Peter Kagwanja

1 week ago | nation.africa | Peter Kagwanja

The tragic and senseless killing of the blogger Albert Ojwang, 31, depicts Kenya as a country worryingly trapped between power and hubris in its politics.  As an every-day theme, hubris is traced to Greek tragedies and myths that cautioned the high and mighty against excessive pride and self-confidence, arrogance, disregard for advice and criticism, and detachment from reality, which manifested in abuse of power and overstepping the boundaries of common decency.

2 weeks ago | nation.africa | Peter Kagwanja

What you need to know:Over 20 African countries are among 57 targeted states hit with tariffs ranging from 11 per cent to 50 per cent. Following a 10 per cent tariff slapped on all Kenyan exports to the US, President Ruto made a five-day state visit to China. Africa is still reeling from US President Trump’s sweeping tariffs on products imported into the United States, following Executive Order 14257 issued on April 2, 2025.

3 weeks ago | nation.africa | Peter Kagwanja

What you need to know:The death of Kenya’s literary giant, Prof Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, in the US aged 87, has forced a rethinking of the state of freedom in Africa today. Colonialism was the primary focus of Ngugi’s initial writings after 1963, when he received a B.A. degree in English from Makerere University College. 2025 is unfolding as an annus horribbilis (a bad year) for the academy the world over. On January 30, the Kenyan historian Bethwell Allan Ogot died.

1 month ago | nation.africa | Peter Kagwanja

Once admired as an “abode of peace” or “house of peace” (“Dar es Salaam” in Arabic), Tanzania now cuts the unsightly image of a wellspring of oppression. The country’s fifth president, John Pombe Magufuli (2015–2021), unleashed oppression on a national scale. Now, his successor, President Samia Suluhu Hassan (65), is giving wings to repression on a regional scale across the entire East African Community (EAC) bloc.

1 month ago | nation.africa | Peter Kagwanja

A new genre of authoritarianism in Kenya is testing to the limit the tenets, principles, and science of public governance. The country’s political elite has cobbled the world’s strangest mongrel governments. ‘Mongrel government’, experts say, are a blend of parliamentary and presidential systems. But the Kenyan elite is pushing the envelope mongrel governments, sealing power-sharing deals between the government and opposition.