Christmas in the UK

Unusually the whole family was in the UK for all of Christmas (usually we go to Germany first), and there was thus a lot of time spent with family members, which meant a lot of eating and a lot of presents.

Some running and dog walking helped reduce the unhealthiness of the festive period to some extent. Other activities included ice skating, football watching (in the Tottenham Stadium), visiting playgrounds, shows in London and smaller theatres, seeing friends and cousins and lots of Mario Kart and Dance on the Nintendo Switch. There was some snow on our last evening before we left, but otherwise it was quite dry (sometimes cold, sometimes not too bad) which was nice.

Coming home with less suitcases than we went with was the most notable achievement of the holiday. There was some shopping but it was not as much as usual, and we seemed to have taken bulky gifts (the Christmas shopping markets in Kenya are outdoor drinking, eating and artisanal shopping affairs whilst the kids also have a small christmas gift market at school to buy from).

We went to the London Transport Museum which was worth a visit and Gullivers Theme Park (yet again), which had a decent Santa's Grotto and few visitors (but also half the rides were closed) - the younger kids especially enjoyed both. 

Work had been very busy in the few weeks leading up to the holiday so it was nice to have a good rest and break. Now to 2025! 

Ending 2024 and entering 2025

The second half of 2024 began in the aftermath of the protests - with a government promising to make changs and to listen to the issues raised by the youth. The Cabinet was removed. The proposed tax rises were dropped. There was uncertainty for sure, maybe optimism amongst some that there could be change.

Then the opposition leader joined together with the President; a new cabinet was appointed but that included some of the previous cabinet and some new faces proposed by the opposition. They may be new faces, but they are not new to politics, so a similar group of people continued to run things. 

The government regained control through the support of the opposition and by various other means of stopping others who had been protesting. Life went back to normal, the economy got back to normal. Work got back to normal. New laws were approved that brought in many of the tax rises proposed before (the government's financial position is weak and it is dependent on financing from the IMF who seem to be able to dictate tax rises to Kenya), and to top it all off, the President re-friended his former boss (the President when the current President was Deputy President) whom he had a falling out with before, and again proposes to replace some of the Cabinet members so the former President can nominate a few people.

The year ended with some social media commentators disappearing, then after a public outcry, they reappeared, though refused to say much about who was responsible. So as we enter 2025, the government seems in control, but the public are still suspicious and unhappy (particularly now with new taxes coming into effect), and the issue of technology is back in the limelight (before it was around slowing down of some social media sites) - now it is about freedom of speech online.

The election in the US might have implications for Kenya - Kenya was close to the Democrats for one thing. And the general opinion is that the MAGA movement will care less about Africa than the Democrats. Whether the implications are good or bad is too early to say. Kenya is one of many countries that benefits from an African free trade agreement with the US which may not be renewed (and the Kenyan-US Trade and Investment Partnership has not been signed yet, and thus may not be signed).

Outside of politics, there has not been any major droughts, which is good news for a change (last year there were some floods unfortunately). There have not been any major health or safety issues. The country continues to progress with strong progress in the roll-out of electric motor bikes and high demand for electric buses (more demand than the local suppliers can meet it seems), all taking advantage of the high renewable energy in Kenya's grid and the continued growth of the home and commercial solar industries. 

Digitization is all the rage still, with the latest initiative being in the health space; though it does not seem to be very clear what the initiative is, its cost effectiveness, and how well it will work. The bungled (and rushed) roll-out of a new health insurance agency and program to replace the old one left many patients and hospitals in limbo for a few weeks.

So we enter 2025 back as we began 2024 really. Nothing major has changed, progress has continued, though slowed a little. And it is a nice time to be enjoying the traditionally warm weather.