Chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Dr Erastus Edung Ethekon during the swearing in of the commission at Supreme Court on July 11, 2025. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard] After two years wasted in political mischief, Kenya finally has an Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). It is relatively youngish, energetic and ready for the difficult task ahead. The challenge before Erastus Edung Ethekon and his commissioners is not the short time in which to deliver elections and boundary delimitations. It is in rebuilding the lost trust among Kenyans in institutions and structures. He has a sharp presence of…
Author: By Macharia Munene
Author professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o during an interview with the standard on 7/2/19. [File, Standard] Ngugi wa Thiong’o departed the earth after 87 years of productive life of writing and popularising the African ways. He then disappointed his global followers, mainly Africans in the continent and the diaspora, by getting himself cremated in America, the headquarters of post-modern colonialism at times called globalisation. He inspired and disappointed, taught and de-taught, and in cremation he went against the very African ways that he had stressed on earth. He did not allow his global followers to mourn the African way. Prof Ngugi…
There is threat from Artificial Intelligence (AI) ‘deep fake’ warriors. They are good at what ‘futurist’ Chris Karanja terms ‘face mapping’ which enables them to make fabrications that sound like truth. Since there are elements of truth in each ‘deep fake, it takes sharp, alert, and probably trained minds to detect a particular ‘deep fake’. As a tool of modern warfare, along with faceless drones, AI is part of the complicated defence cyber domain whose difficulties include detecting perpetrators of various attacks. Being of two opposite potentials, threat and benefit, to society, AI worries policymakers. AI warriors target the public’s…
When the late Pope Francis waved to the crowd during the weekly general audience at St Peter’s Square in The Vatican on November 20, 2024. [AFP] Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, having done several things which, in hindsight, imply he had a premonition of his likely departure from the earth. He had been bedridden for more than a month and his doctors preferred his taking things easy. He chose to come out and enjoy Easter Sunday with the people at St. Peter Square, giving audience to US Vice-President J.D. Vance, greeting worshippers and blessing babies. His death at…
DRC President Felix Tshesekedi. [File, Standard] Massad Boulos, US President Donald Trump’s advisor on Africa and the Middle East, was in Africa to meet Presidents Felix Tshesekedi in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Uganda’s Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, and Kenya’s William Ruto. He also stopped in Paris where Nigerian President Bola Tinubu was receiving treatment. His real interest, however, was Congo which is geographically so big and rich that it seems like two countries in one; Eastern and Western Congo. Since the US is interested in Congolese strategic minerals, Boulos and Tshesekedi reached an understanding on Americans accessing…
From left: Founding father Jomo Kenyatta, Presidents Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki. [File, Standard] Some documents outlast others and become sources of inspiration or reference. They are results of serious people giving thought to pressing issues of the day. Many documents, whether religious or secular, refer to governance and are used to justify conflicting arguments. Invoking the divine, a practice that goes back to the beginnings of organised living in which people agree to be ‘civil’ to each other, helps rulers to rule without questioning. It happened in Kenya in both colonial and post-colonial times. In post-colonial Kenya,…
Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) General Charles Kahariri during the ground breaking ceremony of the KDF Modern Housing unit at 3KR Military barracks in Lanet Nakuru county on May 18, 2024. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard] Rarely do security chiefs step forward to explain themselves to the public or trigger national debates. But at a recent event at the National Intelligence Research University (NIRU), National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director General Noordin Haji and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) General Charles Kahariri did just that. Also present were Attorney General Dorcas Oduor, Law Society of Kenya President Faith Odhiambo, former Cabinet Secretary Amina…
Maasai Mara University is reviving the culture of promoting intellectualism through undertaking public lecture series. [File, Standard] There was time when universities were citadels of ideas and engaged the public on issues of the day. They had intellectuals and a culture of intellectualism which, as Ali Mazrui would claim, were fascinated with ideas. In that culture, when not in class pushing students to be critical thinkers, lecturers productively spent time in one of three university places. First, they were in offices musing about fresh thoughts while looking at the ceiling and waiting for students to consult them on some complicated…