Author: NLM Correspondent

By Jennigay Coetzer The biggest hurdle to the development of the rule of law in Africa is corruption, according to a new report by LexisNexis says. 52 percent of survey respondents said corruption was the number one impediment to advancing the rule of law. This was followed by government inefficiency, lack of transparency and accountability, lack of awareness, and a lack of motivation to change. Respondents in Nigeria said the lack of access to reliable legal information was their third biggest problem, as did respondents from organisations with more than 5000 employees, in-house counsel and trainee lawyers. Meanwhile, respondents from the judiciary…

Kenya’s 2019 Copyright Amendment Bill, incorporates principles from the WIPO Internet Treaties of 1996, aimed at preventing unauthorised access to and use of creative works By Guest Writer A coalition of global sports bodies has written an open letter to the Kenyan government, expressing concern about the Copyright Amendment Bill currently before parliament, and its potential impact on the availability of international sports content in Kenya. The Sports Rights Owner Coalition (SROC) is an alliance of more than 50 international and national sport bodies, representing some of the world’s leading sport codes and competitions – including the English Premier League, the…

By Prof John Harbeson Diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ethiopian civil war, entering its second year, have been replete with calls for national dialogue to end the conflict. As of early January 2022, the best efforts of former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, High Representative of the African Union Commission for the Horn of Africa, and others have yet to yield any visible progress, let alone agreement on a national dialogue process charged with establishing appropriate measures to secure the peace.  This is the state of affairs notwithstanding that, currently, some of the most favorable circumstances for making the conflict ripe…

Kenyans pride themselves with the status of one of the leading democracies in Africa, as attested to our relatively free democratic and governance space. And the country’s General Election in August this year will undoubtedly be one of the most significant political events in Africa. Other countries aspire to Kenya’s stability, economic muscle, and diplomatic leadership in a traditionally turbulent region. This is, essentially, a reason for pride. But, as happens every election cycle, Kenyan leaders are increasingly looking inward. They have thrown all caution to the wind, spewing dangerous rhetoric, threatening the electoral and undermining the country’s capacity to…

Nkosana Makate, 44, has a reason to smile after Gauteng High Court ordered Vodacom to pay him 5% of the total voice revenue generated from Please Call Me (PCM) feature in the past 20 years. Vodacom, which has 35% stake in Safaricom Plc had offered to pay Mr. Makate about $3mn, which is not a good deal as per the court. The inventor, however, is demanding more than $1.2bn in compensation arguing that the amount constitutes 5% of revenue from the group’s $13.2bn in income generated from the service over a period of 18 years. “The applicant (referring to Makate)…

By Grace Wandera Brands have since time immemorial invested in every opportunity available to enhance their presence and reputation among the target market. Maintaining a good reputation and presence is among key priorities for every brand. While a number of years ago brand consciousness was perceived a private sector concern, this has since changed and it has now been a race for the best brand, whether state ran or otherwise. At the same time, brand marketing strategies have continued to evolve, largely aligning with the contemporary practices. Brands are gradually shifting sole reliance on traditional marketing methods to emerging marketing…

Video assistant referees (VAR) will be used at all 52 matches at this month’s Africa Cup of Nations for the first time. The 2019 edition in Egypt saw the technology introduced from the quarter-finals by the organisers, the Confederation of African Football (Caf). “With Caf advancing with plans not only to improve the image of refereeing but also produce world-class match officials in Africa, the implementation of VAR in all 52 matches is a step in the right direction,” said a Caf statement. For the second successive tournament, the tournament will have 24 participants. That means six groups of four,…

Former Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner General Michael Waweru was recently hailed as hero who managed to cultivate a tax-compliance mindset of Kenyans making even the ordinary Kenyan feel obliged to pay taxes in order to achieve a self-sustaining economy. During the unveiling of his autobiography dubbed Kenya’s Tax Czar in December last year, Leader of Majority at the National Assembly, Amos Kimunya applauded him for penning a book rich with life lessons, documents his journey to the top and calls on Kenyans to embrace patriotism by paying their taxes to support the journey towards a more prosperous Kenya. “Having read this…

BY BRENDA VIOLA Growing in this day and age is quite a challenge. But with the technological advances occurring across the globe, the common youth can still make a breakthrough – at least that is the case in the first world countries like England, USA, and Japan. In countries which are still developing, like Kenya, the experience is quite different. The lack of jobs in the country, for example, is no longer news to the youth. For young people, the next best thing is to be self-employed, and even that proves a challenge. An alternative could be to engage in…

A country is destroyed at family dinner tables long before leaders embark on political rallies By Kenyatta Otieno Mr. Mukenya lived with his wife and children in a simple home near Nairobi. He never lacked, yet he wasn’t from a wealthy lineage. His home sat between the homes of his two brothers. He was the middle child. The siblings had relatively good education and stable sources of income – they stayed on the community land they had inherited from their father who had since died. And it was well until they all got married and their wives began to fight…