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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

Digital News

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Patrick Mbataru

Oops, my village has disappeared

Today, let me tell you about a village where I have been having some nice rollicking fun under banana fronds.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Oops, my village has disappeared

Kenya: Politics of exclusion and inclusion

Kenya: Politics of exclusion and inclusion

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Accommodate those who fail KCPE, KCSE

Accommodate those who fail KCPE, KCSE

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Fidel Castro’s legacy will live on

Fidel Castro’s legacy will live on

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Impact of Trump's reign on Africa

Before he comes, we may want to analyse what is likely to happen to us in Kenya and Africa with the controversial billionaire ruling the most powerful nation in the world. Politicians are notoriously pragmatic animals, to use the most charitable words.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Impact of Trump's reign on Africa

Hillary Rodham Clinton: A tribute to women

If this happens, I should prostrate before my daughter, beg for mercy and apologise on behalf of all men for having treated womenfolk as inferior for centuries. Gentlemen, with President Clinton, women will have taken over the world.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Hillary Rodham Clinton: A tribute to women

Rethink ways of managing water in Kenya

The controversy over the Northern Collector Tunnel project in Murang’a could have been avoided had there been a strong water management policy and clear information made available.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Rethink ways of managing water in Kenya

More needed to popularise local coffee

One of the proposals suggested by the National Task Force on the coffee sub-sector is to improve farmers’ incomes by promoting drinking of local coffee. There are many ways of doing this.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

More needed to popularise local coffee

Proposed Lamu coal plant viable

Currently, South Africa’s installed power generation capacity is about 40,000 megawatts. Kenya, another African powerhouse, produces a measly 2,300 megawatts.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Proposed Lamu coal plant viable

Kenya should focus on the right innovations

Now, that is relevant innovation. For me, it is a tragedy that the attention was on the aeroplane that the mechanic supposedly made.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Kenya should focus on the right innovations

How to solve Kenya-Somalia maritime border row

Somalia has eventually taken Kenya to the International Court of Justice at The Hague over the six-year dispute about the Indian Ocean maritime boundary.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

How to solve Kenya-Somalia maritime border row

Kenyan universities have lost the edge

The role of universities in African social and economic development cannot be refuted. Their most explicit role is to equip individuals with high level skills for the job market.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Kenyan universities have lost the edge

High internet 'illiteracy' in Kenya worrying

So much has the Internet technology become part of us that there is talk of a future where artificial intelligence will take over our lives and colonise us.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

High internet 'illiteracy' in Kenya worrying

Life in the West not a bed of roses for Kenyans

Four years ago, I witnessed a deportation drama involving a young Kenyan at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport in France. His hands and legs were in chains.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Life in the West not a bed of roses for Kenyans

After bank rates, fix wastage in the Government of Kenya

The assent to the bill capping interest rates has been hailed as a game-changer by the public. And indeed it is, if the meltdown at the stock exchange is anything to go by.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

After bank rates, fix wastage in the Government of Kenya

Everyone's greed is our undoing

Supposing by policy, all workers earned between say Sh40,000 and Sh60,000 a month? Everybody from the house help to the President. Would this step down the intense clamour for 'better' pay? The current salary disparity craze makes everyone want a hike. It is obviously unsustainable. But exactly what is a 'better pay'?

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Everyone's greed is our undoing

Githurai and the 24-hour economy

Life in Githurai is a metaphor of how a large majority of young people in this country are forced by circumstances into a perilous existence of a "24-hour economy". It is a time bomb.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Githurai and the 24-hour economy

Folly of believing only in sciences

Imagine a closed town inhabited only by scientists. God is dead here. Let’s call it ‘Silicon Valley Uploaded’ (SVU).

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Folly of believing only in sciences

It’s time schooling was abolished

I must speak for many young people who will have to forever endure the emotional instability throughout life because of weak parenting.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

It’s time schooling was abolished

Kenyan coffee needs unique brand

Indonesian farmers collect partly digested coffee beans from the droppings of wild civet cats. They wash, dry and sell them to buyers who in turn roast them.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Kenyans should forget birth control and multiply

Kenya’s population grows by about 1 million persons per year. The population will hit 80 million by 2050. In the 1970s and 1980s, the campaign for family planning was vigorous.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Kenyans should forget birth control and multiply

Why Kenyans rely on witchcraft

In 1997, out of curiosity, I asked Gacamuku, a well-known Mbeere witchdoctor about a tale told about him. The story goes that the sorcerer was once presented before a magistrate.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Why Kenyans rely on witchcraft

Planning well for social security

In January 2016, the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Washington was informed that in 50 years, technology will have taken half of our jobs.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Planning well for social security

Mandatory voting not the solution

Where power capture is the ultimate price; as is clearly apparent now, the loser can always rubbish the election outcome.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Mandatory voting not the solution

Lessons from Muhammad Ali

The ‘greatest’ is gone. Muhammad Ali was a hero to many. What lessons can we draw from the legendary pugilist?

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Lessons from Muhammad Ali

Is there value for taxes paid in Kenya?

The middle class will not mind whether the government fails or not so long as the conditions remain suitable for private schools, hospitals, stock exchange, and security to thrive.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Is there value for taxes paid in Kenya?

Is Kenya a project or nation-state?

Do we have a nation or are we clinging on a fluid thing called ‘Kenya’? Will ‘Kenya’ die or live?

By PATRICK MBATARU 7 years ago

Is Kenya a project or nation-state?

Technology changing world order

Recent reports indicate up to 40 percent of Kenya’s 17 million youth are unemployed. Only about 10 percent are gainfully engaged. The rest hassle between underemployment and joblessness.

By PATRICK MBATARU 7 years ago

Technology changing world order

The real cause of Huruma deaths

The death of 23 people after a residential building collapsed in Huruma once more interrogates our urban planning. But hidden underneath such regular catastrophes is the social injustice lived out by the victims.

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

The real cause of Huruma deaths

Roads alone will not improve lives

So what has been the socio-economic impact of this massive investment in roads? How many people have been lifted out of poverty?

By Patrick Mbataru 7 years ago

Roads alone will not improve lives

Direct coffee trade for Kenya: Who is fooling who?

Plans by central Kenya governors to sideline established marketers and sell coffee directly kicked up a storm in the market sometime last year.

By Patrick Mbataru 8 years ago

Direct coffee trade for Kenya: Who is fooling who?

Want to fight poverty? Ask the why

Pope Francis is certainly a “Pope of the poor”. Is it enough to only “associate” with the poor? The Catholic Church has in the past called for radical changes in the structures disfavouring the poor and the marginalised.

By Patrick Mbataru 8 years ago

Want to fight poverty? Ask the why

Help GMO opponents in Kenya face their fears

Genetically Modified Organisms remains one of the most controversial issues around, despite many scientists agreeing that the technology is safe and can effectively reduce food insecurity

By PATRICK MBATARU 8 years ago

Help GMO opponents in Kenya face their fears

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