TBT

[Meria]

Kilindini" is an old Swahili term that means "deep". The port is so called because the channel is naturally very deep. Kilindini Harbor is an example of a natural geographic phenomenon called a ria, formed millions of years ago when the sea level rose and engulfed a river that was flowing from the mainland.
Allidina Visram school in Mombasa, was the location of the British "Kilindini" codebreaking outpost during World War II
Mombasa has a centuries old history as a harbour city. The Kilindini harbour was inaugurated in 1896 when work started on the construction of the Uganda Railway. During World War II, while Kenya was a British colony, Kilindini became the temporary base of the British Eastern Fleet from early 1942 until the Japanese naval threat to Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) had been removed. Nearby, the Far East Combined Bureau, an outstation of the British code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park, was housed in a requisitioned school (Allidina Visram High School, Mombasa) and had success in breaking Japanese naval codes.
Below Paulings and Co carrying out building work at Kilindini Harbour, Mombasa, Kenya, East Africa.
c1922

 

[Meria]

In 1952 a state of emergency was declared in Kenya due to the clash between the colonial British Governmet and the Gīkūyū-led Kenya Land Freedom Army better known as the Mau Mau. Never were two armies so different. While one was a Western trained formal army, the other was a ragtag collection of “untrained” warriors. According to one writer, the “Mau Mau was an aberration, a diseased limb on the body of the native society that required nothing less than a swift and comprehensive amputation”. Like Western medicine is apt to use military lingua like destroy, kill, targeted, etc, this is the military using medical lingua like diseased limb and amputation. The Mau Mau however proved a hard nut to crack for the British army. Mau Mau bushcraft and ability to interpret the minutest detail was in the words of Peter Hewitt “absolutely phenomenal” The Mau Mau were able to present an impenetrable and incomprehensible war environment to the British army. To the British, the abominable oathing and esoteric rituals seemed to be utter madness but even madness has a method to it. The Mau Mau understood that war happens within a physical, social-cultural and psychic environment and not in a clean surgical operation theatre or is it a theater of operations? The British only began to make headway when they called upon experts in the social-cultural domain like Dr. John Carothers who authored “The Psychology of Mau Mau” and the famous anthropologist and Gīkūyū long time student, L. S. B. Leakey who authored “Mau Mau and the Kikuyu.” Out of this broader knowledge the British were able to change tactics. In the field the army began to use local trackers and embedded whites like Ian Henderson. The local population was herded into concentration fortified and protected villages. The war for the minds and hearts of the Gīkūyū then moved a notch higher with the use of psyops (psychological operations) by staging low flying plane manoeuvres and the dropping of millions of propaganda pamphlets that were strewn over Gīkūyūland. What do we learn from all this?
Amerlinck in his book Architectural Anthropology writes, “it is obvious that minds moulded by one discipline alone will not be able to tackle the significant problems, because the real world transcends the limits of previously established disciplines.” He calls for a multi disciplinally approach to the complex modern society we face today and yet we see more and more cocoons and specialist approaches to very complex issues like health, urbanization, education et al.
Obesity for instance is a combination of several factors: physics, biochemistry, endocrinology, neuroscience, psychology, sociology and environmental health, all rolled into one problem. The factors that drive the obesity pandemic are as myriad as the number of people who suffer from it. Yet it is common to see a simplistic approach to the problem of obesity and sometimes it is reduced to a mere number, (BMI), nutrition science or exercise. One would expect the School of The Built Environment for instance, where Architecture, Human Settlement and Planning are interrogated to also focus on solutions to the obesity crises through the design of healthy living human habitats but this is probably asking too much of fragmented, specialized enclaves. Medicine for one has painted itself into a corner where doctors have become over glorified white coated prescription clerks for pharmaceutical companies so they will either offer the solution to obesity of a highly expensive surgical procedure or some magic drug.
We need to learn from the Mau Mau and for those of us who have followed the taking down of independent governments like Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq etc, the Mau Mau methodology of presenting an impenetrable wall through the psychological control of its people is telling. The Modus Operandi of conquest has always been to use local turncoats to eat the movement from within. Local armies who understand the terrain and the complex social-political and psychic structures are always the ones who do the dirty work for the generals in Washimgton. The Mau Mau by focusing and targeting these local turncoats were way ahead of their time. They show us the need for a radical traditionalisn when solving local problems and challenges. Tradition of cause is never static but ever changing and dynamic.
Today, the dichotomy of tradition and modernity continues. In a PhD Thesis, “Transformation of Kikuyu Traditional Architecture”, Joseph Kamenju records the tension between the traditional hearth cooking space, Riiko, and the modern sitting room. The traditional storytelling around the fire is now being replaced by the radio and television where conversation is muted and this too is being challenged by the social media and World Wide Web where a relativism that hides a heavy handed conformity is in contrast with the certainty and truths that are explored at the hearth where Maitū, our mother rules. Ma iitū – “Our Truth”.below propaganda pamphlet of the deaths of Mau Mau fighters and numbers cooked up by the imperialists to instil fear.

 

[Meria]

In traditional Gĩkũyũ society, women drew water from the nearest river or stream. They carried the water on their backs in a large earthenware pot, Ndigithũ, or a sizable guard, Kĩnya kĩa maaĩ. The preferred stopper or lid for the pot was usually the Banana Flower, Mũkoro or Mwongoro wa irigũ. When the men began to work in Nairobi and other towns they brought to their wives in the village the metallic cylindrical 20 liter container as a replacement for the Ndigithũ. It had a metal twisting lid of about 2 – 3 inches diameter and the first thing a woman did was to throw the lid away and replace it with the Banana Flower. Even today in the village, the Banana Flower is the preferred lid for the 20 or 10 liter ex vegetable oil plastic containers that have become the new water.
Evolved generation from fossils have turned the lid to food a recipe believed to originate from a far far land of Thailand.

 

[Meria]

Beautiful Masai woman circa 1924

 

[Meria]

Ciokaraine M'Barungu (1909 - unknown), known simply as Ciokaraine, was a prominent female diviner, political leader and human rights activist from Igembe, Kenya. She was a fierce supporter of women's rights and is known for having offered up her son's life in order to prevent a famine during the Mau Mau Uprising.
Ciokaraine was born in Rusanga,Athiru Ruuine in 1909, the village situated in the Igembe region of the Meru district in Upper eastern region, Kenya.She came from antubeiya clan of Igembe subtribe of Meru community,a clan known for in the region for producing tough women. After her parents passed away, she and her siblings were raised by their grandfather, Kabira wa Mwichuria, a well-known muaa ( meru traditional medicine man) Ciokaraine was her grandfather's favorite and she accompanied him on his healing rounds. He treated people of all ages, and Ciokaraine was exposed to various situations notably involving women and children.
Defiance & Bravery
Early in 1954, during the resistance to the colonial settlers, a member of the Njuri Ncheke[5] named Kibuti was dragged out of his home and killed by Mau Mau rebels during the Mau Mau Uprising, a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as Mau Mau, and the British authorities. This led to a ruling by British colonialists that accused the residents of Gauki of maintaining supply lines to the insurgents. They planned on moving the residents to Kiegoi, located in the Igembe South Constituency, to ensure they couldn't support the Mau Mau hiding in the nearby forests.
Ciokaraine stood up bravely against the patriarchal Njuri Ncheke the senior chief of Igembe, Ntoamuruaa. He then ordered residents of Ithima and Akachiu to gather near the trade town of Maua and bring sacks and baskets with them. It was at this meeting that the colonial government took notice of Ciokaraine.
At the gathering, the colonial authorities announced to the people that they were to uproot all edible food from their shambas (farms). Ciokaraine stood up defiantly and instructed the people, "The yams and bananas must not be uprooted."The Senior chief was displeased with her disobedience and she was given direct orders to explain herself. She responded fearlessly and asked that, instead of destroying the food and potentially starving the entire region, the colonial forces must guard the yams and bananas and stop the Mau Mau from killing any more residents. "I am ready to sacrifice my son if that will stop the killing," she stated.
Recognition
Her bravery changed the attitudes of the elders and started a system of "shamba-squatting," where colonial forces occupied all farms close to the forests in order to prevent the Mau Mau from stealing the crops.
A few weeks after the meeting, senior chief M'Muraa recommended Ciokaraine for the position of assistant chief. She was appointed the first female headman in April 1954 and held the position until she retired in 1959 after being involved in a car accident while on official duty.
Ciokaraine survived the accident and remained active in her community after retirement. Her legacy continues and she is said to have been as famous as Cierume of the Mbeere and Wangu wa Makeri of the Gikuyu.

 

[Meria]

Catha edulis (khat) is a plant grown commonly in the horn of Africa. The leaves of khat are chewed by the people for its stimulant action. Its young buds and tender leaves are chewed to attain a state of euphoria and stimulation. Khat is an evergreen shrub, which is cultivated as a bush or small tree. The leaves have an aromatic odor. The taste is astringent and slightly sweet. The plant is seedless and hardy, growing in a variety of climates and soils. Ezekiel Rutanathiora Njuki Ituika,is said to be the first Meru man to discover or reintroduce miraa in 1918 after eating or sampling more than 1,000 different types of leaves,” however history dates it way back to 15th century.
The Meru people mainly live in Kenya’s Meru county the main hub of Miraa, also known as khat.The plant whose leaves are chewed for their stimulant properties – excitement, loss of appetite and euphoria. It can cause a psychological dependency with manic behaviour, paranoia, psychosis and hyperactivity as side effects.
The khat plant is known by a variety of names, such as qat and gat in Yemen, qaat by jews and jaad in Somalia, and chat in Ethiopia.Other places it is used over 30 countries worldwide.It is also known as jimaa in the Oromo language, mayirungi in Luganda, and as miraa in Kenya. In the African Great Lakes region, where Catha edulis is in some areas cultivated, it is known as miraa, muhulo and muirungi.
It also goes by various descriptive names, such as Abyssinian Tea, Somali Tea, Miraa, Arabian Tea, Jimaa, and Kafta in its endemic regions of the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.In South Africa, the plant is known as Bushman's Tea.The plant is also known as Chat Tree and Flower of Paradise.
According to some sources, khat was first grown in Kenya,with the explorer Sir Richard Burton suggesting the plant was later introduced to Yemen from Ethiopia in the 15th century.He specifically mentions the eastern city of Harar as the birthplace of the plant.
Khat is legal in Kenya. However, two of its active components, cathinone and cathine, are classed as Class C substances.In many parts it's either restricted, allowed or banned according to the drug classes and controls of various countries.
Below Yemenites chewers in 60s

 

[QuadroK4000]

Endelea bro....

 

[Meria]

A rally in central Kenya in the early 1950s. Seated 2nd from right is Senior Chief Njiiri (he donated land on which Njiiri’s High School was built).‬
‪On the extreme right, is Senior Chief Muhoho, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s Father-In-Law, also Mama Ngina’s father.‬
Both chiefs were appointees of, and collaborators with, the colonial government.

 

[Meria]

Around 1900, before railway reached Kisumu, transportation of goods and mail from Western Kenya and Uganda was carried out in sections. Convoys of carts left Kisumu and proceeded to Kibigori . The loads were then carried by porters up an ascent of 2000 feet to the top of the Nandi escarpment, where there was a fixed depot called Kambi ya ishirini. From there, bullock carts ferried the loads to Nandi depot where they were loaded on Ox cart for Nakuru rail-head via Eldama Ravine. One fateful morning a convoy consisting of twenty ox carts, police escort and two passengers, one a Greek trader and the other a Government clerk of Eurasian origin was ambushed by Nandi warriors immediately after leaving Kambi ya Ishirini. The warriors slaughtered everybody, looted all the loads and destroyed the carts. News of this tragic occurrence was conveyed to CW Hobbley, the administrator of Kavirondo by messengers who ran down from Nandi depot to Kisumu via Nyando Valley.
Coincidentally, a convoy of carts laden with coast-bound mail had arrived in Kisumu from Uganda and was preparing to continue with its journey to Mombasa when the messengers arrived. To avoid the hostile route, Hobbley dispatched it by way of the Nyando Valley which didn't touch the Nandi territory but skirted it.
He also organized a group of twenty five fully armed Sudanese soldiers to escort the convoy and gave them enough ammunition. Unfortunately the Nandi spotted this convoy from a distance and mounted a very strong ambush at Mnara near Muhoroni. The whole party including the Sudanese soldiers was slaughtered except for two small boys who were following the convoy. The cargo was looted, and a few weeks later, letters and hundreds of cheques were found strewn about over a mile from the scene of the disaster. The PC could do nothing except to wait for a Battalion of Indian Army under Colonel Evatt which was on its way. The transport of the Indian Army to the Nandi territory was facilitated by Chief Odera Olalo of Gem in Siaya who provided hundreds of young men to act as porters and personally travelled to Nandi to ensure none of them deserted. However, Hobbley regretted that Chief Olalo was not appreciated despite his great assistance. "His splendid response, I regret to say, was but little appreciated by the head-quarter staff, and the treatment accorded to him was very inconsiderate," he wrote. Since it was believed that no concerted attack by the Nandi could occur without the blessing of Koitalel Arap Samoei, a column of soldiers was organized to raid his home.
The soldiers led by the PC left their camp just before midnight and began making their way to the Koitalel's homestead. Soaked through with dew from the bush they reached a point at dawn where they could see the homestead at a distance. Because Koitalel’s hut was located across a valley, he could also see anybody approaching his homestead from a distance, and by the time the party stormed his homestead, he had already melted into the bush together with his warriors. From the recesses of one of his hut the soldiers unearthed relics of old raids among them the diary and various belongings of Peter West who had been massacred by the Nandi some years before.
The story is in a book “ The Once Powerful Talai Clan – "A Trail of Tears”

 

[Meria]

The old bridge was commissioned by Governor Joseph Byrne in 1931 while the new one was completed in 1980The history of Bridges in Kenya stretches before the colonial times when the indigenous community would use tree logs and rock boulders or rock fill across ‘unfriendly’ sections of the footpath. The ‘unfriendly’ sections included swamps, rivers and gorges. The crossing points along the footpaths largely followed the narrow crossings and where the banks were stable like where the river/ gorge bank has rock outcrops would be preferable.
During the colonial times the same crossings were mostly improved to modern bridges. Others were found stable with capacities to handle vehicles. Some of these timber bridges are to date found within the forest zones like around Mt. Kenya especially in Nanyuki region.
In coastal areas due to the wide crossing waterways a system of floating bridges was used. An example is the Nyali bridge which was a floating pontoon bridge linking Mombasa Island to the Kenyan mainland.
The bridge linked the Mzizima district of Mombasa to Nyali, and was built in 1931.In 1980, the bridge was superseded by the New Nyali Bridge (located approximately 0.55 miles (0.89 km) to the north), leaving the steel bridge to be dismantled for scrap. The western (Mombasa) approach to the bridge is the only remaining part of the bridge but one of the pontoon mooring anchors is on nearby display at the Tamarind Restaurant.Nyali c1940.

 

[Meria]

HISTORY OF NANDI KISUMU BORDER ROW. cc @Budspencer
Ever wondered why a place with an obviously Kalenjin name – Chemelil lies in Kisumu county? Could it have been that the original inhabitants of the place were actually Kalenjins? The truth is that it actually once belonged to them. The key word here is ‘once.’ Chemelil was the ancient abode of the Kamelilo, a section of the Nandi who inhabited the vast windswept grassland that formed an excellent pasture country for their livestock. Chemelil was the place where they held their dances, which was an important cultural activity. They were however forced to leave their abode in 1906. This is how it happened.
In the year 1900, the railway descended the highlands on its final stretch to the lake. Railway surveyors aware of the hostility of the tribes on the valley, found that there was no other path to the lake. Maps made by Railway Surveyor C.F.S. Vandeleur as early as 1896, show that what is now known as the Nyando plains was the habitation of Nandi and the Kipsigis. (The original maps are deposited in the University Library Cambridge in case you like to see them.)
To prepare the way, the British sent a political officer Charles W. Hobley to negotiate the clearance of the lowlands for the railway. Hobley met with the laibons Koitalel and his brother Kipchomber and their cousin Kibeles (see Eliot, 1905 and also Hobley, 1903). With their consent, the railway finally reached the lake in December 1901 terminating at a small habitation that was the scene of ancient barter trade between the Luo and the Nandi. The Nandi had given it the name Kesumo or ‘the place of barter’ which the British would later name Kisumu. Earlier, the British had given the area the name Kavirondo which came from another Nandi name Kapkirondio or ‘the place of bulrushes or reeds’ which are found at the lakeside. (see Matson 1961 ).
Now it so happened that the materials used to construct the railway and the accompanying telegraph (steel and copper), were so purely precious to the bellicose Nandi and Kipsigis who found it an easy source war material. On April 6, 1902, the Nandi raided the railway camp at Kibigori and took some 30 sleepers (the steel plate on which the railway is laid). Hobley immediately telegraphed Muhoroni where the Officer Commanding the King’s African Rifles was stationed informing him what had happened. He then left for Kaptumo escorted by 110 rifles to pursue the warriors who had taken the sleepers. On arrival, he found that Capt. G.W. Guy Lindesay of the Indian Staff Corps had already arrived with 50 sepoys (Indian soldiers) also pursuing another set of 60 sleepers stolen. Hobley pleaded with the Nandi saying the theft of the railway equipment was tantamount to an act of war. He said that to the British, the sleepers were as valuable as cattle were to the Nandi. The Nandi returned the sleepers but the British were not sleeping easy with this warlike tribe against which they had already carried out six (largely unsuccessful but costly) expeditions from 1895.
Separation
Later that month on April 25, 1902, a detachment of 500 Kipsigis warriors attacked another railway camp resulting in the death of one Indian worker. The trigger was an unfortunate altercation between an Indian boy with a Kipsigis girl. The Indian boy snatched an ornament worn by the girl and in retaliation, the girl’s mother caught the Indian and beat him good. The crying boy reached camp and narrated his version of the incident and the incensed Indians came down to the Kipsigis village and made off with thirty or so sheep in retaliation. The Kipsigis attacked the camp that night to recover their stock resulting in the death of the Indian. General William H. Manning the Commander of the 3rd King’s African Rifles, rushed to the area and for a while, there was a state of emergency.
The British then felt it was necessary to separate the Nandi and the Kipsigis as their combined forces would easily overwhelm the small detachment sent to guard the railway. It was then decided that the Kipsigis would be concentrated to the highlands of the Western Mau to clear them from the lowlands. This action led to the founding of Kericho town in May 1902 and the deployment of the first Administrator of the new Lumbwa district Maj. E.H. Gorges who until then had commanded Fort Ternan.
Despite that, thefts of railway equipment continued to be reported through much of 1903 and 1904. It was against this background that Lt. Richard Meinertzhagen was sent to Nandi to reinforce British troops at Nandi Fort in Kaptumo. In August 1905 Commissioner of British East Africa Sir Donald Stewart travelled to Muhoroni (known to the Nandi as ‘Morongyoo’) where he held a meeting with the Nandi. He decreed that the nearest Nandi should live not less than 20 miles from the railway. However, on October 1, 1905 Stewart suddenly died in Nairobi after falling from his horse. The news of his death was received with much jubilation by the Nandi who praised Koitalel for it. They did not know that King Edward VII had consented to yet another expedition the events of which would lead to the murder of Koitalel by Meinertzhagen on October 19, 1905.
The Trail of Tears
While the Nandi resistance was practically over with the death of Koitalel, the railway remained vulnerable. In a meeting held in Muhoroni on December 15, 1905, the new Commissioner Sir James Hayes Sadler told the Nandi that they had to move away from the lowlands into the highlands and made it clear that force would be used if need be. They were given a month to move which they ignored.
Indeed on January 15, 1906 the operation to move the Nandi was initiated by Lt. Col. Edgar E. Harrison under the supervision of General Manning. The soldiers began the rampage on January 19 and on that day alone 140 huts were burnt down (Meinertzhagen, 1955 ). In the process some 1,117 Nandi men were killed (Matson, 1974 ).The Nandi were forced to abandon their habitations in Chemelil, Muhoroni, Miwani, Kibigori, Kibos, Koru, Kapere (Kopere). Some 16,216 cattle and 36,205 small stock were rounded off and sent to Naivasha where they were auctioned by Thomas A. Wood to pay for the war. Wood managed to sell 865 ‘Nandi cows’ for a whopping 65,912.90 rupees. (Wood later became Mayor of Nairobi and Wood Avenue is named after him).
But the loss of their lands was the tragedy that continues to haunt the Nandi to this day. The Nandi were forced to ascend the highlands led by two collaborating headmen Taptengelei and araap Sirtui who convinced them that their ancestors would follow them into their new reserve in Kabiyet – 100 kilometres away.
Demarcation of the boundary
In 1909, the Central Kavirondo (Kisumu) District Commissioner James B. Ainsworth held a meeting between the Luo and the Nandi to demarcate the border of the two districts. Ainsworth, aware that he needed to keep the Nandi away from the railway, ensured their border stood miles away from the railway. In May 1911, Lumbwa (Kericho) DC Hugh B. Partington met with the new DC of Central Kavirondo G.H. Osborne at Muhoroni to demarcate the boundary between the two districts. The border would touch Sondu and ensured Chemelil, Muhoroni, Koru and its environs remained in Central Kavirondo. The area known today as Tinderet was moved to the administration of Kericho district and the lowlands were put under the administration of Kisumu district. The partition of Nandi was now complete. Both Kericho and Kisumu were administratively under the Nyanza Province. The lowlands turned out to be excellent sugar country and a settler population grew from the Soldier Settlement Scheme which began from 1919. The presence of the railway at Muhoroni made the area attractive to European farmers who began to farm sisal and cane for sugar. The demand for labour to work the plantations led to the first wave of Luo migration into the area.
It was not until independence that Tinderet was moved from Kericho back to Nandi thanks to Nandi MP Jean-Marie Seroney. While Tinderet was returned, the lowlands were not. In 1961 the heavy rains in the highlands caused severe flooding in the Kano plains leading to deaths and destruction. Seroney was approached with the prospect of moving some Luo displaced by the flooding to the south of Nandi. He consented to what he understood to have been a temporary move, only for the settlers to remain permanently. This made him the subject of much Nandi ridicule saying ‘Kirarta teliik’ – which idiomatically means that is he gave away the outlying lands of the Nandi. Again prominent Luos purchased large-scale European farms in the area and for this, the Nandi always felt the aggrieved parties since few could afford to buy. Settlement schemes established brought in small-scale Luo farmers. Industrial concerns such as Chemelil Sugar also attracted migrant (Luo) workers as did Miwani Sugar, Homa Lime etc.
The volatile situation on the lowlands continued right up to the door of independence. Seeing that the Luo had joined Kanu and the Nandi joined Kadu, Seroney (who was an Independent) saw the potential of the violence in the area. On November 25, 1962 he called for a peace meeting where he invited the Luo to Kapsabet. The grand peace rally was held with over 7000 Nandi and Luo in attendance. The meeting was done under the auspices of the Luo United Movement (LUM), a Kanu affiliated party and the Kalenjin Political Union (KPU) which was allied to Kadu. Speaker after speaker called for good neighbourliness. As a sign of goodwill, eight cows were slaughtered and roasted in the open grounds and freely shared by all. Seroney invited fellow legislator William Murgor of Elgeyo Marakwet who told the Press that the Kalenjins and the Luo had no intention of forming a political alliance but that the two wanted to illustrate that ‘tribes which belonged to different political parties could be brothers.’ The brotherhood probably lasted until someone missed the taste of milk in his mouth...the fossil feud stands todate.Below is the muhoroni station in 1906

 

[Meria]

HISTORY OF THE SCHEME
Mwea Irrigation Scheme was started way back in 1956 and the predominant crop grown in the Scheme is rice. This is one of the seven public schemes under the management of the National Irrigation Board. It is situated in the newly created Kirinyaga South District, in the Kirinyaga County. The Scheme is about 100 Km North East of Nairobi.
Mwea Irrigation Scheme has a gazetted area of 30,350 acres. A total of 16,000 acres has been developed for paddy production. In addition to this, the scheme has a total of 4,000 acres of outgrower and jua kali areas under paddy production. The rest of the scheme is used for settlement, public utilities, subsistence and horticultural crops farming.
The scheme is served by two main rivers namely Nyamindi and Thiba rivers. Irrigation water is abstracted from the rivers by gravity by the help of fixed intake weirs, conveyed and distributed in the scheme via unlined open channels. There is a link canal joining the two rivers which transfers water from Nyamindi to Thiba River which serves about 80% of the scheme.
The scheme is developed on a gazetted land and the farmers were settled as tenants each with a holding of at least 4 acres. This acreage was based on the minimum economic acreage sufficient for the full time upkeep of the farmers. Due to the increase in the population, most of the holdings have been subdivided among family members and in other cases transferred to new farmers.
Since inception till 1998 the scheme was being run solely by the National Irrigation Board as mandated by the Irrigation Act Cap 347. The Board was responsible for all the activities in the production chain which includes land preparation, credit provision, crop husbandry activities, harvesting and post harvest handling including marketing. NIB used to undertake the milling and marketing of the crop through MRM from which they would recover their expenses after the sales. This system of farmers channeling their paddy through NIB collapsed during the 1998/99 crop when they revolted and refused to deliver the crop and instead demanded that they be allowed to market the crop on their own.
Following this sudden change of role of NIB in the scheme, the scheme management was briefly taken over by a Mwea Rice Farmer’s Cooperative Society (MRGM.) However, the farmers realized that they could not go it alone due to: lack of skilled personnel; Lack of finances and Lack of machinery for scheme maintenance. During this brief period when scheme was run by cooperative the infrastructure deteriorated and tail Enders could not crop.
In 2003, the farmers approached the government for assistance in the scheme management. NIB went through a restructuring process with a view of changing its mode of service delivery to the farmers in the schemes. Some of the non-core roles which used to be performed by NIB were devolved to the farmers and other

cc @Luther12 @Mwalimu-G @Fala12

 

[Meria]

Westlands shopping center 1970

@Introvert hii mbikuff ya nyama ni make gani?

 

[Meria]

Biashara street,the street with a rich history of nairobi in 1969..note the cars number plates were in black color

 

[Meria]

JIMBI
Nairobi Flour Mills Limited commenced in 1949 as small scale grain millers, in Clarke Lane off White house road (now Haileselassie Avenue) Nairobi. It moved to its current location in Industrial Area in 1957
1967
The company introduced the Brand ‘JIMBI' - a household name in most Kenyan homes. The ‘JIMBI BRAND' is the second brand introduced in the history of the Kenyan grain milling market.
1971
In 1971, the company went into large scale maize meal production with the purchase of Miag machines made to the company's specifications. In 1976, it purchased yet another milling plant from Buhler Miag increasing its maize milling capacity to 255 tonnes in 24 hours.In the 1980's the company purchased packing machines to uphold hygiene in its maize meal products.
1985
The group acquires United Bags Manufacturers, a medium-scale paper, sacks and bags manufacturer with the aim of fulfilling Nairobi Flour Mill's requirement for the packaging of its flour.
2001
The group modifies one of its Maize meal plants to a wheat meal plant. Subsequently JIMBI Home baking is introduced. The company also introduced a maize precleaning unit which makes the maize meal product to be of superlative quality to that of most maize meal products in the market.
2013
United Paper Bags which already does 2 color printing introduces new technology to undertake 4 - color printing.

 

[Meria]

Harambee House is where the Office of the President is situated. But it was meant to house the Ministry of Works after its completion in 1961. That was before President Kenyatta saw and fell in love with its design and demanded that his office be holed up there. That has been the case ever since.
In fact, when Harambee Avenue was Coronation Second Avenue, the imperialists handed over the government to Kenyatta outside Harambee House in the presence of some 20,000 Kenyans on June 1, 1963 - today celebrated as Madaraka Day, which ushered in self-rule. Kenyatta was then Prime Minister and independence was six months away.
Kenyatta rarely left Harambee House for lunch, preferring instead to nimble on samosas and mandazis bought from an eatery around the corner, as Duncan Ndegwa informs us in his 2009 memoirs, Walking in Kenyatta Struggles: My Story.
But did you know that Kenyatta hated, not only flying on planes, but also the sound of croaking frogs and crickets, as well as using lifts? Uhuru’s old guy demanded that his office be on second floor of Harambee House - against advice from security experts - so that he could take the stairs and avoid the VIP lift!
While he had lived abroad for 15 years and was quite Westernised in his outlook and speech, Kenyatta liked women remaining traditional. But there was a problem. Kenyatta held tea parties at State House Nairobi and Cabinet ministers tagged along with their wives, most of them countrified folk in manner and dress.
Nyiva Mwendwa, the wife of Chief Justice Kitili Mwendwa, was tasked with speeding up their ascent into civilisation, fashion speaking, to avoid their taking ushamba to State House, Ndegwa notes further.
Mama Ngina was one of Nyiva’s ‘students.’ She was the First Lady and being 40 years younger than the president saw her taking to fashion with such gusto, she once turned up for a state function in a trouser suit. Mzee Kenyatta saw to it that she went back and dressed up properly!

 

[Meria]

THE CRADLE OF AIC MISSION
The first mission station of the AIC church in 1895 at Kalamba, Makueni. According to the history the missionaries arrived off the east African coast in October, and then on august they build the first AIC church at Kalamba. They died in the cause of spreading the word of God and their remains were buried at the church grounds. On 17th august 1895, AIC mission was set off at Nzaui in Kalamba by Peter Scott, his sister Margret and six others. This was the first church the eight missionaries started. And it's said to be the first church to be constructed in Africa hinterland.

 

[Meria]

THE WEEKLY REVIEW
In 1975 Hillary Ng'weno founded The Weekly Review, a journal of political news, commentary and analysis.
Ng’weno’s publications lasted an impressive length of time. His publications continued to gain popularity, and The Weekly Review went on to dominate the weekly news scene for more than 20 years, becoming one of Africa’s best news magazines.
Every Friday buying a weekly Review magazine was a ritual for its reading over the weekend.
The Weekly Review became the standard-bearer for political news reporting in Kenya and the region. If you didn’t read the Weekly Review every Friday, you didn’t know what was happening in the country politically.
So much so that a retired Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) official — now a mzee in his 80s who started working for the bank in 1966 when Duncan Ndegwa was appointed the first African governor said that senior staff were provided with the magazine so that they could keep abreast of political developments in the country. So important was the Weekly Review that it was considered the country’s political barometer.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, a contemporary of Ng’weno, accused Ng’weno and The Weekly Review of “malicious” and “speculative” reporting on his detention in 1977
"I might here also as well mention the press hostility led by the Hilary Ng’weno group of newspapers and especially The Weekly Review,” wrote Ngugi in his prison memoir: Detained A Writer’s Prison Diary. “I was hardly out of prison when Hilary Ng’weno sent one of his reporters to interview me. But he had given her suspiciously leading questions and also instructions on how to go about it.” said Ngugi.
Although The Weekly Review was supposed to be Kenya’s Newsweek, Ng’weno nonetheless styled the political magazine on the quintessential British magazine – the Economist. Just like at the Economist, writers at the Weekly Review did not have by-lines. To the great credit of Ng’weno and his team, it was impossible to tell who wrote what story from the names of the writers on the magazine’s masthead. Again, just like in the Economist, the writing styles were synchronised to present a uniform, distinctive style.
The Weekly Review had another distinctive feature: the editorial, which was written by Ng’weno until he ceded the space, was a short, pointed and punchy 500-word opinion written with candour and panache. Ng’weno used the same style that in his one-page Newsweek columns, in which he broached global topics as diverse as the Cold War, bilateralism and internationalism, neo-colonialism and patrimonialism. Ng’weno was possibly Newsweek’s only African columnist south of the Sahara.

 

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Taxis outside Norfolk hotel in 1976.Note the yellow line on the body it wasn't michukis invention.On right is a car registered KNZ 146.

 

[Meria]

President Daniel Arap Moi presents the Presidential and Regimental Colours to the Colour Officer of the 9th Battalion The Kenya Rifles (9KR).
The Eldoret based "Orangers" were presented with the unit colours during the Jamhuri day celebrations of 1980.
Looking on are Maj General JM Sawe the Commander Kenya Army and the Chief of General Staff, General Jackson Mulinge.
Every Jamhuri day in Kenya, a military unit displays their colours in a military parade called Trooping-The-Colour.