The Kenyanist

Somalia was recently formally admitted into the East African Community, a regional bloc with aspirations for deeper economic and political union. Somalia joins a more expanded bloc with members Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South-Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The recent admissions into the bloc have drawn criticism, with some analysts arguing that South Sudan, DRC and now Somalia are unstable and would bring instability into an already fragile region. However, others have argued that Somalia’s admission was long due as the people of Somalia are already deeply embedded within the East Af...

Most Kenyan youths live under the gloom of economic uncertainty which leads to hopelessness. This has been against a backdrop of multiple interventions from the government and other stakeholders. Regardless, the subject of youth and livelihoods has endured massive interest within Kenya, with the youth bulge described as an ‘opportunity’ and a ‘ticking time bomb’ in some quarters.

What cannot be understated however is that the conversations are often single sided focusing on youth unemployment which leads to other conversation son how young men find themselves in crime. A less talked about group is the yout...

In a past episode of the Kenyanist, we talked about reforming the NHIF, which the government has recently undertaken to improve healthcare delivery. We also heard about how African countries spend about 6% of their GDP on health, which is less than the 9.5% of GDP in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Yet, the Abuja Declaration commits African countries to invest 14% of the national budget in health. It is no secret, therefore, that many problems affect the healthcare system in African countries, including Kenya, with issues such as poor infrastructure, unharmonized medical records, inadequate personnel, and insufficient healthcare...

For many Kenyans, being part of an ethnic group is an important mark of their identity. It symbolizes belonging, and access to resources. The question of which ethnic groups belong in Kenya is another part of this salient debate.

Ethnicity is often used as a means of mobilizing for state resources especially around elections. The question of which ethnic groups belong in Kenya therefore elicits sensitive emotions as some groups have in the past been denied citizenship on the basis of their ethnicity. Moreover, when the question of how many tribes are in Kenya...

Kenya is renowned for producing world star athletes such as Eliud Kipchoge, a marathon legend, Faith Kipyegon, a top middle-distance runner, and the promising sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala. These among other athletes have consistently brought honor to Kenya with their stellar performances. Despite their success, the State of Athletics in Kenya is characterized by a paradoxical situation. On the one hand, the country continues to produce superstar athletes who excel on the global stage. On the other hand, Kenya has been struggling at the team level in international competitions. A glaring example of this was seen in the 2022 Olympics, where...

In this episode, Dr. Ken Opalo, a Georgetown University Professor provides a comprehensive analysis of Kenya's cost-of-living crisis. We unpack the underlying factors, assess government responses, and examine potential outcomes of current economic policies aimed at easing the cost of living.

On the political front, blame games persist, with the opposition (Azimio) pointing fingers at the government. The Kenya Kwanza government on the other hand blames the global economic environment and the previous regime.

We also delve into Kenya Kwanza's fiscal policies, which prioritize a populist agenda under the...

Kenya's political history is marked by protests. We can trace the history of protests to colonial times. In this episode, we are joined by Dr Westen Shihalo, a senior researcher from the University of Johannesburg, to examine the history of protests in Kenya from the colonial era to the present day.

We examine how the protests against taxation and racial discrimination in colonial times paved way for the agitation for inclusion, democracy and justice in the post-colonial era. Despite some of the gains that have emanated from sustained political protests, including a new constitution, the legitimacy of...

Domestic work in Kenya, as well as in other parts of the world, is frequently characterized by low wages and a lack of recognition. Nevertheless, domestic workers have consistently proven to be indispensable to our daily lives. They maintain our households, ensure cleanliness, prepare our meals, and care for our children; essentially being responsible for our well-being.  

Despite their significant contribution to the economy and our overall welfare, domestic workers in Kenya face some of the most challenging working conditions. While the focus has rightfully been on the dire situations of Kenyan workers in th...

The world is re-emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are only now beginning to understand the full impact of the crisis. In Kenya, we need to take this opportunity to reflect on how we can better prepare for future pandemics. At the same time, we need to reconsider culture’s role in helping us cope with and make sense of difficult events in our lives.  

One of the most powerful ways that culture can help us to process difficult experiences is through music. During the pandemic, we saw the government use music to co...

Kenya’s food culture is dynamic and evolving, based on both local and foreign influences. On the local front, we know that different cultural groups in Kenya
have their own foods and unique ways of preparing them.

This diversity also makes it difficult for us to talk about a Kenyan cuisine in the same way that we might talk about Ethiopian, Nigerian, or Indian cuisine. As
some arguments go, we can trace the state of our food culture to colonization. Some people argue that colonialism limited or popularized some foods including maize and legumes wh...

In this episode, we seek to understand the political economy of street vending in Kenya, by speaking to Nathan Kariuki, a PhD student at the Centre for African Studies, in Bordeaux, France whose PhD project examines street vending in Kenya.

What is described as the informal economy or jua kali, has been noted to be a significant portion of Kenya’s economy. For instance, it is widely acknowledged that about 84% of Kenya’s workforce is engaged in the informal economy. It is acknowledged that the distribution of people’s participation in the formal vs informal sector is highly...

In The Kenyanist today, we are joined by John Kinuthia, a Senior Program Officer at the International Budget Partnership who has recently, together with his colleagues, published a study on the transparency and accountability of the NHIF.

Health financing is a big deal. It has been part of global, regional and national political conversations. 

It is known that the developed countries in the world spend more money on healthcare, as a proportion of the GDP, compared with developing countries. For instance, it is known that countries in Africa spend about 6%t of their GDP on h...

In this episode of The Kenyanist, we aim to broaden and deepen our understanding of the lost Kenyan artefacts, by talking to the incredible Jim Chuchu, a Kenyan artist who has been in the lead of efforts to identify and document Kenya’s cultural items that are held outside Kenya. Jim has been part of the International Inventories Programme (IIP), an international research and database project that investigates Kenyan artefacts that are held in museums outside Kenya.

In recent years, there have been growing calls by African governments, cultural analysts and activists and their allies for the re...

In the first episode of The Kenyanist’s second season, Kamau Wairuri speaks to Dr Beatrice Akala, an educationist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, on the country’s transition for the 8-4-4 system to the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC).

The discussion seeks to cut through the cacophony of voices that have marked the public discourse on CBC and get a fair and balanced view on the purpose of this shift in curriculum, whether it is justified and what we can expect the outcomes to be. 

As such, Kamau...

For this International Podcast Day special episode, our new producer Tevin Sudi has a conversation with our executive director and host, Kamau Wairuri, for our listeners to get to know him a little bit better.

We talk about his background, why he started the Kenyanist, some of his favourite episodes, season 2, and much more. He even tells us if we’ll ever see his name on the ballot one day.

You can follow us on all social media platforms @thekenyanist and you can listen to all our episodes on www.podpage.com or anywhere you ge...

This episode explores the legal, social, and political dimensions of forced evictions in Kenya with Pauline Vata. She is a seasoned human rights lawyer with expertise in land, housing, and natural resource governance issues, positively influencing public policy in formulating laws that safeguard rights to housing and land.

The discussion starts with the legal instruments that the government can rely on to understand the procedures they should follow when carrying out evictions, they then proceed to discuss one of the most significant court cases that has emerged from the forced evictions, the Mitu-Bell case, in which the...

In this episode of The Kenyanist, Sylvanus Wekesa hosts Nicodemus Minde who is a lecturer of International Relations at the United States International University (USIU) in Nairobi, Kenya. The discussion is focused on the rising concern in Kenya’s August 2022 elections in regards to the economic security and political considerations in the East African region; with stiff competition between the two leading candidates, namely the government backed opposition leader Raila Odinga and the current deputy president, William Ruto. Dr Minde gives a brief overview of the current East African Community (EAC) scene, with the recent admission of the Democratic Republic of...

In this episode, Kamau Wairuri hosts Eugene Ngumi, a public affairs consultant based in Nairobi, to discuss the politics of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Kenya. They trace the origins of the SGR, going back to the building of the old meter-gauge railway by the colonial government, it’s virtual collapse in the 1990s and the attempts to revive it in the early 2000s. After a concession attempt failed, the SGR was conceptualised during the Kibaki-era under the Vision 2030. They then proceed to discuss the building of the Railway by the Jubilee government, noting the congruence of internal and ex...

Kamau Wairuri hosts Billian Okoth Ojiwa (@BillianOjiwa) to discuss his work as a community organiser in Kenya. Billian is the founder of the Billian Music Family, a community building organisations based in Mathare in Nairobi. Hosting a population of over 500,000 people, Mathare is one of the largest informal settlements in Nairobi. They discuss Billian’s childhood in Mathare, his early music career, and his eventual shift towards community organising work. We discuss the work his organisation has been doing to improve people’s lives in Mathare. They also discuss his efforts to engage in electoral politics and the price he has...

Show notes 

In this episode, Kamau Wairuri hosts Ken Opalo to discuss the financing of development at the grassroots in Kenya.  Ken is an Assistant Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University at Washington DC (USA).  See Ken’s Profile here.

They discuss the nature and impact of the Harambee System in the post-colonial period in Kenya. The opposition of parliamentarians to Harambee, which became very expensive for them, led the MPs in the 9th parliament to establish the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), through which 2.5% of the national budget would be allocated to th...

Kamau Wairuri hosts Sylvanus Wekesa to discuss Kenya's Foreign Policy during the presidency of Uhuru Kenyatta (2013 - to date). We have a wide ranging conversation ranging on the impact of President Kenyatta as Kenya's foremost diplomat. We discuss the anti-ICC politics as well as the mixed results of Kenya's foreign efforts including the pursuit of the Chairperson's position in the African Union (AU), leadership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) seat. We also note the regional politics -- East African Community (EAC) and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Sylvanus Wekesa is a...

In this episode, Kamau Wairuri talks to Tom Mboya, a governance consultant, on the cost of politics in Kenya. Our discussion is based on the findings of a study that Tom conducted with Prof Karuti Kanyinga on the topic. The study is a part of a global study. The findings can be found on https://www.costofpolitics.net/  Tom and I discussed how much candidates spend in their election campaigns and why this cost varies by party, region and gender of the candidate. We also talked about the impact that the rising costs of election campaigns is having on Kenyan p...

In the first episode of The Kenyanist, Kamau Wairuri (host) talks to Melissa Wanjiru-Mwita, a lecturer in Spatial Planning at the Technical University of Kenya in Nairobi. Melissa argues that street names reflect what those in power want us to remember or forget.   In the first segment, we go back in time to trace the emergence of Nairobi City around the Railway Depot and how the streets were named. Noting that after Kenya became a Crown Colony in 1920, the British were more deliberate about naming the streets. One of the ways of claiming a space is to imprint a name on...