Category: Public Square
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How Political Comedy Derailed The GMO Debate
An interesting thing happened in February. An organisation called the Alliance for Science published a report pointing out that misinformation on genetically modified organisms had been published by news media outlets without being challenged. Some prominent people who made claims include opposition leader Raila Odinga, marijuana maverick George Wajackoyah, industrialisation cabinet secretary Moses Kuria and…
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Workers Of Kenya Unite… Or Not
As you watched the BBC Africa Eye documentary about the endemic sexual abuse of women casual labourers on the plantations Lipton Teas and Infusions and James Finlay owned in Kericho, you may have wondered where is the workers’ union in all of this? It is clear the companies failed to provide their women labourers with…
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Nairobi Should Revisit #WhatIsARoad
Will the day come when Kenya’s urbanites use maps to report potholes and other municipal flare-ups to City Hall? It’s a long- awaited technology milestone that should be at every Kenyan’s fingertips by now. The possibilities at scale were highlighted on 16 July 2016, when a frustrated Ory Okolloh tweeted: “Twitpic your Nairobi road pics.…
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Africa Is A (Sad, Dysfunctional) Country
I watched the outcome of the just-concluded Nigeria election in disbelief, my heart breaking for the millions of Nigerians whose hope for a fresh start have been dashed against the jagged edge of the status quo. That popular Labour Party candidate Peter Obi lost to the establishment must have felt like a slap to the…
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Freedom For All, Including The LGBTQ+
It is with some trepidation that I share my views on the hot-button issue du jour of the Supreme Court decision which recognized the rights of association of the LGBTQ+ community in Kenya. In April 2012, Eric Gitari, a lawyer and human rights activist wanted to establish a non-governmental organisation (NGO), and as required by…
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You Can Meet But Not Touch! On The LGBTQ+ Community’s Freedom Of Association
Expectedly, a huge debate emerged from one of the latest decisions from the Supreme Court of Kenya (SCoK). On the 24 February 2023, in settling Eric Gitari V NGO Coordination Board & 4 Others, the SCoK, through a majority decision (3:2), upheld the Court of Appeals (CoA) decision that lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender and queer…
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Attacks On LGBTQ+ Community Unwarranted
A judgement by the Supreme Court of Kenya allowing members of the LGBTQ+ community in Kenya to form an association has kicked up a storm, with leaders like National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula condemning the judgement because it did not uphold “public morality”, and Attorney-General Justin Muturi vowing to challenge the judgement on the basis…
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Sympathizing With Ukraine While Calling Out The West’s Hypocrisy
Let me say at the outset that I am no fan of Russian President Vladimir Putin. I believe what he is doing in Ukraine is a war crime. There is no justification for the killing of thousands of civilians, the displacement of millions of men, women and children, and the destruction of entire cities. Putin…
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The BBC’s ‘Sex for Work’: The Story Behind The Story
This was not the story BBC Africa Eye had set out to do. Tom Odula had pitched to the decision-makers at BBC Africa Eye a story about land in Kericho, how British companies came to own it and the lawsuit the Kericho County government had initiated in British courts. Odula got the go-ahead to do…
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Of Nigerian Ogas And The Ogre That Is African Elections
Fela Anikulapo Kuti, one of the most talented and famous sons of Nigeria and Africa, and the founder of the AfroBeat genre of music, sang that democracy is but only a “demonstration of craze.” To him, African countries and for that matter, his beloved Nigeria (that is why he fought so hard for it), were…