Kenya
When Lambs Become Lions
In a Kenyan town bordering wildlife conservation land, two men try to hold onto their increasingly fragile status quo. A small-time ivory dealer fights to stay on top while forces mobilise to destroy his trade. When he turns to his younger cousin, a conflicted wildlife ranger who hasn’t been paid in months, they both see a possible lifeline.
Satire and Politics in Africa: The 2017 Kenya elections and other stories
Godfrey Mwampembwa, a.k.a Gado is a renowned political cartoonist. He joins us to discuss politics and the role of satire in Africa in conversation with Professor Nic Cheeseman. Presenting a range of his work, there will be a particular focus on speaking truth to power and the build up to, rejection of, and subsequent re-running of the Kenyan presidential elections of 2017.
Kisilu: The Climate Diaries
By Harriet Agerholm On Tuesday 10 November the Frontline Club hosted a preview screening of Julia Dahr’s Kisilu: The Climate Diaries, ahead of the film’s December screening at the UN climate change conference in Paris. The screening was followed by a discussion with the film’s producer, Hugh Hartford.
Al Jazeera Preview Screening – Kisilu: The Climate Diaries + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with producer Hugh Hartford.
Kisilu tells the story of Kisilu Musya, a Kenyan farmer living at the front line of our changing climate. The film intimately documents his family’s struggle against the extreme storms and drought that threaten to destroy their home and crops. Determined to educate his community about methods to combat the damaging impact of extreme weather, Kisilu becomes an impassioned advocate of climate change awareness.
Screening: The Sound Man + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Chip Duncan, protagonist Abdul Rahman Ramadhan, photojournalist/producer Patrick Muiruri and photojournalist/producer Salim Amin.
The Sound Man tells the story of Abdul Rahman Ramadhan, a 62-year-old professional soundman who has lived in Nairobi’s Kibera slum since he was born. For the past 35 years, Abdul has worked side-by-side with the best photojournalists from Kenya while recording sound for news reports featuring crisis, war, famine and genocide.
Just Kenya’s problem? The Westgate Mall terror attack and the internationalisation of al-Shabaab
by Sally Ashley-Cound A week after the climax of the 3-day terrorist attack which started on 21 September at the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, the Frontline Club’s First Wednesday panel on 2 October 2013 – chaired by BBC Africa Editor Solomon Mugera – gathered to discuss the Kenyan government’s response to the event and […]
First Wednesday: Kenya’s fight against al-Shabaab
On 21 September Somali insurgent group al-Shabaab launched a devastating attack on a shopping centre in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. For October’s First Wednesday we will be joined by a panel of experts and journalists to discuss how the Kenyan government will respond and what the implications will be in the region. We will be examining the threat posed by al-Shabaab in the neighbouring countries and further afield, and exploring their origins and motivations.
Kony and Uganda – Peace vs. Justice? Or a different conversation altogether?
By Jim Treadway On Monday 15th April, the Dutch Embassy and Time magazine partnered to co-organise a screening at the Frontline Club of Peace vs Justice: a documentary about the violence of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), particularly against children, in northern Uganda. An expert panel discussion followed.
Kenya’s past, present and future: Words of caution and grounds for optimism
By Holly Young The event on the 11 March at the Frontline Club was a panel debate analysing the previous week’s much anticipated election results in Kenya. The panel, chaired by Audrey Brown, producer and presenter on BBC Focus on Africa and Network Africa, examined the implications of Uhuru Kenyatta election as Kenya’s new President, […]
Al Sweady inquiry, Kenyan elections, and Lagarde in Dublin – the world keeps turning without a Pope
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 4 March Monday will see the long-awaited opening of the Al Sweady inquiry, examining the circumstances surrounding a 2002 incident in Maysan province, Iraq, involving British security forces. Following a firefight on 14 […]
Analysing Kenya’s election results
Despite being wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity, on Saturday Uhuru Kenyatta won election as Kenya’s new President. Join us as we discuss what Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory means for Kenya?
Here’s What I Won’t Miss
NAIROBI LETTER: THE POLICEMAN tucked his AK-47 under his arm and swaggered out of the dark towards the door of my car. As he reached my open window though, it became clear that his lurching walk was not so much of a swagger as a stagger… You can read the rest in yesterday’s Irish Times
Get a Grip British and International Media
Looking at British newspaper headlines courtesy of the Sky News website, you’d think that the world is in the throes of a Swine Flu epidemic as opposed to a pandemic. CNN International has become an All Swine Flu, All the Time channel judging by my periodic viewing here in Nairobi. Al Jazeera English (where in […]
Banned in Kenya Sort Of
The one book all Kenyans ought to have the opportunity to read about their country is Michela Wrong‘s new "It’s Our Turn to Eat/The Story of a Kenyan Whisteblower." But only those Kenyans who get to travel or know someone who have smuggled the book in or read pirated excerpts on the Internet or can […]
All Eyes on Africa
The Foreign Correspondents Association of East Africa is holding a photo exhibition of the best snaps from the past year. My pic from Kibera, during last year’s election violence, has made it in. Kids there invented a new game after watching Nairobi’s press corps descend on their small patch of mud every morning in […]
Pirate Attacks Decline … but for How Long?
After a year of escalating piracy off the Somali coast, during which pirates seized more than 100 large vessels, in early 2009 the rate of attacks decreased markedly. On Feb. 22, pirates captured a Greek-owned vessel carrying coal. Despite this, the first two months of the new year represented a “lull” in piracy, according to […]
Live tonight – Kenya one year on
You can now watch the event here. We’ll be discussing Kenya at the Frontline Club tonight one year after the violence that followed the elections. We start at 7 pm GMT/11am PST Tue 3 March and as usual, if you can’t make it to the club in person, you can join the discussion live on […]
U.S. Navy Uses “Smart Power” to Fight Pirates
In January, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton advocated a new national security strategy entailing closer cooperation between the State Department, the military, government and civilian humanitarian agencies, and foreign allies. "Smart power," she called it. Just a month later, U.S. smart power is becoming a reality in one of the world’s most troubled regions. Off […]
44th President or Second Coming?
While the rest of the world was watching the inauguration of the 44th US president, I couldn’t help feeling Kenya was watching the second coming. Down in Kibera (Africa’s biggest slum) the mood was electric. Most of the people I spoke to seemed to have been drinking since very early and everyone had a wishlist […]
The Gushing Begins
Far be it from me to accuse anyone of cashing in on Barack Obama’s success, particularly as I have made a not inconsiderable amount of money by writing about the Obama family in Kenya since 2004, but is this really necessary? Email invitation from Vestergaard Frandsen, the Swiss manufacturer of "disease control textiles", to a […]
Showdown in Nairobi
If journalists or aspiring journalists out there want a little inspiration, they should look to Nairobi where reporters are on the streets challenging a newly passed communications bill. The adjective used here in all the papers is “draconian” as in “draconian bill”because it gives the government the power to raid newsrooms and seize, that’s right, […]
The Pirate-Kenya Connection
Mombasa, southern Kenya’s sweltering port town is, in many ways, the center of gravity of the piracy war. While pirates themselves are based mostly in northern Somalia, hundreds of miles from here, the repercussions of piracy — and many of the higher-order command functions on both sides — play out in Mombasa. Many of the […]
My African Predictions for 2009
This year I lost $200 in bets on the US presidential election and remain committed to swimming naked to Tuti island in the middle of the Nile on my next visit to Khartoum. That is not enough to stop me making a few more predictions of the events that will shape the African news agenda […]
The Pirate Panic Button
The ships that make the two-day run from Mombasa, Kenya, to Somalia carrying vital humanitarian supplies are frequent targets of pirate attacks — and have been for more than a decade. How have ship’s crew adapted? Same way the pirates have adapted over the years: with simple technology and no-nonsense tactics. On Wednesday, the small […]
Unemployed, by Pirates
Kennedy Mwale, 32, pictured, is a freelance tour guide in Mombasa’s old port, a claustrophobic melange of Arab and Portuguese architecture with one small stone pier. A week ago Monday, three small cargo ships were tied to the pier. Scores of shirtless stevedores lugged bags of cement and tossed them into the ships’ holds. The […]
Clifford Derrick reporting Kenyan election violence
Video journalist Clifford Derrick talks to The Mail & Guardian about how he reported the election violence in Kenya that began on December 27, 2007, He decided to set up base in the slums to record the story. It was a distinctly dangerous choice. “On three occasions cops threatened me. One came up and said […]
Election Night with the Obamas
Election night in Kogelo I was one of the few journalists to get an invite to spend election night with the Obama family in their Kogelo home. Put something together for one of the Sundays but it wasn’t used so I thought I’d stick it here… THE piercing shriek of a cheap mobile phone broke […]
Britain, Leaks and those Awkward Tanks
The manifest from the Faina obtained by Reuters and the BBC If this ever gets out it will not be good for UK-Kenya relations, the latter never slow to accuse the former of meddling in Kenyan affairs, maintaining a colonialist mentality and forgetting that the East African country has been independent for more than 40 […]
What Now for Obama and Africa?
Three ways that Kenyans think they will benefit from an Obama presidency: 1. By spending the American budget on Kenyan infrastructure Peter Otieno, one of the hustlers who crams extra passengers into already crowded minibus taxis in the town of Siaya, beside the Obama family homestead, said the president-elect should remember his roots. “When he’s […]
Always Take a Goat to the Party
Me taking a goat to the party So how do you make friends with the Obama family and ensure access to all the key players in Kenya as their relative vies to become the most powerful man in the world? The answer, of course, is always, always take a goat to the party. I found […]