In conversation with The Elephant, Mtumishi Njeru wa Kathangu places into context the unconstitutional BBI process which seeks to change the constitution of Kenya 2010 within Kenya's socio-political history of fighting for freedom and sovereignty.
In this episode of #Captured, we unveil from leaked procurement data of the mobile clinics project and show you how several companies, some linked to sitting MPs, are at the center of a corruption scandals worth hundreds of millions of shillings relating to this project. This project carried the promise of lowering child mortality and getting health services to communities and was aggressively sold to the Kenya's public between 2014 and 2015.
During thirty years in the cold of non-recognition as a state by the international community and the African Union, Somaliland has engineered a unique hybrid democracy that's possibly the most impressive in the Horn and Eastern Africa. Built on a foundation of traditional institutions and painful memories of war between 1980 and 1991, quietly and without external interference the small country has successfully built a resilient democracy with a capacity for self-correction; and, a peaceful society that demonstrates what's possible when a people get the software right and trust informs relations between a people and those who govern them.
Abiy and Amhara nationalism is bringing back the echoes of the Derg era and the upcoming June election is unlikely to resolve current crises; if anything, it will exacerbate them.
Ms Atsango Chesoni, constitutional lawyer, former member of the constitution of Kenya Committee of Experts (COE) and a former Executive Director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission reflects on the current contest between the Executive and the Judiciary most recently manifested by the BBI judgement and the Executive's reaction to it. She argues that it is Kenya's very democracy that's facing a great test and that despotism continually tries to assert itself.
Kenya is patently a kleptocracy where both the government and society are imbued by corruption and runaway greed. Dr Nicholas Githuku explores how the combination of "itchy" human fingers and the rapid development of digital technologies—such as mobile banking, electronic money transfer, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and online banking and gambling services all of which are quite popular in Kenya— have facilitated or contributed to illicit financial flows ranging from corruption, illegally earned, or transfer of, money and cybercrime among others such as tax evasion and tax avoidance, organized crime, human trafficking, and many other forms of crime associated with...
The Constitutional court on BBI ruling has raised troubling questions about the role of Kenyan professionals in setting up a flawed process. In conversation with Dr Wandia, Dr Mordecai Ogada delves into the pathology that troubles the professional class.
To commemorate Africa Day, we think about how Pan-Africanism has reproduced itself, evolved theoretically and practically in different spaces through reflection and critique, and catalysed a range of important initiatives all over Global Africa, focusing on the question of education. What does it mean to educate with the vision of Pan Africanism in mind? Panellists are Wandia Njoya, Jennifer Tosch and Lewis Gordon. Moderated by Mshai Mwangola.
The landmark High Court judgement against the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) has rightly been hailed as the unprecedented judicial triumph it is. Still, Prof Makau Mutua argues, the judgement presents Kenya with a unique political crisis. The era of ethnic Kingpins is ending and 2022 might make 2007 look like a walk in the park as the country lurches into the elections with a deligitimised political elite, hollowed-out constitutional bodies - in short, a vacuum of legitimate governance institutions creating a petri-dish of political crisis for Kenya.
Waikwa Wanyoike argues that the recent High Court judgement that stopped BBI in its tracks, for now, was more consequential than the Maraga judgement that nullified Uhuru Kenyatta's election on 1st September 2017. As a piece of jurisprudence, it has global implications across common law countries and it has demonstrated that when the executive and parliament go rogue - the judiciary can truly be their shield and defender.
Between 2013 and 2020 flooding has reduced the distance between Lake Bogoria and Lake Baringo from 23 kilometres to 8 Kilometres. Scientists estimate the two lakes might merge within the next decade. Meanwhile, the Suswa fault lines split and caused major damage to critical road and rail infrastructure. What does this mean for the future of Rift Valley, its lakes, fault lines, and those who live close to its lakes, geysers, and faults? Dr Charles Gichaba joins our senior producer Joe Kobuthi to explore the implications of an increasingly geologically active Rift Valley which runs right through the country from...
Israel's maintaining of entrenched discriminatory systems that treat Palestinians unequally over half-century-long occupation of the West Bank and Gaza involves systematic rights abuses, including collective punishment, routine use of excessive lethal force against protesters, and prolonged administrative detention without charge or trial for hundreds. The Elephant in conversation with Ahmed Benchemsi, the Advocacy and Communications Director for Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division.
