2017 - Al Kags — Strategist, Social Entrepreneur, Writer

November 14, 2017

#ApostADay: Taking up the Challenge and leading ladies.

At work, I have some ladies who I often refer to as "my ladies". In the early days of the Open Institute's life, we were very male and undiverse. As we grew, we made a decision to strengthen our gender diversity by prefering to employ ...

October 30, 2017

The challenges of being non-partisan and the pursuit of objectivity

Throughout this electioneering period I have remained generally silent. I have allowed this blog to go quiet and I have generally kept my views to myself. In matters politics, I have strived to maintain a balanced stance within myself - and in these partisan times, ...

July 22, 2017

“Let people cope,” says Al Kags on suicide.

The first time I ever heard of suicide, was when I was maybe nine years old. My grandmother's best friend was found in her kitchen having hang herself. It was also kind of the first time I really came into contact with the reality of ...

June 11, 2017

Why I oppose the Coal Plant in Lamu (and everywhere else in the world)

Over the last few days, I have come out and spoken strongly and publicly against the Coal plant in Lamu. I have enjoined myself with other like minded Kenyans who have used the hashtag #deCOALonise. I have engaged in rigorous debate on my social media ...

May 30, 2017

Instead of Universal Basic Incomes, Lets try Universal Basic Outcomes.

Economists globally (but especially in the west) are increasingly having a debate about a potentially world changing idea, dubbed Universal Basic Incomes. In a nutshell, UBI is touted as one way of providing literally everyone with a no strings attached cash payment every month to ...

April 9, 2017

Why we bring the kids to work…

Our office is called the Kaya. It houses the Open Institute and Thellesi Co. Once a week during the holidays we have a bring the kids to work day. On this day, we bring the kids to work and they get to play all day ...

February 7, 2017

Why I will vote in August

On January 18th, I spoke about why I felt that it was so much harder for me to get to the polling booth this year. I still feel the same way - and I have even found many more reasons why I should stay in ...

January 18, 2017

To vote or not… that is not the question.

Chances are reasonably high that I will vote in Kenya's general election this year. In all other elections at which I cast my ballot, there has never been doubt that I would go to the polls bright and early, enthusiastically queue in the hot sun and ...

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