Opinion Base

I had intended this to be my first article for the year 2016 but apparently it was taken over by events; and to be honest, with the kind of harassment that I had made an appointment with when January arrived , it proved a bit tasking to collect my thoughts under the circumstances. I, however, do hope that I still have the fire I had when coming up with the header at the time. Without further ado, allow me to whet your appetite with this fable I heard from the present day Mahatma , Robin Sharma: Two monks, in their element communal with nature, approached a river bank and as they were about to cross to the other side, saw a beautiful lady who was stranded and had no one to help her cross. One monk decided to volunteer and carried the lady on his shoulders to the other side of the river. Upon reaching on dry land, the beautiful lady stepped down and thanked them as she went her way. As the two monks continued with their journey, the volunteer monk noticed that his frie...

Never has a business entity singularly shaken the core of an an established industry across the globe like Uber has.Touted as the largest business in the world with an estimated worth of over $50 billion,the taxi company  has leveraged on technology to re-define entry modes in international business by  tearing down  known entry barriers. From the outset,it is important to point out that this article has little to do with Uber as an entity,which operates in 60 countries across the world, but has more to do with its rigid business model and its insensitivity towards existing market participants.  While it’s flattering to share   first world   problems with the developed nations(going by the Kenya Taxi operators' agitations similar to the protests recently witnessed in France,Germany and China after Uber’s entry in to their markets),we should keep in mind that their solutions might not be a cut and paste affair here in Nairobi. The demographics ...

A wise man once said that the purpose of war is not war itself, but to advance one’s own policies and politics, and/or to quash any form of unwarranted aggression. From that brief description, The Kenya Defence Forces had and still has every right to have set foot in Somalia.  With the legitimacy question aside, it is increasingly becoming clear to all and sundry that The KDF is not cut-out for any type of warfare, save for peacekeeping missions. The fact that Kenya has a representative at the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) –not cheap to maintain an office in New York- and has had her military officers hold very senior positions within the UN peacekeeping missions worldwide, such as in Iran, Croatia, SierraLeone, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Liberia and presently in Somalia (under Amisom), show where our priorities and strengths lie. Without belittling the importance of peacekeeping as an aid to ending conflict by creating conditions for lasting peace, our ...