A Certain Amount of Madness Podcast

Beyond the Madness is a segment of A certain amount of madness that discusses the news beyond the headlines. Enjoy the show and remember to subscribe.

Beyond the Madness is a segment of A certain amount of madness that discusses the news beyond the headlines. Enjoy the show and remember to subscribe.

In this episode, Dr. Mamka is joined by Francis Agar, a nuclear and quantum engineer and director at Kenya’s Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA), for a frank and wide-ranging conversation about what industrialization actually means, how Kenya’s industrial trajectory was shaped by colonialism and structural adjustment, and what it would take to build an economy that produces what it consumes. F...

In the very first edition of Beyond the Madness, we look beyond the headlines to examine the systems, decisions, and power structures shaping Kenya. Joined by lawyer and feminist movement builder Njahira Gitahi, we unpack the Supreme Court ruling on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), what it means for parliamentary oversight, and the growing concentration of power in the executive. We then turn t...

In this episode, we examine AI through the lens of power, extraction and sovereignty. From the critical minerals that power global technologies to the data generated by millions of African users, we ask what role Africa plays in the rapidly expanding AI economy and who benefits from it. The conversation explores the rise of data centres across the continent, the fiscal and environmental questions...

The Kenyan president declared a crackdown on foreign retailers and small traders in the name of protecting precarious employment for Kenyans. A closer look at the numbers shows that foreign small traders make up a minuscule of that sector of the economy, begging the question, what is really behind Kenya’s recent unprecedented wave of xenophobia?! In this episode, Sungu Oyoo, Presidential Aspirant...

Kenya is often presented as an energy success story. More than 90% of its electricity comes from renewable sources. Yet electricity remains expensive, energy consumption is well below the African average while millions of households still rely on charcoal and firewood for cooking. What is the problem and what should be done about it? Joined by Dr. David Otwoma, a nuclear scientist and founding pre...

In this episode, we are joined by historian Rene Odanga to trace how Kenya arrived at this point. We explore the transition from ideological and ethnicised political violence to the modern "rate card" economy of hired muscle, the role of economic precarity and political rhetoric, the gendered nature of violence, and questions around the use of false-flag operations to maintain political...

In this episode, we are joined by South African writer and historian Phethani Mazibandhila to unpack the growing wave of anti-immigrant violence in South Africa and the deeper political and economic forces driving it. Far from being a simple conflict over jobs or migration, xenophobic attacks are situated within South Africa's unresolved history of colonialism, apartheid, land dispossession, a...

In this episode, we are joined by Boaz Waruku, veteran educationist and Senior Advisor to the Elimu Bora Working Group, to discuss Kenya's education crisis. Long considered the great equalizer in an otherwise deeply unequal country, education has, over recent years, been beset with escalating challenges and controversies, from the hasty, ill-conceived rollout of the Competency Based Curriculum, to...

Nine out of ten Kenyan households are in financial distress. Not the country — the household. Your neighbor. Your mother. You. Fuliza alone disbursed 1.24 trillion shillings last year. People are skipping meals to service loans of a thousand shillings. Young people can't get jobs because they're CRB-listed. A regulator built for 42 banks is now chasing hundreds of lenders and losing. In this episo...

A decade of protests – the 2010s – taught us that mass movements require a theory of change and an action plan to achieve it paired with effective organizing.  The Gen Z protests in Kenya demonstrated the power of the will of the people but also the limitations of streets-focused actions to achieve real structural change.  In this moment of rebalancing global power because of the ongoing conflict...

In a speech at the Munich Security Conference on 14 February, Marco Rubio, the United States’ Secretary of State extolled the virtues of empire and denounced anti-colonial and decolonial movements of the 20th Century. Two weeks later, the United States and Israel launched a missile killing 175 girls and staff in a school in the southern city of Minab, in what is widely understood to be the opening...

This episode explores how privatization, shrinking public services, and climate-driven land grabs are reshaping Kenya. The discussion breaks down the push to sell state assets, the impact of structural adjustment, the rise of user fees, and the growing threat of green colonialism across water, land, and conservation spaces. You also hear a clear unpacking of the new Government-Owned Enterprises Ac...

In this episode, Dr. Samar Al-Bulushi and Rene Odanga join us as we explore the ways that Kenya's participation in the global "War on Terror" created mechanisms that are used to this day to suppress dissent, including the widely reported surveillance, arbitrary arrest, abduction, enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing during the Gen Z protests of 2024 and 2025. Following th...

Today, the reality of the climate crisis and its threat to our very survival is unmistakably visible across the African continent. Despite contributing only 2%–3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, Africa bears a disproportionate burden of the crisis, with 17 of the 20 countries most threatened by climate change located on the continent. Every year, actors from both the Global North and the Globa...

In this audio-only episode, we are joined by British author and Guardian columnist Owen Jones, Mumbi Kanyongo of Kenya Comms Hub, and Sungu Oyoo, spokesperson for Kongamano La Mapinduzi, to unpack these developments and contextualize the evolving role of the British Empire in Kenya today. Barely four years after independence, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga warned of an illusory independence for Kenya one...

African countries are drowning in debt. 21 countries on the continent are either in debt distress or teetering on the brink of it, while 4 countries (Ghana, Ethiopia, Zambia, and Chad) have defaulted on their loans in the last 5 years. As a result, public debt has become a subject of critical examination as nations grapple with its far-reaching implications on their economic stability, growth, and...

In this episode, we’re joined by Congolese activist and researcher Kambale Musavuli to explore the complex role of African states in Congo’s ongoing crisis. While Western powers have long exploited Congo’s vast resources, the past 30 years have also seen regional involvement—particularly from Rwanda and Uganda—accused of fueling conflict and extracting wealth. Kambale walks us through the historic...

In this episode, we are joined from Nigeria by Jaye Gaskia, a Marxist political analyst specialized in labor policy, and Natalia Navas who researches migrant labor policy at Cornell University, USA, to answer the question: is Africa’s current labour exportation frenzy nothing more than state-sponsored slave-trade? Today, every territory experiencing labour shortages due to dwindling populations is...

From Tunisia in 2010 to Kenya's Gen Z protests in 2024, mass uprisings have shaken governments around the world - yet the change they deliver rarely matches the dreams of those who took to the streets. Why does the moment of protest so often end up being seized by forces the protesters were fighting against? In this episode, we sit down with Vincent Bevins, author of If We Burn, and Lewis Magh...

Now That Trump Won - How Accurate Were These Predictions? Every four years, the world holds its breath for the outcome of the US election. Africa is no different — and yet the continent is rarely part of that conversation. Why? Because whoever wins, US-Africa policy tends to stay the same. In this episode, Mamka Anyona is joined by David Adler, General Coordinator of Progressive International, and...