Author: Abdihakim Siyad

Mogadishu is confronting a deeply disturbing question: what happens when the government that is supposed to protect citizens becomes the force standing between those citizens and their homes? The scenes emerging from Yaaqshiid district on Sunday have once again placed Somalia’s capital at the centre of a growing crisis over land, forced evictions, state power and the rights of ordinary citizens. In the Tookiyo neighbourhood, residents resisted an operation involving security forces and bulldozers as authorities moved to demolish homes on land the government says belongs to the state. Local reports said nearly 10 people were injured, while other accounts…

There is a political war quietly taking shape in North Eastern Kenya, and it is not yet a war of rallies, party nominations or competing presidential candidates, but rather a more consequential struggle over who gets to speak for North Eastern Kenya when Nairobi comes calling. And at the centre of that struggle stands one man: Aden Duale, a politician who has, for more than a decade, occupied a unique position in Kenya’s political architecture as a constituency politician, Majority Leader, Cabinet Secretary and one of President William Ruto’s most dependable political allies. But something has changed, because the question…

President William Ruto has offered his most detailed account yet of his troubled relationship with retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, revealing how repeated attempts at reconciliation failed and accusing his former boss of choosing opposition politics over the role of an elder statesman. President William Ruto has opened up on one of Kenya’s most consequential political fallouts, giving a rare and deeply personal account of his relationship with his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, and explaining why efforts to rebuild their once-powerful political alliance have repeatedly failed. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Nation at State House, Nairobi, on Friday, August 21,…

There are professions that demand knowledge, and then there are professions that demand something more: the courage to walk into difficult places, confront difficult problems and remain committed to solutions long after the applause has faded. Engineering is one of them. In Mandera, where drought, distance, fragile infrastructure and an unforgiving climate can turn access to water into a daily struggle, the work of a water engineer carries a significance far beyond drawings, measurements and technical reports. It touches health, dignity, livelihoods and the future of entire communities. For Engineer Hibaaq, that responsibility has become a purpose. Her journey, however,…

Kenya is entering another season of political turbulence, but something unusual is happening on the northern frontier. While politicians elsewhere are already crossing counties, building alliances, testing crowds and positioning themselves for the 2027 battle, North Eastern Kenya appears to be watching the national political storm from the balcony. Across the country, the temperature is rising. The Linda Mwananchi movement has been taking its message from one region to another, with figures such as Edwin Sifuna and Babu Owino becoming increasingly visible in the opposition’s mobilisation efforts. President William Ruto, meanwhile, is not merely defending his administration; he is increasingly…

Kenyan politics has rarely been a straight road from one election to the next. It is a winding political journey shaped by protests, alliances, betrayals, reconciliations, new movements and familiar faces returning in unfamiliar political formations. As the country edges closer to another electoral contest, the political class is already rearranging itself, and Kenyans are once again witnessing the early stages of a familiar cycle. In a thought-provoking script, Mandera Senator Ibrahim Ali Roba describes this journey through four distinct political seasons, offering an insider’s perspective on how Kenyan politics evolves between elections and why today’s political excitement should not…

Somalia is once again preparing to bring its national carrier back into the skies, with the Civil Aviation Authority announcing September 2026 as the latest target for the resumption of Somali Airlines flights, more than three decades after the airline was grounded following the collapse of the country’s central government. The announcement has revived hopes that Somalia could finally restore one of the most recognizable symbols of its aviation history. Civil Aviation Authority Director Ahmed Macallin said preparations for the relaunch had been completed and that Somali Airlines was expected to begin operating direct flights in September. If achieved, the…

Somalia may be moving closer to a defining moment in its long-running security transition, with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declaring that the country has reached the point where it should take full responsibility for its own security and bid farewell to foreign African troops. “The time has come for us to take charge of our own security. We should give the foreign forces a beautiful bouquet of flowers and let them go,” President Hassan Sheikh said on Sunday as he presided over the graduation of thousands of Somali National Army soldiers at Xananbuure in Galguduud region, Galmudug State. The unusually…

Four years after returning to office, Governor Ahmed Abdullahi’s administration can point to major investments in health, agriculture, water, education and social programmes but much of the county’s most visible transformation has also come through national-government projects, while Senate scrutiny over billions in liabilities continues to raise difficult questions about financial management. On August 9, 2022, Ahmed Abdullahi returned to the Wajir governorship, nearly four years after leaving office. He won with 35,533 votes on an ODM ticket, defeating his closest challenger, Hassan Mohamed Adam of Jubilee, who garnered 27,224 votes a margin of 8,309 votes. Out of 132,854 valid votes, Abdullahi’s…

As Kenya moves toward the 2027 General Election, the country’s emerging electoral arithmetic is beginning to reveal an important story: the regions with the largest voter populations are getting larger, but so are the smaller blocs that can become decisive in a closely contested presidential race. Nowhere is this tension more visible than in North Eastern, Kenya’s smallest traditional electoral region by registered voters. New voter-registration figures from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) show that North Eastern has added 97,859 voters during the latest Enhanced Continuous Voter Registration (ECVR) phase, taking its potential voter base from 882,677 in…