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Sep 16, 2024 | 
tnx.africa | Gilbert Mwangi |Ciku Kimani-Mwaniki |Awuor Omino |Diana Makokha
If you think leaked recordings are a recent invention, you’ve clearly never met Kamaley, my cousin, the original superstar of nineties-era scandals. Now, I don’t like to spill family secrets, but when you’ve got a story this juicy, it practically begs to be told. During our college days, Kamaley who had mastered the art of unhooking bras faster than flipping through textbooks, had just gotten himself a shiny, new Sony Hi-Fi system.
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Aug 26, 2024 | 
tnx.africa | George Njunge |Gilbert Mwangi |Ciku Kimani-Mwaniki |Awuor Omino
In the 90s, many things, unlike today, were a luxury and a show of opulence, what today looks ordinary and usual in the 90s, was a financial and social status statement. One of the biggest statement and a wonder in the villages was any family that had a house girl—a house girl denoted what today we would call a dynasty house.
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Jul 29, 2024 | 
tnx.africa | Tedd Omondi |Gilbert Mwangi |Ciku Kimani-Mwaniki |Awuor Omino
Stories that men tell when they are all alone can make you frequent the barbershop even if you have no hair to shave off. They meet one another here for the first time and the strong bond they create after a short time might leave you thinking that they have known one another for ages yet the only common thing that brings them together is the haircut.
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Jul 22, 2024 | 
tnx.africa | Awuor Omino |Gilbert Mwangi |Ciku Kimani-Mwaniki |Diana Makokha
Anyone who has trod this earth for more than 50 years will perhaps tell you that the attitude of the Gen Z is not entirely strange. While they have done a good job using technology to marshal each other’s support, their zeal for change is not anything unusual. You see, back in the days when it was still mandatory for college-going students to attend NYS, the policemen hated universities’ strikes. Gen X had a knack for throwing stones that even Luos in Kondele could not match.
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Jun 6, 2024 | 
tnx.africa | Gilbert Mwangi |Ciku Kimani-Mwaniki |Awuor Omino |Diana Makokha
That viral clip of a young man smacking a policeman in uniform last week was a jaw dropper. It has prompted me to play agony uncle to vijana who might not be initiated into the ways of the world. A lot of us have this feeling that we don’t need the boys in blue. Why? They do the worst where they are needed the most. They rough up folks who live in hoods where there isn’t anyone else to call.
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Jun 5, 2024 | 
tnx.africa | Gilbert Mwangi |Ciku Kimani-Mwaniki |Awuor Omino
In their wild pursuit of the slippery legal tender, Kenyan hustlers can put one in a situation that would make sitcoms seem normal. The other weekend, I was walking into a social function somewhere, my well-tended kitambi leading the way. Fate, or perhaps divine comedy, had a lady strolling by my side. There was no prior agreement to march in like a blissfully married duo, just pure coincidence. “Snap!” A young man immortalizes the moment with his camera, lens pointed our way.
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May 28, 2024 | 
tnx.africa | Gilbert Mwangi |Ciku Kimani-Mwaniki |Awuor Omino |Diana Makokha
Last week, I witnessed a strong contender for the most woke nonsense in a year full of good candidates. There is this gentleman, a former side-stepper and breaker of tackles, who found a second career in crushing garlic cloves with his bare hands, whipping up delicacies in his backyard and delivering chapo/beef to street children in Nairobi. It is inspiring stuff. I cannot cook shirtless like the roaming chef, primarily because I’m terrified of sizzling oil scalding my nipples.
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May 27, 2024 | 
tnx.africa | Gilbert Mwangi |Ciku Kimani-Mwaniki |Awuor Omino |Diana Makokha
Some years back, I found myself stationed in the then Al-Shabaab held county of Wajir, chasing after the elusive legal tender. I was there for so long that my uncle started saying that there was a bui bui clad daughter of a sheikh who was cooking anjera for me. My auntie, true to herself, prayed daily for me to be delivered from “the wilderness,” as she used to call it-until my tour of duty ended. Unknown to them, I was having a ball up north.
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Oct 9, 2023 | 
standardmedia.co.ke | Gilbert Mwangi
I live for the magical worlds and memorable characters created by fiction writers. One of my life-long ambitions was to meet Chinua Achebe and ask him how he conjured Okonkwo - perhaps the most colourful yet tragic character in the African novel. One day, I hope to meet Ngugi wa Thiong'o and ask him whether Waiyaki inThe River Betweenis Jomo Kenyatta. What with piercing eyes that burned bright and demanded respect. Does Kameno personify Murang'a and Makuyu Kiambu?
