Benjamin Kipkorir, among the first generation of Kenyan intellectuals, has served in both the public and private for decades, variously working as a teacher, chair of the Kenya Commercial Bank and Kenya’s ambassador to the US. Among his major publications are The Marakwet of Kenya: A Preliminary Study (1973) (co-authored with Fred Welbourn) and Descent from Cherang’any Hills: Memoirs of a Reluctant Academic (2009). He spoke to Tom Odhiambo and Parselelo Kantai, a few weeks to his passing on the morning of June 20, 2015. Odhiambo: The first question I’m interested in is that of nation-formation; what are your…
Author: NLM writer
By Kevin Motaroki In our defence of the Africa Rising narrative – from an economic perspective – we talk of large and expanding consumer markets, mega malls, rebased economies – the most recent ones saw Nigeria overtake South Africa as the continent’s leading economy, and the transformation of Kenya into a middle-income country – and increased Foreign Direct Investment ratios. Revelling in this is the true spirit of Africanism for, who wouldn’t be proud that Africa is touted as the next frontier in world economics? Vijay Mahajan, in his book Africa Rising: How 900 Million African Consumers Offer More Than…
By Oscar Okwaro Plato One consistent thing about the New York Times coverage of Africa for the last one hundred years has been its paucity and inadequacy in portraying the continent, in comparison with other major regions of the world. By any measurement and standard, Africa has been the most ignored region of the world. Similarly consistent is that the little African coverage that escapes the gatekeepers and makes it to the pages of this venerable paper has been characterised by pessimism and unforgivable cynicism. A few articles by one of its former editors, now a special columnist for the…
By Alpha Femi President Uhuru Kenyatta’s publicly-expressed dismay about the Sh11 million Kenya Airports Authority pays a bus company to shuttle passengers within the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport provided a glimpse into the extent of the rot at the national corporation. The President was so taken aback by the massive rip-off that he ordered immediate investigations into those involved in the bloated payments, even offering, in what was a bitter joke loaded with innuendo, to donate a bus from the National Youth Service for 20 times less that amount. According to the President, it was unsustainable to pay the five…
By Payton Mathau For years now, Kenya’s national carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ) profit-and-loss account has been, worryingly, sliding south, with the executives blaming several factors like the cost of fuel, the dropping number of passengers and, more recently, the Ebola outbreak in most parts of West Africa that forced them to suspend flights to these destinations for some time. The airline’s chief executive Mbuvi Ngunze, in a recent opinion in the mass circulating weekly newspaper, the Sunday Nation, even blamed that slide on “intense competition and more recently the threat of terrorism…that have adversely impacted global travel. There is also…
BY SIMEON NYACHAE The new constitution was presented to the Attorney-General on April 7, 2010, officially published on May 6 and subjected to a referendum on August 4. It was approved by 67 per cent of Kenyan voters, and consequently promulgated on August of the same year, a day that will forever remain etched in the minds and hearts of Kenyans. It will be five years old this August. On January 4, 2011, another important milestone was attained – the swearing in of the nine members of the Commission for the Implementation of Constitution (CIC), a body established under Section…
By Kevin Motaroki Recent clashes between the Turkana and Pokot have caused deaths of over 100 people and displacement, triggering a humanitarian crisis that even aid agencies admit has been difficult to deal with, not because of its magnitude, but because of the circumstances surrounding the tragedy. In Baringo, where inter-communal fighting broke out towards the end of last year, more than 180 civilians have been murdered. In these regions, locals speak of desperation, terror and death. They cannot farm because there are warriors waiting to attack them in the forests and bushes; they cannot sell or buy; they have…
By Marie Barse Prisoners expressing radical views are to be deprived of privileges such as visitors, and will be isolated so they cannot influence others. That is, at least, according to the Danish Government’s counter-terrorism package passed in February 2015. The hope is that it will prevent future incidences like that of Omar El-Hussein, who shot and killed two people and wounded police officers in Copenhagen earlier this year. One of the victims had just participated in a debate about cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed. The other was a Jewish guard at a synagogue in Copenhagen. However, this strategy…
By Maore Ithula Without a permanent complete stop of radicalisation, terrorism and terror threats will continue dog this country, experts and opinion leaders say. They have an array of views on how this can be achieved. Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi says the State has played a huge role in the radicalisation of Muslim youth in the country. In one of his opinion write-ups, he argues: “The agitation at the Coast has a simple solution. The government must withdraw from mosques and madrassas. It must stop determining for Muslims who will lead prayers in their local mosques and who will be…
By TNLM Reporter Few Kenyans know what radicalisation is. Fewer still know how to avoid, prevent it. Radicalisation is the process by which an individual or group of people adopts an increasingly extreme political, social, or religious ideology and aspirations that reject or undermine contemporary ideas and expressions of freedom of choice. Although no research has been conducted locally to establish a step-by-step process of radicalisation, the New York Police Department of Intelligence has broken it down to four steps, each including its own key indicators and triggers. First is the pre-radicalisation stage, which deals with the personal being…
