Charles Onyango-Obbo
Executive Editor - Africa Media Division
OBBO: Somalia seems ripe for the picking
On February 23 something very important for East Africa, and indeed all of Africa, will happen in London....
OBBO: If Uhuru and Ruto run for president Kenya wins; if they don’t, Kenya wins
After the International Criminal Criminal ruled that four of the “Ocampo Six” should stand trial for crimes against humanity, there have been calls...
OBBO: Kenya’s new anti-heroes and other citizens
After a year running around making all the wrong headlines, good-girl-gone-bad Esther Arunga now says she wants to get back to what made her famous...
OBBO: A shared history of colonial injustices
On Monday, the International Criminal Court at The Hague reduced the “Ocampo Six” to the “Ocampo Four”....
OBBO: Pupils who commit suicide over poor grades are great in their own way
According to reports this week, as many as seven pupils have committed suicide over “poor” Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE)...
OBBO: Alek Wek and Wanjiku’s view of Uganda
There was no mega earthquake, tsunami, war, massacre, or outbreak of rebellion last Christmas and this New Year....
OBBO: Great wedding cons
I have always been fascinated by what you might call the “asymmetrical con”...
OBBO: If Jesus were alive today, he’d be rich
With the holiday season upon us, my mind is in what you might describe as an “idle state”. ...
OBBO: Our problems and the chiefs who can’t fix them
East Africa is facing a serious power crisis. In Uganda, the patience snapped, and there have been several demonstrations....
OBBO: What war tells us about power and peace
Question: Why is the Kenya army (KDF) in Somalia?...
OBBO: Why our young angry protesters must be making Karl Marx smile
The young people of Egypt are very angry. After overthrowing the corrupt...
OBBO: The killing of blacks in Libya and the rise of the African mercenary
It is a dangerous time to be dark-skinned in Tripoli,” Human Rights Watch...
OBBO: Imagine Raila not running in 2012
So we have seen the opinion polls about how the Kenya 2012 election might turn ...
OBBO: Salim’s ‘Return to Korem’ and other crazy East African political stories
So I am in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, again. As it happens, two days ...
OBBO: Art of making war the Kenyan way
I have witnessed and covered my fair share of wars. Among the things I have learnt is that the way a people make war — and peace — often tells you...
OBBO: Kenya finally becomes a true Great Lakes nation
When at the weekend the Kenya Army moved into Somalia in a campaign against the militant group al Shabaab, which is believed to have kidnapped aid...
OBBO: Who is winning the ‘battle of the sexes?’
Kenya, we learnt this week, is ranked the top country in the world ...
OBBO: The ‘Ocampo Six’ hearings; the major lessons for us
As the confirmation hearings in the “Ocampo Six” case drew to a close...
OBBO: The meaning of Wangari Maathai’s life
The death of Nobel Peace Prize winner and eminent environmentalist Wangari ...
OBBO: ‘Anti-Kenya’ forces should fear Papa Shirandula, rather than its economy
East African political parties met in Nairobi a few days ago and, predictably...
OBBO: ‘Me and Mrs Jones’, and the joy of having total strangers for friends
You all know the popular golden oldie, Me and Mrs Jones. You hear...
OBBO: Has Kenya changed one year after the new Constitution?
Last week was the first anniversary of the new Kenya Constitution. If you asked ...
OBBO: Why we were wrong about Gaddafi, Ben Ali, and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak
Libya’s strongman Muammar Gaddafi is still threatening to fight...
OBBO: Why men & women steal differently and what ‘love’ has got to do with it
I hardly paid any attention to Kenyan peace activist Dekha Ibrahim Abdi,...
OBBO: The beautiful game versus global superpowers
I don’t know whether I was seeing things, or if the Community Shield clash between ...
OBBO: There is a ‘good’ side to famine and war deaths
Large areas of Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Kenya are being battered by one of the worst droughts in 60 years....
OBBO: Why Sweden’s prostitution laws are better
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some Kenyans that have photos of Naivasha MP John Mututho on their walls. ...
OBBO: How boredom is killing Africans
Last month, our own Ory Okolloh, who is Google’s policy manager for Africa, was speaking at The Guardian Activate summit on technology in London....
OBBO: Kenya vs Uganda, and the politics of eating
Of late, I have been suffering what you might call “restless feet disease”, the need to get out of one’s comfort zone, and find new explanations...
OBBO: Why the kitchen in schools is important
According to a report on the state of education in East Africa released last week, Kenyan pupils are tops in the region....
OBBO: Milk from African women could end poverty
As popular technology magazines come and go, there are few to beat WIRED for being unconventional. ...
OBBO: Boring story: The future is dotAfrica
Okay, this is probably going to bore you to death, but it is too important a subject for Africa (and the world, for that matter) to ignore....
OBBO: Why the Lord won't put food on our tables
If I had the power of God, I would have made every African president and politician read the May/June issue of Foreign Policy magazine (it’s...
OBBO: Why we need more ‘mad men’ like Ahmednasir
When Kenya’s Judicial Service Commission (JSC), under the new Constitution, televised its interviews for the next Chief Justice and deputy...
OBBO: What does not kill Africa will make it free
On Tuesday, a group of 200 or so people protested at high food costs in Nairobi. They were part of what has been dubbed the “Unga Revolution”. ...
OBBO:What happens in Aberdare could save or kill humanity
Somehow, a few years ago I ended up on the mailing list of Rhino Ark, the conservation group founded by Kenyans in 1980 ...
OBBO & MATHIU: ‘Outsiders’ could reform Judiciary
If Dr Willy Mutunga stood for office in war-ravaged Gulu in northern Uganda, he would perhaps win....
OBBO: They wonder if Kenya will burn or not
I am at a conference on social media and democracy/governance in West Sussex. There were two black faces at the conference ...
OBBO: Here is a case for why riches can be bad
The African Development Bank (AfDB) is becoming cool these days. It recently released a report ...
OBBO:Osama, an evil genius, was ahead of his time
So on Sunday, an elite US military team finally caught up with and killed “terrorist mastermind”, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, in Abbottabad....
OBBO:Gaddafi and other presidents fear diseases
When leaked American diplomatic cables were first fed to the world a few months ago by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, one of the juicy bits...
OBBO: Maybe we are hungry because we have too much
The masses of East Africa are hungry, angry, and protesting at the high food prices....
OBBO: The heroism and demons of Rwanda
On Monday, as I stood outside the Genocide Memorial in Kigali, the workers were busy scrubbing its pavements and walkways. As they dry, they almost...
OBBO:Libya needs a protracted, bloody war
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces this week pounded rebels as they moved on the strongman’s home city of Sirte, halting their rapid advance...
OBBO: Athletics & why Kenya should let others win
It was both awe-inspiring and embarrassing watching the weekend’s IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Punta Umbria, Spain....
OBBO: Kenya is on the way to political heaven
The arguments over the so-called “Ocampo Six” for their suspected role in the 2008 post-election violence has become very hot....
OBBO: Violence in Libya is Africa’s future
We need to take a new hard look at the “Arab Revolt” in North Africa, and what it says about what is coming in Africa....
OBBO: How football causes high fertility rates
Gor Mahia officials say they are going to punish the club’s fans who were behind the violence that prematurely ended last Saturday’s Kenya Premier...
OBBO: Kibaki-Raila fight over top jobs was good for democracy
When President Kibaki withdrew his four nominations to constitutional offices on Tuesday, there was a mega collective national sigh of relief....
OBBO:Egypt, Tunisia rebels gave some serious love
Something exciting just happened in Tunisia and Egypt. As we also saw, in their millions the people revolted and ousted Zein al-Abidine Ben Ali,...
OBBO: Railways, roads and East African democracy
At the end of last year, senior editors at Nation Media Group were studying the Kenya population and political map and trying to understand how it...
OBBO: Some ‘un-Arabic’ things are happening North
We live in truly exciting times and the world, for sure, is changing. Proof of that is in North Africa where the people did something unthinkable...
OBBO: Hero and foil: Raila and Ruto’s prisoner
If you hang out with foreigners quite a lot in Nairobi, you will hear them occasionally referring to Prime Minister Raila Odinga as the president....
OBBO: Despite tribal drums, Kenya is changing
The squabbles over the six people fingered by the International Criminal Court in connection with the post-election violence, and within parties...
OBBO: Hail to Africa’s election cheats
Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the African Union’s mediator on the Côte d’Ivoire crisis, is due to return to Abidjan to try and break the deadlock....
OBBO: MPs, grandmasters of the political game
Ever since Parliament passed a motion asking the government to quit the International Criminal Court ...
OBBO: Witch-killers reveal who we really are
There is a widely held view in East Africa that Tanzanians practise the most witchcraft. ...
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