Articles

For the past few months, President William Ruto has been explaining his vision to resolutely march his people into a Singapore - a land of untold wealth and comfort. The president swears that we could create millions of nice jobs, flatten our slums, build public housing for everyone and haul 20 million people out of grinding poverty in 20 years flat.

Africans rode into independence weighed down by unrealistic promise and expectations. Freedom fighters crawled out of forests bubbling with excitement.

If President William Ruto were to posthumously bestow the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya (CGH) upon Raila Odinga, on December 12, 2025, the 61st celebration of Jamhuri, it would be a befitting honour for Kenya's fallen son and illustrious champion of the second liberation. The CGH, Kenya's highest-ranked civilian honour traditionally preserved for sitting and former heads of state and other luminaries, is…

In decreeing that he be buried within 72 hours of his death, Raila Odinga, the East German-trained mechanical engineer, must have imagined his final journey with the engineer's mindset: systematic, structured, precise. But his plan appears to have ignored the norms and customs of his people, and the raw passions and emotions that he whipped up among the millions who followed his beck and call for over 40 years.

The magnitude of online misinformation and hate messaging in this election week is disquieting. This should worry citizens aware of the power of social media and what its misuse portends, especially for a country with systemic electoral problems.

They called the aloof, elitist, intellectual golfing economist and politician a fence sitter. His Agikuyu people nicknamed him General Kaguoya (coward).

Rumour has it that tens of politicians have been burning the midnight oil to graduate from university by 2022, lest they get kicked out of parliament and county assemblies. As someone who attempted and spectacularly failed to balance school, kids, job and the pub as an adult student, I salute them.

The master of the political jab is arguably the Right Honourable Raila Amolo. In days gone by, his warm-up act was performed with great skill by the now-departed politician Otieno Kajwang, a lawyer whose outlandish comedy on the podium hid a razor-sharp mind.

In 2009, I had the honour of masquerading as President Mwai Kibaki’s son, and in a foreign country to boot. But before Mlolongo Police detectives barrel into cars and head to my residence at breakneck speed, guns and handcuffs ready, let me explain.

When President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated Rashid ‘Achesa’ as Sports and Heritage Secretary, the initial reaction, even within the Mulembe nation, was, “Who is that? ” It was a legitimate question, for the name Achesa does not exist in the Luhya lingua.

When South Sudan erupted and the president ordered KDF to evacuate Kenyans stranded in Juba, someone suggested on Facebook that the president was acting so because ‘his people’ were the ones in Juba. By ‘his people’, this chap was not referring to Kenyans.

I know it is unlikely that His Excellency Daktari David Nkedienye, the Nabongo of Kajiado County, reads this column. But it is my prayer that a lazy idler in his office who reads this magazine like there is an exam the next day will bring this missive to his attention.