Author: NLM Correspondent

Artificial Intelligence platform, Talent Ticker, has revealed the impact Brexit is having on those working in the financial services industry. A review of the platform’s data has revealed an increase in the number of financial services companies expanding to open European offices, and even completely relocating from the UK in favour of offices in EU member states. While London remains a hub for the financial services industry, companies have generally shown caution in hiring in the city in recent months. Talent Ticker’s investigation has revealed a 30 percent increase in banks making job cuts compared to the same period in…

World leaders were in Beijing last month for a summit on the Belt and Road initiative: the sweeping infrastructural project aimed at expanding global trade links and connecting China by land and sea to the rest of Asia, Europe, and Africa. Developing countries have welcomed the idea since it began six years ago in a bid to fund much-needed roads, trains, ports, and other facilities. Yet the high costs of these projects have prompted complaints that some nations are falling into a “debt trap,” with critics warning nations might have no choice but to hand over controlling stakes in strategic…

By Emeka-Mayaka Gekara When Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto flew to the International Criminal Court for the confirmation hearings of their case, an activist called Kimani Wambugu rallied like-minded allies to Uhuru Park where they staged a vigil for victims of 2007/8 violence. Back then, Ngunjiri was amongst the strongest proponents of the ICC cases. His view at the time was that the aggressive local and diplomatic campaigns against the UhuRuto case would deny victims justice, and figured the narrative around justice for victims was more critical. He was particularly against Ruto who was accused of perpetrating the violence in…

By Prof John Harbeson These are troubling times for democracy, not only for Kenya but throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and the world. Gauging the quality of democracy is no easy task because reasonable minds can and do differ on the relative importance of particular criteria as they can and do on how well any individual criterion has been met. That said, there’s a fairly widespread consensus among scholars and practitioners alike that the quality of democracy worldwide has been slipping gradually but noticeably over the last several years, globally, in sub-Saharan Africa and, yes, in Kenya.   Freedom House has long…

For several months now, Kenyans have been treated to a number of very bad laws packaged as the President’s delivery on the Big Four Agenda. It started with the Dairy Industry (Licensing) Regulations of 2018, through which farmers would no longer be able to sell, offer for sale or expose for consumption any milk in its raw form without a license issued by the Dairy Board. The Board said at the time that the proposals were necessitated by the need to update policy and regulations with the liberalised nature of industry; adopt to changing technological innovations; respond to consumer demands…

Africa’s youth are key forces of sustainable development. Indeed, both the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063 and United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development identify youth as key partners of sustainable development, though the youth empowerment agenda is often set aside as part of the social inclusion agenda rather than the structural transformation one. Two of the region’s megatrends, urbanization and demographic transition, call for a paradigm shift toward youth-centred sustainable development. First, Africa is quickly urbanizing, primarily due to natural population increase in cities and peri-urban areas. Second, its youth constitute a large share of the continent’s population, with…

By David Onjili The enduring conflict for both retiring senior civil servants and politicians is to know when to hang up their boots by passing up on appointments. Sportsman Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, while announcing his retirement from basketball in 2016, said that he felt that he could no longer give the game anything more. Do politicians and civil servants ever feel this after decades of service? China, a communist country offers an interesting view. The ideal is all about working for the revolution with their last breath and last drop of blood. This explains why retirement…

You’ve got problems. Perhaps more than you know. Apart from all the usual woes—work, relationships, money, time—the civilised life may also be causing you psychological trauma. Disconnection from nature can be bad for our mental health. But there was no name for this particular malaise until Australian sustainability professor Glenn Albrecht coined the term psychoterratic, creating the beginning of a vocabulary to discuss the relationship between mental health and environment. Since then, he’s thought up a whole lexicon. In May, Albrecht’s book, ‘Earth Emotions: New Words for a New World’, will be published by Cornell University Press. It includes gems…

“The origin of civil government,” wrote David Hume in 1739, is that “men are not able radically to cure, either in themselves or others, that narrowness of soul, which makes them prefer the present to the remote.” The Scottish philosopher was convinced that the institutions of government – such as political representatives and parliamentary debates – would serve to temper our impulsive and selfish desires, and foster society’s long-term interests and welfare. Today, Hume’s view appears little more than wishful thinking, since it is so startlingly clear that our political systems have become a cause of rampant short-termism rather than…

By Bosire Nyamori A High Court decision delivered on November 29, 2018 has highlighted the complexity in determining the Value Added Tax payable on land and property transactions, and the consequences that can follow where the parties disagree on the tax liability. In ‘David Mwangi Ndegwa v Kenya Revenue Authority’, Civil Suit No. 541 of 2015, the High Court held, “sale or purchase of land, together with residential premises and commercial premises erected on the land’, is VAT-free. Further, it ordered Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to refund David Mwangi Ndegwa (Plaintiff) Sh11.2 million, which he paid as VAT when he bought…