Thursday’s arrest of Nairobi’s Urban Planning Chief Officer Patrick Analo Akivaga, a wife and the seizure of tens of millions hidden in his Syokimau home read like a movie script. While his conduct has long attracted public concern, this moment must not be reduced to wrongdoing of an individual. We must also focus on the deeper systemic and relational failures that enabled him to thrive at City Hall.

With 16 Utumishi Girls Academy students dead and 74 injured, the nation reels from another horrific tragic incident. As feminists are forced to organise another public memorial this coming Madaraka Day, what it would take to keep all Kenya’s women and children safe.

The midnight home arrest of Officer in Charge of Police Station Dishon Angoya during another week of protests, perhaps not wholly surprising, was still unsettling. What does it reveal about how state power is being exercised?

As the primary accountability season nears, politicians suddenly pick our calls and patterns sharpen. How does last week’s Senator Nyamu address, a youth poll, and this week’s by‑election connect and why do all parties in power need to pay attention?

Following the most compromised election in the history of Tanzania last year, Samia Suluhu’s comments at the business conference this week were hard-faced, honest and habitual. Sadly, she represents a troubling new breed of politicians who threaten violence against their own youth with disturbing ease.

The recent mass voter registration drive has rewritten Kenya’s electoral history, delivering one of the biggest youth electorates the country has ever seen. The figures tell a powerful story, but if this was such a success, why did the Election Commission end it prematurely?

Yesterday was International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace. Given the state of Planet Earth captured in Amnesty International’s World Human Rights 2026 report released this week, what has changed in a year and what can be done to raise the world’s grades? This Opinion was written with Amnesty International Kenya's Country Researcher Tatyana Njenga.

History demonstrates when power answers to no one, it will eventually attack and eat itself from within. While Kenya's PBO Regulations expand civic space, Uganda’s "Protection of Sovereignty Bill" declares war on its own economy.

The assault of Senator Godfrey Osotsi is not just an attack on an individual. It is an attack on Kenya’s democratic space. I wish the Senator quick recovery and his attackers, and those that sent them, a day in court as soon as possible. What would a responsible elections security management strategy look like?

Easter weekend finds me in Laikipia, apparently one of Kenya’s happiest counties. Easter’s message of renewal and hope feels timely, especially a few days before the Africa Urban Forum opens in Nairobi.

Kisumu High Court’s 25 March judgment this week, awarding Sh 38.6 million to 28 victims and families, validates their long‑ignored cries for justice. What implications does this ruling have for the victims and the path to reparations and justice?

With the legal hurdles now cleared, compensation for victims of violent policing during protests is back on the table. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, now affirmed as the constitutional body to deliver the President’s pledge, must define its path and steer clear of fresh obstacles.