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CJ's Court, Nairobi (2026)

13/03/2026

The statements attributed to the Governor of Nairobi, alleging that the challenges bedeviling the city, specifically with regard to last Friday’s flash floods that took anything between 23 to 42 lives (depending on the source, but could even be more) are in the least most ludicrous. To say that there was flooding in 1997 is lugubrious, to say the least. When Johnson Sakaja campaigned to become the Governor of Nairobi, he must have know very well the issues that needed to be fixed. Or what exactly was his manifesto? You apply for a job to fix problems and create opportunities, sustainable structures for the prosperity of the people, not to mention their safety and security. To say these problems are deep is to throw in the towel and the only thing that should follow is a resignation, because one cannot and should not stay on a job that they are not qualified for. No matter how deep our issues are, anyone coming into the office of the Governor of Nairobi must start from somewhere and must be seen to have started from somewhere. Whereas philanthropy is commendable, that is not the core operation of a government. The Governor cannot only be talking about the meals he provides to schools because we had the days of Nyayo milk and that did not immediately and directly translate into economic development, yet this program covered the entire nation for a very long while. If Nairobi is fixed to attract investment, development and growth, and those parents who cannot feed their children find opportunities to work, there will be no need to feed their children. It is the same Governor who raised the acceptable heights of buildings recently, for most of the places around the CBD, thereby participating in the creation of congestion-related problems facing this city. If we cannot solve the past challenges, however systemic they are, when will we have futuristic solutions? Where is the plan for the future? Israel learnt how to irrigate without adequate rainfall, and they’ve never begged for food like we often do. Egypt learnt to harness the Nile for its survival. Netherlands was reclaimed from the water. There are people who have had worse scenarios, including the Singapore we keep hearing about, which was a swampy place with a rural population yet because they had visionary leadership, they transformed themselves in one generation. We can’t have excuses, and not from someone whose campaign slogan was “It has to work”. Mr Sakaja needs to fold his sleeves and make it work, or go on terminal leave and let someone else make it work.

25/02/2026

Kenya’s employment conversation deserves a more honest interrogation.

We are a young country. Youth aged 15-34 form over a third of our population, and more than one million young people enter the labour market each year. That is not merely a statistic, it is a structural reality that demands deliberate economic design.

Recently, while addressing stakeholders at Kenyatta University, the PS for Trade and Investments, Dr. Juma Mukhwana stated that Kenya is recording at least three new manufacturing investors setting up factories every week, a sign, he noted, of resilience and growing investor confidence. President William Ruto, on the other hand, recently alluded to facilitating employment opportunities abroad for at least 500 young people each week, a move he claimed aimed at expanding access to global opportunities.

While government seems to have a bright picture of the current realities, the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE), in a recent publication, highlighted the magnitude of the domestic youth employment challenge and the need for sustainable job creation within Kenya’s economy.

Therefore, all of these must be examined together. 500 young people leaving per week is 2000 jobs per month, in the diaspora. Manufacturing by itself contributes about 10% GDP and remains the second largest employer after government. Kenya has a formal workforce of 3.5 million, with 1.5 million of them earning below Kshs 30, 000, according to official sources. Maybe these numbers are a bit jumbled up for a layman like myself.

If three factories are opening weekly, what is their net employment impact? What is the average absorption capacity per factory? Are they labour-intensive ventures meaningfully expanding opportunity or capital-intensive investments with limited workforce uptake?

And if we are simultaneously expanding access to jobs abroad, what does that suggest about our domestic absorption capacity?

Conversely, we are also seeing reports of multinational exits, company dissolutions, and significant manufacturing job losses within a year. When weighed against these trends, what is the net effect?

If inflation has eased, why does purchasing power remain constrained for many households? Why are SMEs reporting liquidity pressures and shrinking margins? Where is the translation into stronger disposable income growth?

This is not a critique. It is a systems question.

Job creation is not simply about volume. It is about wage quality, productivity, and whether incomes are strong enough to stimulate domestic demand and sustain enterprise growth.

This brings me to a fundamental policy reflection:

Should job creation sit at the center of our national economic priorities even before housing and large-scale infrastructure expansion?

Without stable incomes, who will sustainably afford the houses?
Without productive enterprises, where will long-term tax revenue come from?
Without expanding purchasing power, how do we accelerate domestic consumption?

Economic transformation is not measured by announcements. It is measured by absorption capacity, wage quality, and household cash flow.

Perhaps the conversation needs to shift from “How many projects have we launched?” to “How many sustainable incomes have we created and at what level of dignity?”

Kenya’s demographic dividend can either become our greatest asset or our greatest strain. The difference lies in whether policy is designed around visibility or around productive capacity.

I would welcome perspectives from policymakers, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs.

What should Kenya prioritize right now?

19/02/2026

In my view, youth empowerment needs to be redefined. A story in the Bible, in the book of Acts of the Apostles, in the third chapter, paints the picture of how we handle young people. There was a man who was lame on his feet, who would be carried to the gate called Beautiful, to beg for alms from those going into and out of the Temple. One day, Peter and John were going to the Temple and saw this man. He looked at them expecting to receive something. However, Peter said ''Look on us. Silver and gold have I none but such as I have give I unto you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Then he stretched out his hand and lifted the man, who, for the first time, went into the Temple just like the others.
We need to move from bringing young people to the beautiful gates, programs and launches with pomp and colour, yet giving them peanuts so that they may be available the next day. We have to move the young people from the gate to the temple. They need people who will not give handouts but equal opportunities. For example, instead of one politician taking charge of the whole of the garbage contract of Nairobi, and raking in 10B annually, why not seek 10 companies run by young people, employing predominantly young people, and let them earn 1B each annually? It may sound simplistic but again, miracles are always created in the foolish acts. Until we are willing to allow the young people sit where billions are being shared, we are playing PR. It’s time someone came up and said to the young who wait to be ferried to rallies, launches, PR campaigns and the like, Rise up and walk.
CJ's Court

17/02/2026

There are times when the lines fall in pleasant places for a man. Whereas the mantra “power is not given; it is taken” is true, there are times when power begs a man to take it. In 2002, power begged Raila Odinga to take it, when he walked away from KANU. I remember, it was the current Siaya Governor, James Orengo , who at one rally urged Raila to go for the presidency, saying, “Omera kaw gino!” or something of the sort, meaning, “Brother, Take that thing!” Raila decided to transfer it to Kibaki with the declaration of Kibaki Tosha and the rest was history. When he later tried to take it back, the system could not allow him. Senator Edwin W. Sifuna is in a place he probably did not envisage just 5 months ago. He probably is still asking questions about the demise of his mentor and father, feeling the gap as he gets bullied in ODM, and most probably feeling he should go for another term as Nairobi County Senator. But I feel that heaven is calling him to a higher place and just as Raila before, he may prefer another to go ahead of him but perhaps it is James Orengo again who will tell him to take that thing!
Democracy is not always about winning an election; it is about having voices heard and represented. There is a gap at the top and if I would sit beside Sifuna today, I would say, “Take the shot”. He is young, brilliant, cuts across generations and ethnicity, is articulate yet relatable, and most importantly, is the embodiment of the spirit of his departed mentor. Power is begging. Kings Saul and David were not seeking kingship when they were anointed to be, respectively. Sometimes the oil finds a head and in my personal opinion, the oil has found a head to carry it.

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