Author: NLM writer

The World Bank has approved Sh4.5 billion million for Kenya to strengthen its capacity to manage the oil and gas sector to create sustainable growth across the country. The Kenya Petroleum Technical Assistance Project (KEPTAP) will focus on meas­ures to generate more private investment in the oil and gas industry, boost efficient pro­duction, allocate higher gov­ernment oil and gas revenues for development priorities, and increase collaboration between the these extractives sectors and the domestic econ­omy. “The project supports ef­fective government manage­ment of the oil and gas indus­try through capacity building, technical assistance, training programs, and the develop­ment of a legal…

Read More

The world today faces many challenges. Such chal­lenges with a worldwide reach are aptly referred to as global challenges. Sometimes, the community of nations, through established structures, comes together to prescribe normative and policy framework geared to­wards, solving, containing or generally dealing with such global challenges. The greater challenge, however, is that such broad frameworks leave it to individual nations to come up with boundary specific measures that accord to the broad prescriptions to deal with the problems/chal­lenges. One of the challenges that is widely accepted as a global challenge is the problem of terrorism. Terrorism is cur­rently a crime…

Read More

A Friday preceding the Cord Saba Saba day rally, there had been a petition brought to the Consti­tutional division of the High Court by the lawyers representing Nairobi Senator Mike Mbuvi alias Sonko. The orders sought, among other matters, that the Court bars Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leaders Raila Odinga, Moses Wetangula and Kalonzo Musyoka the right to have the rally that had been scheduled the follow­ing Monday. Considering the fact that the rally had long been publi­cized yet the court action came too late in the day, it becomes easy to see that the petitioner was not…

Read More

This is the abridged version of the Supreme Court’s majority ruling delivered on August 29 on petition no. 18 of 2014 as consolidated with petition No 20 of 2014, between Evans Kidero, Governor Nairobi (1st Appellant), and Ferdinand Watituti (1st Respondent), being an appeal from the Judgment and Order of the Court of Appeal of May 13, 2014. ISSUES FOR DETERMINATION From the pleadings, and the written and oral submissions of the parties, the following issues arise for determination: (i) Whether the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine the appeal hereinunder Article 163(4)(a) of the Constitution; (ii) Whether…

Read More

Aside from the Presidential Election Petition judge­ment, no finding by the Supreme Court has drawn criticism like the court’s finding in the Munya case that it has jurisdiction in electoral disputes other than presidential elections. In the ruling on the application for stay of the judgment and order of the Court of Appeal, in Gatirau Peter Munya v Dickson Mwenda Kithinji & two Others, Supreme Court Application No. 5 of 2014; [2014] eKLR, the question before the judges was whether the Supreme Court had appellate jurisdiction in an election petition under Article 163(4) (a) of the Constitution, which confers on…

Read More

‘Guru’ Raval, Chairman of Ken­ya’s Devki Group is often asked to explain his name. A title re­served for spiritual advisors; ‘Guru’ is a puzzling moniker for the head of a building ma­terials conglomerate. For Guru though, work and spirituality have always been intertwined. Born into a devout Hindu family in Kenya; Raval spent his youth meditating and serving the poor at Nairobi’s largest temple. After thirteen years of service, he was poised to become the “Guru of his community. Instead, he built Devki Group, the largest fam­ily owned business in East and Central Africa. The “Guru” ti­tle stuck. “I felt…

Read More

The idea that there is only one just result of every dispute, which only the court can deliver is, I believe, often illusory, according to Justice Jonny Havelock. “Litigation has a cost, not only for the litigants but for society, because judicial re­sources are limited and their cost is usually borne – at least partly – by the state.” Justice Havelock feels that parties should be strongly encouraged to attempt mediation before resorting to litigation. ADR in general and mediation in particular, where it is the appropriate ADR mechanism, must be­come an integral part of our litigation culture.  

Read More

Kenya Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board started its work on February 23, 2011 and by mid-July it had vetted more than 200 judicial officers. In the latest vetting, 38 magistrates were found suitable while three others, Sogomo Gathogo, Maisuba In­nocent Toyo and Orenge Isaac Karasiwere were found unfit to serve in public offices. For Gathogo, the Board was alarmed by his choice of lan­guage which it termed abusive and derogative. Based in Moy­ale since 2009, he was found short-tempered and rude, and easily lost his objectivity in circumstances where he felt that he was being challenged. The Board looked at…

Read More

  The case at the international court could have dire consequences on the Kenya-Tanzania relations and regional cooperation as well BY TNLM REPORTER     Kenya’s oil dis­covery frenzy is under threat as Somalia moves to claim the coastline. The area in dispute has about five exploration blocks already occupied by a number of com­panies, including America’s Anardako Petroleum Corpo­ration, Eni S.P.A of Italy, and Total S.A of France. The wartorn country has instituted proceedings against Kenya at the Interna­tional Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, with re­gard to “a dispute concerning maritime delimitation…

Read More

The House of Laws has come up with a new offence called “Defamation of Parliament” intended to cow the Press from exposing MPs and their (mis)conduct. The new phrase is the brainchild of Adan Keynan, the cantan­kerous MP for Eldas. The Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Bill, 2014 provides in part, “a person commits an offence if the person…speaks words defamatory of Parlia­ment, its committees or its proceedings”. Journalists are mad about this draft law. The Committee on the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) has also poured cold water on it.   Hardly, all. Those who interpret the laws are also…

Read More