Otiato Guguyu

Busia, Kenya, Nairobi

Editorial Director at Maudhui House

Cofounder Orals East Africa by Seamless Frames

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Articles

Kenya's politics of ID cards is creating poverty and exclusion

Feb 10, 2025 | oralseastafrica.news | Otiato Guguyu

At the beginning of the year, Kisumu had suffered a logistical chokehold from the great western migration that delayed the transportation of people and goods from the Capital Nairobi to the lakeside city. In Kenya, bus companies double up as couriers, and the transport hitch meant we had to wait more than a week to get parcels that typically come in a day. This was hectic, we had to show up at the booking office every other day only to learn that the parcels had yet to arrive.
Africa falls in love with China’s deflation, as US dreams America first

Feb 3, 2025 | oralseastafrica.news | Otiato Guguyu

In 2020 America’s premier retail store Walmart chain finally landed in Kisumu, the heart of East Africa, when they set up shop in Mega City Mall. The Americans, typical of their multinationals, entered Kenya through their web of subsidiaries, more specifically Game Stores, a South African retail chain owned by Massmart which is in turn owned by Wall Walmart International.
The Battle for Laikipia, a documentary you cannot UNSEE

Oct 21, 2024 | oralseastafrica.news | Otiato Guguyu

I attended the Nairobi Film Festival last week, a dashing experience capped with the screening of the iconic documentary ‘The Battle for Laikipia’. The Festival held at Prestige along Ngong Road was as glitz as it could get, set in a pretty white turret mounted on the first floor covered in see through canvas; carpeted in blood red, dressed in sheaths of white and pearled like a wedding.
Part 2 The village of many writers

Sep 24, 2024 | oralseastafrica.news | Otiato Guguyu

Writers sprout out of Maragoli hills like mushrooms, in their numbers and talent most of whom have gone ahead to win national acclaim. When we visited Florence Mbaya the author of several titles to her name; A Journey Within, Heritage High, Sunrise at Midnight, and The Morning After, she causally mentioned some of Kenya’s writers who were born just around her village.
Selling an economy for trinkets Part I

Jul 22, 2024 | oralseastafrica.news | Otiato Guguyu

When I was young I sat in class and wondered how dumb my ancestors had to be to exchange their land, kin and elephant tusks for trinkets and alcohol. Then I grew up and witnessed my country sold for a printed piece of paper, wristwatches, belts and shoes and realized my children would ask the same question of me.
Dead heroes, a celebration by people ageing with a forgotten pandemic

May 24, 2024 | oralseastafrica.news | Otiato Guguyu

I have been to funerals, but this were a multitude burials rolled up in one. Each speaker called out a name for this annual vigil to mark the International Aids Candlelight Memorial, but each name was a personal story of loss. A memory, sometimes two, per candle light as the National Empowerment of People Living with HIV in Kenya- NEPHAK met last week to remember their heroes, their spouses, their children, parents and friends lost to the worlds forgotten pandemic; AIDS.
Depositors shrink Equity Bank's Q1 margins by a quarter

May 12, 2024 | oralseastafrica.news | Otiato Guguyu

Equity Bank’s Kenyan unit profits fell almost a quarter in the first three months as depositors repriced the value of their money, making the business of banking very expensive. Equity Bank Kenya net profits dropped 23.9 percent from Kes7.2 billion to Kes5.5 billion in the first quarter of 2024 signaling tough times for lenders this year.
The vinyl thief - Orals East Africa

May 6, 2024 | oralseastafrica.news | Otiato Guguyu

Musau tried to look harmless under the stare of the Indian boss but felt himself flush with guilt. His collarbone hurt from his troubled dreams and he winced trying to rub it off. He had slept badly the previous night contemplating his rebellion, because this is what this felt like, a mutiny. Last night all he dreamed about was getting caught in a snare and fighting choking straws like a turtle caught in a fishing net. He was not too sure about his dreams, he was ageing.
Part 2 What tomatoes, NSE and forex have in common?

Apr 30, 2024 | shorturl.at | Otiato Guguyu

The former CEO of the Nairobi Securities Exchange Geoffrey Odundo recently gave an interview on a Podcast platform owned by EGMS the largest online forex trader in Kenya with one of the highest loss ratios. While there was nothing odd of the former NSE boss gracing the market that had proven more successful in the retail space than the conventional peer he headed, he helped endorse the new marketing ploy exploited by the online forex traders.
Part 1: Hot forex, my kind of gamble

Apr 29, 2024 | oralseastafrica.news | Otiato Guguyu

I could have lost all the money I almost invested in trading currencies back in 2019, when as a journalist I did a story about online forex trading. I was doing an investigative piece on the state of online forex trading uncovering how Kenyans were being duped by fraudsters in plain sight.