Samira Sawlani

Samira Sawlani is a journalist, writer and analyst with a focus on East Africa. A holder of an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Samira has previously worked in the humanitarian aid sector, before she picked the pen. She runs a weekly column in The Mail and Guardian’s ‘The Continent’, and has been published in a range of publications including Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Vice, Mail and Guardian and African Arguments.

4 Articles Published | Follow:
A Three-Step Guide On How To Create A Political Sideshow
Loving Nairobi, Missing London, But Still Loving Nairobi
Nairobi: Shiny But Impractical
‘‘We Just Hope For The Best’’

Asha Ahmed Mwilu has spent more than a decade weaving intricate stories of people and their relationship to power through reportage, investigations and documentary filmmaking. Some of her most notable work include her reporting on Al-Shabaab’s terror grip on East Africa, Nelson Mandela’s final days and death, official corruption in Kenya, the struggles of Kenyan workers in the Middle East and extrajudicial killings in Kenya’s urban towns. For her reporting on Al Shabaab activities at the Kenya-Somalia border, Asha was awarded the 2016 CNN Multichoice African journalist of the Year. A 2015 Chevening scholar, she received the Head of State’s Mzalendo Award for her COVID-19 reporting inside public hospital wards. To cleanse herself of all the heavy subjects, Asha collects records, paints and is a new bird watcher.

Bobby Mkangi served as a Commissioner in the nine-member Committee of Experts for Constitutional Review (CoE) in Kenya that delivered the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 (CoK-2010). In that process Mkangi convened and chaired the human rights, and civic education and public engagement sub-committees of the CoE. Thereafter, Mkangi worked on various transitional justice constitution-making processes in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and The Gambia. In 2012, Mkangi spoke at Tokyo’s Toyo University on Constitutions as Platforms of Change in Africa: The Kenyan Case, and is concluding a semi-autobiographical book, provisionally entitled It Was Written: Personal Reflections on Constitution Making Process in Kenya. A children rights advocate, Mkangi participated in an Experts’ Meeting convened by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Violence against Children and the Office of the UN Commissioner on Human Rights (OCHR) on Legal Framework for the Prohibition, Elimination and Response to Violence against Children in Geneva, Switzerland in 2012. On the same issue, Mkangi has finalised two manuscripts provisionally titled The Legal Framework for Child Protection in Kenya and The Anatomy of Child Sexual Abuse: Kenya’s Silent Monster. Mkangi is affiliated to the African Network for Constitutional Lawyers (ANCL) and serve in various boards including the National Democratic Institute (NDI)/Kenya Board (Secretary), the Kampala based Eastern Africa Centre for Constitutional Development (Kituo Cha Katiba -KcK) in which he chairs the board, and Moyo Children’s Centre (MCC) where he sits as Chairperson. Mkangi previously served in the board of the African Network for Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) – Kenya Chapter as Treasurer. In 2010, Mkangi was awarded the Member of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS) by the President of The Republic of Kenya for exemplary service during Kenya’s constitution-making process. In similar context, Mkangi was awarded the Shujaa Wetu (our hero) Award by the National Council For Community Based Organisations. In 2004, he was awarded Honorary Membership (2004-2006) by the International Society for the Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN). Mkangi works as an independent legal consultant, and lives in Nairobi, Kenya.