Archive

When I heard today that Raila Odinga had died, a silence settled across Kenya—not the silence of relief, not the silence of closure, but the silence of an unresolved conversation. Raila’s life never allowed closure. It demanded ongoing debate. There are men whose lives bend the ...

The well-intentioned grand strategies of sustainable development often commit a cardinal sin: they mistake the map for the territory. We frequently hear pronouncements from polished boardrooms and echo chambers of bureaucratic offices, yet the undeniable truth, often whispered but rarely heeded, is this: genuine, enduring ...

The word falls effortlessly from the lips of diplomats, donors, and do-gooders alike — empower. We must empower the poor. Empower women. Empower marginalised communities. It’s a term that glitters with good intentions, polished by decades of development-speak. But peer a little closer, and you’ll ...

There’s a certain stillness in Magarini, Kilifi County, that takes a moment to understand. The kind of stillness that doesn’t come from peace but from wear. The land is tired—scorched by years of relentless sun, carved by wind, and emptied by a long, slow deforestation. ...

It is an odd thing to wake up in Africa and watch the world unravel over breakfast. One moment, the West was lecturing us about democracy; the next, it was setting itself on fire with nationalism, outright racism, and a stunning dedication to irrational leadership. ...

For years, the localisation movement in global development has been gathering momentum, challenging traditional donor-led models that have defined aid for decades. The shift from large international agencies to Community-Based Organisations (CBOs)—the true definition of local—has been a hard-fought battle. Initiatives like Maono, which focus ...