Justin Harding (left) poses with trophy alongside Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya. Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

South Africa's Justin Harding produced a flawless final round of five-under-par 66 at the Kenya Open on Sunday to seal a two-shot victory over Kurt Kitayama and his second European Tour title.

Overnight leader Harding, whose maiden tour win came two years ago at the Qatar Masters, maintained his composure amid a steady challenge from American Kitayama to finish on 21 under par at the Karen Country Club in Nairobi.

"It was hard work. I was happy with the way I played," the 35-year-old Harding, who had three birdies and an eagle on the ninth hole, said.

"I made a mess of 11 and 12 and ultimately the way I played 13 through 18 this week, it was a stressful time. I executed some shots and managed to make a couple of good par saves."

Kitayama made two eagles and two birdies as he threatened to catch Harding by reducing his lead to one shot, but a bogey on the 11th meant he fell short.

Scotland's Connor Syme finished with a 64 to secure third place ahead of Spaniard Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez. ESPN

By FREDDY MACHA 

Turning your life around or as the African American writer, James Baldwin  wrote in an essay for the New York Times in 1962:  “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” 

That expression suits Layla Mohamed Yahya. She flew from Zanzibar to the UK to get treatment for a defect in her heart. After treatment she settled here, studied, built a family and then boom! 

Through her daughter, Nawal, life moved to another dimension or as musicians say, “went to the bridge.”  Layla and family would take the child back home, in Zanzibar, regularly.  Aged only seven, Nawal was very touched upon seeing the condition of children in Zanzibar. 

Not all attended school and the main cause was poverty. Nawal convinced her mum to kick start a campaign to help these youngsters. That is how Bigger Heart was born in 2009. 

Since then, Bigger Heart has swung into an awesome Swansea based charity sending all kinds of help to Zanzibar. Swansea is known as the famous football team in Wales, but now has an added twinge from East Africa. 

There are a couple of Diaspora based Africans running charities helping folks on the continent. I know Abiodun Enilari Paseda a Nigerian who helps disabled people. His Focus on Disability Foundation is so dedicated to the course that it has not stopped during the pandemic. 

In May 2020 he made a plea to the Nigerian government saying despite us being told we need to wear masks, wash hands  and social distance, disabled people need more.  Another is Tanzanian Asseri Kitanga who before the onset of Covid-19 had (through the charity Computers 4 Africa) made 123, 750 children in different parts of Africa have access to computers. 

Lydia Olet from Kenya who uses her Malaika Dance group as a charity arm too. The hard-working lady has three charities one which she runs through the Kenya in the Park project in London. So it is no wonder Bigger Heart, is trending , shall continue trending and....and... And trends that benefit. 

A major section of Bigger Heart work is health and education. In education (steered by Layla's daughter - now in her late teens) there is an exchange of pupils between Wales and Zanzibar.  While children in Zanzibar study English their opposites in Swansea, learn Ki-Swahili and other positive values from Zanzibar.

This sort of collaboration not only helps the youngsters but also sets the tone. If we let impressively, young citizens grasp and ingest virtuous, righteous, quality things from one another it is a huge investment to future communities and nations. Living in harmony and peace helps transform economies thus making our planet a much better place to live.

Do you want to know more? Here are the contacts:

 http://www.biggerheart.org.uk/

Tel. +44-7376461397  

-Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

-Web: www.makalazangu.blogspot.com

 Freddy Macha is a Tanzanian born, London based writer and musician.

By JULIUS MBALUTO

The word darkness is pretty much what it is, just a mere word! However, this word has power when it comes to perception or interpretation and context of where and how it is used.  The most obvious meaning, darkness is the opposite of light, that we know.

When it comes to the connotative meaning, the word darkness gets hideous, demeaning and negative. What do I mean? In religion, Satan is represented as the evil dark force behind all human misery. Clairvoyants tell those whom they are about to con that a ‘dark cloud’ is hanging above their lives and it has to be removed for them to make progress in life.

Let’s now get into deeper imperialist social construction. During the colonial era, Christianity was sold as the best alternative to any other religious practice by the Africans. African traditions were described by the colonialists as a dark rudimentary practise that should be replaced by Christianity. Jesus and angels were white and portrayed as the best while Satan,  Witchdoctors and evil angels were black with Satan drawn as a black man with two horns, a creature part animal and part man at the same time, pretty hideous!

The ‘blackness’ in the definition and derogatory use continues. Mainstream business is defined as trade but when corruption kicks in while doing the same, the meaning changes. Now we talk about ‘markets’ but corruption is involved while doing the same it becomes ‘black market’, the connotation of darkness, blackness hiding the negative meaning therein. When an accident takes place in one place on the same road, it’s called a ‘blackspot’. Why not a red spot, white spot, yellow spot or any other spot?

It was Europeans who branded Africa, a dark continent in 19^th Century. The excuse given for this narrative was that the Europeans never knew much about the African continent. So, did they have to call Africa a dark continent because they knew nothing about it or should they have gone ahead and found out what they needed to know that time? The usage of this word at this time was derogatory where the coloniser felt superior to the colonised and the slave master felt superior to the slaves.

Without a doubt, it wasn’t about Africa being a dark continent. It had something to do with the African culture and sub-cultures, the African people as seen by the imperialists.  It has been argued that the myth of a ‘dark continent’ referred to the savagery that Europeans said was endemic to Africa. What is the truth? Talk about savagery and as history has it, colonialism and slavery showcased savagery from those pointing a figure towards Africa. Europeans proved once and for all that they had that quality by the way they treated Africans.

Now that we all agree Africa is not a dark continent, what do people think about Africa? Those who have been to Africa without any preconceived ideas of harvesting the wealth of Africa and insulting the people at the time have different tales. 

Earnest Hemingway once said:

“I never knew of a morning in Africa when I woke up that I was not happy.“

Explaining his feeling towards Africa, Will Smith said:

“It’s really beautiful. It feels like God visits everywhere else, but lives in Africa”

Henry Loius Gates thought Africa was intriguing:

“For as long as I can remember, I have been passionately intrigued by ‘Africa’, by the word itself, by its flora and fauna, its topographical diversity and grandeur; but above all else, by the sheer variety of the colours of its people, from tan and sepia to jet and ebony”.

With 54 countries and over 1 billion people, Africa offers a market a ready market for many multi-national corporates. Africa is rich with resources from Oil, Minerals, Agriculture, Wildlife and Great scenic places and more.

The biggest waterfall in the world is in Africa. Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya (the original name) meaning the smoke that thunders offer memorable experiences. The great Rift Valley in Kenya and the wild beast migration is an amazing wonder of nature. There is a lot more to offer, these pages are not enough to tell it all.

Unfortunately, the West has exploited Africa since time immemorial. First, it was colonialism, then the creation of an international system which still looks down on Africa. United Nations has only 5 permanent members with veto powers to decide what happens in the rest of the world. None of those countries are from Africa. Former President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe died still urging for reforms within the United Nations. Representation means a lot when important decisions are being made but is anybody listening?

So, from colonialism to neo-colonialism which now is seen more as economic colonisation. Most independent nations in Africa still with pride in their sovereignty had to content with donor community and funders who always dictated to them on what to do. Early 90s, many economies in Africa were messed up by SAPs (Structural Adjustment Programmes) fronted by the Bretton Woods Institutions (IMF and The World Bank).

It came a time when these institutions wielded so much power. Their loans came with preconditions asking African governments to embrace multi-party democracy, do other things without thinking, they were only giving loans which had to be paid back in full. African leaders detested this state- of- affairs but unfortunately did nothing to change the status-quo. Many Presidential candidates over the years came into power having donor community in mind instead of thinking of how to free their countries from this economic colonisation.

Now then, the African leaders discovered China. Unlike the investors and funders from the Western Hemisphere, the Chinese don’t care about African politics, they don’t give preconditions, they make money available without many questions but behind the scenes they know, they will benefit more than even what their loans are worth. They give the loans, they take the contracts which the loans were supposed to do, they even ask to run those investments or projects when completed. China’s success to do projects in Africa now attracts the attention of the West and another scramble for Africa has just started. I’m aware that many countries from Africa benefit from genuine trade and genuine help. Africa is a large continent and cannot exist in isolation. However, Africans need to check again and again what any trade or loans mean to the economies of their countries.

What will be the role of the Africans in this new dispensation? Are we awake enough to see this current trend? Are we able to see what is already happening on the ground? It has come a time when the African people must know that Africa has value and a lot to offer. It has come a time, for African leaders to stand firm, inspire their countrymen to be productive, embrace the narrative of self-reliance, focus on what citizens can offer rather than what loans can offer.

Africa has value which the rest of the world wants. How much are our leaders willing to sell that value? Indeed, the western hemisphere nations, US, China and other nations have realized they need to invest in Africa. China is currently outdoing all other players in this game as Africa remains on focus. Africa is now the continent for the future. However, Africa needs to watch out not to be exploited in the name of investment. Chinks have started showing that it is not all trade or investments that are good for the African people.

Kenya has withdrawn from International Court of Justice hearings on its dispute with neighboring Somalia over territory in the Indian Ocean.

A statement from Kenya's Foreign Ministry cited alleged “procedural unfairness” by the United Nations court and alleged bias by a Somali judge on its bench as among the reasons Kenya decided to no longer participate.

Kenya said it informed the court's registrar that even though the case was merited, the government thinks continuing the legal proceedings denies the two countries an opportunity to resolve the matter bilaterally.

“Kenya restated that it should not have been dragged to the court by Somalia merely because of the neighbor’s resurgent expansionist agenda,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement late Friday.

The statement said the court also was informed that influential third parties with commercial interests were fueling a case " that threatens to destabilize the peace and security of an already fragile region.”

Somalia filed the case with the International Court of Justice in 2014. The dispute centers around Indian Ocean maritime rights and boundaries. The area in dispute – about 100,000-square kilometers – is thought to be rich in oil, gas and fish.

In its withdrawal statement, Kenya cited concerns about the potential bias of International Court of Justice Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf, a Somali citizen who previously represented Somalia at the Third United Nations Conference on the law of the sea.

Diplomatic ties between the two East African neighbors have become increasingly strained by the territorial dispute and recent accusations that Kenya was influencing Somalia's politics.

Somalia’s government severed ties with Kenya in December because of what it described as the imperative "to safeguard the unity, sovereignty, stability of the country.”

The announcement came as the leader of the breakaway territory of Somaliland ended a three-day visit to Kenya, where he was given treatment similar to that accorded to a head of state in meetings with the Kenyan leadership.

Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 as the country collapsed into warlord-led conflict and it has seen little of the violence and extremist attacks that plague Somalia to the south. Despite lacking international recognition, Somaliland has maintained its own independent government, currency and security system.

Somalia, however, considers Somaliland as part of its territory. Several rounds of talks over possible unification have failed to reach an agreement. By Tom Ondula 104.5Wokv