Adrian Blomfield

Not sure where the story that Joseph Kabila is in Goma came from, but we have been in Goma for the past five days and everyone we have spoken to who should know says it is categorically untrue. Besides, he has been photographed in Eswatini.

Every abandonment of norms in the US is a shock and a cause for dismay, but arresting judges is particularly sobering for Africans like myself who know that when the judiciary is under assault in this way then you are plumbing the depths. https://t.co/JLJcS72WSw

“Saint-Simonianism has succeeded institutionally but failed imaginatively, while Marxism has failed institutionally but endures imaginatively.” ChatGPT sometimes provides extremely pithy and trenchant answers to questions.

Out at lunch in Nairobi today and the table next to me is filled with young Kenyan health entrepreneurs who suddenly lost USAID funding (via AMREF) and are now meeting Chinese reps offering to step into the breach - the transfer of soft power happening in front of my eyes.

And how many times can Putin pull the same trick? He did this with George W Bush, showing him a crucifix he claimed was the only thing he rescued from his burning dacha. Bush came out afterwards and infamously said: “I looked into his eyes and got a handle of his soul.”

New ETA form questions for visiting tourists: 1) How would you like to die while in Kenya: a) strangled in a forest b) burned in a national park or c) run over by the president’s convoy. 2) How far should the authorities cover up your death? a) totally b) fully or c) completely.

Still no condolences offered by President William Ruto to the man killed by his convoy. The president had the chance to act like a statesman. Instead he has behaved like an emperor.

The man run over and left to bleed to death on Ngong Road by President Ruto's convoy has now been identified as Edgar Charles Frederick. Not only did Mr Ruto laugh and joke with supporters moments later, he still has not issued a statement of condolence. https://t.co/6geQtrdGTs

This says it all really. The president’s convoy hits an elderly man and leaves him to die, the president laughs and jokes after his hit and run and sends no condolences. Kenyan politicians then defend this lack of decency and regard for human life thus:

Robert ALAI, HSC @RobertAlai

@adrianblomfield People die everyday. Wacheni!

Putin is clearly playing for time and looking for ways to manipulate the process, something Trump may aid him with. But it doesn't mean he doesn't have a point. A ceasefire arrangement has to have verification mechanisms and I have seen none in this half-baked US plan.

In most of the rest of the world if your convoy has just killed a man and left him to bleed to death on the road you cancel your schedule out of respect. You don’t go on to rallies and crack jokes as though nothing had happened.

Citizen TV Kenya @citizentvkenya

“Mtaniua na majina. Mlianza na hustler, mkaenda Zakayo alafu kasongo,” President Ruto jokes days after Kenyans gave him a new nickname, El Chapo https://t.co/lNwkDjm6vk

How can the rule of law apply in Kenya when the presidential convoy mows down a man and then flees the scene? Ruto may not have been driving but the optics of leaving a man to bleed to death are awful. The US has a smash-and-grab president and we have a hit-and-run president?

Citizen TV Kenya @citizentvkenya

Foreign national killed by speeding presidential convoy on Ngong Road https://t.co/11tkqI4d1e