Editor-in-Chief of the courageous Africa Uncensored media platform, John-Allan Namu, is set to spotlight Africa’s struggles for justice at the 2025 ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture. As a Kenyan investigative journalist, Namu is well-acquainted with the horrors of power abuse, the machinations of genocidal politicians, the devastation wrought by climate change, and the forced migration of youth from nations misruled by uncaring, oppressive governments. Yet, while exposing wrongdoing, he also seeks solutions and alternatives. As the 2025 ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture speaker, Namu aims to use this global platform to reflect on the urgent need for renewed worldwide solidarity in the shared pursuit of human dignity and equality.
John-Allan Namu (41) calls it "high praise" that the Kenyan government accused Africa Uncensored — the media platform he leads as editor-in-chief — of orchestrating the protests that rocked Kenya for months in the last quarter of 2024 and continue to simmer today. “It’s a big accolade, given that that was a countrywide movement. That they think we had anything to do with it speaks to the depth to which our work has gone.”
He immediately adds that “of course it’s hogwash — where would we get the money or time to start convincing groups of young people all over the country, who had never met, to band together and go and protest? It’s ridiculous to say the least. But it just shows you to what levels of desperation people in power who feel threatened, go.”
Misgovernance
Africa Uncensored’s relentless investigations and exposure of misgovernance and state corruption are clearly striking a nerve with those in power. Its work includes revealing the extravagant travel expenses of Kenya’s President Ruto and the staggering amounts of state funds allocated to ‘projects’ that primarily benefit a select group of politically connected businesspeople. Most recently, the determined platform uncovered how the land ministry has been reselling farmland out from under small-scale farmers and how government-subsidised fertiliser intended for these farmers was nothing more than plain sand.
Noting that the abuse of state power and resources is not confined to Kenya but affects many countries across Africa and the globe, Namu says he feels "humbled" to have been invited to deliver the 2025 Nelson Mandela Lecture in Amsterdam. “Because these struggles for justice are international, are they not?” In our conversation, peppered with examples from Kenya and elsewhere, we meander from “the fact that the poor in my country often feel that their best prospect is a low-paid and abusive job as a house help in some foreign country,” to the tendency of current Western leaders to “exploit divisions between locals and immigrants, instead of providing leadership towards fairness for all”; and the spectre of “a few powerful and very rich people, worldwide” who are “enhancing this global kleptocracy” even more.
“Many people’s best prospect is an abusive job in a foreign country”
His focus on justice, human equality, and fairness—attributes that led ZAM to invite him as the Nelson Mandela Lecture speaker in 2025—stems, he says, from his early experiences as a young reporter. He observed that the mainstream media often seemed indifferent to such principles. “Where I worked before, most reporting was focused upward: what the bigwigs were doing, what the elite were up to, what the president had said. It was almost as if they were running a gossip blog about powerful people.” This, coupled with the fact that “there was always that lingering angle of injustice”, made him move towards the kind of journalism Africa Uncensored is now known for.
“We cannot continue to live in societies so clearly divided—both literally and philosophically—between those who have and those who have not,” he says, noting that this stark divide is shockingly visible everywhere, from Kenya to the wider world. “Even in seemingly light-hearted areas like fashion, the disparity is evident. A society must consider the plight of those who go without, who lack access to opportunities, fairness, and justice. It must find ways to enable them to lead lives that are dignified.”
The issue is also deeply personal to him as a father of four young children, “of pre-teen and teen age.” As much as he loves the too-scarce time he spends with them—watching soccer, rugby, playing card and boardgames or going out to movie nights “as long as they still want to hang out with mum and dad”—he is intensely worried about their future. “I shudder to think, as a parent, what kind of opportunities exist for my children and for the youth in general amidst (Kenya’s) deep unemployment. It connects to that issue of human dignity. Why can’t I find dignified work in my own country? What is this pressure that forces me to leave? Nobody wants to leave their country.”
Mandela’s legacy
This experience is what makes Nelson Mandela’s legacy of social justice and human equality speak to him. “Mandela was not perfect, but he was certainly a much better template for leadership than many of our African leaders, as well as current international leaders.” Addressing the lack of progress in many African countries, he asserts that there is more to the issue than the enduring legacy of colonialism. “Of course, there is the use of state power and state resources to placate and supply some of these former colonial masters. And we are still a playground for some of these former colonial masters’ games. But there is no absolving our own leaders from the blame that they ought to carry. It can’t be a coincidence that we are often still asking the same questions that my grandparents asked at independence.”
The elites drive bigger and better cars every year
We discuss the perception that the current governing elites on the continent either appear to be incompetent or actively promote incompetence. “Indeed, there are many cases where (such people) are indeed just purely incompetent. But sometimes I feel that it’s deliberate. How are you unable to fix the problems that we have, but somehow you have better and better cars every year? Is it a coincidence that you only have a 60 billion Kenyan shilling (approximately €450 million) budget for education, but multiple times that in security (for yourself)? That there is no infrastructure on the ground but somehow you can purchase a helicopter to go from place to place? It’s more like a performance of incompetence than real incompetence.”
Would the word be kleptocracy? “Yes, but it’s global kleptocracy that influences what happens locally. And the next order of it will be the use of technology and the denial of our privacy, which will further empower kleptocrats. They may not be in government; they may just be very powerful and very rich. And I am not just talking about social media companies. In the wrong hands, they can become extremely dangerous to anybody. That is the next order.”
He promises that all of this will be referenced in his upcoming Mandela Lecture, with the hope of sending out a call for justice that resonates globally, "with plenty of Kenyan examples."
