Kenyan complacency Young activists believe it is time for Kenya’s middle class to grow up In February this year, Kenyan artist and activist Boniface Mwangi led a march through Nairobi asking Kenya’s middle class to grow up. Banners shouted the march’s theme—“Diaper Mentality”—and 50 giant polystyrene babies bobbed on the shoulders of protesters decked out in the red, black and green of Kenya’s national flag. Mr Mwangi, 31, a well-known photographer, created a series of satirical photographs to accompany the protest showing educated Kenyans dressed as babies, happily accepting the status quo, which includes government corruption, police brutality and impunity…
Jessica Hatcher
Kenya: security and sleaze The country’s inability to protect itself from Islamic terrorists is directly linked to corruption John Githongo—Kenya’s most famous whistleblower—does not mince his words: “We’re paying the price of corruption in blood.” Mr Githongo, once the east African country’s anti-corruption czar and now the head of a grassroots governance group, is referring to Kenya’s recent security disasters: the deadly raids in June and July on villages along the Indian Ocean coast and the attack in September 2013 on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, the capital. Although this violence is blamed on Somali militants, the Shabab, the…
