Raising dissenting voices on Aids

Raising dissenting voices in HIV Aids Link

When I recently received a strange e-mail from one David Crowe notifying me that I had been listed in a fast growing roll of “Aids Rethinkers,” I was rather surprised. Honestly, I do not think my occasional rantings on many things under the sun qualify me to join any group of thinkers, or rethinkers, for that matter.

So I checked the link he provided. He was right. I found my name on a list of nearly 3,000 people from all over the world who have “second thoughts” on HIV and Aids. The link includes prominent academicians, surgeons, geo-physicists, journalists, authors, scientists, and Buddhists. David’s e-mail asked me for three things. First, to recommend “other accomplished and highly educated people who also question the HIV/Aids paradigm,” for possible inclusion in the list.

These could be friends, family or colleagues, but most importantly, people who have some educational, career or lifetime accomplishments that warrant their inclusion, plus having questions about the HIV=Aids theory. Secondly, David wanted me to support an appeal in the Parenzee court case in Australia, my financial circumstances allowing, and thirdly, to pass the mail on to other people or organisations who might financially support an appeal.But first, he gave more information about the Parenzee case, and why every Aids rethinker should stand behind it.

This email made me recollect my long and fearful past since I was first condemned to death in 1991 by a doctor who found me with pneumonia. That was long before an uproar that followed reports that some of our ministers had been forced to undergo HIV tests before they could be cleared to travel abroad. One year into the death sentence, another doctor diagnosed me with herpes zoster.

Well, that was 16 years ago, and I am surprised with each passing day. Even more recently, I fell ill and spent a few weeks in hospital. It was during this time that I begun casting doubts on the myth about HIV and Aids. I noticed how doctors were skeptical, even hostile, to people who had tested positive. My case was an injury on my left arm, which, in another age, would have had nothing to with my alleged status. But the doctors would not hear anything like that. My side of the story was a distraction.

I have since learnt that doctors can sentence you to death for a disease they are not sure exists. And many people have been condemned to early graves by just that one mark on a medical report. However, I am an avid reader and a liberal thinker, and it was not long before I came across the radical thoughts (if you like to put it that way) of one Christine Maggiore. Maggiore, an HIV-positive activist who claims that HIV does not cause Aids, is the founder of Alive & Well Aids Alternatives, an organisation which questions common assumptions about HIV and Aids.

Maggiore stunned the world when she insisted that the death of her three-year-old daughter, Eliza Jane Scovill, on May 16, 2005 was due to an allergic reaction to amoxicillin and not HIV. To modern medicine, a patient being admitted to hospital is an Aids suspect. He or she must have HIV and the test is just to confirm it. In Kenya, they do this to pregnant women on routine check or accident victims or benevolent blood donors even without seeking their consent, without proper counselling . Since I read Maggiore, I have been amazed everyone was being made to feel guilty about being ill, that our ignorant relatives and even medical “experts” were treating every poor and sick person like he or she had gone ahead and drank poison. And because I am among the condemned, I understand the plight of Andre Parenzee almost personally, so I am writing this column for other like-minded people, free thinkers, or those who hope there is someone sane out there, who will tolerate second thoughts on HIV and its alienated victims.

The fury and pandemonium against HIV is so deafening that many people’s lives, families and right to be free and happy have been crushed by these stupid tests. While poverty and hunger is killing us, our government and several organisations are gorging themselves with donor funds spreading the myth of HIV without putting in enough research on the relation between bad diet, poverty, hunger and HIV status. Reading Christine Maggiore, one could go on and on about how the rich establishment has silenced all dissenting voices on HIV, anti-retrovirals and obvious stigmatisation.

 this story first appeared in Business Daily, Kenya. November 6, 2007.

East African writers attend CHOGM

Where have all the writers gone?

By Otieno Amisi

East African writers, publishers and scholars gathered in Kampala late last month. They drew attention to the art of creative writing and literary criticism. The meeting, dubbed The People’s Forum, was held in Kampala between November 18 – 25 this year.

It was the largest such gathering of literary critics, writers and publishers from across East Africa.

Two sad events have recently brought literary studies to the fore in recent weeks. The first was the death of Dr Taitta Towett late last month. Another has been the news of the death of renowned Nigerian writer Cyprian Ekwensi. Prof Chris Wanjala, a literary scholar at the University of Nairobi who also runs the popular KBC radio programme Literary Giants, says participants to the Kampala event have been invited from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi Wanjala is East Africa’s leading literary critic and chairman of the East Africa Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language studies. Cyprian Ekwensi, 86, was one of Africa’s veteran novelists.

He was also a pharmacist and public commentator. The author of the popular Jagua Nana series of novels died at the Niger Foundation hospital on 5th November in Enugu where he underwent an operation for an undisclosed ailment. Initial reports were not clear if he died during or after the operation. Ekwensi’s latest contribution to the literary world was Cash on Delivery, a collection of short stories. Last year the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and the Committee for Relevant Arts (CORA) feted him.

Ekwensi was celebrated as the forefather of the city novel. He is believed to be the author of the earliest published fiction on social life in the Lagos Metropolis. The novelist will be remembered for his down-to-earth style of writing and his appeal to young reders. He had over 20 novels and short stories to his credit, including People of the City, Burning Grass, Beautiful Feathers, Iska, Rainmaker, Lokotown , Divided We Stand, The Motherless Baby and Gone to Mecca. Closer home, Dr. Taitta Arap Toweett, ( 5th May1925 – 8th October 2007) was variously described as a seer, pioneer, Statesman, Poet, Writer, Scholar, Linguist, Historian, Master Politician, Traditionalist and eccentric.

Besides his work as minister, he found time for scholarship and creative writing, rising to the chairmanship of Kenya Literature Bureau and Director of Kenya Times Newspaper. Toweett wrote no less than eight books, namely Epitaph on Colonialism and Shorter Poems, An African’s Year in England, A Study of Kalenjin Linguistics (1979), English-Kiswahili-Kalenjin Dictionary (1979), English-Swahili-Kalenjin Nouns Dictionary, Oral Traditional History of The Kipsigis (1980), Tears Over A Dead Cow and Other Stories and 100 Daily Essays.

In reflecting these recent incidents, I got thinking, “Can business, leadership and art work together? Is it possible to link art critics and scholars? Is it possible to find the missing link between reading, writing and cultural appreciation and a sense of national pride? Can we have an East African equivalent of the incisive London Review of Books, or the authoritative New York Times Literary Supplement? Unlike in the so called golden era, art criticism is today virtually non existent. Surprisingly few modern journalists can write a sensible paragraph appreciating a novel, a new movie, a collection of paintings or photographs or a series of cartoons. Many years ago Taban lo Liyong wrote The Last Word. Then Chris Wanjala penned Season of Harvest. For Home and Freedom and Another Last Word quickly followed. But since then, there have been virtually no critiques of literature on the local scene. Literary journals are few and far between. New Age died only two years after its inception, and Kwani’s deadlines are a struggle of life and death. So why are our dons, who earn their living by expounding upon the written word, not mourning?

Why are publishers moaning about people not reading, when so little is being done to encourage people to read? Why are our scholars not reviving Joliso, Darlite, or East Africa Journal? This death of literary scholarship is manifest in several ways. A decline in interest in literature, the production of sub standard books, the collapse of writers’ associations, and a folding of literary journals. One does not need to search far to see the sense of despair that has gripped the literary world, or what is left of it. Our university departments of literature have been cowed into a strange muddle called integration. Our best novels, even those that win the occasional but coveted Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature, are half sheng, half bad grammar and weak plots. I am talking about Marjorie Oludhe McGoye’s Kushnev Farm Wanjiru Waithaka’s The Unbroken Spirit and Kingwa Kamenchu’s To Grasp at a Star. The result is a sea of confusion that a reader recently expressed to me at a poetry reading: “I have just finished reading Kwani? 04 and I must say it was an interesting read, save for the craze with blogs and an overwhelming sense of defensiveness.” Literary journals in East Africa have been few and far between. Besides Kwani, there isn’t much literary activity going on in Nairobi, Kampala or Dar es Salaam. Literary criticism, which is the gem of any department of literature or publishing house worth its name, is virtually lacking in the region.

East Africa’s literary history is littered with bundles of journals and magazines- Darlite, Nexus, Black Orpheus, Transition, Joliso, Ghala, East African Journal- and many more. Journals, even corporate inhouse newsletters, are noble creations which nurture literary talent, create a spirit of community or merely explains a firm’s policies. Many cultural, business political or literary magazines are often born at a time when the political, economic or cultural climate is ripe- when as one would say, the winds of change blow strongly over the land, raising the level of consciousness of the people. In essence, then they represent or manifest a movement in society triggered off by the prevailing political, economic and cultural climate. Remember Njehu Gatabaki and his Nairobi Law Monthly, or Pius Nyamora and Society? It is therefore not suprising that when the cultural and political tide ebbs and people find their places in business, politics and sports, such magazines are sniffed away like candles. Much like civil society business, which died when the activists became waheshimiwa. This is principally because so few so called men of letters their founders and sponsors are artists at heart and they would rather invest their intellectual and financial input in apparently (sadly) more socially and financially rewarding activities like politics, law or trade. Perhaps if we had a vibrant literary society, bigger than Kwani? and the university of Nairobi’s department of literature put together, we could talk of a literary rain forest, overgrown with poetry, fiction and criticism. Will the men and women of letters please stand up to be counted?

Otieno Amisi has recently published Write that Story, A Guide for Journalists and Editors.

my cv

OTIENO AMISI  CURRICULUM VITAE 1.   PERSONAL INFORMATION1.1    Name:                                         Aloice Otieno Amisi Ogara1.2    Nationality:                                Kenyan1.3    Sex:                                             Male 1.4    Address:                                c/o David G. Maillu

                                                            BOX 20019 -00200

                                                            Nairobi, Kenya     

                                                         Mobile: 0720 913 981                                                1.5.  email  : otienoamisi@yahoo.com1.6 websiteS: www.otienoamisi.wordpress.com,  www.writethatstory.wordpress.com.1.7 Occupation: Journalist /Editor1.8 Special abilities: §                  Over 15 years’ experience as a journalist in all capacities, 5 years at management level.§                  Proficiency in writing, editing, layout and design, §                  Highly innovative and creative team leader able to work with minimum supervision§                  Familiar with and involved in a wide range of journalism issues§                  Published extensively in all three leading dailies in Kenya and in international journals. 2. PERSONAL AMBITIONTo be a highly sought after writer, communications manager and trainer in East Africa and beyond. 3.  ACADEMIC BACKGROUND3.1 UniversityUniversity of Nairobi:Period:                             September 2000 to December, 2001  Faculty:                            School of JournalismCourse:                             Post graduate Diploma in Mass CommunicationSpecialization:                  Print journalism          3.2  Kenyatta University:           Period:                                        May 1987 to March, 1990          Course:                                       Bachelor of Education (Arts)          Specialization:                            Education/English High School:3.3   Gendia High school:          Period:                       1986-1987           Course                        ‘A’ Level education          Grade:                       3 principal passes in English, Geography, Christian Religious Ed. 3.4    St. Mary’s school, Yala:          Period:                                         1981-1984           Course                                        ‘O’ Level education          Grade:                                         Division One, 19 points 4.  WORK  EXPERIENCE 4.1 January, 2004  to datePost:                        Part time lecturer, Journalism Organisation:        The Kenya PolytechnicUnit:                        Department of Graphic ArtsResponsibilities:    Reporting to the Head of department, Graphic Arts, I train 90 second year students in print journalism, media ethics, editing and sub editing. 4 .2   Current  Employment:       June, 2006 to dateMedia House:                     Oakland Media ServicesDepartment:                       EditorialPost:                                     Revise Editor and Editorial CoordinatorResponsibilities:                  Reporting to and working closely with the Publishing Director, I assign feature topics to writers every month, copy edit, sub-edit and oversee page layout and design of 4 monthly magazines namely The Lawyer, Management  and Sokoni .Also writes monthly lifestyle column. 5.2    January 2006 to June 2006 Media House:              Times News Services Limited Department:                EditorialPost:                              Features EditorResponsibilities:          Reporting to and working closely with the Editor in Chief, I assign feature topics to 25 correspondents and freelance writers every week, copy edit, sub-edit and oversee page layout and design of 16 feature pages (Wednesday and Friday magazines) and leader. Also wrote a weekly commentary and theatre column.             5.3    September 2005 to January 2006Media House:              Times News Services Limited Department:                EditorialPost:                             Senior Sub EditorResponsibilities:          Reporting to and working closely with the Chief Sub Editor,  I did copy tasting, copy editing, oversee page layout and design of news pages and special reports. In the absence of the Chief Sub, I took full responsibility of the news pages. 5.4.   20th December, 2003- 8th August,  2005Media House:          Institute for Civic Affairs and DevelopmentDepartment:            EditorialPost:                         Managing Editor/National Editor of The Link, a monthly newspaper on governance and developmentResponsibilities:    Reporting to and working closely with the Institute Secretary and Programme Officer

• Recruitment, training and assigning of reporters and civic educators, report and proposal writing, monitoring and evaluation of project

• Supervising staff (writers and civic educators)
• Writing and conducting interviews for investigative, anti-corruption stories, writing monthly leads and commentaries 
• With a designer, doing the page layout and design of the 32 page paper
• Overseeing printing, circulation, and distribution of newspaper.

 5.5. 30th June 2001 – 8th August, 2003          Media House:             The Standard  Group          Department:               Editorial          Post:                            Sub Editor/Features Writer          Responsibilities:       Reporting and working closely with the Features Editor, writing, editing layout and proofreading features pages in Sunday, Wednesday and Friday Magazines in The Standard. Also wrote supplements, commentaries and analyses from time to time. 6.0    LEADERSHIP HISTORY6.1    Post Graduate:           2000: Editor, The Anvil, a  training newspaper of the  School of Journalism6.2    University:           1987-1990: Founder/Editor, The Campus Beacon, a termly students’ newsletter6.3    High School:            1983:       Editor, students’ newsletter St. Mary’s High School, Yala.          1983- 1984:     Secretary, Debating Club, Gendia High School, Kendu Bay. 7.0      HOBBIESStirring up debates to challenge established viewsReading, Writing/Theatre              8.0       REFEREES8.1   Mr. John Kamau, Editor, Business Daily,Nation Media GroupE mail: jkamau@nation.co.keTel 0722 562 854  8.2    Mr. Okech KendoManaging Editor Quality Control,The Standard Group, P.O. Box 30080, Nairobi.  Email: kendo@eastandard.net    Tel 0722 802 079          

Literary Giants programme

Literary Agents. E-Publishing. Editing. Book Marketing

P.O Box 20019, Nairobi. Tel 0722501372, 0720 913 981, 0721 978 925

 PROMOTING A READING CULTURE THROUGH SUPPORT FOR RADIO PROGRAMME Welcome to our weekly programme, Literary Giants, currently running live on KBC English Service on Sundays 1.30 – 2.30 pm. The two year programme has become increasingly popular because of its focus on and promotion of new books written and published locally. In particular, we provide a forum to promote your new books as we discuss issues in the media, creative writing, publishing and reading. The programme is conducted by a panel of award winning writers and respected critics under the chairmanship of Prof. Chris Wanjala of the University of Nairobi. It is part of our contribution to promoting a reading and writing culture in East Africa and Kenya in particular. In the recent past, we have featured Dr. Taitta Towett, (former minister of education) Onduko bw’ Atebe, (winer, Wahome Mutahi Prize 2006) Kingwa Kamenchu and Wanjiru Waithaka, (2007 winners of the Jomo Kenyatta Prize) and Dr. David G. Maillu, among others. We are now writing to seek your support for the programme in the following manner per week. Provision of 4 complementary copies of new book    (complementary)

Mobilisation                   

Honoraria

Transport and lunches          

We look forward to your kind support. Yours sincerely,  

Otieno Amisi

for: Prof Chris Wanjala.Chairman.

Stress management and the workplace

Stress management crucial in management

By Otieno Amisi

Forget absenteeism. The most serious problem in today’s workplace is presenteeism. People go to work when they shouldn’t, or work too long, or too hard. Contrary to popular belief, a large chunk of Kenya’s workforce spends far too many hours at work. Many more simply go through the motions of work, like zombies. And what’s worse, productivity is going down. According to Nancy Njoki Kamau of Lifebloom Consultancy, employers need to take the existence of presenteeism at work more seriously if productivity is to rise. “Presenteeism is a problem that creates huge loses for companies, much like absenteeism is known to do.” In a new video, Nancy examines psychological challenges at the modern workplace. The video, ‘Stress Management in a Changing Environment,’ was launched on November 16 at the St Andrew’s Church Conference Hall, Nairobi. It discusses the psychological impact of work and examines some stress coping mechanisms at both the personal and office levels. The guest of honour at the launch was Joseph Kaguthi, former Nyanza PC. “Stress is the body’s reaction to anxiety producing events. The force of stress, if not well handled, can bring down and disrupt one’s life completely,” Nancy explains. “Today’s lifestyle demands a reference tool on coping with stress. This video fills in that gap with local examples that people can easily identify with at work, at home or at community levels.” Nancy also defines stress as an emotional sign that the concerned person needs help to cope with issues in their lives that are demanding more energies and capacities than they presently have. “Stress affects the way we feel and think. When someone is stressed, they perform below capacity. They also run the risk of reaching burnout.” The video explores sources of stress at work, at home and in the community. It also examines signs and symptoms, such depression and explains how to cope. A recent study in Nairobi shows that negativity, a key emotion among both managers and employees, leads to the loss of motivation and morale. She says there is need for more studies in the organizational change phenomena that focuses on employees. The study observes that only a few organizations are proactively involved in communication processes that help workers understand the effects of change and how to manage stress. Most workers in the study, conducted by a counseling and management training firm, placed lack of proper and adequate communication at forty five percent, while those who wanted improvement on training reported twenty five percent. Improvement of welfare was twenty one percent. Seventy percent of the participants felt that poor communication was a major problem in their workplaces. The survey also reflects a growing element of resentfulness and suspicion among workers towards employers. Nancy says though many employees and managers go through psychological problems both at home and in the office, they are too immersed in work to address these problems, often until it is too late. This results in low morale, which impacts negatively on the productivity of organizations. In some cases, stress leads to depression and suicidal tendencies among workers, she says. The researcher says people have become so busy struggling to eke out a living, that they have forgotten how to listen to one another. “The traditional social systems of support have collapsed and people need something to fall back on,” Nancy says. “The work arena in both the public and private sectors has left workers with stress that has not been addressed.” At home, the economic problems both for the rich and poor triggers immense stress. Dual career parenting (where parents are employed), and single parenting have exerted considerable pressure on motherhood and fatherhood in recent years. At the community level, issues such as politics, poor infrastructure and insecurity are a further burden. People are further compelled to take on too many roles in religious and community activities, which further strains the family unit. For school going teenagers, the havoc wrought by bodily changes is compounded with growing pressure to perform and fulfill sometimes unrealistic expectations of peers, parents and teachers. For them, Nancy also published a book, What do I do now?(EAEP, 2005). “Stress can lead to clinical depression and burn out if not well addressed. People who are depressed are sometimes suicidal due to the feeling of hopelessness they have about them. They tend to blame other people and not take responsibility for things,” Nancy explains. The 36 minute video, taped before a live audience, is a handy human resource tool for managers. It also focuses on dealing with change at a personal level. It is available both on VHS and DVD formats. Nancy Kamau is a member of Kenya Counseling Association and the Kenya Institute of Management. She is a counseling psychologist, researcher and mentor. A prolific writer and researcher, she has been a columnist with Sunday Nation. She studied research, marketing and psychology and has presented findings in both local and international forums on human development, organizational change, marketing and product development. She has also anchored in many radio and television programs on change management issues. Pic caption: Nancy Kamau. Original pic available.

Otieno Amisi on Tony Mochama’s poetry

Gangsters invade literary sceneCritics are divided over journalists’ new collection of poems, writes Otieno Amisi. Writing is suddenly becoming an attractive pastime in Kenya. Politicians, religious leaders and journalists are writing poems and biographies. A few are even venturing into the craft of poetry. With dire costs. Last year, there was Kiraitu Murungi’s Song of My Beloved (Oakland Books, 2007). Then Raila Odinga followed with An Enigma in Kenyan Politics. And Kalembe Ndile has recently come up with My Squatters, My Struggles, My Dream. Now journalist Tony Mochama has joined the fray. But Mochama is a different sort of literary gangster. A journalist with something of a reputation for experimentation, Mochama is synonymous with what has become known as teen journalism, a medium obsessed with a footloose urban lingo called sheng and local heroes or ‘celebs’ as these one line, on line musicians are called. Last month, he launched his collection of poems under the title, What if I am a Literary Gangster? at the Goethe Institute, Nairobi. 

The effect of Mochama’s book has been to divide critics down in the middle. There are those who think this kind of new, underground writing should be encouraged, especially considering that publishing even a line of poetry is so difficult in our part of the world.

 

Then there are those who argue that the book is not serious enough that its lighthearted broaching on what should be serious international issues like global trade imbalances and freedom is intolerable.

 

Sympathetic reviewers like Joseph Ngunjiri have been at pains to defend Mochama. Ngunjiri identifies what he calls “the soft side of the gangster. “ But old school critics  like Egara Kabaji argue that his verses are “decidedly defiant,’ and are “neither poetic nor artistic.”

 These are not the conventional neatly trimmed lines, as in rich in meaning and social concern as Okot p’Bitek or Jared Angira. Because Mochama the journalist is always on the run, his scribblings and musings are no more than snippets from his fleeting encounters with the world, with a world on the run. According to the sympathizers, Mochama’s brand of poetry is ‘from another planet.’

Lumping his apparent ‘success’ in journalism of the gossip and rumour type, they see Mochama as a rising star in Kenya’s literary scene. But pulse journalism and poetry are worlds apart.

 

Ngunjiri argues that Mochama’s poems are ‘refreshingly real, and could only come from someone who has been through so much.’ He goes ahead to identify what he calls the ‘softer side’ of the poet, which he claims comes out especially in a piece titled, ‘Whispers’ and which is dedicated to the late word juggler Wahome Mutahi. The poem goes:

 Laughter and your stories, lingers,Like a silver cobweb clingsOn a broken wall lit by silver moonlight 

But the ‘gangster’ leaves the reader breathless not for its lack of style or bland creativity, but for the sheer absence of beautiful language. The persona rushes, in one breath, between airports and seaports and rhythms and rhymes that are at once alarmist and drunken, then rushes back again to a gasp of short lived reality.

 According to the author, the title was provoked by one Egara Kabaji, a former don at Kenyatta University lecturer at Masinde Muliro University who once dismissed Mochama as a “Literary Gangster, whose godfather is Binyavanga Wainaina.” In revenge, Mochama deliberately misspells the don’s name, calling him “Egaji Kabira, a lecturer at some minor college in Western Kenya.” Kabaji, like many grammar school graduates, has few kind words for Mochama’s writing, which is mere wordplay. Mochama simply splatters words on a page, without a major theme or driving force. He is more of a roving juggler with words than a serious poet. But perhaps he had no intentions to be a serious poet—and like his newspaper celebs, just wants to ride big on fame, with a miniature substance.

His scribblings are about nothing in particular and about everything all at once; snippets of his love life, his nightlife, his  love for vodka and his travels to far away cities. His attempt to rhyme at all costs sometimes ends up like an echo of those ‘hip hop’ musicians who strangle meaning in their strings of rhyme, or poor imitations of Wole Soyinka. Who said poetry must rhyme?

Mochama’s poems are also full of strange references to Siberia, Russia, St. Petersburg, Stalin and other travel experiences. But who said poetry must be about distant journeys and privileged encounters?Yet his skill with words sometimes emerges strongly. Sample this:When I run out of poetic tricksI shall commit syntaxFerry my body in a verseAnd bury me, in the symmetryMochama the wordsmith has a pulse that comes with a wicked, sometimes explosive, sometimes mischievous sense of humour, and, — let’s give it to him — a whiff of fresh air into the drab poetic scene.

Here’s another clip from Black Mischief a word play on Sissina, the victim of Naivasha farmer Chomondley’s gun wielding racism:

 Sisina’s sin, it seemsIs that he had no ideaWhere Naivasha ends,And England begins. 

Right from the cover, which shows a shattered glass window, complete with holes on the words of the title itself, what is contained between the covers of the book is quite unlike  your ordinary, conventional book of poetry. It is unthinkable that such a book should find its way into the classroom; the good old chaps at the Kenya Institute of Education are unlikely to take a second look at it; but not everything must be written for the Orange book.

 

In ‘Trading Places’, the poet takes a mischievous shot at the social, political and economic differences between Africa and the West. He addresses the double standards employed by the West when dealing with Africa, and in typical poetic license, puts Africa at the top of the world.

 When he is not tackling universal themes like freedom and love he takes a philosophical musing on life and death. But his tone is typically, even annoyingly, happy-go-lucky, full of mischief and appears fired off from a cannon loaded with irony. 

Like Kabaji, Otieno Otieno, a journalist with the Nation Media group, is furious. He writes, “It is not so often that literary clowns like Mochama enjoy such unflattering reviews. But the intellectual freedom of the blogosphere propels this rebel from obscurity into a somewhat comfortable abode in the mainstream.

 

Another reviewer, Munene wa Mumbi, calls it ‘exhibitionist verse, which fits under the category of travelogue’ and relegates this writing to a Russian Tourism Board Newsletter, ‘if it is there.’ Mochama is merely fascinated with gangsterism. He is awestruck by overseas travel,’ Munene barks. “Clipping the lines of a short story does not render it a poem.”

 By and large, the book remains a one man show, lacking the editorial edge that could have come with a bigger, local and more careful publisher. The book is distributed by Suba Books and Periodicals.