BY TIMAN MNYIKA The last failed attempt to unite the populous Luhya for political ends happened slightly over a year ago. It was in the run up to the December 19, 2013 senatorial by-election in Bungoma County. Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetang’ula rode the unity crusade to victory in the mini-election. However, many observers agreed at the time that the campaign to unite the country’s second most populous community for political reasons was headed nowhere. And it came to pass. It was clear that Wetang’ula joined the bandwagon, then led by Cyrus Jirongo, for strategic political reasons to win his seat…
Author: NLM writer
BY ANDREW FRANKLIN Kenya is facing significant existential threats, both from within and without its borders. In 2013 and 2014, the Government expanded the domestic security role of the Kenya Defence Force (KDF) initially to supplement paramilitary elements of the National Police Service, but it increasingly seems to be replacing the disorganised, overwhelmed, underequipped and badly trained Administration Police. By using the KDF as a sort of internal fire brigade to fill the widening gaps in domestic law and order, government is unwittingly delaying the full implementation of the National Police Service Act, 2011 despite allocating funds in excess…
BY DAVID WANJALA Local private broadcasters have put up a spirited fight against the disregard and ambush by policy makers in the digital migration push, with court battles stretching all the way to the Supreme Court. And though this resulted in postponement of deadlines and ultimate delay in migration, the broadcasters, who have hugely contributed to media development in Kenya, ultimately earned their rightful place, after a long slumber, in the quagmire that has been analogue-digital migration. Local broadcasters, even as a consortium, could not meet the basic requirements, not even giving a bid bond when the Communication Commission…
By Ndung’u Wainaina On October 19, 2011, Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya Dr Willy Mutunga said thus, “we found an institution so frail in its structures, so thin on resources, so low on its confidence, so deficient in integrity, and so weak in its public support that to have expected it to deliver justice was to be wildly optimistic. We found a Judiciary that was designed to fail. The institutional structure was such that the Office of the Chief Justice operated as a judicial monarch supported by the Registrar of the High Court. Power and…
By Ndung’u Wainaina On October 19, 2011, Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya Dr Willy Mutunga said thus, “we found an institution so frail in its structures, so thin on resources, so low on its confidence, so deficient in integrity, and so weak in its public support that to have expected it to deliver justice was to be wildly optimistic. We found a Judiciary that was designed to fail. The institutional structure was such that the Office of the Chief Justice operated as a judicial monarch supported by the Registrar of the High Court. Power and…
BY BEVERLINE ONGARO Worldwide, the personification of justice is that of a scale being balanced, either by a goddess or god of justice, or the scales balancing on their own. The philosophy behind this personification is that disputes between adversaries in any legal proceedings will be determined justly: that there is a scale of fairness for such determination, which is invisible but both latent and overt. Globally, this symbol of personification of justice is depicted as statues at court houses, or as logos or emblems of law enforcement agencies, legal organisations and law institutes. But within the contested space in the…
By Jared Juma A lot of ink has been spilt about the criteria used by the courts to determine the best interest of the child in matters brought before them. There exists no standard definition of what a child’s “best interests” are. The phrase generally refers to the deliberations that courts undertake when deciding the type of services, actions, and orders that best serve a child. Best interest determinations are generally made by considering a number of factors related to the child’s and the parent or caregiver’s circumstances, and capacity to parent, with the child’s ultimate safety and well being…
BY HERMAN OMITI Article 2 of the Constitution of Kenya declares the Supremacy of the Constitution over any other law, person or organ within the Republic. Article 2(1) states that, “This Constitution is the supreme law of the Republic and binds all persons and all State organs at both levels of government.” Article 2 (4) provides that “Any law, including customary law, that is inconsistent with this Constitution is void to the extent of the inconsistency, and any act or omission in contravention of this Constitution is invalid.” Article 165(3) (d) confers the High Court with the jurisdiction to…
BY HERMAN OMITI Article 2 of the Constitution of Kenya declares the Supremacy of the Constitution over any other law, person or organ within the Republic. Article 2(1) states that, “This Constitution is the supreme law of the Republic and binds all persons and all State organs at both levels of government.” Article 2 (4) provides that “Any law, including customary law, that is inconsistent with this Constitution is void to the extent of the inconsistency, and any act or omission in contravention of this Constitution is invalid.” Article 165(3) (d) confers the High Court with the jurisdiction to…
BY ABDI ALI The basic tenets of competition law as highlighted in the Kenyan Competition Act 2010 are to promote consumer welfare and encourage competition in the economy by prohibiting restrictive and predatory trade practices, controlling monopolies, concentrations of economic power and prices for connected purposes…” However, the emerging acts of competition have put to test the doctrine of lex mercatoria (law of merchants) that begs the question: is it laid down laws that regulate the code of business practice, or is it the rules of trade, derived from practice of merchants, that have demanded for a set of business laws?…
