Ahmed Shahame Mwidani (1940–2021)
Ahmed Shahame Mwidani was a prominent Kenyan politician and the longest-serving mayor of Mombasa, holding office from 1983 to 1997. Prior to this, he was the councilor of Port Ritz Ward. He left office voluntarily in 1997 and paved way for then nominated councilor Najib Balala who went ahead to serve for only a year, […]
The Church Missionary Society
The Church Missionary Society (CMS), a British Anglican mission society founded in 1799, played a crucial role in the introduction of Christian missionary activity in Mombasa and its spread to the broader Kenyan coast. The CMS still have presence in Mombasa located between the road that leads to the Port and the other that leads […]
Dr Johann Ludwig Krapf monument
Situated in Mkomani and close to English Point, the monument is named after Johann Ludwig Krapf, a German missionary, explorer, linguist and scholar born in 1810. Dr Krapf died in 1881 in Germany aged 71. He studied at the Eberhard Karls University Tubingen from 1929, graduating in 1934. He went to Basel after this where […]
Mwalimu Masudi Mwahima (1 November 1949 – 25 August 2020)
Mwalimu Masudi Mwahima was a Mombasa-based Kenyan politician. He belonged to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and was elected to represent the Likoni Constituency in the National Assembly of Kenya since the 2007 Kenyan parliamentary election. Mwahima began his political life in 1987 when he was elected as a councilor in Kenya’s port city of […]
Shariff Nassir Bin Taib (1932–2005)
Shariff Nassir was a prominent Kenyan politician from Mombasa who played a significant role in the country’s political landscape during President Daniel arap Moi’s regime. He is the father to the current Governor of Mombasa County, His Excellency Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir (born). Known for his loyalty to the ruling party KANU and his fiery rhetoric, […]
Leonard Mambo Mbotela (29 May 1940 – 7 February 2025)
Leonard Mambo Mbotela (29 May 1940 – 7 February 2025) In the 80s and throughout the 90s before television became a common thing in Kenyan households, radio was king, and in such a kingdom, the man with “The Voice” and maybe “The Juice” is king. As a result of his everyday animated “juice” while in […]
Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu: The Making of the Kenya National Anthem
The Kenyan National Anthem, as any national anthem should, stands as a symbol of unity, patriotism, and the pressing urgency denoting the time of its composition that needed to gather the people of Kenya into a sort of decorum that was vital for this young nation straight out of a long and ardous road to […]
Msanifu Kombo, first Mayor of Mombasa City
Msanifu Kombo Msanifu Kombo was elected Mayor of Mombasa during the KANU-KADU coalition government (1962–1964). His victory coincided with KADU’s dominance in Mombasa, where local leaders like Abdillahi Nassir and Anantprasad Pandya opposed KANU’s centralization. Kombo’s rise likely aligned with Oginga Odinga’s faction of KANU (which later became Kenya People’s Union, KPU), which emphasized regional […]
Abeid Amani Karume (4 August 1905 – 7 April 1972)
Abeid Karume ruled Zanzibar for 8 years, from January 12, 1964, until his assassination on April 7, 1972. He obtained the title of president as a result of a revolution which led to the deposing of Jamshid bin Abdullah, the last reigning Sultan of Zanzibar, in January 1964. Three months later, Zanzibar united with Tanganyika […]
John Okello (1937–c. 1971) and the Zanzibar revolution of 1964
John Okello was a Ugandan immigrant and self-styled revolutionary, left an indelible mark on Zanzibar’s history as the leader of the 1964 Afro-Shirazi Revolution. Born in Uganda, Okello fled his homeland at age 15, working briefly in Kenya before settling in Pemba, Zanzibar, in 1959. There, he labored as a bricklayer and union organizer, secretly […]