Author: NLM Correspondent

By Fuad Abdirahman The establishment of the international criminal (ICC) court in 2002 was seen as major victory for global criminal justice efforts. It was mandated with prosecuting sweeping crimes of concern to the international community, which include genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Although it has members in some 123, it lacks the presence of powerful nations like Russia and China, among others. The ICC currently faces major onslaught from two powerful nations with enormous influences around the world: the United States of America and Israel, whose governments have threatened to rip the court into pieces if they…

By Antony Mutunga Increasing intra-African trade does not mean doing less business with the rest of the world. On the contrary, as we trade more among ourselves, African firms will become bigger, more specialised, and more competitive internationally. From now on, the clear wish of everyone is that consultation between business and political leadership, at all levels, and becomes a continuous feature of continental deliberations. – Paul Kagame Many years after colonisation, African countries continue to be dependent on their colonial masters. This dependence is as a result of foreign – often given advanced with preconditions – which many countries…

He is the old boy in the room. This is how an official described Joseph Kinyua’s presence at Cabinet sessions in the Uhuru Kenyatta administration. At 67, Kinyua should have long exited the public service. And he has expressed his intentions to do so. But his boss won’t let him go; not just yet. As head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Kinyua’s main job is to make President Kenyatta’s trains run on time. He leads the bureaucracy that implements the president’s policies and agenda. And because of this, he is easily the most powerful unelected individual in…

By SHADRACK MUYESU Discrimination is not a result of like or dislike. As Dr Claud Anderson observes, all forms of discrimination occur in the absence of economic empowerment.   “To earn recognition, the black man must first achieve economic wellness. The surplus gained from creating wealth should then be invested in politics.” In his five stages of liberation, he doesn’t give much regard to voting as a source of citizen power, advocating, instead, for the buying of every politician of influence and ability to look out for the rights of the small man. “Wealth and political power deliver the integrity of…

By Kenyatta Otieno I believe I am a progressive African. I also know that some of the things we borrow, however noble, won’t survive the test of time. The irony is that I am a culture enthusiast, who believes that it is not prudent for Africans to drop their culture blindly in favour of Western ways of life. This is why I sometimes find myself in mental conflict. My mind and heart jump into the ring often and, to me, the battle in the war is to keep a consistent thought process. Seth Disembe, a Twitter user, recently posted a photo…

She wears many hats. Outside of being an Advocate of the High Court, Maria Mbeneka is also the Vice President of the East Africa Law Society, LSK Council Member, Chair Ghetto Radio, Mother, wife and First Lady Laikipia County. She loves the outdoors – walking, running, hiking. Out of legal text, she voraciously consumes fiction, where she has a bias for African writers. Nigerian Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is her ‘absolute favourite’. She is currently reading Gregory David Roberts’ Shantaram. She always knew she’d be a lawyer, and set about preparing for that calling from a young age. She admired the…

Theresa May’s Brexit no-deal support wanes T HERESA May’s no-deal Brexit plans got the cold shoulder from members of her Cabinet who are warming for a Canada-style trade agreement should her Chequers White Paper fail. A leaked document offered an insight into the preparations underway aimed at keeping Britain afloat in the absence of a withdrawal agreement, with May telling a summit of business leaders yesterday she “didn’t know” where negotiations would end up. Rwanda’s Victoire Ingabire released Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire was unexpectedly freed from jail on Saturday after President Paul Kagame permitted her early release, alongside two…

HIGHLIGHT: Former chief justice of Kenya, Commonwealth special envoy to the Maldives, reform activist, intellectual Retired Chief Justice, Dr Willy Mutunga was born in Kitui on June 16, 1947. He attended Kitui School for his Kenya Certificate of Education exams whereby he was the first student to attain an ‘A’ grade in all subjects. He received a Bachelor’s degree in law in the 1970s, and a Master of Laws from the University of Dar es Salaam. He went into exile in Canada in 1983 after being arrested for his activism. In the late 1980s, Dr Mutunga received his Doctorate of…

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a unique and timely opportunity for the continent and offers more benefits than other trading arrangements with regions outside the continent, says Andrew Mold, Acting Director of UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Eastern Africa. Mold indicated that the AfCFTA marks a fundamental step towards dismantling barriers and reducing costs to intra-African trade, boost industrialization, improve productivity and competitiveness of Africa for the creation of the much-needed jobs on the continent. He was speaking in a two-day conference discussing the Industrial Policy of Rwanda for the Next Decade, a meeting organized…

Official development assistance, defined as grants or concessional loans provided for the purpose of development, is in scarce supply. Donors are naturally concerned with how to allocate aid resources most effectively. Economics has much to say about how to allocate scarce resources, but there is surprisingly little use of economics, as opposed to politics and international relationships, in practical aid allocation models – research shows that aid allocation models have found political factors, such as voting alignment at the United Nations, colonial history, and even membership on the Executive Board of Directors of multilateral funds, to be significant An early…