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The jail bugs by Wahome Mutahi
Its Our Turn to Eat by Michela Wrong
It's Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower.
When Michela Wrong's Kenyan friend John Githongo appeared one morning on the doorstep of her London flat, it was clear something had gone very wrong in a country regarded until then as one of Africa's few budding success stories.
John's tale is the story of how a brave man came to make a lonely decision with huge ramifications.
An Artist of the Floating World by Ka...
In the face of the misery in his homeland, the artist Masuji Ono was unwilling to devote his art solely to the celebration of physical beauty. Instead, he put his work in the service of the imperialist movement that led Japan into World War II.
Now, as the mature Ono struggles through the aftermath of that war, his memories of his youth and of the "floating world”—the nocturnal world of pleasure, entertainment, and drink—offer him both escape and redemption, even as they punish him for betraying his early promise.
Indicted by society for its defeat and reviled for his past aesthetics, he relives the passage through his personal history that makes him both a hero and a coward but, above all, a human being.
A Textbook on Tax Law in Kenya by Dr ...
The publication’s academic bent makes it an ideal reference manual for advocates, accountants, tax agents, tax consultants and other professionals interacting with tax matters.
Indeed, any professional pursuing a career in tax, including decision-makers, judges, magistrates and Tax Tribunals will find A Text Book on Tax Law in Kenya a useful — if not indispensable — handbook. In it there are numerous examples and references of the tax law in Kenya, and the tax jurisprudence emanating from Kenyan courts and the Tax Appeal Tribunal.
The book is also a handy companion for business owners or any other person seeking to sharpen his or her skills and knowledge of Kenya’s tax law. The 426-page treatise is divided into 18 chapters.
That Dr Kimani is also an advocate of the High Court, a KRA Tax Agent and a certified accountant among others, easily speaks for itself in the book.
The tax expert has quoted substantially from jurisprudence, case studies, and technical documents on his chosen topics. In addition, the book has a rich bibliography on tax matters, making it a tremendously authoritative publication.
Although the book may seem intimidating on first impression, readers will find it well designed and easy to read. The usability is fantastic. However, readers must appreciate that there is a level of language and detail below which some topics may lose their essence if they are simplified further.
The author has gone out of his way to break down every complicated concept he handles by using sections and subsections. He’s thorough in his research and explanations and it helps that he ends each chapter with a conclusion of the main topic.
One of Kenya’s more seasoned accountants, former Finance minister Amos Kimunya, notes that the book "provides a much-needed relief to tax practitioners, tax administrators, tax payers, researchers as well as students by providing a one-stop reference point on the latest developments in taxation law and practice in Kenya”.
The Kenyatta Succession by Joseph Kar...
The Kenyatta Succession by Joseph Karimi & Philip Ochieng
On the day Mzee Jomo Kenyatta died at Mombasa State House, Coast provincial intelligence officer Bart Kibati received a phone call from the PC Eliud Mahihu.
The administrator relayed the sad news to the sleuth and then went ahead to ask him to look for a coffin in which they would transport the head of state’s body to Nairobi. A Kenya Air Force plane was on standby.
Kibati, well aware that if he was seen buying a coffin tongues would start wagging, decided to pull a trick out of his cloak and dagger trade’s rule book. He bought not only one but three coffin - including one for a child for a good measure.
The retired spy chief reveals in his tell-all biography ‘Memoirs of a Spymaster’ that this was not the first time he was involving himself in subterfuge following a high profile death.
Just under a decade earlier he was the provincial director of intelligence when the celebrated Cabinet minister Tom Mboya was assassinated. On the day Mboya’s body was passing through Nakuru, Kibati came up with a hearse decoy.
Memories we lost and other stories by...
This anthology brings together a variety of short stories from Africa and parts of the world. A rigorous and informed selection has ensured that it combines the confidence of The classic's with the freshness that contemporary writers bring to their craft.
This collection is a grain-store of memories that seek to entertain, provoke, empower and educate. The themes are s wide ranging as the authors' backgrounds but they share a common belief — enhancing values and integrity in today's society in an effort to preserve human and social dignity.'
The short story is probably the world's secret weapon in the way that the oral culture is interwoven into the written text, to be enjoyed for education as well as a good read.
Kenya: Through My Fathers Eyes by Sal...
Brief Summary
A limited edition coffee table book featuring the photography of legendary photo-journalist Mohamed "MO" Amin. Only 2,000 copies will ever be printed and each copy is numbered and signed and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. The book is the first historical book in the world to incorporate Augmented Reality** and features 12 videos within the pages of the book
• KENYA: Through My Father's Eyes
• A coffee table book featuring the photography of legendary photo-journalist Mohamed "MO" Amin
• Features 12 videos within the pages of the book
• Get the book autographed and personalized to you by the author. You will do this by indicating the same on the order comment section or making a follow-up email to us.
• Part of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) to promote leadership on the Continent
** The Augmented Reality videos in this book can be viewed through the HP Reveal App
Step 1: Download the FREE App "HP Reveal" on your Smart Device.
Step 2. Launch the App
Step 3: Press the BLUE Button and Point your device at the cover image of this book to enjoy a rich video content experience. The onscreen cover on this page works as well. Give it a try.
The Cannabis Story The Health Wealth ...
The Cannabis Story is a thought provoking book that reveals the paradox of a pure cannabis plant strain (Kilimanjaro Sativa) reputed as the pinnacle of African Sativa strains. This strain is presently at the center of a lucrative international seed trade in what can only be aptly described as another classical case of Bio-Piracy.
Classified as illegal in its host country, Kenya and majorly regarded as a taboo topic, the book explores the potential economic gains that can be realized from the cannabis plant within a regulated environment.
Aside from the issue of economic gains, this book unpacks in an easy to read language, the origin, history and science of cannabis, its vast medicinal benefits and the prohibition journey. It gives a global perspective on decriminalization and legalization trends and the existing international treaty framework currently facing much tension in consequence of the imminent "weed rush”.
Written for the first time from the perspective of an African legal practitioner, the content will definitely hone the reader’s ability to think more critically on issues involving cannabis likely to have far greater ramifications on a people’s social economic development than previously imagined.
Finally, The Cannabis Story offers valuable insights on the foreseeable paths of a future legal regime for the development of a cannabis grow and manufacturing industry in Kenya. At the end of the read, you can only be confronted with the inevitable question.
Is cannabis the bane of our problems or does it hold the promise of a great future?
Seasons of Hope by David Musila
A teacher, a politician, an administrator, above all a gentle human being who focused on the best for his country, Honorable David Musila, a former senator, has been a dedicated Kenyan throughout his life and continues to be so.
The autobiography, Seasons of Hope – Memoirs of David Musila, is a book full of hopes; it has a capacity to restore faith. An amazingly inspirational story of a person who has encountered enormous odds, heartbreaking challenges, pitfalls, intrigues, disappointments, betrayals, never-ending friendships, forever lessons, key decisions, eye-openers. Musila has seen the darkest hours of his country, and polished his leadership skills over the years.
A young administrator of the age when Kenya gained independence, the times when Kenya was seeing a sunrise, he gained experience and stature from the ranks of District Officer to Provincial Commissioner. It was a critical time for the country, with the history being rewritten, colonial settlers were in retreat, in fear, in anger, in disbelief, for indigenous Kenyans were in charge.
The book delves deep into his extraordinary life, from his birth in a colonial Kenya to his studies in the USA to his starting to serve the country and cuts across the reign of four Presidents. While writing his memoir, Musila has shown utmost honesty, and has often talked of things that were talked of only in hush-hush voices or rather never talked of!
Musila's first assignment was to address the thorny issue of land and resettlement in the independent Kenya, which he performed so well that many new challenges were confidently thrown at him, which he gracefully accepted. Alert, observant, keen, good listener, record maintaining, he learnt all that well, but politics is all together a different set of challenge, which becomes disheartening at times.
While he already the best upbringing behind him, he also earned himself the best mentors, combining the two made many people jealous even as several tried to pull him down. Land adjudication and resettlement; peace-making with the then ruling party, KANU; unabashedly serving Kenyans in various capacities, have been few of the highlights of his carrier.
Beyond everything, Musila went on to perform every duty well; as a human, a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a Public Administrator, a leader, peace makers. With David Musila Foundation, he has started working against the grassroot of all issues... lack of education and support to those who really need it to understand their needs towards growth.
Imperial Reckoning The Untold Story o...
Brief Summary
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.
ISBN:9780805080018
Author: Caroline Elkins
The 5th Columnist a Legendary Journal...
To many, Philip Ochieng is that proud atheist and relentless social critic with unmatched grasp of the English language in the region. To others, though, he is undoubtedly a media giant and a journalist of great repute.
Having served in various capacities in the media industry, Ochieng has earned both praise and condemnation from not just his readers but also his employers, colleagues and the powers that be Carried within these pages of The Fifth Columnist is the story of Ochieng's life -education, work, social Life, beliefs - as told through interviews with the career journalist, his family, friends, neighbors and workmates.
And from his writings and travels.
Gardening in Eastern Africa by Kenya ...
This is a practical guide book to gardening in the Eastern Africa region.
This practical guide to gardening in Eastern African region covers topics ranging from growing fruit and vegetables (including many local species) and gardening with indigenous plants, to ideas for designing your garden, and what to grow if you live in an apartment.
It contains many drawings and diagrams as well as nearly one thousand full color photographs.
The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo ...
Brief Summary
From the award-winning author of Dust comes a vibrant, stunning coming-of-age novel about a young woman struggling to find her place in a vast world--a poignant exploration of fate, mortality, love, and loss.
On the island of Pate, off the coast of Kenya, lives solitary, stubborn Ayaana and her mother, Munira. When a sailor named Muhidin, also an outsider, enters their lives, Ayaana finds something she has never had before: a father. But as Ayaana grows into adulthood, forces of nature and history begin to reshape her life and the island itself--from a taciturn visitor with a murky past to a sanctuary-seeking religious extremist, from dragonflies to a tsunami, from black-clad kidnappers to cultural emissaries from China.
Ayaana ends up embarking on a dramatic ship's journey to the Far East, where she will discover friends and enemies; be seduced by the charming but unreliable scion of a powerful Turkish business family; reclaim her devotion to the sea; and come to find her own tenuous place amid a landscape of beauty and violence and surprising joy.
Told with a glorious lyricism and an unerring sense of compassion, The Dragonfly Sea is a transcendent story of adventure, fraught choices, and of the inexorable need for shelter in a dangerous world.
From Our Mothers Hearths Bukusu Folkt...
This collection of Bukusu folktales and proverbs provides a cultural heritage. The prologue includes a brief history and gender politics within the community. Earlier historical accounts draw heavily on oral narratives and legends. "Bukusu" is both a eulogist and descriptive term.
The label of the Bukusu as the lirango liejofu [thigh of the elephant] establishes the cultural link between Basilikwa, Banabayi, Bamalaba, Baneala and Bakikaki sub-ethnic groups in Kenya. It also demonstrates the evolution of a plurality of cultural elements to a more homogenous heritage.
Overall, Bukusu folktales portray male protagonists as rational, courageous, visionary, protective, and possessing inordinate power, even over death. Tales centered on women regardless of merit typically omit (adult) male presence. When females excel it is in persona viri, failing to undermine the patriarchal structure. The discussion also recognizes the complicity of women as primary storytellers and socializing agents in reinforcing sexism.
As the "language of the culturally wise," proverbs function as cautionary injunctions with children and diplomatic chastisement or demonstration of eloquence among adults. The command of cultural mores and lores as well as articulation is an indispensable skill at public forums that feature tact and language sophistication. That proverbs reflect daily experience, speculation and regular common sense augments the legitimacy. They are concise, simple, and easy to recall, utilizing familiar terms and phrases--about dances, rain, drinking, grazing, cooking pots, birds, beauty, parents, bulls, and kinship among others.
Of pawns and players by Kinyanjui Kom...
Kinyanjui Kombani’s newest novel Of Pawns and Players is now available for pre-order. This is the third novel from the Nairobi, Kenya based author popularly known as the "banker who writes”.
Kinyanjui Kombani is a Kenyan novelist, playwright, scriptwriter, and literature activist. He burst onto the scene in 2004 with his debut novel The Last Villains of Molo one of the few pieces of art that have been produced about Kenya’s first post-election crisis in 1991. We loved it.
He followed in 2013 with Den of Inequities a book that follows a killer gang in Nairobi that we also loved.
Apart from fiction for adults, he wrote two books for children in 2007 Wangari Maathai: Mother of Trees a biography of Kenya’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai and We Can Be Friends: Theme, Spread of HIV/AIDS. He also wrote a Young Adult book called Finding Columbia which won the Burt Award for Young Adult Literature in Accra, Ghana last year.
The author’s new novel Of Pawns and Players tackles the underground world of betting in the simple and humorous narrative style that has made him a household name in contemporary fiction.
The Journey Within by Dinesh Patel
This book represents one photographer’s effort to share his personal perspective of Africa’s wildlife heritage. Drawing on his vast collection of photographs from hundreds of safaris in Eastern Africa over the past five decades, Dinesh Patel has successfully made the African safari universally accessible.
What distinguishes the book from the myriad others are two striking features. First, is its simplicity and purity the wildlife photography in the book is uncomplicated and pure, capturing snapshots of the wild as it is intended to be, devoid of human factors.
Second, building on this simplicity, unfettered with commentary, the photographer has successfully created a world that gives the reader an experience of being there, accompanying the photographer as he moves on his journey. Whether these photographs are viewed with awe or admired for their majesty, they convey an important message.
The African wilderness is in rapid retreat. Too many of the creatures exhibited here are on the lamentable list of endangered species and face a bleak future. So the challenge ahead is serious and the task difficult but essential. Africa needs a future that befits its unique place in the grandeur of nature. By nurturing these natural jewels and by playing to its strength sits unique and spectacular wild legacy Africa must become prosperous by preserving its heritage.
It is the essential duty of the wildlife photographer to spread this message by conveying the spectacle and magnificence of Africa’s wild wonders. Dinesh Patel has accomplished this task with distinction.
Wisdom of the Elders Personal Reflect...
"'Wisdom of the elders' presents conversations with over 70 elders of diverse background, education level, race and gender. One is none other than immediate former President Emilio Mwai Kibaki. Another is the widow of former freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi, while another is the grandmother of President Barrack Hussein.
Others are normal Kenyans living in villages, with no claim to fame or stature.
However, all those profiled have lived three score ten years and more and in the words of the Bible, have reached the age of wisdom.
Discussing how life was then and how it is today, their disparate views will inform and resonate as they provide a veritable history lesson."--Dust jacket flap.
Journey of a Lifetime Pilgrimage to M...
This exquisitely beautiful series of books portrays the cultures, landscapes, fauna, flora and history of an individual country with over 150 stunning photographs and well-written and knowledgeable text.
Lavishly illustrated, this special pictorial record -- with lucid and absorbing text -- of the pilgrimage known to Muslims as the Hajj brilliantly catches the spirit and devotion of one of the world's great religious experiences.
For pilgrims this book will be an enduring reminder of that experience. For non-Muslims it stands as a moving documentary of a testament to faith.
We Came in Dhows by Cynthia Salvadori...
Brief Summary
From the introduction: "This volume has been designed as a companion to Through Open Doors: A View of Asian Cultures in Kenya.
Although that book describes the historical background of the various Asian communities in Kenya, it has little information about individual people. This book is all about people."
Give me my Mountain By Esther Muchemi
Brief Summary
The story behind Esther’s success
Esther Muchemi’s efforts to set up one of Kenya’s most successful businesses has seen her nominated and won several business awards across the continent as well as across the globe.
Esther Muchemi is one of the most successful businesswomen in Kenya. Her journey to the top started some 18 years ago when she founded Samchi Telecom to sell airtime as the mobile revolution was just about to sweep the country in 2000.
Samchi Telecom was first honoured as the top M-Pesa agent by Safaricom in 2009. The company has severally been ranked as top airtime dealer for Safaricom in subsequent years.
It’s also important to note that Samchi was the pioneer M-Pesa dealer when the mobile money was invented. M-Pesa was piloted at Samchi for six months before it was rolled out. Esther Muchemi was the first to transact with M-Pesa in Kenya holding the till number 0001.
