Author: Otiato Guguyu
Return of folk tales from Greek people of long ago
There is a master of the written word who follows no rules and takes no prisoners. He wears his skin as only a South Sudanese would and there is a fire in his eyes that even age cannot vicariate it smothering ember. I first met Taban Lo Liyong on the shelves of Kabarak High School library and soon I was rummaging through the aisles of shelves for anything with his name on it. When I found them, I hid the works in sections reserved for science books so I could go back and read them between classes. I didn’t understand him mostly, but I felt…
Read More
Matatu insurer out to stop carrying excess passengers
The camaraderie between matatu drivers, touts and the police is like a child awaiting the arrival of a father who never disappoints with sweets. In their distinguishable luminous green reflector jackets, the cops watch the approaching matatu and in a near reflex action, one of them raises their hand to get spotted, like an excited child. The matatu slows down enough to pass the bribe like a relay race baton, without stopping, sometimes exchanging pleasantries or even bargaining for a free return trip. “Siku hizi hawachukui fifty, ni mia. Maisha imepanda na pia hao wamepandisha,” the driver of the run down overcrowded matatu on the…
Read More
We may not pay top dollar, but sisi ndio tuko
One of many phone numbers that I have saved as ‘Kanye’ that is supposed to remind me of David Paul Kanyi blares on my phone. I pick it up and listen, knowing all too well that it can be anyone, from his landlord, his mother, his in-laws or even some guy on the street. Kanyi has no phone, so he has made a habit of calling me with any number, and I keep saving them without knowing whose phone he has used. On this case it is a lady, who asks me if I have seen Kanyi. No, I reply and say I hope he…
Read More
Kateete’s portraits of history of tribes
Getting to Leonard Kateete’s home was not going to be easy with the legendary Rongai traffic woes. He had sounded amused that I would make the trip as if he was used to such games with every of his first time visitors. I had called him from a reference of a friend who understood our project and felt Mr Kateete fit the description of what we were looking for. He had been too busy but then he called back. I was doing another story so I mixed him up. “I am doing a story around the dollar…” and he let me go on to tell…
Read More
King of crypto surviving the winter crash
The castle was sparsely spread out in a wide sitting area, with an open kitchen on the first floor of an apartment building in the middle of Mwolem, in Nairobi’s Eastlands. The King was stretched on a comfortable sofa with stuffed throw pillows propping his back as he keenly followed the recent Manchester derby. And as Man United pressed against City early on the game, he told me, as a matter of fact, “We are winning this, we have shown a lot of brilliance in this match.” A Hewlett-Packard laptop remained on adjacent to his imposing 48-inch TV screen tracking up-to-the-minute Binance crypto trade. The…
Read More
The two faces of the Kenyan Shilling
Sometimes in October 2019 when Kenya changed the face of its currency through demonetisation, Dr Patrick Njoroge stood outside a packed conference room at the sixth floor of the imposing Central Bank of Kenya building. He stood very still, breathed deeply as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulder and sighed. For that brief moment as he sighed like he bore such an enormous burden, he showed a version of himself. But the moment passed too quickly. He braced himself and swung into the room fast as if resigned or resolute about the spectacle he was about to set in motion. …
Read More