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The City of No Contradictions

April 14, 2023 • Cape Town owns its identity. There’s something almost aspirational about the imbalance...

7 Bizarre Flexes by Rich and Powerful Africans

February 29, 2020 • You think you have money but have you ever had someone fly first class across the world...

Why You Need Travel Papers

February 18, 2020 • Wars might have an end-date in history, but the havoc they reap in the social fabric of...

Why Landlocked Countries Have Navies

February 18, 2020 • Although these countries do not have coastlines, and especially because they do not, they...

New Moscow: The Rise, and Quick Fall of Russia’s colonial experiment

February 18, 2020 • For Alexander, who considered this proposal seriously, Achinov and his Cossack’s were...

Have You Ever Been to a Private Hospital?

January 26, 2020 • Everything bad about the global finance system has been happening in Nairobi, and you've...

Butterflies and the Sea

November 15, 2018 • At Serena Beach Resort & Spa, M.’s date waddles like a duck, a monkey organizes a...

The Rise and Fall of the State House Boys

October 23, 2018 • Inside the intrigues that built and destroyed the President’s comms team. A story of...

The Man Who Sold a Country

September 27, 2018 • ...and the people who stood by while it happened (simply, us)....

What Happened to Kenya’s Moon Rocks?

June 20, 2018 • The idea though was that they would mark the successes of space exploration, and be...

Cape Town owns its identity. There’s something almost aspirational about the imbalance and (lack of) contradictions in this particular city, and they are clear to me when I explore it on foot, on different days and times, and try to understand why my basic feeling is absolute discomfort.

M.| April 14, 2023

7 Bizarre Flexes by Rich and Powerful Africans

February 29, 2020 • You think you have money but have you ever had someone fly first class across the world to bring you your favourite stick?

Why You Need Travel Papers

February 18, 2020 • Wars might have an end-date in history, but the havoc they reap in the social fabric of humanity have a tenacious will to survive.

Why Landlocked Countries Have Navies

February 18, 2020 • Although these countries do not have coastlines, and especially because they do not, they protect the water bodies they have with a degree of seriousness.

The City of No Contradictions

April 14, 2023 • Cape Town owns its identity. There’s something almost aspirational about the imbalance and (lack of) contradictions in this particular city, and they are clear to me when I explore it on foot, on different days and times, and try to understand why my basic feeling is absolute discomfort.

M.| April 14, 2023

How Kenya Lost Its Way

March 13, 2018 • Dealing with corruption means admitting that the founding ideals of this country includes the creation of an elite through looting coffers and grabbing land. That corruption in Kenya, just like racism in America, it isn't an anomaly, but an inbuilt founding ideal of the country.

Guest| March 13, 2018

7 ‘Lost’ African Countries

December 30, 2017 • In the last fifty years alone, the independence of the Republic of Ambazonia has been declared thrice. The fight to get it recognised is still ongoing.

M.| December 30, 2017

How Scientific Racism Shaped Kenya

December 30, 2017 • In the 1930s, a group of scientists set about trying to use science to prove that Kenyans couldn't handle European ideas.

M.| December 30, 2017

Why I Don’t Vote

October 18, 2017 • The decision whether to vote or abstain should be a personal journey. The result of proper inquiry, and examination, not social coercion or the simple feeling of duty to one’s community or unit.

M.| October 18, 2017

What Happened to Jomo Kenyatta’s Convertible?

October 15, 2017 • One of the gifts Jomo Kenyatta got in 1963 was a white, 1961 Lincoln Continental. But the convertible has never been seen in public since. Where did it go?

M.| October 15, 2017

The Assassination of Chief Waruhiu

June 15, 2017 • At quarter to 1 on 7th October 1952, Senior Chief Waruhiu Kung'u was shot and killed. This is the story of the two men who hanged for it.

M.| June 15, 2017

The Kamba of Paraguay

February 16, 2017 • How did a group of Kamba soldiers find their way to the heart of South America?

M.| February 16, 2017

Seeing Vintage Nairobi through a 1970s Porn Film

January 31, 2017 • If your uncle worked at Kenol Ruaraka in 1975, you might want to ask him if he was featured in an Italian porn film.

M.| January 31, 2017

Anatomy of a Health Crisis: A Photo Essay

January 24, 2017 • What happens when a public healthcare system is designed to fail?

M.| January 24, 2017

7 Most Interesting But Obscure Kenyan Laws

January 24, 2017 • There's only one building in Kenya protected by a specific law, although there was once a bridge too. Back when it was illegal to be broke and unemployed. You could still, then, get your own coat of arms for your banners.

M.| January 24, 2017

Rusinga Festival: A Photo Essay

December 27, 2016 • The Rusinga Festival celebrates the colorful history of the Subanese, descendants of a dynastic war for the Buganda throne.

M.| December 27, 2016

The War for Tatu City

October 14, 2016 • For a few minutes, no one in the helicopter spoke. The three men sat in silence, looking outside. Below them, Ruiru opened up like a dream. A green sea of thousands of acres of coffee bushes, sometimes broken by empty, grassy fields. "Done. Let's do it." Then there was silence again.

M.| October 14, 2016

7 Crazy Stories from Kenya’s Athletic History

August 17, 2016 • 60 years ago, Kenya entered the world of global athletics with a single mission, complete dominance. With such a rich history, there's bound to be unbelievable stories from the tracks, and from Kenya's checkered history at the Olympics. Here's a few of them.

M.| August 17, 2016

Roughly 100 Fantastic Pieces of Kenyan Journalism

June 18, 2016 • A reading list of some of the best works of Kenyan journalism available online. And a chance for you to join this curation project.

M.| June 18, 2016

How the Monkey Did It

June 14, 2016 • A week ago, a small vervet monkey switched off the most important of Kenya's power stations. In this fascinating "how not to go about your monkey business" manual, we study what exactly the monkey started. And why sometimes everything working too well is not a good thing.

M.| June 14, 2016

The Politics of Ivory and Fire

April 28, 2016 • Little has changed in Kenya's 26-year-old headline-hungry, scorched earth policy towards elephant conservation.

M.| April 28, 2016

The Space Center Kenya Doesn’t Own

March 31, 2016 • When Italy first placed a space center in Kenya, they cunningly put it right outside Kenya's territorial waters. But that eventually changed. This is the story of how an Italian Space Center has operated on Kenya's waters for 52 years.

M.| March 31, 2016

The Hoax of the Genius of Tsula Mwangi

March 11, 2016 • Every few years, some internet user asks "Was the Kenyan genius, Tsula Mwangi, real?" The answer is no. She was completely made up.

M.| March 11, 2016

The Sack of Imperial Bank

February 12, 2016 • The first time Abdulmalek JanMohammed ever robbed Imperial Bank he had a gun to his head. Three short years later, he became the robber, carrying out a heist so elaborate its web is still being untangled, five months after his death.

M.| February 12, 2016

The First Computers in East Africa –and what became of them

July 6, 2015 • One of them ended up at the bottom of the ocean, because of a snake, a gun, and bureaucracy. Another ended up in China, somehow.

owaahh| July 6, 2015

SIX HOURS ON FIGHT NIGHT: Makmende vs Wikipedia

May 7, 2015 • Makmende had returned, and he was here to stay. Not that he reads books and Wikipedia anyway. He just beats them up to get the information he wants.

owaahh| May 7, 2015

6 Assassinations of African leaders (that were caught on film)

March 4, 2015 • What is the difference between reading about an assassination of a prominent person, and seeing a video of their dying moments? There is something invariably powerful, and devastating, no matter the dying person’s litany of mistakes or crimes. The videos embedded or linked on this post are disturbing. 6. The attempted assassination of Henrik Vorwoed, …

M.| March 4, 2015

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