Author: NLM Correspondent

By David Matende It is now universally accepted that Kenya’s media engaged in the most blatant partisan reporting ever during the campaigns for the August 8 election. But as unprofessional as this might have been, it may not have influenced how people voted, with studies from elsewhere showing that getting something on the agenda is not the same as changing people’s positions As the country prepares for a repeat of the presidential election on October 26, it is important to reflect on the election reporting lessons learnt from the pre-August 8 election campaign. The Daily Nation, particularly, distinguished itself for…

By Kenyatta Otieno Ngugi wa Thiong’o realised late in life that dropping the name James was not enough in his attempt to break the chains of mental colonisation. In his book Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature, Ngugi tells the world that he will not write in English again. Ngugi was talking about Africans (writers) clearing their minds and worldview of biases of Western culture. I will shift his view to Western democracy as prescribed by the West, to emerging African states. From what is happening in Kenya, democracy is a necessary evil at its best…

Kenyan Americans under the banner of a lobby group called Kenya Patriotic Movement (Kepam), worried about the tension piling up in in the country following the annulment of the presidential election held on August 8, have appealed to the US government to put pressure on the Kenyan government and the country’s electoral body (IEBC) to agree and implement minimum reforms before a repeat election is held. This, they say, is the surest way to ensure that the exercise is free, fair and credible. Fearing a repeat of the post-election violence of 2007/2008, which would undermine Kenya’s peace, ruin investor confidence,…

Prof. John Harbeson Kenya made history last month when the Kenya’s Supreme Court ordered a re-run of the country’s national elections. The ruling was the first of its kind in the post-Cold War democratic era, at least in sub-Saharan Africa, and very likely much further. On its face, the ruling represents a triumph of the rule of law for any number of reasons. The Court’s decision upholds the principle that the conduct of democratic elections must conform to the requirements of the Constitution and statutory law. The acceptance of the decision by the Kenyatta government as well as its welcome…

By Kevin Motaroki A generally confident mien, image and personality coaches agree, is one of the major ingredients of enigmatic leadership. Because there is never a shortage of critics and naysayers, an optimistic disposition can inspire calmness and confidence during crises, and help generate much-desired solutions, or inspire a dejected public. It is part of the deal of what makes a leader. John A Barnes, in his book, John F. Kennedy on Leadership: The Lessons and Legacy of a President, recalls the desolate state of New York City two decades ago in 1993, when it teetered on the brink of…

By Shadrack Muyesu The Nasa fraternity has moved to court to challenge the re- election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in the recently concluded General Election. Their petition is anchored on three limbs: one, that the independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission acted illegally and irregularly in the collation, tallying, verification and transmission of the presidential election result; second, that the election was conducted fraudulently by the Commission and; that the 3rd Respondent, the President-elect, conducted his campaigns in breach of election guidelines. On the face of it, Nasa restrained itself from pursuing a matter that has characterised their allegations thus far,…

By Hon. Lee G Muthoga “Governments must be kept awakened to the needs of the people. Only an opposition can do that” – Daniel arap Moi, 1964 “Premature introduction of multiparties will lead to civil unrest and its disastrous consequences” – Daniel arap Moi, 1991 in ‘African Demos’, Vol. 2 The two contradictory statements above that are attributed to retired President Daniel Moi clearly show the perils of opposition politics, not only in Kenya but in Africa and other emerging democracies around the world as well. As chairman of Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) before it dissolved and merged into…

For some forty years or so, the man known as the “dean of political activism” – a phrase coined by his former political adviser, Miguna Miguna – Raila Amollo Odinga has, like a colossus, dominated the Kenyan political scene. Most of this time has been spent in the trenches, and in detention, and his street battles with the oppressive and autocratic Kanu regime over the ages are robustly documented in Kenya’s history. His style of governance is so fundamentally different, some argue, that it is the reason State institutions, the ones that wield real power such as NIS and the…

By Kenyatta Otieno I believe there were glaring anomalies in the tallying process of presidential vote by IEBC. However, that does not exonerate Nasa, Raila Odinga and his campaign team from incompetence during this election period. At the core of it is Raila’s belief that the devil is in the systems and structures of governance and not the people. Prior to the August 8 elections, the Coalition of Reforms and Democracy (Cord), the precursor to Nasa, had pushed for reforms in IEBC. New commissioners were appointed and the law amended to improve efficiency in our electoral system. What Raila forgot…

By Arkan Yasin The poor plebeian people of Kenya are the real losers of last month’s election. They who, time and time again, are worked in to a political fervour of religious proportions by elites, with the same old promise of “freedom” from the terror of grinding poverty and all manner of ills, that were created by the self-same elites and their imperial sponsors in the first place. They put in all that effort only to find themselves not only more exposed to more evils but also with a heavier yoke around their necks than they had going in to…