Boniface Mwangi on a Better Kenya

Boniface Mwangi speaking at the inaugural TEDx Nairobi at Upper Hill on the 8th of August, 2009.

How would you want to leave Kenya for the next generation? This is the inherent question that CNN’s African Photojournalist of the Year, Boniface Mwangi seeks to address in his work.

In 2007, Mwangi covered the campaign trail for the regional publication East African Standard following the Kenyan opposition of Raila Odinga as he worked to win voters over. And all across the country politicians were preaching tribal politics using divide and conquer tactics to win voters. After the ill fated elections, violence broke out all across the country.

The Standard would censor some of the more graphical images submitted by Mwangi although that didn’t take away from what he had witnessed in the field. This experience drastically changed his life and how he viewed the direction Kenyan leaders were taking the country.

As a sign of protest, Boniface disrupted the president’s speech during a live national broadcast on Madaraka Day, which ironically recognizes Kenya’s self-internal governance, on  1st June, 2009 and was subsequently arrested. This occurred after four months of planning with friends and lawyers who supported his work. In contrast, his family thought he had lost his mind and asked him to cease his activities.

In response, Boniface set up an organization aimed to help the poor and Kenyan youth country wide within the areas where violence broke out. Picha Mtaani is an organization aimed at providing a platform for national reflection and building local reconstruction consensus through photo exhibitions and debate. Since most of the affected areas have been left out of the national debate and neither do they have a voice in driving policy and change within the country, Picha Mtaani will engage these audiences and turn them into citizens who are concerned about their lives and how to improve the reconciliation and national unity.

Boniface Mwangi grew up in a broken home with six siblings and five fathers. His mum died when he was seventeen. In the slums of East Africa, it was tough finding direction as the choices were either to join a gang or engage in drug use. As a high school dropout, Boniface didn’t have many options and used to hawk books on the streets. He later joined a bible school and while there came across a book by famed photojournalist Mohamed Amin on the Ethiopian famine of 1985.

This was a turning point in his life as he decided to pursue photography. Without a college degree, it was tough getting into any school. He managed to join an obscure school without camera equipment where he lasted all of five months. He dropped out, bought a camera and started shooting pictures about life in the slums of Eastlands where he grew up.

These photos were remarkable in that they offered a diverse view of life in Kenya. Mwangi got a job with the East African Standard where he became a photojournalist until he quit in 2008. His work during the post election violence earned him the CNN African Photojournalist of the Year award.

According to Boniface, Kenyans aspire to have a better country but sometimes do not ask if they are the best citizens of this better Kenya. A lot of people prefer taking shortcuts in order to achieve their dreams. With leaders bent on building tribal fiefdoms instead of preaching nationalistic politics, it is very hard for Kenya to become a successful country.

In response, Boniface wants to help Kenyans become better citizens and stop compromising on their ideals. He feels this is the only way we can build a better country for our children. Though Picha Mtaani is just a small tool we can use to help build a better country, it is a step in the right direction.