By Billy Mijungu

The future economic revolution of Migori County will happen in Nyatike. In the next fifty years, Nyatike is bound to transform into one of the most vibrant economic zones in Kenya and East Africa. What many people currently view as a rural region will soon become a symbol of opportunity, development, and prosperity. Nyatike carries enormous untapped potential that can redefine the future of Migori County for generations to come.

The region is naturally blessed with valuable mineral resources. Gold mining activities have already placed Nyatike on the map, but the area is believed to possess several other minerals that can fuel industrial and economic growth. Mining will likely become the backbone of Nyatike’s economy, attracting investors, creating employment opportunities, and improving the livelihoods of local communities. If managed properly with transparency and proper infrastructure, the mining sector can elevate Nyatike into a major economic powerhouse.

Nyatike also possesses another hidden treasure, its beautiful sandy beaches along the shores of Lake Victoria. In years to come, the area is likely to become a tourism paradise. Resorts, hotels, holiday homes, and recreational centers will emerge across the lakeshore as both local and international tourists seek relaxation and adventure. The vast land available in Nyatike can also support the establishment of golf courses, conference facilities, and entertainment parks that will boost tourism revenue significantly.

Fishing activities will equally continue to expand due to the strategic location near Lake Victoria. Improved fishing infrastructure, fish processing industries, and modern transport systems will strengthen trade within the region and beyond. The numerous bays surrounding Nyatike will eventually become centers of shipping and passenger transport, connecting Migori County to neighboring counties and countries around the lake region. This development alone has the capacity to open enormous economic opportunities for traders, transporters, and investors.

Sports development will also play a critical role in the transformation of Nyatike. As the economy grows, there will be demand for sports facilities, stadiums, and talent academies to nurture young people. Sports tourism and recreational activities will become part of the region’s identity, helping young people secure opportunities and careers.

Nyatike’s vast land further creates possibilities for major infrastructure projects. In future, Migori County may have a second aerodrome in Nyatike after Lichota Airstrip. Such developments would increase connectivity, promote investment, and support tourism and trade.

Without doubt, Nyatike is destined for greatness. The future of Migori County will heavily depend on how this region is planned, managed, and developed. Nyatike is not merely a constituency; it is the future economic heartbeat of Migori County.

By PHILLIP ORWA

Principal Secretary for the State Department for Public Health and Professional Standards, Mary Muthoni, has assured Kenyans that there are no confirmed cases of Ebola in Kenya.

The Principal Secretary, while speaking in Kirinyaga County, indicated that the country was well prepared and equipped to handle any cases, but informed the nation that it was still safe from the deadly virus.

Muthoni noted that of the 16 suspected and tested individuals, none had tested positive for the virus.

“I want to reassure all Kenyans that as of May 29th, we do not have any confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease within our borders. Our surveillance systems are working as intended—we have swiftly tested 16 suspected cases from across the country, and I can confirm that all have returned negative.”

Laikipia has been chosen as a quarantine hub by the United States of America (USA).

The USA also has several CDC centres in the country where several labs are in place to test and implement medical tests, treatment, and services.

By Simon Okola

Agenda Beyond Borders has officially launched the Digital Hustle Hub, a youth-focused skills development platform designed to equip young people with practical digital, employability, freelancing, and income-generating skills for today’s changing world of work.

The Digital Hustle Hub has been established under the powerful tagline: “Learn Skills. Build Income.” This message reflects the urgent need to move beyond traditional job-seeking approaches and empower young people to create, access, and sustain income opportunities through digital skills, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Across Kenya and many parts of Africa, youth unemployment remains one of the most pressing social and economic challenges. Many young people are educated, ambitious, and talented, yet they continue to face limited access to formal employment, weak career guidance, inadequate exposure to digital work opportunities, and insufficient practical skills for the modern labour market.

Agenda Beyond Borders believes that this gap can be addressed through intentional training, mentorship, digital empowerment, and access to practical tools that help young people position themselves for local and global opportunities.

The Digital Hustle Hub has been created to respond directly to this need.

Speaking after the launch, the Founder of Agenda Beyond Borders, Simon Okola, a renowned educator, youth advocate, and climate finance expert, noted that the greatest challenge facing many young people is not a lack of potential, but a lack of structured mentorship, practical guidance, and access to the right opportunities.

According to him, many youths already have talent, ambition, smartphones, and internet access, but they need someone to show them how to turn these resources into income, employability, and long-term career growth.

“What many young people lack is not ability. What they lack is mentorship, guidance, exposure, and practical support to help them convert their skills into real opportunities,” said Okola.

The lead of the initiative, Emma Anyango, reassured stakeholders that the Digital Hustle Hub will remain practical, inclusive, and results-oriented, with a strong focus on helping young people gain skills that can translate into real income opportunities.

She noted that the initiative is not only about training youths, but also about walking with them through mentorship, career guidance, job readiness support, freelancing exposure, and continuous learning.

“Our commitment is to ensure that every young person who joins the Digital Hustle Hub receives practical support, relevant skills, and the confidence to pursue opportunities in the digital economy,” said Anyango.

Through the platform, young people will be trained in key areas such as AI tools, remote jobs, freelancing, proposal writing, CV optimisation, interview preparation, employability skills, digital marketing, online income opportunities, and climate finance-related opportunities within the green economy. The Hub will also provide access to job alerts, learning resources, mentorship sessions, webinars, practical toolkits, and community-based peer learning.

Unlike many traditional training programmes, the Digital Hustle Hub is designed to be highly practical, youth-friendly, and action-oriented. The goal is not only to teach young people about opportunities but also to help them take real steps toward earning income, building confidence, improving their professional profiles, and accessing sustainable livelihoods.

The platform also recognises that artificial intelligence is reshaping the workplace. Rather than viewing AI as a threat, Agenda Beyond Borders is positioning it as a tool that young people can use to improve productivity, search for jobs, write better CVs, prepare proposals, build businesses, create content, and access global work opportunities.

Digital Hustle Hub will also help young people understand how to participate in emerging sectors such as green jobs, climate finance, sustainability, and digital entrepreneurship. As the world shifts toward climate-smart development, young people must be prepared to benefit from opportunities linked to clean energy, environmental innovation, climate adaptation, sustainable agriculture, and green enterprise development.

Agenda Beyond Borders believes that empowering young people requires more than motivation. It requires practical systems, relevant content, accessible platforms, and consistent mentorship. Through the Digital Hustle Hub, the organisation seeks to build a movement of skilled, confident, and opportunity-ready youth who can participate meaningfully in the digital economy.

The Hub will operate through online communities, webinars, bootcamps, training sessions, downloadable toolkits, and strategic partnerships with institutions, trainers, employers, community organisations, and development actors. This approach will ensure that young people are not only trained but also connected to real opportunities.

At the heart of the initiative is a strong belief that every young person deserves access to skills that can help them build income and improve their future. Whether one is a student, graduate, unemployed youth, young entrepreneur, freelancer, or community worker, the Digital Hustle Hub offers a practical pathway to growth.

Agenda Beyond Borders is calling upon young people, parents, schools, youth groups, community-based organisations, development partners, county governments, private sector actors, and training institutions to support and participate in this initiative.

The launch of the Digital Hustle Hub marks an important step in advancing youth employability, digital inclusion, and economic empowerment. It is not just a training platform; it is a movement to help young people turn skills into income, ideas into opportunities, and ambition into action.

As youths continue to face an uncertain job market, initiatives like the Digital Hustle Hub offer hope, direction, and practical solutions. Through this platform, Agenda Beyond Borders is reaffirming its commitment to building a generation that is skilled, confident, innovative, and ready for the future of work.

Digital Hustle Hub
Learn Skills. Build Income.
Powered by Agenda Beyond Borders

For more information, contact:
Email: agendabeyondborders@gmail.com
Website: www.agendabeyondborders.org

By Anderson Ojwang’

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has become a political pariah in Nyanza and has emerged as a political tool to de-campaign his allies ahead of the 2027 general elections.

While other presidential hopefuls including President William Ruto, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, and Martha Karua of the Peoples Liberation Party, among others, are welcomed, Gachagua remains a persona non grata in the community.

Unlike the late Raila Amolo Odinga and his father, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, who suffered the political consequences of the Mt Kenya oathing against their quest for Kenya’s leadership, Gachagua dug his own grave.

Just as Raila was the black sheep of Mt Kenya’s politics and a potent campaign arsenal which caused many of his associates their political careers, Gachagua has today assumed a similar role in the current political dispensation in the lake region.

Homa Bay MP Peter Kaluma wrote on X handle: “Our Mt Kenya brothers took oath back in 1969 that presidency would never go beyond Mt Kenya. For this reason, whenever the presidency goes to a person outside Mt Kenya, they frustrate, create anarchy and fuel civil unrest.”

The politics of shareholdings and traps

Gachagua now has a date with destiny in his quest for Nyanza votes over the reality of the past when he was the country’s second most senior person in the administrative pecking order.

During his tenure in the office of Deputy President, he rubbed both leaders and the public the wrong way.

Gachagua, while in office, took to criticising Raila and even said that he had laid traps in State House for Raila to negate his entry to meet with President William Ruto.

For instance, during the burial of Mau Mau veteran General Mathenge in Nyandarua, Gachagua took issue with Raila for asking him to allow ongoing consultations between Azimio and the Kenya Kwanza Government.

Raila then said at the funeral: “If we can hold consultations, that is in order. Riggy, there is no harm in people talking. Let people have talks, even if you don’t want to hear my word, just listen to what I say. We don’t want half a loaf. What and which kind of bread? I do not want to become Deputy President. I don’t want to be Prime Minister. I am not interested. Stop panicking. I have not spoken or even met Ruto.”

But Gachagua responded: “Former Prime Minister, we have not rejected consultations and talks, but we fear you. The reason is that you came and had a handshake with our son, former President Uhuru Kenyatta. He was a good person. He loved and worked for us. But when you got into a handshake with him, he changed. We from Mt Kenya fear you. Be like your father, who helped us in the fight for the land that belonged to the Mau Mau and was taken away. Those who have possessed those lands are your friends. Help us get back the land.”

Rejected overtures, a signal of a black sheep

After his impeachment, Gachagua said that he had been mandated by the Mt Kenya people to look for a political formation that will bring power to the people.

“I was looking at it with a few strategists from the region. Raila’s numbers are more exciting. Because Raila already has 6.8 million votes. We only beat him by only 200,000 votes. If we agree to support him, we could – I told you – with his 6.8 million and our 6 million votes, if you look at his voting pattern, he normally votes between 10.00 am and 11.00 am. If we agree to support him, before he votes, he will be the president. That you can take to the bank,” he said in a recent interview.

“I want our people to remain quiet so that we can get what we want going forward. Those who are making noise in the opposition told us that they were in the government of shareholders. They said they have shares. They told us that they have shareholding in the government. Some have more shares while others have the least. Now that they have left the government after their fights, they have come to us so that we may join them in order to make us president. But they are forgetting that when they were in the government, they used to abuse us. They did not know that we are a people who matter. Now at this time, they are in a fix. They want us to join them. They now say that they want to give you the presidency. Bloody bastard,” he said.

Absence at Raila’s funeral

Gachagua remains the senior most politician in the country who never attended Raila’s burial and has never paid homage at his graveside.

While top leaders and Kenyans of all shades of life have paid homage, Gachagua’s absence has cemented the belief that he is anti-Raila, both in life and death.

But Kiambu Senator Karungo wa Thang’wa then said Gachagua’s silence and absence during Raila’s farewell were not a sign of defiance or indifference, but an act of respect and statesmanship.

Karungo said Gachagua’s decision reflected an understanding of the solemnity of the moment. “Kenya does not stop when Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua chooses silence,” he wrote. “It listens even more closely.”

He said Gachagua’s absence allowed the country to focus on celebrating Raila’s contribution to Kenya’s democracy.

“By choosing to step back, Gachagua ensured that the spotlight remained where it truly belonged – on Baba’s journey, sacrifice, and contribution,” he said.

Demonstrations

The recent demonstrations which have rocked most parts of Mt Kenya region have not been replicated in Nyanza.

Nyanza has remained calm as the restive Mt Kenya went to the streets, with ODM leaders led by party leader Dr Oburu Oginga and National Chairperson Gladys Wanga thanking the residents for avoiding demos.

“I am happy that this time our people were not on the streets. We have witnessed several deaths, and now let other people also take the lead,” Wanga said.

By Hon. Fatuma Ibrahim Ali

Growing up in Wajir, I often felt like a guest in my own country – a distant observer of a national identity I couldn’t quite touch. On every Madaraka Day, we would huddle around radios, listening to the echoes of celebrations in very far corners of Kenya, never daring to imagine that one day, the national stage would be set here in Wajir, North Eastern Kenya. We were told that independence meant the end of “us versus them,” a new dawn of equality for all Kenyans. But for the people of North Eastern, that promise remained elusive. Instead, we endured decades of systemic neglect, the trauma of state-led violence, and a culture of suspicion that forced us to constantly prove our “Kenyaness.” We were frequently labelled “insurgents” and treated as outsiders, even as we remained deeply rooted in our Kenyaness. Today, that narrative is being dismantled.

Since the inception of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya, only nine counties have hosted Madaraka Day celebrations. Wajir County in North Eastern Kenya will make history as the 10th county to host this historic celebration. Wajir is no longer a peripheral observer of our nation’s celebrations; we have become a stakeholder in Kenya’s history. This moment represents the arrival of the great equalizer, a long-overdue declaration and demystification that the freedom won by all our forefathers belongs as much to the North as it does to the rest of the country.

Today, a 10,000-seater stadium stands complete, built by the same military that once guarded the borders against us, and a new State Lodge now rises – a place where a president can finally sleep among the citizens of North Eastern Kenya. This is a profound, if complex, sign of reconciliation and recognition of citizens’ rights. For decades, the security uniform was a symbol of public scare, a harsh reminder of the ‘insurgent’ labels and the trauma of the many massacres of North Eastern Kenya, particularly the 1984 Wagalla Massacre. To see the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) lead the construction of these facilities is a shocking but necessary shift. It creates a new dialogue: we are moving from an era where the state’s presence was measured by checkpoints to one where it is measured by infrastructure and civic access. By building here, the military and the state are signalling a transition from keepers of the perimeter to partners in our development. We are finally being invited into the Kenyan house, and we are being given the keys to our own part of it.

Across Wajir town, the signs of this transformation are impossible to miss. Beyond the Ksh 900 million investment in the new stadium, featuring a full-sized football pitch, an eight-lane athletics track, and modern spectator amenities, we have seen a rapid upgrading of critical road networks, the installation of a series of solar street lights, and the expansion of Wajir International Airport. For decades, our potential remained locked behind poor connectivity. Today, these projects are the arteries of a new, 24-hour economy. We are no longer defined by what we lack, but by the potential we are finally being empowered to unlock.

As the inaugural Woman Representative for Wajir, I spent my tenure advocating for the foundational promise of devolution – the idea that resources and dignity should be brought closer to the people. Devolution was our first real attempt to equalize the playing field, decentralizing power and resources to finally give Wajir County a voice in its own development. Hosting this national celebration is a significant scale-up of that vision. This milestone is a testament to an evolving political maturity led by His Excellency President William Samoei Ruto, clearly reflecting a bipartisan consensus between the two broad-based political parties that finally recognize the importance of inclusivity and devolving national celebrations from Nairobi to counties. North Eastern Kenya is now not just a region to be visited during campaign seasons or crises, but a vital engine of our national economy. It is the transition from being mere participants in our own governance to becoming central architects of the national agenda. By sitting at the table in our own capital, we are moving beyond the struggle for basic allocation and toward a new era of national influence, where North Eastern is no longer a place that requires special pleading, but a region that contributes to national development.

Yet, we remain under no illusions. This stadium and these roads should not be the end of our journey; they are the starting blocks. As we look beyond the pageantry of June 1st, we call upon the national government to ensure this momentum is sustained. Partner with us – and with Wajir’s neighbours in Garissa, Mandera, Isiolo, Marsabit and Turkana – so that we may tackle the perennial menace of drought, access to reliable electricity, education, and water security with the same urgency used to build this stadium. This must be the beginning of a deliberate, region-wide investment in sustainable infrastructure and economic initiatives that finally empower our pastoralist communities.

To our fellow Kenyans across the republic, Wajir and North Eastern are no longer the distant frontiers you read about in headlines. We are now a vibrant heartland – a land of untapped potential, unique culture, and resilient people. We invite you to come and see for yourselves the new face of the North. We are proud to host the nation, and we are even more eager to prove that when the North is given its rightful place at the table, all of Kenya rises. Today, we are not just guests; we are finally, unequivocally, home.

The writer is a member of the COIN-10 Committee; former Wajir Woman Representative (2013–2017) and former East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) MP