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High-Rise Ideology vs. Rural Realities: What the "Chicken on the 12th Floor" Debate Really Means

 ​By Nyanza Kulo Conrad ​The recent public exchange between Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and President William Ruto over the government’s Affordable Housing Programme (AHP) has yielded one of the most vivid political metaphors in Kenya's recent memory. Commenting on the construction of 12-storey residential blocks in rural outposts like Funyula, Sifuna quipped during a radio interview: “As people from the Western region, we cannot live in places where our chicken cannot enter. How will our chicken get to the 12th floor of an affordable housing unit?” ​The political retort from State House was immediate and unsparing. President Ruto dismissed the critique as absurd, reducing Sifuna's remark to a literal objection about poultry logistics: “So you are telling us not to build affordable houses because your chicken cannot get to the 12th floor? ... I have said it before, there are people without brains.” ​While the exchange quickly transformed into viral social media banter and poli...
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                                THE MAKING OF A KAKISTOCRACY   The struggle of ousting Kenyatta 1 and Moi were born out of disapproval by civil servants including the military, at a time where the state was the largest employer. Interestingly, it bore fruit. Authoritarianism starts by first engrossing the educated middle class into its fold. If they resist, these attempts, they then will be investigated for trumped up charges until they admit to work with regime of the day. Ideally, citizens are left as orphans of that merger. At this stage in life, I would argue that we let Raila do what he is doing. There are millions who know what (demos) it has done; including letting your parents educate you, except that some of you have decided to insult the very education through your posts. As a country, we have come from a system where governments provide equipment to free schools, to a system where you pay fo...
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                                 THE JUDICIAL MISHAP- THE KENYAN DILEMMA. Power games within governments are not a new thing all over the world. Common political games fall into three categories: Power Games, Ego Games, and Escape Games. Keep in mind that these popular pastimes are hardly limited to the workplace. We often play them with family and friends as well. Usually, power Game players are either trying to increase their leverage or flaunt the power they already have. In Kenya, the three arms of government have often times engage in what can be termed as ‘a supremacy clash’ even though the constitution indicates that they are equal and inter-dependent on one another.  Immediately after Kenya had adopted the celebrated 2010 constitution, the supremacy battles once again came into play. The Supreme Court was headed by Dr. Willy Mutunga who was later accused of staging a judicial ‘activism’ un...
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                                                 A CASE OF POLITICAL SYCOPHANCY:                                                              THE KENYAN TRAGEDY Sycophancy has been exemplified as a beggarly cajolery demeanor that is anticipated at attaining a bit of preference. In Athens, Sycophancy has its root in the statutory scheme; In that, the Athenians were devoted to their scheme of trendy courts and understood that lawsuit could be a prerequisite for safeguarding the “rights” and property of citizens and protecting the public interest, they were also acutely conscious that litigation could be abused and exploited for private ends. Like the citizens of modern democracies, Athenians had to come to terms ...
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The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI)

 After months and weeks of consultation and reading my take on Building Bridges Initiative, BBI is finally here. The write-up will be uploaded in the course of this week. Looking forward to learning from you all. Thank you!
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