Author: NLM Correspondent

By Michelle Digolo Ethnicity and politics are taboo topics in our present age. Nobody wants to talk about them outright unless s/he is surrounded by people of the same ethnic group, or perhaps they share the same ideologies. There they feel a sense of safety. The debate is usually the subject of whether ethnicity and politics should mix. Or are they like oil and water? Carole Hillenbrand once said, “History repeats itself and we would do well to heed its lessons so as not to commit the same errors as our ancestors.” Since time immemorial, the relationship between the different…

Insight into the key ways analytics can be leveraged to drive customer engagement Despite the current wave of excitement around the importance of analytics within the modern enterprise, BI and analytics have dominated analyst hype lists for more than a decade: in fact, analytics has been the top priority in Gartner’s annual CIO survey for ten out of the last twelve years. Similarly, predictive analytics is not a new concept that has emerged out of recent technological advances – financial services companies have used predictive analytics in one form or another to determine consumer credit scorecards and repayment terms for…

By Neil Herbert Discovering the link between the insurance industry and IoT and understanding how sensors can improve crop yields for African farmers With analysts estimating that up to 80 billion devices and sensors will be in the market by 2020, the need for real-time processing and analytics has escalated as companies work to realise the up to $8.9 trillion (Sh908 trillion) in additional revenue predicted to be unlocked by IoT. This is also leading to the development of more than 200,000 new apps and services as companies aim to take advantage of the potential benefits of the Fourth Industrial…

To cap or not to cap interest rates? That’s the million-dollar question whose answer depends on where you sit during working hours. Bankers, including the Central Bank of Kenya, for obvious reasons, want the law regulating interest rates repealed. On the other hand, borrowers who include businesses as well as consumer lobbies feel a return to a free market model in the pricing of loans will be punitive. Clearly, the debate on interest rates has become very emotive, and inadvertently betrayed the capitalistic interests behind the renewed push to give banks a free hand in determining the cost of credit.…

By Elsie Oyoo By definition, a stateless person is one who is not considered a national by any State under the operation of its law. According to a 2014 Report on “The World’s Stateless” published by the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, there are at least 10 million stateless persons around the world, enough to populate a country or two. To have such a great number of people living under such a precarious civil status does not bode well because more often than not, they are kept out of their fundamental human rights and freedoms. Although human rights are attached…

The Sexual Offences Act is intended to among others protect children from paedophiles, adults who take undue advantage of the innocent, defenceless and vulnerable children. The question then that keeps showing up like a bad penny is, what about children who, on their own agree to have sex? Should they be penalised? Recently, the issue found itself in an Eldoret Court. CWK vs. Attorney General & Another (2014) eKLR is a case involving two children, both 16 years of age, “lovers” who allegedly engaged in consensual sexual act. Being the boy’s girlfriend, the girl had gone to the boy’s house and had…

By Robin Nyore The criminal trial justice system in Kenya is one that is robust and extraneous. It’s composed of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions established under Article 157 of the Constitution, as the prosecuting authority acting for the State, the magistrates and judges, as the impartial umpire adjudicating these cases before the courts and the accused. Criminal trials and courts in Kenya are at best a showcase between the State – through the DPP, a qualified lawyer in his/her own standing – and the accused, most often than not a layman. It’s a battle between two…

By Alexey Chechenin Both Kenya and Russia started processes of reducing governmental influence on national economies in 1980s. One of the most important steps towards liberalisation of economy was the establishment of anti-monopoly regulation. The first legal act in Kenya to protect and develop competition was the Restrictive Trade Practices, Monopolies and Price Control Act (Cap.504 of the Laws of Kenya in 1988), which came into effect in 1989. Because it was proven ineffective, it was replaced by The Competition Act, 2010. On the other hand, Russian history of anti-monopoly regulation started with the adoption of two federal acts: On…

By Newton Arori “Because the judicial branch is naturally ‘feeble’, it is in continual jeopardy of being overpowered, awed, or influenced by its co-ordinate branches” – Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist, No. 78 Mandatory sentences prescribe a fixed penalty upon conviction, and thus allow the judge/magistrate no discretion upon sentencing. For example, The Penal Code prescribes the mandatory punishment of death upon conviction of certain offences in Kenya thus: “Any person convicted of murder shall be sentenced to death” [Section 204]; “Any person who is guilty of the offence of treason shall be sentenced to death” [Section 40 (3)]; “If the…

By Prof Ben Sihanya Kenya’s constitutional and policy-making framework The Constitution of Kenya provides for certain constitutional responsibilities of public officers when enacting or rescinding public policies, and rules and regulations that affect or are related to the enjoyment of human rights. My overarching argument is that there are three main constitutional requirements that public officers must always consider when enacting or rescinding public policies, rules and regulations. First, public officers are required to adhere to the set values and principles of governance. Article 10 of the Constitution binds and subjects all state officers to have due consideration to participation…