We should strengthen reading ability at all levels

Recently, Prof Egara Kabaji expressed concern that Kenyans' reading capacity was weakening. He cited the inability to read long texts and low attention span as evidence of this failing.
“I am worried about the slow thinning of our reading capacity which has considerably affected our imaginative competences,” Kabaji stated in the Literary Discourse column in The Standard on November 29, 2025.
He said policy makers and men of influence must reverse this trend. “We must rethink how we introduce young people to the world of books,” he noted, saying that far from being a punishment, reading was a gateway to imagination, empathy, and self-discovery.