A recent study, “Reasonable Goals for Reducing Poverty in Africa: Targets for the post-2015 MDGs and Agenda 2063”, classifies Kenya among the top 10 countries with large populations living in extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa (Turner, Cilliers & Hughs, 2015). The problem of inequality and poverty is one that Kenya has courted for a long time, but whose antidote is necessary if the country is to optimally develop. A report released by Society for International Development in November 2013 raised similar issues – Kenya ranked second among the five East African Community Countries on inequalities with most of its citizens, particularly…
Author: NLM writer
BY VICTOR ADAR Familiar problems of terror gangs, poverty, hunger and unemployment bedevil the infant devolved system of governance. According to “Securing the Counties: Options for Security after Devolution in Kenya”, a study released last December, security management and governance must be addressed if counties are to be secured. The study addresses challenges posed by incomplete devolution in the counties of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Garissa and Turkana, which are shared by other counties in Kenya. “Counties should develop diversity strategies as a statement of their commitment to the principle, and also as part of their fulfilment of the constitutional obligation…
The capture of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Dominic Ongwen has once again proved Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to be the master of realpolitik. An avowed critic of the International Criminal Court in recent times, President Museveni last month surrendered Ongwen to the same court for trial. Ongwen, captured in the Central African Republic (CAR), was one of the five LRA commanders that the Ugandan government had referred to The Hague court for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Uganda since July 2002. The others were Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Raska Lukwiya and Okot Odhiambo. In those early days of…
By Edward Hansen International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s office and the Victims and Witness Unit (VWU) cannot escape blame for the challenges the court has had with witnesses in the Kenyan post-election violence cases, according to legal experts. Bensouda has, on a number of occasions, heaped blame on the Kenyan government for failing to fulfil its obligations under the Rome Statute, and for obstructing her investigations against President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto. The prosecutor withdrew charges against President Kenyatta on December 5 because of insufficient evidence as a result of “concerted and wide-ranging efforts to harass,…
Al-Nur Media Africa, the publisher of the Nairobi Law Monthly, has announced the creation of an annual prize that seeks to support judicial reform, integrity, competence and outstanding jurisprudential achievements by members of the Judiciary. According to a press statement released by the chairman of Al-Nur Media Africa, Ahmednasir Abdullahi SC, the annual award will be known as the “Nairobi Law Monthly Judge of the year Award”. It comes with a prize of Sh1 million. The recipient of the award will be selected by a panel of eminent lawyers, to be chaired by Paul Muite SC, and which will include…
The long-awaited Public Accounts Committee report on an investigation into the loss of billions of shillings under the watch of former Registrar of the Judiciary Gladys Shollei has run into deep trouble. The committee is reportedly divided along party lines and has been subject to heavy lobbying and outright bribery. The committee is chaired by Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba, who is also ODM Secretary-General. Dependable sources who spoke to the Nairobi Law Monthly on condition of anonymity said that top offices in the Jubilee administration have been drawn into the controversy. The NLM has obtained exclusive evidence that the final…
By Okwaro Oscar Plato Kenya is a country of micro nations, each proud, distinct and unique: the resourceful Kikuyu, the studious Luhya, the indefatigable Kalenjin, the proud Maasai, the flamboyant Kamba, the exquisite coastal peoples and others. That is what we must embrace as a diverse people who must coexist for our common good and posterity. Being a multi-ethnic state made up of 42-plus recognised tribes, the 2009 census figures break down our ethnic composition as follows: Kikuyu 17 per cent, Luhya 14 per cent, Kalenjin 13 per cent, Luo 10 per cent, Kamba 10 per cent, Kisii 6…
BY IAN RAMAS Call it vanity or evident disregard for forces of ethnic gravity, ruling Jubilee Coalition apparatchiks are convinced that Deputy President William Samoei Ruto will, as a matter of routine, handily ascend to power in 2022. Perhaps this explains their enthusiasm over the Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP) as Ruto’s requisite vehicle to State House. Somehow, this cabal of all the (next) President’s men – to paraphrase the title of the American political blockbuster by journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein – that draw MP Aden Duale, and Senators Kipchumba Murkomen and Kithure Kindiki, among others, may just…
Depending on the outcome of Deputy President William Ruto’s case at the ICC case, he has a political calculus to balance. Here are possible equations: Maintain status quo: One, he could maintain his position in Jubilee and hope two things work in his favour – that is, Kenyans don’t become apathetic to Jubilee politics by 2022, and the Mt Kenya region defies the history of ethnic voting and backs him. For Kenya’s political landscape, this will be the least travelled road, because Uhuru has just a single vote and will find it difficult to convince his community to vote fully…
BY NDUNG’U WAINAINA An associational life of people in pursuit of their common interest and good takes different forms. Political parties are such forums, for people to mobilise and organise. They are basically supposed to be democratic platforms for citizens seeking to influence the affairs and processes of governance of their country. Political parties are an essential component of a well-functioning democracy. Like them or hate them, in representative democracy, they are the drivers of politics, notwithstanding how they are structured and governed. Representatives elected through them should be guided by the policies and decisions of their parties. Political…
