Author: Vincent Ng’ethe
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Lessons from Public Participation in Nairobi County: Digital Isn’t Always Better
What does public participation in Nairobi look like? The Constitution of Kenya 2010 requires the government – whether national or county – to facilitate and engage in public participation whenever making laws. However, the form such civic undertakings take depends on who is doing it, and why. For instance, when a sitting president wants to…
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For Financial Sanity, Kenya Should Embrace The R-Word
When times are tough, governments declare they will slash spending and Kenyan ones are no different. Kenyans will remember when Uhuru Kenyatta, as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, declared that government ministers would have to be driven in Volkswagen Passat vehicles because the customary Mercedes Benz limousines were fuel guzzlers. It’s not clear…
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“Failed Brakes”, Kenya’s Deadliest Excuse
On a Monday morning in July 2023, before the deadly confrontations between protestors and riot police that would end up killing more than six Kenyans, Raila Odinga boarded a matatu from his Karen home headed for the Nairobi Central Business District. With his bodyguard keeping his distance, Odinga ambled to the bus stop clad in his Azimio-Blue kaunda suit,…
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Parliament Should Publish All Its Voting Records
When the Finance Bill finally makes it to Parliament, do you know how your MP will vote? For most Kenyans, the answer to that question will be “No”. For a law that promises much more than a 3 per cent housing development levy, you should be concerned. Kenya has a freedom of information law but…
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The Perils of Today’s Consumer (With Lesser Rights?)
The ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike has drawn attention to just how far businesses can go to eliminate humans and the cost of their labour from production. Here in Kenya, tea-picking machines were introduced to the great chagrin of workers. One change that still seems far from Kenya is the cashier-less supermarket, where money leaves your…
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Let’s Embrace Maps More. Better Maps
Maps have long been a staple of election reporting. The US Presidential election, for instance, is one of the most mapped anywhere. Be it the presidential election or the midterms, maps help voters everywhere to digest and understand results. Typically, results are reported from precinct to county, to state, and then nationally. Use of more…
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Nairobi One Huge Slum? Blame City Hall!
Nairobi has a long, complicated history with slums. Their origin, according to this handy inventory of slums by Irene Karanja and Jack Makau, can be traced back to the refusal by colonialists to permit and provide for African workers to live with their families in the city, skewed land distribution among racial groups and subsequent…
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Mukumu Girls Tragedy: A Wake Up Call
The tragic happenings at Mukumu Girls and Butere Boys schools in Kakamega have shed light once again on the state of boarding schools in our country. They come more than five years after the Moi Girls School, Nairobi fire killed 10 students, and other deaths following caning, illness, more illness, suspected suicide, unknown causes, and still…
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FACT CHECK: Police Beating Video Misleading
Seven months after the 2022 general election, Kenyans are swimming in another deluge of misinformation. In the wake of protests led by opposition leader Raila Odinga, misleading photos and videos were posted on Twitter. Even the feared DCI posted misleading images of suspects they were seeking, leading Taifa Leo, the feisty Swahili daily, to print…
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Kenya’s Wildlife: Long Lenses For Some, Mortal Danger To Others
Ever since Kenya was a republic, dominion, colony, or left alone the way its people liked it, wildlife meant wealth. People made great fortunes by shooting and mounting the biggest trophies, poaching for skin, teeth and horn, and latterly by hosting those who wish to photograph live animals. Adventurers, hoteliers, photographers, artists, publishers, safari boot-makers,…