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A Noble But Onerous Duty: An Autobiog...
From a humble beginning as a son of employees in white settlers' farms in the central Rift Valley, Dr Francis K. Sang overcame many odds to rise through the ranks of the Kenya Police and become the 4th Kenyan Director of the Criminal Investigation Department. He served in this position for 4 years before he was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the changeover of government in Kenya at the end of 2002.
He was tasked with the establishment of the Nairobi Secretariat to coordinate issues to do with small arms in the region. This he did and later helped transform the secretariat into the Regional Centre for Small Arms (RECSA), a regional inter-governmental body that coordinates activities aimed at controlling and reducing the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the Eastern Africa, Great Lakes and Horn of Africa region and bordering states.
In this autobiography, he relates his experiences, from the difficult circumstances surrounding his birth and childhood, his struggles to get an education in spite of the many obstacles that he faced and his experiences in the police force, particularly in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) during the tenure of the 2nd President of Kenya, Daniel Arap Moi.
He also relates his experiences after the NARC Government took over in 2002 and sent most senior security officers in the former government packing, either on retirement or on transfer to other less prestigious positions. He further relates how, through determination, he has been able to achieve his academic dreams which had been deferred earlier in his life owing to financial constraints, culminating in the acquisition of a PhD late in life.
He also speaks about the role his family has played in enabling him to achieve all he has in his life. Reflecting on his long journey that has brought him to the place where he is today, the author also gives a number of insights on his work and life. This autobiography should serve as interesting reading to the general public as well as to persons serving in the disciplined forces, considering that it is the first from amongst persons that have served in the police force and risen through the ranks to the very top.
Running with the Kenyans by Adharanan...
Brief summary
A dusty road stretches into the distance like a pencil line across the arid landscape. Lions, rhino, and buffalo roam the plains on either side. But I haven’t come to Kenya to spot wildlife. I’ve come to run.”
Whether running is your recreation, your religion, or just a spectator sport, Adharanand Finn’s incredible journey to the elite training camps of Kenya will captivate and inspire you. Part travelogue, part memoir, this mesmerizing quest to uncover the secrets of the world’s greatest runners—and put them to the test—combines practical advice, a fresh look at barefoot running, and hard-won spiritual insights.
As a boy growing up in the English countryside, Adharanand Finn was a natural runner. While other kids struggled, he breezed through schoolyard races, imagining he was one of his heroes: the Kenyan long-distance runners exploding into prominence as Olympic and world champions. But as he grew up, pursued a career in journalism, married and had children, those childhood dreams slipped away—until suddenly, in his mid-thirties, Finn realized he might have only one chance left to see how far his talents could take him.
Uprooting his family of five, including three small children, Finn traveled to Iten, a small, chaotic town in the Rift Valley province of Kenya—a mecca for long-distance runners thanks to its high altitude, endless running paths, and some of the top training schools in the world. Finn would run side by side with Olympic champions, young hopefuls, and barefoot schoolchildren . . . not to mention the exotic—and sometimes dangerous—wildlife for which Kenya is famous.
Here, too, he would meet a cast of colorful characters, including his unflappable guide, Godfrey Kiprotich, a former half marathon champion; Christopher Cheboiboch, one of the fastest men ever to run the New York City Marathon; and Japhet, a poor, bucktoothed boy with unsuspected reservoirs of courage and raw speed. Amid the daily challenges of training and of raising a family abroad, Finn would learn invaluable lessons about running—and about life.
Running with the Kenyans is more than one man’s pursuit of a lifelong dream. It’s a fascinating portrait of a magical country—and an extraordinary people seemingly born to run.
The Investment Group Handbook from Ch...
Chama to Conglomerate' captures the global phenomenon of group investment, whereby like-minded people pool their resources together on a regular basis to pursue business projects with long-term returns. This book shows how they can grow from a small club of investors to a big corporate entity.
Chamas (informal investment groups) are an African phenomenon with a history that can be traced way back. There have become really common and come about where individuals come together to form groups with a social and commercial agenda. Unfortunately most of these chamas have a very short lifespan and do not live up to the expectations of founding members.
According to Tony Wainaina, chamas as an investment group phenomenon is a sleeping giant with far greater potential for economic growth.
The book begins by explaining the value of working and investing in a group and the power of compounding. It then goes on to explain the steps in establishing, forming and structuring your investment group.
The use of Trans- Century Limited, recognized as the most successful investment group in East and Central Africa, as a role model for aspiring investment groups is given in detail, together with lessons to be learnt from their success. There are a few more chapters as well on management and administration that highlight in detail the do’s to make a successful investment group.
Abrahams People a Kenyan Dynasty by J...
Brief Summary
The book, all 400 pages of it, sticks largely to the script of facts but unlike many other biographies brings Abraham’s journey alive, saturated with anecdotes, narrating the many twists in the tail of Abraham’s life as if the author had been the proverbial fly on the wall at times.
Jane manages to find that perfect blend of what story telling should embrace, an embroidery of facts and at times a bit of fiction surely, giving readers of the book ‘Abraham’s People’ the impression of reading a novel rather than a dry story dictated entirely by time lines and actual events. Abraham’s escape route took him to Britain first, still as a young lad, before taking a leap into the unknown when he decided to first go to South Africa in 1901 to join up with his father, working his passage as a ‘grease monkey’ in the engine room before finally making his way to Kenya in 1903 at the age of 20.
The first chapters in the book are dedicated to the story of his forefathers, how they came to Lithuania where they first prospered and then suffered under increasingly intolerant rulers, leading up to the days when first his father had to flee for his dear life before, almost one by one, the rest of the family managed to make their getaway. It must have been in those days in Leeds, when a little acorn took root in Abraham’s mind, germinating along the way, taking shape and eventually becoming a vision taking visible shape.
His arrival at the port of Mombasa and the rail journey on the ‘Lunatic Express, aka as The Iron Snake’, his stepping off the train in Nairobi, back then but a depot for the railway, around which a town had just started to grow, his first meetings with contemporaries who were part of Kenya’s colonial history, all is meticulously captured by the author. Again it almost appears that Jane Barsby was present or else managed to train her looking glass back in time as she describes how Abraham met with Tommy Woods on arrival in Nairobi, who became a fast friend, or how Abraham made a quick 25 pounds profit on a land deal, which he struck with one of the Asian community’s icons Mr. Jevanjee and how he then ventured into business, farming, ranching and deal making, soon becoming part of the colonial Kenya’s ‘furniture’ too.
The author ably sums up Abraham’s business acumen when she describes him as basically a jack of all trades with an uncanny ability to smell money if it could be made somewhere by buying or selling, investing or trading, importing and exporting. As the chapters add up, more and more insight is given into the life Abraham lived, the setbacks he suffered and his almost throwing in the towel had it not been for Lord Delamare, the Kenyan colony’s leading aristocrat and an icon in his own right.
The trial of Dedan Kimathi by Ngugi w...
The Trial of Dedan Kimathi, written in collaboration with Micere Githae-Mugo, is Ngugi’s response to colonialist writings about the Mau-Mau movement, which traditionally depicted the movement and its leader, Dedan Kimathi, as mentally unbalanced and vicious.
Ngugi and his collaborator choose to counter this image with a portrait of Kimathi as a man of great courage and commitment. This was how he was seen by many of the peasants and laborers of Kenya.
Fan into Flame by John Gatu
"I returned to the hangar quite drunk and forgot to fasten my rifle to my waist. When I woke up in the morning, I realized that my rifle, loaded with six bullets, had been stolen. In the military, and especially during a state of war, losing one's rifle was considered a serious crime. It is tantamount to willingly handing over a weapon to the enemy to fight you ...'."- Rev. Dr John G. Gatti
From an early age, John Gan) yearns for and cherishes his independence. At the end of his primary school education, instead of joining a teacher training college, young Gaul opts to travel to Nairobi, believing a better world awaited him there.
Much later, after scratching hard, he discovers this `better' world when he joins the army. Serving in Ethiopia and Somaliland, and finally traveling to London for the Victory Parade, thrills young Gatti despite the dangers involved. It is at the peak of his career in the military and after receiving the most coveted awards that John Gatti makes another decision: to retire from the army and work closer home. Gatti, the civilian, engages in different jobs before working as a clerk at Kambili Mission Church.
"It had nothing to do with my Christian faith ... it was purely for the salary and my desire to work and live near my family," he confesses. It was during his service at Kambui that he encountered the 'flame' that continues to burn in him as he allows himself to be used to transform others.
Fan into Flame is a multilayered narrative with the nuances of a thriller as the author unveils dramatic events that took place when he was a soldier in Ethiopia and the serenity that he encounters after his 'rebirth'. The story spans through the history of colonial and independent Kenya. Rev. John Gata's passion for his work as a servant of God, brings out the best in everyone he interacts with, no matter what their station in life.
His role as an agent of peace and positive change in the church, his country and beyond, cannot be overemphasized.
The Last Villains of Molo by Kinyanju...
Bone, Bomu, Bafu, Ngeta and Rock find themselves in Ngando slums having fled the ethic-based violence in Molo. With little to do, they engage in all maner of trade to eke out a living. The entry of Nancy - stylish sophisticated and shrewd - catapults them into a nightmare that leads to destitution, betrayal, desperation, revenge, friendship and lasting love.
This is a story of a new generation that rises above the confines of hatred and retribution and reasserts the inherent goodness in man.
Told against the background of the 1992 'tribal' clashes in Kenya, The Last Villains of Molo is one of the most critically acclaimed modern stories.
It has been studied in five universities in Kenya and Germany, and is currently being scripted for film.
Memoirs of a Kenyan Spymaster by Bart...
Bart Joseph Kibati, who started dreaming as a schoolboy of becoming a James Bond type intelligence agent and rose to become a deputy director of intelligence with the notorious Special Branch, the predecessor of the National Intelligence Service, tells all in this first ever memoir by a top level Kenyan spy-master.
Kibati’s memoir also offers an insight into Kenya’s political and social history.
Celebrating Friendship among Women by...
Celebrating Friendship among Women is a book about the power of women connections. A close look at the subject in Kenya reveals that genuine friendship cuts across ethnic, age, class and religious divides.
This book, which is also an autobiography, a cultural account, a historical and a do-it-yourself didactic material, is a must-read.
In it, you find yourself looking in a mirror while getting surprised about a topic that is so simple, so taken for granted, so under-explored.
At a time when Kenya is being ripped apart by negative ethnic, religious and class sentiments, Margery Kabuya’s book goes against the grain.
How to Save Money for Investment by K...
Brief summary
Have you ever asked yourself "Where do I find money to save?” Ken Monyoncho, an expert in finance, answers this question in How To Save Money for Investment.
The book gives practical principles that will set you on the path to financial freedom and success. Learn how to implement principles of saving money in your own life by reading and reflecting on real life examples. Also, learn how to:
• Train your brain to save
• Develop a saving plan
• Avoid paying unnecessary fees
• Live on less than you earn
Britains Gulag The Brutal End of Empi...
Britain fought in the Second World War to save the world from fascism. But just a few years after the defeat of Hitler came the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya - a mass armed rebellion by the Kikuyu people, demanding the return of their land and freedom.
The draconian response of Britain's colonial government was to detain nearly the entire Kikuyu population of one-and-a half-million - to hold them in camps or confine them in villages ringed with barbed wire - and to portray them as sub-human savages.
From 1952 until the end of the war in 1960 tens of thousands of detainees - and possibly a hundred thousand or more - died from the combined effects of exhaustion, disease, starvation and systemic physical brutality.
Until now these events have remained untold, largely because the British government in Kenya destroyed most of its files. For the last eight years Caroline Elkins has conducted exhaustive research to piece together the story, unearthing reams of documents and interviewing several hundred Kikuyu survivors.
Britain's Gulag reveals what happened inside Kenya's detention camps, as well as the efforts to conceal the truth.
Now, for the first time, we can understand the full savagery of the Mau Mau war and the ruthless determination with which Britain sought to control its empire.
Histories of the Hanged by David Ande...
In "a gripping narrative that is all but impossible to put down" (Joseph C. Miller), Histories of the Hanged exposes the long-hidden colonial crimes of the British in Kenya.
This groundbreaking work tells how the brutal war between the colonial government and the insurrectionist Mau Mau between 1952 and 1960 dominated the final bloody decade of imperialism in East Africa.
Using extraordinary new evidence, David Anderson puts the colonial government on trial with eyewitness testimony from over 800 court cases and previously unseen archives.
His research exonerates the Kikuyu rebels; hardly the terrorists they were thought to be; and reveals the British to be brutal aggressors in a "dirty war" that involved leaders at the highest ranks of the British government.
This astonishing piece of scholarship portrays a teetering colonial empire in its final phase; employing whatever military and propaganda methods it could to preserve an order that could no longer hold.
Against All Odds by Kalonzo Musyoka
AGAINST ALL ODDS: THE STORY OF STEPHEN KALONZO MUSYOKA, is tale of hope, courage, resilience, determination and faith. It is a story of a village boy who rose from the ashes of poverty in the dry, thirsty and forsaken part of rural Kenya into political stardom.
Musyoka, the son of a peasant farmer-cum-shopkeeper, grew up in Mwingi district in Kenya’s Eastern province. His place of birth was and still remains one of the remotest regions in Kenya.
The book tells the story of the journey of his life, so far. It finds its beginnings in the local village in Mwingi, where he was born. It traverses time and space to see him through the village school, high school and university, even as it gives a rendition of the various vicissitudes that informed his formative years.
From there, it travels on to his early experiments with building a career in legal practice, before plunging into the mud of politics, the world of diplomacy and the challenges of statehood and statesmanship.
Being his mother’s only son, Musyoka grew up under the gunfire, and terror of the Shifta bandits. His mother lived in constant fear of witchcraft. The evil eye, she thought, would take her son away.
The biography tells of Musyoka’s struggles to gain meaningful education, overcome poverty and eventual entry into Kenyan politics. It narrates his rise to stardom, trials and tribulations and his strong Christian faith.
It documents his crucial role as a peacemaker since his schooldays. The impact he had on the Sudanese and Somali peace negotiations. His fears, anxieties and survival instincts.
It is a tale of respect for elders. A tale of a man determined to walk the straight path of truthfulness, honesty and integrity. It is a tale of a loving husband and father.
It tells of his loyalty, his desire for a Kenya that is not just God fearing but free from want, poverty, corruption and hunger. His eyes are set on a country whose economy will one day compete with those of the developed world; a country whose people will walk and live free from fear of insecurity; a nation whose people will enjoy a free, high quality education, social security and good health.
The biography details his political ambitions to ascend to Kenya’s presidency; his dreams, his hopes and his aspirations for Kenya.
Caleb Atemi is a renowned writer, communications and public relations consultant. Atemi, a former News Editor with the Nation Media Group and journalism lecturer, is working on other biographies detailing the life and times of prominent Kenyan personalities.
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ISBN:2147483647
Author:Kalonzo Musyoka and Caleb Atemi
Birth of a Dream Weaver by Ngugi wa T...
Brief Summary
Birth of a Dream Weaver charts the very beginnings of a writer’s creative output. In this wonderful memoir, Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o recounts the four years he spent in Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda—threshold years where he found his voice as a playwright, journalist, and novelist, just as Uganda, Kenya, Congo, and other countries were in the final throes of their independence struggles.
James Ngugi, as he was known then, is haunted by the emergency period of the previous decade in Kenya, when his friends and relatives were killed during the Mau Mau Rebellion. He is also haunted by the experience of his childhood in a polygamous family and the brave break his mother made from his father’s home.
Accompanied by these ghosts, Ngugi begins to weave stories from the fibers of memory, history, and a shockingly vibrant and turbulent present.
What unfolds in this moving and thought-provoking memoir is both the birth of one of the most important living writers—lauded for his "epic imagination” (Los Angeles Times)—and the death of one of the most violent episodes in global history.
Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiongo
Brief Summary
From the exiled Kenyan novelist, playwright, poet, and literary critic--a magisterial comic novel that is certain to take its place as a landmark of postcolonial African literature. In exile now for more than twenty years, Ngugi wa Thiongo has become one of the most widely read African writers of our time, the power and scope of his work garnering him international attention and praise.
His aim in Wizard of the Crow is, in his own words, nothing less than "to sum up Africa of the twentieth century in the context of two thousand years of world history.” Commencing in "our times” and set in the "Free Republic of Aburiria,” the novel dramatizes with corrosive humor and keenness of observation a battle for control of the souls of the Aburirian people. Among the contenders: His High Mighty Excellency; the eponymous Wizard, an avatar of folklore and wisdom; the corrupt Christian Ministry; and the nefarious Global Bank.
Fashioning the stories of the powerful and the ordinary into a dazzling mosaic, Wizard of the Crow reveals humanity in all its endlessly surprising complexity. Informed by richly enigmatic traditional African storytelling, Wizard of the Crow is a masterpiece, the crowning achievement in Ngugl wa Thiongo’s career thus far.
UNsilenced by Rasna Warah
In a world experiencing increasing conflicts, terrorism and displacement, many people are wondering what the United Nations – the organization established in 1945 to save future generations from the scourge of war – should or could have done to prevent these disasters from escalating.
UNsilenced shows that, in fact, the UN has remained a bystander in many of these conflicts and that peace-building efforts have not only been undermined by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, but also by the UN's many agencies and programmes.
The book exposes how, under the guise of development, stability and the "war on terror", the UN fails to prevent conflicts in many parts of the world, and in some cases, misleads the public about the scale of a problem. The book also reveals the web of lies, cover-ups, corruption and impunity within the United Nations that has allowed wrongdoing to continue unabated.
Many of these acts of wrongdoing occur or continue because the UN fails to protect whistleblowers; on the contrary, most UN whistleblowers experience severe retaliation.
UNsilenced describes how whistleblowers have been denied justice within the UN system and how the immunity accorded to UN officials and the conflict of interest inherent in the UN's internal justice system allow the perpetrators of criminal or unethical activities to go unpunished.
The book is an urgent call for a serious reform of this bureaucratic, arcane and increasingly politicized organization – because not doing so constitutes a betrayal of the trust invested in it by the people and countries that depend on it.
The Carjackers (The Rugendo Rhinos Se...
When vehicles start disappearing from Rugendo village, the Rhinos go on the hunt and manage to pick up the trail. Will they solve the crimes before things get really dangerous?
Will they beat the Cheetahs (girls’ group) in solving the case? Find out what happens as both groups find themselves trapped in a life-threatening situation.
The Flame of Freedom by Raila Odinga ...
The Flame of Freedom chronicles the remarkable journey of one of Africa’s leading politicians and statesmen.
Raila Odinga’s life-story mirrors the triumphs and tragedies of Kenya’s struggle to entrench multi-party democracy and the rule of law into the fabric of the State.
The book is a testament to his courage, determination and sacrifice in the cause of peace, development and public service.
We the People by Rev Timothy Njoya
Timothy Murere Njoya makes a decision to convert to Christianity. He is met with threats of a beating. The year is 1956. The Mau Mau had taken to the forest determined to win back the land stolen from them by British settlers.
Now, Njoya has an all-consuming purpose. Based on his newfound sovereignty, he dedicates his life to restoring the people’s humanity and the country’s nationhood.
His pursuit sees him thrice defrocked and, thrice left for dead, but he is thrice reinstated and thrice rises again, surviving against the odds to see the beginning of the realization of his dream—a Constitution based on the sovereignty of We the People.
The Africa I Want Poems BY Fatma Adam
The Poems cover a range of topics such as Domestic Violence, HIV/Aids, Corruption, Beauty and Love, among others. 'The Africa I Want' illustrates the author's critical and analytical thoughts on the Continent and highlights the underlying problems to social ills within the sixty captivating poems in her book.
"The Africa I want is a powerful, thought- provoking and entertaining work of art" says publisher Africa Lense Media Limited. Her areas of interest include Gender rights, Politics and Leadership and Pan-Africanism.
Her poetry has an element of activism towards social issues with the aim of provoking her readers to think differently on these issues.