Ken Opalo @kopalo Twitter profile | Pikagi

Pikagi

Ken Opalo

@kopalo

27,194

Followers

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Dad. Nairobian. Associate Professor at @GeorgetownSFS . Author of Legislative Development in Africa ( @CambridgeUP , 2019). Lifetime travel companion of @vwopalo .

Washington, DC

https://t.co/6e0S9amMCm

Joined June 2009

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

2 days

On Nigeria’s bold but rudderless attempts at structural economic reforms: President Bola Tinubu’s lack of a focused agenda is blunting the impact of some of his bold reforms while also jeopardizing private sector growth:

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On Nigeria’s bold but rudderless attempts at structural economic reforms

President Bola Tinubu’s lack of a coherent economic agenda is blunting the impact of some of his bold reforms while also jeopardizing private sector growth

www.africanistperspective.com

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

8 months

This is one of my favorite human achievements.

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Ken Opalo

2 months

Huge turning point in Kenyan politics. Still wrapping my head around the psychological impact and symbolism of today.

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Ken Opalo

2 months

One of the best things about this current moment is the protesters’ extravagant display of utu. Michango. Blood drives. First aid clinics. Solidarity from private firms. All of it.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

5 months

This is a good response. People who live in high-income societies with energy abundance have no idea what they keep asking lower-income countries to give up.

@RangaMberi

Ranga.🇿🇼

5 months

“Let me stop you right there…” Caribbean nation Guyana is booming after discovering oil. BBC’s Stephen Sackur puts it to President @presidentaligy ; lobbyists say oil is bad for the climate. Dude wasn’t having it. Mans was ready!

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Ken Opalo

9 months

Corruption is obviously bad, but is also terribly overrated as a cause of poverty and underdevelopment

@y2khunter

Hunter*

9 months

what opinion will you defend like this?

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Ken Opalo

3 months

That an entire region just sits back and lets this happen again and again will forever be a stain on the record of all current African leaders.

@BBCAfrica

BBC News Africa

3 months

Over 150 people are feared dead in a massacre in central Sudan, with blame directed at the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group. Local activists in Gezira state report that soldiers surrounded the village of Wad al-Nourah on Wednesday before launching two attacks. (1/1)

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Ken Opalo

2 months

Kenyan Protests, Part One: The political education of President William Ruto:

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Kenyan Protests, Part One: The political education of President William Ruto

Lessons on the difficulties of governing during turbulent economic times after campaigning as an anti-establishment populist.

www.africanistperspective.com

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

23 days

It’s so sad that this is a core pillar of the Kenyan government’s jobs agenda. Totally delusional stuff.

@KIMANIICHUNGWAH

Kimani Ichung’wah

@KIMANIICHUNGWAH

23 days

Finya Computer Pata DOLLAR. Monetizing Facebook for our content creators is a game-changer, providing significant employment opportunities for our creative, youthful generation. The President has fulfilled his promise to empower the youth, enabling them to earn money from

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Ken Opalo

9 months

What’s happening in Sudan will forever be a stain on the AU and the current cohort of leaders on the Continent. The most complacent ruling elites in the world. Shame.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

4 months

It’s bizarre watching the absurd theatre that is US news coverage of campus anti-war protests while also getting updates on the ongoing man-made humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Focus on the issues. Not everything has to be swallowed by American culture wars.

@AP

The Associated Press

4 months

A Palestinian baby in Gaza is born an orphan in an urgent cesarean section after an Israeli strike

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

6 months

Policymaking is hard. Lifting millions of people out of poverty is hard, boring, long-term work. I wish more people appreciated these truths and weren’t hellbent on constantly pursuing faddist (and very costly) quick fixes.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

6 months

On why policymakers in low-income countries shouldn’t outsource their jobs to academics.

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Academic research and policy research are two different things

The case for investing in context-specific policy research and implementation strategies

www.africanistperspective.com

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

This is a common misperception. 60 years ago Nigeria and South Korea (or Africa & East Asia) were not at the same level of development. Not in levels of state capacity, human capital development, and certainly not in levels of agricultural & industrial technological capacity.

@MoghaluKingsley

Kingsley Moghalu OON

@MoghaluKingsley

3 months

60 years ago, South Korea’s GDP per capita was lower than those of Nigeria and Ghana. Today, its GDP per capita is $34,000 and it is #14 in the rankings of the world’s economies. The GDP per capita of Nigeria and Ghana today: $2,000. #TransformationGap #WhatLeadershipDelivers

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Ken Opalo

3 months

It’s really stunning to see African policymakers buy into this crazy idea. Especially since historical underpopulation is a significant explanation for state weakness and underdevelopment in the region over the last 500 years. Lowering fertility rates will not end poverty. 1/2

@KBCChannel1

KBC Channel1 News

3 months

Felix Koskei: Africa is exceedingly threatened by the rapidly rising human population. #KBCniYetu ^DB

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Ken Opalo

29 days

Nearly all African governments’ agriculture policy basically amounts to praying for rains — an African economist. Where is the lie?

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

6 months

There are so many important lessons to learn about international development from this awful case (thread). 1. Consider for a moment how ridiculously easy it is to do consequential stuff in low-income countries.

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@ryangrim

Ryan Grim

6 months

❗️❗️After two in depth investigations by The Intercept into a World Bank cover-up a child sex abuse scandal at a for profit school network in Africa, the World Bank has finally acknowledged wrongdoing. WB head Ajay Banga in an email to staff apologized to the victims and

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Ken Opalo

15 days

The overall figures are astonishing. But so are the individual stories of personal loss. How can so many people remain completely numb to this?

@SkyNews

Sky News

16 days

Newborn twins in Gaza were killed with their mother and grandmother as their father went to collect birth certificates earlier today. According to local media, the family had been displaced from northern Gaza and had sheltered further south.

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Ken Opalo

2 months

If tone deaf was a person.

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Ken Opalo

11 months

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but development necessarily means having a bunch of large firms — i.e., mass job creation. Stop it with the fantasies of every low-income household saving and investing in their own business.

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Ken Opalo

10 days

Why would a low-income country like Ethiopia adopt such a policy???

@agmutambo

Aggrey 'AG' Mutambo🇰🇪🇺🇬

10 days

#Ethiopia to restrict importation of petrol/diesel vehicles in new policy to signal transition to green energy

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Ken Opalo

2 months

This won’t cut it. Total failure of leadership.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

This is an extremely underrated question.

@CKyobutungi

Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi Muzukulu wa Bityo

3 months

When are we going to have an Africa-Africa Summit?

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

1 year

Coups beget coups. And meaningless electoralism pretending to be democracy isn’t the solution.

@BBCAfrica

BBC News Africa

1 year

Military coups were a regular occurrence in parts of Africa. But after a period of relative democratic stability, there are signs they are on the rise. The Gabon takeover is just the latest and comes just a month after soldiers took control in Niger.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

2 years

I wonder how much time and planning went into having the top civil servant in the education ministry receive a copier. Also, in this day and age, who accepts “donations” of electronic equipment in government installations?

@EduMinKenya

Ministry of Education, Kenya (MoE)

2 years

The Principal Secretary for the State Department for Basic Education, Dr. Belio Kipsang receives a state of the art photocopier from @USAIDKenya official in charge of Education and Youth Affairs, Ms Amy Pekol, in his office.

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Ken Opalo

1 year

If I were France and didn’t like the idea of anti-French sentiment across the Sahel I’d have done the last 150 years differently.

@d_foubert

Daniel Foubert 🇵🇱

1 year

🚨🚨🚨 If the pro-Russian 🇷🇺 coup in Niger is a success, it is EXTREMELY serious for Europe. 🇫🇷 absolutely did not expect to be ousted from Niger (4th country…). 1/3 of uranium ☢️ used by 🇫🇷 comes from Niger Congrats Emmanuel. Add Chad, & this will be 🇷🇺’s new colonial empire:

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Ken Opalo

2 years

Your polite reminder that if you want to attend games in the US in the 2026 World Cup you may want to book your visa appointment now. The wait times are ridiculous.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

A lot of people seem to think that democratic states can’t commit crimes against humanity. Which would be breaking news to lots of former colonies of ostensibly democratic states.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

1 year

Say it louder for the development experts in the back.

@EfosaOjomo

Efosa Ojomo

1 year

If the most coveted jobs in your country are development jobs, then your country is not developing.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

23 days

Even better would be to avoid protests through effective service delivery, no theft of public resources, and an aggressive pro-growth policy mix to enable our young people engage in meaningful work. Policy failure is the private sector’s biggest enemy.

@SingoeiAKorir

Korir Sing'Oei

24 days

Part of the reason to regulate and firmly deal with violent and chaotic protests is that protestors do not internalize the cost of their actions. This cost is transferred and borne by someone else-the private sector. Like pollution, violent protests must be regulated before they

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

That there’s absolutely no AU capability to prevent this from happening is a source of constant shame. Even more shameful is the fact that too many African leaders & diplomats harbor no sense of urgency about the situation in Sudan.

@_hudsonc

Cameron Hudson

3 months

The latest famine estimates in #Sudan are cataclysmic: "estimated excess mortality of about 2.5 million people over next 5 months...about 15% of the population in Darfur and Kordofan will die from hunger and disease by September 2024." Let that sink in.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

Huge congratulations to Abubakar and to you SC!!

@ahmednasirlaw

Ahmednasir Abdullahi SC

3 months

With Abubakar and Prof @kopalo of Georgetown University who was a mentor and father figure to my son...thanks Prof!

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Ken Opalo

5 months

Pretty wild that this is official U.S. policy. (But we'll keep hearing about Russian disinformation)

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

4 months

Chad is not transitioning to democratic rule.

@BBCAfrica

BBC News Africa

4 months

Chad is set to become the first of Africa's current junta-led states to move to democratic rule with Monday's presidential vote. It will end a three-year transition imposed after the sudden death of long-serving leader Idriss Déby Itno.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

4 months

It was a bad idea to kill higher education in the 1970s-80s, and it’s a bad idea today. Kenya must endeavor to have excellent universities and research centres. That requires money.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

The “NGO effect” discourse is a reminder that you can’t leapfrog atrociously weak states. Sorry. There are no shortcuts.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

1 month

60% of all low-income countries are under some form of U.S. sanctions. “We don’t think about the collateral damage of sanctions the same way we think about the collateral damage of war ... But we should.”

@JStein_WaPo

Jeff Stein

1 month

NEW: THE STAGGERING RISE OF AMERICA'S GLOBAL ECONOMIC WARFARE 1st in a series @federicacocco & I found: 1. ~1/3 of all nations on Earth now face some form of US sanctions. Huge increase from when mostly applied to Cuba & a handful of regimes 2. +*60%* of *all poor countries*

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Ken Opalo

1 month

Nic van de Walle has rested. May his family find strength during this difficult time. Nic was a great scholar and mentor to countless students. The field of Political Economy will be poorer without him. RIP.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

2 months

I agree that we shouldn’t be in the business of thanking fish for swimming, but I’d like to acknowledge the Senate leadership for today’s kufungua roho session. It’s important that we establish common knowledge of what’s wrong and how to start the long journey of fixing GoK.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

5 months

The African Union and the Continent’s leaders continue to fail the people of Sudan. Shame.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

9 months

The most complacent ruling elites in the world are about to mortgage away their peoples’ futures for trinkets, again. The new ‘scramble for Africa’: how a UAE sheikh quietly made carbon deals for forests bigger than UK | Carbon offsetting | @Guardian

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The new ‘scramble for Africa’: how a UAE sheikh quietly made carbon deals for forests bigger than UK

Exploratory agreements struck with African states that are home to crucial wildlife havens and biodiversity hotspots, for land that represents billions of dollars in potential carbon offsetting...

www.theguardian.com

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

Kenya has a tiny market. Barely 3m people out of a workforce of ~ 18m have formal jobs. The overriding goal should be to export as many shoes as possible. That should be the logic behind any protection of young shoe manufacturers. Not securing them a tiny captive market.

@citizentvkenya

Citizen TV Kenya

@citizentvkenya

3 months

President Ruto: We will not be importing shoes; we will be wearing our own made in Kenya #MadarakaDay

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

1 year

For the record, it’s a total disgrace that, like with most tragedies/crises on the Continent, the African Union has been patently useless for Sudanese. This is not what May 25, 1963 promised us all.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

4 months

It would be nice if academics didn’t always fall into the temptation of believing that the one thing they study is the solution to every problem under the sun (and if policymakers had strong BS detectors for this tendency).

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

Too many people seem to think that critiques of "research" in African development only applies to RCTs. The same people forget that the "corruption & neopatrimonial explains everything" edifice was built and continues to be careful maintained by mostly qualitative researchers.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

Does @BrusselsAirport still run their decrepit and isolated “Africa” terminal?

@citizentvkenya

Citizen TV Kenya

@citizentvkenya

3 months

Direct flights to Brussels resume: Brussels Airlines to operate six weekly flights to and from Nairobi. Brussels Airlines returns to the market after 9-year break. Nairobi set to have second highest frequency after South Africa #CitizenExplainer @YvonneOkwara

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

2 months

Incredible images coming out of Nairobi and throughout the Jamhuri. This is what happens when entitled politicians show nothing but dripping contempt for hard-presses taxpayers.

@C_NyaKundiH

Cyprian, Is Nyakundi

2 months

The #RejectFinanceBill2024 revolution will be televised.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

The field of international development needs a sharper focus on helping private firms in low-income countries flourish: Two unsolicited ideas on how to invest some of Melinda French Gates’ $12.5 billion

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Two unsolicited ideas on how to invest some of Melinda French Gates’ $12.5 billion

The case for bold risk taking to boost women-owned businesses and intensify learning on how to improve subnational service provision that targets women

www.africanistperspective.com

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

9 months

This seems like a non-standard approach to economic policy making.

@mynassah

Idriss A. Nassah

9 months

Following the devaluation of the Malawi Kwacha by 44% last month and the resultant rise in the cost of living, Malawi President Reverend Dr Lazarus Chakwera will be leading his country in a day of prayer Thursday, December 7.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

1 year

Your regular reminder that *economic growth* is terribly underrated as a key ingredient in development. Often, there’s no money for public services (or HH purchasing power) in our region because there’s no money.

@kenyanpundit

Ory Okolloh-Mwangi

1 year

We need to get to $5k GDP per capita on average to really unlock B2C across the board…both tech and non-tech. And it is so well within reach it’s 😡 that we are stuck as a region because of basic reasons.

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Ken Opalo

1 year

For African presidents, being labeled “darling of the West” by Western media is typically the surest sign that you are excellent at summitry and NGO-ese and not much else. Summitry isn’t work.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

The University of Dar es Salaam has fewer than 70 professors. University professors’ exodus to politics: A growing concern for Tanzania’s higher education Part II

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University professors’ exodus to politics: A growing concern for Tanzania’s higher education Part II

Professors and lecturers, once the custodians of knowledge and academic excellence, are increasingly abandoning their posts for the allure of political and government appointments.

www.thecitizen.co.tz

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

1 year

Say it louder for the “lack of political will” crowd in the back!

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

7 months

My hot take on the malaria net discourse is that we should do whatever it takes to eradicate malaria.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

5 months

An image for the ages.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

5 months

Economic growth is a necessary ingredient in the fight against endemic poverty (and entrenching accountable self-government). And it’s a terrible idea to cede the promise of rapid transformational growth & development to autocrats.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

2 years

I started blogging again (it's a great weapon against writer's block!), this time on @SubstackInc . The content will be similar to the old one, plus regular longer deep dives. To start with I did a three part piece on African Foreign Policy for the current era.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

Improve (girls’) education attainment, boost agricultural productivity, enable mass job creation, enable ordered urbanization. Do those before imbibing silly talking points. Fertility rates are already declining in many parts of Africa due to economic/social change.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

Your regular reminder to read all of Mkandawire’s works, starting with this one: Neopatrimonialism and the Political Economy of Economic Performance in Africa: Critical Reflections | World Politics |

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Neopatrimonialism and the Political Economy of Economic Performance in Africa: Critical Reflections...

Neopatrimonialism and the Political Economy of Economic Performance in Africa: Critical Reflections - Volume 67 Issue 3

www.cambridge.org

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

5 months

In which I try to make sense of the recent coups in a several African states and what they tell us about the health of democracy in the region.

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@JoDemocracy

Journal of Democracy

5 months

Praetorian politics are not making a comeback. Africa’s recent putsches have more to do with democracy’s failure to deliver than any fondness for military rule.

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Ken Opalo

9 months

In partnership with Princeton and Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT), ASE will deliver graduate and undergraduate degrees in STEM and social sciences through three departments - the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS), School of Business, and the Engineering School.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

9 months

More people should know about Foccart. This is how the @nytimes opened his 1997 obit: “Jacques Foccart, who masterminded clandestine military coups in French-speaking Africa for Charles de Gaulle and three French presidents after him, died at his home this morning. He was 83.”

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

As I keep arguing, a singular focus on broad-based GROWTH is required in African states. Too many people accept conditions like what Justin describes here as normal. It is not. And the peoples of our region deserve MUCH BETTER.

@JustinSandefur

Justin Sandefur

@JustinSandefur

3 months

The average farm household in Malawi earns US$20 in farm income per person PER YEAR. Struggling to wrap my head around that.

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Ken Opalo

2 months

President William Ruto’s admin keeps failing test after test. They should know that most of the footage of the protests are coming from the protesters themselves.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

1 year

That countries could simply elect their way to economic prosperity.

@alexlizhill

Alex Hill

1 year

What's an idea you wish were true, but nevertheless believe is false?

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

2 years

@WehliyeMohamed @ahmednasirlaw Great t-shirt SC @ahmednasirlaw . We need to get my big bro @WehliyeMohamed one, too.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

2 years

You know things are *really* bad when it’s not just education experts but also economic experts complaining about Kenya’s education system. The country had a working system that needed reforms, then they went ahead and completely broke it (in the name of reforms).

@WehliyeMohamed

Mohamed Wehliye, MBS

@WehliyeMohamed

2 years

Education sector is where the next crisis will come from. A time bomb!

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Ken Opalo

3 months

Some thoughts on ideology and politics. The potent powerlessness of Leftist politics in African states:

The potent powerlessness of Leftist politics in African states

A tale of people who want structural change but eschew the messy realities of economics and organized politics

www.africanistperspective.com

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

3 months

It should be obvious, but still worth repeating: this is no way to run a well-ordered society.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

4 months

This an excellent piece by Jishnu Das. Highly recommended: Did Development Economics lose its moral compass?

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Did Development Economics lose its moral compass?

I. You shall not speak I grew up in a family, and more importantly, in a milieu where it was taken for granted that academia and the pursuit of justice were deeply intertwined.

www.linkedin.com

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

2 months

It’s been glorious seeing the kids fall in love with the flag. May the love affair be forever.

@cobbo3

Charles Onyango-Obbo

2 months

Watching Kenya’s Gen Z memorial #SabaSabaMarchForOurLives event at #UhuruPark today, I was struck by how much a subset of this protest/movement is about the national flag, and who “owns” it. Haven’t seen anything like it in our lands

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Ken Opalo

1 year

An Africanist Perspective: On America's structural inability to effectively compete with China in Africa

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On America's structural inability to effectively compete with China in Africa

Institutions and policy tools at the core of US Africa Policy are ill-suited for the times

www.africanistperspective.com

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

4 months

Statistic of the month.

@PicoIyer

Pico Iyer

4 months

Indian restaurants in Britain now employ more people than the steel, coal and shipbuilding industries combined.

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

1 year

I bet not many fans of Taylor Swift know about her award-wining book on legislative development in Africa:

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Legislative Development in Africa

What explains contemporary variations in African legislative institutions – including their strengths and weaknesses? Compared with the more powerful executive branches, legislatures throughout the...

@TheAVClub

The A.V. Club

1 year

Swifties made a random, unpublished book a bestseller after convincing themselves Taylor wrote it

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

1 year

When your theory of change makes little sense:

@citizentvkenya

Citizen TV Kenya

@citizentvkenya

1 year

British High Commissioner Jane Marriott Meets Kenyan Entertainers To Discuss Food Security

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

6 months

3. There is often a cartoonish assumption that basic rules of how things work don't apply to low-income countries. Forget about the sociology of learning. Forget about the politics of a national curriculum. Forget about teachers' unions. Forget all the rules!

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Ken Opalo

2 years

Cash crops, marketing boards, and agricultural policy failures in Africa:

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Cash crops, marketing boards, and agricultural policy failures in Africa

On why policy distortions aren't the only (or even the biggest) problem

www.africanistperspective.com

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@kopalo

Ken Opalo

10 months

A lot of otherwise smart people on this app are struggling with the notion that multiple things can be true at the same time.

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Ken Opalo

1 month

Feed all the kids everywhere!!!

@JustinSandefur

Justin Sandefur

@JustinSandefur

1 month

Staggered rollout of school meals in Colombia shows dropout rates fall and exam scores rise, especially at the low end of the distribution.

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Ken Opalo

5 months

Congratulations to the people of Senegal!!! Now the hard work begins.

@LarryMadowo

Larry Madowo

5 months

BREAKING: 44yo opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye is set to be elected president of Senegal, just over a week since he was released from prison. The ruling party’s Amadou Bâ says he has called to congratulate him

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Ken Opalo

5 months

Not enough people appreciate the African continent's relative historical under-population: World population distribution in 1900.

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Ken Opalo

10 months

Forex risk is a terribly underrated cause of poverty and underdevelopment in low-income countries. It decimates firms. Is an important driver of macroeconomic instability. And limits the types of investments (and risks) that governments can make.

@bj_pittman

BJ Pittman

10 months

In this environment, nearly any African business that relies on domestic revenues but has international costs is uninvestable (for international investors). This dynamic overwhelms all others.

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Ken Opalo

1 year

Your annual reminder to read this. The Reductive Seduction Of Other People’s Problems

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The Reductive Seduction Of Other People’s Problems

“If you’re young, privileged, and interested in creating a life of meaning, of course you’d be attracted to solving problems that seem…

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Ken Opalo

5 months

I remain unconvinced that Russian disinformation has the causal impact most attribute to it on the Continent.

@AfricaACSS

Africa Center

5 months

🇳🇪🇷🇺The outcome and trajectory of Niger's coup was not inevitable. Rather, it was shaped, in part, by concerted Russian disinformation campaigns. Read more from this section of our latest Infographic: "Russian Disinformation around Niger’s Coup"

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Ken Opalo

1 month

What Kenyan protests tell us about economic management and the politics of reforms in African states

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What Kenyan protests tell us about economic management and the politics of reforms in African states

There is an urgent need to modernize economic management in African states. Unfortunately, so far there is little evidence that African governments are interested in structural economic change.

www.africanistperspective.com

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Ken Opalo

5 months

(Energy) poverty is very bad for humans and the environment:

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(Energy) poverty is very bad for humans and the environment

It’s time to stop pretending that the planet will be saved by maintaining energy poverty in low-income states

www.africanistperspective.com

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Ken Opalo

3 months

This has got to be one of the most misused comparisons in the world.

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Ken Opalo

1 year

How to Write About Africa — by Binyavanga Wainaina. (It’s weird when conservationists go well out of their way to sound like they care more about wildlife than people. Also, the angst about Africa’s population is terribly misplaced. Come on, people).

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Ken Opalo

2 years

The global distributive politics of climate adaptation & mitigation isn’t and will continue to not be kind to low-income countries. African development in an era of climate change:

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Ken Opalo

4 months

So far there’s little evidence of the developmental state President Ruto promised. It seems that he’s willing to sacrifice growth on the altar of revenue (which so far isn’t being spent on any transformational development projects).

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Ken Opalo

8 months

Mkuki na Nyota ( @MkukiNaNyota ) is doing the Lord’s work with these translations. Asanteni to all involved.

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Ken Opalo

4 months

This is the most important logistics corridor in Eastern Africa. Making this road work would be a major economic boost for the entire region.

@StandardKenya

The Standard Digital

4 months

“Traffic Nightmare: This isn’t something that started recently. We are pleading to the government to fix this quickly.” 20km snarl-up on Nakuru-Eldoret highway after culverts were destroyed and swept away by water near Timboroa Market.

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Ken Opalo

3 months

The founding generation did so much with so little. May we be lucky to have another generation soon that’s as ambitious and organized. #AfricaDay

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Ken Opalo

9 months

Years in, I wonder whether the UK is on course to meet this target. And how they’ve managed to avoid making global headlines.

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Ken Opalo

7 months

This is an excellent way to frame this. And applies to much of democracy promotion efforts across African states. Way too many people take democracy’s ability to demonstrably deliver on material advancement for granted.

@yuenyuenang

Yuen Yuen Ang

7 months

It is not that Chinese do not care about political freedoms, but that Americans take wealth and infrastructure for granted.

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Ken Opalo

6 months

2. Regardless of your track record or domain/context expertise, if you have the right passport or attended the right schools, you'll quickly get a credibility stamp from important players.

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Ken Opalo

2 years

Part I: African Foreign Policy in a Multipolar Age:

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Ken Opalo

3 months

The UK is a stark reminder that development isn’t unidirectional.

@SkyNews

Sky News

4 months

BREAKING: People have been told to boil their drinking water after 22 cases of a waterborne disease were confirmed in South West England. 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube

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Ken Opalo

1 year

Fun fact: Views of Kilimanjaro are always better on the Kenyan side. #VisitKenya

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Ken Opalo

11 months

Of African governments that keep citing random IFI reports and consulting shops (read over-caffeinated 20 somethings that are totally winging it) instead of collecting and analyzing their own data.

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Ken Opalo

4 months

Making lasting peace in the Sahel:

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Making lasting peace in the Sahel

There is certainly no silver bullet, but long-term thinking and fidelity to reality-based policies could put Sahelian states on the path to stability.

www.africanistperspective.com

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