Author: NLM Correspondent

By Job Mwaura Is there justification to harbouring thoughts that tie accelerated violent extremism to refugee immigration? This dilemma is founded on events that have been experienced in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and United States of America among others, which have recorded increased acts of terrorism in recent times. No doubt, there has been an increase in refugee numbers in the past decade. In 2016 alone, some 65.6 million people were forced out of their native countries, according to a global study on displacement trends carried out by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The global events…

By Cory Rodgers, Jade Siu and Olivier Sterc Humanitarian organisations – such as the World Food Programme (WFP) – are increasingly using cash transfers as a way of assisting vulnerable people. Conventionally, humanitarian organisations procure food or other goods and distribute it directly to recipients. But cash transfers allow people to choose and purchase what they need for themselves. They are widely praised for enhancing autonomy, reducing costs, and boosting local markets. And this has encouraged their use. For instance, in 2019, the WFP distributed $2.1 billion transfers to 27.9 million people. Cash transfers come in many forms, such as mobile money or transfers into…

By Kibe Mungai The recommendation by Chief Justice David Maraga to President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve Parliament on account of its alleged failure to enact legislation to implement the two-thirds gender rule is traceable to Section 59 of the former Constitution, which empowered the President to dissolve Parliament thereby triggering a general election. Under this provision, Article 261(8) of the 2010 Constitution was enacted to provide for the dissolution of Parliament in the event of its failure to pass the legislation required to implement the new Constitution. Under Article 27(9) “the State shall take legislative and other measures to implement…

By John Stremlau African scholars and policymakers face a tough challenge in analysing how the US presidential election on November 3rd might affect Africa-US relations. This is because of the extreme polarisation of politics that has been growing for decades in the US. Simultaneous national crises have made matters worse. These suddenly erupted over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, its impact on the economy, and fresh evidence of white racism towards black Americans. In a deeply divided America, four clusters of political political conflicts arise over issues of national identity, sustainable democracy, international relations and electoral integrity. Crises in public health,…

By Kabando wa Kabando UhuRuto was a timely, necessary but, ultimately, unholy, rickety and leaking alliance replete with indecent indulgences and pretentious camaraderie that clouded gross governance indiscretions.  The duo’s pact, with the unequivocal support support of their constituencies, was specifically to repulse the ICC threat, unite to end the Kalenjin-Kikuyu political hatred, and, in the process, realize Uhuru’s goal to be President as well as to give Ruto something to focus on for journey ahead.  All these objectives were duly achieved. However, the rosy manifesto we launched in Kasarani in 2013 became just that, a precious rose in the Jubilee Party…

The United States is planning to bar East African students from pursuing degrees in the US by limiting their stay in the country. The move, contained in proposals by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will see students from a majority of African countries barred from getting student visas longer than two years. This means that the students will be unable to pursue education in American universities where degrees and other certifications take about four years of study. “If DHS’s new proposed rule goes through, international students from countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Vietnam, and the Philippines would be…

The OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) has signed a $20 million term loan in favor of East African Development Bank (EADB). EADB will use the loan to support small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and infrastructure projects in East Africa. SMEs account for more than half of EADB’s portfolio. They play an important part in development, driving economic growth and employment opportunities in East Africa and in developing countries more generally. The bank is expanding its resource mobilization activities to meet the growing financing needs of SMEs. “We are very pleased to support private sector development in East…

Five investors have been removed from the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), in the first such move by the group for those failing to meet its minimum requirements. The PRI has amassed more than 3,000 signatories managing in excess of $100 trillion in assets since it was launched in 2006 and membership is increasingly seen as crucial for asset managers pitching for mandates from pension schemes. But the PRI, whose members were told in 2018 they had two years to reach a new set of minimum requirements, said last month four asset managers and one asset owner would…

To what extent have Africans taken ownership of their independent states, retaining what they value from their origins and early development, discarding the rest, and infusing their own values into them? By Prof John Harbeson Ethiopia has confronted postcolonial state formation with clarity without parallel in the modern political history of sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopia has been an empire of its own creation, greatly enlarged to its present borders (minus by the conquests of its penultimate emperor, Menelik II (1889-1913). Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has introduced democratic reforms since coming to power in April, 2018, including planned free and fair elections…

It’s been 10 years since we promulgated the Constitution. Yet, we still struggle with its implementation. While the event promised a new dawn of constitutionalism, rule of law and socio-economic advancement, there is little evidence to show for these aspirations. According to some indicators, we are even worse off. How come it is so difficult to have a sound government in spite of our spectacular document? It is not enough for the constitution to be good; it must be homemade and fit into the psyche of those it governs. It must represent their truest wishes, however perverse, and not merely…