Author: NLM Correspondent

By Fuad Abdirahman Kenyans see the deputy governor’s office as an extension of the governor, one with no specific mandate. This has been exacerbated by the Constitution, which restricts the deputy governor’s mandate to representing the governor in his absentia and simply describing him as the chief executive officer, a post that has little prominence in most counties. Governors have in the past four years disregarded their deputies. Some fought back while others accepted to be bulldozed silently. In an unprecedented breach of authority, a governor once tried to remove his deputy from office before, typical of the Kenyan politician,…

By Fuad Abdirahman Like Donald Trump, Miguna Miguna is on tape accusing a female politician of “only looking for sponsors”, to mean exchanging money for sexual advances. While Trump excused his comments as “locker room talk”, Miguna blasted newsmen for “secretly recording” him. Both dismissed the recordings as misrepresentations of their true selves. By his own confession, Trump believes that he can get away with anything. So too does Miguna, who challenges his victims to sue saying that nothing can happen to him. They also share a love for social media. But while for Trump this somehow translated to votes,…

By David Wanjala The Nasa brigade of ODM’s Raila Odinga, his running mate, Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka, ANC’s Musalia Mudavadi and Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetangula headed to Busia County on June 25, nearly three months since the controversial ODM Party gubernatorial nominations that pitted the incumbent, Sospeter Ojaamong’ against MP for Funyula, Paul Otuoma, to a rude shock. Both Ojaamong and Otuoma are close confidantes of Odinga. ODM Party is a leading coalition partner in Nasa, the major opposition coalition that is being touted of having over half chances of forming the next government. With its Busia County party primary being…

By Isaac Swila They are young, suave, and urbane. Besides, some of them are lucky enough to have limitless cash at their disposal, while others have impeccable organisation skills and the gift of the gab to boot. This new breed of politicians is not just trending, no. It has taken city politics by storm – sending their more established and experienced opponents into panic mode. But beneath the grandiose wealth, the swagger of youth and the ability to charm crowds, can these young politicians really change the set political order? Can they inject something new and refreshing into our form…

By Kenyatta Otieno It is that season in Kenya where everyone and their dog become political analysts – good students of Mutahi Ngunyi and Prof. Edward Kisiangani combined. A while back, I bumped into a friend and as soon as the pleasantries were settled, he updated me about what was cutting in Mukurwe-ini. Renowned former University of Nairobi student leader Kabando wa Kabando had lost in the Jubilee Party nominations. This was a big surprise as Kabando is one of the leading lights in Jubilee Party. According to him, the electorate did not have a problem with Kabando and they…

By Mwendwa Chuma As far as women’s liberation goes in Kenya, one recent event stands out boldly, especially given our patriarchal political space: the ouster of William Kabogo, the current Kiambu Governor, during the Jubilee Party primaries. It was an event that in and of itself begs for attention as it was one in which one from the moneyed class was felled by a, relatively speaking, financially less endowed candidate, one Ferdinand “Baba Yao” Waititu, the current MP for Kabete Constituency. This was arguably a case of Kabogo losing rather than Waititu winning the coveted ticket. More important, however, which…

By Kenyatta Otieno This year’s general election has been shrouded by the dynamics of independence candidates. As parties grapple with a new phenomenon of people who may win seats by the knack of their individual abilities and potential, some serious matters are being swept under the carpet. We are avoiding the hard truths by taking meanders that massage our ethnic and political biases. In this miasma of ethnic arithmetic and political machinations, Uhuru Kenyatta and Evans Kidero are smiling all the way to the ballot. When Peter Kenneth announced his bid for Nairobi Governor, I went to a Nairobi suburb…

By Frederick Golooba-Mutebi Last month Rwanda’s ruling party, the Rwanda Patriotic Front, resoundingly endorsed Paul Kagame as its candidate in this year’s elections. A total of 1,029 delegates out of 1,030 voted for him. The missing vote was due to a spoilt ballot. There is speculation about who spoilt their ballot. Some are arguing it was the candidate, because he would not have wanted to be seen to vote for himself, given he had not entirely warmed up to the entire process that led to endorsement. Snippets of information from the inner sanctums of the RPF since 2013, when the…

By Isaac Swila They are both strikers, they are lanky in frame, they play in foreign leagues, they don the same hairstyles but on the pitch, their styles contrast as day and night. That is the mixed yet exciting tale of Harambee Stars lead strikers Michael “Engineer” Olunga and Jesse Jackson Were. In the last two years, Olunga has morphed into a key pillar in the national team while Were has been a peripheral figure; always in and out of the national set up. In most instances, if one is starting a match, the other warms the bench patiently waiting…

From the sky, it looks like an entire city is adrift in the Indian Ocean. A forest of tower-blocks rise above the emerald-coloured water while just a handful of trees poke through the canopy of concrete. For those living in Malé, the overcrowded capital of the Maldives, there is no choice but to build upwards. Caged by the sea, they have no more land to spread onto, yet the city’s population has soared by nearly 52% since 2006. The last census in 2014 counted 158,000 people crammed into the city’s 2.2 sq. miles (5.7 sq. km) of space, and officials say the…