Author: NLM Correspondent

China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone, and WIOCC announced last month they will partner to build 2Africa, which will be the most comprehensive subsea cable to serve the African continent and Middle East region. The parties have appointed Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) to build the cable in a fully funded project that will significantly enhance connectivity across Africa and the Middle East. At 37,000km long, 2Africa will be one of the world’s most significant subsea cable projects. It will interconnect Europe (eastward via Egypt), the Middle East (via Saudi Arabia), and 21 landings in 16…

By Victor Adar When the 120-kilometre Nairobi-Naivasha passenger railway line was completed in mid-October 2019, amid high expectations and need to provide fast, safe and convenient transport solution, some Kenyans were afraid that the project would likely not pay off. But the launch of freight operations to the Naivasha Inland Container Depot (NICD) in December, around two months after the deal, could go some way in shifting that mind-set. Although people abreast of the cargo industry have questioned the rationale of the dry port, with questions touching on opportunities, and what it means to the logistics sector, the SGR cargo…

Security, risk, data loss, and legislation. These are the primary concerns listed by organisations and government institutions when asked why they are reluctant to move to the cloud. It is the perennial debate – will cloud put the data at risk? Isn’t on-premise more secure? How can the organisation ensure it is compliant in light of growing regulatory control over how data is accessed, protected, and used? For many, the answer lies in the tried and trusted foundations of on-premise solutions that have weathered the storms so far. The problem is that this isn’t necessarily the right answer. Some organisations…

Identifying constraints to growth an essential first step in designing an appropriate policy response. BY John Page Structural change is taking place in Africa, but export-led manufacturing is playing a much smaller role than it did in East Asia, and services—some with quite low productivity—now absorb the bulk of African workers leaving agriculture and moving to cities. These differences in structural change reflect the impact of technological progress, a changing global marketplace, and natural resource endowments on Africa’s industrialization prospects. At the same time, reductions in transport costs and progress in information and communications technology have created services and agribusinesses…

By NLM Writer ‘While President Kenyatta may have campaigned for the constitution, it has never stopped him from trampling on it when it served his purposes’ — Author The Constitution of Kenya 2010 is revolutionary in character and transformative in intent. It is revolutionary because it proposes a radical shift from the old order where power centred on the Executive, and transformative in that it is not just a law to Kenyans but a means towards socio-economic emancipation. The Constitution is also liberal democratic. Above all, it emphasizes individual autonomy which extends to freedom of enterprise — ours is a…

These are extraordinary times, but human rights law still applies BY NDUNG’U WAINAINA It seems the majority of Kenyans are yet to internalize the impact of Covid-19. It is not just another humanitarian crisis. There is not a ‘normal’ to go back to. Covid-19 will cause serious disruptions to the social, economic, political, cultural, security, and financial systems of the world. Demagoguery and old school politics are going to collapse under the heavy COVID-19 earthquake. The coronavirus pandemic seems to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back of economic and financial globalization. Global supply chains will drastically change…

By Antony Mutunga It took more than 50 years for the world to globalize. Now, as a result of several technologies, the whole process seems to be going back in reverse. People are no longer socializing at events like they used to. Today, everything is done online – from getting the latest news to communicating with family and friends, whether they be close by or far away. Furthering de-globalization or self-sufficiency, even more, has been President Donald Trump, whose mission from before he was elected, was to make America great again by any means possible. The means ended up being…

Is Kenya the only country where a multinational abuses national and international labour laws without as much as a whimper from the government? EPRA doesn’t care By Kevin Motaroki For years now, the French petroleum company, Total SA, through its Kenyan subsidiary, Total Kenya, has subjected its dealers to unfair and unethical business practices that have gone on unabated. This has led to many business owners operating under Total to run into avoidable losses or close shop. Both Financial and Young Dealers told the Nairobi Law Monthly they are adversely affected by the unfair, intimidatory, and monopolistic practices by the…

By Joy Cherotich Kenya shelters about 500,000 refugees and asylum seekers, according to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR-Kenya. 53.7 percent of these refugees and asylum seekers come from Somalia, 24.7 percent from South Sudan, 9 percent from Congo, and 5.8 percent from Ethiopia. The rest are from Rwanda, Burundi, Eritrea, and Uganda. Based on UNHCR statistics, 44 percent of them reside in Kakuma and 40 percent in Dadaab. Urban refugees make up to 16 percent of the population of refugees and asylum seekers. A camp market assessment was done in Dadaab and Kakuma by…

With time, it is increasingly clear that the game was always to prop-up Gideon Moi By Kenyatta Otieno The coronavirus stopped reggae. For the first time in many decades, for a whole month from early March, nobody spoke about politics. It was not even featured on the local news where it has been a mainstay for as long as any of us can remember. Both the Kieleweke – which drives the BBI agenda — and Tangatanga brigades went on mute. Raila Odinga and William Ruto retreated to their cocoons in self-imposed quarantine. Then, in response to questions about their whereabouts,…