Agatha Gichana

Recently, I visited Mombasa, the heart of Kenya’s Coast Region, for a short holiday, which naturally led me to stop at Marikiti, the city’s famous spice market. What struck me was how many vendors insisted on cash payments. Considering that only a few years ago, Mombasa was one of the most mobile money-friendly cities in

Parliament adjourned for its long end‑of‑year recess on 4 December 2025 and is slated to resume sittings for the 2026 session on 10 February 2026.

Asahi Group Holdings has agreed to acquire Diageo’s 65% shareholding in East African Breweries (EABL) for USD 2.3 billion, marking the Japanese firm's first historic market entry into Africa. Leading this strategic move is Atsushi Katsuki, President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. Mr. Katsuki oversees the company’s global strategy, portfolio

Benjamin Karanja sits behind a glass counter stacked with refurbished smartphones and laptops in a small electronics shop on Kimathi Street in Nairobi. His business imports close to 2,000 second hand devices each month, mostly from the United Kingdom. For many customers, the business is a lifeline and a gateway to digital inclusion. The shop

In a landmark development in the United States, Meta was found liable for its impact on children through social media, with a jury awarding around USD375 million in damages to the affected family. The verdict signifies a major shift in how courts view big tech’s duty of care, moving away from the traditional idea of

When Kenya enacted the Copyright Act, 2001, the global copyright landscape was undergoing a profound shift driven by the early internet and the rise of digital file sharing. Platforms such as Napster disrupted traditional enforcement models by turning ordinary users into distributors of copyrighted content and exposing the limits of existing legal frameworks. At the

Local content requirements have historically been anchored in the policy objective of ensuring that economic activity and the exploitation of national resources generate meaningful domestic benefits. These include job creation, skills transfer, the development of local industry, and greater integration of domestic firms into national and global value chains. In Kenya, this policy orientation has

While the country reels from the controversy surrounding the fuel scandal, the long-term effects of disruptions in the Middle East are already taking shape. Vellum Kenya’s “Not Our War, But Still Our Problem: Africa and the Middle East Crisis” highlights both the near-term and structural implications of the U.S.–Iran conflict on African economies. Beyond energy,

One of the defining themes that emerged from the Connected Africa Summit 2026 was the growing centrality of trust within Africa’s digital transformation agenda. The discussions reflected a clear evolution in the continent’s digital policy discourse, moving beyond traditional concerns of access and connectivity towards more fundamental questions of governance, accountability, and confidence in digital

The global contest over Artificial Intelligence (AI) governance is rapidly emerging as one of the defining political economy questions of the decade. Beneath the technical language of algorithms, standards, and safety frameworks lies a deeper struggle over power, sovereignty, market control, and regulatory influence. Increasingly, the debate is no longer simply about how AI should