Author: NLM Correspondent

By Ali Abdi The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. From time to time, lawyers and judges have tried to define what constitutes fairness. Like defining an elephant, it is not easy to do, although fairness in practice has the elephantine quality of being easy to recognise. As a result of these efforts, a word in common usage has acquired the trapping of legalism: “acting fairly” has become “acting in accordance with the rules of natural justice,” and on occasion has been dressed up with Latin tags… as…

By Yasin Arkan He has realised Delilah’s deceit, borne of the Paradox of Democracy – her promise to be true to him, while she was there all the while to serve the established elite order. Delilah, like Democracy, is devious. She subdued Raila the man and his masses with promise. She became his quest, but her heart and title, power and prestige, both cold and hard remained the possession of the Philistine elites. Now, vindictive and blind with rage, Samson will use Delilah, her sweet “freedom of speech”, completely unrestricted “freedom of assembly and association” to find his way to…

By Kwamchetsi Makokha Barring a miracle, it seemed that Justus Kariuki Mate, the Speaker of the County Assembly of Embu, was going to start October of 2014 in jail. A three-judge High Court bench in Kerugoya had ruled on April 16, 2014 that Mate and the Clerk to the Embu County Assembly, Jim Kauma, were in contempt of court and summoned them for sentencing. Court of Appeal judges Alnashir Visram, Martha Koome and Otieno Odek sitting in Nyeri on September 30, 2014 upheld that decision and ordered the pair to present themselves at Kerugoya on October 6, 2014 for sentencing.…

By Shadrack Muyesu The Supreme Court’s decision in Raila Odinga vs. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission & 3 Others (2013) eKLR has been widely criticised as being in error and lacking in jurisprudential value. As such, 2017 was always going to be an opportunity for it to clarify or restate its position. 2013 In 2013, the Court restrained itself from interfering with the will of the electorate, to find that Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and William Samoei Ruto were validly elected and declared president and deputy president respectively. The Court also found the election to have been conducted in a…

By Andrew K. Tanui The events at the Independent and Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), one of the Kenya’s ten constitutional commissions, continues to bring into focus the architecture of the governance framework of these independent institutions as well as the intentions of the drafters of the Constitution. A closer look at some of these constitutional commissions shows evidence of infightings between the Secretariat and its Commissioners as to their specific roles. Similar cases have been reported at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the National Police Service Commission (NPSC), the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the National Gender and…

By David Matende It is now universally accepted that Kenya’s media engaged in the most blatant partisan reporting ever during the campaigns for the August 8 election. But as unprofessional as this might have been, it may not have influenced how people voted, with studies from elsewhere showing that getting something on the agenda is not the same as changing people’s positions As the country prepares for a repeat of the presidential election on October 26, it is important to reflect on the election reporting lessons learnt from the pre-August 8 election campaign. The Daily Nation, particularly, distinguished itself for…

By Kenyatta Otieno Ngugi wa Thiong’o realised late in life that dropping the name James was not enough in his attempt to break the chains of mental colonisation. In his book Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature, Ngugi tells the world that he will not write in English again. Ngugi was talking about Africans (writers) clearing their minds and worldview of biases of Western culture. I will shift his view to Western democracy as prescribed by the West, to emerging African states. From what is happening in Kenya, democracy is a necessary evil at its best…

Kenyan Americans under the banner of a lobby group called Kenya Patriotic Movement (Kepam), worried about the tension piling up in in the country following the annulment of the presidential election held on August 8, have appealed to the US government to put pressure on the Kenyan government and the country’s electoral body (IEBC) to agree and implement minimum reforms before a repeat election is held. This, they say, is the surest way to ensure that the exercise is free, fair and credible. Fearing a repeat of the post-election violence of 2007/2008, which would undermine Kenya’s peace, ruin investor confidence,…

Prof. John Harbeson Kenya made history last month when the Kenya’s Supreme Court ordered a re-run of the country’s national elections. The ruling was the first of its kind in the post-Cold War democratic era, at least in sub-Saharan Africa, and very likely much further. On its face, the ruling represents a triumph of the rule of law for any number of reasons. The Court’s decision upholds the principle that the conduct of democratic elections must conform to the requirements of the Constitution and statutory law. The acceptance of the decision by the Kenyatta government as well as its welcome…

By Kevin Motaroki A generally confident mien, image and personality coaches agree, is one of the major ingredients of enigmatic leadership. Because there is never a shortage of critics and naysayers, an optimistic disposition can inspire calmness and confidence during crises, and help generate much-desired solutions, or inspire a dejected public. It is part of the deal of what makes a leader. John A Barnes, in his book, John F. Kennedy on Leadership: The Lessons and Legacy of a President, recalls the desolate state of New York City two decades ago in 1993, when it teetered on the brink of…