Author: NLM Correspondent

By NLM Writer A Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officer leading a probe into the irregular purchase by Kenya Pipeline (KPC) of a parcel of land was transferred a week after interrogating the sister-in-law to Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet. This is the second time in a year the detective has been transferred while at the critical stage of investigations into several KPC fraud cases in which the IG’s sister-in-law is a suspect. The detective identified as Police Constable Patrick Shiundu, formerly of the Flying Squad, had been transferred to Turkana as he was finalising investigations into Sh647 million pay-out for…

By Joel Okwemba While noting that the Kenya/Somalia dispute and its decision thereof rests with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the diplomatic decisions to the solution rest in the leaderships of both countries. Noteworthy is that the legal processes are actions of the last resort if any other pacific means of settlements of dispute by the parties involved is untenable. As a final resort to pacific settlement of the dispute, Kenya invited Somalia to enter into “provisional arrangements of a practical nature” pending the agreement on maritime boundary on May 25, 2016. This, however, did not mature into a…

By Abdiqani Ismail The debate about minimum qualification for admission to teachers training college has resurfaced following a Kenya National Qualifications Authority directive that seeks to lower the entry requirement for the college. The directive was opposed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) on grounds that it would lower the quality of teaching, where the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Ambassador Amina Mohamed, had cited the constitutional provision on affirmative action – which she justified with the idea that students perform well when accorded the environment to thrive. According to Mohamed, students from marginalized regions lack such opportunities; consequently, the lower…

By Dr Willy Mutunga Elections are an important pillar of our democracy. The right to vote must not be taken lightly. The duty to protect that vote is also an important democratic imperative. There is an emerging, and a rapidly entrenching notion, that electors or voters no longer decide who their leader are – whether in party primaries or the general election itself – and that leaders are decided either by party barons, manipulated electoral management agency, or by the courts. In Africa, there is a widening chasm between voting and counting – an irony of literacy where peasants (most…

Aden Duale’s most famous quote is “Hii pesa si ya mama yako bwana,” for which he almost came to blows with former Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto. This was back when he was “noisy”, and ruled the roost of public opinion. In a way, he was the “total man.” It would now seem that the man who made a career out of “responding to Raila Odinga” is suddenly nowhere to be seen, particularly after the March 2018 handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Odinga. His about turn was spectacular after the historic handshake. In his own words, “Raila Odinga is a…

By Calvine Oredi Kenya faces corruption as one of its major challenges and ending it has proved elusive with un-ending judicial circuses. As some sort of un-emphasized tool, protecting whistle-blowers becomes a sure way of nailing corruption cartels, to ensure their safety from the corruption kingpins. For the war on corruption to be eradicated, deliberate attempts must be made to protect whistle blowers willing to expose mega corruption scandals. Because of the serious threats and dreadful consequences emanating from the perpetrators, fear of whistle blowing has resulted in many corruption scandals going un-reported, in what would be otherwise straightforward accounts…

NLM Writer Officials of the Kenya Judicial Staff Association have filed a preliminary objection seeking to stop have a case in which a member wants to stop monthly remittances from members. KJSA wants the court to stop the case going into full hearing on grounds that the freezing order sought by the petitioner will cripple its activities to the detriment of members. In the objection heard by Justice Hillary Chemitei of Kitale High Court on February 6 2019, the officials also submit that the court lacks the jurisdiction to hear and determine the application. The association also wants the court…

By Fuad Abdirahman The ongoing fissure between Kenya and Somalia has dragged on since 2014 when Mogadishu took Nairobi to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a disputes that involves a maritime border of an exclusive Economic Zone of around 42,000 square kilometres. Tellingly, since then, Kenya has often reminded Somalia a number of times that it hosts hundreds of thousands of refugee from Somalia and that Somalia should be grateful and not take a “friend” to a court. Kenya also has significant military presence in Somalia, which, some point out, is quite the statement. Nairobi expressed intent, quite…

Early in the New Year is report card time on democracy. Organizations monitoring the state of democracy worldwide assess the condition of democracy during the preceding calendar year in nearly all the world’s countries. The oldest, most influential of these is Freedom House, which has assessed democratic progress since 1972. One of the newest, most comprehensive and sophisticated indices is the Varieties of Democracy project (or V-Dem) based in the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. I rely on other major indices, including Polity IV and the Mo Ibrahim Index, established by a wealthy Sudanese industrialist, but find most compelling in…

NIIMS and its Huduma Number would have been one of the best things to happen to this country, only if Kenyans trusted their government to be responsible with data. Ease of monitoring, service delivery and security prioritization taken into account, it only makes sense to have important data at a single source. This is where the world is headed and we had better start the journey if we retain any ambition of being a developed Republic in another decade. At the very least, it is what the Jubilee government promised when they took to power. But there is a problem.…