21st Century is the Internet Golden Era

21^st Century is the Internet Golden Era

A digital edition  paper ad posted on Standard Digital website. Newspaper are turning to the internet to survive

By MUSYOKA NGUI

Writing has evolved from using, charcoal, pencils, ball point pens, typewriters to computer keyboards and now screens. One can doodle on a smart magic wall to have their point passed across.

The open secret for all writers is that they read. When reading is your hobby writing also becomes another pastime. Actually reading provokes the thoughts of the writer to scribble down some ideas for the audience.

While writing is regarded as a tedious exercise compared to say watching television or listening to the radio, it remains the oldest form of mass media and thus the mother of the new age publishing.

The internet only reinvented books on the monitor. Online publishing site Issuu declares that the print just got better only that this time it does not happen with the death of trees.

Newspapers have online editions. There are also digital subscriptions which cost 50 per cent less. Kenya’s oldest newspaper, The Standard on its online store prominently pitches its digital version for all to log in. It is available on the mobile, computer, tablets and applications.

DIGITAL CONVERGENCE

Citizen TV, the most popular TV channel in Kenya also maintains a vibrant online edition called Citizen Digital that curates blogs, news and features.

The convergence of traditional media on the internet says a lot about the future of the internet and that of the elder siblings. One, the internet can no longer be ignored. Computer competence cuts across all professions and is mandatory. Journalists are advised to be all rounded to improve their marketability.

21^st century is the golden age of the internet. Ask millennials what is new and they will gladly brandish their smartphones. Mobile phones are no longer just calling and receiving devices but powerful tools of communication.

Innovators and software developers have better days ahead. Once one cracks the cypher they are the next big things. Microsoft’s Bill Gates is one of the richest individuals in the world due to his computer application skills. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is another internet and technology billionaire.

We should ask ourselves what we are doing with iHub, Ushahidi.Com and other local startups? Can the youth afford and access entrepreneurial training and mentorship? Has the government provided favourable loans and grants to the youth? Now unemployment is the biggest employer in Kenya and is blamed for social ills including terrorism, drug abuse and sex trade. And what happened to Konza Technology City? 

Denying the Man in the Mirror behind Social Media Photoshop

Denying the Man in the Mirror behind Social Media Photoshops

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t is rather sad that people have not brought themselves to reconciling with the man in the mirror. Clever editing and photo manipulation that pass for retouch are rampant on Instagram. Others on Facebook and Twitter use celebrity portraits you would be forgiven that they do not have a head themselves. Or the head and shoulders are too ugly to show off?

By MUSYOKA NGUI

Social media is interactive, fun and cool. It is the next frontier for long lost friends meeting and sharing their experiences. It is where tech savvy businesses meet customised niche markets in various groups, online chat rooms and assured youthful population who make up the most number of social media users.

As a media professional I love working with amateurs and non-journalist professionals who upload both grainy and crisp photos. Thanks to their smartphones they can upload pictures in real time for immediate consumption by their friends.

The beauty of being a freelancer or an amateur is that you are not tied by bureaucratic media house rules and equally boring sharing policies which also risks denying you the much needed credit for your 15 seconds of fame in the virtual space. The photo is yours. It is your scoop. No one can take it away from you even if they plagiarize your fans still know where to go to.

MAKE MISTAKES

Another sweet side of free publishing is that there are millions of rooms for us to make mistakes. I don’t care if my follower’s profile photo is posted sideways, upside down or zigzag. There is no tradition, precedence or conformity. Creativity means trying, failing and eventually learning the best practices of lighting, cropping, white balance and expert editing.

Readers are a lazy lot. They require telling photos which don’t need a caption to explain. They don’t want loooong and sophisticated descriptions. After all they are the judges and customers who eventually turn their adoration to comments, likes and cult-like following. Speak to their preferences and balance that with freedom vs responsibility of expression, media and thought.

It is rather sad that people have not brought themselves to reconciling with the man in the mirror. Clever editing and photo manipulation that pass for retouch are rampant on Instagram. Others on Facebook and Twitter use celebrity portraits you would be forgiven that they do not have a head themselves. Or the head and shoulders are too ugly to show off? Bare your fundamentals. Your assets.  Get me right, I did not say nudity that leaves to nothing imagination. Exception to this rule: socialites, I understand the desperation.

Social media is the new addiction. The notifications cigarette, the attention drug and the ultimate hook that hopelessly grips us. Moderation please. For now, let me “eat” those data bundles. 

How the media covered Philomena Kasyoka Munyoki

Media and Terror

How the media covered Philomena Kasyoka Munyoki

We’ll never forget. RIP siz and comrade

Titus Ngui  an uncle, inspects Philomena's casket

Flamboyant youthful MP aspirant Mutati "Sonko" arrives at Phiomena's funeral

Area MP John Munuve (in red shirt) consoles with Philomena's family

Philomena's parents Kuthi and Munyoki Isombo lay wreaths in her grave

http://www.swahilihub.com/habari/HABARI-ZA-MIKOANI/mwili-wa-mwanafunzi-aliyezikwa-kimakosa-wafukuliwa/-/1333058/2918506/-/94kh0kz/-/index.html

http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/DN2/-/957860/2879460/-/15l5g9n/-/index.html

http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Body-Garissa-attack-victim-exhumed/-/1056/2908796/-/dasnwo/-/index.html

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000179915/police-exhume-body-of-garissa-university-attack-victim-wrongly-buried-in-kitui

http://212.100.244.246/article/2000176052/that-s-enough-cries-mother-of-garissa-university-attack-victim?articleID=2000176052&story_title=that-s-enough-cries-mother-of-garissa-university-attack-victim&pageNo=2

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000180602&story_title=Kenya-family-of-missing-garissa-university-student-identifies-exhumed-body-as-their-daughter-s

http://nairobinews.nation.co.ke/new-clues-unearthed-on-the-missing-body-of-garissa-university-student/

http://standardgroup.co.ke/business/article/2000179915/police-exhume-body-of-garissa-university-attack-victim-wrongly-buried-in-kitui

http://www.mediamaxnetwork.co.ke/k24-tv/174470/body-of-garissa-attack-victim-is-exhumed-in-kitui-county/

http://www.jambonewspot.com/five-months-after-garissa-seige-i-still-cant-tell-if-i-will-ever-find-my-daughter-risper/

http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/blame-attacks-leaders-sins-mca

http://www.sde.co.ke/thenairobian/article/2000176052/that-s-enough-cries-mother-of-garissa-university-attack-victim?pageNo=1

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/ktnnews/video/watch/2000099431/-body-of-student-killed-during-garissa-university-college-terror-attack-exhumed-for-identif

Greed as economy hurts

Greed as economy hurts

By MUSYOKA NGUI

When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging.-Will Rogers.

Kenya’s economy went south long ago. The signs are out there for all to see. Rising interest rates, weak shilling and debilitating lay offs which are looming in the public sector. Then there is also the recurrent public workers strikes which keep throwing the critical sectors of health and education to confusion, chaos and at times loss of lives.

What is the use of having a trillion shilling budget when we cannot afford education and healthcare? Again the blatant thievery and looting of public coffers makes a mockery of the taxpayers’ blood, sweat and tears.  All these scandals of National Youth Service, Eurobond and controversial tendering in both Laptop and Standard Gauge Railway projects seemingly endorses the new cool way of getting rich without breaking a brow’s sweat.

The Jubilee government’s slogan of kusema na kutender has been interpreted by many as an irregular procurement spree geared to making the rich richer and the poor poorer in the middle of yawning political and ethnic bickering that easily passes off as witch-hunt and utter victimisation of “performers”.

NO MORAL HIGH GROUND

Curiously, it has been said and rightly so believed that those are calling the kettle black have patches of graft themselves. Does Raila Odinga have moral pedestal to accuse Anne Waiguru of corruption while he is accused of mismanaging Kazi Kwa Vijana funds during his stint at the Grand Coalition government?

As the government continues to borrow internally the wananchi will painfully bear with skyrocketing inflation, unaffordable loans and lack of faith in the government and financial sector.

The adage goes that when you find yourself inside a hole stop digging. The government must cut bloated and duplicated services. In a country where alleged thieves get elected in public office and role model for the youth who admire the quick riches, the future is bleak. 

Students’ drug and sex orgies point to social rot

Students’ drug and sex orgies point to social rot

By MUSYOKA NGUI

As fate would have it, the five weeks of teachers’ strike saw 550 students culminate their truancy in an Eldoret bar to “vent” their boredom and frustration. The police arrested the pupils and seized drugs. That minors liberally imbibe alcohol, bhang and miraa makes for a disturbing reading.  Teachers and parents are equally pained by the used condoms strewn all over the discotheque.

It is just 60 days after another incidence when high school students were caught in a bus in Nyeri engaged in intense sex orgies. It seems drugs were used by the learners to stimulate their sexual desires.

BROTHER’S KEEPER

What happened to the phrase being one’s brother’s keeper? Reports that university and college comrades prey on young girls did not help matters. The young women have no independent mental judgment to consent. The young adults should be arraigned in court to answer serious charges bordering on rape and defilement.  The victims cannot be blamed.

Parents on their part should admit blame. Their parental advisory or lack of could be linked to their sons and daughters going rogue right under their watchful eyes. Parents should be more vigilant especially when their children are ever so cheeky.  Others even are barely adolescents are actively involved in sex.

It is against basic freedoms for Sam’s Discotheque to prohibit the young people and other revelers from making calls and taking photos inside the club. One’s privacy is paramount. After all this is a public space. The management of the unregistered disco must be hiding somethings under the cover of their underground dens. The management too should be prosecuted.

The club is reportedly owned by powerful individual(s) which make police keep away yet the club is mere 30 meters away from the police station. 

The Power of Ten: How women are pulling and pooling together

PLAY

The Power of Ten: How women are pulling and pooling together

PLAY

The Power of Ten: How women are pulling and pooling together

(Jisaidie Women Group member prepare for a meeting. Their Chairperson Lynn calls meeting to order. It is on a Wednesday, the day members meet to collect and distribute funds among beneficiaries.)

LYNN: Hello everyone! Today is an important day for us. Our business shall resume shortly after prayers and pleasantries.

CHRIS: (Chris is the secretary. pointing at a volunteer): Yes, Maureen will pray for us.

MAUREEN: Oh God we humbly come before you this bright morning thanking you for the gift of life. We would like to be helped by you in our deliberations. Jesus help our children, our husbands, our cattle, and our shambas. In Jesus name we pray.( All say amen).

(The meeting has been attended by 20 members. 17 of them are women while 3 are men. Women dominate the leadership potions.)

LYNN: Order! order!

MERCY and JULIET :( the two peep into their phones and hi five. Other members laugh at their excitement. Soon the meeting is called to order.)

LYNN: Quickly Mr. Secretary will take the minutes. So let us give our agenda in the order of priority.

MERCY: Pombe. (Chris notes down the agenda).

BENSON: Defaults.

JULIET: Exchange program stroke exposure tours.

…………………………….Commercial Break 1……………………

(Pacing up and down in an empty boardroom. Mary arranges the chairs for the executive directors of Jamii bank to hold meeting shortly. The manager arrives as Mary finishes her work.)

JOY: I am afraid Mary we will not use the boardroom today. We have consulted and decided that today we will go to train Jisaidie Women Group on table banking.

MARY: (feeling disappointed) It’s okay. Let me finish up and lock the boardroom. I will be at the office kitchen just in case you need me.

(Joy, David and Dan are the managers of the bank. They are strapping themselves up to go to the field where they will meet the beneficiaries of their project. They are driven by Susan.)

JOY (as she buckles up) : Being a successful woman is a curse.

DAN: What do you mean?

JOY: Come on stop acting out. You know what you men do…….

DAVID: I find dealing with lady bosses very hectic. They become drank with power and I never like to cross their line.

SUSAN: Today don’t be stormy like jana. Si you guys brainstorm on how you are going to help those women we are meeting. Three topics I never touch even with a ten foot pole: relationships, religion and politics. Everyone seems to have an opinion.

(They arrive at the site. Women group members led by their chairperson welcome the visitors with song and dance.)

(The Chairlady and her team ululate and whistle as they shake hand and shoulders to welcome the bankers).

(Soon the celebrations settle and the group rearranges chairs to accommodate the bankers.)

LYNN: Team, welcome our visitors with applause. Today we are really blessed. Without much ado, let me introduce them to you then we will continue.

The lady in a red blouse is their boss. She is called Joy and is our mentor. She will greet you and say more about herself after which she will introduce her team. (Does so)

LYNN: As you can see madam boss, our group has majority shareholder as women. It works for cash from donors who fund our projects then we buy assets. Now we have assisted members educate their sons and daughters, take their relatives who are unwell to hospital and even make sanitary pads from banana leaves which supplement our incomes.

DAVID: Banana what? I thought those are for wrapping tobacco!

(Joy overrules David.)

JOY: David, we are in serious business. Pay attention to the tips. If you drink all your money and spoil the rest to mistresses people here got a life. And a great one at that. ( David is embarrassed)

DAVID: Go on young lady. Of course I was not serious.

(The secretary Chris chips in)

CHRIS: Madam Manager, thing is we identified a problem were our daughters and some of our members here could not afford to buy commercial sanitary pads. With indigenous knowledge from that mama there (pointing) she taught us how it is done and the rest is history.

JOY: Awesome!

…………………………….Commercial Break 2………………

JOY: What were you saying Chris?

CHRIS: Now we use the apprenticeship for producing pads for subsistence and sale. Additionally we have saved in a Sacco about Sh.600, 000 which we loan out to our members.

JOY: How does the table banking work?

CHRIS: The account we opened with you we use it to deposit the collected funds. Luckily your company does not charge exorbitant rates. Our policy is that if you borrow Sh. 100 you return it with a 10 per cent interest. We call it the power of ten and it works. The profit is ploughed back after the table system completes one cycle then we start borrowing all over again.

LYNN: Tell her too about how our husbands’ and children’s’ lives have changed.

CHRIS: Juliet and Mercy have classic case studies they will narrate after we go for tea break.

LYNN: Sure. Let’s go for the snacks. 15 minutes and we come back.

…………………………..Commercial Break 3…………

(After 15 minutes. Mercy and Juliet are ready to speak.)

LYNN: Let me take this golden opportunity to invite Mercy to tell her story.

MERCY: Hello people; I am not the kidding type. This is real. True story. Before I joined Jisaidie Women Group nilikuwa nakosa pesa ya unga. My teenage son used to beg for money to take her girlfriend out but his father had nothing since he is jobless. Being a farmer I relied on rearing goats and by then they were very few. I have since increased my herd of goats from two to thirty thanks to this project. (Applause and standing ovation).

As I expand my farming business I want to tell you that be focused and don’t squander opportunities. Especially if you have people of goodwill like the ones gathered here today.

LYNN: Thank you Mercy. I hope you have touched someone with your inspiring story.

JULIET: I no longer hide my savings under the pillow. Pillow is for comfort not a safe. I would tell my husband that he handles the pillow with care since it may lose some of my coins stuffed inside (crowd laughs).

Anyway, we had romantic nights but our money was idle. Let me tell you. If when you sleep your money is also sleeping you will never be rich. As you sleep your money is your watchman. It should be working somewhere. Mine is in the revolving funds at this chama. In future don’t be surprised if I go for stocks. Expecting the unexpected makes the expected to be unexpected and spoils the surprise. For me I tell you, don’t expect the expected. Free your imagination. Dream! Thank you.

For El Nino, prepare for the worst and expect the best

For El Nino, prepare for the worst and expect the best

Avoid landslide prone areas in El Nino. Photo/Google Images

By MUSYOKA NGUI

The Kenya Meteorological Department has predicted El Nino that is expected to pour from October and extend up to January 2016.  While it is wise to prepare for the worst it is important to note that the weatherman has gotten some past predictions wrong thus making planning and disaster preparedness inaccurate and wrong.

The El Nino rains rekindle the humorous memories of the lady famous for her “serikali saidia” plea when her neighborhood was submerged in water in Western Kenya. In Budalang’i flooding is synonymous with the rainy seasons.

It will be curious to know what the ordinary Kenyans have done to prepare for the El Nino rains. While the government should ideally cushion the citizens, the latter should mind basic hygiene. This include boiling drinking water, moving from low lying grounds to higher ones and stocking up fuel for the cold and wet season. For instance one should have enough firewood, buy gas cylinders and refill the depleted supplies and generally maintain personal hygiene. Covering food will keep away water borne diseases including diarrhea and cholera.  Those who are able may also consider buying generators as long rains disrupt hydroelectric power. Counties should stock hospitals with enough medicine to address attendant waterborne diseases and other emergencies that may arise from El Nino. It is not time for governors to cry foul that they lack adequate funding for health function. They should do more with the less they get from national government. Nurses and doctors, remember your Hippocratic Oath even as you contemplate to strike yet again.

Children and pregnant mothers should sleep under treated mosquito nets since they are the most vulnerable when malaria strikes. With El Nino looming the risk is real. People also need to walk around in shoes to avoid catching bilharzia along rivers and pools of water.

Tackle Global Warming

County governments must also plan for drainage and watch the signs and symptoms of waterborne diseases before they become full blown to avert needless deaths and suffering.  The weatherman expects the rains to continue up to January next year so the national government should put emergency relief foods for those likely to be affected by El Nino rains. The budget plug of Sh.10.5 billion that the government needs to fill in order to effectively address the long rains should be closed by, say, a supplementary budget passed by parliament and not to wait for the disaster to overwhelm us in order for the government to act.

Counties too will do a great job by planting trees and building dykes to reduce the cases of environmental degradation.  Residents in landslide prone areas should prepare to shift to safer areas. These include counties in Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western provinces. This would go a long way to curb injuries, losses of lives and damage to property.

Better still governments across the world must take global warming seriously as it is thought to cause adverse weather conditions including El Nino, drought and famine. El Nino does not have to be a curse. African traditions view rains as blessings and we should use the opportunity to harvest rain water in tanks. It is also a brisk business opportunity for sellers of candles, umbrellas, gum boots and raincoats

The Courts Have a Central Role to Play in the War on Terror

The Courts Have a Central Role to Play in the War on Terror

Mohamed Ali interviews an eyewitness who allegedly witnessed extrajudicial killings.Photo Al Jazeera

By MUSYOKA NGUI

I watched KTN’s senior reporter Mohamed Ali’s investigative documentary that aired on People and Power program in Al Jazeera with shock and fear if indeed what it claims is true. Killing Kenya is an aptly titled piece that sequels Inside Kenya’s Death Squad that earlier alleged violations of human rights by Kenyan police commonly termed as extra judicial killings. These reports are all available on YouTube and aljazeera.com for anyone’s verification.

On December 7, 2014 Al Jazeera English released the damning documentary that looked into the extrajudicial killings in Kenya. Two days later Information Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i defended the government in Doha, the headquarters of the Arabic channel.

The shocking numbers “revealed”, as it were, are grossly worrying. That “over 1500 Kenyan citizens have been killed by the police since 2009 and that statistically Kenyans are five times more likely to be shot by a policeman than a criminal” makes for a devastating viewing.

SHOOT TO KILL ORDERS

The camera catches Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa admitting that extrajudicial killings take place and that the police have little options on the table. Human rights crusaders and lawyers will tell you for free that the sanctity of every human life is important and killing an alleged criminal is in itself a most violation of basic human rights. Suspects are ordinarily taken to court to stand trial before a just judge but in the absence of the just judge police are accused of playing the accuser, the judge and the executioner.

What is worrying is that a narrative alluding to religious persecution of a certain section of the society emerges in the film. This should not be encouraged at all given that Kenya is a secular State where all religions exist peacefully. Profiling persons on the basis of their beliefs is illegal.

CONFIDENTIAL SOURCES

Most importantly, the investigation should have revealed the truth. Since this is a delicate balancing act, Matiang’i in his studio interview got away with denying the claims by boxing the interviewer into a tight spot when he dared the anchor to reveal the sources. Now that is against media ethics since it’d endanger the lives of the sources and erode the confidence they have in reporters. Matiang’i resorts to what he calls innuendo, gossips, and rumors.

Simon Boazman who did the original investigative documentary Inside Kenya’s Death Squads quotes the UN report by special rapporteur Philip Alliston which also adversely mentioned police for extrajudicial killings. Ali himself has accused the police of extrajudicial killings in his exposes.  There is need to jealously guard and preserve national security while fighting the war on terror. As such, suspects deserve to be handled humanely. But so are the victims’ right to justice. The best placed determiner of whether one is guilty or not guilty is an independent court which should be allowed to do its job. Of course ridding corruption in the security agencies, equipping the forces and remunerating them to boost their morale will go a long way in averting needless deaths of innocent civilians in the hands of the police as it has been claimed by multiple investigating agencies including the media and the civil society.

There is a thin line between hate speech and freedom of speec

There is a thin line between hate speech and freedom of speech

By MUSYOKA NGUI

Article 33 of Chapter four of the new constitution 2010 does provide elaborate freedoms enshrined in its universal bill of rights. Among them is the freedom of expression. One of its limitations is not to use one’s right to express themselves to incite violence or defame others.

While before the law everyone is ideally equal, politicians have stretched the freedom of expression beyond limits. The essence of democracy is tolerating divergent opinions. After all, diversity is a mix of differences exercised by civilized citizens.

But when politicians both in government and opposition resort to divisive politicking Kenyans of goodwill should raise the red flag. Some have been caught on camera uttering dishonorable and awkward statements for which they have either been forced to apologize insincerely or record statements with the police. There has never been a conclusive case of hate speech prosecution.

The Director of Public Prosecutions Senior Counsel Mr. Keriako Tobiko, should be seen to reign on rogue politicians and anyone else who makes inflammatory speeches in public with a view to sparking hatred on ethic, regional and religious lines. National Cohesion and Integration Commission should also be alert to track anyone who seeks to abuse the freedom of expression. Social media is a fertile ground to hunt for tribal bigots and charge them. Sadly, the youth and the educated elite have bought the hate speech manners from the elder folks.

Tolerance to other’s opinion fosters peace and enhances the richness of discourses. This is not to say we engage in self-censorship but exercise caution before speaking or blogging on sensitive issues.

Hate speech in itself lacks concrete definition on what it really is. Parliament, with input of professionals such as lawyers and journalists can come up with a bill to fine tune the term so that people know exactly when they cross the line. This will teach them to keep off trouble.  To be safe one should ask himself or herself if by exercising their right they infringe on the rights of others then be responsible lest they will be held accountable for their actions.