Download. Read. Share: The Chronicle Weekly, October 26, 2026
In public life, announcements arrive quickly, and services arrive slowly. This week’s issue is about the distance between the two.
Kenya’s latest PPP status report lists 60 projects. Only 10 are operating, in maintenance, or under construction. Twenty-seven remain in early preparation. Behind those numbers are water plants not yet built, a Nairobi mortuary and mobility hub still at concept stage, and a streetlight programme waiting for approval of its feasibility study.
None of this means the pipeline is failing. It means a pipeline is not a scorecard, and we should say so plainly.
The same pattern runs through the rest of the issue. Cabinet has approved Sh23.74 billion to settle verified pending bills. That is welcome, but it is about 15 per cent of the Sh155.34 billion recommended for settlement, and approval is not payment.
University and public health workers have withdrawn their labour while students and communities wait. Manufacturing, mitumba and cycling each ask the same question in a different setting: what will it take to turn ambition into something people can use, afford and rely on?
We have tried to treat these stories the way we believe the public should treat any promise. We acknowledge progress where it is documented, and we are careful about what has not yet been shown. We are not arguing against private investment, ambitious plans or generous settlements. We are asking what each one delivers, at what cost, and for whom.
Thank you for reading, and for writing to us. If you have a view on this issue, our editorial team would like to hear it.
