“Proverbs in every community give an insight on culture, values and beliefs of the community. They are like a window or tour into the heart of the community.” – @MtaitaMkauma
With that tweet summing up everything about the essence of this article, let’s journey to the heart of the Digo community through 15 of their proverbs.
- Alume mbere, alume nyuma. Its literal translation is “men infront, men behind”. It is used to encourage overall responsibility, courage and proactive nature in a group. Those being led by a leader should be ready to step up into the leader’s shoes in their absence.
- Bahari taina msena. The ocean has no friend. Used to warn of the ocean’s ‘fickle’ nature. It has no loyalty, not even to experienced fishermen, sailors or swimmers. On a bad day anyone can face the ocean’s…
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In August 2022, I embarked on an escapade to Longido, a Tanzanian town in Arusha region, roughly a 30 minutes’ drive from Namanga; a Tanzania-Kenya border town, and just under 70 kilometers north west of Kilimanjaro.
I had passed by this dusty town in the past on several occasions on my way to and from Arusha, admiring the mountain vista from afar, but never had it crossed my mind that it harbored historical monuments. My sheer desire to tour this laid back town, was however fanned by world war I stories I have read in recent times.
Mount Longido, a peak with an elevation of 2,637 meters above sea level, is said to have been a fortress for the Germany East Africa army that decimated the British East Africa army force, together with its King’s African Rifles during World War I. It is documented that a German platoon (of about 40 soldiers)repulsed an attempted attack by a British battalion (of over 400 soldiers), and in the process inflicted heavy losses to the retreating British attackers.
While on the bus on my way there, I engaged in a chit-chat with some locals, and it appeared as though they had no clue about the intriguing treasures the lovely mountain hosted. Their only concern was that the mountain was a forest reserve – full of wild animals such as leopards, elephants, zebras – thus I needed to follow the ‘right channels’ to guarantee my safety [the dare devil in me rapidly vanished 😉 ]
I was lucky enough as one of the locals linked me up with a tour guide director; one “Baba Neema” (he preferred to be called so). I stopped by a shop at Longido shopping center as directed (Mama Neema’s shop), where Baba Neema drove to pick me up to his tour firm’s office. On the way there, we engaged in discussions ranging from the impact of Covid – 19 on local tourism (I was his third client in the last two months, and the first African at that), as well as the ongoing Kenya’s election dispute at the appellate court.
Baba Neema would then hand me over to his firm’s tour guide by the name Peter, who led me on a trail to see the famed mysterious rock imprints by Elia Bienvenuto, an Italian soldier. On the way, we passed by ruins of a colonial school. My tour guide shared that this was once an elementary school back in the days.
Opposite these ruins, and at the foot of the mountain, is what appears to be a new school.
Just past the school, we begin ascending a section of the mountain
We came across more visible ruins from the colonial era on a section of the mountain
We continued with a steady ascend on a section of the mountain
More sections of the mountain in the horizon
At the foothill of the first section of the mountain, we could have a bird’s eye view of Longido town
Here, the tour guide said was a quarry site where Italian prisoners got their road construction material, though it’s now been turned into a playground by the community staying at the mountain foothill.
We also came across fresh water from the mountain – now tapped to serve the community and their livestock
The Mysterious WWII Rock Inscriptions
According to a story from Old Africa Magazine, at age twenty, Elia sought for his mother’s permission to allow him join the Italian military – a year before he reached legal drafting age. Upon his drafting, he was posted to Africa in 1932, and rendered his service in Eritrea, Somalia, and eventually Kenya.
During World War II, Elia was taken as a prisoner of war (PoW) by the British, and was sent to Tanzania. It is believed that it’s during this time that Elia made the famed rock inscriptions while in Longido.
My guide narrated to me that Italian PoWs were used to build roads and bridges, among them, a bridge in Namanga, over Namanga River – built in 1943. Elia would later be shipped to Great Britain and eventually repatriated to Italy at the end of the war.
Due to time, I could not visit other sections of the mountains to view bunkers used by the Germany WWI forces. Some few kilometers from the foot of the mountain where we were, I was told there lies a site for War Graves, though the place currently serves as a memorial site only since the remains of the soldiers were moved to a new location in Dar es Salaam.
NB: Despite Mt. Longido being a forest reserve, the Maasai community reside in and around it, and live in harmony with the wild animals as is the norm with their Maasai kin in Kenya.
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Peter, my Longido tour guide can be reached directly on WhatsApp (+255 788 295 390) for trip advise and sightseeing bookings.
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Credits: E. Bahati #KOT
On August 9, Kenya shall head into elections to elect a new president – the fifth – who’ll take the reigns from president Uhuru Kenyatta, whose two term in office is officially coming to an end. Technically, the constitution bars him from vying due to the set maximum two term limits.
The battle to “the house on the hill” (state house), is officially on, pitting one time political allies (now turned foes) – Azimio’s Raila Odinga, and Kenya Kwanza’s William Ruto, in what many deem as ‘the mother of all political duels’. These two are so far presumed to be the frontrunners in a race many see to be a “two horse race”.
In the race is also the most learned candidate (with 17 degrees) – Roots Party’s Professor George Wajackoyah, and last but not least Agano Party’s Mwaure Waihiga.
Promises galore
Typical of every election year, presidential aspirants have been doubling down on election promises in the quest to woo voters and cement their support base – mostly the youth and women.
Raila, for instance, has had an array of promises if elected president. These include: free education for all, tax breaks for startups, tax exemptions for special interest groups, grants for the unemployed, mass employment, tackling poverty and illiteracy, just to mention but a few.
Similarly, Ruto, if elected, promises: free lunch for primary schools, free education for all, free sanitary pads for school girls, free diapers for newborns, a women’s fund, 50 per cent women in cabinet, to implement the two-thirds gender rule, to end Gender Based Violence (GBV).
What a shame that 59 years later (of independence), we, as a citizenry, continue to fall for some of these ‘tired lies’ from seasoned politicians, promises first echoed by the nation’s founding fathers, as well as successive presidents!
Professor Wajackoyah aka ‘Ganja man’ aka ‘Rastaman’ on the other hand, if elected president, offers what he himself terms as “solutions”. Key among them include: legalizing marijuana, snake farming, and using revenue collected from these to offset Kenya’s foreign debts owed.
Further, his campaign platform is fronting a 4-day work week. Whether these solutions are practical or not, at least they are “fresh promises” – away from the usual ‘tired lies’ we have been accustomed to every election cycle, a fact that has won him a sizeable pool of admirers – mostly the youth.
Even my good friend, Mbate, feels that the ‘solutions’ fronted by Wajackoya, seem more realistic as opposed to the other candidates’, whose promises are merely “hot air”.
The question a section of pundits are asking however is -Is he (Wajackoyah) for real, or just a ‘passing cloud’ not worth being taken seriously?
Rastaman’s bhang manifesto has however attracted contempt from the religious fraternity, and drug abuse groups.
As for Wahiga, I am probably among the few that are perhaps yet to hear the party’s appeal and or campaign platform, so I do not have much to write about his promises to Kenyans if elected president, save for the pledge to ‘fight corruption’.
My defiance to head to the polls
While I am registered to vote, I shall not head to the polls to exercise my right to elect the fifth president of the Republic of Kenya in August, for the simple reason that I am not convinced the elephant in the room (free, fair, credible elections) has been tackled.
Any honest Kenyan knows that the only free, fair and credible election was the 2002 one. Anything that has been conducted thereafter has been utmost sham – 2007, 2013, 2017. Kenyans that are of age can vividly recall what transpired in each of these three election years.
First and foremost, those that oversaw the bungled election the appellate court overturned in 2017 (a first in Africa), happen to still be at the helm – either at the center of the electoral body itself, and or its corresponding government body; the IEBC chair himself, and its former CEO (now at Communications Authority – CA). We may all know the roles the regulator plays in the election process, among them, the seamless electronic transmission of poll results.
Not long ago, incumbent Chief Justice Martha Koome called on the electoral body – IEBC, to address all the lingering issues (from 2017), ahead of the polls, in efforts to avert ‘courting disaster’. Her call comes in the midst of controversial remarks by a number of government aligned parliamentarians and officials.
Sabina Chege, Murang’a Women Representative has recently sparked controversy with her vote rigging utterances. Sabina openly bragged of her party – Jubilee, having rigged (for President Uhuru in 2017), and that they may as well use the same tactic to rig in 2022 (in favour of Raila, once President Kenyatta’s rival in the past two presidential elections, but now his preferred successor following the historic“handshake”).
Her dangerous remarks may as well cast and cement doubts in the hearts of many Kenyan voters who were beginning to trust the process, as to whether the exercise will be a credible one after all, a recipe for voter apathy.
In May 2022, the Cabinet Secretary for ICT, Joe Mucheru was widely quoted by the media with remarks that he did not intend to rig the poll but ‘protect Raila’s votes’. What any concerned Kenyan should be asking is “why protect votes of just one candidate and not all?”
Similarly, another MP whom I shall not name, openly bragged that this time around, whoever ‘counts the vote’ is on their side, therefore, there is no way they could lose the election this time around. The writing is clearly on the wall!
Secondly, I do not feel like the “two main parties” – Azimio and Kenya Kwanza, have the interests of the majority of Kenyans at heart; it’s evident that their respective candidates, having served in high positions in previous successive governments, offered us nothing then, and will likely offer us nothing now – except the same old recycled lies and politics of division. Professor Wajackoya echoes this sentiments – he terms Raila and Ruto as ‘small time liars’
In 2020 for instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Baba (Raila) is famously known to have been involved in a ‘spat’ with doctors in the frontline fighting against Coronavirus. The doctors had threatened to down their tools over what they termed as poor working conditions; low pay, overworking, and the lack of vital PPEs. This ‘spat’ came at a time when the “handshake principal” (Baba) was strongly advocating for a BBI Referendum in the middle of pandemic – not even a stimulus package for struggling Kenyans that had lost their livelihoods, but an insignificant referendum – how ironic!
Mr. Hustler – the spin doctor on the other hand, has been dogged with his doublespeak and the integrity question during his tenure as Deputy president. It’s laughable how he’s perfectly played the role of opposition leader in the very government he’s been serving, a move that has put him at loggerheads with his boss Mr. Kenyatta, culminating to a total fallout, which is already proving to be detrimental to his campaign machinery and scheme.
While voting for a third party seems the more viable option, its chances are hopeless, because the so called ‘deep state’ won’t let it win (should the third party defy the odds and win of course). In the famous words of Joseph Stalin. “…who will count the votes, and how….is who is extraordinarily important”. This is to say that whoever the “deep state” ‘blesses’ in this race (it is public knowledge by now who that is), is the one that shall carry the day, despite all I can say or do at the ballot.
With Raila and Karua, and or with Ruto and Gachagua in the house on the hill, Kenya is bound to waddle and paddle in the same old muddle. As retired Chief Justice Willy Mutunga rightly puts it, neither of the two parties has the answers to Kenya’s problems.
One – Baba, promises to bring back the BBI reforms thrown out by the courts, in a move perceived as aiming to ‘create more positions’ to accommodate his loyal sidekicks.
The other – Chief Hustler, is believed to be ‘covertly’ working to revive the same despite having openly opposed the reforms, that is if the pledges of the ‘nonexistent’ positions for his cronies are anything to go by, because let’s face it – such positions can only be created through a constitutional change and or a BBI ‘revival’.
I thus will not be party to electing any party that cares about sharing positions more than it does about critical issues such as the ballooning unemployment rate among the youth, the ever rising huge external debt, rampant corruption, and the high cost of living faced by the voter constituent.
I rightly know this will make little or no difference, so, for those of you that still have some spine to vote; for one reason or another, go and take part in the August polls.
Perhaps the questions; relevant or otherwise, I would like to throw your way are: Why are you voting Azimio and or Kenya Kwanza? Again, is it because their respective campaigns are issue-based, or it’s because of your sycophancy for the parties ‘tribal Kingpins?’ Is it because of their integrity and or principles? Will your vote make Kenya a better country post elections, or it will land us in the same quagmire we find ourselves in every quinquennial cycle?
As for me, until the day we will do away with the ‘strong man syndrome’ and replace it with strong independent institutions – in words and in action, until the ‘fake woke’ members of the fourth estate – some of whom are well known donors to the two political sides – stop playing partisan, until we level the ground and guarantee fairness to all parties, until our leaders start campaigning on a real issues platform, until they (leaders) shun politics of ethnic mobilization and balkanization, until they (leaders) do away with politics of selfish interests and gratification at the expense of the citizenry and national interests, and until we call back some faint spirit of the Retired Chief Justice David Maraga; the spirit of fidelity and adherence to the rule of law – when we can again grant Kenyans hope that we can indeed as a country hold a fair election, and not till then, I shall continue to sit out on matters polls in this country.
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An afterthought: A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims, but accomplices. – Internet quote
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I happened to be in Dar es Salaam in April, just in time for the famous Kariakoo derby; a significant eternal sporting rivalry between Simba Sports Club (SC) and Yanga – Tanzania’s most successful, and biggest clubs by fan base. As a Simba fan, I had had this on my bucketlist for a awhile, and now that I was here, this was an opportune time for me to experience the glamour that comes with this derby, dubbed as the biggest in East and Central Africa, and ranked among the top five derbies in Africa.
On match day, my local host made plans to get us tickets to the game. Besides the entry ticket, I was issued with a smart card, a card I was informed could be used to make payments and authentication related to football matches, as well as an array of other transactions, among them ferry, rapid bus transport, just to mention but a few.
A trip downtown Kariakoo market – a neighborhood harboring the headquarters of the two arch-rivals, exuded the excitement in the air, with fans donning jerseys of their respective teams – green and yellow for Yanga, and red for Simba (nicknamed Msimbazi), and all hype about the match.
Owing to the spare time that we had head of the game, I added a quick escapade by ferry to Nyerere bridge on my itinerary, and had a quick snack of ndizi za kuchoma (roast plantain) with Mishikaki (skewered meat pieces) before dashing off.
Nyerere bridge is said to be one of the longest bridge in Tanzania, and is named after the country’s founding father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
On our way to the stadium, we could hardly get means of transport as fans had thronged the bodas bodas (motorbike taxi), bajajis (rick shaws), and dala dalas (taxis).
We were thus forced to make a 7 kilometer odyssey albeit on foot, to Benjamin Mkapa stadium. On the way, Yanga team bus with a police motorcade sped past us, but with the building traffic at the stadium entrance, we were able to catch up with it as it snaked its way into the stadium.
Inside the stadium, the derby fever was heightened. Rival fans with colorful makarapas (hand-crafted and painted hard hats), vuvuzelas (brightly colored plastic horns), taunting their opponents.
The stadium was greeted with deafening sounds of vuvuzelas when the teams stepped on the tuff. A moment of silence was observed to honour the fallen Kenya’s former president Mwai Kibaki, just before the match kicked off.
Soon, the fans were treated to tantalizing football, with Simba proving to be the better side in the early minutes of the game.
A free flowing game showcased by both sides, dribbled from end to end, frequently had the fans on their feet, that it was almost difficult to have anyone glued to their seat.
In the 30th minute, the match was halted following a scuffle between Simba and Yanga players, prompting the referee to caution, then flash a yellow card to the players at the center of it. This act drew a sharp protest from the fans, with each side feeling aggrieved, and perhaps perceiving the caution as being too harsh.
As the teams headed into the changing room for the break, the scoreboard had not changed.
As the fans waited for the players to come out of the dugout for the second half, they were treated to a trailer of “The Royal Tour”, a groundbreaking documentary featuring Tanzania’s President – Mama Samia Suluhu.
At the hour mark, the center referee called for a minute break, a gesture aimed at allowing players observing Ramadhan to break the fast.
In the 70th minute, Mayele – Yanga’s lethal striker, missed a golden opportunity to break the deadlock, when his effort hit the side netting.
Minutes later, Simba would squander a chance to go clear as well, when Mugalu’s header was easily collected by Yanga’s custodian.
It was evident that each hard tackle by a player on their opponent attracted whistling from the fans, throwing of hands in the air in protest, and at times lashing directed at the linesman and or the referee for “not making the right call”.
Both teams failed to find each other’s net at the final whistle, meaning first placed on the Tanzania Premier League log – Yanga, remains 13 points clear of second placed Simba.
With 55 points against Simba’s 42, and 9 games to spare, it can be assumed that the league is Yanga’s to lose. Then again as they say here, “Mpira unadunda” (football can be unpredictable).
While my team – Simba – didn’t get the much needed win, dimming a fighting chance for their fifth successive back-to-back title in the process, I am happy to have ticked this much coveted mouth-watering match off the buckelist.
I look forward to attending the next derby inshaAllah – this football glamour with a frenzy is an experience to be experienced more than just once. You’ll agree with me I hope, don’t you? +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Peter Louis Mmbando
Introduction
Digital governance isa structure for instituting accountability, roles and decision-making authority for organisations’ digital presence. This is inclusive of websites, mobile sites, social channels and any other Internet and Web-enabled products and services (Welchman, 2015). Digitalisation in East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda) is extensive and is constantly growing. Despite the significant progress of digitalisation in every sector, however, digital rights and inclusion are lacking because present policies, regulations and guidance do not cater for data governance. The East African states are slow in adopting digital protection acts, which prevent data dominance and the massive collection and sale of data from local to multinational companies, NGOs and government surveillance. The problem is not only the issue of policies, but also the lack of advocacy and campaigns on human digital rights, since most netizens are still oblivious to their human digital rights.
Technology advancement in…
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Dakar, Senegal – This September, I was privileged to receive an invitation from an organization I consult for, to visit Senegal, the land of Teranga (Teranga is a Wolof term for hospitality), where the organization was set to launch a series of initiatives, among them – a new office in the francophone region, and several research reports that I had taken part in.
The invitation evoked narrations from half a decade ago, when a colleague, on realizing I had a strong interest in slavery history, recounted her visit to Gorée island, deemed as one of the largest slave-trading centers from the 15th century to the 19th century.
Barbara had urged me to pay pilgrimage to the island when I ever got the opportunity to. Now that I was going to be in Dakar, I could not let the chance to pay homage to this famed island pass me by.
My 9 hour voyage set off in Nairobi, with a 3 hour stopover in Addis, and later a 1 hour stopover in Bamako, Mali, before finally embarking on the Dakar stretch.
On disembarking at Dakar’s Blaise Diagne International Airport, an airport steward approached me as we were waiting for the airport bus to take us to the arrivals terminal, and smilingly said “here we are Olympique Marseille supporters”, pointing at the PSG jersey I was donning. “Why?”, I curiously sought to know. After some friendly chit-chat, he (the steward) revealed that football fans in Senegal root for Marseille with a toot and hoot, for the simple fact that most Senegalese footballers ply their trade with the French side.
I would later on learn that their strong love for ‘Le Olympians’ stems from a development partnership between the Diambars Institute – a Senegalese football academy – and the French giants.
One would have expected English side Liverpool – Sadio Mané’s club, to be the ‘people’s favourite’.
Sadio Mané’s poster is displayed at the airport’s front though, proof that he’s perhaps the nation’s star and pride.
Slave Island Pilgrimage: Île Gorée (Gorée Island)
A ferry ride to this historic island, now a UNESCO world heritage site, took us just about 20 minutes from Dakar’s port. Our guide for the day, Pape Ndiaye aka Tata, a multi-lingual licenced tour guide by the ministry, revealed to us that ‘Beer’; a Wolof name, was the island’s original name prior to the advent of colonialists, but was later renamed Goedereede by the Dutch, and corrupted to simply ‘Gorée’.
The island was ruled in succession by the Portuguese, the Dutch, the English and the French, from the 15th to the 19th century. During this era, Goreé was deemed the largest slave-trading center on the African coast, where millions of captured Africans in Senegambia’s hinterland (present day Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau) and to some extent the great Mali empire, were shipped to newfound lands in the Americas, in the infamous trans-Atlantic slave trade”.
On approaching docking, the picturesque of the island became vivid, and what a site it was to behold!
Pape, well known to the ferry captains, was able to get us permission to access the ferry’s cockpit area, where I got the opportunity to take photos.
On setting foot on the island, I couldn’t help but notice the narrow alleys, beautifully paved with cobblestones, colourful stone houses, and beautiful walls with hanging flowers.
“This island is about 900 meters length by 300 meters width, and harbours over 20 sites of interest, the mayor’s residence, and has a population of about 2,000 people, It has no car, has one donkey to pick the island’s refuse, a church, a mosque, a police station, a recreation park, and a couple of schools, and is home to Blaise Diagne – the first black African to be elected to the French Chamber of Deputies, and the first to hold a position in the French government,” Pape narrated.
Our four hour tour began with a stop at Hotel Municipal La Porte du Retour (Municipal Hotel of the Door of Return) – simply the opposite of “Door of no Return” – symbolising a “return” of descendants of enslaved Africans to the island.
Maison des Esclaves (House of Slaves)
The next stop was the house of slaves. This museum, curated by Boubacar Joseph Ndiaye, is said to be the original one storied house built in the late 1700s by Nicolas Pépin, and later run by his sister Anne Pépin, a famous French slave trader of the signara community on the island. In this house, it is where Mademoiselle Pépin lived, with the upper storey of an airy veranda and a magnificent vista being reserved for her.
The ground floor on the other hand – containing several grim chambers and dark airless dungeons – was where Africans were held captive in the worst of conditions for weeks or months, while awaiting shipping to the Americas as slaves.
The sexes were separated; shackled males in different chambers, grown women in theirs, and young girls and infants having their own.
Defiant captives were usually tortured in the underneath dungeons, and in the event of them becoming fatally ill and or dying, they were thrown at sea to be devoured by marauding sharks.
I entered one dungeon in which Tata Mandela, during his trip to the island, is said to have entered. Herein, Tata sat for several minutes, in memory of the captives that had been stowed therein in the most humiliating, degrading, and dehumanizing conditions.
Pape, the tour guide, enumerated that the main diet for the captives was a bean-based diet. Adult males, he said, were required to weigh at least 60kgs in order to ‘qualify’ to be shipped to the Americas on a boat – a journey that usually lasted 3 months at sea.
This requirement was mostly due to the torturous journey across the Atlantic ocean in chains – stacked together like sardines – and in the most unsanitary conditions.
As for the women, while in this house, the mature women were usually separated from young girls – deemed as virgins. These underage girls were said to have special sanitation amenities (in-house) reserved for them, to avoid ‘contamination’ from the older women, whose sanitation amenities were at sea.
The white traders and masters usually turned these young girls into their mistresses at will, and in the event that they fell pregnant before a slave ship docked, they were ‘permitted’ to stay on the island until they gave birth, before being shipped into slavery.
It is said that adult males and females were allowed the call of nature and sanitation only once a day (every morning), and at sea at that. During the rest of the day, they would be locked in shackles, in the chambers and dark dungeons, awaiting to pass through the notorious “Door of no return”, where a ship would be docked to ferry them across the Atlantic. Many are said to have died at sea enroute before reaching the destined distant lands.
Bambara Quartier
Our next move led us to Bambara quartier, a segregated settlement that is said to have been inhabited by the Bambara people from Mali. These people were mostly domestic slaves and were reportedly said to possess high level skills in the building of roads, fortresses and houses, and probably played a huge role in the island’s infrastructure.
Église Saint-Charles Borromée (Church of Saint-Charles Borromee)
On our way to visit this church, we passed by a 500 year old Baobab tree, and the mayor’s residence.
The Church of Saint Charles Borromee became operational in 1830, and is named after a bishop from Milan, Italy.
Our guide narrated that in the early years of its operation, Africans could not be allowed to worship here. He added that each white family on the island had a pew reserved for them during mass service and moreso, with their family name engraved on it (some pews still had these silver engravings attached to them).
At the back of the church, a spiral staircase tucked away into an ‘attic’. This sky parlor is claimed to have been a preserve of the governor whenever he attended mass.
Surprisingly, the church wall is dotted with African iconography.
It is in this church that Pope John Paul II, during his visit in 1992, asked for “forgiveness” for the ‘shameful’ slavery meted on Africans.
Before we stepped out of the church, Pape requested that we spare a few minutes to reflect and pray about the soulful moment.
École de formation d’instituteurs William Ponty (William Ponty School)
Our trek led us past the renowned William Ponty school, once mentioned by my favourite Pan-Africanist writer and historian – W.E.B Dubois, in his 1925 book ‘Worlds of Color’.
Named after William Merlaud-Ponty, a French West Africa governor general, the school was relocated here in 1913 (NB: the school is now a residential place as it was moved again – from the island).
Ponty school boasts of notable alumni that led the struggle for independence from the colonial master; France, for their respective countries.
These include the likes of Modibo Keïta of neighbouring Mali, and Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Ivory Coast, just to mention but a few.
Palais du Gouvernement (Government Palace)
Up next was this site. Built in the 1860’s, the palace is said to have housed the governor residing on Gorée island. It would later be abandoned, with a new site on mainland Dakar being preferred mainly because of the new location’s ease of access to fresh water.
Pape disclosed that the island lacked fresh water in the colonial occupation era, and that its inhabitants tapped rainwater which was stored in dug underground storage.
However, this led to a rat epidemic outbreak in 1878. The epidemic hit Gorée, decimating a fraction of its island’s population including Gorée’s only white doctor, whose sculpture is erected on the mass grave of the victims of the rat plague. The location of the grave is several meters away from this palace.
We then headed out to Restaurant Saint Germain, where I got to enjoy a sumptuous meal of barbecued chicken (dipped in lemon), with fries, washed down with a chilled drink of Bissap juice, Senegal’s ‘national drink’.
I was made to understand that this dope drink is made from hibiscus flower, blended with baobab juice.
La statue de la Libération de l΄Esclavage
This statue depicting a man and a woman breaking free from their chains, was donated by the people of Guadalupe to the people of Senegal, to symbolize liberation and ‘brotherhood’.
Originally erected near the house of slaves, it was moved to the garden square it’s currently standing on, as a move to thwart the colonial master’s desire to put up a monument of their own in the very garden.
During his visit to the island in 1998, President Bill Clinton is said to have delivered an ebullient tribute on this very square.
Five years later, George W. Bush would make his address on the island, where he mentioned the likes of Phyllis Wheatley, a seven year old girl who was dragged into slavery from this West African region in the 1760’s.
Wheatley would later go on to become a poet, and the first noted black author in America’s history.
President Obama would also follow suit -ten years later – when he toured the island.
Musée historique (historical museum)
The museum is dedicated to showcasing and commemorating the different eras in Senegal’s history. The 13 rooms display artifacts and history from ancient times to the country’s independence, key among them Senegal’s Kingdoms and Empire, slave trade, armed resistance, and European colonization.
Fort d’estrees (Fort of estrees)
Our pilgrimage drew to a close with a visit to this ancient rampart facing Dakar.
On the museum’s rooftop, several firing cannons are visible, evidence that this was undeniably the island’s defense fort.
As we waited for the ferry’s designated time for the trip back to mainland Dakar, Pape led us on a walk on the island’s various streets that led to various lush private residences which were once ‘slave houses’.
Though laden with the horrors the scenic island exposed, I left having satisfied my curiosity on the history it has harboured over the centuries.
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Please note that there are other Île de Gorée attractions that I visited but are not mentioned in this blogpost. In total, there are about 26 points of interest on the island, and I managed to take 500+ photos of these points.
I have only cherry picked the ones that were of utmost interest on my pilgrimage (for this blogpost).
Pape Tata Ndiaye, our local tour guide can be reached directly on Tripadvisor for trip advise and sightseeing bookings.
Sidenote: “During the 400th year anniversary of the first enslaved Africans’ arrival in the United States, Dakar and Gorée held a four day event dubbed ‘The Door of Return Trip’, in 2019. I was the lead guide for visitors during this event. Dr. Julius W. Garvey (Marcus Garvey’s son), visited Gorée island and urged Africans on the continent and those in Diaspora to work collectively, to change the African narrative.
The trip started in Senegal, Ghana and South Africa. The Mayor, Senghor and the Municipality, graced the event” – Pape Tata Ndiaye
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He said he liked the tattoo on the back of my neck maybe he was only thinking of me giving him head. I couldn’t respect you.Believing you could pluck my fruit, without picking my weeds. You want what you want without being sincere. You want to open me up to your depression then jump straight to the sexing. Without making a connection with affection. You’re scared I’ll hurt you like your mother did. You’re so scared that you’ll drown out your demons With sexual healing that has no true meaning. I wanted to give you the love that you so deeply crave off. I wish you stepped into my fountain of devotion And saw the love I’d give you was an olive to a dove. I wish you could see your soul is beautiful And somehow I found myself falling for you. Those rouged plump lips, The way they would…
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Hon. Jose Carvalho da Rocha, Angola Minister for Telecommunications
and Information Technologies. Photo credits: AFRINIC 31
AFRINIC 31 Summit in brief
- AFRINIC 31 is a follow up to the African Internet Summit (AIS) 2019 that was held in Kampala, Uganda from 9th – 21st June 2019, and AFRINIC 29 that was held in Hammamet, Tunisia in November 2018.
- The annual summit hosted twice in various locations throughout the region, attracts internationally renowned instructors, experts and speakers to share the latest innovations and best practices in the Internet industry.
- It’s an open forum for everyone and a place for sharing knowledge and networking within the Africa ICT community
Luanda, Angola – AFRINIC, the regional Internet registry for Africa and the Indian Ocean region, held its Internet Summit Public meeting at Talatona Convention Hotel Luanda, from 2nd – 6th December 2019.
The meeting was AFRINIC’s 31st regional Policy Forum, and its 6th to be held in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, with Maputo, Durban, Dar es Salaam, Lusaka, and Gaborone having played past hosts. AFRINIC Summits are held annually in different countries, are open to the public, and provide an excellent opportunity for Internet stakeholders to share knowledge and network within the Africa ICT community. This year’s edition was organized by AFRINIC and hosted by the government of Angola through Ministerio das Telecommunicacoes e das Tecnologies de Informacao, in collaboration with Associacao Angolana dos Provedores do Service de Internet (AAPSI). The event was sponsored by ICANN, dotAfrica, Internet Society, Angola Telecom amongst others.
Monday, which was day one of the summit saw a number of workshops take place, key among them being the AfricaCERT session, a hands-on session that sought to offer knowledge and experiences essential in understanding incidence response cycle. The day saw two panel discussions on Cybersecurity and data protection, as well as the Role of governments in Africa’s Digital Economic transformation. Day one came to a conclusion with a cocktail event hosted by AFRINIC sponsors, giving summit participants the chance to unwind and network with their peers.
Tuesday was the official summit’s opening ceremony. In his debut, AFRINIC’s new CEO Dr. Eddy Kayihura present the milestone the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) had achieved in the past 15 years of its founding. Eddy put emphasis on the need to connect the African region to the rest of the world through affordable and reliable Internet. Further, Kayihura paid tribute to Internet pioneers such as Dr. Nii Quaynor (Ghana), and Ms Maimouna Diop. He added that they, together with other notable elders had played a vital role in AFRINIC’s founding. Eddy acknowledged the contribution his predecessors (AFRINIC CEOS) had made. He congratulated Dr. Adiel Akplogan, AFRINIC’s founding CEO for having been inducted in the Internet Hall of Fame, and Alain Aina for being feted with the Jon Postel 2019 community service Award. In his keynote speech, Hon. Jose Carvalho da Rocha, the Minister for Telecommunications and Information Technologies, welcomed the delegates on behalf of the Angolan government, urging them to feel at home. Jose mentioned that it was a great honour for Angola as country to host such an auspicious event. Carvalho then highlighted his government’s commitment to Internet development, pointing out that Multi-stakeholderism as a model was a pivotal aspect in fostering Internet development in the region. Tuesday wound up with a welcome cocktail for the event participants.
Wednesday, day 3 – “AFRINIC day”, was exclusively dedicated to updates from AFRINIC’s various departments, ranging from membership, number resource allocation, research/studies, recap of 10 years milestones, and last but not least, Public Policy Development (PDP) / Working Groups updates. The policy updates discussions would roll over to Thursday, day 4, a day that also saw summit participants get treated to a gala dinner sponsored by Internet Technologies Angola (ITA).
Friday was the climax of the summit, with the AFRINIC Board Community Engagement session being the highlight of the day. With the forthcoming AIS ’20 meeting scheduled to take place in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as from 31 May – 14 June 2020, relevant information regarding the host country, ranging from visa requirements, was shared to the summit delegates.
About the Author
The author is an ICANN Fellow, Writer, Trainer, Researcher, Consultant in Internet Governance and Policy matters.
With additional reporting from AFRINIC 31 Daily Recaps*
Disclaimer: Views expressed here are solely those gathered by the author and should not necessarily be construed to be those of any of organs or agencies nor of any other organisation(s) mentioned or discussed.
This article is released under cc-by-sa 4.0 International license, and translation into other languages is encouraged. For more information, please contact the author.
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Berlin, Germany.
The fourteenth annual meeting of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum
(U.N IGF) was for the first time hosted by the government of Germany in Berlin as from 25-29 November 2019.
This year’s weeklong event was themed: “One World. One Net. One Vision”, and included a several workshops, open forums, dynamic coalition meetings, amongst other events, that gave the many participants in attendance the opportunity to engage in open discussions on a number of topical Internet governance and digital policy issues.
“Internet Governance Forum (IGF), is a multi-stakeholder body convoked by the U.N secretary General in 2006”.
Since its inception, Internet governance has become a crucial issue in world politics, and is now discussed at the highest levels of diplomacy.
Multi-stakeholderism – a model inspired by the then U.N Secretary Dr. Kofi Annan, was recognized at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), as the global model for Internet governance, and WSIS outcome document (2005) provides a framework and set of principles for the model.
The opening ceremony of this year’s event saw Antonio Guterres (U.N Secretary General), and the host, Dr. Angela Merkel (Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany), make keynote addresses.
Guterres likened the digital technology to Gutenburg’s introduction of the printing press to Europe in 1439. Both, he said, had democratized knowledge, but at different speeds.
While it had taken more than five centuries to reach half the world’s population, Antonio pointed out that it had taken only 25 years to reach half the globe.
He however decried the absence of technical expertise among policymakers, even in developed countries. Guterres added that invention was outpacing policymaking.
Despite half the world being connected to the Internet, the gender gap in connectivity, he said, continued to widen. Worldwide, it had been established that 327 million fewer women than men, owned a Smartphone, and could access mobile Internet.
Antonio reiterated that connecting the world’s people by 2030 had to be made a shared priority, not only for the U.N Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but for gender equality too.
In his closing remarks, Guterres revealed that he would soon appoint a Technology Envoy to work with governments, industry and civil society to help advance international frameworks, and nurture a shared digital future that puts people first, and helps bridge the social divide. These, he felt, were ideas that could be building blocks towards a shared digital future that can be proudly passed down to future generations.
On her part, Angela Merkel drew a historic comparison regarding the concept of Internet freedom. Thirty years ago, she said, the people in the Germany democratic Republic demanded their right to freedom. The same values, Merkel added, were behind the visions of the creators of the Internet fifty years ago, and the World Wide Web (www) thirty years ago.
Angela opposed acts of autocratic states to impose political and ideological restrictions on the Internet, and called for the need to shape digitization in the quest to benefit every individual. She emphasized that digital sovereignty must be a basic human right. Merkel argued that multi-lateralism alone was not capable of stopping or preventing trends of restrictions.
Launch of the Contract for the Web
The launch of the Contract for the Web by its founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee, was one of the key highlights of the event.
This initiative is a product of the work of over 80 people for more than a year drawn from government, businesses and members of the public.
In his address to participants, Berners reiterated that Contract for the Web was a global plan of action that aims to protect the web from political manipulation, fake news, privacy violations and other malign forces threatening the Internet.
The Contract gives a roadmap – embodied in 76 clauses, and it outlines nine key principles, three each directed at respective Internet stakeholders i.e governments, companies, and individuals.
This non-binding commitment tasks the respective stakeholders in protecting the web from abuse and ensuring it benefits humanity.
For governments, the Contract requires them to ensure all their citizens can connect to the Internet all of the time. The contract lays it clear that no one should be denied their right to full access to the web.
For companies, the Contract calls on them to ensure that connectivity is affordable and accessible to everyone, and to respect the rights and freedoms of people online.
For people, it deliberates that they must be in control of their lives online, and most important they must be empowered with clear and meaningful choices around their data and privacy. Additionally, people are tasked with the responsibility as web users to create the web they want, as well as build strong communities that respect civil discourse and human dignity.
At the time of the launch, the plan was said to have the backing of over 160 organizations among them – Facebook, Google, Twitter, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), DuckDuckGo, CIPESA, governments of Germany, Ghana, amongst others.
Digital Inclusion, Access, Accessibility and Affordability.
A number of sessions centered their discussions around the themes of inclusion, access, accessibility and affordability.
Across the sessions, there was a common view that Internet use was on the rise, with about four billion users connected globally. Despite this development, there however still existed a significant number of users who desired to connect but were unconnected.
Some of the reasons for the lack of connectivity were uniform in all the sessions for instance;- high costs of Internet, economies of scale, lack of infrastructure especially in the rural communities, lack of user friendly devices for persons with disabilities, lack of local content, and last but not least, digital literacy skills.
One notable session–“Electricity, Community Networks and Digital Inclusion: The case of The Underserved Communities”, sought to discuss how communities affected by a lack of connectivity, content, or affordability, team up to overcome this gaps.
Dr. Carlos Rey Moreno (Association for Progressive Communication-APC), argued that the main support the government can accord community networks was through recognition, which should be reflected in local policies and national plans that uphold the role of communities in addressing the digital divide gap and even some of the issues the big corporations might not be able to address.
On a different session on “Internet Accessibility Empowering Persons with Disabilities (PwDs)”, it was cited that 15% of the world population lives with some form of disability, a figure representing more than one billion people globally. 80% of these PwDs were said to be living in the Global south.
The marginalization of this constituency of persons with special needs, called for the requirement to have technology and software developers incorporate inclusive accessibility into their products from the onset of their development.
It was believed that this deliberate move would ensure the aspect of inclusivity for all without leaving anyone behind was attained.
Local content was also hailed as a universal message that was appealing to the global audience, and could act as an incentive to have people connect online, considering 17 million people globally have no reason at all to connect online, owing the Internet could largely be in a language they do not understand.
Nicola Bidwell (Professor, University of Namibia) however approached this view with precaution, warning that producing and sharing a lot of local content in the digital space could result to it being harvested and analysed by algorithms. Bidwell was of the view that community property rights should be developed to ensure adequate protection of content created.
IGF Closing Ceremony.
The 2019 IGF closing ceremony was graced by Ms Dorothee Bar (State Minister for Digitalisation, Germany).
In her speech, lauded the excellent reception of the forum, the diversity of the participants, as well as the quality of the event sessions.
Dorothee revealed the Germany government’s commitment to allocate €1 million to the U.N IGF Trust over the next few years, as a gesture to strengthen the IGF towards an open and global Internet. Bar expressed her best wishes to Poland, the next host of the fifteenth IGF (2020).
The speech by Ms Wanda Buk (Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs, Poland), centered around Internet fragmentation, freedom of speech, and Cybersecurity.
Buk stated that Poland was the first country where citizens have a legal right to re-peal on Facebook’s decision to block content of users’ profiles.
Wanda unveiled the main theme of IGF 2020: “Internet United: An Open, Free, and Undivided Internet”. She added that the meeting would be held in Katowise, a historical Polish city between two rivers, in a venue that has already hosted this year’s U.N Climate Summit.
Giving this year’s IGF in numbers, Mr Liu Zhenmin (Under Secretary-general for the United Nations department of Economic and Social Affairs), mentioned that there had been a total of 10 main sessions, 40 open forums, 64 multi-stakeholder workshops, 4 best practice forums, 18 dynamic coalition sessions, 7 national and regional initiative sessions, and 45 other side events. Zhenmin expressed his gratitude to all the participants (remote and onsite), the event funding partners and organizations, event volunteers, lastly, stating that he looked forward to the next IGF in 2020.
About the Author
The author is an ICANN Fellow, Writer, Trainer, Researcher, Consultant in Internet Governance and Policy matters.
*With additional reporting from the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP) Digital Watch Observatory, and the UN IGF Secretariat.
Disclaimer: Views expressed here are solely those gathered by the author and should not necessarily be construed to be those of any of organs or agencies nor of any other organisation(s) mentioned or discussed.
This article is released under cc-by-sa 4.0 International license, and translation into other languages is encouraged. For more information, please contact the author.
NB: This article originally appeared on Tanzania Community Networks Alliance (TzCNA), with express permission from the author.
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The Honourable Frank Tumwebaze, Cabinet Minister of Information, Technology. Photo credit: AIS’19
AIS in brief
- AIS is the pinnacle multi-stakeholder event combining workshops, conferences, and networking for the Internet industry
- The annual summit hosted twice in various locations throughout the region, attracts internationally renowned instructors, experts and speakers to share the latest innovations and best practices in the Internet industry.
- It’s an open forum for everyone and a place for sharing knowledge and networking within the Africa ICT community
Kampala, Uganda – AFRINIC, the regional Internet registry for Africa and the Indian Ocean region, held its Africa Internet Summit (AIS) Public meeting at Sheraton Hotel Kampala, from 9th – 21st June 2019.
The meeting was AFRINIC’s regional Policy Forum, and its 5th to be held in East Africa, with Nairobi (x2), Kigali and Dar es Salaam having played past hosts. AIS meetings are held annually in different countries, are open to the public, and provide an excellent opportunity for Internet stakeholders to take part in Internet Policy discussions. These policies that deliberate how Internet Number Resources should be managed and distributed are developed by the AFRINIC community.
This year’s edition was organized by AFRINIC and African Network Operators Group (AfNOG), hosted by NFT Consult, and sponsored by ICANN, dotAfrica, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), Uganda’s Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, amongst others. Week one of the AIS 30 was a beehive of activities dominated by technical workshops aimed at network engineers and operators. On the sidelines of these technical workshops were notable non technical sessions such as the ICANN Youth community (Youthcom). This two day event held on the 13-14 June, was co-organized by ICANN, ISOC Uganda Chapter, National Information Technology Authority (NITA), and the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance. The event sought to introduce Ugandan youth (18-30 years), to ICANN and the larger Internet ecosystem. 15 June saw ICANN host a workshop for African Registries, registrars and Registrants. This workshop highlighted the work of ICANN, and its processes. It included presentations by ICANN members on various topical issues namely;- Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), Universal Acceptance, Domain Name Marketplace Indicators, and last but not least, ICANN Registrar Accreditation, and Contractual Compliance processes.
This was followed by ICANN Day, an event hosted for the fifth year in a row at the AIS. The overarching aim of ICANN Day is to build on ICANN’s efforts and continue raising awareness about ICANN’s role in the Internet governance ecosystem in Africa.
Week two saw the official opening ceremony of the AIS, with Hon. Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister for ICT and National Guidance making the keynote speech. Hon. Tumwebaze expressed the desire of the Ugandan government to use the Internet to connect the unconnected. He felt that this would reduce the cost of conducting business, as well as create opportunities for sharp brains to engage and export their intellectual capital. Hon. Frank called on ICT multinational companies to work with governments in the quest to foster local innovations. This, he said, would remove the aspect of imbalance of content over the Internet.
The centre stage of the second week was AfNOG day, a day specifically set aside to celebrate 20 years of AfNOG’s achievements with regards to technical training workshops. This day would end with the father of the Internet in Africa, Dr. Nii Quaynor, leading a cake cutting ceremony at a cocktail event in the evening.
Another notable event was the signing of an MOU between Africa Top Level Domains (AfTLD), and the African Regional At-Large Organisation (AFRALO). This MOU sought to promote mutual cooperation in the promotion of Internet user centric policies, infrastructure development and services, in the quest to foster Internet development in the region.
The climax of the AIS was the AFRINIC Policy Development Process (PDP) day, where community members hotly debated on whether entities from other Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), should be allowed to buy Number resources from the Africa region and utilize them elsewhere. This premise would turn out to be the campaign manifesto for some of the candidates vying for seats in the Policy Development Working Group (PDWG) elections. Moses Serugo (Uganda), and Abdulkarim Oloyede (Nigeria) were duly elected as co-chairs for the PDWG, while Mike Silber (South Africa) was elected for the Number Resource Organisation Numbers Council, and Address Supporting Organisation Address Council’s (NRO NC/ASO/AC) seat.
The curtains of AIS 19 were drawn with the announcement that AIS 31 would be hosted in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Report by Bonface Witaba
About the author
The author is an ICANN Fellow, Writer, Trainer, Researcher, Consultant in Internet Governance and Policy matters.
Disclaimer: Views expressed here are solely those gathered by the author and should not necessarily be construed to be those of any of organs or agencies nor of any other organisation(s) mentioned or discussed. The copyright license of this article remains with the author. The translation and publication of this article in other languages is encouraged.
For more information, please contact the author :bswitaba[at]gmail.com
NB: This article appeared in the June CIO East Africa Magazine edition, with permission from the author.
bonfacewitaba 