Who Is Somali? Where Is Somali(a)?

I tell my friend that when I’m president I will make him District Commissioner of Moyale Town. My friend is Kikuyu by default. I say Kikuyu by default because there is Ethiopian in him. People often mistake him for a Somali. I, on the other hand, am Luo by default. Luo by way of Uganda and …

Utumishi Kwa Wote: Kenya Slips Into Paranoia

A couple of months ago I ran into this video of Abdulahi Ahmed, a third generation Kenyan Somali, speaking about being denied an identification card. This video was shot by Kuweni Serious after the Kenyan government restricted the issuance of identification cards and passports to ethnically Somali individuals — be they from Somalia or Kenyan-born: …

Kenya’s Ha-penis Is Erect

Bad news always comes at one in the morning, in a British accent. That is how I heard that Kenya had plunged into civil war in 2007/8; that Wangari Maathai had died; and now, that Kenya has invaded Somalia. I heard it all on BBC. It is psychologically disturbing, especially to us former colonial subjects, …