Phoebe Asiyo during a meeting with women leaders organised by Democracy Trust Fund and Echo Network Africa dubbed Chagua Mama in Nukuru, on July 18, 2022. [File, Standard] Mama Phoebe Asiyo will be given a state burial, as she ought to. The iconic Kenyan matriarch passed on two weeks ago, in the United States. She goes down in history as a phenomenal personality who brought admiration and decorum to leadership. She will be remembered most for her quest for affirmative action, and contribution to women’s rights as human rights, in Kenya and beyond. Yet, can she really be boxed in that corner?…
Author: By Barrack Muluka
President William Ruto addressing residents at Ol Kalou town in Nyandarua county on April 03, 2025, during his Mt Kenya Region Tour.[Kipsang Joseph, Standard] America’s Declaration of Independence could help President William Ruto with some answers in liberal democracy. Ruto is asking Kenyans, “Why must Ruto go? Go where? What will you do that is different? What is your plan for Kenya?” Issued in Congress on 4 July, 1776, the unanimous declaration states, “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth,…
A voter displays money she was allegedly bribed with to vote in favour of a certain candidate during the Kibra by-elections on November 7, 2019. [File, Standard] Do we fail to get it, or do we deliberately sidestep issues? Even our highbrow scholars engage in appalling bawdry in the countryside, and give band-aid solutions to mortal conditions. These past few months have witnessed Kenya’s intelligentsia in the political space cut across the country in a futile exercise called empowerment. And they are marshalled by the quasi-schooled. Why do people who have enjoyed a good education fail to see the obvious? Why…
Rt. Hon Raila Odinga at the Funeral of Preskila Oreny Koyo, wife of the late Ker Joash Koyo Opien in Homa Bay County. [Photo, Standard] Raila Odinga’s call for intergenerational dialogue misses the point. Kenyan youth are not at war with their elders. Nor are elders at war with the youth. The youth are protesting against bad governance and the adversity it has condemned the nation to. If they complain that someone is not listening, it is not that they want anyone to talk to them. They are asking those in government to act in line with what the Constitution and the law say. Kenya’s Gen-Z and Millennials have been in…
Anti-riot policed officers rough up one of the protesters during the June 25, 2025, demonstrations in Nairobi’s CBD. [Jonah Onyango, Standard] The vigorous return of Gen-Z activities in Kenya’s streets is loaded with ominous messages on unfinished business. It arrives with questions galore. The political class cannot possibly ward them off by whistling in the dark, and strawman fallacies. It must confront the shadows within. However, rather than face the facts, the Executive is crying wolf. Interior Cabinet Secretary, Kipchumba Murkomen, has sensationally claimed that the Wednesday demos across the country were a failed attempt against President William Ruto’s government.…
A protester covers his head after being injured during Gen Z protests anniversary on June 25 2025. [Jonah Onyango, Standard] We were brass youth in the 1970s and ‘80s, protesting against stuff we detested. It was partly a coming of age experience, but also a realistic confrontation with the lived reality. But then, as now, the state did not listen. It clobbered us. They dismissed us as confused privileged youth. Someone even issued a shoot to kill order, like another one has just done. We were budding romantic idealists at the University of Nairobi. We believed in better lived experiences…
Protester reacts near burning cars as clashes erupt over the killing of blogger Albert Ojwang. June 12, 2025. [Boniface Okendo, Standard] Kenya’s current affairs tease us with the thought that the angel of doom is crushing us. We are teased with the thought that we are prisoners in the devil’s grip. In a sense, we could indeed be at the end of times. Everything that could go wrong is going wrong. Murder, mayhem, state-owned goons, deodorised executive theft, and a myriad of high-level offensives against the Constitution and the people. They all overwhelm us with massive incredulity. But could this tiresome season…
Some of the goons believed to have been hired to prevent demonstrations on Moi Avenue ,during protests over the killing of blogger Albert Ojwang by police at Central police station. [Collins Kweyu,Standard] Kenya could sink into irreversible anarchy under the Kenya Kwanza government. Menacing goons are becoming the order of the day. Some members of these militias have come out to brag in the open, including on national television. They say that they are protecting the government. A young man captured on video that went viral in the ended week told the world, “We are going to protect President Ruto.…
A section of youths protest as they carry a flag along Accra road, Nairobi during the anti-government protests. August 8, 2024. [Collins Kweyu, Standard] We are living in a brave new world. The first quarter of the 21st Century has transformed lived reality way beyond humankind’s wildest imagination. Rip Van Winkles of our times are bound to be cast into the dustbin of history. It is time to wake up to new realities. In every walk of life, unyielding old models and methods will not work. As the world marches towards the second quarter of the century, dictatorial models that served autocrats are…
President William Ruto and Uasin Gishu Governor Jonathan Bii sing a hymn during the AIC Fellowship Annex 8th Anniversary thanksgiving service in Kesses Constituency on March 9, 2025. [File Courtesy] Kenya’s annual political prayer rituals are absurd, bordering on blasphemy and profanity, as they do. They are an unnecessary expense to the taxpayer and a mockery of prayer. They should be done away with. These annual high-level jamborees mock God and Kenyan citizens alike, for they do not come from contrite hearts. At the very best, these dramas should be recognised as pious showmanship. Accordingly, they should be paid from the pockets of the…
Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan address members of the public during the inauguration ceremony at the MISC, Kasarani on September 13, 2022. (File, Standard) Tanzania’s Mama Samia Suluhu has just written a murky chapter in her history. The trope of motherhood understands that maternity brings forth life. It nourishes and nurtures it. Mummy is the ultimate metaphor for family, and for tender loving care. Accordingly, it is almost impossible to associate maternal energy with violence – verbal, physical, or howsoever else ferocity may disguise itself. Get Trusted News for Only Ksh99 a Week Subscribe Today & Save! Get Started Unlimited access…
President William Ruto installs the public seal of the Republic of Kenya for the conferment of City status to Eldoret Municipality at the Eldoret Sports Club in Uasin Gishu County. [PCS] Government Spokesperson, Isaac Mwaura, has waffled on the whereabouts of this very critical State authority. Meddling with the Public Seal has serious implications for all concerned. On one level, it signifies the collapse of the rule of law in the country. On another plane, it casts a long shadow on the validity of contracts and covenants entered by the Government. Finally, it could lead to dire future consequences for…
This photo taken and handout on May 10, 2025, by The Vatican Media shows Pope Leo XIV during a meeting with cardinals in The Vatican. (Photo by Handout / VATICAN MEDIA / AFP) When Pope Leo XIII ascended to the Papacy in 1873, the world thought it had reached the pinnacle of industrial revolution. Pope Leo XIV has this week arrived in not too dissimilar times. Only that science and tech has now spiralled into realities that pale the 18th and 19th Centuries. Leo XIV has a very complex world to lead as the Pontifex Maximus. It is the world of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4iR). Leo XIII is famous for the Papal Letter of 1891, titled Rerum…
Prof Makau Mutua has been appointed as the Senior Advisor on Constitutional Affairs in the Executive Office of the President. [File, Standard] I will not make any harsh judgement against Prof Makau Mutua. My comrade-in-arms in our youth has now joined the ever expanding landscape of President William Ruto’s senior advisors. I will not impute ill-motive on his part. But this I will say, he is lost. I was in Dar es Salaam – specifically at the University of Dar es Salaam – when I saw President Ruto’s social media post. He was all glee. “I have appointed Prof Makau…
Nakuru Diocese Bishop Cleophas Oseso leads Catholic faithful from Christ the King Cathedral during the Way of the Cross procession through the streets of Nakuru City on April 18, 2025. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard] The Christian Easter season reminds us of the elusive search for the ideal universe. Ultimately, it is a universe that holds certain institutions in society in sacred esteem. It governs itself in line with the established norms and order. Straying from the order invites chaotic turmoil and suffering. Hence, Easter comes fully loaded with significant lessons for the secular world that we live in. What, in the…
An illegal dumpsite along Likoni road next to diamond park estate in Nairobi. Residents are warning of environmental catastrophe as mountains of garbage remains uncollected. [Collins Oduor, Standard] Season’s greetings from Emanyulia, this place of gold and hope. We are happy to remember you in this season of passion. We join other Christians throughout the centuries, to recall the biblical Garden of Gethsemane and the agony of Christ, on the night that he was betrayed, and of course the risen Christ. Force of habit over the years always brings us this way in this season. We are the people you witness in heavy…
President William Ruto at Ngarachi Comprehensive School in Laikipia west during the beginning of his tour of the Mt. Kenya region on April 1,2025. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard] The foul public exchanges between President William Ruto and his two former allies-turned-foes speak to a major constitutional question that needs formal investigation and conclusion. Is the country in the right hands? Recent outbursts by two senior political leaders in lengthy television interviews paint the picture of a president in breach of office, the law and the Constitution, and basic common decency. Apart from intentional breaches, they raise the question of the president’s mental suitability to lead. They…
Karima Girls delivered a powerful performance of their play titled ‘Wall of Jericho’ on April 12, 2025, at Melvin Jones Academy during the sixth day of the Kenya National Drama and Film Festivals. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard] Kipchumba Murkomen was not yet born in 1977, when the Jomo Kenyatta regime detained Ngugi Wa Thiong’o. He had dramatised his play titled ‘Ngahika Ndeenda’. And CS Murkomen was less than three years old when, in 1982, the Kanu government banned the performance of Muntu, by Joe de Graft. President William Ruto was certainly around in 1977, an 11-year old stripling, in primary school, somewhere…
The Human Resource Management Bill (2024) seeks to kill the Public Service Commission. [File, Standard] The Human Resource Management Bill (2024) is tragic mischief. Introduced before Parliament by the Ministry of Public Service, it seeks to kill the Public Service Commission (PSC). It transfers responsibilities of PSC to Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service; that is basically to say to the President. There are many reasons for Kenyans to be worried. First, the PSC is established by Article 248(2) of the 2010 Constitution as an independent commission. It is listed together with other independent commissions like the Kenya…