Articles Tagged Sunday Nation

I touched on a subject before being interrupted by the US poll. I wrote in early November that we cannot advance as a society until we learn to respect rules, and that most of us only behave well when we are compelled to do so. I termed the phenomenon ‘moral entropy’: if you don’t force […]

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it […]

Last week we all flew high on the Barack Obama victory in the US presidential race. This week, we need to make a hard landing. For the nonsense that is being spouted from all corners about what this win means for Kenya is not only irritating, but is now giving cause to worry. If some […]

I am feeling rather emotional as I write this, on the morning when Barack Obama has been elected president of the United States of America. This is my 300th article for the Sunday Nation, and the milestone could not have come at a better moment. So you will forgive me if I stray from the […]

After spending decades observing myself and my fellow human beings, I am forced to come to a somewhat cynical conclusion: most of us only behave well when we are compelled to do so. When left to his own devices and untrammeled by the demands of morality and legality, the average person will do all the […]

The 2009 intake for my private leadership development programme, Fast Forward, is now open. Fast Forward takes 20 or so current and future leaders every year and puts them through a varied programme of learning and dialogue to develop WISDOM in leadership. What is the measure of leadership? What is the relationship between leader and […]

At first I thought Justice Waki and his team had put the cat amongst the pigeons. Now I’m beginning to wonder whether they merely released some pigeons which are being devoured quickly by the cats. There is no doubt that the Waki team did a commendable job. It went where few officially sanctioned commissions have […]

Positive thinking has been the mantra of the modern world for quite a while now. Spiritualists, life coaches and business leaders all agree: there is nowt to be gained from negativity. We must all think positive, be positive and do positive – and all positive things will happen to us. No-one likes a doomsayer or […]

I recently had the misfortune to witness one of the more cringe-worthy scenes I have encountered on television in the recent past. Asif Ali Zardari is the newly elected president of Pakistan. He has no previous experience of international statesmanship, having been previously famous only for being the husband of a famous wife, Benazir Bhutto […]

If you walk into one of the many government-owned high-rise buildings in Nairobi, or one that houses government bodies, you will notice a strange phenomenon: the VIP Lift. This is, quite simply, an elevator reserved only for Very Important People; or, sometimes, only for one Very Important Person. Presidents, Prime Ministers and Vice-Presidents of course […]

What on earth happened to the world economy? Reading the opinions that are pouring forth from the learned and the experienced, it is clear that very few people have the slightest clue. The scale of the meltdown that is occurring seems barely possible. Could anyone see a situation in which Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Lehman […]

So, the Kriegler Commission’s verdict is in. The upshot: nobody will ever know who won Kenya’s December 2007 presidential election, because the whole thing was organised and managed worse than a tea-party in the chimpanzee house at the zoo. This verdict is not to everyone’s taste. Some people were waiting avidly to be told who […]

Someone I know recently told me a story about a well-established restaurant in Nairobi’s Westlands. He was there with his family, and ordered a fish dish. Upon tasting it, he found that the fish tasted stale and unpleasant. He complained to a waiter, who immediately replaced the fish, no questions asked. So far, so good, […]

“Programs alone can’t replace parents; government can’t turn off the television and make a child do her homework; fathers must take more responsibility to provide love and guidance to their children.” Now THAT is why I like Barack Obama. Not because he’s Kenyan (he isn’t, in any sense that matters), but because he is asking […]

I was on holiday along my beloved Kenyan coastline recently, and discovered that not everyone at the resort where I was staying was in leisure mode. I observed one group of people sitting in a specified corner of the hotel every single day. They were not sunning themselves or going for a swim. None of […]

I imposed a two-week television news blackout on myself recently, and what a pleasure it was. We all need a ‘detox’ from time to time, and there is nothing more toxic than an unending stream of news about Kenyan politics. I am delighted to have been spared the sight of groups of parliamentarians calling facile […]

Do you want your child to become an ‘expert’? Who wouldn’t? Being an expert in something usually brings great rewards in life: recognition, money, and a sense of deep accomplishment. But what is an ‘expert’? Do we ask ourselves that question often enough? Are experts born or made? In other words, are the factors that […]

We are all deeply concerned about the state of our education system these days, so allow me to stay on the subject for a while. There can be little doubt: if we want to haul ourselves out of the murky waters of third-world status, education is the only known method. Educating our people properly is […]

As Kenya taxis on the runway preparing for take-off, it is important to get a sense of priority. We must all realise what’s hot, and what’s really not. Otherwise we are going to go round and round this airport and watch all those other planes zooming around in the sky. I have designed a special […]

For all my optimism about the future of this fair land, I am now deeply disturbed. What is a society to make of itself when its children start burning down their schools? That society should be very, very worried. We now have a spate of copycat arson attacks leaving a trail of burnt dormitories across […]

When at a certain stage in my life I finally managed to generate some surplus cash (it took a long time), I immediately decided to invest in some stockmarket shares (as many do). I started reading the financial press trying to seek out a real winner of a company to back. I noted that many […]

The amazing success of the Safaricom IPO confirms that we are on our way to becoming a shareholder democracy, does it not? Hundreds of thousands of new shareholders have been brought into the bosom of capitalism, and are basking in the promise of the new wealth that will follow – yes? Anyone who thinks we […]

If you want to go up Nairobi’s Museum Hill, you have to turn in from Uhuru Highway. There is usually a policeman stationed at the roundabout to make sure that only cars using the extreme right lane do this. Many a driver gets into trouble trying to turn in from the highway’s middle lane. The […]

The debate on whether parliamentarians should pay tax on their all income is rightly attracting the opprobrium of Kenyans. This is not a new issue, by the way, nor is it particularly Kenyan. Members of parliament and leading bigwigs in other countries have also, in the past, felt that their role is so special and […]

A minister reads out a written speech full of numbers, for more than 2 hours. A couple of hundred people, mostly elderly males, gather round him. Most are in varying degrees of somnolence. From time to time they wake up and clap – with their feet. And all of this is presided over by a […]

Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph is perplexed again. His company’s latest promotion has turned out disastrously. The offer of ‘free’ calls after 9.00 pm every day has clogged the network and proved a nightmare for people trying to make calls at night. Why? Because Kenyans keep piling in in droves to make their calls at precisely […]

I am writing this in the dark, afflicted by a power blackout. It seems a good time to pass the blame around. So let me start, obviously, by blaming our notorious power company, which has been a blight on this country for decades. Let me also pass some blame to my landlord, who seems incapable […]

Let’s talk football this Sunday. But only briefly, so the rest of you don’t run away… A few days ago the captain of Chelsea Football Club, John Terry, stepped up to take a Very Important Penalty in Moscow. His team was facing Manchester United in the final of the European Champions League, the world’s most […]