REPUBLIC OF KENYA

THE PRESIDENCY
MINISTRY OF DEVOLUTION AND PLANNING
OFFICE OF THE CABINET SECRETARY
SPEECH BY MS. ANNE WAIGURU, OGW, CABINET SECRETARY,
MINISTRY OF DEVOLUTION AND PLANNING, DURING THE DIGITAL
LAUNCH OF THE AFRICAN PHOTO MAGAZINE AT NAILAB PREMISES,
ON 16TH APRIL, 2014.

House of Photography Directors, Mr & Mrs Mitchener

The Founder, Chair and Convener Bloggers Association of Kenya,
The Founder and C.E.O, Nailab Kenya, Mr. Sam Gichuru,
Colleagues, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to be here today to officiate this ceremony to launch the AFRICAN
PHOTO MAGAZINE which has already been characterized, and appropriately so,
one-of-a-kind contemporary and conceptual magazine. The creation of a photo
magazine that captures the faces, voices and themes of Africa and tells a holistic
story from multiple viewpoints is as fitting as it is exciting.

House of Photography, we are encouraged that, together with your team, you
have recognized that just by doing what you love, you can create a platform for
the African story to be told through the lenses of our own photographers. You
have recognized the promise of Africa, and have taken the initiative to invest in
that promise. We applaud you.
It is also encouraging to see the collaboration you have established with the
community of Kenyan bloggers through their Association BAKE. Kenyan bloggers,
now widely referred to as KOTs, have made a name for themselves
internationally. They are creative, alert and extremely effective in pushing an
agenda online. They will make a valuable partner for the House of Fotography in
general and the Africa Photo Magazine in particular. With them on board, you
can be sure that your content shall bounce beyond the limits of your publication
to reach audiences far away from the boarders of this continent. We encourage
BAKE to continue networking content creators and enhancing the syndication of
online content.

We are also encouraged when we see the youth thinking outside the box, not
waiting for formal employment but instead going out there and creating jobs for
themselves and others. We remain profoundly grateful to organizations such as
Nailab and other ICT startup accelerators where young Kenyans with nothing but
a dream can undergo entrepreneurship training, convert their ideas into
profitable, scalable businesses and employ their peers. ICT provides numerous
entrepreneurial opportunities for our youth and Government will continue
partnering with incubation hubs like we have done with Nailab to ensure that our
youth are able to access and exploit the digital space to make a decent living.
This digital publication is one such avenue.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
They say Photography is the art of creating durable images. For a long time
through the history of civilization, the photographs of Africans and of Africa that
have been shared with the world were taken from the vantage point of a
professional photographer who had a pre-determined story; a story of pain,
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suffering and destitution. The photographs of Africans and of Africa have for a
long time focused on the ignorance, violence, corruption, HIV/AIDS,
unemployment and other challenges that we grapple with as a people.
In mainstream media, and especially international mainstream media, it is almost
as if the best pictures of Africa are those that depict the most horrible things that
communities do to each other or portray decadence in our Governments. But you
and I who live here know that as much as these pictures are real, they do not tell
the whole story. To insist only on these negative images is to flatten our
experiences as a people and to overlook the many other images that portray our
daily experiences.
As Chimamanda Adichie aptly put it in the now widely syndicated ted talk series
The danger of a single story, The single story creates stereotypes, and the
problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are
incomplete. They make one story become the only story.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
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I contend that the same goes for imagery. If we see only a single perspective
about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. Adichie
asserts, and I agree with her, that The consequence of the single story is that it
robs people of dignity.
Luckily for Africa, technology has given us the opportunity to rewrite history by
retelling our story. The once very rare analogue camera used in big public spaces
and which required professional training to operate, has evolved into a basic
gadget we all carry into our personal spaces. This allows us a first point of call in
communicating the multiplicity of our experiences from our own point of view.
Through the phone camera we can show the world the sub-cultures to our
peoples daily, intimate lives and their interaction with major national or global
events.
Photo applications have also become a valuable platform to project important
perspectives from our people. Through applications such as instagram, we are
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able to observe visual accounts of the lives of Africas youth, their imaginations
as well as their actions and thoughts during important social and political events.
Our youth are telling their own stories and scrambling to realize their part in
important national discourses and document their part in it.
Our lives and cultures are composed of many overlapping stories. That is why I
am personally exited at this project. The inspiration behind it to depict a wholistic
view point is reassuring. I am looking forward to a multiplicity of vantage points,
perspectives, styles and trends from Africa in the Magazine. Pictures that
showcase Africas remarkable resilience against great odds and the innovative
solutions that our young people are generating for the continent to overcome its
challenges.

I congratulate the House of Photography and all those who have played a part,
big or small, in creating this great magazine. The Ministry of Devolution and
Planning will continue to support this and other similar initiatives that hold
promise for our youth. I look forward to subsequent releases of the publication.
Thank you and God bless you.