Author: NLM Correspondent

By Professor John Harbeson Ethiopia is at a crossroads – between a pathway toward the establishment of an economically and politically viable democratic state, and the possibility of its unravelling into a plethora of small ethnically-based mini-polities as they mostly were a century ago, and more prior to their incorporation in the Ethiopian empire by the conquests of Menelik II. In recent weeks, the existential possibility that Ethiopia may follow this latter pathway has arisen because the fifth largest ethnic group in the country, the Sidama, are poised to declare themselves an independent state within a few months. If…

Wanjiku, The Constitution is everything in a constitutional democracy. Considering the hallowed space it occupies, it is a little depressing the casual manner in which you are approaching the inevitable constitutional review process. You have surrendered the entire affair to politicians. And while it is true that constitutions and politics are bedfellows, please remember that the process doesn’t belong to them alone. You too, are a shareholder and, without a doubt, the most important one. The politicians have suspended all reason to sacrifice the country’s future at the altar of individual aggrandisement. It’s all about the next election, and the…

Over the past few decades, technological, governance, and market progress has lifted an unprecedented number of people out of poverty (extreme poverty rate has declined from 36 percent in 1990 to an estimated 8.6 percent in 2018) and delivered incredible new economic opportunities. But, at the same time, this progress has come at a real cost—growing inequalities (the world’s richest 26 people possess the same wealth as the poorest half of humanity) and an increasingly dangerous degradation of the natural resource base which supports life on earth and our economies. This environmental degradation is starting to reverberate and affect economic growth. If…

Elton John last month hosted a celebrity-packed gala that raised more than $6 million (Sh600 million) to fight HIV/AIDS in Kenya, thanks partly to auctions of a luxury car and an autographed piano used in the singer’s “Rocketman” movie musical. The British singer-songwriter, on a break from his farewell world tour, welcomed the likes of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, The Who guitarist Pete Townshend, actress Joan Collins and Taron Egerton, who plays John in “Rocketman,” to a villa in Cap d’Antibes in France. “We’re here for the Elton John AIDS foundation, our first south of France fundraiser, hopefully to raise…

By Ibrahim Thiaw The good news: everyone, all 8.6 billion of us, are expected to have access to clean drinking water at a walking distance of no more than 15 minutes from our homes by 2030. It sounds like a tall order when 1 in every 5 people lacks access to clean and safe water today. But this goal is achievable if recent global trends on access to clean drinking water continue. The bad news: To sustain that achievement through to 2050 and beyond, bolder action is still needed in at least two areas. First, obstacles to safe water access…

By David Onjili There is a shared denominator amongst them: their parents sacrificed their lives for the country. They’ve been at the vanguard of many political moves, some of which led to imprisonment, torture, exile and even assassinations. While their parents’ names are engraved in the history books of the nation, their children have had a void to be filled, grown-up isolated if not broken pieces. “Many have resorted to either being slaves to alcohol or immersing themselves into religious fanaticism. That has been their escape from the stigma,” says Wafula Buke, a veteran agitator for the clamour of multiparty…

Network revolutions of the past have shaped the present and set the stage for the revolution we are experiencing today In an era of seemingly instant change, it’s easy to think that today’s revolutions—in communications, business, and many areas of daily life—are unprecedented. Today’s changes may be new and may be happening faster than ever before. But our ancestors at times were just as bewildered by rapid upheavals in what we now call “networks”—the physical links that bind any society together. In this fascinating book, former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler brings to life the two great network revolutions of the…

Do you remember the good old days when we had “12 years to save the planet”? Now it seems, there’s a growing consensus that the next 18 months will be critical in dealing with the global heating crisis, among other environmental challenges. Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that to keep the rise in global temperatures below 1.5C this century, emissions of carbon dioxide would have to be cut by 45 percent by 2030. But today, observers recognise that the decisive, political steps to enable the cuts in carbon to take place will have to happen…

BY Niall Ferguson “The fundamental question the Chinese government must face is lawlessness. China does not lack laws, but the rule of law… this issue of lawlessness may be the greatest challenge facing the new leaders who will be installed this autumn. Indeed, China’s political stability may depend on its ability to develop the rule of law in a system where it barely exists.” These are the words of Chen Guangcheng, the blind lawyer who was recently allowed to leave China to study in the United States after successfully escaping from his Communist Party persecutors. Less well known in the…

By Ali Abdi “Even a dog distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked” – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, US Supreme Court Justice In my understanding of the law, the overall acting principle of criminal law is to identify conduct that warrants punishment in terms of societal well-being and in connection with the identified conduct. In other words, the ends of justice must depend not only on the kind of scrupulous forensic reasoning of the law and evidence displayed by a prosecutor but also by just as much on the informed common sense of a judge in interpreting the law.…