Author: NLM Correspondent

By Claudio Ndeleva Mutua A modern democratic state is, by necessity, supposed to incorporate the views of the people it governs in the decisions that affect them directly. While the election of representatives to public bodies, including the legislatures, has been one of the hallmarks of the traditional democracy, there has been a shift towards more participatory democracy in recent decades. The participatory mechanism was initially conceived and designed as a way for citizens’ views and input to have an influence on the political and bureaucratic decision-making process. It was also imagined that participatory mechanisms would become tools for holding elected…

By Kevin Motaroki What is your last great act as chair of the Board? That would be cleaning up the Fund – and therefore. Its image – by instituting proper structures to facilitate its mandate and operations. I , however, wouldn’t peg that on a specific activity or item for, I think, it has been a continuous process. It is a team effort, of course. We have documented our achievements, challenges, lessons and recommendations in a report, the YEDF End of Term Report, 2019. It is an honest assessment of the Board’s work, which gives the public an opportunity to…

By Kevin Motaroki There is a quote often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States: “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.” It is a notoriously heated subject. Right now, on one hand, there is an increasing number of people calling on big corporations and the super wealthy around the world to pay their taxes. On the other end of the spectrum are the libertarians, soaked in the belief that tax is theft. The Free State Project (FSP) is a geopolitical movement which, according to Wikipedia, seeks…

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…