By Gitile Naituli In Kenya’s political vocabulary, few phrases are as casually deployed, and as poorly interrogated as “Kikuyu privilege.” It is invoked to explain electoral outcomes, economic disparities, and even educational mobility. Yet this phrase, repeated often enough, has become a convenient shortcut that obscures a more uncomfortable truth: what is described as “privilege” is, in many cases, citizens demanding leadership and punishing failure. Politics, at its core, is a contract. Leaders promise representation, development, and stewardship of public resources; citizens, in return, offer votes and legitimacy. Where this contract is enforced, leadership improves. Where it is not, mediocrity hardens into entitlement. The Kikuyu Nation, for all its internal contradictions and current frustrations, has historically enforced this contract with unusual severity. That enforcement, not ethnicity, is what many mistake for privilege. Consider a simple but telling fact: it is remarkably ...
For years, the collapse of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi puzzled many observers across Africa and the world. How could a country with high living standards, generous state programs, and a strong economy turn so swiftly against a leader who appeared to have delivered materially for his people? This question is not just about Libya. It speaks to a deeper truth about governance, legitimacy, and the limits of developmental authoritarianism. It speaks to Africa’s political future. And it speaks directly to the crossroads at which Kenya now finds itself. --- The Libyan Paradox: Prosperity Without Liberty Before the 2011 uprising, Libya’s economic and social indicators were strikingly strong for the region. Gaddafi’s Libya boasted: Free education Free healthcare Subsidized housing Cheap fuel High employment An extensive welfare system These were not myths. The United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) of 2010 ranked Libya 53rd in the world and first in Africa. Even today, that ranking stands...