We are within 350 days to the next elections in Kenya. The calendar for nominations, resignations, coalition building and political lines have been drawn. What are some of the key issues to look out for between now and the next election? An interview between The Elephant and advocate Patrick Kilonzo.

Reviewing the Electoral Calendar in Kenya

It is now 11 years since we voted in the current Constitution. Its implementation has been a case of hits and misses. Now a new wind of political disquiet is driving the call for a referendum. Is it too soon to try and change a document we have barely implemented? A conversation between The Elephant and Mutemi Wa Kiama.

Defending the Mwananchi Constitution in Kenya

What is a state and what is a nation? How have the two co-existed within our country and especially within the last few decades? The impact that the two structures have on the everyday lives of citizens and households is immense. The Elephant joins Dr Wandia, Mshai Mwangola, Ngala Chome and Oyunga Pala to elucidate on how best to fix ourselves as a community.

Kenya: The State vs the Nation

Successive issues around land, reparations, colonial violence, and policing structures throughout Kenya's life span have created a leash on the capacity of the Kenya public to imagine and build forward. How do we set free the soul of the Kenyan people? The Elephant joins Dr Wandia, Mshai Mwangola, Ngala Chome and Oyunga Pala to elucidate on how best to fix ourselves as a community.

Kenya: How Collective Trauma Tethers Our Public Imagination

As the current debates about the Competency-Based Curriculum rage on, Dr Wandia Njoya and Elephant Curator John Githongo walk down the memory lane of Kenya's education system since the pre-colonial days to the present.

How Kenya Educates Its Young

Between COVID-19 and resultant issues, an approaching debt cliff, a new crop of young voters and a wobbly economy, Kenyans seem to have a clear set of the issues that will define the upcoming elections. How will Kenyans go about ranking their respective pressing issues and how will that shape the upcoming elections? The Elephant in conversation with Cyprian Nyamwamu.

The Organizing Questions of the Upcoming Elections

Elections in some ways have been great drivers of conflict and tools of authoritarianism but they also bring about positive incremental change and provide some form of accountability. Our moderator Patrick Gathara, and discussants Rashid Abdi, Justin Willis and Samira Gaid reflect on the progress made in democratizing the East African region and what needs to be done to secure long-term gains. A partnership between Heinrich Boll Foundation, The Elephant and The Rift Valley Institute.

What Are the Alternatives to Elections?

How The Horn Of Africa Handles Elections

Do farmers owe the nation food or do they owe themselves a profit? Should youths join the farming craze? Our country is primarily agricultural as it contributes about 26 per cent of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), another 27 per cent of GDP indirectly through linkages with other sectors and value addition. The sector employs more than 40 percent of Kenya’s 30 million adults and more than 70 percent of Kenya's rural people.

Is Farming in Kenya Profitable?

Pre-independence, Kenya's Northern Frontier Districts fought to be part of Somalia during Shifta War or Gaf Daba (1963–1967). The post-1963 Kenya war against the "Shifta,"  securitized the relationship between the state, the region, and the people. Since then a series of massacres- the Wagala (1984), Bagala (1998), and Malka Mari (1982), and the advent of the war on terror saw the rise of the label, terrorists. The result is a huge difficulty in accessing state services, National Identity Card, passports., and title deeds.

From Shifta To Alien - Weaponized Identity In The North

The Community Land Act, No. 27 of 2016 (the Act) came into force on 21 September 2016. The Act gives effect to Article 63 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 (The Constitution) which provides for the classification of land known as community land. While the law is progressive on paper- it enables local communities to register and own their communal lands legally, its application has been slow. The Elephant in conversation with Dr Hussein Wario, Executive Director at the Center for Research and Development in Drylands, Kenya.

The State Of The Community Land Act

The Northern Rangelands Trust has been active in the pastoralist region, setting up "Community Wildlife." Some have argued that these conservancies are a trojan horse for taking away pastoralist land. With the coming into force of the Community Land Act 2016, securing pastoralist land has become even more urgent. The Elephant in conversation with Adam Dalacha, a lawyer and human rights activist.

The NRT Land Court Case In Isiolo

Kenya’s agro-economy accounts for about 24 per cent of GDP and 74% of jobs (GoK, 2008). On 4th March 2013, the central government transferred much of the at least 10 separate sub-sectors to county governments. These are crops (both industrial and food), horticulture, livestock, fisheries, land, water, cooperatives and marketing, environment and natural resources, regional development, and development of arid and semi-arid land (ASAL). Has it been a hit? Miss? Mixed bag? The Elephant in conversation with Dr Abraham Rugo Muriu, Country Director, International Budget Partnership Kenya.

Who Is in Charge of Agriculture in Kenya?

For tax justice to truly work on behalf of the citizen, it must be founded on the principles of human rights. This demands that the fiscal architecture in place allows for citizen participation; non-discrimination, and empowering processes that enhance social mobility. The Elephant in conversation with Leonard Wanyama, regional coordinator of the East African Tax and Governance Network (EATGN).

Auditing Kenya's Taxation System

Kenyan youth are not to blame for their election apathy. For decades, elections have hardly made a difference in curbing violent plunder by Kenya’s ruling class. The youth are wondering whether this would be any different. The Elephant in conversation with Dr Alex Awiti, Associate Professor and Vice Provost - Aga Khan University, East Africa.

Elections and the Frustrated Young Voter

As long as we focus on the tribe, we will lose the nation and be stuck in the tribal mire. Kenya will cease to be a society. We will lose our sense of collective responsibility and find in its place a culture of competitive victimhood. The Elephant in conversation with Rev. Canon Francis Omondi, a Priest of All Saints Cathedral Diocese of the ACK, a Canon of the All-Saints Kampala Cathedral of the Church of Uganda, Adjunct Lecturer at St. Paul’s University, Limuru, and Research Tutor at the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life.

Breaking the Two-Ethnic Political Structure in Kenya

In the 1990s, a group of intelligentsia arose to partner with the then civil society, and the new crop of firs-time politicians in parliament. The three different factions were all conflated to be part of the civil society. But as senior economist David Ndii clarifies, these three groups were distinct yet cooperative in expanding the political space in the country's democracy.

David Ndii: The Politics-Civil Society Nexus

Dr Wandia Njoya explores developments in Kenya’s education sector since independence. She explains that the initial 7-6-3 system was designed to recreate a British style elite; 8-4-4 created more rounded Kenyans who were better critical thinkers; now we head into the uncertainties of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), which seems to be a throwback to the original 7-6-3 system. Dr Njoya also explores the implications of these developments.

CBC: An Education Philosophy or a Curriculum Debate

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), labour leaders, faith-based organizations, religious leaders and other civil society representatives play a critical and diverse set of roles in societal development. Will the shifting external environment for civil society have any place in civil society? The Elephant in conversation with Dr Wandia Njoya, a scholar and a social and political communicator.

Civil Society Needs a Reboot?

Despite the enormous burden that mental ill-health imposes on individuals, their families, society, health systems and the economy, mental health care remains a neglected area of public policy in Kenya. Dannish Odongo speaks.

Mental Health Dimensions In Governance

How the myth of ‘institutions’ has shaped the fight against graft and wasted precious time and money. The Elephant in conversation with Sheila Masinde, Executive Director at Transparency International Kenya.

The Two Decade Long War on Corruption

This government faces significant political risk in the middle of an economic crisis. Lucky governments are those that are able to avoid having both, at least concurrently. President Ruto's decisions as he tries to balance political deal-making versus economic risks are creating the impression of an overwhelmed regime and the public is getting agitated. How is this likely to play out in the short term? The Elephant's Joe Kobuthi speaks to economist and former Laikipia governor Nderitu Muriithi.

Gov. Nderitu Muriithi: You Can’t Divorce the Economy From Politics

In recent weeks, lawmakers and politicians in Kenya, including Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua have decried the alleged spectre of widespread alcoholism and sparked a nationwide hysteria. There is only one problem; all available data from state agencies, civil society, and global health firms do not back up their alarming claims about an alcoholism problem in Kenya. So what is the so-called war on alcoholism really masking? In this episode, The Elephant is in conversation with Patrick Gathara, a Kenyan journalist, cartoonist, blogger, author and social commentator.

Alcohol Central: Don't Drink Gachagua's Myth

Kenya’s cost of living demonstrations has as much to do with popular discontent as they do with the opposition capitalizing on frustrations. The Elephant in conversation with Zein Abubakar, a director at the Orature Collective and former Member of Parliament at the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).

Who Will Rescue Our Political Economy

The Kenyan government's new tax proposals that seek to boost revenue collection and cut public borrowing have been met with much opposition, especially from Kenyans who already fill the burden of a high cost of living.

Finance Bill 2023 - A Prowling Economic Hitjob

The Kenyan government's new tax proposals that seek to boost revenue collection and cut public borrowing have been met with much opposition, especially from Kenyans who already fill the burden of a high cost of living. Former Laikipia Governor Nderitu Muriithi speaks to The Elephant.

A Hustler's Finance Bill

Failing to examine youth engagement trends may be a serious blind spot— and thus a threat to democracy. It is a question that merits closer examination. When youth disengage, they are often saying they don’t have a high level of confidence or trust in existing economic, political, or social entities. Nerima Wako is the Executive Director at Siasa Place.

Kenyan Youth, Economy, And Political Hope

The rise of movements such as Feminism and the Men’s Rights Movement in a landscape long divided raise valid concerns regarding gender-specific issues that as a society need to be addressed.

The Politics Of Love And Sex

The Kenya Finance Bill 2023 is an unfair and regressive legislation favouring the wealthy and corporations at the expense of the working-class and poor majority. The Elephant in conversation with Diana Gichengo, National Coordinator at The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA).

Finance Bill 2023 - Whose Finance Whose Bill

More than 90% of Kenyans have rejected the Finance Bill 2023, which includes the government’s taxation plan for the financial year starting in July 2023, a new survey has shown. The courts have extended the conservatory orders on the Bill. The Elephant speaks to Abraham Rugo, PhD, the International Budget Partnership's Country Manager. He has a passion for homegrown solutions to society's problems and works to localize and personalize policy matters that are otherwise complicated.

Finance Bill: High Court Says, No

Fresh controversy is swirling over Kenya's ballooning debt crisis even as President William Ruto prescribes painful tax measures to fund his 3.68 trillion debut budget that has been squeezed by debt service costs.

Okiyah Omtata: We Are Paying For Non-Existent Debts

We are a generation that seeks closure yet the death of a father figure only seems to have opened an old wound that we thought had healed. As the father figures collapsed at the private front, his political masculinity shrewdly dominated our hunger and fascination with fatherhood. From the article "Nyayo: The Passing of a Father Figure" written by Oyunga Pala.

Nyayo: The Passing of a Father Figure

The African Trumpet is a podcast run by The Elephant, a platform for engaging citizens to reflect, re-member and re-envision their society by interrogating the past, the present, to fashion a future.

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