Dispatch from Mombasa

Fostering inclusivity through the media 25th November 2020 President Kenyatta shakes hands with ODM leader Raila Odinga in March 2018  Source: Standard Media The Building Bridges Initiative referendum signature collection that was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his handshake brother former Prime Minister Raila Odinga Wednesday seeks to entrench the doctrine of inclusivity as key to addressing Kenya’s perennial election related problems. The BBI taskforce among others identified the challenge of inclusivity as a major challenge facing the country leading to incessant wrangles every election cycle. Despite the existence of constitutional interventions such as devolution, constitutional commissions such as the National Gender and Equality Commission, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission among others, the challenge of attaining desirable levels of inclusivity still abounds. From the outset, the principle of inclusivity is as diverse as the ridges that it s...

When the government announced that Patient Zero and Patient One in the Kenyan Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic had recovered, a section of Kenyans took to the social media to discredit the reports. Some insisted that the recovered duo had been coached to lie to Kenyans based on what they claimed were glaring inconsistencies in how they got sick, treated and recovered. What later followed was trolling of the patients in total disregard to their mental wellbeing. The apparent lack of trust in government communication at a time when the country is handling the covid-19 pandemic adds to the number of battlefronts that the government has to fight in order to beat the pandemic whose number of patients is increasing exponentially. The government has to on one hand handle a health crisis while on the other is a trust crisis. The Cabinet Secretary for Health Mutahi Kagwe has been praised as just the right man to handle the crisis. He is authoritative, has communicative presence and does not...