Author: NLM Correspondent

By Shadrack Muyesu Where constitutions allow, presidential pardons have always been a subject of controversy. Part of this has been blamed on the unfettered discretion regimes afford their presidents in exercising this power, and the thinking that the power of pardon significantly encroaches into the domain of the Judiciary. To highlight the extent of this discretion, the United States president has unlimited power to pardon any federal offence, which power can be exercised at any time and is not subject to judicial review or legislative control. This creates an unpredictable regime where one president can actively and consistently apply pardon…

By Kenyatta Otieno The alleged loss of Sh5 billion from the Ministry of Health was not news to me. After all, President Uhuru Kenyatta recently threw up his hands in surrender to graft cartels. The irony is that he did this right in State House, the seat of the most powerful office in Kenya. He blamed everybody else for not doing his or her job, hence his inability to arrest the vice. Two things have become malignant in the Kenyan social fabric – tribalism and corruption. The two symbiotically feed on each other; it is why a look at the…

By Prof. John Harbeson As I witness and begin to live through the political earthquake in the United States that started last month, which I find appalling and perhaps ominous, my thoughts to turn what it might mean for other regions of the world, and for Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa in particular. I begin to realise that the world into which former colonies have been introduced since their independence, and whose established norms they have been expected to embrace, may be on the cusp of a fundamental transformation. After a half century in which industrialised democracies have encouraged, aided, cajoled…

Education CS Fred Matiang’i has been consistent with his “Magufuli moments” and Kenyans are absolutely loving it. He does not have the rash abrasiveness of Joseph Nkaissery and Nelson Marwa, or the disturbing intrusiveness of Ezekiel Mutua and Joseph Kaimenyi; his is the demeanour of a loving but strict father. Dedication has seen him not only win over his fiercest critics in the teachers unions but also present a genuine hope that, for the first time in as long as anyone can remember, we are having credible national exams. Reclaiming moral uprightness in the education sector is a good starting…

BY DAVID ONJILI The national women soccer team Harambee Starlets have defied the odds and as they prepare for their maiden appearance at the continental soccer showpiece in Cameroon this November, the entire nation in typical Kenyan fashion has recognized and  are now happy to be associated with them. Success, indeed, has many fathers and failure none. Starlets have defied many perenial odds including lack of training facilities to qualify for the continental challenge. As such, they have earned their right to special mention. With current Football Kenya Federation under the youthful Nick Mwendwa, management has improved. The girls are…

By Kelvin Njuguna September of 2016 was the month when political parties made significant alignments and realignments in recent times. From the grand merger of affiliate parties of the Jubilee Coalition to form the Jubilee Party (JP) to the ten-year anniversary of the Orange Democratic Party (ODM); the tone for the August 2017 elections could not been better set. What the parties haven’t been able to articulate is whether these parties have faithfully fulfilled the requisite requirements of a political party as enshrined in the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, and the Political Parties Act. Political parties in Kenya scandalously exist…

By David Matende There are early signs that the campaigns for next year’s poll will be a classical case of the theatre of the absurd – with the accompanying conflict, cliffhangers, hyperbole and irony. And media seem more than ready to amplify this tragic-comedy. In such a pathetic political theatre, rumour is often treated as fact and opinion passed around as news. They rolled it in mid September. If you recall, on Friday, September 16, newspapers and TVs had predicted that there was going to be a clash pitting Cord and Jubilee supporters at a Nairobi estate. The two main…

DR TOM ODHIAMBO The United Nations Organisation means different things to different people. But in the eyes of many, particularly victims of war and suffering, it means the alternative to failed governments, collapsed institutions and disintegrated humanity. The UN, as it is generally known, is the refuge for many deprived of a normal life, threatened by war, afflicted by natural disasters, diseased, those looking for someone to make them feel safe or somewhere to call ‘home’ temporarily. Records show that the UN has secured, comforted and protected many in the world since its formation. It has been at the forefront…

BY WANGUI WACHIRA Hero Honda Motors Limited (as it was known until 2011) was a joint venture between Honda Motor Company of Japan and the Hero group of India orchestrated in 1984. Honda, as independent entity, could not successfully invest in India since Indian policy dictated that it merges with an existing Indian company in order to access the Indian market. The merger created the world’s single largest two wheeler company and one of the most successful joint ventures worldwide. While India’s franchising policy requires that foreign franchises enter the Indian market in partnership with an existing Indian company trading…

By Kenyatta Otieno There is a verse in the Bible that says that for a grain of wheat to bring up new life, it has to fall into the ground and die. That sometimes it takes the death of National Development Party for National Rainbow Coalition to take shape. This phrase has always come to mind whenever I encounter ventures that are struggling or simply not working out. The number of pick-up trucks and small vans being driven at dare devil speeds from Meru through Thika Road to Nairobi has reduced in the recent past. The green gold from the…