Author: NLM Correspondent

Business between the US and Africa just took a step forward.   The US Senate passed the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development (BUILD) Act, and it was signed into law Oct 5. For at least thirty years, the US’s commercial relationship with Africa has been dominated by resources underground. Oil, gas and minerals account for about half of all US direct investment in Africa. There has been growth in almost every sector of Africa’s economy, but commercial relations with the US have been dominated by US engagement in natural resources. The BUILD Act establishes a new entity, new…

By Fuad Abdirahman Nyali MP Mohamed Ali is a perfect example of what politics does to a “rational” man. A celebrated investigative journalist who never shied away from criticising the government of the day, Moha Jicho Pevu, as he was popularly known, had branded himself as straight-shooting, fearless and uncompromisable. He brought his audiences investigative pieces at great risk to his life, at one time fleeing the country after refusing a Sh1 million bribe to kill one on the drug trade. He used his considerable following on social media to call out corrupt politicians; his list included Deputy President William…

Since the promulgation of the constitution in August 2010, Senators have consistently called for constitutional amendments to “give life and meaning to the Senate.” Surprisingly, when the harmonised draft Constitution was finally presented for Kenyans to comment upon, the majority of voters focused their minds on the structure of the National Executive. As they debated and fought over whether the National Executive should be presidential or parliamentary, the structure of Parliament did not even feature in the top ten concerns of the electorate. It did not receive the attention given to Kadhi’s courts, abortion and representation by gender, land or…

Migration, both to urban areas and abroad, risks depriving African countries of the young people they need to modernize their agriculture sectors, which are key to achieving growth and prosperity, the UN reports. “It is crucial that African countries also look at rural areas for agro-industrialization that can provide more opportunities for young people to find employment and remain in small villages and rural areas,” said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva at a conference last month. According to the official, those who migrate from rural to urban areas are five times more likely to move abroad. Graziano made the…

The current governor of Kisumu county, Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o studied at Alliance High School and Makerere University, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science & Philosophy; he graduated with a first class. He was also a student leader at university. He went on to join the University of Chicago for a degree in Political Science, and a Master’s in Political Economy from the same university. When he returned to Kenya, he taught at the University of Nairobi between 1977 and 1981. In 1982, he took up the role of a Visiting Research Officer at the El Colegio…

Ethiopian athlete who protested at Rio is back home Exiled Ethiopian marathoner Feyisa Lilesa has returned home. Lilesa landed in the capital Addis Ababa after more than two years in exile. The 28-year-old came into the limelight in 2016 after he crossed the Olympic marathon finish line in Rio by holding his crossed wrists over his head—a gesture of solidarity with the anti-government protests that had been taking place in the Horn of Africa nation. The Oromo, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, along with the Amharas, were demonstrating to demand equal economic opportunities, political reform, and an end to the police…

By Alfred Mosoti When driving, particularly in two way traffic, darting between lanes is not just idiotic; it is also dangerous. It confuses and irks other road users, more so oncoming traffic, and can cause head-on collisions. The same principle applies – or ought to apply – in on the political highway. The trend by politician(s) to indoctrinate their fans into certain ethno-political axes before unceremoniously shifting to opposing ones is equally catastrophic! In both scenarios, erratic behaviour is not only detrimental to particular actor(s), but also to the ‘innocent’ followers for, to quote the sages, the hyena split in…

By Edwin Musonye One great wrong in modern Kenya is the sustenance of the permanent and pensionable employment contracts in public service. This practice undermines the principles of equity and equality, given that some citizens are favoured to earn from taxes whilst the rest are only destined to pay those taxes. In the early times following independence, the allocation of the jobs was based on attainment of formal education. And because only few people had such a qualification, most citizens were recruited directly from school under the Africanisation programme, to fill positions left vacant by the colonialists returning home. Unfortunately,…

By Kevin Motaroki The United Nations projects that Africa will have some 1.7 billion people by 2030, and 2.6 billion by 2050. This projected growth poses a real socio-economic challenge because, with its current 1.2 billion people, the continent has perennially fallen short of its food production targets, creating worrying shortages and contributing to the global food crisis. To plug the deficit and forestall future food shortages, the continent needs to produce at least 80 percent more food than it currently does – to both guarantee its food needs and to avoid its overreliance on imports, or aid in dire…

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet last month warned the mass deportation of Congolese nationals from Angola has already resulted in serious human rights violations by security forces on both sides of the border, and left at least 330,000 returnees in an extremely precarious situation. Since the beginning of October, some 330,000 people have reportedly crossed from Angola, mostly into the Kasai, Kasai Central and Kwango provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, following an expulsion order by the Government of Angola targeting irregular migrants. In interviews with people in the border town of Kamako in Kasai, the…