Author: NLM Correspondent

By Anthony Pipa As countries adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, the inclusion of a separate goal on urbanisation (SDG 11) – to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable – was hailed as a breakthrough, establishing the significance of cities to the 2030 Agenda. Four years in, it is clear that cities matter beyond the confines of SDG 11. Interdependencies between SDG 11 and the other SDGs ripple throughout the agenda. Even more importantly, local government officials are forming the frontlines of SDG implementation, translating the agenda’s lofty and sometimes abstract aspirations into progress…

By NLM Writer Kenya’s perennial near-bottom scores in Transparency International’s Corruption Index has not always been out of nothing. An online forum, Corruption Tracker, “an archive of corruption stories in Africa”, has documented 142 reported scandals since 2004 revealing a staggering figure of Sh6.92 trillion of mony stolen or misused. This translates to a conservative figure of Sh461.4 billion every year since 2004 (some recent estimates have placed the annual average at more than Sh1 trillion a year lost or unaccounted for). As the monies are stolen or misused, several capital projects have stalled. The tracker records that in 2018 alone,…

By Shadrack Muyesu Pity the prosecutor Prosecutors are usually the first people to arrive at the court station – at least two hours before 9a.m. when proceedings commence. The first stop is their desk at the prosecution office where familiarity ends with collecting the day’s files. Next is the serenity of the court room where they review the files and plan their itinerary for the day. In the heat of battle, prosecution is a hard task which typically doesn’t allow one time to gather their thoughts. The prosecutor has to assess their evidence and prepare all responses and applications in…

By NLM Team On May 2, 2019, the High Court in Nairobi in ‘Civil Suit 446 of 2016: Christopher Ndarathi Murungaru v John Githongo [2019] eKLR’ ordered John Githongo to pay Chris Murungaru Sh20 million in general damages, Sh5 million in exemplary damages, and Sh2 million in special damages, Sh27 million in total. The anti-graft czar was also ordered to pay full interest on the award until the petitioner receives all his money, as well as bear the costs of the suit. This ruling stemmed from a defamation suit filed by Murungaru on April 28, 2016 claiming that between 2005…

By Dennis Ndiritu While judges are tasked with a solemn duty to determine cases before them with strict adherence to the rule of law, they, sometimes, have tended to be guided by extraneous factors, such as public perception. In the case of the Governor of Samburu County Moses Lenolkulal Kasaine, Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti slapped the accused with a bail of Sh100 million, much to the ecstasy of excited Kenyans. The hefty bail terms imposed, however, flew in the face of Kenya’s bail and bond rules. This decision would be quashed by Justice Mumbi Ngugi who set bail at Sh10…

As the US leads a drive for the West to shun Huawei over security fears, the Chinese tech giant has sought to strengthen its position in Africa, where it is already well-established. Huawei has taken a leading role in developing next-generation 5G mobile phone networks around the world. But it has been in turmoil since Washington charged its equipment could serve as a Trojan horse for Chinese intelligence services. The world’s second smartphone marker fiercely denies the allegations, but the US has urged countries to avoid it and several companies have distanced themselves. They include Google, whose Android operating system…

By NLM Writer Frank Mosier, the chairman of Rendeavour, the owner and developer of the Tatu City Special Economic Zone in Kiambu County, has been named to a special committee advising President Donald Trump, the US government announced last month. Mosier, a long-time emerging markets investor and the largest American investor in Rendeavour and Tatu City, has been named to the 26-member President’s Advisory Committee on Doing Business In Africa (PAC-DBIA), joining executives from General Electric, Visa, Bechtel, Mastercard, Pfizer and IBM, among other companies. US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the appointment. The PAC-DBIA was established in 2014…

By Shawn Mike The indisputable fact is that people start their businesses with the dream of growing it big. However, in reality, very few businesses get that kind of exponential business growth and there are several reasons for lack of prosperity. Exponential growth isn’t related to a product or a business. In actual fact, it is much bigger than that; it’s about a whole system that includes the structure and the common traits of the businesses and what allows them to gain exponential growth. Technically speaking, it can be calculated with a simple formula that requires mentioning the number of…

By Eric McNulty The admonition “don’t be a leader” can raise eyebrows, especially when it comes from someone like me, who researches, writes, and speaks about leadership. So let me explain. More and more often, I see that people define being a leader as an endpoint, a destination, a permanent designation. In this way of thinking, becoming an executive who formally leads others is akin to earning a merit badge to add to all the other skill badges one collects throughout his or her career. It’s disturbing that leadership is perceived as one more specialty, given that central to leading…

By Shadrack Muyesu Many cryptocurrencies today (like Bitcoin and Ether) have no underlying assets to back them. As a result, speculation and investment have been primary use cases. With a potential for substantial appreciation many people have acquired these coins hoping to sell them at a higher price later. As beliefs over the long-term value of these currencies and success of their networks fluctuate, so to have their prices, yielding, at times, massive swings in value What is the purpose of the Reserve? To drive widespread adoption, Libra is designed to be a currency where any user will know that…