Siddharth Chatterjee: Perspectives-My work in the United Nations, the Red Cross and the Indian Army

On 07 March 2017, Kenya will hosted its 4th devolution conference. No doubt, remarkable progress has been made in the few years devolution has begun in Kenya.  While economic forecasts for Kenya indicate a positive development trajectory, the forthcoming general elections must be seen as an opportunity to deepen and solidify the democratic process; the path that yields sustainable peace and equitable economic governance.  As the polls on 8th August 2017 approach, the main issue in the minds of all Kenyans, is how to  consolidate devolution , the best gift that Kenya has had since independence.  But there are also concerns that election-related violence could easily derail that progressive course.  Many have made Kenya a case study, sadly, for the way society can disintegrate itself along ethnic identities in determining power and wealth sharing, including the art of exploiting long-running intercommunity tensions. Factors that fuel cycles o...

About two decades ago, big banks in Kenya could gladly cherry-pick and retain only the high-end customers, leaving the majority unbanked and dependent on exploitative money-lenders or informal savings clubs. How times have changed! Today, Kenyans now can not only choose from a wide range of financial institutions catering to the lowest of income customers, but the big banks have also been forced to go down-market. This came about as a result of the rise in micro-finance institutions and savings and cooperative societies, but in most part due to innovations in technology and digitization of financial services. In 2007, mobile money, M-PESA for short, was introduced in Kenya by the country’s biggest mobile network, Safaricom Limited, as a simple way of repaying micro-loans via cell phone. Since then, this innovation has spread widely throughout the country, with the financial sector now delivering sundry business models, including the use of mobile agents in lieu of bank...