Author: NLM Correspondent

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.…

Prof Yash Ghai and Jill Cottrell-Ghai ‘Is [President] targeting Supreme Court?’ ‘They know nothing about it and are making our Country unsafe. Our great law enforcement professions MUST BE ALLOWED TO DO THEIR JOB. If not there will be only bedlam, chaos, injury and death.’ ‘MPs renew attack on Judiciary ‘over constant meddling.’ ‘The judges are “divorced from reality” and are “hard-left activist judges.’ ‘Yet some judges seem to believe that they can ignore parliament’s wishes if they think that the procedures for parliamentary scrutiny have been ‘weak’. That appears actually to mean that they can ignore parliament when they…

By Prof Ben Sihanya The judiciary is in sharp focus.  President Uhuru Kenyatta, the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), some legislators at the national and county levels and even some lawyers are increasingly attacking the judiciary and courts generally, as well as the Chief Justice (CJ) or the Deputy Chief Justice (DCJ), judges and magistrates specifically. Or they simply choose to ignore court orders. They allege easy bail and bond terms, other favourable decisions, and delays in criminal and civil cases, thereby affecting investors, donors…

Chronic shortages of power affect the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. Almost 620 million people—60 percent of the region’s population—lack access to electricity according to the African Development Bank. Even those who in theory have access face very high prices for insufficient and unreliable supplies. This lack of power matters: Countries with electrification rates of less than 80 percent consistently have a lower per-capita gross domestic product than other countries, and more power is crucial if Africa is to meet basic development goals. But how the situation improves is important, too. Should electrification focus on off-grid or on-grid solutions? Should it…

Thousands of older customers of the US pharmacy chain CVS spend the colder months of the year in warmer climes, migrating from homes in, say, Minnesota to winter pads in sunny Arizona or Florida. In the mid-2000s, CVS realised that many of its older pharmacy employees wanted to do the same thing. Rather than force older and more experienced workers to choose between retiring early to pursue the snowbird lifestyle or working through the winters in a place physically difficult to navigate, CVS started a programme that allows them to transfer temporarily to stores in warmer states during the winter.…

Dr. Tom Odhiambo It seems as if the term corruption no longer has the desired effect when used in conversation in Kenya. This is a dirty word. It should shock the hearer when uttered by someone. It should scare anyone to be labelled corrupt. The clergy should be using it in the same breath as fire and brimstone, leaving no doubt in the minds of the congregation that the physical body and soul of her or him who is found to be corrupt shall have no eternal peace. It should be the end of any pretence to personal integrity the…

If you have been dismissed and you think that the dismissal was unfair, you may find recourse in court. Where you believe your dismissal was based on discriminatory grounds (age, sex, race, disability, pregnancy, family or carer responsibilities etc.) or if it occurred because you exercised your workplace rights, you may be entitled to make a general protections application. This sort of application (which is also known as an “adverse action” claim). Made redundant? If you are employed under an award or an enterprise agreement, your employer is obliged to consult with you concerning any proposed redundancy. If your employer…

By Edwin Musonye It’s the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. That is the answer readily given to the question, ‘what are the [three] arms of government?’ So entrenched is the concept in our thinking that we never interrogate it even when have made changes ourselves. The answer also seems standard across many countries – as can be deduced from Google Search responses. However, the current situation may allow us to appreciate the separation of responsibilities among the branches of government differently. The most compelling viewpoint is that the responsibilities are shared out to the national and county government, and State organs.…