Sophie Ngugi - A Child of the universe

Opportune moment - God loves Kenya Reflections by Sophie Ngugi ‘The day is here” That is the sentence in the tongues of many Kenyans at this time. We have about 24 hours to commencement of the cases of what have commonly come to be referred to as ‘the Ocampo 6’. This follows the naming of six individuals by the Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Luis Moreno Ocampo named the six as the persons who hold highest criminal responsibility on the Post Elections Violence (PEV) in 2007/2008. The PEV holds sad memories for all Kenyans, within and without the country and for the rest of the world as violence we did not think possible dominated our nation. While the violence was generally said to result from disputed elections in 2007, more so the presidential results, it is generally believed that the violence was planned for the most part. While the names of the six are in public domain and are mentioned literally every minute, I will not repeat these names as I re...

When the news started indicating that it will be pomp and colour at the promulgation of our New constitution, I didn’t realise just how much! I was set to watch the proceedings live from my house and the coverage in all the local TV stations was not disappointing. The venue of the great event, Uhuru Park has great historical significance. Uhuru is a Kiswahili means ‘independence’ and it has significance to the Kenya’s independence since the first flag was hoisted at the Uhuru gardens not very far from this park and hence the name has great significance. The Uhuru Park evokes memories of liberation; it is the park that the first African woman, Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai fought for a long while against the former president Moi’s regime who wanted to elect a skyscraper. It is at Uhuru Park, that the transition in 2002 was done when the current president took over power in what was seen as Kenya’s second liberation. It is in this park that today, 27th August 2010, by 0800hrs Kenyans w...

There is a quote, which I like “ if you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in the same room with a mosquito ”. Whoever came up with that quote must have lived in Africa and you must have been in same room with a mosquito at night to understand what this means. The almost invisible creature can cause so much discomfort that you would have to be dead not to wake up to sort it out! Many times, I have felt disillusioned in my own country and what comes to mind first is the referendum 2005. I had just arrived from an exciting training on anti-corruption and good governance in the USA and I really felt I had changed my mindset, I was thinking like a Kenyan after the 5 weeks experiential learning. I arrived back to Kenya in the middle of the Banana / Orange craze. First, I did not quite understand when friends sent me email asking ‘are you banana or orange?’ Immediately I landed, it was like being hit with some air balloon (never been hit by one anyway) ...