Author: NLM Correspondent

By Prof. John Harbeson After a number of years of understandable applause for positive annual economic growth rates for, perhaps, a majority of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, it refreshing that there is a new and apparently relatively unheralded initiative to focus on the nature and extent of African poverty. The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) is a welcome complement to United Nations data on poverty reduction via the Millennium Development Goals project, 2000-2015, and inauguration of its successor the Sustainable Development Goals project. In its emphasis on the meaning of poverty at the level of the individual, it…

By David Matende On May 17, both national and international TVs aired images of police bludgeoning Opposition protesters in Nairobi and other towns. Newspapers splashed pictures of tear-gassed and bloodied demonstrators on front pages in the days that followed. The same day, a story about progress made on a fertiliser factory in Eldoret come at the tail end of news broadcasts on one or two local channels while most newspapers generally ignored the story or tucked it deep inside the news columns. I had not seen nor read the item on the fertiliser factory until someone called me to express…

By Dr Tom Odhiambo Who can really claim to be an “original” inhabitant of a place? Are there really people who are indigenous dwellers of any place on earth? And what do we mean by origin(al)? Does it mean that if one can’t find the exact moment in recorded history or surviving memory when they started to live in a place then they claim autochthony to justify “origin, in relation to ‘others’”? Claims of belonging to a region or a place – to the exclusion of others – is currently being whispered in some parts of this country, or shouted…

By Lanji Ouko What a time to be alive! Not only is real estate mogul, Donald Trump running for US president, but also Kim Kardashian has been named as the most influential woman of our time! Such is the irony of our time. What happened to strong, diligent, charismatic leaders who were looked up to and referred to as role models, not based on appearance but based on the positive impact they had on the community or society? The era of reality shows and constant scrutiny of celebrities has been a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.Today, we are a…

By Jane Wachira “I’ve been to Kenya! Everyone in East Africa is Bantu! All of the languages are considered Bantu…Because they all derive from the same people from the Congo. But the Arab stimulus broke up the Bantu during 600AD to 1000AD, using religious ideals to separate people into tribes. Before the Bantu migrations, there were only hunters and gatherers with click languages at the time… The only people with civilisation were those in West Africa. Those near the Congo didn’t call themselves Bantu either; the name Bantu is a proven European word. It is manufactured to explain European views…

YPO, the premier network of global business leaders and chief executives, last month announced that economic confidence amongst business leaders in Africa recovered slightly in the first quarter of 2016, having plummeted to a record low at the end of last year. The YPO Global Pulse Confidence Index for Africa, which tracks economic confidence levels amongst CEOs in the region on a quarterly basis, climbed 2.2 points to 53.2. Confidence in Africa plummeted last year, declining for three consecutive quarters to 51.0 in the fourth quarter of 2015, its lowest level in the seven-year history of the survey, resulting in…

By Leonard Wanyama Back in 2010, at the height of administration by the Grand Coalition, it was reported that Kenya had initiated a new strategy that would emphasise diplomacy to attract investments. An eye-catching incident was the increased appointment of honorary consuls to be posted in all major cities in Africa and the rest of the world. It still is, quite an ambition. Long serving, honorary consul Dr Jens Peter Breitengross was elated. Having served in that position for 18 years and as the head of the German Africa Business Association, he appreciated the act by the Principals of the…

By Kelly Malenya ‘Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity’- Pope Francis The Kenyan government has announced its intention to close the Daadab refugee camp by end of year.  The planned closure has elicited different reactions, but of concern is the applause the Kenyan state has received because of the very able reason the government has given – national security. The other reason – escalated costs by the state to maintain the refugees is a veiled justification, which only supplements the first reason. The calls to close the camps have been echoed by government more particularly…

By Sunday Memba For the advancement of the dictates of our nationalistic covenant, the JSC, under the Chief Justice, must act in a manner that actually proves their ethical mettle I am a man who reads. And a man who reads needs to keep reading. As the world literati gear up to celebrate Chinua Achebe, I made a solid decision to reread all his works. It deemed proper for me to start with his masterpiece, Things Fall Apart. I am tempted to paraphrase Unoka – Okonkwo’s impecunious and improvident father – and yet I purpose to discuss him some other…

By Kelvin Njuguna The ruling coalition must by now have lost count of accusations that have been levelled against it; they range from runaway corruption to their atrocious penchant to disregard the rule of law, as well as abject failure in most aspects of their leadership, among others. Opinion polls – the issues of their financing and motive aside – have not offered much consolation. Studies have repeatedly painted a bleak picture of the state with most Kenyans polled feeling that the country is headed in the wrong direction. It cannot be gainsaid that the Jubilee government faces massive shortcomings;…