Author: NLM Correspondent

By Lord Jonathan Sumption Transcribed by Kevin Motaroki Human rights are where law and politics meet. It can be an unfriendly meeting. A few years ago the then Prime Minister, speaking to the House of Commons, described a recent Supreme Court judgment about human rights as “appalling”. The same Prime Minister, on a later occasion, said about another human rights decision that it made him “physically sick”. These are strong words. What’s the fuss about? There is nothing new about human rights apart from the name. A quarter of a millennium ago Sir William Blackstone, the author of the earliest…

At the end of the 20th Century, mobile technology in Africa was still a new, unknown product. As a result, only about one percent of the population owned mobile phones. As the years went by, this changed as the continent embraced the technology which saw it referred to as the mobile phone continent. According to the Digital 2019 report, as of the start of 2019, mobile subscriptions in the continent had grown to 80 percent, meaning out of a population of 1.3 billion people, one billion are now mobile users. Compared to most of the other continents, mobile phones have…

By Wim Delva The term “data science” was coined by scientists working at the social networks LinkedIn and Facebook in 2008. A few years later, they dubbed it “the sexiest profession of the 21st century”. This relatively new, interdisciplinary field is a blend of statistics, computer science, mathematics, engineering and subject matter knowledge. In fact, any and all subjects qualify. Its proponents believe it will transform every aspect of society. Many of the disruptive, game-changing innovations that are grounded in data science are intended to improve people’s quality of life as well as the efficiency of processes and services. Examples include autonomous vehicles; precision medicine and…

BY AGENCIES Chinese companies operating in Kenya created more than 50,000 jobs in 2018, a new report by Chinese companies in Kenya has showed. The report released on Tuesday indicates that there are 106 Chinese companies operating in Kenya, with nearly 95 percent of their workforce being Kenyan. However, the report does not indicate whether the workers were casual labourers or contract workers. Chinese companies, both private and State-owned, have been increasingly eyeing Africa for investment opportunities. Their direct foreign investment into the continent stood at $66.4 billion (Sh6.9 trillion) between 2005 and 2016, the report states. The study found…

By Federico de Nardis While some believe the point is exaggerated, it’s hard to argue against the idea in some basic form that increasingly, companies view their customers as valuable data sources. That data is to be harvested in lieu of, or in addition to, payment for products and services. This thought is made more convincing by the number of businesses that opt to rely on consumer data and achieve spectacular economic outcomes by putting it to use. The reason that consumer data is so valuable, and that companies are so keen to use it (even going so far as…

By David Onjili A 2019 survey conducted by the Federal Sector Deepening (FSD) has revealed that 1 in every 5 Kenyan borrowers defaulted on a loan in the last one year. This grim picture illustrates the harsh economic times that Kenyans have to put up with, whether amongst households, business owners or simply the employed. The survey goes ahead to reveal how a majority of low-income households continue to live in a cycle of debts. Farmers who, for long, have been the sustainers of the country’s economy, have been worst hit too. As at May, the CBK indicates that commercial banks…

By Antony Mutunga In 2007, Kenyans were introduced to Safaricom’s M-Pesa, a mobile money platform that has since revolutionised the way of life for ordinary Kenyans. Initially, the platform was to be used as a platform for microfinance loans using mobile phones. However, after the pilot phase, after discovering that those who took the loans also sent the money to their families in rural areas, Safaricom decided to re-engineer their initial concept. As a result, M-Pesa was revised to focus on remittances mobile money across the country. This was the beginning of a revolution. Through the years, as other mobile…

BY Njuguna Ndung’u Mobile phone-based financial services have produced celebrated economic outcomes for Kenya and other African countries, enabling completely cashless transactions across entire market segments of Kenya’s economy. The need to raise additional tax revenues to finance economic development has motivated governments to begin taxing mobile transactions. As mobile banking now takes hold in Africa, the consequences of this policy are concerning. Raising taxes and broadening tax bases is necessary for governments, but they must also evaluate the negatives of such actions. As tax rates increase beyond the optimal rate, tax revenue declines and the potential for distortion in…

NSE profit falls 82pc on sluggish trade The decline in trading at the Nairobi bourse has hurt earnings of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) , which plunged 82 percent from Sh133 million as at June 2018 to Sh24 million in the first half of this year. NSE says that bond turnover in the first six months was only Sh78 billion compared to Sh108 billion reported in the same period last year, limiting the firm’s ability to collect fees from transactions. Equity trading levies declined by 28 percent from Sh259 to Sh187 million in six months. “The decline in equity turnover…

When it comes to generating revenue in Africa’s airspace, global carriers are the biggest winners with only two African airlines in the top 10 most lucrative air routes in Africa, a new study finds. Topping the list was Emirates, whose flights to cities including Johannesburg, Cairo, and Cape Town earned it over $830 million between April 2018 and March 2019. British Airways, which runs the most flights in the world’s only billion-dollar route, earned almost half a billion dollars in its annual flights to South Africa’s major urban areas. Connections to West Africa appeared only once in the list with Air France’s…