Author: NLM Correspondent

Prof. John Harbeson Kenya recent renewed commitment to shut down its Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps deepens the impoverishment and puts at risk the survival of more than four hundred thousand refugees from Somalia and other eastern African states. On its face, the Kenya policy violates global and African Union refugee protection conventions, to both of which Kenya is a signatory, along with almost all sub-Saharan African countries. At a deeper level, in further shredding the fundamental bonds that enable peoples to acquiesce in being governed together as one community, violations of these conventions threaten to deepen and enlarge at…

Cord protests, renowned political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi believes, have nothing to do with the incompetence of the IEBC. According to him, they are simply part of a wider scheme to discredit all arbitrating institutions as we approach elections so as to legitimise mass action and guarantee a stake in the next government should Raila lose. As far as Ngunyi’s politics goes, far from the widely perceived position that Raila wanted UhuRuto jailed at The Hague, his desire was to actually see them freed as this would allow him to sell his own version of the “ICC is compromised” narrative by…

By Victor Adar Bringing services closer to people is a phenomenon currently sweeping across many arms of government. Law Society of Kenya (LSK) too is in the mix, bringing to light the need to accelerate growth of its members if the inauguration of LSK Council positions in March is anything to go by. It established a branch that is intended to become the first point of reference for advocates in Nairobi and Thika, to deal mainly with matters of welfare and practice, litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution “in-house”, and legal academia. Aside from seven others, the Nairobi Branch is the 8th…

Kenyatta Otieno Once upon a chilly morning at the Upper Kabete Campus of the University of Nairobi’s College of Arrogant and Violent Students, students gathered for a Kamkunji. The agenda was to eject Professor Mukunya as the Principal. The erratic but conniving professor literary ran for dear life upon confronting the students and his office was locked. To make sure he did not come back, students picked the Dean Faculty of Agriculture, a diligent man of few words, and appointed him the new Principal. Then Vice Chancellor Prof. Chrispus Kiamba was called in to witness the change of guard pending…

By Kevin Motaroki Kenya’s economy accounts for close to 43 per cent of East Africa’s Gross Domestic Product. This is about as much as Tanzania and Uganda combined, which make about 27 and 20 respectively. Rwanda accounts for eight per cent and Burundi two. When analysts cast Kenya as a regional powerhouse, therefore, it is not without basis. Last year, National Treasury CS Henry Rotich presented a Sh2 trillion budget for the 2015/2016 financial year. Nairobi, Kenya’s most important county, and the nucleus of the country’s economy, was allocated Sh12.7 billion in the current financial year. The county has also…

By Prof. John Harbeson That post-Cold War democratisation has peaked in Africa since about 2005 and has been stalled or even retreating in the succeeding decade has been observed so frequently that one may reasonably ask if partial democracy is now the new normal in the region and perhaps elsewhere as well.  For example, a recent essay in an influential US publication suggested that democracy only needs to be “good enough,” implying that the aspiration to full democracy prevalent not so long ago has become unrealistic, if indeed if it was ever realistically unattainable. Perhaps for that reason, studies of…

By Calvine Oredi The ability to protect witnesses and victims of offences in judicial proceedings is critical to ensure effective investigation and prosecution of serious crimes. It is particularly salient in the context of prosecutions of organised criminal gangs and terrorist groups, who have the means and the motivation to intimidate and harm potential witnesses to prevent them from cooperating with law enforcement and judicial authorities. Protection of victims and witnesses is of importance also in regard to prosecution of serious violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law. Investigating and prosecuting serious and organised crimes requires that law…

The chief executive officer of the Council of Legal Education (CLE) Kulundu Bitonye has defied President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Chief of Staff Joseph Kinyua’s letter to vacate office. Bitonye accuses Kinyua of being ignorant of the Constitution. In a two-page letter addressed to the chief of staff, Bitonye maintains he cannot exit office even after Parliament made amendments to the CLE constitution, which reduces his term from four years to three. Kinyua had in February written to the board reminding them of the new amendment that had capped the tenure of CLE board to three year, meaning the current board’s tenure…

Moi University has accused Council for Legal Education chief executive Kulundu Bitonye of “getting personal” with the licensing of universities that offer legal education. Through its Law Dean, Maurice Oduor, the university says it will be moving to court protest over Prof Bitonye’s methods, and have him answer to contempt of court charges. In September last year, CLE closed down the institution’s School of Law for failing to meet council standards, which are a prerequisite for offering legal education. Among these were that the university had been admitting too many students, and facilities that did not meet the threshold for…

By Shadrack Muyesu Freedom of speech does not give you the right to run into a jammed disco hall and shout “fire!” – Elisha Zebedee Ongoya Few matters have captured the State’s attention more that the recent move by a section of opposition MPs to heckle the President as he gave his latest State of the Nation address. Amidst a backlash from large sections of the public and quite a number of elites, the Opposition came out to defend the action citing among others, the rights to peaceful assembly, petition and demonstration as protected under Article 38 of the Constitution,…