Rasna Warah, Author at Debunk Media

Rasna Warah

Rasna Warah (1962-2025), a Kenyan writer and journalist, gained over two decades of experience as an editor, writer and communications specialist. She wrote a weekly op-ed column for the Daily Nation, Kenya’s leading newspaper, for many years, and contributed to various regional and international publications, including the UK’s Guardian, Africa is a Country, The East African, The Mail and Guardian, The Elephant, and Kwani? She worked as an editor and writer at the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and published two books on Somalia: Mogadishu Then and Now (2012) and War Crimes (2016). Her first book, Triple Heritage (1998), explored the history of South Asians in East Africa. In Lords of Impunity (2022), she examined the failures and internal contradictions of the United Nations and what can be done to transform this global body. She held a Master’s degree in Communication for Development from Malmö University in Sweden and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology and Women’s Studies from Suffolk University in Boston, USA.

LATEST

Why Africa Is Not A Country And Other Short Stories

Rasna Warah

International humanitarian and aid organisations have also pathologised Africans by portraying them as people who are incapable of taking care of themselves and are in constant need of help. Yet, as I show in my book, Lords of Impunity, aid itself has become a corrupt business, and those working in the sector quite often push people into further hardship because they keep them in perpetual dependency mode.”

John Githongo

Rasna Warah

“We need to ask ourselves whether this model of democracy we have today in Africa, that dates back to the early 1990s, is now tired in its current permutation. “

Kenyans Have Abdicated Their Social Contract With Each Other

Rasna Warah

We must seek alternative leadership that understands that when the social contract in a society is broken, the society itself breaks down.

Sitawa Namwalie

Rasna Warah

Becoming a poet, playwright and performing artist has been a process of recovery and re-remembering for Sitawa Namwalie, of going back to her roots.

Ann McCreath

Rasna Warah

On pranic healing and why alternative forms of treatment are gaining more traction globally.

Gabriel Dolan

Rasna Warah

In 1982, a young Irish priest arrived in Kenya to take up his first missionary posting in the Catholic Diocese

Martha Karua

Rasna Warah

On the state of politics and the economy in Kenya today from the “Iron Lady” of Kenyan Politics.

When Will the #MeToo Movement Reach the UN?

Rasna Warah

The #MeToo movement has been instrumental in raising awareness about the everyday violations and indignities that female athletes and women from all walks of life have to endure at the hands of men, a lot of times powerful men who can affect fates. It has also encouraged more women to sue their abusers, even if the abusers are rich and powerful. And an increasing number of courts across the world are ruling in favour of the victims. In May, for instance, a New York jury found former US President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll in a Manhattan department store, and awarded the latter $5 million in damages. Trump has been denying the charge all along, and even claims to not know who Carroll is. He is appealing the decision.

Stop the Violence in Our Homes, Schools, and Streets!

Rasna Warah

A few years ago, I asked a departing French diplomat what his impressions were about Kenya. I expected him to say how beautiful the country was, how nice the weather was and how much he would miss the country and its people. To my surprise, he told me that his experience of the country convinced him that Kenya is a violent society.

Niger, An Indictment Against French Neocolonialism

Rasna Warah

The recent coup d’etat in Niger that toppled the democratically elected government of president Mohamed Bazoum has highlighted a disturbing trend emerging in several West African countries: the resurgence of unconstitutional means to bring about regime change. In the last three years, there have been military takeovers in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Guinea.