Revisioning Kenya: A Narrative for the Nation

A selection of Kenya’s brightest brains and skills will gather at Nairobi’s Ramoma Art Gallery to impart their ideas on forging a future that addresses and repairs the issues thrown up in the post election violence. Speakers such as peacemaker Dekha Ibrahim Abdi; DJ Caroline Mutoko; former child soldier Ishmael Beah; molecular biologist Onesmo ole Moi-Yoi; visionary city mapper, Alfred Omenya; Ugandan inventor Dr Moses Musaazi; youth leader, George Gachara; comedian turned politician John Kiare; scholar Joyce Nyairo and Rob Burnet will put forward their ideas for effecting change in Kenya.

Kicking off with filmaker Judy Kibinge’s award winning film looking at democracy in Kenya, this one-day symposium organised by the Kwani Litfest (KLF 2008) will provide a platform for a series of stimulating talks given by visionaries drawn from Kenya, around the continent, and abroad. Mixing young and old, radical and innovative ideas will be expressed and married to capital. A cross section of Kenyan society both socially, culturally and geographically will be called upon to provide opinion and expertise in their particular field.

Radio Queen Caroline Mutoko, who’s command of the airwaves and cool thinking helped keep people stay calm in the hectic and shocking violence of January, will give us the inside story of what it was like to be live, on radio, taking calls, soothing speaking and helping.

Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, winner of the alternative Nobel Peace prize and Convenor for the civil society group Concerned Citizens for Peace, said; “we need to look beyond what we have and seek positive on-the-ground change and initiative, especially for our younger people. She points to George Gachara, another Revisioning Kenya speaker as an example of the proactive approach required in this country. He set up an sms distress line in the first few days of the violence and within a few days received thousands of text messages and was able to help those in need with supplies, map problem areas and complement police efforts.

Other contributors are more prosaic, but nonetheless practical. Ugandan inventor Professor Moses Musaazi has used his skills to great effect in dreaming up integrated systems to be put into use in a test case scenario at Marsabit Girls Secondary school. In a bid to maximise utlisiation of scarce resources he has cleverly designed simple brickmaking machines, invented DIY biodegradable sanitary pads and developed a compact portable waste incinerator that burns rubbish - and heats water at the same time.

Fighting for political rights is Revisioning Kenya speaker John Kiarie’s goal. When he began a comic routine in university, he had no idea that he would be the nucleus for one of the most important political movements in Kenyas history. In 2007 KJ and the Reddyculass turned their sights on a different prize: empowering the youth to vote. They criss-crossed the country holding huge musical concerts headlined by Kenya’s biggest musical names under the rallying cry of “Vijana Tugutuke!” or “Youth, Arise!”
And arise they did. Kenya’s electoral commission has publically attributed the phenomenal rise in youth registration to the movement. To understand how phenomenal the impact of the concerts was, its important to note that in 2002, of a total of 17M eligible voters, only 11.2 M registered. And of those, just 7% were the youth. But in 2007, 70% of all registered voters were the youth.

In the 2007 elections KJ chose to run, surviving a savage beating from rivals after being nominated as the ODM candidate to run against veteran Beth Mugo. He is currently in court with what he believes is damning evidence proving that he and not Beth Mugo won the Dagoretti seat. He believes his presence in parliament will go a long way to providing Kenya with desperately needed fresh, young dynamic it so desperately needs.

Rafique Keshavjee would be proud of this stance. As a visionary entrusted with developing the Aga Khan’s vision of a university, his approach is an abrupt deviation from the rote learning, and traditional positions taken currently in Kenya’s schools and Universities. “We want to build and encourage entrepreneurs - thinkers. Our goal is not to create employees, but to encourage students to create structures that will not only create jobs, but also provide inspiring design frameworks for value added services,”

Rob Burnet, too, is focused on education, through a different media. He will present information on diffusion theory and how new ideas catch on, particularly in the context of mass media, and with TV soap Makutano Junction, in which he is involved.

Other presenters will speak on the importance of ICT, on the scientist’s gentle approach to thinking differently, on scholarly necessity. Poetry will come from literary Tony Mochama and theatrical presentation from actor playwright John Sibi Okumu.

And Sierra Leonean writer and former child soldier Ishmael Beah, will give a first hand account of the horror of war and dysfunctionality in a country and the lessons that can be learned from Sierra Leone’s experience.

In a recent interview founder of the Kwani Trust, Binyavanga Wainaina, says, “Speakers come from varied backgrounds, and have 8 minutes to deliver their speech. During these conferences you meet people that produce great ideas in all fields.I think that in a post-violence situation it is a great service to provide such a platform, although it does not deal directly with literature. It serves to remind people that a territory of better ideas exist that is beyond politicians and their mediocre ideas. This new territory can be a source of inspiration for writers.”

The topics of human rights, gender, social entrepreneurship, citizens activity and good governance will be contained within these discourses in an attempt to actively assess and create new strands for Kenyans to work with in revising and reworking those elements of society that clearly have failed.

Date: 8th August
Venue: Ramoma Art Gallery
Time:2:00pm-6:00pm
Price:Ksh 1,900/= OR 3,500/= (includes Authors in Conversation Dinner at Kifaaru Garden and Kwanini Booklet)
Concessions:900/=

Click HERE for more details

Click HERE to read the Sunday Nation Review on the Kwani Litfest by JOSEPH NGUNJIRI