Vol 60 No 22 | KENYA Ruto-Raila (round one) 7th November 2019 The by-election campaigns for Kibra (previously Kibera), Kenya's largest slum, near downtown Nairobi, turned into a full-dress rehearsal of the political contest between Deputy Pre...
Vol 60 No 20 | KENYA Fund on standby 11th October 2019 New Principal Secretary to the Treasury Julius Muia is hoping that his talks with the International Monetary Fund at its annual meeting on 14-20 October in Washington will result i...
Vol 60 No 19 | KENYA Bridge of sighs 27th September 2019 A bid to build alliances across the country’s ethnic divides owes more to political ambition than to altruism Due for release in early October, the wide-ranging report of the Building Bridges Initiative looks likely to deepen political conflict despite its lofty aims of lessening ethnic an... READ FOR FREE
Vol 60 No 18 | KENYA Spending on the hoof 13th September 2019 President Kenyatta wants to buy his way to a legacy. Sceptics say the economic outlook does not support this largesse On an impromptu stop at a function at Mwangoni Primary School in Kwale County on the south coast on 8 September, President Uhuru Kenyatta made an instant personal donation of 1 mil...
Vol 60 No 18 | KENYASOMALIA Jubaland row heats up oil tiff 13th September 2019 Tensions between Kenya and Somalia are rising fast over a dispute about politics and money in a Somali province Separate but inter-related arguments over elections in Jubaland and offshore oil blocks claimed by both Kenya and Somalia appear to be coming to a head in the wake of the May appoi...
Vol 60 No 15 | KENYA A killing joke 26th July 2019 A fake letter detailing an assassination plot against the Deputy President has widened the fault lines within the ruling elite The political drama sparked by a fake letter claiming that several cabinet ministers from President Uhuru Kenyatta's Mount Kenya homeland had been plotting to kill Deputy President...
Vol 60 No 15 | KENYA Spinner caught in web 26th July 2019 In the months leading up to the August 2017 polls in Kenya, rumours flew that data-mining consultancy Cambridge Analytica, then at the height of its notoriety, had been hired by Pr...
Vol 60 No 14 | KENYA Roads, rails, pots and kettles 12th July 2019 Westerners are fuelling fears about the government’s appetite for Chinese loans. But their funding models are not that different According to some of the opinion columns in its newspapers, Kenya is currently on a reckless borrowing spree in which the country has mortgaged some of its key assets – notably Mom...
Vol 60 No 13 | KENYA 'Rot' in the Commission 28th June 2019 A parliamentary probe into the management of the 2017 elections found serial irregularities and recommends possible criminal charges When, in April, the Kenyan parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) delivered its report on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission's performance during the 2017 el...
Vol 60 No 9 | KENYA Belt, road and pork barrel 3rd May 2019 The President heads into uncharted territory in dealings with China but also with opponents and allies at home While the leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Mozambique brought their official staff to China's recent Belt and Road Forum last week, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta also br...