Between July 2020 and June 2021 Africans held and traded in US$105.6 billion worth of crypto assets - especially Bitcoin - a growth of 1,200% in value over the previous year. Indeed, Africa - with countries like Nigeria and Kenya leading - saw the most explosive growth in peer-to-peer (P2P) payment platforms in terms of transaction volume across all the regions of the world. Much of the Bitcoin activity in Kenya and the rest of Africa has been speculative in a highly volatile commodity. Charles Mutiso breaks down what crypto-currencies like Bitcoin are and how they work.
The development of a technology whose integrity even governments cannot hack has started the next industrial revolution. Blockchain's immutability and lack of centralised control are already changing the way individuals and corporations interact in the digital space. Kenya is already at the cutting edge. Charles Mutiso explains what Blockchain is, how it works and why it is so consequential.
Elections in some ways have been great drivers of conflict and tools of authoritarianism but they also bring about positive incremental change and provide some form of accountability. Our moderator Patrick Gathara, and discussants Rashid Abdi, Justin Willis and Samira Gaid reflect on the progress made in democratizing the East African region and what needs to be done to secure long-term gains.
For decades, African countries have supported the Palestinian liberation struggle against Israel, seeing in it parallels with their own anti-colonial movements. Likewise, the African people must not hesitate to criticise Israeli international law violations and occupation of Palestinian lands. The Elephant speaks to Maren Mantovani, the international relations coordinator for the Stop the Wall Campaign and the international outreach coordinator for the Land Defense Coalition, a network of Palestinian social movements.
The Kenyatta family, Kenya's first family twice over, has perhaps, one of the deepest investments in Kenya’s economy than any political family. But a global leak of documents from offshore secrecy locations has exposed the family's long standing use of companies, and trusts in Panama and the British Virgin Islands. The leak is called Pandora Papers. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists shared this leak with Africa Uncensored, who, with contributions from Finance Uncovered, can now report on the Kenyatta family's secret companies.
Waikwa Wanyoike explores the political and jurisprudential implications of the BBI judgement by the Appeal Court.
Addressing the inflammatory belief that pastoral herd accumulation leads to range degradation and desertification, the “new range ecology” has demonstrated the rationality behind building up herds in good years as an adaptive strategy for surviving the devastating droughts that characterize drylands. The Elephant in conversation with Dr Hussein Wario, PhD in Socio-ecology and Executive Director at Center for Research and Development in Drylands, Kenya.
Kenya's military intervention in Somalia in October 2011 was the first in the country's since independence outside the peacekeeping operations. But almost a decade later, little, if any, is discussed regarding the role, goals, and the end state of the military adventure. But increasingly, Al Shabaab has shifted and expanded its operational hotspots inside Kenya. The Elephant in conversation with Abdullahi Abdille, an independent researcher and Horn of Africa expert.
Dr Wandia Njoya explores the assorted changes in Kenya's education system since independence and the role it has played in changing Kenyan youth.
Dr Wandia Njoya explores developments in Kenya's education sector since independence. She explains that the initial 7-6-3 system was designed to recreate a British style elite; 8-4-4 created more rounded Kenyans who were better critical thinkers; now we head into the uncertainties of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), that seems to be a throwback to the original 7-6-3 system. Dr Njoya also explores the implications of these developments for Kenyan youth.
The Court of Appeal on Friday, August 20 ruled that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s attempt to change the Constitution through the BBI process was unconstitutional. Constitutional lawyer Gautam Bhatia opines that this landmark ruling has great implications for both the people of Kenya and constitutional law.
Kenya’s historic May 13, 2021 High Court decision to declare the Building Bridges Initiative unconstitutional was widely hailed as a testament to the strength and independence of the country’s judiciary. But a deteriorating political situation and uncertainty surrounding the 2022 elections is raising concerns about the future of the country. Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (HBS) Nairobi Office, in collaboration with the Elephant, cordially invite you to the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Judgement Series. This new series seeks to interrogate the effects of the historic May 13, 2021 judgment declaring the Building Bridges Initiative unconstitutional and what this means to Kenya's constitutional path. This...
