It’s been a year of exciting cocktails of events. They happened and caught many by surprise, though others were pre-planned. At some point, you went, wow!, Oh my God! Ouch! Yippee! And now, as the MV 2021 drifts closer to the harbor, we take you back in memory lane and relive the events that were. It’s the year in a flash. Keep it here. Read on!
1. Martha Koome Becomes Kenya’s first female CJ
In January this year, when the year was as young as the Omicron Covid-19 variant, emeritus Chief Justice David Maraga- perhaps the country’s most notable firebrand CJ- retired from office. The process of finding his replacement began in earnest.
Interestingly, none of the supreme court judges during CJ Maraga’s tenure showed interest. The Judicial Service Commission requested those eligible for the position to apply. Thirteen learned Kenyans applied, and upon scrutiny by the Commission, three struck out, leaving the grand contest to ten.
To the surprise of many, Lady Justice Martha Koome has announced the winner at the end of it all. On May 15th, she was sworn into office as the country’s 15th chief justice and the first female to hold the CJ’s office in Kenya’s history. It was a historical moment that uplifted the hopes of the Kenyan girls that they could break the glass ceiling. We say congratulations to her once more.
2. The death of the two brothers in Embu
It was a day like any other on a Sunday evening that first day of August, when two brothers, Benson Njiru, 22, and Emmanuel Mutura, 19, were arrested and later died at the hands of police officers. The two were allegedly arrested for being out during curfew hours. They would later go missing for two days. On the third day, their bodies were found at Embu hospital.
The public blamed the police for their mysterious death and furiously protested against police brutality at Kianjokoma, Embu. The deaths attracted a lot of vitriol against the police, causing not a single uniformed police officer to attend their burial, which was attended by mammoths of mourners- from all walks of life.
Again, public pressure put the police service under scrutiny and questioned their respect for human rights. The deputy inspector general of police transferred two senior police officers, an OCS, and a police commander. Six suspect police officers were arraigned in court, as well.
3. The ouster of Nick Mwendwa, the former FKF Boss
Most probably, Nick Mwendwa didn’t ever imagine that the beginning of the end at the top soccer office would start and end in November. For a man so vocal, almost intimidating, that could not have crossed his mind. Nonetheless, as fate would have it, that very November, Ambassador Amina Mohammed, the sports Cabinet Secretary, disbanded Football Kenya Federation and set up a caretaker committee to run the game in the country. Mwendwa’s FKF team allegedly grossly mismanaged the game and embezzled the federation’s money.
Of course, Mwendwa came out guns blazing and even dismissed the act of the CS. Fifa weighed in the saga and threatened to ban Kenya from any games for two years, as a result of the interference of FKF by the government. FIFA’s intervention seemed to embolden Mwendwa, but sadly for him, the end had arrived. He, later in November, resigned from the federation. The government would hear none of the threats from FIFA, and the 15-member caretaker committee remained in place.
The whole fiesta attracted mixed reactions from Kenyans. Some, probably most, saw it as a godsend way to cleanse and sanitize the management of the beloved game. For the first time, Mwendwa directly confronted players and coaches.
4. The killing of five family members by a son
On January 5th, Lawrence Njoroge, a university student, went to his home at Karura Kiambu and butchered everyone present. The youngster killed his father, mother, brother, cousin, and a worker within moments. He used a metal rod and a dagger, the detectives said. Lawrence would later confess to having planned to kill everyone, including his two sisters, who escaped the grim reaper that fateful day.
Before those chilling executions, Njoroge had watched a British horror movie about killing people. Those macabre deaths threw the country into a somber mood, as shock waves engulfed all and sundry. The killer accused his parents and family of not caring for him.
5. Ferdinand Omanyala becoming the fastest man in Africa
On September 18th, Ferdinand Omanyala shot himself to world fame by breaking the African record and thus becoming the fastest African in history. In the Kip Keino Classic at Kasarani, Nairobi, Omanyala ran 100m for 9.77 seconds.
That record also placed him as the eighth fastest man in the world.
The record gave Kenyans reason to brag and dare the world. For Omanyala, his world changed in a flash as sponsorship, awards and honors came his way.
Just a moment in history put him up there in the list of the who is who in sprinting. He is now a world-famous star. Recently, he promised to break Usain Bolt’s record. We wish him well.
6. Nakuru finally got a city status
The first day of December was a historic birthday, sort of, for Nakuru, as President Uhuru Kenyatta gave it a city charter. The residents of Nakuru had to wait for about six months, from June when the Senate approved Nakuru Municipality to be elevated to a city.
It is now the fourth city in Kenya, after Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu. The city has over 360,000 residents, and it’s said to be the cleanest city in Kenya and East Africa. Nakuru County Governor Lee Kinyanjui vowed to make Nakuru the best African city. We wish him well.
7. Azimio la Umoja mega convention
December 10th was a widely publicized day. Radio and TV stations were running an advert urging Kenyans to turn up in crowds at Kasarani stadium. The day came, and Raila Odinga, a renowned politician, stood before swathes of people and declared the obvious – that he’d be in the race in the presidential elections in 2022.
As though to mimic a sitting head of state, Baba, as his supporters fondly refer to him, made a round trip in the stadium, saluting the masses with a fly whisk. Before, his motorcade made its way into the stadium from his Karen residence in pomp and style.
Odinga recounted his history as a political detainee and spoke for the first time, the torture he endured under former President Daniel Arap Moi’s regime. Ironically, in the audience to support Odinga, was Moi’s son and Baringo County, Senator Gideon Moi.
And now, as Deputy President William Ruto’s, Odinga’s most likely opponent’s team sings Hustler Nation, Odinga’s die-hard supporters chant Azimio. The stage of the contest is taking shape. May peace prevail.
Odinga is taking his 5th shot at the Kenyan presidency.
8. The wave of arson in schools
After more than 35 schools were burnt down starting in November. Without a doubt, news of another school burned to the ground is no longer news for Kenyans anymore. As if taking cues from each other, schools went up in flames soon after another school. Threats from the ministry and teachers to students didn’t deter them. If anything, they emboldened them the more.
In a sad turn of events akin to inmates taking control of the asylum, the wave saw students issue notices to their principals to either release them to go home or if forced to stay; they’d burn their schools. More often than not, the headteachers gave in to their demands.
Such events brought a buzz online as Kenyans blamed various people for the arson cases. Others said the crash program had put the students under undue pressure, while others felt it was due to the neglect of parents to do their parenting role well. Either way, as we move to 2022, may a solution to such cases be found.
9. A messy breakup for governor Mutua and Lilian
There is a mocking and funny phrase in the Kenyan street vocabulary: nitakukulia bibi. It loosely translates to ‘I will snatch your wife and sleep with her’. The Machakos County boss, Dr. Alfred Mutua, is perhaps the only public figure who understands the phrase best. It was a strike in the injury, and he has borne the pain for almost half a year now.
This is after her former wife (or is it a girlfriend?) moved away not so secretly, leave alone calmly, and moved on swiftly to the famous rapper, Julius Owino, aka Juliani. What began in June as cool separation morphed into high-octane hatred as the two parties exchanged salvos on social media and press.
Kenyans, of course, seized the moment (how could they miss, anyway) and played fans in a match and judges in a court of law. Others blamed the governor for poor bedroom performance, while others cheered Lilian on for making a bold move. Yet, others vilified and sternly warned Juliani for kuchukua bibi ya wenyewe, who ought to be a no-go zone.
Did the breakup wave of late ’21 hit your relationship?
10. The dusk-to-dawn curfew that was
The pronouncement of the end of the nationwide curfew by President Kenyatta stole the show in the year’s Mashujaa Day celebrations. The news lifted the spirits of those who had attended the event in Wang’uru stadium, and they burst into celebration. The ecstasy of that October 20th reverberated across the nation, and visibly almost everyone was happy.
For most Kenyans, that was a real moment of UHURU that they had been looking forward to every tomorrow – the days when the president would address the nation vis-a-vis Covid-19. Since March 2020 and for 19 months, Kenyans have been under tight watch from the police enforcing the directive.
The curfew claimed many people’s lives, who were either shot at or clobbered to death by the police. Many others were left handicapped due to the brutal beating when police found they violated curfew.
Perhaps that’s why the public made memes to jeer and mock the police, as soon as the curfew was lifted. It was believed that the police was using the curfew to make money- out of bribes, and Kenyans laughed at the fact that their once-booming business had been shut down.
On the other hand, wives had seen the curfew as a godsend as their husbands could now get home in time. For long, they had claimed, their husbands were absent for family time and bonding.