Two weeks ago this column featured personal experience of life in JKT (the compulsory National Service), in 1973. Some esteemed female readers wanted to know how it was for women. To put a perspective reader, most were 18 by the time camps for girls began. Yes, it is a long time. Today we have more…
That is a centuries old maxim Native Americans teach. It is a wise saying that cautions the powerful to be careful in the use of their power. When I was growing up, I was often puzzled as to how we use our everyday lives. We never discuss our lives and yet do not in many…
There’s a health crisis quietly growing along the Kenya–Tanzania border and it’s about time we started treating it with the urgency it deserves. Wild meat is being hunted, traded and eaten in many border areas, while it has in many sense become a matter of food or culture, the truth is much scarier: Wild meat…
At the end of our two-week incarceration in a cell at the Oljoro National Service (JKT) Camp in Arusha – punishment for going AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave) during transit from Mtwara line – the late Aanei Laiser and I were finally released and rejoined our fellow recruits in the daily tasks at the camp….
Do postgraduate students burn more calories than undergraduates? Should they eat more, live better and therefore receive a higher stipend? During a meeting of a scholarship trust fund where I serve as a trustee, we were overhearing views when I half-jokingly raised the question of whether postgraduate students don’t have other undergraduates beaten in burning…
A noticeable resident of the wild – a lone hyena – was aware of our presence. It looked at us, then scanned the horizon as it searched for prey, sniffing the air with senses keenly attuned to the environment. When I first visited the area a few years ago, just after the rainy season, the…
Welcome to our weekly Health Diaries column where we explore various health topics and simplify complex conditions for our readers. Lupus, medically known as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In lupus, the body’s immune system, which normally protects the body from infections, mistakenly attacks healthy…
We have often heard it said that Europe considers it to be in its best interest to keep Africa perpetually poor. The argument goes that a developed Africa would mean an impoverished Europe, as Europe heavily depends on Africa for much of its nominal wealth. The British pound, for instance, is pegged to the gold…
Turmeric has been used for over 4,000 years in Indian Ayurvedic medicine and as a sacred spice in Hindu rituals. It spread through Asia and the Middle East as both a dye and healing herb. Ginger originated in Southeast Asia and was one of the earliest spices exported to Europe during the spice trade. It…
Instead of taxing retained earnings, the government should focus on improving tax compliance, expanding the tax base through formalisation of the informal sector… The 2025/26 financial year budget, a raft of new taxes has been introduced – one of which is a 10% withholding tax on retained earnings. While intended to enhance domestic revenue mobilisation,…
