Author: NLM Correspondent

The Nairobi Law Monthly caught up with Africa Plantation Capital CEO and MD of AVAKON, Eng. Kosta Kioleoglou at his office along Ngong Road and talked about the Blue Economy, his new venture, Avakon, and his future plans. Kioleoglou provides an overview of Avakon, its products and discusses future growth opportunities. He also outlines the company’s key competitive advantages. He spoke with Antony Mutunga. Who is Avakon? It is the vehicle to bring top of the range engineering, development and construction related brands in the East Africa Region. With an extensive background in the field, we decided to bring to the region…

Kenya’s Parliamentary Budget Office has proposed a review of the interest rate cap law to boost lending to households and businesses, and give the Central Bank the freedom to use its policy rate to control money supply, inflation and exchange rates. Kenyan banks have been unwilling to lend to the private sector, preferring the government through risk-free Treasury-bills and bonds. Improving monetary policy The Central Bank is unable to adjust the central bank rate (CBR) as it will simultaneously change deposit and lending rates, leading to volatility and instability in the financial markets. “The interest rate controls have affected the…

With African tech hubs, start-ups and founders starting to mature and gain deeper understanding of local markets after a few years of heady hype that was more about potential than substance, investors increasingly look towards the continent. Partech Ventures’ latest annual funding report shows that venture capital funding in 2017 reached $560 million, recording 53% year on year growth. The scale of growth in funding is seen in the number of investment rounds participated in by start-ups: in 2017, 124 start-ups participated in 128 funding rounds compared to 77 rounds in 2016. Partech’s reports include start-ups that have a primary…

By John Gichuhi The Constitution of Kenya provides for the right to fair administrative action under Article 47, and also articulates the idea of constitutional supremacy under Article 2. Inclusion of these clauses in the Constitution had implications on Kenya’s administrative law, which was based on English Common Law before 2010. The question that then arises is whether Kenyan courts have reconciled the right to administrative justice as protected under the Constitution with the common law which the courts relied on prior to the 2010 Constitution. A look at what the constitutionalisation of administrative justice means for Kenyan administrative law…

By Shadrack Muyesu Although Black’s Law Dictionary defines an advisory opinion as a non-binding statement by a court on its interpretation of the law on a matter submitted for the purpose, the international legal regime (on advisory opinions) is defined by differences in definition and procedure. Kenya is an example of this uniqueness. Indeed, considering the approach on jurisdiction, the binding nature of advisory opinions and locus standi, ours could be considered a mould of its own totally flying off the handle of a few widely accepted international guidelines. This article explores this uniqueness, however briefly. Jurisdiction and locus standi…

By Daniel Benson Kaaya Alexander Hamilton pointed out in his paper, Federalist 78, that the Executive “…holds the sword of the community… The Legislature…commands the purse…prescribes the rule… The Judiciary… has no influence over either the sword or the purse; no direction either of the strength or of the wealth of the society; and can take no active resolution whatsoever.” This argument suggests that the Judiciary is the weakest of the three arms. In his measured opinion, the Judiciary has no will or force, merely judgement. Hamilton is not the only scholar to make such a controversial observation. French Jurist,…

By Teddy J O Musiga In the wake of the 2013 Kenyan presidential election, three private citizens filed a petition at the Supreme Court of Kenya challenging the inclusion of rejected votes in the final tally of the results of the presidential elections (Odinga & 5 others v Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission & 3 others [2013] KLR-SCK Petitions Nos 5, 3 & 4 of 2013 (Consolidated). Prior to filing the Petition, it was alleged and reported in the media that the Electoral commission had made a decision to include the rejected votes in the computation of the final presidential…

By Newton Arori Self-defence is a legal doctrine to the effect that a person may use reasonable force to defend himself, another person, or property. It justifies the use of force in those instances with the result that if successfully argued, the doctrine says that the person’s actions (the use of force) were not criminal. But does the question of what constitutes ‘reasonable force’ – on the use of firearms by the police – depend on an objective test or a subjective test? Put differently, is the court to be guided by a set of rules, the peculiar circumstances of…

By Kenyatta Otieno I am a stranger to the study of political science because I came late to the party. I am not part of a new crop of consultants called “governance experts” either, so I am writing more out of curiosity than authority. I am going to discuss the state in relation to the current political crisis in Kenya based on what I understand as the government and what some of my online acquaintances call the State. At the height of the drama of self-declared NASA General Miguna Miguna’s arrest and deportation, we had a discussion in one of the…

NLM Writer I will paraphrase the words of Martin Luther King: all we say to Kenya is “be true to what it set on paper”. If we lived in China, Rwanda, Ethiopia or any other totalitarian country, maybe we would understand some of the events that are taking place. Maybe then we would properly contextualise the curtailing of the principles of basic human rights, because those countries have committed themselves to that. There is provided for, freedom of the press, the right to (dual) citizenship, the right to association/assembly… and so on. Right now, nobody knows what government is planning now…