Category: Public Square
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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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Will Kenya Ever Be Good Enough for Kenyans?
I would also like to enjoy this Kenya that is being enjoyed by foreigners
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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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No One in Nairobi Knows Their Height
How tall exactly is 6 ‘0? If I presented 5 people to you, would you be able to pick out the one that is 6 ‘0 accurately?
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When Will the #MeToo Movement Reach the UN?
The widespread condemnation of Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales for kissing footballer Jenni Hermoso on the lips after her team won the Women’s World Cup in Australia has been described as Spain’s #MeToo moment. In the macho world of football, this is a historic event as it has brought to light the issue of…
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The Thing About Kids
A few months ago, I took my friends’ children to the cinema to watch The Little Mermaid. I’d been planning the outing for two weeks, coordinating with both sets of parents for a day that worked, securing the tickets, and getting the kids all excited for the movie. They sang in the car on the…
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The Impending Political Deal, a Struggling Economy and a Disaffected Populace
So, assuming that Azimio la Umoja One Kenya can sustain either the Bomas of Kenya Talks or yet another wave of protests, what is the end game really? Kenya’s history shows that the prize is likely to be an elite compromise by which a power sharing arrangement of some form or shape may be struck.…
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Stop the Violence in Our Homes, Schools, and Streets!
A few years ago, I asked a departing French diplomat what his impressions were about Kenya. I expected him to say how beautiful the country was, how nice the weather was and how much he would miss the country and its people. To my surprise, he told me that his experience of the country convinced…
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Chapter Six Is Under Attack. Does Anyone Care?
In 2016, a near-brawl broke-out in the Kenyan Senate. The respective combatants were Evans Kidero, the then Governor of Nairobi County, and Mike Mbuvi Sonko, his Senator. It is not clear who won the actual fight, but we now know that Nairobians lost because the Auditor General just told us so. You see, during the…
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Sticky Presidential Pardons, and A Call for the Pardoning of Dedan Kimathi and Others
Just over a month ago, it came to light that President William Ruto has, on the advice of the Advisory Committee on the Power of Mercy, freed 5,058 petty convicts, commuted sentences for death row prisoners to life imprisonment, and pardoned 37 convicts including Dr. Davy Koech, once famous for his attempt in the 1980s…