Continued……Critics say this makes Safaricom complicit in abductions and extrajudicial killings of activists and vocal citizens.

Sources

https://tech-ish.com/2025/06/11/safaricom-ca-albert-ojwang/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9jw20nr5ro

https://tech-ish.com/2024/10/31/safaricom-daily-nation-police-surveillance/

https://khrc.or.ke/press-release/mck-complaints-commission-must-reject-safaricoms-baseless-complaint-against-the-nation-and-its-journalists/

https://nation.africa/kenya/news/exclusive-how-kenyan-police-use-mobile-phones-to-track-capture-suspects-4804416#google_vignette

https://khrc.or.ke/press-release/safaricom-must-immediately-cease-its-attacks-against-khrc-muhuri-daily-nation-and-journalists-and-answer-grave-allegations-against-it/

https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/kenya-safaricom-pursues-retaliatory-action-through-a-slapp-by-filling-a-meritless-complaint-with-the-commission-against-nation-media-group-and-its-journalists/

https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/telecom-investment-mergers/18531-kenyan-government-may-sell-some-of-its-safaricom-shares.html

https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2025-06-11-safaricom-denies-involvement-in-tracking-ojwang

https://www.safaricom.co.ke/about/who-we-are/our-story

17 JUNE 1871: WRITER, LAWYER & ACTIVIST JAMES WELDON JOHNSON BORN ON THIS DAY

On this day, 17 June 1871, James Weldon Johnson was born in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. A renowned writer, composer, civil rights activist, lawyer, diplomat and leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Johnson was a true polymath. He was the first Black lawyer admitted to the Florida bar since the Reconstruction era following the US Civil War. Johnson is perhaps best known for co-writing the powerful hymn ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ which became the NAACP's official anthem and later widely known as the 'Black National Anthem.'

Before his time at the helm of the NAACP, Johnson served as the United States consul in Venezuela in 1906 and in Nicaragua in 1909.

Continued……. During this period, he anonymously published his groundbreaking novel, ‘The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man’ (1912), which explored the complex questions of racial identity and 'passing' as white in the post-Reconstruction era. He was the first Black author to use Harlem and Atlanta as subjects in fiction.

Later, as executive secretary of the NAACP for a decade, he played a central role in steering the organisation's fight for justice. 

Johnson, who helped develop the Harlem Renaissance or the Black artists' community in New York, died in a car crash on 26 June 1938 at the age of 67. 

Today, we remember James Weldon Johnson not only for his immense literary contributions but also for his tireless advocacy.

Sources

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/james-weldon-johnson

https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-rights-leaders/james-weldon-johnson

https://jamesweldonjohnson.emory.edu/about/about-james-weldon-johnson.html

https://poets.org/poet/james-weldon-johnson

https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/james-weldon-johnson

KENNETH KAUNDA REMEMBERED

Kenneth Kaunda, one of Africa's greatest liberation heroes, passed away on this day in 2021 at the age of 97.

Fondly known as KK and Super Ken, he was not only Zambia's founding president but also a pan-African icon who dedicated the best of his life to ensuring that every single inch of African land was free from colonialism. As President of Zambia, Kaunda led other African leaders in forming the Frontline States coalition, a group of countries in southern and East Africa that gained their independence in the early 1960s. The group played a key role in mobilising resources and support for the armed struggle against racist and colonial regimes in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Namibia, Mozambique, Angola and South Africa.

Continued……. Kaunda turned Zambia into a hub for the liberation struggle in Southern Africa. In addition to providing diplomatic and material support, Kaunda allowed liberation movements, such as South Africa's African National Congress (ANC), Namibia's South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) to use Zambia as a launch pad for cross-border attacks against the settler regimes in their homelands. These efforts helped ensure that, by the 1990s, when he left office, most colonial regimes in the region had either collapsed or were on the verge of collapse.

In this video, African Stream's Clinton Nzala provides a detailed account of Kaunda's contributions to the freedom of millions of Africans.

Continued……. Roof’s crime impacted not only the immediate community but the US at large. The South Carolina State Assembly voted to remove the Confederate flag, a symbol widely seen as representing racial oppression, from the state capitol grounds on 10 July 2015.

On 15 December 2016, Roof was found guilty in federal court of all 33 federal hate-crime charges, for which he received a death sentence. Three months later, a state court handed down nine consecutive life sentences after he pleaded guilty to state murder charges. He is now on death row at a high-security federal prison for men called USP Terre Haute, more than 1,200 kilometres away from the church, awaiting execution for his federal convictions. Roof’s attempt to appeal to avoid the death sentence failed.

Sources

https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2015/06/us/south-carolina-shooting-victims

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ixaXZ9JT9Dzf9EfDcplSZP5cTGThoZxlBSsVG6ZxDzY/edit?usp=sharing

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/charleston-church-massacre-2015

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/june-17/charleston-ame-church-shooting

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/death-sentence-upheld-man-who-killed-9-south-carolina-church-n1277667

https://www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/show/walter-edgars-journal/2021-03-16/the-charleston-church-massacre-and-the-journey-to-forgiveness

https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article297486193.html

https://eji.org/news/confederate-flag-removed-from-south-carolina-state-house/

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sc/pr/federal-jury-sentences-dylann-storm-roof-death

https://motheremanuel.com/our-story

NIGERIAN AIRSTRIKE KILLS VIGILANTES

Local vigilante groups in Zamfara State, Nigeria are disputing the Nigerian Air Force’s account of a recent airstrike, which the military claims killed two vigilantes and injured two others during an anti-terrorist operation. The vigilantes argue the civilian death toll is significantly higher, alleging that while they were pursuing fleeing terrorists, an airstrike struck their own ranks. This incident is part of a broader pattern of military operations resulting in civilian casualties.

Continued……According to Nigerian journalist and author David Hundeyin, there are two possibilities: gross incompetence - or the presence of saboteurs within the military command. Moreover, Nigeria’s inability to resolve its terrorism crisis, he says, is due to external influence, particularly from the US and France. These foreign powers shape Nigeria’s policies in ways that hinder true sovereignty and sustained progress in matters of security.

Sources

https://punchng.com/zamfara-mourns-as-another-airstrike-kills-vigilantes/
https://dailytrust.com/zamfara-airstrikes-naf-locals-differ-over-casualty-figures/

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/nigeria-military-civilian-airstrikes/

https://tribuneonlineng.com/full-list-nigerias-military-ranks-4th-most-powerful-in-africa/

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/09/nx-s1-5320152/why-africas-sahel-region-has-been-called-the-epicenter-of-global-terrorism

THE PRICE LIBYA PAID FOR DEFYING THE IMF

In this clip, Moussa Ibrahim, the last spokesperson for assassinated Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011), explained how Libya under Gaddafi resisted Western neo-colonial bullying in its quest to develop a sovereign African currency to end the continent's dependence on the dollar or euro. The revolutionary leader also explored the possibility of establishing a Libyan-led investment bank to finance African infrastructure, thereby avoiding the pitfalls of Western debt.

Libya had zero foreign debt when NATO invaded in 2011. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had attempted to convince Gaddafi to take on a structural adjustment loan in exchange for privatising and deregulating the Libyan economy. Gaddafi refused because he saw the debt it placed on other African countries as a neocolonial tool of enslaving people to Western dependence.

Continued……When the ‘Arab Spring’ rebellions kicked off in 2011, the West seized the moment to impose regime change on Libya. NATO-supported rebels overthrew Gaddafi, and anarchy ensued. Slave markets emerged in Libya. Public infrastructure has collapsed. Once controlled by the Libyan state, oil revenues are now generating profits for foreign corporations and local militias.

Libya's example is a warning to Africans. Debt crises are spreading far too often under the guise of foreign-debt ‘assistance.' Pan-African pioneers understood this, but coups, sanctions and assassinations thwarted their efforts toward economic independence.

Video credit: @_moussa_ibrahim (X)

Sources

https://www.worldeconomics.com/Debt/Libya.aspx

https://www.cadtm.org/The-IMF-and-World-Bank-talk-good-governance-but-walk-with-state-capturers

https://www.imf.org/en/Countries/LBY

https://www.un.org/osaa/content/unpacking-debt-africa-towards-lasting-and-durable-solution

https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/12659

As the well-known African proverb goes, until the lion learns to write or speak for itself, every story will glorify the hunter. 

Or, as the revolutionary Pan-Africanist artist and activist Miriam Makeba (1932–2008) once said, it is in the conquerors’ interests to suppress knowledge of self among those they invade.

Africans can no longer wait for others to tell our stories or rely on outsiders to recount them truthfully. We must take up the pen ourselves.

Sources

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBIFsCuIcrE/?locale=es_us&hl=en

https://www.thecommunityvoice.com/lifestyle/until-the-lion-learns-how-to-write-every-story-will-glorify-the-hunter/article_d126fda0-7ecf-11ec-b106-1b481904b569.html#google_vignette

https://www.nyamile.com/press-release/until-the-lion-learns-to-speak-read-and-write-the-tales-of-hunt-will-always-glorify-the-hunter/#google_vignette

TEBOGO MOKWELE: DON'T BLAME MIGRANTS FOR CAPITALISM

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party (@effsouthafrica) has long opposed the popular narrative that undocumented migrants have caused South Africa's economic and social woes.  

In this clip, EFF member in Parliament, Tebogo Josephine Mokwele (@ntlhapa on X), cited EFF statistics that show just 6.2 per cent of workers in industries as vital as hospitality and agriculture are undocumented foreign nationals. Yet, despite comprising this tiny percentage, they are habitually misrepresented in public discourse as ‘stealing’ jobs from South African citizens.

Mokwele’s comments reinforce our long-held belief that, as Africans, we will never win liberation as long as ‘native’ African workers in any country blame ‘foreign’ African workers for their problems. We are all Africans.

Video credit: @newzroom405 (X)

Continued……Sources

https://youtu.be/Q-TzLNk0PoM?si=_5AF-HM8eWpUDwk2
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00219096241287369?int.sj-abstract.similar-articles.
https://icmc.net/future-of-work/report/04-south-africa

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/26/colonising-africa-what-happened-at-the-berlin-conference-of-1884-1885

NIGERIA: CHILDREN BURNT TO DEATH IN BLOODY HERDER RAMPAGE

Horrific video has emerged of the charred remains of children in Central Nigeria. Their homes were allegedly torched by Fulani herders. During the night from 13-14 June, they attacked the Yelewata community in Benue State, setting houses on fire and reportedly killing some 150 people - though some put the figure as a high as 200. Amnesty International Nigeria says many people are still missing.

Longstanding tensions between semi-nomadic herders and settled farming communities - rooten in land scarcity, colonial-era divisions and decades of state neglect - continue to erupt in violence.

Violent raids have become commonplace in Nigeria’s Central Belt and while mainstream narratives often blame “climate change” or “ethnic tensions,” the reality cuts deeper: the Nigerian state has failed to resolve land injustice, disarm militias, or protect its citizens.

Continued……. Imported weapons flow freely while security forces, trained and funded under Western counterterror programs remain absent, until it’s time to suppress protests.

Activist @verydarkblackman (IG) went to the site of the latest attack and showed the aftermath of the raid. It’s a heartbreaking scene of smoke and charred bodies, with children reduced to ashes.

*Warning* This post contains content that viewers may find distressing. Viewer discretion is advised.

Video credits to @verydarkblackman (IG)

Sources

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/14/at-least-100-people-killed-in-gunmen-attack-in-nigeria-rights-group

https://www.dw.com/en/nigeria-gunmen-kill-at-least-100-in-benue-state/a-72913909

https://apnews.com/article/nigeria-attack-village-guma-amnesty-44c89b8dec357711293edc52e2b016a0

https://apnews.com/article/nigeria-attack-village-gunmen-e7088debbc5410fad2c3c3454442bd91

https://acnuk.org/news/nigeria-up-to-200-dead-in-worst-killing-spree/?srsltid=AfmBOopilpoI_TqwM3UkRuv90QfSqLGkDGTHU0DGGoA1v6pGUXjRB3Xv

KENYA: ‘STATE-HIRED’ THUGS WITH WHIPS STORM PROTEST

A violent mob of thugs wielding whips and batons, with some riding motorbikes, disrupted a peaceful protest in the Kenyan capital on Tuesday (17 June). People were out demanding justice for slain Kenyan blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang, who was recently killed while in police custody. Allegations are flying that the hooligans who turned up were actually there doing the state’s bidding - something confirmed by video emerging from the day.

Ojwang’s death has renewed nationwide outrage over police brutality and lack of accountability. Extrajudicial killings have become increasingly common in Kenya, with the public understandably upset and angry. Yet rather than address the issue with urgent reforms, it appears the authorities are instead encouraging violence against peaceful protesters as a means of stifling dissent.

When Kenya gained independence from the British Empire in 1963, like many other African countries, it did not reform its institutions away from colonial models. The colonial model of policing has remained largely intact, preserving its structures and practices designed to control the masses to ensure continued profits. 

Initially established by the British colonial administration in 1907, the police force was tasked with protecting colonial interests and suppressing resistance. Senior roles were reserved for British and Indian officers, while Africans held lower ranks. Then, as now, the force was used by European settlers to control Africans in the interests of capitalist exploitation, even as the officers themselves were oppressed.

Continued……. Today, the difference is that the police protect the interests of a ruling class that looks like them but does not serve their interests. The police officer in Kenya has more in common with the marginalised masses he brutalises than the elites he serves, but he has chosen a side.

Before colonialism, policing in Kenya was community-based and informal, relying on elders and customary law to maintain social harmony. Justice was restorative rather than punitive. Today, Kenya’s security apparatus operates with the same impunity and brutality as the colonial forces, employing militarised policing, arbitrary arrests, excessive force, extrajudicial k*llings, and collusion with local elites to suppress dissent. Justice remains elusive, with accountability almost absent, even when abuse of power is evident. However, the security forces are merely a reflection of an exploitative system borrowed from the imperial playbook.

Image credit: Evans Habil/The Nation

Sources

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/kenya-police-service-colonial-roots-modern-challenges-makori

https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/items/28491421-ae7f-4520-90bc-a220554c225b

https://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/programs/aj/police/ea/articles/draft_strategic_plan_2003-07.pdf

https://www.globalscientificjournal.com/researchpaper/Colonial_economy_transitional_crime_and_the_police_force_in_colonial_Kenya_1887_1963_.pdf

http://ir.jooust.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/123456789/14046/Masakae_%20History%20of%20Police%20Reforms%20in%20Kenya,%201885%20-%202022.pdf

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17531055.2010.517421

https://www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781526123695/9781526123695.00020.xml

https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/lifestyle/society/kenya-police-service-and-the-root-of-public-mistrust-2225994

https://www.theelephant.info/analysis/2023/03/11/kenya-and-its-unreformable-police-force/?tztc=1