DiA Editor Nic Cheeseman speaks to Bright Blue about the forthcoming general elections in Kenya, and whether we are likely to see a repeat of the post-election violence a decade on from 2007.
Category Archives: Kenya
Uhuru cannot start planning second term yet

Some commentators are claiming that the Jubilee Party have the 2017 in the bag. Taking a look at both the history of past parties and the current political landscape, Nic Cheeseman argues that we cannot be so sure. This blog was originally published in Nic’s regular column for the Daily Nation.
President Kenyatta’s battle over the Electoral Commission

Nic Cheeseman takes a look at the recent contestation over the Electoral Commission in Kenya, in which protesting citizens were brutally repressed by the police. Nic asks what the chances are for meaningful reform and what this tells us about Kenyatta’s personality as president.
Closing the camps: Kenya’s déjà-vu politics

Hanno Brankamp explores refugee politics in Kenya. The government’s announced closure of its refugee camps is not just a worrying déjà-vu; it is driven by national politics and a renewed bid for more donor funding. While it seems highly unlikely that Kenya will actually close Dadaab, the government is likely to seek a diplomatic horse trade. Hanno is a DPhil […]
Exclusive: Transcript of Head to Head with Odinga

Democracy in Africa’s very own Nic Cheeseman was part of the panel that interviewed the former Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, for Al Jazeera’s flagship political discussion programme, ‘Head to Head’, at the Oxford Union on 15 April 2016. Mr Odinga, currently the country’s most high profile opposition leader, was Prime Minister under the power sharing […]
Nothing compares to free speech
Kenya: Thanking the Lord for power, control, and dropped charges at the ICC
What does it mean to be Kenyan?

The question of identity has always been both a sensitive and a complicated question, particularly in Kenya. Now, the thorny issue has been taken on by a recent exhibition that combines art and research to explore the topic. In his regular column for the Daily Nation, Nic Cheeseman joins forces with Wambui Wamae to investigate.
KENYA: Class, ethnicity and the Kenyatta/ Odinga deal
DiA’s Nic Cheeseman investigates the latest deal between opposition leader Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta, and asks whose interests are being looked after