Author: NLM Correspondent

Glorious criminal past While Senator, and as he geared up to campaign for governor, it came out that Sonko had several pending matters in court, whose criminal nature made it seem that he would be barred from running, in accordance with Chapter Six of the Constitution. According to then Mombasa Chief Magistrate Evans Makori, Sonko had active warrants of arrest against him, which were issued by then Resident Magistrate Mugambi Mbaabu for cases filed in 1997 and 1998. Sonko had been charged with four counts of obtaining money by false pretence, stealing goods, handling stolen property and forgery. After his…

BY Kenyatta Otieno Sometimes we buy things and immediately regret that choice. It is an example of post-decision dissonance, when a person becomes stressed by a decision and seeks to mitigate the resultant discomfort. The buyer may change behaviour, feelings, or even how they look at themselves. The more resources and time invested into making a purchase is directly proportional to the level of buyer’s remorse, and/or psychological discomfort. There are different levels of buyer’s remorse. On one end is a person who buys a phone or dress on the streets which they believe is of a quality of their…

BY Kevin Motaroki A common trait amongst hawkers is their innovative craftiness. In their trade, this kind of novelty rests on distraction. They work in clusters, mostly for safety – from shop owners and county government officials. But safety is all that the bands provide; to sell, it is everyone for oneself. Whenever one thinks one’s fellow hawkers are drawing too much traffic and one is not, a  common trick is to yell, make as if to gather one’s stuff and run – cue for “county askaris are here” – thereby signalling one’s colleagues to scamper. Presently, however, the genius will…

By Payton Mathau Failure of a bank’s newly installed internal financial control system might have led to massive multi-million fraud paid by clients, which has been either untraceable or misappropriated. Pan African banking corporation, Eco bank, with operations in thirty six African countries, could have lost over five hundred million shillings following confusion that reigned after it undertook core banking system change in October 2010. The confusion that marred the changes to Flexicube and Chequepoint systems led to the bank to accumulating unclaimed funds amounting to over nine hundred million shillings, which were locked in its suspense accounts with no…

By ArkANuddin Yasin “I was born here!” shouted the native, claiming jus soli. On March 26, 2017, the world watched an incident at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport that revealed the incorporeal prison grid that is the Westphalian nation-state geopolitical system. For both the ignorant and informed, the Miguna Miguna deportation debacle exposed fundamental contradictions that are intrinsic to the Westphalian nation-state system. “I am a Kenyan…Jus civile!” demanded the colonus, while meaning jus naturale, while in an actual state of jus gentium – claiming jus civile where no state even exists. “I am JaLuo”, directed at the JoLuo Ruoth would…

BY kenyatta otieno At this year’s Devolution Conference Raila Odinga said that the country should think of introducing a third tier Regional Government. Two things came to mind, Raila is a good governance junkie and this proposal was not a surprise to those who know him well. Secondly it is meant to test the waters and ignite debate that will lead to changes in the devolution law. Raila’s obsession with constitutional changes as a basis for good governance makes him appear as a one tool artisan. His astute political skills serve this obsession well making him a warrior of good…

BY David Matende In less than three months, Kenya’s premier media organisation, Nation Media Group (NMG), has lost close to 80 per cent of its key journalists and columnists to its rivals. Such a mass exodus of professionals from one entity is unprecedented in the history of the Kenya’s media. So what is happening at the Nation Centre? For a media house that is known for its rather cold-hearted poaching of good journalists from other media houses, the shoe is now on the other foot as the media giant appears to falter, with its star journalists scrambling out as if…

By Janek Sunga I believe the re-introduction of devolution has been wonderful for our democracy.  In the social sciences, five years is the bare minimum that is required for conducting a proper longitudinal study. In such a study, scientists make observations and gather data on the same subjects repeatedly over a long period of time. We are only seven years into this new Kenya experiment. I believe at the ten year mark, we can begin taking proper stock of the success of devolution. However, valid questions have been raised about the viability of some county governments which I will address in…

“The Handshake” has become a common reference to the political truce between President Uhuru Kenyatta and The People’s President Raila Odinga. The deal was made public through a handshake on the steps of Harambee House on March 9th 2018. Very few people knew about the talks between the two prior to the handshake and they kept the faith of their bosses to keep it a secret. These talks might have begun just before the January 29th swearing in of Raila as the people’s President. We heard romours of NASA leaders meeting the US ambassador before the swearing in. The five…

At the age of 36, Justice Luka Kimaru was appointed a judge of the High Court in December 2003, where he has served since. Within the Judiciary, he is known as a no-nonsense Judge who is a stickler for the law. His first station was the Nairobi Criminal Division, before he was transferred to Nakuru, then back to Nairobi. So efficient is Justice Kimaru at his job that the Rift Valley Law Society protested plans to move him to Mombasa while he was stationed in Nakuru. Justice Kimaru is given to bouts of anger – justified, some say – especially…