Author: NLM Correspondent

By Olukoye Anjili Michael Having read the article by Daniel Benson Kaaya and Kevin Motaroki, “Blame the people; they do the choosing”, I put the question they sought to answer to thought. Who is to blame for State’s failures and woes? In the aforementioned article, the writers contend that blame lies squarely on the shoulders of the electorate. The reasons they give are that voters allow their decisions to be informed by things that do not matter. They say that voter ignorance leads them to install unscrupulous and morally deviant leaders from their ethnic blocs, and with each electoral cycle,…

By Dr Charles  Khamala On January 9, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the controversial Election Laws (Amendment) Act No. 36 of 2016 (ELAA). Under that law, in event of failure in electronic voter identification at polling stations or in results transmission, Wafula Chebukati’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission may use manual methods. On January 11, in lieu of street protests, Raila Odinga launched the National Super Alliance (NASA). He said that the opposition would “make it impossible for anyone to try to steal the elections. But we are also sending word to Jubilee again that the cost of stealing this election…

By Kevin Mugwe Njuguna Discussions relating to collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) have boldly, yet not surprisingly, rivalled political debates in capturing media attention over the recent months in Kenya. The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), which has been the Achilles Heel to successive governments over the years, proclaimed in October 2016 that they had signed a CBA with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). The CBA was hailed as one that would bring an end to the unending menace of teacher’s strikes and, importantly for government, enable them to focus on 2017 elections without being distracted or derailed by the…

By Antony Mutunga Imagine living in a world where air is sold. Now stop imagining because we already live in such a world. Some parts of China now buy bottled air from “cleaner” countries, such as Australia and Wales, as a commodity in their markets. And it is lucrative business! A can of fresh air goes for between $50 and $200 (Sh5,000 and Sh20,000), sometimes more, due to the increasing demand. One may wonder why anyone would buy bottled air when there is free air all around us. The answer is air pollution. It has become quite the problem in…

By Fuad Abdirahman Thousands of persons are trapped in their homes in the counties of Garissa, Mandera and Wajir, the reason being that they are unable to obtain national identity cards commonly referred to as kipande. For this reason, many face arbitrary arrests when they fail to produce identity cards on demand by security officers. Investigations by the Nairobi Law Monthly reveal that acquiring ID cards is either restricted or limited across the three counties. Where, in other part of the country, registration of ID cards is a regular process that is done every working day, in the former North Eastern…

By Oloo Winnie The 53rd Jamhuri Day speech by President Kenyatta on the possible electoral influence of the International Community betrays a government that fears that its failures have been recorded globally, or one that has let the foreign entities control most of its policies and economy. Whichever way one chooses to look at it, this bitter speech by the country’s chief executive confirms that us as a nation we are “not yet uhuru”, and that we are living in a deplorable state, at least for the millions of poverty-stricken Kenyans living upon the mercies of donor funding to keep…

By David Wanjala The odds have never disfavoured an incumbent as much as they do now for the President and his entire Jubilee Party battalion in the August 8 General Election. Even though a couple of polls have, in the recent past, put the President ahead of the Opposition, the Jubilee Government’s inner circle, I am inclined to believe, is taking the polls with a pinch of salt, like the rest of us. If this is the case, they can then work on an instant coffee winning formula, if not a miracle, in the remaining months. If the contrary is…

By Jane Wachira Every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities – Article 37, Constitution of Kenya, 2010 Despite the bold, succinct and clear proviso in CAP 4 of the Bill of Rights on the right to assemble, demonstrate and present petitions, the Kenyan government, mostly through the police and sometimes the Judiciary – seems not to get what it really means to exercise the aforementioned rights. Protests in Kenya are met with excessive and brutal force. In 2015 alone, there were 140 documented protests, sparked by…

By Ian-Johnson Ondari The nexus between regulation and innovation is a contentious one, depending on who is involved. The shift brought about by technology has made it inevitable that firms have to rethink their traditional models to survive this disruption. At the tail end, the government is also, often, left floundering on how to suitably respond to new risks and potential opportunities. The main concern then of governance, risk and compliance space’s is to find a balance between regulatory standards that will not only protect consumers of these new products but also offer an extremely competitive market. On January 1,…

By Ali Amersi Tax compliance is a fundamental characteristic of meeting tax obligations within any jurisdiction. In situations where there is a shortfall of revenue collection and a lack of conformity, governments offer tax amnesties to increase revenue collection. Importantly, the objective of most tax amnesties is essential to increase revenue collection through voluntary compliance by way of tax declaration, and simultaneous implementation of penalties for failure to heed the amnesty. Recently, a tax amnesty was given in Kenya. It necessary to understand how past amnesties in Kenya have impacted the country, and how the current amnesty will do as…