Articles Tagged Life & Society

I am the Consultant Editor for THE EDGE – a new management knowledge series that will come as a free pullout in the Business Daily. Each issue of THE EDGE will feature a specific management topic, and will appear approximately quarterly. This launch issue is on LEADERSHIP, and features the work of thinkers from Kenya […]

This general election campaign sometimes sounds like the innumerate in conversation with the illiterate. The level of discourse is plunging fast, and we have yet to find the bottom. Half-truths are tossed around with abandon; myths and stereotypes rule the day; brainless accusations are made daily. We know the electorate is mostly unschooled (that’s the […]

Media Focus on Development has put up a special website for the general election campaign in Kenya. I have provided a piece on who’s responsible for the lamentably low level of discourse. Click http://www.mediafocusondevelopment.com/

In education lies our future. We won’t take off as a nation until we learn to learn, and keep learning. Education bestows discernment; discernment allows us to make good decisions and good choices; decisions and choices drive performance and growth. So far, so good. But all of that is hogwash if we don’t understand what […]

Let’s have a history lesson for the youngsters this Sunday. In the 1980s, Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki led the same government. In the 1990s and in 2002, they were on opposite sides, and vociferously so. In 2007, they are together again, praising each other’s statesmanship. In the 1980s, Moi and Kibaki were leading […]

Two weeks ago I wondered why Kenyans don’t read books, and the comments have come in thick and fast (you can follow the best of them on www.sunwords.com). This is clearly a subject that perplexes many people. So let us spend some more time examining the issue again. A number of readers pointed out that […]

Why don’t Kenyans read books? That is the lament of many a writer, publisher and intellectual. We don’t have that many bookshops in this country – and most of the successful ones are forced to sell a whole range of other items, from CDs to greeting cards. Equally, it’s rare to find a writer who […]

His Highness the Aga Khan’s 50th anniversary celebrations came to Kenya this week. He is marking his accession to spiritual leadership of the Ismaili Muslim community, and has chosen to commemorate much of this milestone here in Kenya. We should return the gesture by understanding the unique set of institutions that this leader has developed […]

“Shares should rise in price only if there’s good reason to think future profits will be high. As we know, profits derive from scarcity; for instance, ownership of scarce land (protected by legal title), a scarce brand (protected by trademark) or an organisation with unique capabilities (protected by nothing more than the fact that most […]

Would you care to work for this company? This company makes it easy for you to get to work. It provides air-conditioned buses from five locations, free of charge for all employees. And the buses are Wi-Fi enabled. If you drive to work, your car will be washed and have its oil changed while you […]

Imagine a 44-year-old adult. Let’s say his name is K. K is a grown man, but an underachiever. He dropped out of school early, and does menial work for little pay. He watches his neighbours with envy: some have developed their own businesses; others get large pay-packets for performing highly skilled jobs. K has to […]

We were all shaking this week. Some were shaking because the earth actually trembled under their feet; others shook because of the fear of the earth shaking in future; and most were shaking just because of the uncommonly cold weather. If, like me, you left your abode en famille in the early hours of Wednesday […]

Who would want to be poor in Kenya? We treat the poor no better than chewing-gum stuck to our shoes. If you are poor in Kenya, you must never fall seriously ill. If you do, your descent into hell will begin. Assuming you have a local clinic, you will in all likelihood be given the […]

There it is, tucked away in Nairobi’s Highridge area: the strangest of shopping malls. Like some bizarre human-sized rabbit warren, full of confusing corners, surprising staircases and odd little businesses in basements, on roofs, in the car park. You almost expect Alice to pop up somewhere in this wonderland – expect that Diamond Plaza, or […]

Mahmood Mamdani always makes sense. He is a rare voice of reason in East Africa, where unadulterated vitriol and uneducated diatribes are often the norm when discussing this thing called ‘The Asian Question’. When something as shocking as Kampala’s April riots disturbs us, it is soothing to read an insightful reflection by so thoughtful a […]

There is a story often told about work and productivity (The Economist carried a version of it recently). An economist is out for a stroll, and comes upon some workers digging beside a river to build a dam. The workers are all using spades, and the work is back-breaking and laborious and takes forever. Intrigued, […]

Do voters vote for the right things – and for the leaders who deliver the right things? Traditional thinking would suggest that the answer is yes: democracy is a good thing because voters do, by and large, all things considered, vote sensibly. In other words, they are rational beings who vote in their own self-interest. […]

If you head out to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, chances are you’ll come across a police roadblock on Mombasa Road. I did so recently, and counted fifteen policemen manning this checkpoint. Yes, fifteen. Perhaps two or three were actually checking cars; the other dozen or so appeared to be ‘supervising’. Or look at the […]

This column is happy to continue its annual tradition of deciphering the weighty and comprehensive Economic Survey – our main compendium of economic numbers – for readers’ benefit. So, if you don’t have the money (Sh. 900), the time (284 pages) or the interest (what’s on TV?) to read the whole thing yourselves, today’s piece […]

There is much hoo-ha about the epidemic of scams that has ‘suddenly’ afflicted Kenya. Everywhere you look there is a pyramid scheme collapsing, or a big company rushing to warn customers about SMS hoaxes being conducted in its name. Outrage fills the air. The papers are packed with calls for the government to do something […]

I don’t know who wrote this, but it will certainly resonate with many I grew up with. If you know the author, please post a comment. Minor edits are mine. To the wonderful kids who were born in Africa and survived the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s. First, we survived being born to mothers who […]

There is a highly charged debate taking place in Kenya today. It concerns one of our unique national assets: our wildlife. There is a strong and vocal lobby that is demanding we rescind our decades-long ban on hunting. An array of facts and figures is being marshalled, and it is finding frequent expression in the […]

We now know that there might be as many as one million Kenyans abroad. And that they are sending a billion dollars back home every year. Our main sources of overseas funds used to be foreign aid and what we got from selling tea, flowers and wildlife; these days we think ‘remittances’. This column first […]

Here’s a quiz question: on which day of the year does the Daily Nation sell most copies? The answer is: the day after the KCSE results are released. That duly happened last week: parents, teachers and pupils all bust a gut to get their copy. Why? Because the entire future of thousands of children can […]

You’re being taken for a ride, ladies. I last wrote about Valentine’s Day back in 2004. Every year since, I have resisted the temptation to rant again about this imbecilic celebration. This year, I’m unable to stop myself. You’re being taken for a ride, ladies. First, a reminder of why I was agitated three years […]

This week I want to pay tribute to John Sibi-Okumu. John is a man with many strings to his bow: he is a teacher, a dramatist, an actor, a TV personality, an editor and a columnist. And those are just the pursuits I know about. He inspires children and intimidates politicians in equal measure – […]

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been investigating allegations that the defence firm BAE Systems paid millions of pounds in bribes to Saudi Arabian officials to secure the Al-Yamamah deal – the country’s biggest-ever defence contract, worth 40 billion sterling pounds over the past 20 years. Just before Christmas last year, Britain’s Attorney General called […]

As I waited for the world to descend on Nairobi to debate climate change, a couple of names from my past loomed up in the international headlines. And both, remarkably, were enlightening the world about the vexed issue that is climate change. The first name was that of John Hawksworth, once a colleague when I […]