Author: NLM Correspondent

The future of Kenya’s Early Oil Pilot Scheme (EOPS) is in limbo after Tullow Oil threatened to shut down its operations in the Lokichar, owing to a stalemate that has crippled production and transportation. Disputes on politics, security and resource-sharing between the community and the national government disrupted the shipment of crude from Lokichar to the refinery in Mombasa County on the Coast for more than three weeks after local leaders, Tullow Oil and officials from the central government failed to reach a deal to unlock the impasse. In a statement, Tullow said it is seeking the backing of the…

BY Fuad Abdirahman The head of the Somali region state in Ethiopia Abdi Mohamoud Omar recently acknowledged that his administration carried out killings on its own civilians at the request of Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and sought forgiveness, in the spirit of the “message of forgiveness” advanced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Hundreds of his critics were detained and tortured in a secretive jail known as Jail Ogaden, most of whom were accused of having ties with the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist group which was founded in 1984. The group was recently removed from the terror watch…

By Richard Joseph A quarter-century after sub-Saharan Africa experienced an upsurge of democracy, a different and more complicated political era has dawned: the expansion of liberal democracy has slowed in the continent just as it has globally. Several forces are responsible for this dénouement: the rise of China; the entrenchment of illiberal systems; intensified and multiplying conflicts in the Middle East; authoritarian nationalism in Russia and other countries; the harmonizing of market economies with non-democratic governance; and jihadist and other intractable wars. The advance and retreat of democracy in Africa since the end of the Cold War have resulted in a new…

For many of Kenya’s public thieves – who cannot as much as blush even when caught with their hands in the purse – the current highly-advertised war on graft could be but a temporary inconvenience – one they could wait it out and proceed, like nothing ever happened. This is what we risk if we do not get the strategy right. Some of the measures initiated by the President to check runaway graft seem to have had an abortive start, with the so-called lifestyle audit – conducted under a shroud of secrecy by a panel that contains shady individuals itself…

By Emeka-Mayaka Gekara Amidst intense political calls for the revival of the Pan Paper Mills in Bungoma, President Uhuru Kenyatta toured the facility and paraded members of the Rai family, led by Jaswant Rai, as the new investors. Jaswant is the chair of the Rai Group while his brother, Tajveer, is the managing director of West Kenya Sugar Ltd. The Rai Group owns Raiply Ltd, which has spread its wings to Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi. It is also Kenya’s second largest sugar miller through its West Kenya Sugar and Sukari Industries in Homa Bay. It is also Uganda’s second largest…

By TNLM Writer Life has been everything but a bed of roses for the Rai family. Hardly does the dust settle on a longstanding business dispute between its members than another arises, revealing a family that has been at pains to accept some of its own. Then there is the flour saga, allegations of ill treatment of employees and high stakes corruption. At the centre of it all is the ownership and control of Rai Plywoods Limited (Raiply) – Kenya’s largest agro forestry concern. Raiply was established in 1971 by family patriarch Tarlochan Singh Rai, who then distributed a stake…

By Payton Mathau In January 2017, a lavish wedding between Gavneet Chatthe and Rajbir Rai was celebrated at the Sarova Mara Game Camp within Maasai Mara. Several prominent businessmen and politicians attended the lavish invite-only ceremony, among them Deputy President William Ruto. Clearly, the Rai Family enjoys a cordial relationship with the DP. He, however, is neither the first nor the only one. The family has enjoyed close association with the Daniel Moi, Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta governments for over four decades, and has reaped handsomely from the resultant political patronage. The Family – made up of patriarch Tarlochan…

BY Peter Wanyonyi Recent tidings out of Addis Ababa and Asmara make for interesting geopolitical reading. Last month, the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea ended decades of armed hostility between their two countries. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afeworki set aside an acrimonious history and agreed to re-establish ties between the two states. Progress from then on was super-swift: Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s leading airline by some distance, immediately set up flights to Eritrea from Ethiopia; and immigration ties between the two nations were re-established, with citizens of the two countries receiving visa waivers when visiting the…

Every year South African investigative journalists are recognised for their hard work when the winners of the Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism are announced. This year provided a chance to assess the highs and the lows of our investigative reporting after an extraordinary year. For the last few years, it seemed that South Africa was facing an impervious culture of impunity. Many state institutions of accountability faltered, and corruption appeared to be undermining democracy and destroying the economy. But small groups of investigative journalists beavered away. They pieced together the elements of what grew into a remarkable story of…

By TNLM Writer The promise of instant millions for digital broadcasters, many who were struggling to break even amidst stiff competition from established media, was too tempting to let go. The Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) was promising between Sh2m and Sh4million for each of the 20 digital broadcasters to run adverts to show the progress made in the first term of the Jubilee administration ahead of the August 8, 2017 General Election (#GoKDelivers and #JubileeDelivers adverts). This roughly translated to Sh1 million per month, which, by any standards, would have been a huge revenue boost for the upstart broadcasters. With…