Alex Kuria

TRT Global - Why Kenya's Lamu museum renovation sparks debate on indigenous heritage A museum revamp meant to honour a 14th century Swahili settlement's shared history across the Indian Ocean has ended up dimming the spotlight on the UNESCO World Heritage Site's heritage.

Why Kenya's Lamu museum renovation sparks debate on indigenous heritage

trt.global/afrika-engli...

'Dandora: How Nairobi's only landfill became an environmental catastrophe' by Frankline Akhubula and 'To become an industrialised nation, we need nuclear power' by Mungai Kihanya. Contrasting Kenya narratives in two articles in the Sunday Nation of 13 July 2025.

John Karanja's definition of ahoi is "requesters or tenants - some of whom were simply poor, but others of whom were poor in land and rich in cattle". Describing people living in the land owned by another person in the Kikuyu context. The translation beggars or poor is simplistic and inadequate.

Now reading 'Founding an African Faith: Kikuyu Anglican Christianity, 1900-1945', by John K. Karanja (1999). An excellent scholarly book, very well researched and yet easy to read. It is based on his Ph.D at the University of Cambridge.

Chief Karuri wa Gakure c. 1907 portrait by William Scoresby Routledge. William and his wife Katherine Maria (nee Pease) researched and wrote the book 'With a Prehistoric People: The Kikuyu of British East Africa' published in 1910.

This post was erroneous, the red flag of the Sultan of Zanzibar was not lowered until 17 Dec 1961. The compromise to allow the 10 mile strip to remain as part of the dominion of the Sultan even though the British exercised full authority.

'The Hymnal Companion to the Book of Common Prayer: With Introduction and Notes." Compiled and edited by Edward Henry Bickersteth in 1870. Offers an interesting insight to the theology of the Church of England (or is it the United Church of Great Britain and Ireland then.

He does, let me check with him and I will let you know.

There are 3 malls in the 8 km stretch between Galleria and the Hub in Karen, and another 6 or so shopping centers off that road. Surely no one could be planning to build a mall at Bomas of Kenya.

Ultimately the Constitution of Kenya is the supreme law. In it the rights of all are obtained. It is the tool not just against colonization, but subjugation, slavery, injustice, tyranny etc. It offers protection of those who fail to find it elsewhere even in lower courts like Kadhi courts. (8/8)

British allowing Arabs and other Muslims in the 10 mile strip, to continue to resolve personal matters through the Islamic Sharia seems to have been a compromise to gain their consent to be colonized. This happened in 1895 when the Union Jack was raised in Mombasa and the red flag lowered. (7/8)

The end of the slave trade in the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar was greatly resented by the Arabs and their subjects in the 10 mile strip. The people the Arabs enslaved for hundreds of years, came from that 10 mile strip and the greater East and Central Africa. (6/8)

Once the IBEA signed an agreement with Sultan of Zanzibar their primary goal was to gain control of the Arabs in Mombasa and the rest of the 10 mile strip. They did so through the threat of military force and guile - compensating Arabs whose slaves had been freed and bribery. (5/8)

That the Kenyatta I administration and 2010 Constitution of Kenya honored those prior agreements that the personal matters of Muslims be resolved in Kadhi courts, an exception for Muslims. Murshid knowingly or not omits to state the events of 1886 - 1895 by IBEA and the British government. (4/n)

That the Portuguese and British did not interfere with Islamic sharia in the 10 mile strip by imposing Judeo Christian values or law in the personal lives of muslims. He then says in 1963 there were three territories colonized by the British - NFD, coastal strip and Kenya Colony. (3/8)

Murshid argues personal matters should have been determined only by the Kadhi court and strictly according to Islamic sharia (law). He incorrectly frames the historical context of Islamic sharia in the 10 mile strip along the coast of Kenya - then the dominion of Sultan of Oman and Zanzibar. (2/8)

YouTube video by NTV Kenya Islamic Law vs Supreme Court: Why Children Born Outside Marriage Cannot Inherit Father's Estate

"The constitution is a tool of decolonization" Murshid Abdalla [2.43] on NTV Facing the Nation speaking about the Supreme Court ruling that children born out of wedlock are entitled to an inheritance which has upset Muslims in Kenya. (1/8) www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoZq...

Ludwig Krapf began the translation of the Bible into Swahili in 1844 with the help of a Muslim scholar in Mombasa. The first three chapters of Genesis were published in the Proceedings of the American Oriental Society (Vol 1) in 1851.
"Genesis 1:1 Mooanzo alioomba Mooigniazimoongo oowingo na n'te."

You can rest assured there were no minors at Amani ya Juu this afternoon! Not only was it cold but there was drizzle in the morning!

Indeed!

Proper cold July day by Kenyan standards. Overcast all morning and 18°C at 12.54 PM

I suppose it is unrealistic to expect @financialtimes.com a newspaper dedicated to money, business and economic affairs to put forward the argument that the world needs fewer billionaires.
bsky.app/profile/fina...

PSG haven’t given Lionel Messi and Inter Miami a sniff in the first half of their Club World Cup knockout tie…

Bombax (Chorisia Tree)
Photos taken on 22 Jun 2025 and Mar 30, 2025.

Bun & Beef make burgers my youngest daughter really likes. Their packaging lists their social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Not sure if this is based on the profile of their customers or just the preference of the owners of Bun & Beef 🤔

"Washington exhibited an "obvious fascination with enemies and an ennui with friends," he [Zbig] said, that was producing "bitterness and resentment" among America's allies." By @edwardluce.bsky.social quoting what Zbig wrote in Foreign Policy in 1974, in his bio of Zbig.

Now reading 'Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet' by @edwardluce.bsky.social

Two hours of rain on Friday afternoon = drama on Nairobi roads at 5.02 pm

William Price, CMS missionary, was one of the first photographers in present day Kenya. He wrote in Jan 1875, of setting up his 'photo apparatus' to get some photos. Like this one of an unfinished house in which Rebmann had lived from 1861 or 1863 in Rabai, at the CMS mission station.

Heavier rainfall than usual in Kilifi and Mombasa this year, which is great for farmers. The main water body in the photos is the Tudor Creek, with Mombasa Island in the background. From 1850 to 1900 CMS missionaries used boats on this creek when travelling from Mombasa or Frere Town to Rabai.