Author: NLM Correspondent

By Alfred Mosoti Abuga Kenya is East and Central Africa’s economic powerhouse. Her strong shilling over her neighbours’ currencies, and robust economic sectors bear testimony. The country was recently ranked the third most reformed (economically) state globally according to a World Bank report. Speaking at an investment forum in October in Bungoma, Hon Adan Mohamed, who is CS for Trade and Industrialisation, said some parameters considered during the survey include payment of taxes by business people, the ease with which exporters and importers are able to clear cargo across the nation’s entry and exit termini; the speed of registering a…

By Ian-Johnson Ondari The insurance industry has a reputation for utilising every weapon in its vast arsenal to avoid or minimise payment of claims. This is further intensified by the woven intricacies of the policy terms and conditions. Information asymmetries, where the insurer can access better and more information than the consumer, added to the tied-in insurance purchases, especially in the general insurance sector (consider purchase of loan-financed automobiles) are a consequence of this imbalance. The industry is continuously bogged down by claims related to non-payment of claims due to imperfect information and discrepancies over the sum insured. It’s vital…

As the technology industry came to grips with the reality of a presidential election that did not go its way, many in Silicon Valley landed on the idea that widespread misinformation spread online was a primary factor in the race’s outcome. Last month, both Google and Facebook altered their advertising policies to explicitly prohibit sites that traffic in fake news from making money off lies. That’s very likely a worthwhile fix, even if it comes too late. The Internet has loosened our collective grasp on the truth, and efforts to fight that dismaying trend are obviously worth pursuing. Yet it…

By Tim Kamau Ngotho Those who aspire to be lawyers will need to re-think and clarify their vision before, during and after the original choice. More specifically, there will be career choices at four main stages of the journey: high school, specialisation decision, mid-career switch, and during a career crisis. The depth of information and understanding required increases from one stage to next. In high school or immediately after, career choice is a major decision. The choice to study law leads to another big one: which university? Until 1992, there was only one university in Kenya – the University of…

By Fredrick Walukwe In compliance with Article 261(1) and the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution 2010, the National Assembly enacted the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act in August 2011. In addition to governing issues of citizenship under Article 18, the Act radically changed the legal regime governing immigration and related matters in the country. Unlike before, Kenya now has laws governing issuance of passports and other travel documents. In its wisdom, Parliament simultaneously enacted the Kenya Citizens and Foreign Nationals Management Service Act to provide for the administration of the laws relating to citizenship, immigration, refugees and related issues. This…

By Nur El-Kathiri Petition No. 6 of 2013: Ckw vs. Attorney General & Another [2014] eKLR Legislation against sexual interactions with minors encompassed in the Sexual Offences Act in Kenya has corresponding punitive measures enacted by Parliament. The issue in debate is the just nature of subjecting minors to the same punitive measures as adult offenders. Statement facts This was a constitutional petition whose ruling was issued on July 25, 2014, at the High Court of Kenya (Eldoret) by the Honourable Fred A. Ochieng. The Petitioner is a male minor charged with the offence of defiling a female minor at…

BY KIBE MUNGAI Like the former Constitution of Kenya, the 2010 Constitution provides for the jurisdiction of the superior courts in such elaborate and conclusive terms that quite often I wonder why there are still so much litigation on jurisdiction of the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. As a younger lawyer, I wrote several commentaries on the vexing issue of jurisdiction under the old Constitution, and I find it somewhat ironic that over a decade later, I return to the same subject under the new constitutional order. From the outset, it is important to remember that…

By Kelvin Njuguna Mugwe In March 2012, the ruling party of the Republic of South Africa, the Africa National Congress (ANC) expelled the President of its youth wing, Julius Malema. The zealous Malema was accused by senior figures of the ANC of showing no remorse for “sowing divisions” within its ranks. Political analysts and commentators were quick to declare his political career, which was on an augmentation trajectory, as dead. Dirk Kotze, a political scientist at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, for instance, categorically stated that Malema without the ANC was nothing since he depended greatly on the…

By Daniel Benson Kaaya & Kevin Motaroki “A constitutional democracy is in serious trouble if its citizenry does not have a certain degree of education and civic virtue” – Phillip E. Johnson, Law Professor In social contract, rights and liberties are surrendered to the state in the belief that authority will protect the society. For example, I give up my natural right to steal your food because you give up your natural right to steal mine. The rationale is to bring order and mutual coexistence in a society. In contemporary societies, people surrender their natural rights by way of voting.…

By Kibe Mungai “My father is a businessman trying to provide for his wife and children, and those friends he might need someday in a time of trouble. He doesn’t accept the rules of the society we live in because those rules would have condemned him to a life not suitable to a man like himself, a man of extraordinary force and character. What you have to understand is that he considers himself the equal of all those great men, like presidents, prime ministers and Supreme Court judges and governors of the states. He refuses to accept their will over…