Author: NLM Correspondent

By David Onjili Jesus Christ was not a centrist. His message to his disciples was clear: they had to bear their cross. And the price of discipleship came at great personal sacrifice; one had to leave all one had and follow Him. There are no three ways in Christianity as David Oginde puts it, wrongly so if you ask me, in his Dichotomy/Trichotomy of Religion sermon. For one to be a follower one has either to carry the cross or leave it; any religious leader talking about a third way is preaching their own gospel. Centrist religious leaders want to…

If you visit any major city or town in Somalia, chances are that you will come across the colourful artworks that dot the walls of both private and public establishments. These painted signs are the work of skilful artists who, in broad brushstrokes, advertise the goods and services offered at different business outlets. These include the availability of electronic appliances, vehicle spare parts, beauty products, foodstuff and beverages, and the sometimes graphically drawn dental, medical, or circumcision services. Other illustrations warn visitors not to carry guns, pistols, or knives into premises like hospitals, restaurants, and government offices. The hand-drawn signs…

Thanks to climate change, the future of armed rebellion in Africa could be urban terrorism. We should never have annoyed the rain gods Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema was released from prison last month, and treason charges against him dropped. Hichilema, who was beaten narrowly by President Edgar Lungu (pictured) last year in an election, had been in jail since April for allegedly failing to give way to Lungu’s motorcade. Zambia probably became the first country to charge its president’s main rival with treason over a traffic incident. Over the past year Zambia, which had seemed to have taken a…

By Payton Mathau In less than a month, 19.6 million Kenyan voters will go to the polls to elect their president and a motley pack of other office-holders, including members of county assemblies, MPs, senators and governors. In the presidential race, voters will either give the incumbent, Uhuru Kenyatta, a new lease of five years in State House, or elect Raila Odinga as Kenya’s fifth president. Even though close to eight candidates will be on the presidential ballot, the race for State House is essentially between Uhuru and Raila, a former prime minister. This is a rematch, the two having…

NLM WRITER As the General Election fast approaches and the countdown to 8/8 begin in earnest, a significant block of voters and how they will vote in the presidential election is the subject of feverish speculation and even palpable trepidation. The Muslim vote is both highly coveted and is still up for grabs. The two principal presidential candidates President Uhuru Kenyatta and his challenger Raila Odinga and their surrogates are pulling the strings with a view to getting the lion share of this vote. It is estimated that Muslim voters hover around the 2.5 million mark, with 450,000 in North…

By Barack Muluka With the Jubilee and National Super Alliance (Nasa) manifestos for the August 8 elections out in the last week of June, it was expected that the presidential competition would start being issue-based. Unfortunately the level of debate between the two main contestants for Kenya’s most powerful and most prestigious office has remained depressingly low. The conversation remains hugely in the territory of invective and ad hominem verbal diatribe. To a great extent, you are reminded of the proverbial children in a marketplace shouting at one another, “We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance.…

By Kibe Mungai I was not yet born in December 1969 when Kenya held its second general election, but reading Odinge Odera’s wonderful biography My Journey with Jaramogi, it is not easy to shake off the feeling that the August General Election is 1969 Mark II. The fall-out between Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Odinga, coupled with the assassination of Tom Mboya in July 1969, as well as the proscription of Odinga KPU in October the same year were the explosive mix that defined the count-down to the 1969 election that, for better or worse, transformed the character of the Kenyan…

By Ndung’u Wainaina This article will not dwell on Raila Odinga’s history. That has been taken care of by several articles and biographies by different authors locally and internationally. This article is about Raila Odinga’s promise to the people of Kenya for a new Kenya as a five-year transitional president, with the vow to being a consequential transformational, not transactional, presidency. This author would like to disclose he proposed and pushed for this arrangement and that his conscience is comfortable with the prospect of a Raila presidency. The 1972 Democratic Party of United States of America campaign platform read: “We must…

By David Onjili I am a proud member of a political party, which I joined on my own volition as a young Machiavellian mind in the year 2006 and not out of hot air and razzle-dazzle politics. It was one of the greatest moments of my life, to be affiliated to a political party. It still is my joy to date. Kenyan politicians change their positions just like your ordinary wind vane, and this was confirmed when, to my utter dismay, one of the senior member of my party – who also happens to be the person that truly sold…

By Kenyatta Otieno Two phrases stuck in my memory during the 2008 post-election violence crisis: political elites and ruling elites. By the time Kofi Anan was taking a walk around central park to cool off from the negotiations, I had made my conclusions on the two groups the western government representatives were calling upon to find a solution to the crisis. The elected political elite can look like they are wielding the power but the real power is always with a small cabal of shadowy, rich and influential figures – the ruling elite. In the case of 2007 elections, it…