" Mwakenya: Real or Phantom?," is Jimmy Achira's persecution
experience Daniel Arap Moi's Kenya in 1980s. The "Daily Nation"
captured best the nebulous phenomenon called "Mwakenya." "
Mwakenya remained a chimera to the Kenyan media. Reporters knew
no Mwakenya officials and received no calls, manifestos or press
releases from them.
There was no known office location, or telephone or fax numbers.
Everything that came to the media house, and appeared as trial
evidence, was from the Moi-KANU government.
The seditious documents produced in court were always
photo-copies, never originals. It was not only university
lecturers, students who were victims of the security dragnet-civil
servants and journalists too, were picked up . -"Daily Nation,
Sept. 20th 1987.""
In the 1980s, in Moi 's regime, it was anathema to be termed
""Mwakenya"" for that would pronounce arrest, torture and jail. It
was one of the saddest chapters in the nation 's history; people
talked in hushed voices, looking over their shoulders to see who
was listening; when people worried what they were seen reading for
it could be seditious .
Jimmy Achira, a journalist who found himself in the "Mwakenya"
dragnet, chronicles his experiences in "Mwakenya: Real or
Phantom?"
The book is not a history of "Mwakenya" but a personal account
of encounter with oppression in Moi 's Kenya. The real story of
"Mwakenya" would be told by historians. It is unfortunate that
instruments like the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission
have yet to unearth the atrocities against Kenyan people;
atrocities perpetuated in the name of state security; and law and
order.
What others say:
" "It is important that the experiences such as Achira's be told
for the sake of history and posterity. The history of those dark
days should be taught in schools, alongside tales of heroic
struggles such as that of " Mau Mau"
"Many Kenyans who enjoy the fruits of "freedom" under
multi-party democracy know little about the suffering many faced
and sacrifices made to achieve the current freedom. " - Gershom
Otachi Bw'Omanwa
" "The Nyaro era of the 1980s was a time of horror in the
history of human rights in Kenya. In early 1986 the crackdown on
those Kenyans perceived to have dissenting views about the
government had been put in motion. Under the guise of rooting out
subversives, particularly referred to as "Mwakenya" (" Muungano wa
Wakenya") the police unleashed such a reign of terror that a wide
cross-section of people's lives were destroyed. " - Dr Carey
Francis Onyango, Lecturer and HUman Rights Activist.
" Political imprisonment was common in the "Nyayo" era in which
Moi held Kenya in a vice-like grip. Now, the untold can be told.
Stories, as Jimmy Achira's, help us understand those days and the
price many Kenyans paid for freedoms enjoyed today. " - Dr Matunda
Nyanchama, ICT Professional and Publisher.
About the Author
Achira was born at Bosiango, West Mugirango, Nyamira and went to
Bosiango Primary School, Taranganya and Nyansabakwa High Schools.
He taught at Mborogo Secondary School before entering
journalism.
He has worked for " Target/ Lengo, East African Standard, Nation
" and "Kenya Times." Others are "The Weekend Mail" and "The Weekly
Revie ." In April 1995, he incorporated " Rural Media Services
Limited " under which he published regional rural monthly
newspaper, "The Western Monitor." He co-edited, with Tom Amoro, "A
Guide to Gusii Politics 1997," published "What Next after 1997
General Elections in Gusii?"Presently, he is media
consultant/publisher and working on "The Memoirs of a Veteran
Journalist 1979 1999."
General
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