I knew the Late Fr. Christoper Wanyonyi in the late 90s when Kabula catholic church was still a sub-parish under Bungoma Parish. He took up the construction of Kabula Church with resolve. The church had suffered several false starts and had been relegated to a white elephant status, due to mismanagement of funds. The foundation trenches had become a hideout for village urchins and petty thieves.

I remember the statement he kept saying “manyile mulebakho chisendi lakini paka khulombakha ekanisa khumale.” I also remember him chasing one Development committee member from church, right in front of the congregation, for failing to account for the collected funds. He ordered him never to return to church until he could account for the money. A towering figure, Father Wanyonyi was never known to mince his words.

Later, as a parent at Christ the King Primary school, my boys would share stories of how Father Wanyonyi would walk into their classes unannounced, to personally supervise the teaching. They knew how to make the different catholic prayers, courtesy of Father Wanyonyi.

Under his patronage, Christ the King Catholic choir has produced some of the best catholic music (CC: Ochieng D Odongo ). As a congregant at Christ the King for about 2 years while in Bungoma, I always looked forward to his booming voice, and animated yet fiery homilies.

Father leaves behind a legacy of two of the biggest catholic churches in Bungoma Diocese, Kabula Catholic Church and Christ the King Cathedral. On his account, Bungoma has one of the best performing Primary schools. The footprints he leaves in Bungoma county, in people’s lives, in our hearts, shall remain indelible! Go well Fr. Wanyonyi.

Mr. Sudi Wandabusi is an Advocate and Personal Assistant to the Speaker of the Senate of Kenya.

Linccell Technology is the brain child of Lincoln Wamae. Lincoln is a self-taught engineer, designer and a green energy champion who started out as a drone designer and engineer before shifting focus to electric powered personal mobility solutions such as scooters and bikes. This is Lincoln’s account developed interest in assembling electric wheelchairs:

In the year 2014, I was boarding a matatu (van for public transport) at the city of Nairobi and something caught my attention. There were several persons with disabilities who wanted to board the same vans but the touts couldn’t let them in as they felt they would be wasting their time before they settle in.

This really challenged me and I wondered what I would do to help these people who did not choose to be having a disability. That’s when an idea of how I would use my skills to come up with an ideal electric wheelchair to ease the mobility of wheelchair users both in-doors and outdoors.

It took me several months trying to re-use some of the e-waste I had in my store to build a battery powerful enough to power the wheelchair I had designed. I also had to use all my savings to purchase some batteries and some of the other parts that I did not have to make it a complete workable electric wheelchair. After a couple of design and technical iterations, as well as safety tests, I succeeded in launching Linccell wheelchair prototype.

Kenya’s Premier Boy Band Sauti Sol will be performing in the ZEMIX Festival at the Salle de spectacles in Renens, Switzerland this October. The ZIMIX festival is two days annual event that celebrates the cultural diversity in Switzerland and particularly in the western part of Lausanne through jazz and Afro music.

Sauti Sol will be joined by four other African acts, Lady Ponce from Cameroon, Christian Mukuna from Congo and Marcus Lyon from Cameroon, in headlining performances of the “African” segment of the festival on Saturday 2^nd October 2021.

This invite is confirmation that the Sauti Sol quartet comprising Chimano, Polycarp, Savara and Bien has not only consolidated their place among the African continent’s leading musicians, it is now conquering the world.

This is not Sauti Sol’s first time performance in Europe; they have toured Sweden, Portugal and will be in Spain later in the year. The group continues to gain international attention, even pulling former president Barack Obama’s attention with the song ‘Sura Yako’.

The ZIMIX Festival is the place to be in the autumn of 2021 to celebrate live music with the Swiss public, all the local cultural players, emerging talents and established artists from Switzerland and abroad.