Steff Ndei
@steffndei.bsky.social
1.4K followers 420 following 350 posts
Writer/Author. PhD candidate at Heriot-Watt University. Interests: Media, Sports governance and Social Justice in Africa. Man Utd fan.
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steffndei.bsky.social
🧵 This poster tells us a lot about the relationship between corporates and the local football industry in Kenya. Winners of this tournament win 30,000ksh (approx $230) and runners up win 20,00ksh which is approx $155. To participate in the 5x5 tournament, players have to subscribe to... 1/10
steffndei.bsky.social
And yet the current political climate wants to erase everything this man has done, in a continent where democracies have failed because men in Raila’s position refused to concede the same way Raila conceded.
steffndei.bsky.social
Kenya has lost a giant in its democracy. Every major democratic inflection point in Kenya — the re-legalisation of multi-party politics in the 1990s, the constitutional overhaul of 2010, and the recurring negotiation of electoral crises — bears Raila Odinga’s imprint.
amisij.bsky.social
Jakom 🙏🏽🕯️🕊️
steffndei.bsky.social
”African leaders will have to embrace business, growth and free markets. They will need to unleash a capitalist revolution.”

The capitalist revolution Africa needs.
economist.com/leaders/2025...
The capitalist revolution Africa needs
The world’s poorest continent should embrace its least fashionable idea
economist.com
steffndei.bsky.social
I think Gianni thinks he is the pope.
Reposted by Steff Ndei
calmerfuture.bsky.social
not available on this app : most of Africa, Asia and Latin America

very available on this app : people virtuously instructing other people Already. Using. This. App. that everyone should use this app
okwonga.bsky.social
What the Twitter takeover did so effectively was fracture the way we get our news. If, for example, I want to get in-depth updates on Sudan I still check in with Twitter as that's where a lot of the biggest accounts are. There's no one-stop shop anymore.
steffndei.bsky.social
It all seems so abstract to folks who haven’t lived in totalitarian regimes where a governing body (e.g the state) is an existential risk. Or even international institutions. I see the sense he’s making and I’ve seen this sense being misrepresented or misinterpreted.
youtu.be/qqHueZNEzig?...
Apocalypse Now? Peter Thiel on Ancient Prophecies and Modern Tech
YouTube video by Hoover Institution
youtu.be
steffndei.bsky.social
I suggest watching this conversation where Peter Thiel talks about his Antichrist theory. He draws from Christian Eschatology to say that modern problems are framed as apocalyptic (climate change, AI, nuclear) and the solutions to these problems are often a totalitarian regime (an Antichrist).
steffndei.bsky.social
Oh another reason is due to African scholars focusing on settling old scores with the “west.” And even the ones who are not doing that are focusing on symbolic representation while being blind to structural and material realities. I keep saying there is so much work to do! ! !
steffndei.bsky.social
there was a role that Africans played. Either through collusion, collaboration or coercion, African leaders (chiefs, kings, statesmen) are part of colonialism. And the foreign or external actor has imperial interests. And cultural imperialism is almost always the last stage in this process.
steffndei.bsky.social
There’s very little African scholarship arguing that China is colonising Africa and I think it’s because there hasn’t been an operationalized definition of what colonialism actually entails. Most African intellectuals highlight the role of the state/elites but even during European colonialism…
steffndei.bsky.social
Semenya sees the absurdity that is “sports law” and the absurdity of an African athlete having to fly out of the continent to fight legal battles for her right to compete for an African country. A cruel system.
steffndei.bsky.social
It’s disheartening that Moroccan citizens have to invoke FIFA to be heard beyond the confines of Africa, when CAF demands the same extravagant and needless stadiums for AFCON, which Morocco will host in December.
steffndei.bsky.social
Morocco is among the chief scouts of European born players who represent the national team.

I have written about how all these issues — youth unrest, corrupt governments, stadium+ tournament obsession and foreign born footballers— are connected in this article.

steffndei.com/stadiums-sta...
Stadiums, Statecraft and the Diaspora Surge in African Football - Interstice
By 2050, more than one in four people on Earth will be African. This demographic reality shapes forecasts by The Economist that by 2030, half of all new entrants into the global labour force will come...
steffndei.com
steffndei.bsky.social
“These are the first deaths reported since youth-led protests broke out across Morocco as anger grew over the government's decision to build football stadiums for the 2030 Fifa World Cup rather than improving public services and tackling the economic crisis.”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Morocco GenZ 212 demonstrations: Police say two shot dead in 'self-defence'
Police say they shot dead two people who were part of a crowd trying to storm a police station.
www.bbc.co.uk
steffndei.bsky.social
“Speaking to the media, Kyengo's wife said her husband had been frustrated over delayed wages prior to his disappearance.”

Talanta Stadium is built by China and is one the stadiums primed for AFCON 2027
nation.africa/kenya/counti...
Mystery at Talanta Stadium as missing worker found dead
The deceased had been reported missing after his phone went silent and he failed to return home.
nation.africa
steffndei.bsky.social
We strongly belive that the African continent doesn’t need charity,” Boulos said. “The African continent is very rich. It has its own resources, and I’m not talking only about natural resources, but its human resources. So we need to establish those partnerships”
www.semafor.com/article/09/2...
Trump’s top Africa envoy says ‘continent doesn’t need charity’
Massad Boulos drove home the message that Washington’s relationship with the continent is shifting from one based on aid to trade.
www.semafor.com
Reposted by Steff Ndei
rainesford.bsky.social
Just listened to a high schooler talk about her most prized possession, her dad's vintage music collection he gave to her. CDs, guys. The vintage music collection is CDs.
steffndei.bsky.social
Also shows how important narrative and framing is.
rbreich.bsky.social
The richest man on earth owns X.

The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.

The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.

See the problem here?
steffndei.bsky.social
African football squads are increasingly dependent on diaspora talent despite the continent experiencing a demographic boom. In this piece I analyse the perverse interest and incentives of CAF, African states and federations that make this dependency inevitable. steffndei.com/stadiums-sta...
Stadiums, Statecraft and the Diaspora Surge in African Football – Interstice
steffndei.com
steffndei.bsky.social
The same organizational capacity exists, it’s just being used to tear down and police athletes instead of developing them. It’s why I hope Enhanced Games thrives.
steffndei.bsky.social
The same system that can efficiently track, investigate, and sanction 191 African athletes somehow can’t develop them into medalists. Make it make sense!
steffndei.bsky.social
Every African nation (54) was present in the last Olympics. But the continent earned a cumulative of 35 medals! Only 10 countries had a medalist.

Juxtapose this to the 191 African athletes listed as ineligible by the AIU for 2025 alone.