THE JEWEL OF KIBERA

To many Kenyans, it is the famous Woodley Grounds, but to the residents of Kibra Constituency, it is fondly referred to Kalwa Grounds. It is the home of football in Nairobi; the ground that has given birth to current footballers. Current Tusker Fc skipper and Kenya Premier League top-scorer, Jesse Were, Mathare United coveted midfielder Edwin Lavatsa and others are its proud products!

However, despite the priceless contribution to Kenyan football, Woodley Grounds is shamefully dilapidated. From un-even playing surface, lack of grass to flooding whenever rains hit Nairobi, it is a sorry state, bare and dusty in the dry season to bare and muddy in the rains. Lack of a perimeter wall compounds an already dire situation.

As its dilapidation continues, the youths in Kibera are sharpening their skills from Monday to Friday. Over the weekends, it is soccer bonanza to the Kibera residents as clubs battle it out on the dusty pitch. The next crop of soccer stars from the likes of Black Stars, Uweza Academy, Kibera Talent and other clubs who call Woodley Grounds their home, horn their skills at this dilapidated field.

It is the sporting jewel of Kibera! The youths escape drugs abuse and crime by horning their soccer skills here. To the Kibera community, it is a priceless sporting gift. The onus is on the Nairobi County government and the central government to rehabilitate it to modern standards and make it even better for the many boys and girls who call it their sporting home!

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION IS PRICELESS!

As Kenya gears all her efforts in pursuit of the ambitious Vision 2030 and an upgrade from the class of third world, a pertinent question begs; are we putting enough efforts to conserve our bio-diversity and culture? Depending on where you sit, the answer is as diverse as the reality! 

For those in our Maasai, Turkana, Samburu and other communities whose great culture is still alive, the answer is yes! For our departed environmental champion Prof.  Wangari Maathai, leading elephant and wildlife conservationist,  Dr. Paula Kahumbu, the late Environmental minister, Hon John Michuki who is highly respected for the restoration efforts of Nairobi river, the answer is a resounding Yes! However, for the greedy poachers and the traders in the illegal trade of ivory, rhino horns, snake skins and the vicious destruction of Kenyan wildlife, it is a shameful No! They are shamefully threatening the lucrative tourism industry by decimating our great fauna in its numbers.  They must be reigned on before more destruction visits our flora and fauna.

In the face of such destruction of wildlife, pollution of our rivers and the destruction of forests cum water catchment points such as Mau forest in Rift Valley, Kenya must embrace the likes of Paula Kahumbu, the late Prof Maathai, the late Hon Michuki and others who led the conservation of our flora and fauna. Environmental conservation needs us all.

It is never late to embrace environmental conservation, for the repercussions of its mother nature are dire!

GOR MAHIA, TRULY A GREAT SHOWING IN CECAFA!

After a fairytale run in this year’s edition of the CECAFA Club Championship in Tanzania, Gor Mahia, jetted back into the country on Monday night, heads held high but crest-fallen! The Green Army must hold its held high as it ran against all odds, went past the preliminary stage and all the way to the final, where they fell to a more polished Azam side! Un-expected performance by Frank Nuttal’s charges as few except themselves gave them a chance to put up such a sterling show. Remember, last year, Gor Mahia could not even win a single match and unceremoniously bowed out in the group stage. However, in the just concluded regional club tourney, Gor Mahia nearly did it! Losing gallantly in the final is no mean achievement! Gor Mahia deserves all accolades in Kenya, even from their sworn rivals in the Ingw’e den!

Frank Nuttal’s boys must be crest-fallen because they slipped in the last hurdle. From dismissing home club with a near-fanatical following; Yanga in their opening match, K’Ogallo simply steadied its ship and convincingly swept aside opponents as they matched to yesterday’s final. A polished Azam side, under the tutelage of the respected Stuart Hall, backed by the vociferous home crowd inside the National Stadium, simply took its chances, through talismanic skipper John Bocco in the first half and midway through the second half, after a sublime curling free-kick from Ivory Coast import, Tchetche.  The second goal simply took the gas out of Gor Mahia and despite trying their best, the likes of Michael Olunga, Godfrey Walusimbi, Meddie Kagere and Innocent Wafula could not find the target! 

Since 1985 when Gor Mahia defeated their local rivals, AFC Leopards to lift a sixth regional diadem in Sudan, the wait has been long and painful! Even sad is the fact that K’Ogallo has dominated Kenyan football for the last three years, lifted the Kenya Premier League (KPL) twice in 2013 and 2014, and are poised to do it this year, but have failed to take this scintillating form to the regional tourney! Yesterday, was a glorious chance for The Green Army to lift the CECAFA Club diadem for the seventh time. However, it was not to be after falling to Azam Fc, and the Green Army family will have to wait longer!

Losing in the final is heartbreaking. It hits hard on the faithful club supporters and Jaro Soldier and his ilk must be mourning on the final that fate and footballing gods conspired to deny them! But it is even harder on the players. The fa t that Gor Mahia nearly won it but lost in the most important 90 minutes in Tanzania, must have broken the hearts of the committed Green Army players! But with the great hearts that pushed them from the whipping dogs of CECAFA Club 2014 to the losing finalists a year later, will surely lift them up. Back home, Gor Mahia’s unbeaten 25-match run is no fluke. The team chemistry and understanding that this team has put on in the local scene is un-matched, from rivals Ingw’e to big boys like Tusker Fc, military side, Ulinzi Stars and Sofapaka, no one matches Gor Mahia. Still perched on top of the league with three matches in hand, K’Ogallo is all but poised to defend its KPL crown! This will be a third time running!!!

Back from Tanzania, Gor Mahia will jet in with the painful consolation of a runners-up medal. But their talismanic goal-poacher, Michael Olunga won the Golden boot with five goals and even three assists to boot! Shot-stopper, Boniface Oluoch, despite being guilty of easily conceding the second goal in yesterday’s final, won the Golden Gloves prize! Good bits of consolation to The Green Army for their near-flawless football in Tanzania and a performance that was only blotted in a nail-biting finale against home-boys, Azam! The Green Army may have lost in the final but won in many other ways, psychologically, against football pessimists and in Olunga and Oluoch! 

Gor Mahia have in the past years made the top flight Kenyan soccer their own, and two consecutive crowns are a proof! They are on course to defend the KPL crown this year! To add to the cherry, they came second best in the entire Eastern and Central region in the just-concluded CECAFA! The Green Army has earned all bragging rights in Kenya and across the region! Truly, the Kenyan football tiktetas

When power hovered in the skies of Nairobi and The Beast drove on City Roads…

The first ever visit to Kenya by a sitting POTUS shifted global attention to Nairobi! International media had their noses and ears in Nairobi. As President Obama jetted in to address the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) and hold high level talks with his host President Uhuru Kenyatta, one thing stood out; the might of the power trappings and security detail around POTUS brought Nairobi to a standstill!

When Boeing Bell V-22 military choppers and Marine One hovered over the Nairobi skies, landed at Kenyatta University and later University of Nairobi grounds, Kenyans were left in awe! Yes, the Nairobi skies suddenly grabbed a nation’s attention. The social media was awash with pictures of these majestic show of power that form part of the security detail to the POTUS! Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Wilson Airport had the privilege of having these intimidating flying machines on their runaways!

City roads such as Mombasa road, Uhuru and Waiyaki highways among other roads too have had the unrivalled honor of feeling the armored Cadillac, popularly known as The Beast, its decoy car and the huge convoy of Chevrolet machines that POTUS uses on the road! The lucky petrol station attendants at Shell BP in Westlands enjoyed every minute of fuelling these giant machines! As they described them, these majestically moving ‘super machines’ simply epitomize the pinnacle of political power and especially so from the world’s undisputed socio-political and economic superpower!Marine One, Boeing V-22 military helicopters, The Beast and the super machines at the service of POTUS visited Nairobi. They hovered over the Nairobi skies, drove on our roads and left Kenyans awe-struck! President Obama’s motorcade brought the streets and roads of Nairobi to a standstill. Kenyans and journalists never hid their amazement and excitement each time POTUS was being driven by. 

To the students at University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University and all Kenyans who had the privilege of coming several metres to the machines that ensure President Obama’s top-notch security, the moments will never go away! To Ms. June Muli, head of Customer Care at M-Kopa and other Kenyans at Kenyatta University and Safaricom Indoor Arena who had the once in a life-time moment of rubbing shoulders warmly with a sitting POTUS, President Obama’s weekend stay in Kenya was simply awesome!  But perhaps a Kenyan who drew the nation’s awe was President Obama’s sister, Auma Obama! She welcomed her brother at JKIA on Friday night and rode in the Beast, next to POTUS! The envy of all Kenyans! She accompanied him to the State House dinner on Saturday night and also welcomed him at Safaricom Indoor Arena on Sunday! The humble ride in a faulty Volkswagen Bettle in 2006 had turned into a ride in The Beast, nine years down the line! President Obama’s visit to Kenya will forever shine in the annals of history and so will Auma Obama’s moments with him!

From Mombasa Road on  a freezing Friday night,  the sunny Saturday morning at The Memorial Park, the sidelines of the GES at Gigiri, Kenyatta University and Safaricom Indoor Arena, Kenyans took every minute to catch a glimpse of President Obama and the trappings of power in the air and on the road that surrounded him! Even on the Saturday afternoon when local and international journalists went to State House for the joint press briefing from President Obama and his host, President Uhuru, it was the great moment as Kenyan journalists even had the opportunity to pose questions to President Obama! To our men and women of the Kenya Defence Forces who mounted a guard of honour for President Obama, it never gets this prestigious and befitting in one’s military career!

Yes, President Obama came calling and the hysterical excitement by Kenyans was justifiable! The first ever visit by a sitting POTUS to Kenya deserved every minute of a nation’s attention! From Friday night to Sunday evening when he finally boarded the Air Force One en-route to Addis Ababa for the African Union (AU) Summit, President Obama had enjoyed every minute being in his father’s homeland!

The very Illinois Senator that Kenya barely paid attention to in 2006, has an entire nation paying homage as he returned in  a different hat; the President of the World’s military and economic superpower!

What POTUS Did To Kenya…

As Air Force One touched down at The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, on Friday July 24, 2015, the hysterical excitement amongst Kenyans went a notch higher! Kenyans at last had the leader of the world’s economic and military superpower on their soil and rightly so. Kenyans in K’Ogello village, in far flung Siaya County went gaga and even had the sterile belief that their ‘son’ would visit Sarah, at her humble village. They also requested him to bring home shoes made in the factories of Washington DC! As Obama jetted in to address the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) and visit his host, President Uhuru at the house on the hill, interesting and outright bizarre things happened. Simply put, the coming of POTUS has awed and embarrassed us in equal measure! It has brought out the best and worst in us.

The security detail from White House made a mockery of our own right at home. Air Force One, Marine One, Boeing Bell 22-V military choppers, Secret Service men and women and the might of US military dwarfed the security detail around President Uhuru. The armored Cadillac, better known as The Beast, its decoy car and escort Chevrolet engines brought Nairobi to a standstill whenever they passed. At the Shell BP Petrol Station in Westlands where they snaked into for fuelling, Kenyans were awe-struck as they took pictures. Marine One, the Boeing V-22 military helicopters left students in Kenyatta University and University of Nairobi awe-struck as they clicked away the pictures! They have been hovering over the Nairobi skies and Kenyans are awe-struck! Our skies have never been this magnificent to watch!

Grass along Mombasa Road, Uhuru Highway, Uhuru Highway and other roads in the city came under unrivalled pressure to grow in under 72 hours! Yes, somehow, Governor Kidero believed that it would mature in time to provide a green scenery to President Obama and his motorcade all the way from JKIA to the United Nations Complex in Gigiri! Kidero deemed it fit to beautify the city roads to honour POTUS! Never had grass been under so much pressure to grow! Poor grass! Potholes in the streets and roads of Nairobi also disappeared! Street families in the city were flushed out of town. They had suddenly turned into persona no- gratas courtesy of POTUS! Street lights were repaired and the surveillance cameras in the city streets and roads also had their lens firmly fixed on capturing the good and bad moments of the city. The old and damply smelly walls of some Nairobi buildings were replaced by bright new coats! Nairobi suddenly shone and glittered under the sun!

JUBILEE her political nemesis in CORD spared Kenyans from their usual little boy tantrums and fights over who pees the farthest. They were uncharacteristically sober and well-behaved and had to put on a façade and save their faces as POTUS comes to town! Did Kenyans realize that the men and women under Inspector General, Joseph Boinnet were in their numbers all over the city and its environs? Kenya Police, Administration Police, the crack General Service Unit Unit, backed by Kenya Prisons and National Youth Service were all over! For some days, Kenya came close to the United Nation’s accepted ratio of police officers to civilians! Never did it feel this safe in Nairobi as mean-looking men and women in uniform kept vigil in the city! This is what the visit of POTUS meant to the security apparatus in Kenya! Over 10,000 officers were deployed to ensure that Nairobi was safe enough to host POTUS!

Our rowdy matatus and not so courteous motorists bore the brunt of having major roads blocked in the city. Mombasa road, Waiyaki, Uhuru and Thika highways, among other city roads had to endure closures just to accommodate POTUS and his near-unimaginably huge convoy that has The Beast in tow! The price that transports systems paid for Obama’s visit!

International media power, CNN drew the ire of Kenyans when it referred to Kenya as a hotbed of terror! In an unjustified ploy to capture the global attention on the wrong side, CNN simply alluded that Obama was coming to the country that is under the serious threat of terrorism and so was un-safe to visit. Kenyans On Twitter aka KOT drew their witty and cruel fire at CNN and hit back for the slur! #SomeoneTellCNN captured global attention as Kenyans viciously hit out at CNN. Needless to say, the headline was pulled down albeit to cool down the tempers checking into the CNN studios!

As some put it, the movie of Obama’s bullish security detail is played out in Nairobi and the entire nation felt it! Yes, the world’s most powerful leader was town and rightly so, the global attention was on this great nation in East Africa! Sadly, some like Governor Kidero tripped over their own feet trying to impress! Grass came under un-precedented pressure to grow in less than 72 hours!

It was our moment of fame! Obama was in town for the GES Conference and talks with his host, President Uhuru. We all went gaga about the visit! Kenyans, led by our members of the Fourth Estate were in a frenzy from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon when President Obama finally boarded Air Force One en-route to Ethiopia to address the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa! 

Remember how Kenyans lined up along Mombasa road on a chilly Friday night just to catch a glimpse of President Obama’s intimidating motorcade, and even forgo normal day schedules to get closer to POTUS throughout his first-ever visit to Nairobi! From the roads and streets, sidelines of the GES in Gigiri, Memorial Park, Safaricom Indoor Arena and Kenyatta University, we all tried our best to catch a glimpse of the world’s most powerful president! The once in a lifetime opportunity!

After all, come Monday morning, we were all left nursing the hang-over of the visit by POTUS! It feels great to be part of history when the first ever sitting president of United States of America, and sweetly with Kenyan roots, set foot on Kenya. It happens once in a lifetime!