Our website use cookies to improve and personalize your experience and to display advertisements (if any). Our website may also include cookies from third parties like Google Adsense, Google Analytics, and Youtube. By using the website, you consent to the use of cookies.

Ok, I Agree
Mar
06
2024
By GEORGE OGOLA
Kenyans use humour to counter unpopular state policies – memes are the latest tool

Kenyans use humour to counter unpopular state policies – memes are the latest tool

NEWS
SEEMINGLY disillusioned with the country’s leadership, Kenyans have taken to new ways of expressing their anger and frustration with their government. On social media and in everyday conversations, President William Ruto is now referred to as Zakayo, named after the infamous Zaccheaus, the much-hated chief tax collector in biblical Jericho. Ruto is also called Kaunda Uongoman, which mimics the stage name of a controversial Congolese musician, Kanda Bongoman. The first name is a reference to Ruto’s recent penchant for Kaunda suits. The surname is a portmanteau of the Kiswahili word uongo, meaning liar, and man. These nicknames are examples of…
Read More
Nov
10
2023
By The African Mirror
Kenya to pay back $300 mln of $2 bln bond in December – Ruto

Kenya to pay back $300 mln of $2 bln bond in December – Ruto

BUSINESS
KENYA will in December pay back $300 million of a $2 billion Eurobond that falls due next June, President William Ruto said. The East African nation is being watched closely to see how it handles the bond due to its growing debt repayments, weakening currency and a surge in yields that has effectively locked out many frontier economies from markets. "I can now confirm ... with confidence that we will and we shall pay the debt that has become a source of much concern to citizens and markets," Ruto said in his State of the Nation address to parliament. Kenya's…
Read More
Nov
02
2023
By DUNCAN MIRIRI and AARON ROSS
King Charles’ regrets for colonial abuses in Kenya not enough for some victims

King Charles’ regrets for colonial abuses in Kenya not enough for some victims

NEWS
BRITAIN'S King Charles and Queen Camilla began the second day of a state visit to Kenya as survivors of colonial-era abuses criticised his failure to issue a full apology or propose reparations. At a state dinner on Tuesday Charles expressed his "deepest regret" for what he called abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans during the country's independence struggle. President William Ruto commended the monarch's first step toward going beyond the "tentative and equivocal half-measures of past years", but said much remained to be done. During the 1952-1960 Mau Mau revolt in central Kenya, some 90,000 Kenyans were killed or…
Read More
Jun
08
2023
By The African Mirror
Kenyan police fire tear gas at protesters marching against finance bill

Kenyan police fire tear gas at protesters marching against finance bill

NEWS
KENYAN police fired tear gas at hundreds of people protesting near parliament against a proposed finance bill that would hike taxes on fuel and housing. President William Ruto, who won elections in August on a platform of helping the poor, is under pressure to raise revenues in East Africa's economic powerhouse in the face of rising government debt repayments. But his proposals have drawn sharp criticism from civil servants and political opponents, who say that the cost of living is already too high. Police fired tear gas to disperse about 500 protesters who marched to parliament to present a petition…
Read More
Apr
15
2023
By The African Mirror
Kenya ‘disturbed’ by UN remarks in leaked memo

Kenya ‘disturbed’ by UN remarks in leaked memo

NEWS
DUNCAN MIRIRI KENYA is "disturbed" by comments about President William Ruto reportedly attributed to the United Nations deputy secretary-general in a leaked U.S. classified document, a senior Kenyan official said on Friday. The BBC, citing a leaked document, reported this week that Amina Mohammed told U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in February that Ruto was "ruthless" and that she "doesn't trust him." Nairobi is a key hub for U.N. operations. Reuters has not independently verified the document's authenticity. When asked about Mohammed's reported remarks, senior Kenyan foreign affairs official Korir Sing'oei described it on Friday as "disturbing," while also noting that…
Read More
Apr
11
2023
By The African Mirror
Mass protests in Kenya have a long and rich history – but have been hijacked by the elites

Mass protests in Kenya have a long and rich history – but have been hijacked by the elites

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
KENYAN opposition leader Raila Odinga and his coalition party, Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya, recently called for mass protests across the country. Odinga and his team have questioned the legitimacy of President William Ruto’s win in the country’s August 2022 election, and taken issue with the rising cost of living. The Conversation Africa’s Kagure Gacheche spoke with Westen K Shilaho, a senior researcher on African politics, who explores the evolution of political protests in Kenya. Author WESTEN K SHILAHO, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for PanAfrican Thought and Conversation (IPATC), University of Johannesburg What does the law say about political protest? The…
Read More
Feb
15
2023
By The African Mirror
Kenyan army to join police in fighting bandits, cattle rustlers in northwest

Kenyan army to join police in fighting bandits, cattle rustlers in northwest

NEWS
KENYAN soldiers will join the police to fight "rampant incidents of banditry" across the arid northwest that have killed more than 100 civilians and 16 police officers over the past six months, officials said. President William Ruto, who came to power in last August's election, has promised to restore security to the drought-stricken borderlands with Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia, where endemic cattle rustling has been aggravated by the proliferation of automatic weapons. Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said the situation in the northern Rift Valley Region constituted a national emergency and gave people in the area three days to surrender…
Read More
Jan
25
2023
By The African Mirror
Kenyan opposition leader says Ruto’s government is illegitimate

Kenyan opposition leader says Ruto’s government is illegitimate

NEWS
KENYA'S opposition leader Raila Odinga has called on his supporters to resist the government of President William Ruto, saying its disputed election last August had robbed it of legitimacy. Ruto's Kenya Kwanza coalition eked out a narrow victory over Odinga in the election, whose result announcement was accompanied by chaotic scenes at the national tallying centre, and his victory was upheld by the Supreme Court. Both leaders, who have dominated politics in East Africa's biggest economy for decades, settled into an uneasy calm after the electoral contest, but Odinga's coalition said last week it had found new evidence of rigging. "We cannot…
Read More
Jan
20
2023
By The African Mirror
Kenya looks to fix finances by nailing tax cheats, cutting borrowing

Kenya looks to fix finances by nailing tax cheats, cutting borrowing

NEWS
DUNCAN MIRIRI KENYA plans to link its tax collection system to mobile financial platforms to weed out tax evaders and boost revenue by billions of shillings, part of a raft of measures to repair its coffers, the finance ministry said in a draft budget statement. President William Ruto’s administration, which took over last September, inherited a heavily indebted economy after his predecessor ramped up borrowing to build infrastructure. The government plans to increase tax collection by 17% to 2.57 trillion shillings ($20.7 billion) in its fiscal year starting in July, the ministry said. It will also reduce its foreign borrowing…
Read More
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
Instagram