Authoritarianism
Harambee! Harambee Tena!
The first ever fundraiser in Kenya took place in December 1928. It has been 96 years but we still say, Harambee!!! October 1, 2024 The year is 1926. Kenya is under colonial rule. Natives in [more…]
AW Kamau
21st Century
Macron & Ruto, Part Two
Dark clouds gather over Paris and Nairobi as the administrations of France’s President Macron and Kenya’s William Ruto become increasingly authoritarian. Noé Michalon and Syo Ivia take up the story… A growing accountability deficit The [more…]
21st Century
Macron & Ruto
The parallels between France and Kenya, and between Emmanuel Macron and William Ruto, lead us to question what fundamental trends brought both countries to experience quite similar crises, to which both leaders responded in a [more…]
21st Century
Teargassing a Baddie
September, 2024 The log had fallen from my eye. It was time to come from behind the screen and take action. If you were to ask 16-year-old me whether a day would come when I’d [more…]
21st Century
Debt and the Gen Z protests
31 August, 2024 A generation after the 1980s debt crisis triggered the rebirth of democracy on the continent, will Kenya’s youthful idealists spark a pan-African revolt? The protests in Kenya mark a turning point [more…]
21st Century
Building on Sand? The Perils of Peacemaking in Sudan
After 16 months of civil war, Sudan increasingly resembles a ‘failed state’, with displacement and man-made famine driving one of the ‘worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory’. Following early setbacks, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) [more…]
21st Century
Ruto the Flying Mantis Has Been Grounded
Ruto’s wings have been clipped and we are watching over him carefully, monitoring all his movements. Until he surrenders. August, 2024 When we were children, my friends and I loved hanging out every evening [more…]
19th Century
Moving the Talai
August 14, 2024 The evidence of colonial Britain’s attempt to eliminate the Talai a century ago is only now coming to light, as the last of the survivors seek justice. Above: Kibore Cheruiyot Ng’asura, 102 [more…]
21st Century
Last Bastion of the Colonial Home Guard
The Home Guard is institutionalised at the National Police Service and is evident in the lives that have been claimed through state-sanctioned violence during the ongoing Gen Z protests. 14 August 2024 According to a [more…]