Mr President, without naming culprits, anti-graft talk remains hollow rhetoric

For the second time in a fortnight, President William Ruto has accused Parliament of soliciting bribes and other favours in exchange for favourable decisions in the August House.

By Dennis Kabaara 1 month ago

Cake or crumbs? Counties starved of funds despite devolution promise

The World Bank's May 2025 Public Finance Review, notes that "a potential fiscal risk arises from a mismatch between the funding allocated to the counties and their service delivery obligations.

By Dennis Kabaara 1 month ago

Hustler Fund, e-Citizen: Stop denials and embrace honest conversations

Defensive official responses fail to acknowledge the real problems with the Hustler Fund and e-Citizen.

By Dennis Kabaara 1 month ago

Premium

Will Kenya Kwanza's scorecard be enough to win Ruto a second term?

In the idealism we call a "functioning State", all of these promises and targets might matter.

By Dennis Kabaara 1 month ago

The tribeless tyranny of numbers: Mapping Kenya's 2027 voter universe

As we head into 2027, IEBC have told us that the 22.1 million voter register from 2022 remains intact, which means with the "Gen Z wave" the numbers could go up.

By Dennis Kabaara 1 month ago

Premium

When the State blames everyone but itself

If you want a baseline for police reform, start there. It isn't police as a noun that needs fixing, it's policing as a verb.

By Dennis Kabaara 2 months ago

Ruto and Gen Z agree that enough is enough but differ on what is enough

In the aftermath of violent protests on Saba Saba Day, President William Ruto has proclaimed more than once that "Enough is Enough" while Raila Odinga suggests a national conclave."

By Dennis Kabaara 2 months ago

'The Economist' paints a damning assessment of Ruto's performance

"William Ruto is taking Kenya to a dangerous place", bellows The Economist weekly news magazine in a leader (lead article) last week.

By Dennis Kabaara 2 months ago

Dangerous place: Damning Economist magazine assessment of Ruto's presidency

"William Ruto is taking Kenya to a dangerous place", below The Economist weekly news magazine in a leader (lead article) last week.

By Dennis Kabaara 2 months ago

Premium

Gen Z hit reboot and reset to politics without politicians

The idea of leaderless and tribeless Gen Z might lead us to the more radical idea of "politics without politicians."

By Dennis Kabaara 2 months ago

Let's pray for a Wednesday of peace and justice not bullets or tear gas

Wednesday offers the opportunity to call for a real transformation of Kenya and reminds us to get our 2027 voter experience right, from voter registration, to voting, to vote counting, to results.

By Dennis Kabaara 3 months ago

Premium

Security budget balloons while justice starves and protesters bleed

It is a different war from the 1990's when we had opposition-led "No Reforms, No Budget" chaos within Parliament itself.

By Dennis Kabaara 3 months ago

Premium

From the scary to 'feel good': What CS should spell out in his first statement

Treasury CS John Mbadi presents his maiden Budget Statement to Parliament at a time the nation is frayed at the edges - politically, economically and socially.

By Dennis Kabaara 3 months ago

Premium

For clear spending picture, we should ask hard questions on budget votes

Leading into the 2025 Budget Statement on Thursday, let us acknowledge the recent work of the National Treasury to actively engage with the public and stakeholders on the budget process.

By Dennis Kabaara 3 months ago

Sluggish job growth, indicator economy is not growing

Sluggish job gains signal stalled economic momentum.

By Dennis Kabaara 4 months ago

Finance Bill 2025: When will Kenyans engage in broader Budget discussion?

If we split the current final phase of the 2025/26 Budget season into four parts, we will spend 60 per cent of our time discussing a Finance Bill which is one part of the revenue question.

By Dennis Kabaara 4 months ago

Premium

Beyond debts and deficits: Will budget 202526 chart a new path?

A starting point might be the contemporary official view that Kenyans celebrate failure over success; that we are too negative.

By Dennis Kabaara 4 months ago

The national government would not matter much if devolution delivered

Devolution was touted as the antidote to our long and dark history of concentrated political and economic power; the response to years of marginalisation and exclusion.

By Dennis Kabaara 4 months ago

Premium

Budget 2025: Kenya targets growth, reality suggests economic headwinds

While Treasury's new "openness" is commendable, there is a worrying level of confusion when the CS Treasury publicly promises a 2025 Finance Bill filled with new taxes

By Dennis Kabaara 5 months ago

Why Kenya's Judiciary struggles to deliver justice despite promised funding

Many promises, or commitments, were made in that speech, but recent media attention has focused on those made to the Judiciary, and specifically, its budget.

By Dennis Kabaara 5 months ago

Decades apart, Ruto's development tours echo Kanu-style platform for roadside declarations

One presumes that these development tours are supposed to be useful advancements on our infamous past of Kanu's roadside declarations.

By Dennis Kabaara 5 months ago

Kenyans, brace for a bumpy economic journey in the run-up to 2027 elections

Contrary to the Treasury assertions, we will experience higher than projected fiscal deficits in this pre-election period - on account of lower than expected taxes on depressed economic activities.

By Dennis Kabaara 5 months ago

Unusual reflection of Ruto's mid-term promises against actions on delivery

The trouble here is the recorded achievements are mostly input and activity-based, so it is no surprise that Kenyans at large are still not feeling the outputs.

By Dennis Kabaara 6 months ago

Ruto, Raila handshake is all about self-preservation, not progress

The political collaboration between UDA and ODM, represents the latest example of a long-held belief among our political elite that Kenyans have short memories.

By Dennis Kabaara 6 months ago

Premium

Building castles in the air: Kenyans want jobs, not just talk and numbers

As Kenyans bemusedly endure this administration's penchant for costly foreign travel and local development tours in a tough economic environment, now the 2027 election agenda is already framing.

By Dennis Kabaara 7 months ago

Why 2025 budget must fix tax chaos, county funding gaps and rising debt

As we all know, the 2025/26 budget process - strictly 2025/26 to 2027/28 Medium-Term Budget process - is well underway, at both national and county government levels.

By Dennis Kabaara 7 months ago

Graft, case backlog and access to justice should top Judiciary's reform agenda

Judiciary, no stranger to calls for radical reform finds itself under a harsh spotlight following a highly accusatory and largely social media-driven push for yet another judicial purge.

By Dennis Kabaara 7 months ago

Lost in translation: Kenya's endless dance with parastatals and the IMF expectations

Eyes always light up and the national pulse beats harder when the government deigns to broach the sensitive subject of parastatal reform.

By Dennis Kabaara 7 months ago

Ruto's budget this year will be most important in the middle of first term

As our 2027 politics gets louder and more aggressive, it is easy to forget we are entering the home stretch of a 2025/26 budget process launched in August last year.

By Dennis Kabaara 8 months ago

Premium

2025: Will political sycophancy derail Kenya's pursuit of economic reform?

As we step into the hopeful embrace of 2025, let's randomly walk through a couple of unusual reflections for the year.

By Dennis Kabaara 8 months ago

Thank Kenyans for cancellation of Adani deals, not foreign pressure

Our eagerness to celebrate foreign pressure as the reason these deals were cancelled understates the important role played by local whistleblowers.

By Dennis Kabaara 9 months ago

William Ruto's State of the Nation address should be honest and reflective

The writer says the State of The Nation Address is more about self-reflection and introspection than it is about self-praise and congratulation.

By Dennis Kabaara 10 months ago

Why Gachagua's impeachment debate is a diversion

For the avoidance of doubt, the ongoing process to impeach Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is a terrible diversion.

By Dennis Kabaara 11 months ago

Premium

How Kenya Kwanza errors are making Kenya better country

Kenya Kwanza is an unpopular government, and it doesn't need rich people to fund poor people to say this.

By Dennis Kabaara 11 months ago

Ruto's missteps are making Kenya a better place

Public participation on the impeachment motion against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has suddenly, and unsurprisingly, mutated into a referendum on on Ruto's presidency.

By Dennis Kabaara 11 months ago

How Kenya Kwanza turned a perfect storm into a crisis in two years

DP impeachment is a cacophonous sideshow. The reality is likely about real transparency and accountability in our fiscus before we are called for taxation.

By Dennis Kabaara 11 months ago

The marking scheme has changed: Today's reality is not that of 2022

In this "business unusual" space, the focus is the destination of our journey, not their vehicle to take us there. Because, here and everywhere, the government is not the economy.

By Dennis Kabaara 1 year ago

Why Mbadi's budget review is all about lowering expectations

The first call is embedded in our budget calendar for 2025/26, the penultimate fiscal year to our 2027 election because the 2027/28 budget two years later will be transitional

By Dennis Kabaara 1 year ago

How can government improve our pockets without overtaxing?

How do we improve the lot of Kenyans without imposing new taxes and overborrowing while offering government services?

By Dennis Kabaara 1 year ago

Premium

What downgrade by credit rating firms means for Kenya's economy

S&P lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating for Kenya from "B" to "B-". Like the legend of Nero's Rome, our leadership fiddles as Kenya burns.

By Dennis Kabaara 1 year ago