Author: NLM Correspondent

By NJ Ayuk Africa stands at a precarious juncture, where the transition from fossil fuels to renewables intersects with the economic benefits of a strategically managed oil and gas industry.  Down one road, the continent expands exploration and production of its vast natural gas and oil reserves to bring electricity, fuel, and financial power to millions. Down the other, it yields to pressure to help achieve climate targets, including outright bans on fossil fuels that would eliminate funding for natural gas projects. Is it possible to put one foot on each path? Absolutely. Doing what’s best for Africa and what’s…

By Tom Collins Africa’s digital transformation and its readiness to use technology to transform livelihoods lags far behind other regions, according to the Network Readiness Index 2020 released in December.   The index, compiled by the Portulans Institute, ranks a total of 134 economies on more than 30 technology-specific indices including four key pillars; technology, people, governance and impact. Mauritius (61), South Africa (76) and Kenya (82) are Africa’s top performers, but the top-ten is mostly made up of European countries and the United States, with Sweden ranked first. Rwanda (96) emerged as the best country among low-income nations, followed closely by…

By Kenechi Okeleke The global transition to 5G is in full swing; there were 103 live 5G networks in 45 countries and territories around the world as of September 2020. GSMA Intelligence estimates that the number of 5G connections will reach 172m globally by the end of this year, representing just over 2 percent of total mobile connections. The 5G era in Africa formally began in 2020 with the launch of commercial 5G mobile and fixed wireless access (FWA) services by two of the continent’s biggest mobile service providers, Vodacom and MTN, in South Africa. Indeed, the move came sooner…

We must regard ports as commercial assets to lend them international competitiveness. With requisite expertise, these projects can become a source of national pride By David Otwoma The implementation of infrastructure projects worldwide is a symbol of modernity and boosts interconnectivity between nations. Infrastructure projects are shaped by geopolitical and economic rivalry between different regions. The east coast of the African continent comprised of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique are examples of countries that have welcomed foreign investors to finance the construction of new ports or the modernization of existing ones. The hundreds of ports in Africa,…

Entrepreneurs and investors should be encouraged to invest in the energy source to diversify our energy portfolio and encourage economic expansion. By David Onjili Both innovators and technocrats operate in one environment. Ideally, theirs should be a symbiotic relationship but oftentimes, especially as we have seen in Kenya, this is never the case. Our government has often rushed to pass legislation that in the long run has stifled innovation. The most memorable instance where legislation has taken a back seat and allowed innovation to take the lead is the case of M-Pesa, but even then, there were overriding personal and…

By NLM Writer As debate on the future of national main power grid verses off-grid solar energy has heated up in Kenya after electricity distributor, Kenya Power, reported a decline in revenue due to growing shift to solar power systems by heavy-consuming industrialists. The simmering debate has attracted the general public and energy experts across the country on online platforms with solar champions arguing that time is nigh for a solar revolution in the country. In its latest annual report, Kenya Power reveals that some of its industrial customers are progressively shifting to own-generated solar power, eating further into its…

By Ali Abdi “For today, in the name of freedom, we take the battle to them” – Optimus Prime We all sometimes admire a politician who admits to being a puppet. But just as all those who call themselves developers are practically thugs, admitting to being a puppet does not mean cutting the string from the puppet master and when it comes to the rule of law and politics, just like a puppet, well, to cut the story short, who cares about the rule of law? It is trite that one of the fundamental laws of logic is the law…

By NLM Writer Fuel retailers have been absorbing huge losses as a result of unexplained fuel under-deliveries from a major oil marketing company (OMC). To make matters worse, dealers narrated to the Nairobi Law Monthly (NLM) how Total Kenya has regularly refused to take responsibility for the theft of fuel during delivery, and ignored their complaints. In one of the complaints dated January 2019, the Kenya National Petroleum Dealers Association (KENAPEDE) in ‘A Summary of the Main Issues Facing Total Kenya Dealers’ and addressed to Edward Kinyua of the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (formerly known as Energy Regulatory Commission)…

By NLM Writer In late June 2020, a consultative meeting between Tanzania’s oil marketing companies (OMCs) and the country’s Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) was scuttled by police who stormed the venue with specific orders and names. They had the names of people they wanted to accompany them: Total Tanzania’s MD Jean-Francois Schoepp, Puma Supply Manager Adam Eliewinga and Oryx’s representative August Dominick. The reason for their dramatic arrest, the Tanzanian authorities said, was because the oil firms represented by those arrested had allegedly been hoarding fuel products and thereby causing artificial shortages in anticipation of significant price increases…

By Priyanka deSouza According to the State of the Global Air 2020 report, ambient air pollution was responsible for around 5,000 premature deaths in Kenya in 2019 alone. It is the fourth most important risk factor in driving death and disability combined in Kenya. Indeed, the 2017 national economic survey estimated that 19.9 million Kenyans suffer from respiratory ailments that are exacerbated by poor air quality. Kenya’s national environmental management agency imposed regulations in 2014 for national ambient air quality standards. These set out the maximum permissible concentrations of different widespread pollutants for residential and industrial areas. The regulations also laid out steps to be taken for “prevention, control…