Articles Tagged Sunday Nation

This column looked at the basic building blocks of a new economic agenda for Kenya last week, and concluded that three fundamental pillars of economic growth must be rebuilt: institutions, knowledge and values. Effective, corruption-free institutions allow us to conduct the affairs of the land in a supportive environment. Knowledge gives us the fundamental weaponry […]

It’s time to get back to what really matters. We’ve had an unruly and all-consuming referendum campaign. We’ve been up to our necks in political intrigues. We’ve brought the cows home while yakking incessantly about leadership, personalities and new political bedfellows. And we’ve had the Christmas break to recover our wits. Now, let’s get back […]

Today is New Year’s Day, 2006. It is therefore very unlikely that you are reading this article early this Sunday morning. If you are like most Kenyans with money to spend, you will be nursing a hangover and treating a stomach-ache this morning, after a night of revelry. If you do manage to pick up […]

Three important religious festivals came together at the close of this year: Eid-ul-Fitr, Diwali and Christmas. Today is Christmas Day; Eid and Diwali fell together a few weeks ago. Most Kenyans, therefore, have been in celebratory mode at year’s end. But what is it we celebrate, and what does it mean for us in our […]

In the light of recent events, we need to revisit the work of Jim Collins. I introduced his “Good to Great” project in this column recently. To recap, Mr. Collins and an army of researchers conducted a five-year project to answer the question: what is it that leads to greatness in companies? What attributes do […]

George Best was laid to rest last week. Arguably the most talented footballer ever produced by the British Isles, he was accorded a hero’s funeral in his native Northern Ireland. Tens of thousands braved the cold and the rain to pay their last respects. Soccer luminaries such as Sir Alex Ferguson and Sven-Goran Eriksson were […]

This country of ours still demonstrates an alarming propensity to shoot itself in the foot, regularly and with great accuracy. Over the past few months, we seem to have decided to mess around with the only group in the economy that keeps us afloat, through good times and bad: our businesspeople. Great shot! Small, medium-sized […]

The Kenyan people recorded a massive protest against the quality of their leaders in 2002. This week they sent another warning shot. Leaders who are not paying attention to this strong and consistent message are heading for political oblivion. We are in a different country now. The average voter is a quite distinct animal from […]

Hoarders seem to attract universal opprobrium. We are all scornful of what we imagine the hoarder to be: a scheming shopkeeper who amasses essential foodstuffs while people are starving. But is that really what hoarding is? How much wealth are you, specifically, sitting on that could be serving the world around you? The BBC has […]

Once upon a time there was a teacher of business at a famous university far, far away. This teacher was troubled by the question: what makes a company truly great? Why do some stay mired in mediocrity for decades, yet others are able to outperform the market for many, many years? Why do some companies […]

A reader of this column wrote to me recently and suggested that its title be changed to ‘A Cloudy Day’! Why? Because I apparently dish out too much of a mental battering on Sundays, which are for picnics and relaxation. Easy, guys. I’m no pessimist; if I were, I would not bother to write this […]

You all know what happened. The students who were sitting the KCSE Mathematics paper earlier this week were subjected to something unforgivable. Two tables were in the wrong places in the paper; a third was missing altogether. Most of us have sat through public examinations at some stage in our lives; most of us remember […]

To succeed in business, you have to be a bit crooked. Or, at least, you have to be willing to cut a few “corners”, make a few “friends”, enter into some “arrangements”. That is the received wisdom about business in Kenya. It is wrong. Business does not have to be shady in order to be […]

There is a widely accepted model of business prevalent in Kenya today. It involves some or all the following practices: evading the payment of duties and taxes wherever possible; obtaining raw materials and equipment from the cheapest sources, “no questions asked”; falsifying costs in order to justify absurdly high prices; and colluding with public officials, […]

We have a vibrant and energetic business sector in Kenya. Our entrepreneurial fervour is envied in the region and often regarded as a model in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are fortunate to have a multiplicity of communities engaging in a wide variety of businesses. But it’s not enough. We have an enviable base of vigorous entrepreneurs […]

The Matrix movies are a Hollywood phenomenon. The three films generated US$ 1.6 billion at the box office across the world. At one level, they can be viewed as routine Hollywood blockbuster stuff: eye-popping special effects; infantile chases and fights; the regular titanic battles between good and evil. Standard teenager fare. Yawn, say ye of […]

Katrina, a maximum-strength Category 5 hurricane, hit the USA’s Gulf Coast a few weeks ago and wreaked unprecedented havoc. By now you all know the numbers: thousands missing, possibly dead; half a million people displaced; a projected total cost of US$ 200 billion (16 times Kenya’s GDP, if you’re counting); and an estimated half a […]

Ah, we love our campaigns, don’t we! Look at the energy with which our politicians are racing across the country, caps, T-shirts and posters in hand. Look at the enthusiasm with which the crowds are turning out to brandish bananas and ogle oranges. There is only one conversation taking place in Kenya today: are you […]

Jose Mourinho is the manager of Chelsea Football Club, the world’s richest such institution. It is bankrolled by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovitch, and has spent record-breaking amounts in the transfer market. So strong is the Chelsea squad of superstars that many analysts predict a long period of total dominance of world football. Yet the real […]

Mike Tyson was once the world’s most feared boxer. In a remarkable period from 1985 to 1989, he annihilated all comers and was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. From 1990 onwards, unfortunately, Tyson began devoting himself to a life of excess. During one 33-month period in the 1990s, he is believed to have […]

There is a certain buzz in the air about economic growth in Kenya. After the government announced that the economy was growing at 4.3 per cent per annum recently, a new excitement began to swell. Yes, we all know that the 4.3 per cent has only been achieved after fiddling with the calculation formula and […]

If you are a Kenyan consumer, you have almost certainly gone through some (or all) of the following: Your telephone landline periodically goes dead, and stays dead for weeks (even months) even though you call the service operator every day to complain. When the line comes back, it has a nasty crackle in it. You […]

Can anyone of sound mind be against the idea of renewal? We see it in nature all around us, every day of our lives. The magnificent flower is in full bloom for a few days, and then its petals drop away and its beauty fades. The proud lion, monarch of the plains, is master of […]

Once upon a time, in a country far, far away, the leading businesses of the land made money in a certain way. First and foremost, they made friends with influential politicians. They cultivated them, wined and dined them, offered them shares, and gave them positions on their boards. Having obtained the necessary political backing, these […]

Nairobi was in chaos again last week. Activists marched to parliament. The police clobbered them. Tear gas and water cannon were used indiscriminately. Thugs and idlers took the opportunity to break into shops and help themselves to goodies. The capital city came to a standstill. Businesspeople counted their losses. Investors looked away. Some things never […]

Languages are lost for many reasons. Some go as people give up isolated lives and pastimes and aggregate into larger, more integrated communities. Others become extinct as the result of invasions: the widespread colonisations of the 18th and 19th centuries, for example, resulted in the loss of hundreds of indigenous tongues. Today, globalisation is leading […]

Many of us are busy picking through the litter of the recent G8 conference held in Scotland. What did the rich countries offer Africa? What does it mean? How much do we get? Can we “make poverty history” now? I’d prefer to put some distance between us and Scotland and take you to the other […]

The Live 8 concerts were held last week – 10 concerts staged simultaneously around the world, to put pressure on the leaders of the world’s 8 richest countries to tackle poverty in Africa. The event has been judged a wild success: over a million people attended the concerts in person; as many as two billion […]