Author: NLM Correspondent

By Rob Griffin, William H. Frey, and Ruy Teixeira Demographics are not destiny, but steady and predictable changes to the electorate play an important role in defining the landscape of American politics. Just as the country’s population has changed substantially over the last several decades—growing older, more educated, and more racially diverse—we expect those changes to continue over the next several decades. At its heart, the States of Change project takes these changes seriously and tries to understand how they might influence American politics. In our 2018 report, we examined an array of future presidential election scenarios— from 2020 through…

Kenya’s constitutional duels are all about power struggles among the elite By Prof Macharia Munene Kenya is in the throes of another agonised constitutional debate. Proponents of the new push for amendments argue that the time is right to cure deficiencies in the 2010 constitution. Yet that document is only a little over 10 years old, and followed a referendum that ushered in the most comprehensive constitutional reforms since independence in 1963. A look back in history helps us understand Kenya’s perennial quest for constitutional change. In the colonial era, constitutional demands were led by white settlers who ruled over the African population.…

A study has found that political leadership and the role of international donors has affected the evolution of climate policy in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia. The project, carried out under the Future Climate for Africa UMFULA project and supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and UK Natural Environment Research Council, involved a close look at climate change adaptation policy and planning nationally between 2012-2017. Research found the intersection between leadership and funding in the three countries was closely associated with the priority placed on the climate agenda. It showed the “convergence of power and resources – not only…

In October, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) released its latest report that describes six core principles of stimulus and recovery that should guide the sub-Saharan Africa responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis. Together, the principles in the paper are a framework for governments, development partners and the local private sector that demonstrates how to build back stronger and more resilient. “Sub-Saharan Africa Stimulus Strategy: A Springboard for Increased Local Resilience and Economic Growth” is the final RMI-sponsored report in a series of seven reports that outlines how targeted stimulus and recovery investments by countries around the globe can help…

After approval of the Tullow sale to Total, the government and joint venture partners in the Lake Albert Development Project are now working on pending issues to meet the December target for Final Investment Decision (FID). Coming a month after Uganda and Total initialled the Host Government Agreement (HGA) for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), this puts pressure on the joint venture partners to finalise several unresolved issues in two months before FID. The joint venture partners in the Lake Albert Development Project are French major Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation. “There remains some work to…

By Lise Rakner There is a trend of democratic retrenchment across the African continent. Despite democratic gains in some states, the overall tendency over the past decade has been the erosion of democratic gains won in the period after 1990. Democracy is challenged in ways that pose threats to freedom of speech, association and information, the ability to choose political leaders, rule of law with recourse to independent courts, protection of personal integrity and private life. African states have adopted legal restrictions on key civil and political rights that form the basis of democratic rule in many countries from dominant…

We are living through history. Thousands of Kenyans are on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, as critical workers and caregivers, as entrepreneurs and workers trying to turn around our fortunes, and as partakers in the dizzying roller coaster that is 2020. Because and in spite of the global pandemic we are powering through, it is a fitting ode to resilience and human character. COVID-19, at best, has slowed down our pace of life in practically every aspect, illustrating the uncertainty of life. At its worst, it has killed over a million people globally in the space of months, more…

By David Onjili The year 2005 is synonymous with Hurricane Katrina. It ravaged the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and specifically New Orleans killing 1200 people and destroying property worth some $125 billion. It is also the year that YouTube was founded. Fifteen years down the line, YouTube has revolutionized how we watch videos and created jobs for many. So how does YouTube and especially its algorithm work? The YouTube algorithm is described by Tech Review magazine as both the programming code and hardware behind YouTube’s ranking system. Its purpose is to filter the billions of videos on the platform…

Customer centricity is not merely a catchy corporate buzzword for the modern business. In fact, the notion is evidenced as far back as the 16th century, when King Louis XIV is quoted as saying, “Everything starts with the customer”. If by this we assume that everything ends with the customer too, then we need to optimise every step of the customer journey as they travel with your brand. To be truly customer centric, a company first needs to deliberately place the customer at the centre of their business by being aware of every customer touchpoint going into and out of…

By Sabine Taillardat The COVID-19 crisis has profoundly impacted the global air transport industry and airline passenger experience alike. This means that as passenger demand makes a gradual return, albeit cautiously amid inflight safety concerns, there is a new set of post-COVID-19 measures in tow for airlines. While containing costs is a key focus for airlines to achieve a sustainable recovery, carriers also face ongoing challenges in reinforcing health, safety and confidence onboard; complying with sanitisation rules; and ensuring passenger satisfaction. Demand for onboard high-speed connectivity was already accelerating pre-COVID-19, but now, the right inflight connectivity (IFC) solution can bring a…