Dela's "Hallo" by Adele cover

Aaaaahhhh....Swahili! That beautiful blend of the African Bantu language with Arabic and a dash of Portuguese. Now picture the beautiful Swahili words produced through Dela's powerful vocals singing Adele's "Hallo" and you have, probably the best ever musical cover.
Here is Adele's Hallo in Swahili.

https://youtu.be/yScs35vwEhc

House of Mumbi vs the Luo Nation: A tale of two opposing tribes

There is a very credible explanation on tribalism in Kenya, that it is just about a supremacy contest between the Kikuyus and Luos. The other tribes just coalesce around each of the two, depending on which group is more likely to advance their small tribe interests. Of course there is also the other hand of the argument, that tribalism in Kenya is simply anti-kikuyuism vs  Kikuyu self-preservation.

The Kikuyus and Luos do not really like each other. I have been fortunate enough to live among the two communities and they do not have very nice things to say about each other. The Luos believe the Kikuyus are selfish, money hungry and cannot be trusted. The Kikuyus on the other hand say Luos are lazy, unambitious and obsessed with hero worship. They say inside each stereotype there is some measure of truth.

Are Kikuyu’s a selfish lot who would easily betray another to advance their own interests? Are Luos unambitious and spend their days singing praises for those who excel in their community while individuals wallow in poverty?

In the olden days

The Kikuyus and Luos have two very different styles of leadership. In the olden days, the Kikuyus were ruled by several councils that consisted of different age-set based groupings with an established hierarchy. There was no individual sole ruler, according to Jomo Kenyatta’s Facing Mount Kenya, Kikuyus had overthrown a dictatorial supreme leader and come up with this form of leadership style to safe guard against one man’s madness.

The Kikuyus had a mantra of tribe above self. This meant that no single individual interest could surpass the collective tribal interest. In this regard, there are hardly any Kikuyu heroes of years past. When wars were won, there was no single hero but the win was taken as a collective win for all the Njambas of war. The retribution of selling out the community members to an enemy were more visible during the Mau Mau wars when lots of Kikuyus who were found out to have collaborated with the colonialist were killed in the most brutal ways. There was no forgiveness for the sin of putting the community in harm’s way.

The Luos on the other hand thrived on inspirations from community heroes. There are countless stories and songs of historical and mythical legends who are considered great men in the community. They were also led by ruoths who were individuals with chief like authority. These ruoths had the power to make unilateral decisions and lead the community to a certain direction, albeit consultations with the elders were also encouraged.

And Today..

The Kikuyus sense of self preservation is still very strong, especially in the wake of targeted economic sabotage of the 80’s and the murders in the Rift Valley that coincided with election years. This sense of self-preservation is the reason why they would seem (or are actually) selfish when choosing who they want as a political head. They easily sacrificed Uhuru Kenyatta in 2002 elections because they felt as a Moi project, he didn’t have the communities interests at heart. When the Mungiki, a tool previously used to fight off community foes proved dangerous to survival of the tribe, the members of House of Mumbi did the unthinkable. They flashed out the young men, their own sons, hanged them and others were sent to exile. Tribe above self, the poor fathers and mothers would mourn their children later, when peace had come back and the Mungiki removed.

This tendency to vanquish anything that stands in the way of the tribe has been viewed as selfish by the rest of Kenyan tribes.

The Luos on the other hand choose inspiration from individuals and this has sometimes been seen to jeopardize the entire community’s interests for the sake of day’s hero. The pride and joy the Luo people feel over the achievement of one called by their name has always baffled many. But to them, one man’s success is the whole community’s success. An insult to one single member of the community is an insult to the whole community. There is no single tribe in Kenya with so much music in praise of individuals as is with the Luo tribe. From Luanda magere, Gor Mahia Kogalo to Raila Odinga, Barack Obama. The pride the community has for its excelled sons and daughters in unmatched.

What this means for politics

For political mileage in Kenya, which is measured by the tribal numbers you bring in, the Luo model of one man leadership is very attractive to many politicians. It means that the tribal chief can determine single handedly the direction the community will take in the highly charged political arena. Compared to the Luhya (though grouped as one, they are a myriad of sub-tribes who were once ruled by independent kings/chiefs) or the Kamba who do not follow a single leader.

 In the 2013 elections, we saw a shift from the normal “What can you do for the tribe?” mindset among the Kikuyus to “We want a muthamaki (single, absolute ruler)” This shift propagated by the Kikuyu oligarchy was to ensure unquestioned support for Uhuru Kenyatta, who did not have the necessary qualifications to ensure continued economic prosperity, but was needed to protect the interests of the elite. Under the Uhuru presidency, more and more Kikuyu’s are becoming highly sensitive to any criticism directed at the president. This is vastly different from his predecessor Mwai Kibaki who was arguably a better president, he was widely criticized even by the Kikuyu’s themselves, without the need of want to “protect him”.

The Kenyatta family not only managed to “escape” punishment by the House of Mumbi for betraying them after independence, but have been immensely rewarded for this, and are now being protected heavily, to the detriment of the tribe and whole country at large.

P.S. I welcome links to books or websites shedding more light on the traditional Luo set up.

Is this Kenya’s Bluest Bloodline??

The uhuru Kenyatta presidency brought to light a new crop of socialites. Unlike the usual big bottomed, rags to middle class socialites, these are the true definition of socialites; kids borne of old wealth, with nothing substantial to add to the world except spend grand dad's coin.

Among this new crop of socialites is perhaps Kenya’s bluest “blue bloods”, the three Gecaga children. Move over Jomo, Jaba and Ngina, your half cousins have a higher pedigree than you three!!

 The Gecaga children; Jomo, Nana and Soiya were born to Udi Gecaga and Jeni Gecaga. This union was meant to unite some of the most powerful families in Kenya. True to the socialite mantra, Jomo and Nana dazzle the social scenes with top of the range cars, obscenely extravagant parties and thanks to nepotism, they are always getting freebies from uncle's government. Soiya however took the more 'normal' route and has her OWN little thing going.

Udi Gecaga is the son of one of the most distinguished blue chip company execs in Kenya, Mr B.M. Gecaga. The Makerere trained lawyer run top companies like BAT, Nation media and Kenya airways in the 60’s and 70’s. He was married to Ms. Jemimah Njoroge, who came from the powerful Njoroge-Leah Magana family. Her siblings were the likes of Jomo Kenyatta’s personal doctor, friend and cabinet member Dr. Njoroge Mungai and the decorated diplomat Mr Ngethe Njoroge (Who is the father of musician Tom Morello). Jemimah was one of the first women to be nominated to parliament and a founder of Maendeleo ya Wanawake. Mr. B.M. Gecaga was the son of J.M. Gecaga, one of the early christian converts in Kenya, a teacher by profession who also ventured into pre-colonial politics.

The trio’s mother, Ms. Jeni Gecaga is the product of two very powerful families. The Kenyatta family and the Koinange family, you do not get a higher pedigree than that in this country. She was the daughter of the first president Jomo Kenyatta and a daughter of Chief Koinange, Grace, who died while giving birth to Jeni. The union of Jomo and Grace was meant to unite these two families. This union ensured one of the Koinange son’s, Mbiyu rose to the most powerful position outside the presidency, in Kenya.

So, our three throughbreds are the products of four big and filthy rich families, The Gecaga’s, the Njoroge’s, the Kenyattas and the Koinanges. In Jeff’s voice, “It doesn’t get better than these!!”. The rich and powerful are very strategic when it comes to marriages. They do not let emotions determine who they marry, a more important factor is merging wealth and creating new loyalties. The above family must have borrowed a leaf from the famous Rothschild family. 

Another tip they picked from the family that owns the earth Rothschild family... “When you have little mating options, inbreed”! Yes Udi and Jeni are second cousins!!.

Remember Udi’s mother Jemimah? Her mother was Leah Magana. Leah was the sister to Jomo Kenyatta’s father, Muigai. Their father (Kenyatta’s grandfather) was the medicine man Kung’u wa Magana. So Jemimmah and Kenyatta were first cousins, and their children got married...:D

Sometimes, the best laid plans scuttle too, who knew the blood of a poor man, once accused of haboring jiggers and the blood of a self-confessed black magic witch would one day mix with this eugenics-ized blood??? Well..., Nana Gecaga bore two children with Kamango and Bishop Wanjiru’s son!! (Big up to the mistress schemer Wanjiru, Heeeey Girl!!) Aaaahh.. Now you know!