By Peter wanyonyi We are a country of experts, we Kenyans. Perhaps the most know-it-all country in Africa – if not the world, Kenya is brimming with self-proclaimed authorities on everything under the sun. A quick trawl through Kenya’s social media presence reveals a colourful coterie of self-appointed “public figure” accounts and “social influencer” profiles, all claiming to have special, insider-only knowledge of this or that matter, usually something to do with politics – for we love our politics to ridiculous extents. Indeed, there is just one thing we love more than our politics, and that is our tribes. And…
Author: NLM writer
By Andrew Bomani Raila Odinga is, without a doubt, a colossus on the African continent. Any student of leadership in Africa can’t afford not to study what it is that makes him tick. And a most helpful place to begin is Odinga’s voluminous autobiography from 2013 titled The Flame of Freedom, which the former Nigerian head of state, General Olusegun Obasanjo, was so complimentary about in his foreword writing: “Too much of what our children are taught in school about development and government is borrowed from societies that, socially and historically, have backgrounds very different from ours. There has, until…
Two sets of institutions will define the legacy the new administration will cultivate in entrenching constitutionality. By Gilbert Muyumbu There are at least two sets of institutions whose relationship with the new William Ruto administration will define the legacy that the administration will cultivate in as far as the rule of law is concerned. The two sets of institutions consist first of the horizontal accountability (popularly referred to as checks and balances) institutions and vertical accountability institutions. In the first set are institutions like the 2010 constitution, sections of security organs dealing with civilian peace, the judiciary, parliament, the political…
The West African nation of Nigeria has claimed that it has a secret prison in Kenya, as it defended what many rights activists have called the kidnapping of separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu. And it is a confession that puts Kenya in an awkward situation and raises questions about how the Federal Republic of Nigeria was allowed to have such a facility in Nairobi. For a moment, it sounds like the Federal Republic of Nigeria is just bluffing until it dawns on one that the confession is contained in an affidavit by a senior official of that country’s office of the…
The decision by the Kenyan Supreme Court in September to uphold president-elect William Ruto’s triumph in the country’s recent election has been described as a win for democracy. Blockchain technology coupled with sophisticated vote tallying mechanisms was able to quash unsubstantiated claims of vote rigging brought before the court in an attempt to declare the election results between Ruto and his opponent, Raila Odinga, moot. In a 30-page summary, Kenyan Chief Justice Martha Koome dismissed, due to a lack of evidence, nine petitions (consolidated into one) that largely centered on the rigging of the August presidential election results, said Advocate…
African ministers meeting in Cairo two months ahead of the COP27 climate summit called, in September, for a sharp expansion of climate financing for their continent while pushing back against an abrupt move away from fossil fuels. Egypt, an oil and gas producer considered highly vulnerable to climate change, has positioned itself as a champion for African interests as it prepares to host the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh in November. A communique released after a three-day forum for finance, economy, and environment ministers said Africa benefited from less than 5.5 percent of global climate financing despite having a low carbon…
International Criminal Court (ICC) appeals judges in September rejected a decision to award a record $30 million in compensation for child soldiers and other victims of convicted Congolese militia leader Bosco Ntaganda, sending the case back to a lower court for a new ruling on the reparations amount. The appeals judges said the order was missing a fundamental detail, “namely the number of victims whose harm it was intended to repair,” and added it was “not discernible” how the lower court had arrived at the sum of $30 million. Ntaganda was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2019 for…
The recent abrupt shattering of a fragile five-month-old truce has punctuated the restarting of Ethiopia’s third year of civil war between the federal government of prime minister Abiy Ahmed and that of the Tigre region, led by the Tigre Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF). The return to war has effectively sidelined a confederal constitution enshrining self-determination for Ethiopia’s many ethnic communities. That constitution was established by the Tigrean-led four-party Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF, 1991-2018), which had overthrown a brutal military regime (1974-1991) that, in turn, had ended the 44-year regime of Ethiopia’s last emperor, Haile Selassie/ By its pervasive…
The August 9 presidential election lived up to expectations by producing probably the most fiercely contested poll in the history of Kenya, with the William Ruto-led Kenya Kwanza coalition taking victory. Most politicians know all too well that to win an election you must campaign in poetry. Governing is, however, a whole different ball game. And this is probably the greatest test president Ruto will face in his illustrious political career. Reconciling his campaign promises with real tangible deliverables in a harsh economic environment will be hard. He has promised so much in times and moments of extreme scarcity. Did…
with Greg Mills & Marie-Noelle Nwokolo In the late 1990s, South Africa’s then-Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin likened the country’s trade strategy to a “butterfly,” according to which the thorax ran north-south to Europe and North America, while the “wings” oriented west-east were to link Africa with Latin America and Asia. Erwin’s concept promised much then, as now, for a diversification effort, but so far has delivered less. Still, there is much to gain from closer regional ties, in at least two respects. The first of these is underscored by the growth and nature of economic relations. While trade…
