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East Africa

Your guide to the essential ideas, trends, people and stories shaping East Africa.

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The Social Life of Tea Money in Kenya
Martina Jebet16 August 2026

The Social Life of Tea Money in Kenya

If Kenya is the world’s leading exporter of black tea, how come the 834,000 smallholder farmers growing tea across Kenya’s highland counties still cannot meet the country’s poverty threshold? This is the story of what happens to tea money after the digital scale beeps.

Sudan’s Economies of Survival
Eglal Hamid16 August 2026

Sudan’s Economies of Survival

In wartime Sudan, civilians have built alternative financial networks to keep money circulating despite a broken banking system, enabling people to pay for food, healthcare and other necessities.

‘Translation Is Where All Languages Meet’
Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ22 May 2025

‘Translation Is Where All Languages Meet’

Kenyan writer and author of Unbury Our Dead with Song, Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ, does not believe in the idea of a ‘great African novel’: ‘I do not think there is such a thing as the “great African novel”—or the “great Russian” or “European” novel—nor do I believe in the idea of major and minor literatures.

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The Timeless Solutions of the Gadaa System
The Timeless Solutions of the Gadaa System
Nicholas Kimble22 May 2025
The Gadaa system of the Oromo people of Kenya and Ethiopia offers an indigenous method of governance in Africa, as the adopted Western democracy seems to be failing the continent.
Is President William Ruto Facing a Global Publicity Crisis?
Is President William Ruto Facing a Global Publicity Crisis?
Winnie Rugutt11 May 2025
As domestic unrest in Kenya grows, President William Ruto’s carefully crafted global image is unravelling. Internal discontent is eroding Ruto’s international standing, which can potentially damage Kenya’s position as a regional sanctuary.
Right-Wing Misinformation Is Invading Kenya, Here’s Why We Need to Stop It
Right-Wing Misinformation Is Invading Kenya, Here’s Why We Need to Stop It
Maureen Kasuku4 May 2025
Right-wing disinformation tactics have crossed borders into Kenya, fuelling a dangerous intersection of digital misogyny and real-world violence that is driving record numbers of femicide.
Who Pays When Africans Fall Sick?
Who Pays When Africans Fall Sick?
Anodi Kaihula20 April 2025
Across Africa, millions in the informal sector remain uninsured—not from apathy, but due to the exclusionary nature of health systems. In Tanzania and beyond, digital innovations offer promising models for more inclusive health insurance.

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Odanga Is Still Fighting
Lutivini Majanja21 February 2025

Odanga Is Still Fighting

My maternal great-grandfathers were both directly affected by the First World War. Only one of them lived to tell his story.
Kampala by Design
Hadijjah Sebunya21 February 2025

Kampala by Design

Demas Nwoko’s design philosophy stressed the importance of beauty and significant sustainability, a message that travelled beyond Nigeria to Kampala, Uganda.
Will Africa See More Protests In 2025?
Pelumi Salako16 February 2025

Will Africa See More Protests In 2025?

The African continent was rife with different protests in 2024. With many of the triggers that caused the protests not attended to, 2025 may see these protests skyrocket.
The Mad Scramble for Congo
Poncia Nyembo9 February 2025

The Mad Scramble for Congo

At the heart of Congo’s prolonged crises is a scramble for its natural resources, similar to the precolonial scramble for Africa. All hands must be on deck this time to protect the over 100 million Congolese lives caught in this unfortunate unending war.
Madagascar’s Promising Asia–Pacific Strategy
Juvence F. Ramasy26 January 2025

Madagascar’s Promising Asia–Pacific Strategy

The growing importance of the Indo-Pacific region in global strategizing amid increasing economic globalization and maritimization of trade has prompted Madagascar to deepen its relationships with Asian countries such as China, Japan and South Korea.
The Political Dilemmas of Tanzania’s Music Artists
Karen Chalamilla27 October 2024

The Political Dilemmas of Tanzania’s Music Artists

Owing to stifled freedom of speech coupled with minimal structural support, Tanzanian music artists are finding themselves without any political space beyond praising the ruling government.
Filming the Prolonged Pain of Colonial Violence
Karen Chalamilla15 September 2024

Filming the Prolonged Pain of Colonial Violence

For decades, families in Tanzania have been demanding the return of their ancestors’ human remains from Germany. These ancestors, executed leaders of resistance efforts against German colonial rule, were exhumed from their graves and taken to Germany.
Fiction as National Memory in the Age of Mass Protests
Hassan Kassim18 August 2024

Fiction as National Memory in the Age of Mass Protests

Considering the 2024 Kenyan Gen Z protest, and the rising discontent among African youths, can literature play the role of lens in times of moral crisis, that too for a population that doesn’t read?
Remembering Kampala
Carey Baraka6 April 2024

Remembering Kampala

For much of the sixties, Kampala was at the centre of literature in Africa, its status propelled by Makerere University and Rajat Neogy’s Transition Magazine.
Shadows of a Forgotten Past: Unveiling the Truth of White Nanny, Black Child
Jamila Pereira27 February 2024

Shadows of a Forgotten Past: Unveiling the Truth of White Nanny, Black Child

In the 1950s, white British families adopted numerous African children in a practice commonly known as ‘farming’. With outstanding depth, a documentary on farming by Andy Mundy-Castle explores how for some of those children, what appeared to be a well-meaning initiative resulted in significant harm and life-long scars.

King Charles’ Non-Apology to Kenyans
Mumbi Kanyogo27 February 2024

King Charles’ Non-Apology to Kenyans

Amidst global demands for reparations, King Charles offers Kenyans a (non)apology. But what substance can an apology from Britain hold, when its imperial and colonial crimes continue to shape and undo life in Kenya?