Author: NLM Correspondent

In some striking ways Africa is the most “stable” economic region of the world. Since 1960, many of the parameters that define the continental economy have remained in a fixed ratio to comparative global indicators. Whether it is share of global GDP, world trade, or foreign direct investment (FDI), Africa’s share usually hovers around the 2 percent mark (FDI has inched up to 2.9 percent however). Critical observers usually insist the main source of this “stability” is actually “stagnation”. They point to the fact that Africa “missed” the first two waves of economic transformation, almost completely: the agriculture revolution (in…

The Internet Society, a global non-profit organisation dedicated to the open development, evolution and use of the Internet, last month announced it is partnering with Facebook to develop Internet Exchange Points (IXP) throughout Africa. An Internet Exchange Point is where multiple local and international networks, ISPs and content providers interconnect their networks together to efficiently exchange Internet traffic through an arrangement commonly referred to as Peering. Currently, 42 percent of countries in Africa lack IXPs, which means that most of their domestic Internet traffic is exchanged through points outside their respective country, usually through satellite or submarine fiber across multiple…

By David Onjili In the early days of June 2018, Tilisi Development Limited carried out a survey with 200 respondents to analyse the warehousing demands the nation faces, the findings of which pointed that Kenya does not have adequate warehousing facilities in the right places. For existing ones, they are either substandard or located in the wrong areas characterized by poor infrastructure. More important, noting that food and beverages are the main items stored in these warehouses, the survey raises several health concerns that touch on handling and hygiene. Company directors and operational managers across five industry sectors were involved.…

By Victor Adar There is a debate going about why uptake of products of the Capital Market Authority has been low. It is the story of more of companies delisting rather than listing, a shift that could serve to discourage investment at the bourse. The fact that big corporates, including Bidco and Airtel, are not listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), more likely than not sends the message that things may not so rosy. Further, what’s keeping fresh companies from listing? Is it because of low profitability, or losses? Performance of the top 20, highlighted in the NSE 20…

By NLM writer Gulf African Bank recently hosted Nairobi lawyers to a discursive legal sector networking meeting, a move that’s expected to solve the existing 21st Century legal financial requirements faced by legal firms, practicing partners and their institutional clients. Attendees discussed why legal firms really need institutional partners to champion their growth, and why Gulf African Bank particularly is wooing legal practitioners, their firms and clients with customised products. While it seems ordinary for a bank to focus majorly on a certain profession in order to reach a wider target audience, insiders believe that the current drive to embrace customised…

One of the great unexplained wonders of human history is that written philosophy first flowered entirely separately in different parts of the globe at more or less the same time. The origins of Indian, Chinese and ancient Greek philosophy, as well as Buddhism, can all be traced back to a period of roughly 300 years, beginning in the 8th century BC. These early philosophies have shaped the different ways people worship, live and think about the big questions that concern us all. Most people do not consciously articulate the philosophical assumptions they have absorbed and are often not even aware…

With Fred Matiang’i, the Cabinet Secretary for Interior, what you see is what you get. In his words, “there are no two ways about it.” He does not place much emphasis on unravelling himself; that, he says, is the job of the public he serves. He is a state officer after all, and there is no shortage of people who would like to unpackage his life. He is not the kind of person to put fences around himself; if it is pleasing to the mind, he will work with it. To him, for example, all books are as seeming as…

Despite its immense economic potential, owing to its strategic location, Djibouti risks becoming an island of poverty in a sea of wealth as investors make the most of a conducive atmosphere promoted by respective governments in the Horn of Africa region. The Horn of Africa, with an estimated population of over 160 million people, is perched next to the Middle East and along the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes for goods and oil from Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal. Synonymous with volatility yesteryear, the region is undergoing a makeover and is in the cusp…

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is scheduled to arraign over twenty Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) employees over a decade long multi-billion shilling grand theft at the oil company. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has also forwarded its investigations files on same cases to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and is awaiting recommendations. The investigations are related to diversion of adulterated fuel worth billions of shillings and procurements payments to fictitious companies that cannot be traced at the Registrar of Companies, and others with fake registration documents. In the latest probe in which senior KPC managers…

By David Wanjala If you have never believed elections are rigged in Kenya, Thursday September 20 provided the perfect testimony. The vote in the National Assembly on President Uhuru Kenyatta’s austerity and tax proposals re-enacted the full scripts of most of our seasonal general elections, where losers are blatantly declared winners after results of peaceful voting are corrupted at the tail end of the process to the whims of a few officials entrusted with overseeing the exercise. Of fundamental importance, however, is how the media has been exposed by the events on the floor of the National Assembly, on the…