The Inbetweeners

There used to be a path near Village Market in Nairobi. This path was adorned with acacia thorns, unseemly rocks and random spots of green grass. It was ugly, and a bother to look at. But it was full of life. Every time you passed, you'd see boda boda drivers catching a break before their next ride. You'd see small kiosk vendors conducting business with passersby, arming them with weapons for the day's battles; the odd cigarette, the random biscuit or the necessary energy drink. You'd witness groups of people, coming together to eat and discuss the events of the day. It was life, and it was messy. Emphasis on 'was.'  That little slice of life is gone. Literally paved over after the management of Village Market rehabilitated the rocky path with grey cabro, tendered to the garden and erected a barbed wire around it. What used to be a colourful slice of human interaction and community is now bland and lifeless; perfectly manicured and just a little less accessible...

Recently, I came across a potential solution to redress the financial hurdles that limit access to tertiary education. This solution is called an "Income Sharing Agreement" ( hereinafter ISA). According to Batya Bankers , ISAs are like equity investments.  An individual ... allows investors to buy ‘shares’ in their future earnings while contributing to social value through sustainable empowerment. Students receive interest-free funds to cover their tuition fees on condition that they agree to pay the lender a specified fraction of their future earnings. By grouping these investments in individuals, lenders are able to offset risks as returns from higher earners hedge the potential losses from lower earners.    Based on this definition, ISAs seem perfectly positioned to connect individuals in need of vast resources, with individuals controlling those resources. They provide vulnerable people without the means to earn or secure collateral - what you give a bank in exchan...

The 2022 Elections are over, and Kenya has its new President and Deputy President; William Samoei Ruto and Rigathi Gachagua, respectively. And I have mixed  feelings about this development. Many of these feelings are animated by what Ruto's Presidency means within the grand scheme of Kenyan politics.  A Ruto-Gachagua Presidency reaffirms the notion that to ascend to the Presidency you must be Kikuyu or Kalenjin. Given that Kenya is a multiracial, multiethnic nation with 42 recognised tribes, this is a destructive and exclusionary notion that does not redress the sins of the past. These sins are; (1) the divide and rule politics and; (2) the establishment of a strong centralised state. Addressing the former, in the colonial era, the British chose to manage this diversity through ‘divide-and-rule;’ a governing strategy in which control is maintained by encouraging conflict between groups, thereby preventing them from uniting in opposition. As part of divide and rule, the British...

I absolutely hate admitting that I was wrong about something. But turns out I was wrong about men. I underestimated the extent to which patriarchy affects them and the ways in which women ought to respond to patriarchy as a whole.   Remember, in the 2010s women became vocal about the many ways in which men were lacking; from low emotional intelligence to the fact that they benefit from the presumption of competence ab initio  to questioning the very essence of masculinity. And I believe the consequences of the last of these that has been the most destructive. When we attempt to dismantle a system of expectations that have existed since time immemorial, without discussing a system to replace those expectations two things occur.  First, men get the message that everything they do is worthless and, ultimately, should be taken from them. This is not, nor has it ever, been the message of feminism. Feminism is about the equality of the sexes. It operates by working to dismantle...

The Imperial Powers are on a returning spree! In the last two years, Germany, France and Belgium have all agreed to repatriate stolen cultural artefacts. These artefacts include works of cultural import, as well as human remains of liberation heroes (like Patrice Lumumba’s tooth). Yet, there is one country conspicuously absent from this list . The Nation who, despite having a fraction of the world’s population, dominated and oppressed nearly a quarter of the world. The Nation that built an empire in which the sun would never set. I, of course, am talking about the United Kingdom.  As her neighbours recognise and acknowledge the harm they have caused, of course falling short of apologising and accepting moral and financial culpability, Britain has merely offered an expression of regret . This is unsurprising given that, in 2020, the British were more nostalgic about their colonial empire than its neighbours . Perhaps these sentiments are why the British have been reluctant to make g...

Two days ago, the identity of the President-Elect was revealed to the country. As usual, drama ensued.  As our newly elected officials brawled with the Chairperson of Kenya's Electoral Management Body, thus denying him the opportunity to announce the winner, and as four Commissioners rejected the Chairperson's results, the choir sang on. Literally . They sang about God's grace and his bountiful mercies, as politicians tussled, literally and figuratively, with the outcome of the 2022 Presidential Election. And for their commitment and professionalism, they should be recognised. After all, it is not easy to score the sounds of a sinking ship. Just ask the violinists of the Titanic! But as we recognise the choir for enabling a calm atmosphere, we cannot overlook the content of their performance.  As a friend pointed out to me the songs they sang, predominantly, extolled the virtues of the Christian faith. There is nothing wrong with the gospel focus; if it were being performed...

Today, the IEBC will announce who the next President of the Republic of Kenya will be. As the nation prepares itself for its new leader, I am provided with an opportunity to reflect on the nature of elections. And I've come to one conclusion; elections are weird. I know, I know. This is hardly a novel  conclusion or realisation. But this does not overwrite its importance. Elections are WEIRD. Think about it. On a single day of voting, an entire nation is supposed to decide who our next leader will be; making a choice that will define our country for the next five years. After campaigns rife with misinformation, double talk and the implicit acknowledgement by all  involved - including the voters - that politicians lie, we are provided, at most, 9 minutes to exercise our sovereign power as citizens to participate in the governance of our nation; only to have that power suppressed for the next 2.628 million minutes. With the stroke of a pen, we have the power to elevate a de...