Atiko Okitoi-Heisig

Thanks to the thousands of listeners across #Tanzania, East Africa, and the world who joined today's epic Space. The full program can be accessed below. x.com/i/spaces/1RDGl…

This morning at around 7.15, six uninformed people went to courage base and forcefully took my husband @bonifacemwangi from the house. I have no idea who, why or where they have taken him @JamesKWaNjeri @WMutunga @MarthaKarua @husskhalid @DefendersKE @HakiKNCHR @FaithOdhiambo8

BREAKING: Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi still missing hours after he was abducted by unknown individuals from his home outside Nairobi. They marched him out, leaving his two sons alone. This keeps happening to activists and prominent critics despite denials from President Ruto

This is why I believe that if you MUST consume self-help books, limit it to one book a year. We spend so much time reading about “how to be better” that we forget that a lot of work is community-dependent. We can't thrive on our own. Individualism (IMO) is a fallacy.

@waweru Elder millennials and Gen Xers in particular were raised on a steady diet of self-help culture heavily influenced by the West: Ben Carson’s gifted hands; Rich Dad Poor dad. We grew up believing that if you work hard enough, you can overcome anything: just work hard 😂😅

My latest for @newhumanitarian. thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2024/0…

George Chege, a protestor who took to the streets today for the #NaneNaneMarch was arrested as he shared his reasons for taking to the streets. Video by @tom_mukhwana.

Repost this!!! Davis Tafari has been abducted by two plain clothes during #NaneNane peaceful protests. Help find him. #FreeTafari

High court suspends the police decision banning protests pending a hearing

@thetimwork The way that saying that having the confidence of a mediocre white man is thrown around while ignoring the white supremacy that props them up and privilege some don’t even care to check…and then to say the white man is a mentor!!! Aki the level of dissociation blows my mind!

The only way I'd excuse this is if this babe is under 27, coz the frontal cortex is not full formed... And that's still a very thin ask.

MY FELLOW KENYANS, I am overwhelmed by your countless messages of love, kindness and encouragement. This was certainly not the intended outcome of that early morning ‘brief’. Thank you for the very many calls too; I spoke to a lot amazing countrymen. Let’s keep talking, and loving and serving Kenya 🇰🇪 in the best way we can. God bless you all.

Kenyan Philosopher Says Gen-Z Protestors Went Hunting For a Rabbit, And Caught a Buffalo I am having this conversation with a good Kenyan man, a deep thinker, and he tells me, "President Ruto's govt, tax, and corruption were the target of the recent Gen Z protests, but like most protests, the changes it has been made won't be the most significant or enduring." "Strange thing to say. What will be then?", I ask. "Two things. First, the Elite Political Settlement that has governed Kenya for 60 years of independence, about how the riches of this land and power are distributed, is the main casualty. That is over. The young people went against a two-year-old govt, they brought down a 60-year-old Order instead", he said. "Second, the political authority of the wider Christian church, which was important for fuelling the 1990s democracy wave, is shredded, so they must reset. The mosques have emerged much better. That also tells you that the real fightback will not come from the Ruto govt", he argued. "Surely, any response has to be political, ideological even. The state is the state, it will deploy its power", I say. "Maybe in the short-term, but in the long-term, 10 to 20 years, the critical response will be philosophical, spiritual, and economic. There will be no guns. It will be fought on the idea of what Kenya is; there will be big attempt to redefine it. It will play out even in what is taught in school. Watch for the subtle change in church sermons. The Establishment will reallocate their money, so they are seen to spend it on, for example, saving forests, even building museums, instead of rehabilitating golf courses. The popular music of this country has already changed in three weeks, and expect the books of fiction written by Kenyans that come out from next year to read very different from anything we've seen in the past. That's where the exciting stuff is going to be. The kids went hunting for a rabbit, and caught a buffalo." I guess that was not entirely unexpected when you have had one too many vanilla lattes. 📸Katie G. Nelson/SOPA Images/LightRocket

Too many people are going thru stress & anxiety silently. Welcome for a group session to try work on this ♥️✊🏽🇰🇪 Set a reminder for my upcoming Space! twitter.com/i/spaces/1rmxP…

Kenyan Protests, Part One: The political education of President William Ruto: africanistperspective.com/p/kenyan-prote…

As Kenyans set out to #OccupyCBDTuesday, the streets of Nairobi are eerily empty this morning. Despite the posters and calls for today's #Maandamano promising that #RutoMustGoNow, it appears that many have chosen to stay away from the central business district. The silence is striking, reflecting tense anticipation as the nation waits to see how the day will unfold.

How can Ruto, the son of a nobody, which rendered him a nobody, work hard to become a somebody and now having reached the zenith of everybody’s dream, not give a damn about anybody? Mr Ruto, a certain kind of man who likes certain kinds of things, is now a big boy; he was not invited to the table by the “dynasties” – the Odingas and Kenyattas and Mois – so he “made” enough money to buy a seat, but even then, it feels fake, like that office employee who joins your table at lunch and suddenly everybody hana stori. Not that that bothers Ruto. If you listen to what he is not saying, he seems to say, I don’t care what you think of me; I don’t think about you at all. But the subtext – and often the text – is that he, himself, is not a particularly trustworthy person. Except Ruto’s presidency looks less like a dynasty than a castle built on sand. He appears a man more imprisoned by past glory than inspired by it; the substance of his hustler revolution has quickly gained defectors. When his dream came true, he adopted the look of an ideologically conscious intelligent man who went to prison and had a reverse Damascene conversion, turning from Paul to Saul. His hustlers became his hustle. Because it is on the back of the nobodies that Ruto became a somebody. The story, is, of course, writ trite and banal: the pauper who became a president, the hustler who won against the house, the chicken seller who became cock of the walk. He was born without a silver spoon in his mouth, in that part of Kenya where people put a silver tooth, a mwananchi who became a mwenyenchi, a testimony to hustlers worldwide that even if you don’t make it into the bourgeois, you can, at the very least make it out of the ghetto. After all, he made a name with nothing to his name. So, to make his doctrine easier to swallow, Ruto bedded the church, castrating it, a rocky marriage in which the only sensible solution is a nice murder-suicide. Critics should be transparent about their biases, so let me confess to one: I am sceptical about those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their desires. #ROADTOSTATEHOUSE #RutoMustGo Read full article here: theelephant.info/opinion/2024/0…

✊🏾🇰🇪As a Kenyan living in #Geneva the hub of human rights issues, I stand in solidarity with my fellow Kenyans in resisting the unconstitutional killing of peaceful protestors! Happening this afternoon outside the @UNGeneva @UNHumanRights @CIVICUSalliance @swissinfo_en @wrs

He hasn’t fired a single thief in his cabinet. Even this “reduced budget” will go into his people’s pockets. Budget ya bibi zao ime-reduce? First Lady budget increased to Sh696 million. Dorcas Rigathi received 557 Million Rigathi got 800 Million for Confidential Expenditure!

We have heard the call of Kenyans loud and clear. The directive is that we Reject, not amend. By proposing amendments we would be aiding the regime in perpetuating this injustice on Kenyans. When the last vote is put our members will vote NO to the entire thing. #RejectFinanceBill2024

Powerful statement by @FaithOdhiambo8 @LawSocietyofKe! Meg Whitman there are questions for you in it @USAmbKenya as well as Neil Wigan! #RejectFinanceBill2024 #GithuraiMassacre