Author: NLM Correspondent

Peter Wanyonyi Is Safaricom a dominant player in the telecom market in Kenya? If so, what should be done about it; what can be done about it? Looking at the relevant laws and industry regulations, what must be done about it? Has Safaricom abused its position if it is a dominant player in the telecom market in Kenya? Where does that leave consumer choice for services such as money transfer and voice call services? And what do the laws governing competition in Kenya say about the matter, anyway? The last several years have seen various manifestations of these and related…

David Matende A visitor to Mwilonje, a small trading centre in Vihiga County, would assume that the people here love green as almost all shops are painted in that colour. A closer scrutiny, however, will reveal that the shops are actually branded in the colours of the “the better option”, Kenya’s dominant mobile phone provider and regional telecom behemoth, Safaricom. The scene in Mwilonje is replicated in other trading centres and towns across Kenya. This supremacy is not about to be challenged; if anything, it is expected to escalate, thanks to new laws that cleverly thwarted efforts to declare Safaricom…

Shadrack Muyesu Most recently, the standout event in the never ending circus that is Kenya’s politics has been the signing into law of the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendment) Act of 2015. The new law has stirred a sandstorm. On one hand, government’s political battalions have hailed the immaculateness of the new law; on the other, the major players in the telecoms sector are crying foul. Those who are for the law argue that the new laws open new, previously unfathomable frontiers with regard to the exercise of oversight and management over a previously chaotic regime. The sceptics, on the other…

Lanji Ouko Who would have imagined, a few years ago, how rapidly the cultivation and use of marijuana would rise across Africa? The US set the ball rolling when it spearheaded the legalisation of the herb in a number of states. Over a decade later, African states have gradually succumbed to the pressure and began to table the possibility of legalising it as well, not only for medicinal use but economic benefits as well. According to the 2009 report by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) the “highest levels of cannabis production in the world take place on…

By Charles Khamala & Andrew Mellon In agrarian economies, the key property in question is land, the primary means of production. Some land ownership scholars on Kenya, such as Perpetua Karanja, Akinyi Nzioki, Parker Shipton and Mitzi Goheen, reject the notion of collective ownership in customary land tenure, except for lands with particular cultural functions. They point out instead the system of intersecting, multi-layered rights, which grants various rights or privileges in the land to myriad members of the family, clan, etc. Even assuming that their studies are statistically significant, what value is “ownership” without “access?” Thomas Sikor and Christian…

By Jane Wachira Syria, officially known as the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in western Asia whose capital city is Damascus. It borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the south west. Archaeologists believe the original civilisation in Syria is one of the most ancient on earth seeing as it is part of a fertile crescent, where some of the first people on earth practiced cattle breeding and agriculture. It is a country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, and home…

By Paddy Karanja Late last year, EACC chief executive Halakhe Waqo handed to the speaker of the National assembly Justin Muturi an investigative report which revealed corrupt practices and misuse of parliamentary privileges by members of the August House. According to the report MPs were found to have made fictitious mileage claims and connived in earning underserved sitting allowances. At that time Muturi concurred with the report and promised that change was going to take place to ensure accountability. After a fortnight, however, when the report was to be tabled in the house, MPs threatened to impeach the Speaker who…

By Kenyatta Otieno I have followed Tanzanian politics keenly since Freeman Mbowe caused waves as the presidential candidate for Chadema (Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo) in 2005. It looked like CCM had met a worthy opponent but Mbowe managed a paltry 5 per cent of the vote. What happened in the 2015 elections, first in the ruling CCM (Chama Cha Mapinduzi), then after the general election has brought out the best and worst of Tanzanian politics, but to the benefit of the country. Jim Collins, in his book “Good to Great” describes change in organisations as a process rather than…

In the world of “The Hunger Games” youngsters are forced to fight to the death for the amusement of their white-haired rulers. Today’s teen fiction is relentlessly dystopian, but the gap between fantasy and reality is often narrower than you might think. The older generation may not resort to outright murder but, in important ways they hold their juniors down. Roughly a quarter of the world’s people—some 1.8 billion—have turned 15 but not yet reached 30. In many ways, they are the luckiest group of young adults ever to have existed. They are richer than any previous generation, and live…

By Marilyn Kamuru “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy” – Norman Schwarzkopf In the recent Cabinet nomination and appointments, Kenyans witnessed an unprecedented failure in leadership by President Uhuru Kenyatta. Despite express constitutional provisions that define the size of Cabinet – Article 152 and Article 27(8) provide a clear maximum limit on the members of either gender – the President wilfully violated the provisions of Article 27(8). The President broke the law, and not just any law: the Constitution. One would expect some outcry from national leaders but the protests were…