Victory Speech by President- Elect of the Republic of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta; 9th March 2013 at the Catholic University of East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.

President Elect of the republic of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta with his election certificate^.

My fellow Kenyans, thank you.

Thank you for all your patience and your support along the way

Asanteni Sana.

I thank God for sustaining us and for bringing us this far.

I thank all those who have remained vigilant in prayer for our nation during this time.

I want to thank the people of the republic of Kenya who have shown patience over the last few days as we all awaited the outcome of this election.

I thank the thousands of officials who worked with the IEBC to make this, the most free and most fair general election in our nation's history.

Despite the challenges that you faced, you managed to keep the trust of Kenyans and to do your job professionally.

Read More

The Bible finally goes 'Jamaican'

The Bible has been translated into many languages over the centuries. The people of Jamaica now have the New Testament in their own vernacular. The achievement is the culmination of twenty years' academic work. 

The project to translate the New Testament into Jamaican was initiated by the Bible Society. It involved a team of translators from the Linguistics Department of the University of the West Indies and theologians. The aim was to create a text that is faithful to the original Greek, but expressed in the vernacular of the people of Jamaica. The result is Di Nyuu Testiment. As the Bible Society says:

Read More

Ipsos Synovate Cares gives back to Nairobi's Kibera community

The name Ipsos Synovate Kenya, would to an average Kenyan conjure images of the key presidential aspirants in Kenya, within a backdrop of statistical ratings that probably indicate the next occupier of the countries State House. The International Market Research firm which has operations in over 84 countries globally; including a presence in more than 6 African countries and a Pan Africa hub in Nairobi, is however not all about opinion polls. The firms Facebook account http://www.facebook.com/IpsosKenya indicates the firm specializes in full information agency services which include Market research, Social Research, and Media Research and Media Monitoring. 

Ipsos Synovate Kenya staff shopping for necessities

Ipsos Synovate Cares

On the Afternoon of Saturday 6 October 2012, a section of Ipsos Synovate Kenya staff took time out of their weekend to visit the Kibera Childrens Home in Olympic estate; which is adjacent to the sprawling Kibera slums in Nairobi, with an aim of giving back to the society.

Read More

Have your blog picked up by search engines

Blogging is very popular today and it's no wonder as having a blog is easy and quick. But there is still the problem of getting noticed by search engines and others. How do you accomplish this?

Easy really. You monetize your blog for more exposure. Here are a few things you can do right now:
Use your primary keywords in all your posts and titles. Using keywords for your niche is the best way to have search engines find your blog. You are not only getting targeted readers you will also develop a strong community. And its FREE

Stay on topic with your niche. Keep your topics on target with your niche, if your blog is about fishing or dogs, then don't write posts on Internet Marketing. These people probably don't even know what that means. If you have a good knowledge of Internet Marketing then consider starting a new blog.

Quality content - always be providing good quality content to your reader. The more content you can put up the more you will be found.

Add ons for your blog - it is essential that you have the proper plug ins for your blog. There is one very important plug in - All In One SEO all blogs should have, this gives you the ability to make your posts search engine friendly and picked up quickly. But your actual post is written for the human reader.

Visibility - get your blog out there on all the social networks that you can. There are tons of places you can post your blog link and start getting noticed. Use the top sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. Also don't forget about places like StumbleUpon and Digg.

Consistently - the thing I see more than ever is people do one or two things just a few times, don't get the results they want and quit. Do not do this, it takes time to start anything and things will not happen over night. Be consistent in what you do. Always be adding new content when you can.

Getting found by search engines and others is not hard and won't take up a lot of your time. If you are serious about your blog and your business, than do these steps and repeat them as often as you can.
The more you get your blog and yourself out there, the easier it will become for others, especially search engines to find you. See the procedure below for pinging or publishing your blog on various search engines.

1. Open site http://pingomatic.com in your Internet browser.
   
2. In the "Blog Name" box enter "name of your blog"
   
3. In the "Blog Home Page" box enter "the bog url"
   
4. Then in "Common Services" click "Check All" to have all services be selected.
   
5. Then click the "Send Pings" button.
   
6. Open site http://autopinger.com in your Internet browser.
   
7. In the "Url" box enter "full url of your blog"
   
8. Then click the "Start Ping" button.
   
9. Open site http://www.pingmyblog.com in your Internet browser.
   
10. In the "Blog Name" box enter "name of your blog"
    
11. In the "Blog URL" box enter "the url of your blog"
    
12. Then click "Check All" to have all services be selected.
    
13. Then click "I agree with Terms Of Service".
    
14. Then click the "Ping MY Blog" button.
    
15. Open site http://www.feedping.com in your Internet browser.
    
16. In the "Blog / Site Name:" box enter "name of your blog"
    
17. In the "Blog / Site URL " box enter "the url of your blog"
    
18. Then click "Check All" to have all services be selected.
    
19. Then click "I agree to Terms of Service".
    
20. Then click the "PING ONLY ONCE" button.
    
21. Open site http://blogsearch.google.com/ping in your Internet browser.
    
22. In the "Your blog's address:" box enter "the url of your blog"
    
23. Then click the "Submit Blog" button.
    
24. Open site http://pingler.com in your Internet browser.
    
25. In the "Website Name or Title:" box enter "name of your blog"
    
26. In the "Website Url:" box enter "the url of your blog"
    
27. Then enter text in the captcha image in "Enter the Captcha Text" box.
    
28. Then click the "Ping My Site" button.

Read More

"Yes" side poised for land slide victory in the August 2010 Kenyan draft constitution referendum

The "Yes" group campaigning for the proposed constitution in Kenya is still ahead according to the latest polls, less than two weeks to the referendum. The polls released almost simultaneously by two different survey firms on July 23rd 2010, indicated an almost similar margin between the two referendum sides in each poll.

Research firm Synovate indicated a 58 per cent vote in favour of the proposed constitution, while 22 per cent of Kenyans will reject the document at the August 4 referendum. A significant 17 percent have yet to make up their minds, 12 days to the plebiscite.The Synovate poll was held between July 11 and 17

A similar survey by Infotrak Harris poll puts the percentage of those who intend to for the draft Yes at 65 per cent, while 25 per cent will reject the proposed constitution if the referendum were to be held today. Only 10 per cent of Kenyans reported indecisiveness. Infotrak Harris polled Kenyans between July 17-19.

What is emerging at this point is that in both studies Kenyan indicate an overwhelming support for the draft constitution.
View the full opinion poll studies below. TIP; hover over the image and click full screen.

Download Pdf; Synovate poll, Infotrak poll 

View Synovate poll

Open publication - Free publishing

View Infotrak poll

Open publication - Free publishing

Read More

The Real Kenyan media

The “Bang Bang club” is one of a few books that stand out vividly in my mental memoirs. The book tells the story of four photojournalists covering what was called “South Africa’s hidden war” in the early to mid 90’s in the South African apartheid era. During the final, bloody days of South African apartheid, four remarkable young men--photographers, friends and rivals--sometimes banded together to lessen the danger as they covered the violence erupting in the townships. In their powerful book, the two surviving members of the group, Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva, tell the story of " The Bang Bang Club", a nickname given to them by the South African international press for the fearless and sometimes reckless extremes they went to in order to capture the violent images of war on film. It’s a sobering account of journalist’s day to day odysseys in the heart of South Africa during its dark days.

The Kenyan documentary, “Uncovering the Media in Kenya, sort of led me to digress about the “Bang Bang club”. The documentary gives sobering accounts of our own Kenyan journalists and the physical, mental and physiological perils that they face in their industry. Many a time we are quick to condemn or praise them without ever knowing “what cooks” so to speak. In The documentary Kenyan journalists reflect on their political, emotional and personal journeys through covering some of the countries defining moments and also give insider accounts of the Kenyan media industry. I guess the documentary by Ramadhan Khamis tells it better ….the videos can be found on the producers you-tube channel...  http://www.youtube.com/user/ramadhankhamis..

UNCOVERING THE MEDIA IN KENYA  PART 1

UNCOVERING THE MEDIA IN KENYA  PART2

UNCOVERING THE MEDIA IN KENYA  PART 3

UNCOVERING THE MEDIA IN KENYA  PART 4

Read More

History of the Kadhi Courts in Kenya

Historically, Kadhis Courts existed in the East Coast of Africa long before colonization. In Kenya, they existed in the Coast, which at the time of colonization, was under the Sultan of Zanzibar. In 1895, the Sultan gave the British power to administer the 10 mile coastal strip subject to their respecting the existing Kadhis Courts among other conditions. The British did so and declared a protectorate over the coast while the rest of Kenya was a colony proper. The Sultan however retained sovereignty over the 10 mile coastal strip. During the last years of the independence struggle and at the start of the Lancaster House Constitutional talks in 1961, the status and fate of the coastal strip came up for determination. The British organised separate talks for the delegates from the protectorate of the coast and those from the Kenya Colony. The British Government and Sultan of Zanzibar also appointed a Commissioner, Mr. James R. Robertson, to study the issue of the coastal strip, consult all those concerned and report to them. In his report, entitled, "The Kenya Coastal Strip ? Report by the Commissioner", he reported that opinion was divided as to whether the coastal strip should join Kenya, or be declared independent on its own, or reverted back to the Sultan of Zanzibar. He however recommended that it should be joined with Kenya subject to the Kenya Government guaranteeing to respect the existence of the Kadhis Courts among other conditions. The Prime Minister of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta and the Prime Minister of Zanzibar, Mr. Shamte on behalf of the Sultan of Zanzibar, then signed an agreement in October, 1963, in the form of an exchange of letters whereby the Sultan of Zanzibar relinquished/surrendered his claim of sovereignty over the coast to Kenya in return for mzee Kenyatta guaranteeing the continued existence of the Kadhis Courts among other guarantees. When the independence constitution was written, the Kadhis Courts were enshrined under the chapter on Judiciary.

Read More

Kenya Draft constitution is not Pro-Choice or Pro abortion

Currently in Kenya, over 80% of news headlines are on the new constitution, given that the country will be deciding on a new set of laws to guide the country as of 4^th August 2010. The ensuing debate on the new proposed set of laws has come down to a few Key issues. These issues are being driven by two distinct sides in the debate. On one side are the pro reformers; largely the group of political personalities who championed the cause of a new constitution in the face of a dictatorial regime which was led by the Former president, Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi. This group formed the new government in 2002 and is currently in support of the draft constitution.

 The other side interestingly also includes the former president and a group of politicians who were close lieutenants’ in the former regime. But most prominent is the group of church leaders led by the evangelicals, the Catholic Church and a section of the protestant church. While this anti draft constitution group has several issues which they list as contentious the most important ones seem to be; for the church leaders, the inclusion of a law of abortion and the Kadhi courts; the law on abortion allows for limited right for procuring abortions if a woman’s life or health is in danger or in emergency situations; the Kadhi courts law establishes subordinate courts to handle issues pertaining to personal law; marriage, divorce and inheritance for persons professing Islam. The Kadhi courts have some history behind their establishment. Read more….

My focus on this discourse is to analyze the law on abortion to ascertain the truths or lies being propagated by the anti draft group with regard to this issue.  Some key issues have emerged in this debate, chiefly the terms used in the provision of abortion and the limits or unlimited nature of its restriction of “abortion on demand” as the opponents of the draft have termed it. The provision on abortion reads as follows;

Chapter four on Bill of Rights, Section 26 : Right of life

(1)    Every one has the right to life

(2)    The life of a person begins at conception

(3)    A person shall not be deprived of life intentionally, except to the extent authorized by this constitution or other written law.

(4)    Abortion is not permitted, unless in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law.

Read More