Schools are, by their nature, expected to be safe spaces where children can learn without having to worry about their safety or other mundane problems of life, such as hunger. But when school dormitories become halls of death, the heart of every parent shudders, because the worst nightmare for a parent is receiving a call from their child’s school only to be told that the child is no more. As a country, we have invested a great deal of money in conducting inquiries into how we can make schools safer and how we can mitigate disasters such as fires. We…
Author: Mbugua Ng’ang’a
It is distressing that 3,056 Kenyans died in road crashes between January 1 and August 27, a worrying increase from the 2,910 fatalities reported over the same period last year. There are no prizes for guessing that this unfortunate toll will continue to grow for as long as road users continue to obey traffic rules in the breach. Nowhere is this more evident than on the Nakuru-Nairobi highway, which is turned into a scene from hell every weekend as motorists break all the rules imaginable, beginning with overlaps that create up to five lanes one way. This, for me, is…
Driving around Kenya, one is accosted, in every county, by the large number of public institutions that are going to seed because the national government and counties have failed to budget for repairs and maintenance, particularly of buildings and installations. A case in point is the Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Uasin Gishu, which is not only abandoned with the work less than half done but which has probably earned its place as Kenya’s top monument of shame. Uasin Gishu prides itself as “the home of champions”. Its athletes have made Kenya proud by their sterling achievements on the global stage.…
Proceedings against embattled Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza, which have been going on at the Senate Monday and Tuesday, have raised important questions about what infringements ought to be considered impeachable. This will be important going forward because there is a risk of watering down impeachment proceedings to the point where they are treated as an extension of grassroots political duels. The governor is facing three accusations; revoking the appointment of an officer identified as CPA Virginia Kawira Miriti, failing to appoint chairpersons for various boards, including the revenue board, and dismissing four officials, namely John Ntoiti, Paul Mwaki, Kenneth Kimathi…
Banks will no longer enjoy discretion to raise interest on loans, the Supreme Court has ruled, effectively taming the appetite of lenders who raise the cost of credit every time the Central Bank of Kenya reviews is Base Lending Rate. In a ruling that will come as a relief for borrowers, who have had to endure arbitrary increases in loan rates, the Supreme Court said no bank can raise rates without the approval of the National Treasury. The Nairobi Business Monthly had in its March edition questioned why banks increase loan rates on old loans every time CBK reviews its…
The Law Society of Kenya suffered a setback when the High Court sitting in Nairobi on Thursday, June 27, ruled that the deployment of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers to help police quell violent protests was “necessary”. On Tuesday night, Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale published a Special Gazette notice announcing that KDF soldiers would be deployed the following day “in support of the National Police Service in response to the security emergency caused by the ongoing violent protests in various part of the Republic of Kenya resulting in destruction and breaching of criticial infrastructure.” Since the law requires Parliamentary…
The hiring of 46,000 intern teachers on permanent and pensionable terms is set to be suspended indefinitely because the budget for their employment was contained in the Finance Bill, 2024, which has now been rejected. A source at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has told the Nairobi Law Monthly that unless the intern teachers are hired by Friday, June 28, then their contracts will automatically expire when the current financial year ends on Sunday, June 30. The teachers, who handle Junior Secondary School (JSS) Grades Seven and Eight in 32,469 public primary schools, were to be hired as soon as…
Today is a tipping point in the history of Kenya’s political economy. On the one hand, we have a National Assembly that must make the final call on the Finance Bill, the one document that has united Kenyans — and particularly stirred the youthful generation — in their quest to oppose it. There is a likelihood that the controversial Bill — which spells out the government’s tax and spend measures for the next financial year — will sail through with a slight majority amid huge acrimony on the floor of the august House. And outside the National Assembly, angry protesters…
Kenyans took to the streets of Nairobi on Tuesday, June 18, to protest over punitive tax proposals that they said would erode disposable incomes and adversely affect the quality of their lives. Among the contentious provisions in the Finance Bill — which will be debated in the National Assembly on Wednesday, June 19 — is one requiring motor vehicle owners to pay a 2.5 per cent tax on the insurance value of their vehicles. The insurance industry players, together with motorists, opposed the proposal, saying it would erode insurance penetration and make it uneconomical to own a motor vehicle. Another…
Malawi Vice-President Saulos Klaus Chilima, whose plane went missing on Monday, June 10, is dead. Chilima’s death comes barely a month after a court acquitted him of corruption-related charges, effectively clearing him to vie for the presidency in elections slated for next year. Also expected to run in the election is former President Peter Mutharika. The two would have faced off with President Lazarus Chakwera, who will be seeking a second term. VP Chilima, who was in the company of nine other State and military officials, died when the military aircraft they were travelling in from Lilongwe crashed in Chikangawa…
