By Ghost Writer
President William Ruto’s flagship affordable housing programme is facing mounting criticism after workers at several construction sites staged protests over delayed wages (People Daily, April 10, p.4). Not accurate. Why? We have a problem of politicised development in Kenya, where publicly-funded projects are often identified with individual politicians, and people support or undermine them for that sole reason.
Para 4: Back in March 2024, President William Ruto signed the Affordable Housing Bill into law, giving the government the leeway to impose a housing levy on salaried Kenyans in a bid to fund the state-run housing programme. That doesn’t make AHP “Ruto’s programme”, does it? In fact, the programme was launched in 2017 under the Big Four Agenda in the Uhuru Kenyatta administration. The public needs to understand that the government housing programme, anchored in law, will continue no matter who is the President, au vipi?
The electoral agency has embarked on plans to register more than six million new voters ahead of the next General Election, including 2.5 million within the next 30 days (Nation, March 31, p.5). Nah, IEBC has started registering more than six million new voters, not “embarked on plans to register”. At the time this was reported, the exercise was well beyond the planning stage.
Para 3: The exercise, launched on Monday and set to run until April 28, will focus on youth, with registration desks deployed in colleges, universities and other youth-friendly institutions. IEBC launches the exercise on Monday, alafu unaambia watu ati the agency has “embarked on plans”? Aje ivo?
[Mudavadi] said multilateralism is increasingly under strain as unilateralism resurges globally, undermining established diplomatic norms (Star, April 10, p.2). What was the Foreign Affairs CS talking about here? “The fundamental principles of diplomacy are being eroded, with militarism emerging as a common instrument of foreign policy,” Mudavadi said. Was the country’s #1 diplomat criticising the ongoing imperialist wars around the world? Without providing the context, this reproduction of his speech sounds like an excerpt from a textbook, and that could leave readers confused.
The High Court has allowed limited access to evidence for LSK in the ongoing murder trial of teacher Albert Ojwang’, as proceedings continue before Justice Diana Kavedza (Star, April 10, p.10). Do you notice the repetition? The phrase “ongoing murder trial” means the same as “proceedings continue”. Best: The High Court has allowed limited access to evidence for LSK in the ongoing murder trial of teacher Albert Ojwang’ before Justice Diana Kavedza.
Heading: Warship docks in Mombasa as Kenya deepens ties with India (Star, April 10, p.11). Intro: Indian warship docks in Mombasa as Kenya deepens defence ties with India. Ala! That is no intro.
Headline: Matiang’i explodes over gaps in teachers’ medical cover (People Daily Digital, April 10). Wui, “explodes”? Quite dramatic, no problem. A small observation, though. The 2027 Jubilee Party presidential candidate was recently at the centre of ugly, highly publicised body-shaming rhetoric. Ni hayo tu.
