XN Iraki

3 days ago | standardmedia.co.ke | XN Iraki

It’s one of the most memorable moments of my childhood: drinking water from the river or directly from the tap; it was never treated with chemicals. I don’t recall anyone being hospitalised. I also don’t recall my dad buying fertiliser during the planting season. We made organic fertiliser from animal droppings and other organic wastes. And crops flourished; we even reclaimed barren land. Rain came as predicted, the rivers were crystal clear, and cancer was rare.

1 week ago | standardmedia.co.ke | XN Iraki

Agriculture contributes about 20 per cent of Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP) according to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) 2023) and is a key employer in the rural areas. However, most people do not think they are employed by working on the farm. Many dream of escaping the back-breaking farm work in the rural areas. Over 14 years after the promulgation of the new constitution, we can boldly ask if devolution has had dividends in agriculture.

1 week ago | standardmedia.co.ke | XN Iraki

To Kenyans, Berlin is probably the most famous of all European cities. It keeps recurring in our history as the venue of conferences that partitioned Africa from 1884 to 1885. One mystery I resolved by visiting the city is why Germans got the “colonial leftovers” despite hosting the conference. Germans say Otto Von Bismarck, the founder of modern Germany, foresaw the cost of colonialism. Did the wind of change and independence vindicate him? Germany was also a manufacturing, not trading, powerhouse.

2 weeks ago | standardmedia.co.ke | XN Iraki

I occasionally use the Nairobi Expressway to the southern side of the city, normally called Mombasa Road. By the way, Kenyans are the only citizens on planet earth who live on roads, “nakaa Thika Road, ama Waiyaki way.” The expressway, except for the exit near the University of Nairobi, saves plenty of time. You get value for your money. One evidence that people get value for their money is the money in their Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) cards. I normally check while queueing to pay.

2 weeks ago | standardmedia.co.ke | XN Iraki

The anticlimax, the Big Bang, finally came, and the US announced a range of tariffs on imports. We did not miss with our 10 percent, the base rate for most countries. Other countries like China got 34 per cent, Vietnam 46 per cent, Laos 48 per cent, Lesotho 50 per cent and Cambodia 49 per cent. Get the full list online. The big board with a list of countries, the tariffs they would pay for exporting to the US and what they charge for American exports animated the White House briefing.