Author: NLM Correspondent

By Philip Otieno According to NASA Earth Observatory, at least 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water; 97 percent of water is made up by seas and oceans. Africa has a combined coastline of 38 countries covering some 17,000 square kilometres. Its continental shelf is well endowed with aquatic life, natural resources oil and gas, which render seas as one of the biggest unexploited industries in Africa. Seas do not have fences or Donald Trump’s much talked about wall with Mexico, and aquatic animals and minerals know no territorial borders; it is up to us to devise…

Concerns about an impending debt crisis in Africa are rising alongside the region’s growing debt levels. As of 2017, 19 African countries had exceeded the 60 percent debt-to-GDP threshold set by the African Monetary Co-operation Program (AMCP) for developing economies, while 24 countries had surpassed the 55 percent debt-to-GDP ratio suggested by the International Monetary Fund. Surpassing this threshold means that these countries are highly vulnerable to economic changes and their governments have a reduced ability to provide support to the economy in the event of a recession. While debt is a global issue, Africa’s past debt crises have been…

Since the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi in 1998 by a then little-known Al-Qaeda affiliate group, Al-Shabaab, Kenya has been attacked countless times. But we did not invade Somalia for that reason, until the kidnappings of British tourists off the coast of Lamu in 2011. That invasion was deemed illegal as it lacked requisite UN ratification. UNOSOM I and II were the efforts applied by the UN to bring peace and stability to Somalia. When those failed, they packed and left in 1995, leaving Somalia at the mercy of Al-Shabaab – until recently. The first Somalia government set…

By Edwin Libasya & Victor Munene It must be olds news now that over 80 percent of documents in the country purporting to be policy documents – particularly public policy documents – are in reality contemptible, intellectually dishonest write ups. This could be simply picking from the proliferation of fake merchandise in Kenya – fake currency, gold, certificates, qualifications and many other commodities have become common place. The public sector has, in recent times, been hit by an unprecedented craze for policymaking. Every other department or section is doing a policy paper or document. This in essence is a very…

By Okwaro Oscar Plato African leaders have historically converged in Addis Ababa Ethiopia to take stock of their successes and celebrate their “unity” – a perennially elusive standard for nations since the death of Kwame Nkrumah, and only fleetingly enjoyed buy elites, rulers and dictators. African liberation, since the 1990s when African intellectuals began to describe it as a “wave of democratisation” sweeping across the continent, has rapidly dismantled the vestiges of authoritarianism, military rule and satellite states. A conference of the African Union’s predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, for most of the 1970s and 1980s was dominated by…

By Fuad Abdirahman Regime overthrows do not always achieve ideal results – that is, an overhaul of systems. In rare instances they may cause a shift in policy, but often all they achieve is a change in leader(ship). More often than not, the coups themselves fail, making bad situations worse, as happened in Burundi. Besides military overthrows, as in Egypt and more recently Algeria and Sudan – which was properly a combination of civilian agitation and military response – very few countries have had proper popular uprisings, a case in point being Tunisia. Yet other countries have experienced regime change…

By Shadrack Muyesu Regulation 30 of the Food (Food crops) Regulations 2018 prohibits a grower from using human faecal matter and raw animal manure to produce food crops. It is a curious provision. The Ministry of Agriculture says that the Regulations are aimed at addressing various emergent challenges in the food crops industry, thereby boosting food security and enabling President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda. An alternative view is that far from achieving this aim, the Regulations not only cripple the small farmer but also threaten food security in the long term. Besides, they come at a great cost to…

Still in the same court, the magistrate refused to issue orders that a petty criminal (PCR) matter be withdrawn until she was made to understand what the accused meant when she called her mother, the complainant, “mbwa”. The accused had been charged with being drunk and disorderly with her charge sheet showing that she insulted her mother in the aforementioned manner. The complainant sought to withdraw. The magistrate’s anger spiked. After giving the accused a thorough dressing down, she instructed a probation officer to investigate the accused, placing keen emphasis on what she meant when she said “mbwa”. To emphasis…

One female magistrate meanwhile doesn’t seem to be very fond of fresh-to-court advocates – particularly young, make-up-wearing-and-accessory-laden female advocates who demonstrate the slightest unfamiliarity with court process or their briefs. A young lady sauntered into the full court room and duly took a seat at the front pew. She proceeded to immerse herself in her phone only distracted by the occasional conversation with the fine gentleman standing close by who also happened to be appearing in the matter. Her file was called out and no sooner had the State Counsel finished with the directions that madam shot up to introduce…

Still in Makadara, court users were left in stitches when an accused person, employing every trick in the book, begged the Chief Magistrate to refer him to “any to any other court apart from Courts 2, 3 and 5” for retrial. The accused, a young sheng’ speaking robbery with violence suspect, told the Chief Magistrate that his fellow inmates had warned him against appearing before the aforementioned courts as they were notorious for handing down convictions. It was Court 5 that had initially tried and convicted him. The court was initially dismissive of this request but after a lot of…