All posts tagged: Kenyan

Indigenous Kenyan men campaign against female genital mutilation

Indigenous Kenyan men campaign against female genital mutilation

Published by Sam

NAIROBI, KENYA —  Naomi Kolian recounts the ordeal at her parents’ house at the age of 13. Kolian, now a mother of five, said her parents arranged for her genital mutilation during a school break. She had just taken her national examination. ”They stripped off my clothes, poured cold water on me. I passed out,” she said. “When I recovered, I realized that a certain woman was already cutting me, out of pain I tried to jump so they tied both of my legs with ropes.” As of 2021, at least 14.8% of Kenyan women like Kolian had undergone female genital mutilation, or FGM, according to the Britain-based FGM/C Research Initiative; 45.6% are cut between 5 and 9 years of age. It is seen as a rite of passage for girls and considered a compulsory step before marriage. Now men are stepping up to end the practice. Through a movement called “MenEndFGM,” they are educating others on the dangers of FGM and sensitizing communities where cultural norms and traditions such as FGM run deep. The …

A Kenyan tribe’s search for its leader’s stolen skull | History

A Kenyan tribe’s search for its leader’s stolen skull | History

Published by Sam

No ‘true leader’ In 1919, the British rounded up all members of the Talai – Koitalel’s clan and the longstanding leaders of the Nandi – and banished them to an isolated island-like village called Kapsisiywo in the heart of Nandi territory. Situated between two rivers, which encircle the whole area of Kapsisiywo, about 30 Talai families, consisting of at least 150 people, were separated from the rest of their tribe for decades. “Along the edges of the river, the British made sure to place the homesteads of colonial chiefs [Nandi who were loyal to the British],” Chomu told Al Jazeera. “This prevented any Talai from leaving Kapsisiywo.” More than a century later, most Talai still live there. The British missionaries moved on to instil fear about the Talai into the rest of the Nandi population. Once revered for their supernatural and prophetic abilities, the missionaries spent decades convincing the Nandi that the Talai were evil witch doctors who were responsible for their state of misery under colonialism. Before the arrival of the British, the Talai …

‘People think it’s just for emo or gothic kids’: the Kenyan metalhead leading a new wave of African rock | Global development

‘People think it’s just for emo or gothic kids’: the Kenyan metalhead leading a new wave of African rock | Global development

Published by skeptic

As a teenager, Martin Kanja spent countless late nights listening to heavy metal on a local radio show. The furious riffs, shrieks, growls and distorted sounds drowned out his angst. “What drew me to the music was how it was so ‘physical’ – very present, very now – there was no space for negative thoughts or feelings,” says Kanja, who soon decided he too wanted to be a metal artist. In 2010, when he was 19, he left his home town in Kenya’s midwestern city Nakuru for the capital, Nairobi, figuring it was his best bet for a foothold in the underground scene. Fourteen years on, Kanja, AKA Lord Spikeheart, is a veteran of African metal, redefining the boundaries of the genre with the experimental sounds of his debut solo album, The Adept. The album, released in April through his new label, Haekalu – the first in Africa dedicated exclusively to the darkest and heaviest music genres – is a tribute to his great-grandmother Muthoni wa Kirima, the only female field marshal in the Mau …

Kenyan first lady tries hushing fake fertilizer scandal by claiming prayers are best fertilizers

Kenyan first lady tries hushing fake fertilizer scandal by claiming prayers are best fertilizers

Published by skeptic

The administration of Kenya’s President William Ruto is facing scrutiny amid a fake fertilizer scandal involving senior government officials. The storm unfolded after the Kenyan Bureau of Standards tested the government-subsidized fertilizer distributed to farmers across the country. The results showed the fertilizer was counterfeit: It turned out to be diatomite packaged in government-branded bags and sold to unsuspecting farmers by the National Cereals and Produce Board, at the Agriculture Department. The Kenyan Parliamentary investigation revealed that top government officials have been using the KEL Chemicals company to sell real fertilizer to farmers during the planting season. On April 8, Ruto ordered his agencies to compensate all farmers who bought fake fertilizers under the government’s fertilizer subsidy program. He also instructed the nation’s law enforcement to identify and prosecute those involved in the corruption scheme. Ruto came to power in Kenya with a pledge to uproot decades-long government corruption in this East African nation, which had lost billions of dollars through illicit deals across critical state agencies. Kenya’s first lady Rachel Ruto took a different …

Kenyan military deployed as East Africa floods kill dozens

Kenyan military deployed as East Africa floods kill dozens

Published by skeptic

Kenya’s military was deployed on Thursday to rescue victims of heavy rains that have killed dozens of people across East Africa over the past month. At least 45 people have died in the floods in Kenya since March, including 10 since Monday, the Kenya Red Cross said. Large parts of the capital Nairobi and other major towns are underwater, forcing thousands of residents to leave their homes. Collins Obondo, 38, lost at least four relatives in the flooding on Wednesday in Nairobi’s densely-populated Mathare neighborhood, which lies along the Nairobi River. “The body of my mother’s neighbor was trapped right across here and it seemed as though my cousin held her ankle with her head lodged between her thighs,” he told Reuters as he sifted through the remnants of his mother’s collapsed house. In neighboring Tanzania, the death toll from the rains has reached 155, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa told parliament on Thursday. Hundreds of thousands have had to flee their homes in Burundi. East Africa was hit by record floods during the last rainy …

The suspects in a Kenyan doomsday cult are ordered to be hospitalized after a hunger strike

The suspects in a Kenyan doomsday cult are ordered to be hospitalized after a hunger strike

Published by Sam

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Kenyan magistrate Tuesday ordered the main suspect in a doomsday starvation cult and 94 of his followers to receive emergency care after some of the suspects had to be carried into the courtroom to answer manslaughter charges, too frail and weak to “even open their eyes” after an apparent hunger strike At the law courts in the coastal town of Mombasa, Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku directed Paul Mackenzie, his wife Rhoda Maweu and others charged with 238 counts of manslaughter to be escorted to hospital for an immediate doctors’ examination. The visibly emaciated suspects pleaded not guilty on all counts, which were read out over four and half hours. Doomsday cult leader Paul Mackenzie and some of his followers have been blamed for the deaths of 429 members of his Good News International Church, many of whom are believed to have starved themselves in the belief that by doing so they would meet Jesus Christ before the world ends. This took place between January 2021 and September 2023 at Shakahola …

Fresh Del Monte says it cannot be held liable after violence at Kenyan farm | Kenya

Fresh Del Monte says it cannot be held liable after violence at Kenyan farm | Kenya

Published by skeptic

Fresh Del Monte has claimed it should not be held liable for a civil lawsuit alleging killing, rape and violence by security guards at its Kenyan pineapple farm because it is domiciled in the Cayman Islands. In the high court in Thika on Thursday, lawyers for the company’s Kenyan subsidiary, Del Monte Kenya, also applied to have a case against the farm struck out altogether. A civil claim was filed in Kenya on 30 December against Fresh Del Monte and Del Monte Kenya by a group of human rights organisations on behalf of 10 individuals. It describes “conflicts with the security personnel deployed by Del Monte, who assault, beat, torture, maim, rape and/or kill the trespassers” on the 40 sq km farm that sprawls across three counties. The court hearing followed revelations in the Guardian that representatives of Del Monte Kenya were accused of offering bribes in an attempt to cover up the circumstances in which four men died after going to steal pineapples from its farm in December. The report was part of an …

Kenyan court rules pastor accused of starving his congregation is mentally fit for trial

Kenyan court rules pastor accused of starving his congregation is mentally fit for trial

Published by Sam

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, the self–proclaimed Kenyan pastor who is accused of orchestrating the deaths of more than 400 members of his congregation by starvation, was ruled mentally fit to stand trial by the High Court at Malindi on Tuesday (Feb. 6). The taxi driver-turned-charismatic preacher faces multiple charges, including murder and terrorism, after being accused of convincing members of his church — some say “cult” — to pray and fast until death, with the goal of meeting Jesus. Authorities allege that when the congregants died, the pastor and his alleged accomplices buried the bodies in shallow graves in the nearby Shakahola forest, in southeastern Kenya. Nthenge never adopted the flamboyant designer suits and footwear of the most prominent African televangelists, but according to the Kenyan authorities he managed to convince dozens of men and women that the world would end on April 15, 2023. “He should be held accountable for the deaths of many innocent people, who believed in him as one that God has send to give them hope … …

Kenyan Cult Leader Is Charged With the Murder of 191 Children

Kenyan Cult Leader Is Charged With the Murder of 191 Children

Published by Sam

A doomsday cult leader whom the Kenyan authorities say ordered his congregants to starve themselves to death was charged on Tuesday, along with 29 others, with the murder of 191 children — in a case that has drawn global attention and brought widespread scrutiny over religious freedoms in the East African nation. The decision, by a court in the coastal town of Malindi, was handed down almost a month after a judge ordered that the cult leader, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, and the others who are accused undergo mental health evaluations before facing any charges. Only one of the suspects was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial. Mr. Mackenzie, a pastor, and the other defendants pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to appear before the court on March 7 for a bond hearing. They are accused of killing the children from January 2021 to September 2023, according to the prosecution. Mr. Mackenzie, wearing a striped black-and-white polo shirt, stood alongside the others accused in a packed courtroom on Tuesday. He was seen whispering to the other …

Kenyan Cult Leader Charged With Murder of 191 Children 

Kenyan Cult Leader Charged With Murder of 191 Children 

Published by skeptic

Nairobi —  Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie and 29 associates were charged on Tuesday with the murder of 191 children whose bodies were found among more than double that number buried in a forest. The defendants all denied the charges brought before a court in the coastal town of Malindi. One suspect was found mentally unfit to stand trial. Prosecutors say Mackenzie ordered his followers to starve themselves and their children to death so that they could go to heaven before the world ended. More than 400 bodies were exhumed from the Shakahola forest. Mackenzie was arrested last April after the bodies began to be discovered. He has already been charged with terrorism-related crimes, manslaughter and torture. There have been different charges brought before different courts in connection with the killings. Source link