Q&A: “A Pastoralist Woman Is Like a Working Machine”

"In some communities, you can’t talk about violence against women," says Agnes Leina, executive director of Il'laramatak Community Concerns (ICC), a group that promotes the human rights of pastoralist communities in northern and southern Kenya, with a special emphasis on women and girls.

Kenya’s Electoral Opinion Polling Marred by Suspicion

When Kenya’s only female presidential candidate, Martha Karua, dismissed electoral opinion pollsters who claimed that she stood a mere one percent chance of being elected to office, many said she did so because the results had not favoured her. 

Power Sharing a “Dangerous Concept” for Kenya’s Democracy

Days ahead of Kenya’s general elections, the country’s former deputy Minister of Information Koigi Wamwere has slammed calls for power-sharing among minority ethnic groups in the next government, calling it a “dangerous concept”.

Kenyan Men Turning the Tide Against FGM

For the Samburu community in northern Kenya it was bad enough that Julius Lekupe had not sired a son - it was even worse that his eldest daughter refused to be “cut”.

Women Navigate Political Minefield in Kenya

Few women in Kenya harbour illusions of entering politics. Blatant discrimination, threats and intimidations, an uneven playing field and a largely unsympathetic public have turned electoral politics into a veritable minefield for women hoping to secure top government posts.

Slum Dwellers Say “No” to Blood Money

With less than two months before Kenyans head to the polls for what is shaping up to be the most competitive and polarised general election in the country’s history, many fear that this East African country of over 40 million has not seen the last of electoral violence.

Kenya’s Growing Luxury Housing Market Not for Locals

Despite the development boom in state-of-the-art luxury homes in Kenya, the country’s upper class has fallen on hard times and can no longer afford them, according to economic experts here. Instead, Kenya’s formerly wealthy have now become part of the continent’s growing middle class.

Women Fight Climate Battles

From Zimbabwe to El Salvador, women in poor countries suffer the brunt of climate change, but also learn to recover from disasters, to adapt and even to find opportunities in the new weather conditions.

No Women, No Elections

Kenya’s rights activists are furious that the country’s highest court “violated” women’s constitutional rights by ruling against the implementation of a gender quota in parliament ahead of the 2013 general elections.

The Economic Cost of Kenya’s Insecurity

The wave of insecurity that has hit Kenya in the last few months is causing severe damage to the country's recovering economy, local economists have warned.

The Price of Ignoring the Sexuality of Kenya’s HIV-Positive Youth

It all started with a fight, one that would change his life forever.

Taking the Knowledge of Doha Back to Kenya’s Rural Communities

The skyscraper Qatari capital city of Doha is a far cry from Cecilia Kibe’s home in Turkana district, a remote area in Kenya inhabited by mostly nomadic communities and pastoralists hit hard by the effects of climate change.

Political Provocateurs Expose Kenya’s “MaVultures”

A new website linking corruption and other scandals to high-ranking Kenyan politicians, created by a team of political provocateurs, has become one of the most-visited web pages in the country.

Kenyan NGO Pioneers HIV and Aids Phone Counseling

Young people find discussing HIV and Aids and sexuality difficult.In Kenya, a non-governmental organization has made it easier for them by establishing a free tele-counseling service.

Kenyan Candidate Running Against Homophobia

During an interview at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Nairobi, David Kuria Mbote, Kenya’s first openly homosexual candidate for public office, stresses that his campaign will not be only about gay rights.

Q&A: Kenyan Women Set to Take on Men in Elections

As Kenya gets ready for voter registration this month, ahead of the country’s Mar. 4, 2013 polls, women’s rights organisations are hoping that the provisions for gender equality in the new constitution will mean significantly increased representation in the government.

Indigenous Seek Profits From Forests

Kenya’s Ogiek community, the indigenous group of hunter-gatherers who were evicted from the Mau Forest three years ago, say they will no longer sit by and watch logging companies profit from the resources of their traditional home while they live in poverty in tented camps around the forest without even the most basic of services, like sanitation.

Kenya’s Water Wars Kill Scores

Water scarcity is fuelling deadly inter-ethnic wars that continue to claim lives in Kenya, according to government officials. And if nothing is done to educate communities on how to conserve the valuable resource, the situation will escalate, governance experts and environmentalists warn.

Men and Women Farming Together Can Eradicate Hunger

Three years ago, the residents of the semi-arid Yatta district in Kenya’s Eastern Province lived on food aid due to dwindling crops of maize that could not thrive because of the decreased rainfall in the area. That was until a local bishop, trying to find ways to prevent mothers from forcing their teenage daughters into prostitution, changed everything.

Kenyan Differences Melt With Gold

When Kenyan athlete David Lekuta Rudisha simultaneously became the first person ever to break the 1min 41sec mark in the 800m while also becoming the first person to set a world record at this year’s London Olympics on Thursday Aug. 9, he managed another first. He briefly united an ethnically divided nation.

Kenya Set to Run Away With Medals

On a chilly morning at the Moi International Sports Centre in Nairobi, the largest multi-purpose sports centre in Kenya, 800m world record holder David Rudisha looked like just another athlete.