Author: NLM Correspondent

Over a dozen novels and almost five decades, the Somali writer Nuruddin Farah has chronicled the effects on ordinary lives of his country’s upheavals. Some of his characters stay put amid the turmoil; others return from exile and try to fit in, remain afloat and make sense of the chaos around them. In “North of Dawn”, Farah charts the fortunes of a Somali family who leave Kenya for Europe. In this absorbing story, the stakes are raised. Mugdi and Gacalo feel their safe world implode when their Norwegian raised son returns to Somalia, embraces jihadism and kills himself in a…

By Henry Munene In 1986, Kevin Shillington, an independent English scholar and author of A History of Africa, approached Ugandan guerrilla fighter Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and impressed upon the newly installed president the need to record the success of his struggle against Idd Amin Dada and Milton Obote in a book. Although Museveni thought it was a brilliant idea, he reckoned that he would be hard pressed for time, what with the war going on and placing lots of demands on him. So a deal was struck. Shillington would bring a voice recorder and interview the man who would become…

Technology is often blamed for destroying traditional working-class jobs in sectors like manufacturing and retail. But blue collar jobs aren’t the only ones at risk. The legal profession — tradition-bound and labour-heavy — is on the cusp of a transformation in which artificial-intelligence platforms dramatically affect how legal work gets done. Those platforms will mine documents for evidence that will be useful in litigation, to review and create contracts, raise red flags within companies to identify potential fraud and other misconduct or do legal research and perform due diligence before corporate acquisitions. Those are all tasks that — for the…

By Tabitha Griffith Saoyo & Nerima Were “We find that NHIF is not even minimally transparent. If the corporation is going to continue to increase its management share of public health resources, and to eventually act as the principal financier in a universal health insurance scheme in Kenya, it must improve its transparency and financial management practices” – J. Lakin & V. Magero On December 22, 2017, then Acting Chief Executive Officer of Kenyatta Hospital issued an internal memo indicating the transfer of free maternity services to the National Hospital Insurance Fund, a national government body established under the NHIF…

By Edwin Musonye and Patrick Musindi According to Richard S. Beth, modifications are [usually used in]supplementing or superseding existing laws; and may be done at each separate points or on an entire provision desired. This stance reinforces the need for categorizing modification of the constitution into being either a change/replacement, amendment, alteration, adjustment or revision. Such a framework has three practical applications. Promotes ‘neatness’ This enables developing guidelines such as the time-spans allowed before certain modifications can be made. Establishing well-known period for modification activities boosts democracy. Citizenry are prepared early and there are no rooms for ambush. This line…

By Edwin Musonye and Patrick Musindi The word referendum has been made to mean-constitution modifying process. In most laymen (and even expert) discussions, there is intimation that modifying the document by the popular initiative must involve the referendum exercise. But, this is not necessarily the case. In fact, the plebiscite is the furthest last resort. Going by a commonplace opinion, the document is 20 percent faulty. Unfortunately, the defective provisions are unknown. Therefore, concerned parties suggest arbitrary issue – those peculiar only to them. Determining what will be universally accepted as being the ‘real’ inadequacy, in our humble estimation, may…

By Tioko Ekiru Emmanuel One of the biggest shifts that occurred in Kenya upon the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 was the huge endorsement of our own traditions and ideas. The belief was that the painful pre-2010 era of corruption, torture, human rights abuses, executive highhandedness and formalistic reasoning had been brought to an end. Sadly, the change doesn’t seem as profound or obvious where court room attire is concerned. Wigs, robes and gowns are objects to be worshipped in many Anglophone countries. Sadly, the attire carries a colonial spectacle which goes against the constitutional tandem and embodiment…

BY Wafula Wakoko To both the Pharaoh and the Israelites, the Constitution of Kenya should mean something. In as much as it may not morph into food on our tables, the law must certainly protect us from elements that wish to steal our food, our means to obtain food and our ability eat. The Executive’s determination to trample on our laws has in the recent past seemed unhindered. Like the proverbial rainmaker, it has unapologetically showcased when rain can reign. It’s a phenomenon that it has manifested throughout the ages. It is for this reason that the Lockean Social Contract…

The “Africa Rising” narrative has been hinged on the continent’s middle class—but the methods used to define the size of that population has been inconsistent to say the least. In its The Middle of the Pyramid report in 2011, the Africa Development Bank defined the middle class as persons with yearly incomes exceeding $3,900 (or a per capital expenditure of $2 to $20 day) while the World Bank broadly defines middle-class as those who earn $12 to $15 per day. The oft-cited pitfall of using fixed income cut-offs to define the middle class is that it leaves no room for…

By David Onjili The 2018 Doing Business Report by the World Bank was released on October 31, 2018 by Felipe Jaramillo, the World Bank country director. Present were several business leaders including the Cabinet Secretary for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Peter Munya. In the report Kenya “made great progress”, improving 19 positions from 80th to 61st. The country made significant progress by carrying out key reforms in several areas, according to the report, including in registering property, accessing credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes and resolving insolvency. The World Bank highlighted these strides which it noted as being fundamental in…