As we remember the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an ungoverned preacher, Paul Kagame moves to govern Rwanda’s churches

A regulated church modulated by a political military autocrat — or even a majoritarian elective republic — would not have allowed a prophetic, challenging voice like that of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. to be heard. It was hard enough in the relative free-for-all of American Protestantism of the 1950s and ’60s. This is […]

“Michael & Me” – retrospective thoughts on tying up with Amb. Ranneberger and separating “foreign policy” from “personality”

With a new political appointment announced for the U.S. Embassy in Kenya, Raila Odinga’s criticism at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on his last U.S. visit of the role of the U.S. and U.K. envoys in supporting Kenyan elections for favoring immediate stability over democracy raises the underlying question of how much […]

Carter Center, NDI , EUEOM and other International Observers should follow up on Cambridge Analytica, other actors in Kenyan elections

To the best of my knowledge and recollection, none of the various Election Observation Mission reports from Kenya for the March 2013 election covered the role of SCL Group of Britain (subsequent parent of Cambridge Analytica) for Uhuru Kenyatta. Nor were other foreign contractors for either side addressed to a substantial degree. [I will check […]

On Cambridge Analytica for Kenyatta, The Star reported arrival of a campaign team back in May – why no follow-up?

Below is a draft post I wrote but did not publish back on May 10, 2017: Uhuruto re-election and Cambridge Analytica coverage in The Star: why now? Today, the Star, Nairobi’s previously opposition-leaning third daily newspaper (a must read together with The Daily Nation and The Standard) ran a story announcing the arrival of a team […]

Sunday morning impressions on Kenyatta-Odinga statements, dialogue

I do not normally write on this blog on Sunday morning but over the years I have at times had something to say later in the day after getting a particular inspiration at church. But this morning, let me say that within the joint statement of Kenyatta and Odinga, and their individual statements, there are […]

Carter Center releases Final Report on Kenya’s Elections

Download: Carter Center: Kenya Final Report General and Presidential Elections 2017[pdf] Read the whole thing — that is what we American taxpayers have paid for. In summary: “Regrettably, the elections represent a major setback in Kenya’s democratic development.” (h/t Daniel Finan of RFI English) Update: (As of this morning, 8 March) I was not able […]

CIA reported that Kenyans expected a Ugandan air strike the week of July 27, 1976 on Nairobi or Nakuru “where President Kenyatta spends much of his time”

This item of Kenya – Uganda – United States history comes from a recently declassified Presidential Daily Brief from the CIA from the Ford Administration.  Unfortunately about half of the item relating to Kenya and Uganda has been redacted even though it is more than 40 years old, predating even the Museveni government in Uganda […]

US gives Kenya six boats to help boost war on terrorism – Business Daily

The US government on Tuesday gave six Metal Shark boats to the Kenya Navy to help fight terrorism reports Business Daily.

Ten years after 2008 post election “peace deal” Kenya is a world leader in crime and impunity

Ten years ago today I watched television coverage of the “peace deal” signed by Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga in the IRI office in Nairobi, on the new K24 television station (owned by the Kenyatta family as I later learned). I had sent off overnight a briefing memo to IRI’s president as background for a […]

Must reads on Kenya

Kenya’s dangerous path toward authoritarianism by Neha Wadekar in The New Yorker. Kenyatta’s grand plan to silence Kenya’s free press by George Ogola in African Arguments. This is how you capture the rise of Kenya’s vibrant contemporary art scene by Abdi Latif Dahir in Quartz Africa. Central Kenya’s Biting Poverty by Dauti Kahura in The […]