But if faith is the oxygen of a young state, faith in a viable future, there is very little oxygen in Kenya right now. What these suits mask is an escalating free for all, as people use the fronts of respectability and institutional credibility to collect what they can before Armageddon.

A successful brand management strategy is one that makes people pay remarkably high prices for products that are inherently cheap to make. This is called creating value. The idea is to manipulate the image of the product or service so that people are willing to pay what the brand planners want them to pay, rather than pay the total cost of production, plus a reasonable added margin. So, on television adverts, we see expressions that humans designed for orgasms and religious rapture applied to plastic things the job of which is to go tick tock tick tock, or to say things like “Beige is the new Fuck”.

I was born in Baringo. I’m a Kikuyu, but I learnt Kalenjin before my
mother tongue. Most of my friends are Kalenjin. But today I don’t want
to see any one of them. I really hate myself for saying that.
I cannot go back to Central Province.

Nowhere on the planet are there countries as oddly shaped as in Africa. You have all those West African nations — whose kingdoms run strangely horizontally and vertically on the map. Tiny Gambia is stranded inside Senegal — and I know they told me why in school, but I’ve, erm, forgotten.

The goal of the Canvas, which was registered as a Limited by Guarantee company in Kenya in December 2008, is to share information relevant to all genres of the arts and culture in Kenya, East Africa and beyond. All artists are welcome to share this platform, which in the future will include a website for artists to place their bios as well as to find out about work and training opportunities.

If you know of any painters, sculptors, performers, musicians, filmmakers, scriptwriters, technicians, craftspeople, singers, instrument fundis, ceramists, potters, stage managers, directors, producers, graphic designers, acrobats, sound engineers, etc., etc., etc., who would be interested in being included in/or knowing about what’s on in their particular field, please drop us a line with their name, email address and cellphone number(s).