Whose Heritage Counts in Mombasa?
On any given day in Old Town, tourists gather around and inside Fort Jesus World Heritage Site, phone cameras lifted toward coral-stone walls that have withstood centuries of imperial contestation. Guides narrate Portuguese arrival, Omani rule, British administration and sometimes about the locals. The architecture of the Fort is presented as a monumental, globally-legible archive.
Mahmoud Abbas “Kenya One”
Born in Old Town Mombasa in 1957, Abbas became a legendary goalkeeper on club and international level, earning him the title, Kenya 1. He hails from a family with a history of respected Maalims and footballers. His father, Maalim Ahmed Abbas Said was a well-known sheikh and the secretary General of Mombasa District Football federation […]
Ship Wrecks: MV GLOBE STAR (27th April, 1973)
The Globe Star was a cargo ship that ran aground on April 27, 1973, along Nyali Reef near Mombasa, Kenya, while transporting 10,000 tons of wheat destined for Karachi, Pakistan. Despite extensive salvage efforts, the ship eventually broke apart and was abandoned. Tragically, during a salvage operation in November 1973, five individuals lost their lives […]
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 […]
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 […]