In light of the ongoing NYS/IFMIS scandal in which amounts ranging from KES 695 million to KES 791 million are said to have been stolen by alleged relatives of top NYS officials hiding behind a few companies, it is important that we as a nation take pause to appreciate the extent of the mess we are in at the moment as a full blown lootocracy. The money stolen in this scandal is said to have been obtained by introducing an extra zero on each transaction they posted on IFMIS.

Just before this, ironically, the president cited the unmanageability of … Read More

It is my belief that we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. Our lives are made possible by those who birthed us, and those who fought so that people who look like us can live, and we must always remember this.

I was recently asked why I am no longer as vocal as I used to be about issues I am passionate about on my Facebook/Twitter pages. Nowadays, I’ll mostly talk about the music I’m listening to or how I’m feeling, and some have felt that this is shallow compared to what I shared before. I … Read More

The phrase “new year, new me” cannot be said to apply to the year 2015 – for it appears that it will be a continuation, and perhaps a crescendo, of the gross inhumanity we experienced in 2014.

Nigeria has suffered yet another onslaught from the terror group Boko Haram, who have killed an upward of 2,000 people in the town of Baga. Many complained that the attack did not garner nearly enough public attention and outrage, as compared to the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in which 17 people, mostly staff members of the magazine, were killed. A … Read More

“and when we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed but when we are silent we are still afraid. So it is better to speak remembering we were never meant to survive”

Audre Lorde

These are the works that spoke to us the most in 2014. [Click the title, in bold, to go to the respective piece.]

How NOT To Approach the #MyDressMyChoice Conversation

by Olivia Kidula

“The nature of these attacks stems from the entitlement to women’s bodies. For so long women have been viewed as property, extensions of men and not their own … Read More

On September 5th 2014, Uhuru Kenyatta caused a social media (and traditional media) standstill when he wore army fatigues for the first time in his presidency. All kinds of things were said: he looked “devilishly handsome”, “presidential”, “they fit him much better than his usual suits, he should get this tailor to make his suits”, “look at how cool my president is”, “oh my God you guys see how much swag he has”, and many others. He has done so at least once again since. This is a first for a Kenyan president: his predecessors have only worn their … Read More

From Wednesday 18th June to Friday 20th June 2014, I got to experience life in Kakuma, at the refugee camp. A couple of bloggers and I went there courtesy of UNHCR to commemorate World Refugee Day, and each day, we had opportunities to interact with the host community, the Turkana, and the refugees, who are of more than 13 nationalities, and are about 150,000 at the moment.

Every morning, between 8 – 9 am, a lorry would arrive full of people displaced from their home countries, and they would head to the UNHCR offices to register themselves. Many of … Read More

“Once poverty is gone, we’ll need to build museums to display its horrors to future generations. They’ll wonder why poverty continued so long in human society – how a few people could live in luxury while billions dwelt in misery, deprivation and despair.”

Mohammed Yunus

It is easy to think of poverty as a thing that once solved, will lead to unending human prosperity. We just need to find its source and cut it off. Only that poverty has several causes, and once you begin to think about it, it begins to seem like a hydra: when you cut off … Read More

By July 2014 or January 2015, the African Union (AU) is expected to ratify the African Union Convention on Confidence and Security in Cyberspace (AUCC). The AU is having its 22nd assembly in Addis Ababa currently, running until 1st February, and the ratification was to take place at this meeting until it was postponed.

Such legislation is necessitated by the rapid globalization of crime, largely made possible by the internet. Africa lags behind and is an easy target due to poor understanding of the security risks it faces, the lack of tools to ensure cyber security and lack of … Read More

The East African Community (EAC), a regional intergovernmental organization, was re-formed in 1999 by the Republic of Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Uganda after the collapse of the original EAC in 1977. The Republic of Rwanda and the Republic of Burundi became member states in 2007, and South Sudan has expressed interest in joining the community.

Its vision is a prosperous, competitive, secure, stable and politically united East Africa, and its aim is to widen and deepen integration and co-operation among partner states politically, economically, socially and culturally for their mutual benefit. So far, it … Read More

One of the few things we can agree on about Kenya is that we are a deeply religious nation. Kenya is listed among the world’s top 10 religious countries, with 88% of its people ascribing to religious teachings. 47% are Protestants while 23.5% are Roman Catholics, meaning that 80% of Kenya’s religious population is Christian. Many of our beliefs as a people are anchored in religion.

We are also keen on our traditions, and we mainly identify with our ethnic groups. Many traditional practices within these ethnic groups are still practised, like payment of dowry, circumcision, marriage and … Read More