The Chairman National Cohesion and Integration Commission Reverend Samuel Kobia flanked by other commissioners addresses the press in Naivasha on Jan 23, 2024. [Antony Gitonga, Standard] Kenya’s politics has long been defined by ethnicity, its loyalties, its mobilisation power, and its devastating potential for conflict. We know how quickly political competition can mutate into ethnic confrontation and violence. From the clashes of the 1990s to the post-election violence of 2007/08 and periodic tensions afterwards, the scars remain visible across the country. Follow The Standard channel on WhatsApp Yet even with these ethnic fault lines, Kenya has largely resisted falling…
Author: By Guyo Liban Dadacha
A herder with his gun and livestock in the vast north.[Courtesy] Recent weeks have seen encouraging signs in the often-perilous landscape of the North Rift. Residents in Elgeyo Marakwet County are voluntarily surrendering illegal firearms. In Tot, Olot sub-county, for example, community members handed over two AK-47 rifles, G3 rifles and magazines. In a wider gesture, on 17th September 2025, forty-one illegally held firearms were surrendered in the county. These steps are welcome, but history teaches us caution. Past disarmament efforts in the North Rift have often failed to deliver lasting peace. What is changing now? What is it that…
National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) chairman Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia flanked by members of the board addresses journalists on May 27, 2024. [File, Standard] In Kenya’s toxic political climate, where headlines often echo more outrage than facts, one institution has consistently taken the blows: the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC). Branded dismissively by critics as the “Hate Speech Commission” and the executive’s lapdog, NCIC has been unfairly reduced to a watchdog for words—when in reality, it is the lifeline for national unity, the silent architect of peace, and the custodian of cohesion in a nation grappling with identity-based…
The National Treasury CS John Mbadi at Parliament on June 12, 2025. [Boniface Okendo, Standard] The annual National Budget is not merely a fiscal document — it is a political and social tool that can either entrench divisions or promote national unity. As a nation shaped by ethnic diversity, regional disparities, and a history of uneven development, Kenya must view its National Budget as a vehicle for inclusivity and reconciliation. A fair and strategic budget has the potential to strengthen our social fabric. In the past, allocation of public resources has been influenced by “politics of numbers”—a system in which the size of a region’s population or…