Author: NLM Correspondent

By Leonard Wanyama Recent crises in one form or the other have placed increased scrutiny on a number of high-ranking officials such as Cabinet and Principle Secretaries from time to time. The torching of schools shone a light on the workings of Dr Fred Matiang’i in the education sector. Loss of regional competitive edge in energy matters put Energy minister Charles Keter in the news following the Tanga embarrassment. Rising insecurity issues led to the firing of Joseph Ole Lenku while his successor, Rtd Major General Joseph Nkaissery, has been in the hot seat over treatment of protestors by security…

By Sunday Memba Nolle prosequi is the power of the prosecution to terminate a criminal trial at any stage before judgment. In “Crispus Njoga vs. The Attorney General (Criminal Application no 39 of 2000)”, nolle prosequi was defined as a merely procedural device through which the state can exercise her prerogative powers to end criminal proceedings. In the repealed constitution, the attorney-general had the power to terminate any criminal matter before judgment.  By virtue of Section 26(3) of the former constitution and section 82(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), he was the bearer of this duty. Section 83 of…

By Kelvin Njuguna Mugwe “It is not every man who has the ability to defend himself on his own. He cannot bring out the points in his own favour or the weakness in the other side. He may be tongue-tied, nervous, confused or wanting in intelligence. He cannot examine or cross-examine witnesses. We see it every day” – Lord Denning, MR in Pett vs. Greybound Racing Association Ltd [1968] 2 WLR Hundreds of Kenyans thronged the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi on September 28, 2015 in pursuit of free legal advice that was being offered by the Law Society of…

By Justus Jeffery Olaka There is no law providing for what would happen in a situation where a person who disappears for more than seven years without communicating with friends or relatives is presumed dead, and only reappears after such presumption. The ordinary rule is that after the death of a person, his/her property is distributed either in accordance to the law governing testate or intestate – having left a will or not. Does this rule apply to cases of presumption of death too? Supposing the answer to that question is in the affirmative, does it mean that in a…

By Newton Arori The legal profession is one of the oldest and most conservative. In fact, there is a controversial but prevailing belief that law is not a trade, but a noble calling. It is, perhaps, because of the foregoing that, for a long time in Kenya, as in many other jurisdictions, lawyers were not allowed to advertise their services. It was feared that advertising would commercialise and therefore cheapen the profession in the eyes of the public. The other reason for prohibition is the view that lawyers should be able to attract professional business based on their reputations as…

KEVIN MOTAROKI You have to listen when Minayo Sagala speaks. She talks in contralto, her accent is impeccable, and she uses phrases like ‘born, bred, raised, married and procreating in Kenya’. Her other name is Maureen but I didn’t get that from her; she prefers Minayo. She has practised law for over ten years but has never set foot in a courtroom to practice as an advocate. She specialises in corporate-commercial law practice, and social change has always been a point of focus for her, she says. Which is why after her pupillage and job at top-tier law firm Anjarwalla…

Petition No. 51 of 2015 Wangui Wachira On June 16, 2016, the High Court of Kenya sitting in Mombasa ruled that the use of rectal examinations on alleged homosexuals was legal. Two men identified in the petition as C.O.I and G.M.N claimed that doctors at Mombasa’s Coast General Provincial Hospital, in collaboration with law enforcement officials, had violated their rights by subjecting them to forced rectal examinations, HIV tests, and other blood tests in February 2015. The issue for determination before the court was whether rectal examination on the alleged homosexuals was unconstitutional. Presiding judge, Matthew Emukule upheld the use…

By Barack Muluka Fred Matwanga was a Kenyan diplomat working for the UN in New York in 2006. One day, Matwanga got in trouble with the US authorities for allegedly assaulting his son. The federal police intended to commence legal action against him for assault and battery. However, the matter came to quick closure when Matwanga asserted diplomatic immunity. This was by no means an isolated case. Shimokoji, Japan’s Counsul-General in Canadaad, admitted to punching his wife in the eye in a domestic brawl in New York, in 1999. He told the police that this was a very normal thing…

While the present case focuses on Jacques Pitteloud for allegedly demanding a Sh5.4 billion bribe, it has a second part to it which is related to Kenyan anti-corruption officials. It reveals how top officials of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) were working in parallels to each other over the issue of Anglo-leasing settlement by Deepak Kamani. In claiming to state the Kenya government’s position over Anglo-leasing settlement, EACC deputy director Michael Mubea said that if the Kamanis were willing to settle, that could be looked at and that if Pitteloud said that he could make that happen, that the…

Details of text messages by former Swiss ambassador in Nairobi Jacques Pitteloud to a corruption suspect in Kenya read like a fictional novel. Often held in high moral regard, the kind of text messages sent by Pitteloud to businessman Deepak Kamani who, along with Sri Lanka-born billionaire Anura Perera, was among those charged in the 18 multi-billion Anglo-leasing contracts in Kenya, have all but dismantled the high pedestal western envoys often assume as prefects to African governments on good governance. On June 29, the Swiss Federal Tribunal in its judgment before the Federal Penal Tribunal ordered the Swiss Federal Prosecutor…