I have a toxic relationship with my hair. My 4C, tightly curled beautiful hair. I don't always feel like it’s beautiful. I think it is partly because 4C hair is only praised when i…
Today, communities across the world are marking International Safe and Legal Abortion Day, a day which draws its origins in the Latin America struggles of the ‘90s in pursuit of th…
As I sip my coffee and stare out at the parking lot from my office window, I reflect on how, years ago, I had imagined that by the time I get to 30, my life would be perfectly figu…
Sprout
I’m 11 when I first feel an unusual tenderness and slight swelling on my chest. It happens by accident when my hand grazes my nipple and sets little ripples of thunderbol…
Occasionally, some of us get to legally breach the fences of private wildlife conservancies which apparently hold up to two-thirds of our wildlife and occupy over 7.5 million acres, for example, to watch the 2023 WRC Safari Rally live. For the rest, streamed dashcam footage placed us in the driver’s…
Have you ever agreed to attend an event you didn’t want to go to? Or hide your true feelings about an opinion a friend has? I think we’ve all done that from time to time. But if you’re like me, this constant violation of your own values is a frequent occurrence caused by a disease known as people pl…
I do not seek to get into the pros and cons of the recently enacted Finance Act by the Kenya Kwanza government, even though it elicits a remark or more. Rather, it is the emotion that the bill - and later on the Act - has aroused across the country that most pricks my curiosity. In my view, there ha…
A survey by Twaweza and the Centre for Fiscal Affairs shows that three-quarters of Kenyans were completely opposed to the Finance Bill 2023, which has now been passed into a law and is being challenged in court. Less than 2% of the 25,966 Kenyans who participated in the survey supported the Bill, wh…
Any week you don’t see this column on your feed, it is mostly because I haven’t submitted it. I tell myself that I am too busy to write it, or I don’t know what to write about. But the truth is that when I hold back from submitting a piece to my editors, it is mostly because I was too paralysed by t…
The first time my mother told me the name she gave me means love, I cringed. "Ifunanya, so that love can follow you wherever you go and you can bring love to others too." As a fairly tom-boyish child, this saccharine, odd-sounding name didn't sit well with me. It took my young mind a while to decide…
Ahmed Issack Hassan, the former chief of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has written his memoirs (more of an expose in my view) of his tenure in a newly published book Referee of a Dirty Ugly Game. This is a must-read for anyone who is interested in understanding the gang-…
When the Finance Bill finally makes it to Parliament, do you know how your MP will vote? For most Kenyans, the answer to that question will be “No”.
For a law that promises much more than a 3 per cent housing development levy, you should be concerned. Kenya has a freedom of information law but it…
It is now clear that the promises made by Kenya Kwanza leaders to bring down the cost of living were just hot air, and that they had no intention to fulfil their election pledges because they and their economic advisers knew very well that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would be imposing stri…
The ongoing Hollywood writers' strike has drawn attention to just how far businesses can go to eliminate humans and the cost of their labour from production. Here in Kenya, tea-picking machines were introduced to the great chagrin of workers.
One change that still seems far from Kenya is th…
Few things elicit sharp reactions like discussing a woman’s body and what she can or cannot do with it. From how a woman wears her hair to how she does her toenails, to how th…
Few things elicit sharp reactions like discussing a woman’s body and what she can or cannot do with it. From how a woman wears her hair to how she does her toenails, to how th…
On 4 May 2023, the Financial Bill 2023 was tabled before the National Assembly - the core arm of the government in budget approval and oversight - for the first reading a…
On 4 May 2023, the Financial Bill 2023 was tabled before the National Assembly - the core arm of the government in budget approval and oversight - for the first reading a…
In the last few years, there has been a growing trend in the revival of anti-homosexuality legislation and increasing enforcement of sodomy laws, including clampdowns on members of…
In 1993, Guinea Bissau repealed its Penal Code and decriminalised consensual same-sex sexual acts between adults. Since then, the number of African co…
For the third time now — 2014 being the first time a version of it was passed — Ugandan lawmakers have passed the controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bil…
Long before the launch of the Hustler Fund on 30 November 2022, I already knew I wanted to test the Fund out. I was particularly drawn to the experiment for two reasons; the Fund h…
