Category Archives: Politics

The Forest Frontline: When “Schools” Become Targets in the Conservation War

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Bulldozers in the Classroom: The KFS vs. “Ghost School” Standoff

The tension between infrastructure expansion and environmental conservation reached a boiling point on January 3, 2026, in Baringo County. The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) executed a controversial operation in Makutani Forest, demolishing what locals claimed was a school but what the state termed a “two-room iron-sheet structure” erected to grab gazetted forest land. While KFS maintains that the structure was a Trojan horse for encroachment by pastoral communities in the Lekirati area, the incident exposes the dangerous friction generated by the rush to build infrastructure for the Grade 10 transition.

Loramoru Primary: School closed for 13 years because of insecurity now demolished by KFS | TV47 Kenya

This specific demolition is a symptom of a much larger, systemic crisis. With the Ministry of Education pressing for the rapid construction of new classrooms, the definition of a “school” is becoming fluid on the ground. The Makutani incident highlights how the demand for education facilities is being weaponized—sometimes by local leaders to legitimize settlement in protected areas. Conversely, it shines a light on the precarious tenure of genuine educational institutions; currently, over 26,000 public schools in Kenya lack title deeds, leaving them legally defenseless against land disputes or accusations of encroachment.

The “Education vs. Ecology” war is no longer theoretical; it is physical. As KFS intensifies patrols to enforce the Forest Conservation and Management Act, and the Ministry of Education demands physical expansion for Senior Schools, communities are caught in the crossfire. The government is effectively fighting itself: one arm (MoE) is desperate for land to house learners, while another (KFS) is bulldozing structures to save trees. Without a synchronized land-use policy, the Senior School rollout risks becoming an ecological disaster, where “ghost schools” in forests become the new frontline of land conflict.

References:

The Kenya Times Truth Behind Govt Demolishing School Days to Reopening

Daily Nation Pressure mounts on Ministry as over 26,000 schools lack title deeds

People Daily Kenya Forest thwarts efforts to grab Makutani Forest in Baringo

The Star KFS dismisses claims of school demolition in Makutani forest operation


The “Smart” School Lie: Why Interns are Teaching Coding on Blackboards

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The “Tech-Teacher” Trap and the Hardware Vacuum

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is currently on an aggressive recruitment drive, prioritising a new breed of educator: the Bachelor of Education (Technology) graduate. This degree is being marketed as the golden ticket for the Competency-Based Curriculum’s STEM pathway. However, this recruitment drive masks a ridiculous operational reality. We are hiring highly specialized teachers to deploy them into “C4” schools that are technological deserts. Recent studies in counties like Homa Bay reveal that some public primary schools are operating with as few as 27 tablets for an entire school population, with zero interactive whiteboards or functional computer labs.

We are effectively creating a “Tech-Teacher Trap.” These fresh graduates, armed with skills in electrical engineering and digital media, are being hired as interns—paid a fraction of a permanent salary—and placed in classrooms where “Computer Science” is taught theoretically because there is no hardware. The government’s ban on parents buying digital devices creates a stalemate: schools can’t afford them, the government hasn’t supplied enough of them, and parents aren’t allowed to buy them. The result? A generation of Grade 10 students who can define a microprocessor on paper but have never held one.

The numbers don’t lie. The sector is facing a shortage of 58,590 teachers for the 2026 transition, with the STEM pathway hitting the hardest deficit in areas like aviation and computer studies. By plugging these gaps with underpaid interns and failing to provide the “Digital Literacy” hardware promised a decade ago, the Ministry is setting up the pioneer Senior School class for failure. We are simulating a modern education system rather than building one, widening the gap between the “digital haves” in elite private schools and the “analogue have-nots” in the public system.

References:

ResearchGate Development of Digital Literacy Skills among Learners in Public Primary Schools in Homabay County, Kenya

Capital News Govt publishes boarding fee caps, day school remains fully funded

The Eastleigh Voice Kenya needs 58,590 more teachers for 2026 senior school transition – TSC

Scribd Guidelines for recruitment of Teacher Interns, Junior Schools-2025/2026 Financial Year

The Economic Aftershock: Why Nakuru Hotels are Empty this January

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The “Back-to-School” Squeeze is Killing Domestic Tourism

Usually, the first week of January sees the hotels of Nakuru and Naivasha buzzing with the last wave of domestic holidaymakers. This year, the lobbies are quiet, with occupancy rates reportedly dropping by nearly 40% compared to December. This economic contraction is the direct collateral damage of the “Capitation Paradox.” The “on-time” release of funds has done nothing to alleviate the burden on household budgets. Faced with “strict compliance” fees of Sh53,554, new uniforms for Senior School, and the hidden costs of the “Digital Divide” where parents must buy laptops , the Kenyan middle class has cancelled the holiday to save the school term.

Ironically, while leisure travel has plummeted, “panic travel” has surged. The transport sector is witnessing a windfall, not from tourists, but from the 350,000-strong army of parents and students traveling to sort out placement appeals and admissions. The roads are full, but the mood is frantic, not festive. This shift from leisure to logistical spending indicates a deeper economic stress; the education sector is cannibalizing the disposable income that usually fuels the service economy.

Furthermore, the “Strict Compliance” directives have frozen the local economies that usually thrive around schools. With principals under pressure to centralize procurement and cut costs to survive the “Ghost Deficit,” the local suppliers—the women selling cabbages, the small-time stationers, and the local transporters—are being cut out of the supply chain. The Sh44 billion release might be sitting in commercial bank accounts in Nairobi, but it is not trickling down to the school-adjacent communities, leaving the “hustlers and mama-mboga’s” economy to dry up alongside the empty hotel rooms.

References:

The Kenya Times From Free to Ksh53,554: How Much Grade 10s Will Pay Under C1-C4 Senior School System

Daily Nation Senior school chaos: Ministry relaxes rules amid confusion

The Kenya Times Govt Extends Grade 10 Placement Revision, CS Explains Why 144,000 Applications were Rejected

The Standard Mad rush for back to school amid financial crunch

The Standard Government releases Sh44b in capitation ahead of school reopening

The Grade 10 Lottery: Anatomy of a Placement Crisis

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140,000 Rejections and the “Prestige Scarcity” Panic

The transition to Senior School (Grade 10) was meant to be the crowning achievement of the CBC rollout; instead, it has devolved into a logistical nightmare. As the January 12 reporting date approaches, the system is reeling from the rejection of over 140,000 transfer requests. This staggering number isn’t just a statistic; it represents a massive vote of no confidence by Kenyan parents in the “C4” (formerly sub-county) schools. The root cause is “Prestige Scarcity”—the desperate scramble for the limited slots in “Big 3” giants like Alliance and Kenya High, which are seen as the only institutions capable of delivering the resource-intensive STEM pathways.

The contrast in readiness between private and public sectors is stark and sobering. While private institutions like Golden Elite Schools in Kisumu are flaunting virtual laboratories and heated pools for Sports Science , many public day schools are welcoming Grade 10s into “shells”—classrooms without equipment or specialized teachers. With a reported shortage of 58,000 teachers and the Teachers Service Commission scrambling to recruit “interns” to teach complex technical subjects , the promise of a “Competency-Based” education is colliding with a lack of capacity. Parents know this, which is why they are crisscrossing counties in a panic, refusing to relegate their children to schools they view as academic dead ends.

This chaos has birthed a dangerous unregulated market: “Private Boarding.” With the government capping boarding fees and refusing to fund new dorms in day schools, parents whose children have been placed in distant C4 schools are renting rooms in nearby shopping centers. These shadow dormitories, unsupervised and unsafe, are the desperate solution for families caught between a rigid placement system and the geography of their assigned schools. The Ministry may have “placed” every child, but in refusing to address the infrastructure gap, they have abandoned thousands of them to a precarious existence outside the school gates.

References:

The Eastleigh Voice Kenya needs 58,590 more teachers for 2026 senior school transition – TSC

Daily Nation Teacher shortage paradox despite record hiring by TSC

All Africa Education Ministry Declines 66,000 Grade 10 Placement Appeals Over School Capacity Constraints

Daily Nation Senior School placement chaos: Your 10 burning questions answered

The “Ghost Deficit”: Why Sh44 Billion Isn’t Enough to Keep the Lights On

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The “Historic” Release That Schools Can’t Spend

The headlines this week screamed victory: “Government Releases Sh44 Billion for Schools.” On paper, it looks like a windfall, with the Ministry of Education beating the opening bell to disburse funds before learners report on January 5. However, for the principal sitting in a C3 county school, this “historic” release is a mathematical mirage. The funds are pegged to a capitation rate of Sh22,244 per student—a figure fixed in 2018. In the eight years since, the cost of electricity, maize, and fuel has skyrocketed, yet the government expects schools to operate on a budget that was barely sufficient a decade ago. The result is a “Ghost Deficit” of approximately Sh10,000 per student, a financial hole that no amount of administrative “strict compliance” warnings can fill.

This fiscal disconnect has birthed the era of the “Survival Levy.” With the Ministry issuing strict directives against fee hikes and criminalizing “motivation fees,” school boards are being forced into the shadows. We are seeing a rise in “voluntary” projects and outsourced service fees designed to bypass the official fee structure. While the Cabinet Secretary warns against unauthorized levies, the reality on the ground is that schools face a binary choice: break the rules to solicit funds from parents, or close the dining halls before the term ends. The “free” in Free Day Secondary Education is fast becoming a technicality, sustained only by the quiet contributions of squeezed parents.

The standoff is further complicated by the looming Sh4 billion fraud audit currently before Parliament. The Ministry is using this probe into “ghost students” as a moral bludgeon to deny legitimate requests for increased funding. By framing the crisis as one of theft rather than underfunding, the state has successfully deflected responsibility. But as 1.1 million Grade 10 learners flood into schools that lack the funds for basic practicals, the “Ghost Deficit” threatens to turn the ambitious Competency-Based Curriculum into a theoretical exercise, proving that you cannot buy 2026 quality with 2018 prices.

References:

The Standard Government releases Sh 44b in capitation ahead of school reopening

NTV Kenya Secondary school heads want fees raised by Sh27, 000

All Africa Govt Releases Sh44.2bn in Term I Capitation Ahead of Monday Reopening

Harvesting the ROI—The Macroeconomic Impact of the Subsidy

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The economic ripple effects of the 2025 fertilizer subsidy program are beginning to manifest in Kenya’s national food security metrics with startling clarity. According to the June 2025 Treasury budget highlights, the government has allocated Ksh 8 billion specifically for the Fertilizer Subsidy Programme for the 2025/2026 financial year. This is part of a broader Ksh 47.6 billion agricultural transformation budget aimed at moving Kenya from a “food deficit” nation to a “food surplus” economy. By slashing the cost of a 50kg bag by approximately 60% compared to market rates, the program has successfully triggered a 38.9% increase in maize production in high-potential regions, directly contributing to the stabilization of mealie-meal prices in urban centers like Nakuru and Nairobi.

Kenya is set to harvest 70 million bags of maize in 2025 | NTV Kenya

However, the 2025 policy is no longer just about quantity; it is increasingly about soil health and long-term sustainability. New directives from the Ministry of Agriculture emphasize the use of NPK 23:23:0 and other non-acidic blends to correct soil degradation caused by years of over-relying on DAP. This scientific approach ensures that the “bumper harvests” seen this year are not a one-time fluke but the beginning of a sustained increase in yield per hectare. For the Kenyan farmer, this shift represents a move toward “Precision Agriculture,” where the digital data collected during KIAMIS registration helps the government determine which specific nutrient blends are needed for which regions, potentially saving billions in wasted inputs.

The final piece of this economic puzzle lies in the integration of “De-Risking” strategies. For the first time, the 2025 digital registration automatically links farmers to climate-risk insurance and credit facilities. This means that a farmer who buys subsidized fertilizer is also protected against the devastating losses of drought or floods, making the entire agricultural sector more attractive to young “agri-preneurs.” As Jijuze continues to monitor these developments, it is clear that the fertilizer subsidy is the anchor of a much larger economic engine. By empowering smallholders with affordable inputs and digital tools, Kenya is slowly rebuilding its agricultural backbone, turning the “kabambe” phone into a powerful tool for national prosperity.

References:

Capital Business Maize harvest to hit 70mn bags in 2025, up from 67mn last year

The Kenyan Wall Street The Hidden Costs of Kenya’s Fertiliser Subsidy Model

Jijuze How to Access Subsidized Fertilizer in Kenya


The “Iron Circuit”—Solving the Last Mile Bottleneck

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The logistical machinery behind the 2025 fertilizer subsidy has undergone a radical shift to solve the “depot bottleneck” that plagued previous seasons. In late March 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture, led by CS Mutahi Kagwe, confirmed a massive surge in distribution, moving over one million bags of fertilizer in a single week to meet the high demand of the long rain season. The strategic change this year involves a heavy reliance on the “Iron Circuit”—using the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) freight wagons to bypass the congested Port of Mombasa and deliver directly to the Naivasha Inland Container Depot. This shift has significantly reduced the turnaround time for stocks, ensuring that once a farmer receives their e-voucher via the KIAMIS system, the physical bags are already staged at regional hubs rather than being stuck in highway transit.

The iron circuit

Despite these macro-logistical wins, the “Last Mile” remains the most significant challenge for the average Kenyan smallholder. Current research indicates that while private agro-dealers are usually within 6km of a farm, centralized NCPB depots are often an average of 18km away. To bridge this gap in 2025, the government has entered into critical Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with county governments like Uasin Gishu and Nakuru. These partnerships allow for the transfer of fertilizer from main regional hubs to smaller, county-run satellite depots. This decentralization strategy is designed to lower the “hidden costs” of the subsidy—specifically the high transport fees farmers previously paid to move 50kg bags across long distances, which often eroded the savings provided by the government-capped price of Ksh 2,500.

At the depot level, the 2025 experience is becoming increasingly automated, yet it requires farmer vigilance. The Ministry has introduced “Consignment-Based Framework Agreements,” allowing for a more diverse mix of fertilizers, including crop-specific blends for coffee and tea sectors, moving away from a “one-size-fits-all” approach. However, with high demand comes the risk of exploitation. Farmers are urged to verify their e-vouchers through the upgraded KIAMIS interface before making the journey to the depot to avoid “system-down” frustrations. Furthermore, officials have issued stern warnings against counterfeiters attempting to sell substandard mixtures in look-alike government packaging, reinforcing that legitimate subsidized stock is only available at registered NCPB or county-authorized sites.

References:

Citizen Digital Gov’t to issue over 1 million bags of subsidized fertilizer amid high demand

Kenyans.co.ke Govt to Distribute 1 Million Bags of Fertilizer to NCPB Depots Next Week After Shortage

Daily Nation Kagwe orders destruction of 25,518 bags of expired fertiliser

Jijuze How to Access Subsidized Fertilizer in Kenya

Kenya’s Circular Economy Moment — A 10-Year Blueprint for What Comes Next

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Kenya has now reached the point in its circular economy journey where ambition is no longer the constraint — execution is. Over the course of this series, we have traced the full arc of the challenge: from the structural realities of plastic waste, to the centrality of informal workers, to the promise and limits of advanced recycling technologies, to financing, regional positioning, and the risks of institutional failure. What emerges is not a story of inevitability, but one of choice. Kenya has assembled most of the components required for a functional circular system. What remains unresolved is whether those components will be integrated into a coherent, enforceable, and durable whole. The next decade will not be defined by new strategies or declarations, but by the quality of implementation that follows the ones already on the table.

A credible 10-year circular blueprint for Kenya rests on a small number of non-negotiables. First, enforcement must be normalized. Extended Producer Responsibility cannot remain a negotiated obligation; it must become a predictable cost of doing business, applied evenly and transparently. Second, infrastructure must be scaled deliberately, favoring modular, resilient systems over politically attractive megaprojects that fail under operational stress. Third, data must move to the center of governance — from digital EPR reporting and material traceability to public performance dashboards that make compliance visible and verifiable. And finally, the informal waste workforce must be formally integrated, not rhetorically acknowledged. Stable pricing, standardized contracts, access to health and safety protections, and financial inclusion are not social add-ons; they are system stabilizers.

If Kenya can align these pillars, the payoff extends well beyond waste management. A disciplined circular economy strengthens industrial policy, attracts long-term capital, stabilizes supply chains, and positions the country as a regional materials hub at a moment when global markets are actively reshuffling. Failure, by contrast, will not be dramatic — it will be quiet, gradual, and familiar: underperforming facilities, investor fatigue, informal workers absorbing systemic risk, and opportunities migrating elsewhere. Kenya’s circular economy moment is not a single policy decision or flagship project. It is a sustained, cumulative choice to govern complexity with consistency. The window is still open. What will determine the outcome is whether the next ten years are spent managing appearances — or building systems that endure.

References:

Kenya Plastics Pact Kenya Plastics Pact & WWF-Kenya Drive Plastic Recycling Efforts Amid EPR Implementation

Sustainable Packaging Middle East & Africa Kenya’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations to take effect on May 5, 2025

The Standard Counties blamed for failure to adopt waste management plants

The Exchange Africa’s SMEs: How Policymakers Can Speed Up Growth and Innovation

The Innovations That Will Separate Circular Leaders from Laggards

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The next phase of the circular economy will not reward enthusiasm — it will reward precision. Across Africa, the coming divide will not be between countries that “care” about sustainability and those that do not, but between systems that can deploy advanced technologies with discipline and those that remain trapped in manual, under-capitalized models. The age of blanket recycling narratives is ending. What is emerging instead is a highly technical, data-driven materials economy where feedstock quality, traceability, emissions accounting, and digital enforcement determine who attracts capital and who is bypassed. Kenya’s challenge is no longer whether it can adopt innovation, but whether it can do so fast enough — and with enough governance — to remain competitive as global standards tighten.

At the center of this separation are four innovation frontiers already reshaping advanced circular systems worldwide. First is AI-enabled sorting, which uses machine vision and spectroscopy to achieve purity levels manual systems cannot sustain, unlocking higher-value rPET and polyolefin streams. Second is digital EPR infrastructure — real-time producer reporting, automated compliance scoring, and public dashboards that eliminate regulatory opacity. Third is modular recycling architecture, where decentralized, scalable MRFs replace monolithic plants that collapse under feedstock volatility. And fourth is advanced chemical recycling, including depolymerization and enzymatic processes that reclaim value from materials mechanical systems cannot process. None of these technologies are experimental. What remains experimental in Africa is the institutional capacity to deploy them without distortion.

The danger for Kenya is not technological exclusion — it is selective adoption without system reform. AI sorting without feedstock discipline fails. Chemical recycling without emissions oversight invites backlash. Digital platforms without enforcement authority become cosmetic. Innovation only works when it is embedded inside a governed system that punishes non-compliance and rewards performance. Countries that master this integration will dominate future recycled-material markets, attract patient capital, and shape regional standards. Those that do not will watch value leak outward — exporting waste, importing virgin plastics, and subsidizing inefficiency with public funds. Going forward, its not about what Kenya could adopt someday. It is about what it must deploy now — deliberately, decisively, and without illusions — if it intends to remain relevant in the circular economy that is already taking shape.

References:

Sustainability Magazine AI and robotics are transforming recycling with EPR laws

Tomra Recycling News

UOCS Revolutionizing Recycling: Smart Technologies for Plastic Waste

Wikipedia CleanHub

Kenya Plastics Pact Kenya Plastics Pact & WWF-Kenya Drive Plastic Recycling Efforts Amid EPR Implementation

Wikipedia Recykal

Why Circular Economy Projects in Africa Fail — And Why Kenya Is Still at Risk

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Africa’s circular economy graveyard is already full — littered with donor-funded pilots, ribbon-cut recycling plants, and policy frameworks that never made it past the launch event. The continent does not lack ideas, technologies, or goodwill. It lacks execution discipline. Circular projects fail not because the science is flawed, but because governance is weak, incentives are misaligned, and accountability dissolves the moment external funding expires. Kenya is not immune. Despite progress on EPR, private-sector engagement, and innovation, the country remains structurally exposed to the same failure patterns that have derailed circular initiatives across the continent: regulatory softness, political interference, underpriced waste, unreliable data, and a dangerous tolerance for “pilot culture” that rewards announcements more than outcomes.

The most common failure point is institutional fragility. Waste systems collapse when counties are underfunded, when regulators lack enforcement capacity, and when standards exist on paper but not in practice. Facilities designed to process thousands of tonnes operate at a fraction of capacity because feedstock flows are unstable, contaminated, or diverted through informal channels. Producers default to virgin materials because enforcement is weak. Investors retreat because market signals shift without warning. And in the background, the informal waste workforce absorbs the shock — losing income, facing unsafe conditions, and subsidizing system failure with their bodies. This is the brutal reality: without strong institutions, circularity becomes extractive, not regenerative.

Kenya now stands at a narrow threshold between replication and rupture. It can repeat the familiar African cycle — ambitious strategies undermined by weak enforcement and politicized implementation — or it can confront the uncomfortable truth that circular economies only work when failure is punished and compliance is unavoidable. That means independent regulators with teeth, public dashboards that expose non-compliance, hard penalties for EPR defaulters, standardized contracts that protect waste pickers, and zero tolerance for underperforming infrastructure. There are no shortcuts left. As the global plastics transition accelerates, Kenya will either prove it can govern complexity — or it will join the long list of countries that mistook intention for capacity. This is the moment where rhetoric must end, and consequences must begin.

References:

OECD Extended producer responsibility and economic instruments

GreenPeace New documentary exposes recycling fallacy and health impacts of plastic pollution on Kenya’s waste workers

MarcoPolis Silafrica Kenya’s Akshay Shah on Sustainable Packaging and the Future of the Circular Economy in Africa

The Exchange Africa Africa’s SMEs: How Policymakers Can Speed Up Growth and Innovation

Frontiers in Sustainability Transitioning circular economy from policy to practice in Kenya

The Standard Counties blamed for failure to adopt waste management plants

Envaco The Role of Circular Economy in Kenya’s Waste Management Future

EnvyNature Waste Management in Africa: What’s Working and What’s Next