By Musila Muoki Makola is not in Lomé or Ouagadougou I was hunting for a stall in Makola, Accra’s sprawling, chaotic, and magnificent open-air market, when I stopped to ask a trader for directions, thanks to my mother’s appetite …
By Musila Muoki Enthusiasm is Not Industrial Policy In 2024, I wrote that Africa had yet to scratch the surface of its pharmaceutical potential in response to a crisis that is both a health issue and a structural economic …
By: Faith Wanja The problem with relying on other countries For a long time, the story of medicine across the continent has been defined by a cycle of ordering and waiting. Africa currently faces 25% of the global health …
By Muoki Musila It’s a sovereignty issue… When I questioned whether the Pan-African Payment and Settlement Systems (PAPSS) could survive the looming digital currency wars, I had no idea that it would roar back with a double-barreled announcement. The intra-African …
Why It Matters Kenya’s renewed plan to extend its Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Naivasha to the Malaba border is reshaping the role of infrastructure in East Africa, from a traditional development tool into a powerful instrument of diplomacy and …
By Muoki Musila Hope in the Skies, but will it land? In a post intended to ridicule Africa’s dysfunctional air transport sector on Africa Day, Kenyan journalist Larry Madowo shared a Kenya Airways itinerary from Nairobi to Abidjan that …
Keeping Pace with China’s Digital Blitzkrieg The global financial order flinched days ago when China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS 2.0), supercharged by the digital Yuan processed a $16.5 million payment from Shenzhen to Kuala Lumpur in just 7.2 seconds. …
Charm Offensive in China Kenya’s President Ruto was busy confronting turbulent international relations on trade, investment, and diplomacy during his state visit to China signing a 24 memorandum of Understanding Agreements with China’s Xi. Marked by controversial statements on US …
Growth towards Economic Freedom As East Africa aspires to claim a place in the global economy, it must confront an underlying obstacle hindering its progress, limited economic freedom with a regional average of 53.2 lower than world average. Despite …
By Musila Muoki Streamlining Border Trade On April 17, 2025, Kenya and Ethiopia signed a milestone Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate cross-border trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The AfCFTA provides a single …