Kenya’s post-independence history is marked by numerous instances of high-ranking politicians and politically connected individuals exploiting state power to illegally acquire public land – what land ...

Chinedu Chukwudinma, Christopher J. Lee and Bettina Engels introduce special issue 186, Volume 52 of the journal, dedicated to honouring the centenary of the Martiniquais-Algerian revolutionary Frantz ...

In a Uganda long accustomed to provocative social media flurry from Army Chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, two recent developments shocked even the most cynical observers. On the night of 27 June, ...

From politics to law, environment, to social life, Kenyans have had quite a fruitful half-year. What should we keep an eye on? What should we measure? What should we leverage? The Elephant talks to ...

On March 3, 2025, a short video went viral on TikTok, captioned “Get ready with me to go for stranger removal.” The two-minute clip amassed more than 90k+ views, likes, comments, and shares. The video ...

Four years into his stint as a senior technician at the now-defunct Kenya Posts & Telecommunications, in 1971, a young Francis Atwoli took on the role of branch secretary for the parastatal’s ...

Kenya’s baronial class—a tight-knit elite of political dynasties, business moguls, and landed gentry—has entrenched itself since independence, perpetuating backwardness through systemic plunder. The ...

Patrick “Panye” Mukabi, painter, tutor, imaginer, always stood tall, ready to lend a hand, an eye, a piece of advice, a gentle nudge, always in the service of others. He, with his patient, unassuming ...

Micere Githae Mugo is undoubtedly one of Africa’s foremost poets of distinction. Her iconic status as an activist, scholar and creative artist spans the colonial and post-independence era of Kenya’s ...

After three and a half weeks in South Africa and Zimbabwe, returning to the United States feels like stepping out of a vivid, sun-soaked world into a cold landscape of unrelenting gloom, as if the ...

There is a cross-cutting sense of dysfunction that defines the public life in ways that drain the public imagination and sap the national spirit. What does it take to dream of better outcomes and the ...

That was 2022. A roadside accident in Kenya. A crowd of witnesses has gathered in front of a female reporter’s microphone, and as she adjusts her earphones to start the live broadcast, a young man in ...