Tag: Public Square

“I need to retire from retirement.” Sandra Day O’Connor A rather intriguing provision in Kenya’s Presidential Retirement Benefits Act 2003 provides that “A retired President shall not hold office in any political party for more than six months after ceasing to hold office as President.”  This legislation was enacted in 2003, in order to address…

One must-do if you ever travel to Japan is signing up for a Japanese tea ceremony in Osaka.  You will end up in a ragtag group of other itinerant tourists eager to immerse themselves into a centuries-old tradition. Like you, they are looking for something to make their trip feel a little more authentic. Or…

My 20s were mostly employed on the political street beat with maandamanos that took place in the agitation for an end to the one-party rule and the clamor for a new constitution in the ‘80s into the ‘90s. Many in our midst were killed, maimed and imprisoned by Daniel arap Moi’s government.  Our reward would…

On 20 April 2023, Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk retired all legacy blue checkmarks. Musk chose the date because it’s 4/20, get it? 😅 This came after previous threats to get the check marks removed so that Musk could fully roll out the $8 per month subscription service that was launched in November 2022 for…

A few months from now more than 1.5 million wildebeest will cross the crocodile-infested Mara River into Kenya from Tanzania, in what is recognized as one of the “Seven Wonders of the Natural World.” Many thousands of them will be eaten by the crocodiles and the scavengers who lie in wait.   The annual northwest wildebeest…

The limits of free speech and political propaganda have just been made clearer in the United States where Dominion, a vote machine manufacturer has just settled a defamation suit against Fox News for over 106 billion Kenya shillings. Since former American President Donald Trump’s electoral defeat in 2020 Fox News had become a redoubt from…

It is unfortunate that Kenya lifted the ban on genetically modified (GMO) foods in October last year without sufficient public participation (a constitutional requirement) or debate on whether the growing and consumption of such foods is beneficial to the country and its citizens. As far as I know, no farmers’ associations or agricultural societies were…

In November 2022, Akinyi, a domestic worker from Kariobangi, was thrown off the fourth floor of an apartment building in Kiamaiko by her employer after she accused her of having stolen KSh 20,000. She was in her second trimester of a pregnancy. This is not the first or last of such incidents, and the collaboration and…

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…

Raptors, the generic name for birds of prey, are hyper-carnivorous bird species that survive by hunting and feeding on other animals. Currently, Kenya has 103 species (including owls) of birds of prey ranging from the tiny Pygmy falcon to the Lappet-faced vulture, which is the largest raptor on the continent. Birds of prey provide key…