KenyaOnAShoeString: Real Advice for Real Kenyans

The Grand Coalition Government of 2008 was born out of national crisis — a desperate answer to a contested election and a country teetering on the edge of civil war. It was not a triumph, but a truce. And while it succeeded in restoring calm, the scars it left behind run deep and remain largely unhealed. For many, this was a turning point not just in politics, but in the national psyche. The choices made in that era continue to shape how Kenya governs, how it spends, how it reconciles — or fails to — and how we as individuals have come to fear conflict more than we demand accountability. A Deal That Changed Everything Brokered under international pressure after the disputed 2007 elections and the horrific post-election violence that followed, the Grand Coalition Government brought together political rivals Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga in an uneasy power-sharing agreement. On paper, it was a masterstroke of diplomacy. In practice, it was a bloated compromise that planted the idea that p...

When Mwai Kibaki swept into power in 2002 under the NARC coalition, Kenyans believed they were witnessing the end of an era — the closing of a dark chapter defined by Moi’s authoritarianism and entrenched corruption. The promise was clear: zero tolerance on corruption. The optimism was real. Kenya was ready to turn the page. And for a moment, it looked like we had. Kibaki’s administration took bold first steps — reviving key institutions, appointing reformists, and increasing transparency in public finance. But soon, familiar shadows crept back. The Anglo Leasing scandal broke, key whistleblowers were silenced, and the dream of a clean government dimmed. This is the story of a president who tried to fight corruption — and of the system that resisted, reshaped, and ultimately compromised that fight. The Reformist Promise Upon taking office, Kibaki created the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) and appointed respected legal mind Justice Aaron Ringera as its head. For the first time...