Prof John Harbeson For the first time in the twenty-year history of Afrobarometer surveys of African citizens’ political, economic, and cultural views, a survey of Ethiopian citizens’ views has been included, one conducted in December 2019 and January 2020. It was one of nearly forty countries included in Afrobarometer’s eighth round of surveys. The long-delayed inclusion of an Ethiopian survey reflected the organization’s judgment that Ethiopians finally enjoyed enough personal security and at least minimal underlying political freedom that their answers to questions about freedom and democracy could be trusted as genuine. From the vantage point of nearly two years…
Author: NLM Team
By Mohamed Billow Abdi The enactment and suspension of Section 22 of the Election Act by Parliament appears paradoxical to the attainment of the right to education. Textually, the Constitution of Kenya provides for the right to education but the state skepticism in respect of implementation remains a bottleneck. The justiciability of the economic, social and cultural rights is clear in terms of the specific constitutional provisions and the international human rights treaties and conventions ratified by Kenya and applicable within the meaning of Article 2(6) of the Constitution. In fact, the list of International treaties and covenants ratified by…
The pile of integrity statutes appear unable to shake the entrenched corruption ecosystem; Kenya needs a complete shift in its political culture and values to get out of its present predicament. By Kabakua Mbogori On September 16th, 2021, Chief Justice Martha Koome launched her much-anticipated vision for the Judiciary. The blueprint is dubbed ‘Social Transformation through Access to Justice’. The vision promises easy and efficient access to the judicial system by litigants, particularly vulnerable groups and persons. It promises to widen the doors of justice to all Kenyans. The CJ argues, quite eloquently in my view, that achieving the transformative…
By David Wanjala Prevention is the way to go in the war against corruption. It is cheaper than enforcement in terms of resources and time. According to Fredrick Mainda, a senior education officer at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the damage corruption causes in society is, more often than not, irreversible since stolen resources are hardly recovered, adding that the vice undermines the rule of law and democracy and leads to violation of human rights. Mr Mainda facilitated EACC’s training of Konza Technopolis Development Authority’s (KoTDA) Corruption Prevention Committee (CPC) that was recently held in Naivasha. Through his presentation,…
By David Wanjala Corruption, fraud, and unethical conduct remain the biggest cancer that eats into public and private institutions and retards their growth, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission CEO Major Twalib Mbarak has said. In a speech to open a three-day training workshop for Corruption Prevention Committee members of Konza Technopolis Development Authority in Naivasha that was read on his behalf yesterday by the Commission’s South Rift regional head Mr. Ignatius Wekesa, Major Mbarak called upon Public officers to shun the culture of self-gratification, kickbacks, favoritism, laziness and misappropriation of resources if they are to help their institutions realize set objectives.…
Kenyans continue to prefer democracy, and over the last decade, a fully democratic Kenyan state has appeared to become more visible over the horizon, albeit still elusive. By Prof John Harbeson Last month, I reviewed the recently released 2019-20 Afrobarometer survey of citizen opinion on Kenya’s democratic progress. I compared opinion on this subject currently to what it was in an earlier 2011 Afrobarometer survey when Kenya had just passed its model 2010 constitution, the outcome of more than twenty years of determined civil society advocacy. Today, the question is to what degree Kenya’s democratic experience has democratized the Kenya…
By Antony Mutunga After more than 12 months of pandemic uncertainty, many sectors in Africa have entered a state of normalization. From the financial industry to the agricultural sector, businesses have started their return to normalcy. The situation is the same for the construction and manufacturing sector, which, according to a survey conducted by Mastercard Middle East and Africa (MEA), are seen as the sectors with the best forecasts for recovery. According to the survey conducted between March and April 2021, 74 percent of SMEs in the construction and manufacturing sectors are optimistic about the next 12 months. The SMEs…
Dr. Edwin Wanjawa Every political system lives by some principles and precedents, whether it is a constitutional system or not. In 2010, Kenya promulgated a constitution dubbed the “most progressive in the world” in many important quarters. 11 years down the road, Kenya still seems steeped in the puzzle of a constitution that cannot seem to entrench constitutionalism. This partly explains our mediocre development record and inability to progress well as a society, and why our peers at independence are now miles ahead. Indeed, constitutions are primarily about political authority and the location, conferment, distribution, exercise, and limitation of authority…
Flexible talent can power high-performance legal departments By Kevin Motaroki Legal scholar Richard Susskind was among the first to address a possible radical disruption of legal practice by technology when Covid hit. The pioneering Susskind foresaw a future, now our reality, where technology would radically reshape what law firms look like and how they operate – although, to be fair, the shift is not just because of technology but also due to evolving client expectations and the nature of modern business engagements in general. As the economy rebounds from the economic vagaries of Covid-19, law firms face an unprecedented challenge.…
Cybersecurity lawyers do not provide oversight; they work actively to help secure the company’s networks. They also need support to develop robust cybersecurity legal practices, build individual expertise and mature our cybersecurity ecosystem. By Kevin Motaroki The amount of data out there for the taking is dizzying, with a slew of disruptive ransomware attacks rocking the corporate scene at a time of working remotely. While cybersecurity has become a priority for businesses over the past year, hackers too have become more skilled, which makes neglecting cybersecurity not just risky but reckless. Creating pipelines to encourage lawyers to practice cybersecurity and…
