Author: NLM Correspondent

Just how deep do the informal state powers wielded by David ‘Bwana Dawa’ Murathe run? By NLM Writer As tension mounted across the country in the lead-up to the repeat presidential election held on October 26, 2017, and following hot on the heels of the “we shall revisit” statement by President Uhuru Kenyatta, Jubilee vice chairman David Murathe went on national television and declared that the President would be a benevolent dictator in his second term. “What this country needs now is a benevolent dictator. People have been too soft so that things have gone rogue.” He was referring to…

Ten women peacebuilders in fragile or conflict-affected areas are recognized as finalists The US Institute of Peace (USIP) last month announced the 10 finalists for the inaugural Women Building Peace Award. This award recognizes the vital role of women who are working in fragile or conflict-affected countries in pursuit of peace. They are: Ángela Maria Escobar (Colombia), Asia Jamil (Pakistan), Beata Mukarubuga (Rwanda), Irene M. Santiago (The Philippines), Julienne Lusenge (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Odette Habonimana (Burundi), Rita Martin Lopidia Abraham (South Sudan), Rosa Emilia Salamanca González (Colombia), Tabassum Adnan (Pakistan), and Victoria Nyanjura (Uganda). USIP will announce the…

Nearly half of all the violence visited on African migrants during their journey to the Mediterranean coast is perpetrated by law enforcers, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said in July. According to a report by UNHCR and the Danish Refugee Council’s Mixed Migration Centre (MMC), thousands of refugees and migrants suffer extreme abuse including torture and sexual or gender-based violence, and in some cases death. The report is based on nearly 16,000 interviews with refugees and migrants. 47%Ratio of refugees, out of 16,000 interviewed, who fingered law enforcement as perpetrators. “In 47% of the cases, the victims reported the…

The European Union Mission in Kenya has launched a 15-month long initiative to help marginalized communities to fully implement government-imposed COVID-19 response measures by providing accurate information. The initiative, dubbed ‘Pamoja Dhidi ya Corona’ is locally adapted and transmitted by trusted messengers, allowing targeted communities to protect themselves from the virus. EU Ambassador for Kenya, Simon Mordue, said the initiative is part of a global Team Europe response to COVID-19 in which the EU member states have provided close to Sh40 billion in support for Kenya during the pandemic through a broad range of measures. “This initiative is essentially about…

The assassination of popular singer and political activist Hachalu Hundessa in Ethiopia on June 29 epitomizes the peril in which the country’s democratization now finds itself a little more than two years after new prime minister Abiy Ahmed electrified the world with his promise to bring democracy to Ethiopia , a country that had known only various forms of autocracy throughout its three millennial history of nearly unbroken independence. Ethiopia’s experience offers important lessons for the study of democratization in African and other developing nations. In many ways Abiy has acted forthrightly on his promise. He has released thousands of…

Stories of democracy and sustainability can be told in many other ways too; ones that connect much more deeply with human values. Consider this tale from India: Once upon a time there were two brothers. And when their elderly father died, he left them a cow, a blanket and a tree to share equally between them. The elder brother proposed an equal division of the property to the younger brother. The elder brother would use the blanket by night, and the younger brother could use it by day. The elder brother would own the back half of the cow and…

By Bradley Parks, Ani Harutyunyan, and Matt DiLorenzo  We are living in an era of resurgent nationalism and rising skepticism about the value of multilateral institutions. China’s new role as a financier of first resort for many low-income and middle-income countries has also raised fundamental questions about the raison d’être of multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank. Nobel Prize winner Michael Kremer and the Center for Global Development’s Michael Clemens make the case that the principal value of the World Bank does not lie in its lending activities for stand-alone public investment projects but from its influence on…

By Chris Mwabe There is no greater sporting event in the world than the FIFA World Cup ― the golden child of the most loved game in the world. To put it into perspective, the 2015 NFL Super Bowl Final was estimated to have 114.4 million viewers in the United States and 30 million internationally. Meanwhile, the 2018 final of the World Cup drew an estimated 1 billion viewers around the world. Forbes Magazine reported that the cost of the most expensive advertisement in the US during the final match of the 2014 World Cup, according to the Standard Media…

By Kenyatta Otieno In May, the Land and Environmental Court in Kisumu ruled in favour of Eldoret businessman Jackson Kibor against his sons in a land dispute. The controversial businessman then threatened to file another case to be allowed to determine the paternity of the sons he had sued. I am writing this article on Fathers’ Day and meditating about fatherhood in the African setting. Kibor’s actions made me think of our cultures in relation to paternity. I am Luo; Kibor is a Kalenjin On the surface, this might present different scenarios but I believe the spirit of African customs…

By Prof Paul Tiyambe Zeleza The public execution of George Floyd, with its casual performance of suffocating and snuffing life out of the black body became a frightful spectral presence on the minds of tens of millions of people in the United States and around the world. It captured with terrifying clarity the utter depravity and degradation of a black life that validated the humanistic and historic demands of the Black Lives Matter movement. The spontaneous demonstrations that erupted across every state and hundreds of cities and towns in the United States, including some with small black populations and even among…