Author: NLM Correspondent

By Dr Kariuki Maigua The KRA ADR Framework was launched in June 2015 and revised in June 2019 to provide an internal process for KRA to amicably resolve and settle tax disputes outside the judicial process. The ADR Framework aimed at complementing the judicial and quasi-judicial mechanisms for resolving tax disputes in the tax laws “by introducing ADR as an additional and/or alternative means of resolving tax disputes.” Importantly, the ADR Framework has helped to achieve alternative dispute resolution of tax disputes as envisaged and proposed under Article 159 (2) (c) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, section 28 of…

By the National Treasury’s own admission, a fragile wall holds Kenya back from economic collapse, but the problem is more than just about money – it is also about bad policy after bad policy, and clueless advisors By Silas Apollo For close to a month now, rising tensions within the ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance, pitting allies of President William Ruto against one another, have fuelled speculations over a possible rift within the coalition. For most of September, the Kenya Kwanza Alliance has witnessed growing tensions as infights linked to a supremacy battle over the leadership of the Mount Kenya region…

Despite the recent introduction of new taxes, the government is still finding itself in a deep hole as operations of agencies funded by the Exchequer come to a halt. In its first budget, the Kenya Kwanza administration went out to raise revenue base by introducing new taxes, such as the housing levy, and increasing others, such as the VAT on fuel from 8 to 16 percent and income tax on the high-income earners with Sh500,000 or more in gross pay. Yet the increase in revenue has yet to make the situation any better. If you take the first quarter, public-funded…

By Mumbi Mutoko As Kenya’s debt levels soar, concerns are rising about the nation’s ability to navigate its present financial quagmire. The most recent data from the Treasury reveals that Kenya’s total public debt has surpassed the 10 trillion shilling mark, clocking Sh10.1 trillion as of June 30, 2023, raising red flags about the country’s fiscal sustainability. The surge in public debt is attributed to various factors, including external loan disbursements, exchange rate fluctuations, and the uptake of both domestic and external debt, making the servicing these loans increasingly burdensome. With the Kenyan shilling’s value plummeting to record lows, currently…

By Danielle Resnick Gabon’s elections on August 26 attracted minimal global attention, largely because interest was focused on massive voting irregularities in Zimbabwe’s elections, which were held the same week. Just as with Emmerson Mnangagwa in Zimbabwe, there was little expectation that Gabon’s Ali Bongo Ondimba would lose the presidency. He and his father, Omar Bongo, jointly ruled Gabon as a dynastic fiefdom for more than 50 years.  The fact that no outside election observers were allowed to monitor the elections, including the African Union (AU), signaled that both the process and outcome were going to be neither free nor…

By Antony Mutunga Africa has taken a step towards improving infrastructure as, with financial assistance from the international bodies and the East, many African economies have seen enormous changes. Africa has made some progress in the infrastructural improvement of fields such as transport, electricity, and information and communications technology. However, despite the improvement, Africa still lags. According to the African Development Bank, the continent needs up to Sh24.72 trillion ($170 billion) annually by 2025 to overhaul its infrastructure, with two-thirds needed for entirely new infrastructure and the remaining one-third for maintenance. Africa needs this funding as infrastructure investments have accounted…

They may be small in stature but they’re gigantic in performance and spirit and they’re having a massive impact, both worldwide and in Africa, where they are changing the lives of young women. Four former female running greats from Africa are ploughing back what they gained from the sport and investing in the future of African distance running. By Stephen Granger Derartu Tulu, the first African athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in female competition and now president of Ethiopia’s Athletics Federation; Kenyan marathon super-stars and former world record holders, Tegla Leroupe and Mary Keitany; and former half marathon…

By Jacob Oketch Empress Ciku Kimani Mwaniki’s latest book, titled A Cocktail of Unlikely Tales, is a collection of, as she rightly puts it, novellas because these stories are long. However, that does not prevent the author from deftly employing the suspense in some of them – to great effect. For instance, in the story, ‘Game of Marbles’, readers are inundated by the endless marital tribulations of Mbogo and the eccentricities of Ras to the extent that one would expect the story to end definitively, but at the end of the story, readers are left with many unanswered questions. The…

A  recent Tifa poll says Kenyans are disillusioned with the state of affairs in the country. For most Kenya Kwanza supporters, the euphoria that greeted President William Ruto’s inauguration just over a year ago is gone. Kenyans are disappointed that the promises Ruto gave in the run-up to the August 9 general election remain unfulfilled. Many today are grappling with extremely high fuel prices, rising inflation and an unaffordable life. The Tifa survey showed that many government supporters are especially disappointed with the government’s performance more than anything else. They believe that Kenya Kwanza has failed to capture the imagination…

The world continues to face a climate crisis like never before, dwindling water resources and intensifying climate impacts, have become the norm in many regions. As world leaders meet up at the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai, one of the main issues has been how to address the critical issue of the nature and water sector financing gap. During the conference, several heads of multilateral development banks, such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Asian Development Bank, and the African Development Bank, committed to helping in tackling the challenges, which are as a…