If the Nairobi River were a human being, it would have choked to death by now. Despite various attempts to restore it over the past decades, the river continues to choke with garbage, industrial waste, agro and petro chemicals, heavy metals and other pollutants, which have caused the extinction of aquatic life and turned the river into an eyesore. Nairobi River is a huge potential resource for the city. It should not be left to die.

Student movements in many African countries have historically confronted contradictions of colonial and post-colonial rule. In Kenya, these movements sent generations of young people into the streets, underground, into exile or death. Isaac Otidi Amuke retraces heady years of involvement in student politics, and the rise and fall of arguably the most renowned activist at the University of Nairobi.

The joint university experiment, by pooling resources within the same sub-region and drawing on the different strengths of the three member colleges and their respective host countries, represents an early and instructive model of South-South cooperation.