By Bertrand Bertie There is a human tendency to consider that everything is the same as before. It is a classic reflex to go from the known to the unknown, and to think that what we are facing is similar to what we have known before. Yet several fundamental breaks have been consistently overlooked, hence the flaw in foreign policies. The first rupture is decolonisation. It has not been sufficiently taken into account even though it has profoundly modified the international system. The arrival of new states and therefore new and specific histories, societies and economies has upset an international…
Author: NLM writer
By Jacob Oketch U HURU KENYATTA, Promises Broken by Joe Khamisi is an offering that focuses on the personality of retired president Uhuru Kenyatta. The book is partly biographical because the author examines the president’s life from birth to when he exits the presidency. However, the author does not delve deep into Uhuru’s private life. Instead, he focuses on aspects directly related to his role as a public servant and how it impacted the millions of Kenyans across the country. The book’s title presupposes that the author will not paint a rosy picture of President Kenyatta’s reign. The book’s opening…
By Irene Ndirangu The question is often asked of how one can recognize integrity. Several responses suffice, including choosing to do the right thing at all times, choosing honesty in all things, manifesting humility which means being proud of one’s achievements but differentiating between confidence and arrogance, showing respect to everybody, showing regular dependability, and even admitting when wrong. Oprah Winfrey interpreted integrity as doing the right thing, knowing that nobody will know whether you did it or not. It goes without saying that when you live with integrity, you always aim to do the right thing in every situation. You…
By Dr Tom Odhiambo As Kenya emerges from another hotly contested general election, in a manner of speaking, media commentators are wont to claim that the country is split right in the middle. They will write in acres of newsprint and go on and on endlessly on radio and television that Kenyans who voted were shared equally between the competing political groups. They will, of course, conveniently forget that another third of Kenyans – were we to believe the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) – either did not bother to go and vote or were somehow ‘repressed’ so as…
Employees must be afforded the right to cross-examine during disciplinary hearings By Cedric Kadima Employers are required to have formal disciplinary procedures at the workplace. Even though the Employment Act of 2007 has not made it explicit that a formal hearing should be conducted during disciplinary procedures, employers may outline rigorous hearings procedures. Still, they should adhere to the minimum statutory standards. Such disciplinary procedures must not only conform to strict procedural fairness guidelines but also are significant. Cross-examination during disciplinary hearings The foregoing tolerates the consequence that during disciplinary hearings, where an employer decides to call a witness(es) during…
New awareness of climate change and litigation associated with it, has dramatically changed the perception of over 20 judges who attended a training course on environmental law and climate change law under the auspices of Jifa in August. Almost all of them started out unsure of what climate change law actually is and doubted whether they would ever be involved in litigation concerning climate change. But after a week’s training with a University of Cape Town expert, including two days intensively focused on climate change, they now have a very different perspective. As the judges put it, ‘Our eyes have…
By Felix O. Okanga Central to the Supreme Court’s reprimand of counsel on 5th September 2022 as it delivered its judgment in the consolidated election petitions resulting from what has been termed as a hotly contested election was the law of evidence. Law of Evidence through the Evidence Act, CAP 80 Laws of Kenya, places the burden of proving facts upon the person alleging them. This is done by way of adducing evidence in support of the facts. At the heart of evidence law is the competence of the person producing the evidence. Competence refers to a witness’s ability, capacity,…
The continent’s response to a fundamental shift in the international food and energy landscape will produce a wide range of investment opportunities Africa’s GDP grew by an estimated 6.9% in 2021, revealing positive forward momentum. However, the continent will continue to face uncertainty, according to the seventh edition of their Africa Risk-Reward Index today: “Opportunity through uncertainty.” The after-effects of the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war are projected to impact the African continent’s economic outlook for many years. In 2021, about 22 million jobs (https://bit.ly/2Z1dRwt) were lost due to the pandemic, with 30 million people being pushed into extreme poverty.…
Investing in relevant skills is even more critical at a time when technology is accelerating so fast that jobs can quickly become redundant. Africa’s young people are undoubtedly one of the continent’s greatest resources. As other regions battle with aging populations and declining birth rates, Sub-Saharan Africa can lay claim to median age of 19.7, with around 70% of the population under 30. Those young people are increasingly well-educated and connected. But all that potential means nothing if they aren’t getting the opportunities needed to fulfill it. And in many countries, it’s clear that they aren’t. In South Africa, the…
By Antony Mutunga Technology has finally been integrated further into the electricity sector in Kenya as the Government of Kenya, together with the Government of Japan, and in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen), as well as the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), launched its “strengthening capacity for operation and maintenance with the internet of things (IoT) technologies for Olkaria geothermal power station in Kenya” project. The project aims to integrate IoT technology into the power station by installing and proving the importance and effectiveness of the technology in electricity generation…
