Welcome to the new Kenya Imagine: KI.3.0 (BETA)

Hey everyone
First, our apologies. We have been offline for longer than we would have liked. Thanks to all our readers and registered users we were using too much bandwidth, and were kicked off our shared server. This is the kind of problem we are proud of. But, getting our resources together to move to a server that could accomodate all our published articles and registered users proved paramount. Well, we have since moved to our own servers, and would like to introduce our new look!

We are still fixing a few kinks here and there, but are now live. Please visit us to see our new look, and recently published articles.

Drop us a line, we love hearing from you: editor [at] kenyaimagine [dot] com. I promise, I reply to every email I receive.

cheers
-Nekessa
publisher, KI

World Cup: blaming the 'incompetent African'

Did you watch the Slovenes play the Americans? If you didn't, have you heard about the controversial ref? The Malian who disallowed the US goal? Well, we still don't know why he did it. Our concern is the tone taken by ESPN reporters and one Donovan American striker. Did the ref make the error he did because he is African, from a less than stellar African football country? Well, they seem to think. We, on the other hand, don't. And are peeved. A bad call is a bad call. Read on.

Nigeria mourns President Yar'Adua: what's next?

Read here a continuous update on the situation in Nigeria as the country maps its political map following the death of their President Umar Yar'Adua.

AG publishes proposed constitution

Its finally here. A few hours ago, Kenya's Attorney General, Amos Wako, published the draft law. The Interim Independent Electoral Commission is expected to announce a referendum date within the next 90 days. Published below is a copy of the proposed national document.

You can download, embed, email and share it on social network sites. Follow linky link.

Surviving Germany

Its been a while since we published something in our Travel magazine. Read this beautiful narrative from Minda Magero on her time in Germany as a student at the Uni of Bonn. The city was beautiful and she made great friends, unfortunately, her bad experiences stand out most in her memory.

Drop me a line with your travel tales and/or photos: editor@kenyaimagine.com.

Channeling Ngugi: language and identity in Kenya and Africa

Sitawa Namwalie returns to our pages; this time defending Ngugi's decolonising the mind. Join the discussion, excerpt below:

Despite the divergence of these two opinions I believe that they represent the same limited view which confines Ngugi’s raison d'être to the logic of a village or at the very most within the fundamentals of Kenyan borders. Both groups claim Ngugi’s agenda as a national one and so use his work to justify the essentials of negative local ethnic discourse. As I listen to these views I am reminded of the saying that is attributed to Jesus Christ that a prophet often goes unrecognized and acknowledged in his or her own home. I can imagine the national debate that may have surrounded the great literary figures in their time. In a similarly multi-ethnic Russia, Tolstoy may have been accused of representing only the interest of his linguistic group and dismissed as a parochial chauvinist. And yet today we know his genius. If he wrote in his mother tongue then many others would have complained about reading and understanding his novels.

They all miss the point. By writing in Gikuyu, Ngugi is carving out an alcove of existence, a space of freedom, for all of those many ethnicities and civilizations, which do not come from a dominant language culture. The image that comes to mind is that of the meaning of the term niche in the natural environment. A rare highly specialized species of moss will inhabit a sliver of micro-climate created by the particular conditions that are due to an outcropping of rock perhaps; that results by chance; in just the right temperature, soil conditions, wind and moisture. A fitting anomaly becomes established and we joyously acknowledge the miracle of nature.

Bloggers Wanted

Unedited. Imagine Diaries. Your story, told how you want it. Send us your blog posts or reblog from your personal blogs. Find the submit button on our homepage, select blogs, and self-publish.

Today's blogger: Komanda takes on both the Kenyan and the United Arab Emirates governments on the Emirates new visa restrictions on Kenyan.

Free healthcare for women and children in Sierra Leone

A very ambitious program from the Sierra Leonese government, sponsored by the UN, will give free healthcare to 1.5milion women and children. Here, we read about this country's challenges.

SUPKEM did not ban DSTV in Mandera

We are dismayed to learn that the Nation erroneously reported that Muslim leaders have banned DSTV and video halls in Mandera. The story as you will learn is very different from the news reports. What gives?

Read on.

Health Reform Kenya, and more on the constitution

The Kenyan Ministry of Health Services is planning a radical expansion of health care in the country. According to the Human Resource Development Sector Report 2010, the programme will create 24,000 new jobs, expand ambulance and primary healthcare services into the ARALs. The programme is a response to indicators that showed gains made towards the end of the last century were being eroded in the new millennium.

Follow for details.

On leaving and speaking out against the church

Disgusted by the recent scandals in the Church over pederasty, or its misogyny, or just bored with organised religion?

Well, many people in Europe are, and they are now online. Here's a few websites with instruction manuals on how to leave, especially important in countries where there's tax and other obligations attached to formal membership of religious organisations, but also perhaps important for closure and moral dissociation. In Kenya, we have seen some criticism of the church from Kenyan Christians on matters of the constitution. But first, a look into Europe.

Follow link for more.

of flying and volcanoes

Were you annoyed that you had to stay on the ground when the Icelandic volcano erupted two weeks ago? Well you can look at this video for what you may have gone through if your plane had got caught up in volcanic ash. Aircrash Investifation from National Geographic.

Watch video here.

Kadhi courts and the Kenyan constitution: a heathen's perspective

Ombuya E. Okongo speaks out against Kenyan churches, and Christians in general; and the hypocrisy of it all.

The new constitution stipulates that Islamic Kadhi Courts shall be retained. Some of the e-mails and articles I have seen from the Christians opposing Kadhi Courts are alarming, to say the least. They are incitements -- with propaganda so vile I will not accord them the dignity of mentioning them here. But what they all state explicitly is that there is a conspiracy by Muslims to use Kadhi Courts to turn Kenya into an Islamic state.

Did you hear that, ladies and gentlemen? The good Christians want you to believe that they have done nothing to impose their beliefs on other Kenyans, when in fact Kenya's socio-political system is dominated by Christianity. Don't we use the bible in oaths? How many government functions have you attended without hearing a word of prayer? And don't even get me started with Christian Religious Education (C.R.E) and the forced church services we endured in public schools.

Debate.

Statement against quit ultimatum to Draft Constitution naysayers

By now most of us have made our minds about the constitution. If you haven't, well, there is still time. Bunge la Wananchi, like many of us,  is concerned about the president's isolation of Cabinet ministers who oppose the constitution (the No campaign).

We wish to remind the principals that Kenya is a democracy and it is in the nature of a democracy for the majority to have their way but the minority to have their say. It is in the spirit of democracy for competing ideas to be resolved at the ballot box if consensus cannot be built in advance. In a democracy, the fundamental rights of all are protected regardless of the views that they hold.

Discuss.

Ruto and Kosgei Re-Assigned Ministries in Cabinet Shuffle

State House today announced a mini-shuffle in the Cabinet which sees Rift Valley members of parliament opposed to Prime Minister Raila Odinga suffering setbacks, while those rooting for him in the ODM wrangles and in the constitutional debate enjoying promotions. The headlines will no doubt focus on the major change that sees Eldoret North MP William Ruto and Aldai MP Sally Kosgei swap ministries, with Ruto demoted from the powerful Ministry of Agriculture and Dr. Kosgei - a former head of the civil service, promoted to Kilimo House as the Minster for Agriculture.

Challenges of Eradicating Corruption in Kenya

The essays published here were written by three students from Kisii High School. These young writers were the winners of an essay competition by the Kenyan Chapter of International PEN.

Government Censorship in Kenya's Digital Age

There is a thin line between freedom of speech and hate speech. How does one determine this? What's the government's role in regulation? Discuss.

Are we Reading the Same Constitution?

A reader shares comments that he has seen as criticisms of the proposed constitution. As he shows, none of them have nothing to do with the proposal. Check

Kenyan Universities Should Teach Works of Emerging Writers

At what point should a contemporary writer, say, a study of poet Shailja Patel’s work, be introduced in our institutions of higher learning? Why should a university Professor accept to be a judge in a competition of emergent African writers when they do not wish to encourage their works at the university?

Should universities only teach traditional literature?

A conveniently defective draft, experts' mistakes and the usual ironies of Keny

Yes, we are heavy on the constitution. That we must. After all, it is an historic moment in Kenya, not since the Lancaster House has the constitution been so close to passing (matter of fact, in the next couple of days we'll try and figure out why with all the similarities to the Wako/Kilifi draft) this one has taken a hold.

Our lawyer friend, Eric Ng'eno returns to our pages. His talking points:

First, is that a new constitution is a non-negotiable imperative for the people of Kenya at this time, and so much so, that failure to deliver one before the next Election will be deemed a singular failure of all leadership, and a massive stain on careers and legacies. No one wishes to countenance a failure to deliver. It is as unconscionable as it is disastrous.

Secondly, that the Draft Constitution shortly to be published by the Attorney-General has quite a number of 'positive aspects' that commend it to our favourable civic treatment at the ballot come the referendum.

Thirdly, that the same draft also has certain imperfections, or defects if you will, that needs must be amended.