Creator
Patrick Gathara
Patrick Gathara is a communications consultant, writer, and award-winning political cartoonist based in Nairobi.
The blackface election looms
Like blackface, the US election is a stupid inversion of the ‘usual’ trope of being the superpower that offers lessons on governance and rights to Africa
‘Insult’ arrest kicks off poll race in Kenya
MPs’ detention may signal the silencing of dissent and a bid to railroad changes to the Constitution
How to report on humanitarian crises: A guide for Western journalists
The world has become a more complicated place — that doesn’t mean your reporting has to be.
Images of black death satisfy disturbing desires and purposes
The protests sweeping the United States after the latest police killing of a black man again speak to the ability of images to evoke powerful emotional responses
Kenya’s government can’t tackle the pandemic alone. It needs civil society
Kenya’s government has excluded nongovernmental organisations and other groups such as churches from its emergency decision-making. This is a mistake
Kenya’s push for a national ID raises red flags
There is a lot of money to be made from exploiting Kenyans’ personal data, and no shortage of unscrupulous politicians willing to do the exploiting
The racist reaction to the Ethiopian Airlines crash was all too predictable
Once again, Africans have been reminded that some deaths, and thus lives, are more important than others
Kenya suffers Somali blowback
Kenya said it invaded Somalia to protect its citizens, but the attack in Nairobi this week shows this has failed