Author: NLM Correspondent

By Omari Bradley Recent debate arising from a petition by Kibra MP Kenneth Okoth to legalise marijuana, demonstrate that the subject matter and aftermath of the petition has not inspired criticism in its broader essence. Often, the debates have focused on the same archaic misconceptions and misguided bedevilling of marijuana that were used in the first anti-marijuana campaign of 1930. Okoth’s petition is not particularly new to the Parliament. The first one was presented in 2017 by analyst and writer Gwada Ogot, followed by a further petition by researcher Prof Simon Mwaura. There is vehement opposition to such legislation out…

By Olukoye Michael “Whatever you say to the police can and will be misconstrued to support the prosecution. So when in doubt, keep your mouth shut!” – Annalise Keating, How to Get Away with Murder Murder. You have probably already condemned this article and its author to the seventh circle of Dante’s hell for writing this. Well, too bad. If you ask ‘Wanjiku’ what she thinks of lawyers, more often than not the answer will be along the lines of “they are bad people who defend murderers!” Having been condemned, tried and found guilty by the masses, it is only…

By NLM Writer Article 117 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and Section 12 of the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act no 29 of 2017 suppose that neither the Speaker nor any officer of the Assembly shall be subject to the jurisdiction of any court in respect of the exercise of any power conferred on, or vested in the Speaker or such officer by, or under the Act or the Standing Orders, and that no civil suit shall be commenced against the   Speaker, the leader of the Majority party, the leader of Minority party, chairpersons of committees and members…

Life for the first humans was undoubtedly brutal. They were in a constant struggle to stay warm and fed, while warding off predators and enduring an unforgiving climate. To survive, they needed to be tough, intelligent, and resourceful. And happy. Evolutionary psychologists theorise happiness was an adaptive advantage. It aided our survival in all sorts of important ways—it made us fitter, more attuned to our environment, more social, more energetic—and because happy people were more apt to survive, they were more likely to pass on their happiness genes. Like all evolutionary adaptations, happiness first occurred as a genetic variation, but…

By Alexander Opicho The Amazon book publishers has finally released the print and e-version of a new anthology of poems, short fiction stories, non-fiction, photo-stories and drama on the theme of Africanisation and Americanisation. The title of the anthology is Africanisation and Americanization; Africa vs North America. It has a collection of contributions from over forty writers from different countries all over the world – from Africa to North America, and even Australia. The anthology is a collection of stories and narratives searching for inter-racial, inter-sectional, and interstate meeting spaces between Africa and America. It is comprised of 107 pieces…

By Dr Tom Odhiambo There has been public debate in media in recent times, about who between the student and the teacher is the culprit when course marks “disappear” in universities. Some professors have ventured to defend their turf, often trying to show that the students are to blame for engaging in all manners of chicanery to graduate without attending class. Of course when students respond, they simply laugh at such teachers, rightly so, I think. Why? Because when marks are “lost”, as students are generally told, it is the height of irresponsibility by the teachers. Period. If the lecturer…

The news that South Africa, under new president Cyril Ramaphosa may turn to expropriating white farmers who still control an overwhelming proportion of the country’s rural land, should resonate with Kenyans who know (or remember) how a comparable problem was handled during the country’s transition to independence.  On balance, I think one would agree that for all the corruption, controversy, and not insignificant violence surrounding land politics in Kenya in the fifty-five years since its independence, Kenya is still in a better place today on land issues as a consequence of its transfer programs than South Africa, or Zimbabwe with…

By Chelsea Johnson Among policymakers and scholars alike, a robust manufacturing sector is broadly understood as a fundamental path to economic growth and development. The most recent illustration is the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in March 2018, a single market for goods and services in Africa that aims to unlock manufacturing potential and facilitate industrialization, driving sustainable growth and jobs among other objectives. The key boon of manufacturing is that it absorbs large swaths of workers and places them into productive and decent paying jobs. Throughout history, this exact recipe has transformed the United States,…

From a panoramic hilltop in Kenya’s northern frontier, Anthony Bourdain reflected one last time at the unlikeliness of his own success. Sitting next to comedian W. Kamau Bell, the legendary chef and television personality said that every time “the cameras turn off” and he’s sitting around with his crew, “I pinch myself.” He continued, “I cannot believe that I get to do this. Or see this, ever. Or that I ever would, because 44 years ago, dunking fries, I knew, with absolute certainty, that I would never, ever see Rome, much less this.” Those words were captured in the inaugural…

By Emeka-Mayaka Gekara When Mohun Biswas, the protagonist in VS Naipaul’s A House for Mr Biswas,  moves his family to their new abode, he is concerned about the his wife’s nagging. He regards his wife Shama and the children as “alien growths, alien affections, which fed on him and called him away from that part of him which yet remained purely himself, that part which had for long been submerged and was now to disappear.” Despite his poor education, he becomes a journalist, has four children with Shama, and attempts several times to build a house that he can call…