The Conversation Kenyans are grappling with the high cost of living. Policy analyst Adan Shibia led a technical team that prepared a recent report on the state of Kenya’s economy. We asked him to unpack what’s driving costs, who’s affected and what can be done about it. What is the cost of living crisis in Kenya and how bad is it? There has been a general increase in prices of necessities like food, transport and energy. But incomes haven’t risen as much as prices. As a result consumers have less purchasing power than before. They are being forced to consume less…
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A Kenyan parliamentary committee has called for a review of East African Community (EAC) Treaty in order to grant veto powers to the highest contributing partner states. In a report tabled in the Parliament of Kenya, the Committee on Regional Integration recommends a review of the EAC Treaty to allow partner states’ contributions be based on their ability to pay and those who pay more to have veto powers. It also called on the founding partner states of EAC to consider paying contributions due for South Sudan and Burundi on the big brother spirit. “The founding partner states could also…
The year is quickly ending, and for many of us, December and January are high-spend months. How are you planning to buffer yourself financially, given that your expenditure will likely increase exponentially with the need to entertain friends and family, travel and plan for a new school year regarding school fees and supplies? Well, we are here to plug you in on the Kingdom Bank savings account that allows you to plan ahead and even earn interest on your savings, allowing you to invest and secure your financial future. We know that most of us are multi-banked and even have…
The International Commission of Jurists, Kenyan chapter, alongside other key stakeholders in the judicial and legal sector kicked off in earnest a validation exercise of the, ‘right to health bench book’ that will serve as a legal resource guide for actors in the legal sector including judges, magistrates and legal practitioners. The health bench book which is part of ICJ Kenya’s, unpacking health rights for accountability to facilitate access to health services in Kenya project, seeks to contribute to the realization of the rights to health, which is a fundamental human rights guaranteed in the Kenyan Constitution. The validation exercise…
Defence ministry confirmed the signing ceremony will take place at the Defence Headquarters in Nairobi, where CS Aden Duale will host his American counterpart Lloyd J. Austin III. Kenya and the United States will sign a Defence Cooperation Agreement today aimed at strengthening counter-terrorism effort in furtherance of regional security interests . The move is part of the efforts to further strengthen cooperation in defense and security amid escalating threats across the globe. Kenya’s Ministry of Defence confirmed the signing ceremony will take place at the Defence Headquarters in Nairobi, where Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale will host his American…
The Conversation There has been a continued escalation in fighting between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The destruction of the capital Khartoum continues – physically, economically, socially and culturally – as buildings are bombarded and homes looted. One of the city’s landmark skyscrapers, the Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Company Tower, was recently engulfed in flames. We asked three Sudanese architecture experts – Amira Osman, Akram Elkhalifa and Tallal Abdalbasit Saeed – about the skyscraper and the destruction of the city. Osman also interviewed Khartoum-based architects Arwa Ahmed and Hassan Mahmoud for this article as part of her ongoing research. Why is the tower so prominent and…
The heads of Sudan’s rival military factions gave competing addresses to the United Nations on Thursday, one from the podium at U.N. headquarters in New York and the other in a rare video recording from an undisclosed location. Army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, speaking at the United Nations following a string of foreign trips, called on the international community to designate the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a terrorist organization and to counter its sponsors outside Sudan’s borders. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said in a video message that his forces were fully prepared for a…
Sudanese army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, at war for months with paramilitaries, was headed to New York on Wednesday to address the UN General Assembly, his office said. “Burhan, de facto leader of Sudan since a 2021 coup, will lead the Sudanese delegation to the annual session,” the Sovereignty Council he heads said in a statement. The army chief has made a flurry of visits abroad in recent weeks after shifting base to Port Sudan late last month from army headquarters in Khartoum where he had been holed up under siege since fighting broke out with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF)…
The scarcity and volatility of the dollar, high interest rates and access to credit is scaring away investors from the East African region. According to the Report on the Ease of Doing Business in the East African Community (EAC) 2023 by the East African Business Council (EABC), unregulated foreign exchange markets at the border, legal tax appeals, rulings, and long customs valuation processes are threats to businesses in the region. The 252 companies surveyed mentioned trade finance challenges, specifically the dollar scarcity, high interest rates, and limited access to credit are among the key challenges. “The dollar is putting pressure on local…
The Conversation In August 2022 a young woman wearing a yukata – a simple, summer-weight kimono – was having her photo taken on a street in picturesque Suzhou, China, when she was accosted by a police officer. Following an angry exchange, partly captured on her phone, she was arrested for disturbing the public peace. The Suzhou Kimono Incident, as it came to be known, sparked an internet debate over the propriety of wearing kimonos and the legality of the policeman’s actions. This was not the first time wearing a kimono in China had caused a furore, and it would not be the last.…
