up standing in the long queue. Now I am regretting that decision. As supermarkets remain closed and major roads impassable there is concern that food and petrol supplies are low. One of the most valuable thing around here after food and fuel is mobile phone airtime cards, such is the scarcity! Kenya has also been on holiday for practically two weeks. People need to bank, businesses have to be run, the school year is due to start next week arrangements for that have to be made. Tomorrow should be a normal working day. Will it be?

What is the media going to do?

After yesterday’s directive restricting what the media can and can not broadcast the Media Council and Media Owner’s Association are meeting today to formulate their response. Will they obey the government’s order? Will they disregard it? Are they united? Are they divided?

Who will be Vice President?

Kibaki’s Party of National Unity only has 37 MPs most of who are from his Central Province. Logic suggests that there is no way you can have the president and vice president from the same tribe. In addition Kibaki needs to bring in many more political parties to have any semblance of a working parliamentary majority. This probably means that ODM-K are being courted heavily at the moment. Kalonzo, the leader of ODM-K and third in the presidential race, will probably demand nothing less than the Vice Presidency in return for his political support. This would not go down well with people who have been with Kibaki since day 1 of these campaigns.

kenyaelection07

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What we are doing is revolutionary in terms of local news coverage and in generating local web content; imagine the impact we will have on coverage of the 2012 election. There are a couple of reasons why this blogging effort is important:

• We are showing that citizen media is alive and well in Kenya.
• We are showing that Kenyans regard the Kenyan citizen media is a valid source of information.
• We are showing that citizen media can react and publish faster than the main stream media in Kenya.
• We are showing that you do not have to be “on the inside” within the ECK nerve centre at KICC or within a major media house to report on what is going on with the election with authority.
• We are showing that the internet is a valid tool for spreading and sharing information.
• We are showing that the Kenyan street is aware and articulate.
• We are creating local and original web content.

And perhaps most importantly (for our brothers and sister in the main stream media)

• We are showing that citizen media and the main stream media can not only co-exist but even compliment each other.

Now a call to arms literary rather than literally, if you have a blog write your thoughts about this election. Whether you are in Kenya or not, whether you are Kenyan or not. We need more voices from the wanainchi writing about their country. If you have left a comment or sent an email and do not have a blog, please start one. If you can send an email believe me you have enough technical skill to write and post a blog post. Register at WordPress.com for free and you’ll be on your way. Then register on the Kenyan Blogs Webring (KBW), which is also free, and you will have a wide readership from your first post.

This is very important for those of you who have asked me to remove certain KBW members from the webring or remove their posts from the KenyaUnlimited Aggregator as you do not agree with what they are saying. Many of you already have own blogs yet I notice that your own blogs are silent on the issues you raise with me. If someone writes something you disagree with by all means let your voice be heard as you present your counter view, and the best place to do this is on your own blog (which if you are a KBW member will appear on the same aggregator where the post you objected to appeared).

Finally, I have been getting many requests asking if you can reproduce the content on this blog in your newspapers, aggregators etc. Everything on my blog is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence.

This means you are free to:

• Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
• Remix — to adapt the work

Under the following conditions:

• Attribution. You must attribute the work to me. A link to the original blog post with a line saying written by Mentalacrobatics or written by Daudi Were should be fine.

I think that is fair. You can read a short version of the license here or if you are very particular about these kinds of things you can read a full version here.

kenyaelection07

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I spoke with on the Democratization of the Digital Citizen in the morning session on Fractured Identities. I shared the floor with my Tanzanian brother Ansbert Ngurumo. Our panel was chaired by Professor Guy Berger.

Check out the DCI wiki which is updated regularly throughout the day for a summary of all the talks, the DCI flickr stream for evidence that bloggers are the best looking people around!

digital citizen indaba

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(Inspired by one of the best headlines of all time.)

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The following are the details from the Inter-media committee:

The Silent Demo is on!

The Silent Demonstration will take place on Wednesday August 15, with the blessings and the support from the majority of media houses and associations as well as myriads of well wishers.

We shall assemble 8:30am at Freedom Corner at Uhuru Park. We will then march to the AG’s Chambers (via Kenyatta Ave- Moi Ave- Harambee Ave) where we will present a petition to the chief legal adviser to the Government and ask him to advise the President against signing the proposed law.

We shall then proceed to march around Parliament two times before breaking the demo at Freedom corner. The whole programme should take about two hours maximum.

The demo is silent for there will be no chanting nor singing.

We will actually be quiet through out the march and our mouths gagged with black cloth or duct tape. We can also adorn black scarves, head bands or arm bands.

So please bring along a gag, dress in your organisation’s branded wear [if available], AND remember to put on some comfortable walking shoes.

We are looking forward to your participation and your organisation’s support as we SILENCE this bad law.

NB: Watch out for a spectacular media showing on that day.

Standing as one,

Inter-media committee

Forwarded by Mars Group Kenya

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Last week civil society activists were harassed, beaten, tear-gassed, arrested illegally and almost killed in a car crash involving the police vehicle they were being transported in (after being arrested illegally) when trying to present the petition to parliament. I am happy to say that none of those things happened yesterday as the peaceful march passed as it was meant to, peacefully! A Member of Parliament (and ODM-K presidential candidate Joseph Nyagah) accepted the petition from us to take to parliament.

Below are the pictures from a day in which the Kenyan police respected the law they ask us to upload and let Kenyan citizens exercise their constitutionally protected right to petition their parliament. The full set (103 photos) is available on my Flickr account. Click on the images below to see full size picture.

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Monday, August 06, 2007

A Petition to Parliament on MP’s Gratuities, the unconstitutional Media Bill 2007 and other matters of urgent national importance – invitation to a Civil Society Briefing on Tuesday August 7th 2007.

Civil Society will be holding a press briefing at the Grand Regency Hotel, Magadi Room commencing at 11am on Tuesday 7th August 2007.

The briefing will be on a March on Parliament that will take place on Wednesday 8th August 2007 to present the first ever petition to Parliament by the people of Kenya. The right to petition Parliament is provided for under the Constitution of Kenya and the Standing Orders of Parliament.

Amongst the issues Civil Society is protesting are the proposed gratuities by parliament, the unconstitutional Media bill, police brutality on Civil society and the inhuman conditions in which the Police Force live and work.

contact:
Jayne/ Fiona
Tel: 020 – 35 33 230
Mars Group Kenya
Civil Society Media Liaison for the Petition and March on Parliament

www.marsgroupkenya.org
Watching out for You

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(*Ask Riyaz about the penguins)

Aside: It is hard not to laugh nervously when a professional photographer is taking your mugshot in one of your regular cyber cafes! That may (or may not) explain why I look strange in the photo!

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Blogs, email and text messages, while lending themselves to informing, also lend themselves to abuse.

… in his post that argues it is irresponsible for us to report the blast in Nairobi as bomb or indeed suicide bomb unless we have official confirmation from the police. Agreed, it would be irresponsible for us to report the blast without checking the sources of the stories.

When I first heard the story on local radio stations I turned to Reuters which is a reliable news outlet and generally has an impeccable record as far as the accuracy of its reporting goes.

Reuters report now reads (bear in mind these reports are constantly updated):

A senior policeman at the scene said the explosion, which also left a mangled corpse in the street and sent passers-by flying through the air, seemed to be a suicide bombing.

My own blog post on the topic is full of qualifiers, apparently this, apparently that. I even put a paragraph at the end of the post cautioning that this is all speculation at the moment as we await the facts.

A quick look at the KenyaUnlimited Aggregator shows many other Kenyan bloggers qualified their reporting too.

Let me bring in another angle. The most common complaint I have heard today from Kenyans abroad is that the the Daily Nation and East African Standard websites had almost no information for a long while. The most frequently updated Kenyan news website these days is the KBC website, however earlier this morning when I checked it was down.

I would argue that it is stories like this that rather than showing the danger of blogs, HIGHLIGHT the importance of blogs and other citizen media. While the MSM was stuck in its procedures, bloggers wrote about what they had heard, seen or were told. There is nothing wrong with quoting primary sources. The historians amongst us can confirm the importance with which primary sources are regarded on any historical event. The eyewitness account, the man on the street as it were.

If you wanted to know what Kenyans were thinking and feeling at the time the blogs were a very good place to start.

As for waiting for an official police statement before commenting on this blast, to that I would ask: where is the lengthy police statement on the Mungiki crisis? Where is the lengthy police statement on the Mount Elgon clashes? Both were major incidents in the past month which claimed more lives that the blast this morning, yet we haven’t seen the same coordinated response to dishing out information as we have on this blast. Are we to await the official statement on those events as well before stepping in with our take on events? How long are you prepared to wait?

Isn’t it telling that Police Commissioner Hussein’s lengthy statement appears on the website of the Office of Government Spokesperson (OGS) and not on the Kenya Police website which carries a 3 sentence press release by the Police Spokesman?

Why would the OGS jump in on this story when Mungiki and Mount Elgon were much more serious events yet he restrained himself? I would argue it is because the OGS quickly realised that this was an international story which would generate interest from around the world.

Their intention was not to inform, their intention was damage control. I will agree with the Commish on one thing, however, in my opinion, the disaster management procedures worked well, after the initial shock everything seemed to click.

I firmly believe that the take up of the story by Kenyan bloggers helped generate this international interest. Don’t believe that bloggers have that much influence? Then explain why the “Blog Search button” is next to the “Advanced News Search” button on Google News or why Reuters has started featuring African bloggers prominently on its news site. In a round about way, the noise bloggers generated about this story is one of the reasons The Commish and the GOS rushed to get out that press release.

Hopefully if Kenyan bloggers keep the noise up on Mungiki, Mount Elgon et al and the Commish and the GOS will rush to release a lengthy press release on those stories as well.

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