Author: NLM Correspondent

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…

By NLM writer Kenya eventually made its inaugural crude oil exportation in August, with excitement, flare and pomp. The President of the Republic, top government mandarins and a number of County heads trooped down the coastal city of Mombasa to flag off the 200,000 barrels of the fossil fuel that official figures show will fetch Sh1.2b from a Chinese company, Chemchina, for export to Malaysia. An exuberant, and understandably so, President Kenyatta, speaking at the flag-off, said Kenya has now joined the league of oil exporting nations. Beneath the excitement, however, lies deep-seated treachery in relation to the discovery, exploration…

By Craig McKune and Sam Sole *This article was published in July 2018 by amabhungane.org Tax advisers at law firm ENSafrica sold tycoon Christo Wiese a lemon — one that now implicates him, ENS and Tullow Oil in an alleged multibillion-rand “tax evasion” scheme. This emerges in court papers filed in the Western Cape High Court, in which the SA Revenue Service (Sars) claims that ENS created an aggressive tax structure to help Tullow shift assets worth R3.9bn out of SA, dodging taxes in the process. Sars is now pursuing Wiese, a former ENS executive, and two other people personally for R217m,…

By Victor Adar A couple of months ago, Al Shabaab militants attacked Garissa’s Rural Border Patrol Unit police post in Yumbis. Apart from shooting randomly, the terror gang also razed the camp and brought down a Safaricom mast, cutting off communication. In a separate case, seven police officers died in an Improvised Explosive Device attack at Khorof Harar, in Wajir East sub-county. The same militants are also believed to be behind the abduction of two Cuban doctors – Herrera Correa and Landhi Rodriguez – in Mandera town. Militants might be the biggest enemies of development. With all the tears and mess…

BY Antony Mutunga Continued advancement of technology has shown that the rise of the digital era has no plans of slowing down. Although still nascent, the fourth industrial revolution is already underway. According to Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, and also the one who coined the term, Industry 4.0 is characterized by different new technologies that are combining the different physical, biological and digital innovations as well as impacting sectors and economies. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and augmented reality are changing the way industries operate. The fourth industrial revolution has also brought about automation…

BY Shadrack Muyesu The world is sprinting towards authoritarianism and it is the people who are going to demand it. Going back a few years when liberalism enjoyed a status as the pinnacle of government, it seemed improbable that people would give up the gains they had made in the arena of human rights to lead the clamour for strong government. Rights were sacred – a truth best exemplified by Louis Henkin’s observation that (human rights) enjoyed a prima facie presumptive inviolability which elevates them over public goods. Social stability and economics couldn’t be used as excuse for dictatorships. Slowly…

By Newton Arori Following last month’s attacks by terrorist gangs in Bamburi, Mombasa, which left 13 people dead, Interior CS Dr Fred Matiang’i met with politicians and top security bosses at the coast in a high level meeting from which he emerged with the edict, ‘We are commencing an unprecedented effort to deal with this issue of drug peddling. It is believed that there is a connection between drug use and criminal activities, so to stem the latter, you must deal with the former. ‘It is going to be a painful exercise, but we are prepared to start the journey.” …

By Wilfred Mutubwa Two significant moments for African economic regionalism happened in August. First was the signing of the AfCFTA Agreement by Africa’s largest Economy, and most populous nation – Nigeria. Second, was the decision by the AU member states to seat the AfCFTA secretariat in Ghana. As a Kenyan, I must admit that I was at first conflicted when news of selection of Ghana as the seat for the headquarters of the continental economic Free Trade Area was announced. On the one hand, I mourned the loss of Kenya’s bid to host the secretariat, while on the other hand…