Author: NLM Editor

BY kenyatta otieno At this year’s Devolution Conference Raila Odinga said that the country should think of introducing a third tier Regional Government. Two things came to mind, Raila is a good governance junkie and this proposal was not a surprise to those who know him well. Secondly it is meant to test the waters and ignite debate that will lead to changes in the devolution law. Raila’s obsession with constitutional changes as a basis for good governance makes him appear as a one tool artisan. His astute political skills serve this obsession well making him a warrior of good…

Read More

BY David Matende In less than three months, Kenya’s premier media organisation, Nation Media Group (NMG), has lost close to 80 per cent of its key journalists and columnists to its rivals. Such a mass exodus of professionals from one entity is unprecedented in the history of the Kenya’s media. So what is happening at the Nation Centre? For a media house that is known for its rather cold-hearted poaching of good journalists from other media houses, the shoe is now on the other foot as the media giant appears to falter, with its star journalists scrambling out as if…

Read More

By Janek Sunga I believe the re-introduction of devolution has been wonderful for our democracy.  In the social sciences, five years is the bare minimum that is required for conducting a proper longitudinal study. In such a study, scientists make observations and gather data on the same subjects repeatedly over a long period of time. We are only seven years into this new Kenya experiment. I believe at the ten year mark, we can begin taking proper stock of the success of devolution. However, valid questions have been raised about the viability of some county governments which I will address in…

Read More

“The Handshake” has become a common reference to the political truce between President Uhuru Kenyatta and The People’s President Raila Odinga. The deal was made public through a handshake on the steps of Harambee House on March 9th 2018. Very few people knew about the talks between the two prior to the handshake and they kept the faith of their bosses to keep it a secret. These talks might have begun just before the January 29th swearing in of Raila as the people’s President. We heard romours of NASA leaders meeting the US ambassador before the swearing in. The five…

Read More

At the age of 36, Justice Luka Kimaru was appointed a judge of the High Court in December 2003, where he has served since. Within the Judiciary, he is known as a no-nonsense Judge who is a stickler for the law. His first station was the Nairobi Criminal Division, before he was transferred to Nakuru, then back to Nairobi. So efficient is Justice Kimaru at his job that the Rift Valley Law Society protested plans to move him to Mombasa while he was stationed in Nakuru. Justice Kimaru is given to bouts of anger – justified, some say – especially…

Read More

Aching for Bob’s brand of politics? Zimbabwe’s government distanced itself from a deputy minister who said the army wouldn’t allow the opposition to rule if it wins an election this year. The comments by Deputy Minister of Finance Terence Mukupe (pictured) – which echoed warnings that the military often made under former president Robert Mugabe – provoked outrage on social media and prompted a government spokesman to describe them as a threat to national security. In an online video, Mukupe is seen telling a rally in Harare that the army would not let opposition leader Nelson Chamisa take power if…

Read More

By Joel Okwemba There have been many instances where journalists have been discouraged from pursuing important subjects of public interest in relation to the country’s foreign policy agenda and the larger global affairs issues as a discussion led by the Centre for International and Security Affairs revealed. The event themed “Enhancing Public Interest in Global Affairs: The Role of the Media” convened the diplomatic community, journalists, international organizations, academia and students in exploring the bottlenecks on these matters. Education There is a glaring lack of specialisation of media training in our universities and media schools on matters diplomacy and global…

Read More

OBTUSE JUSTICE: When it comes to pinching a penny, it is unwise to be ‘petty’, at least according to the Kenyan justice system. Whereas small-time offenders, like Justinah (left), are hung out to dry for taking little bribes, elite looters, who have helped themseleves to billions from public coffers, as in the NYS looting spree that has come to light recently, can walk scot free. Like sin, where none is small or big, every crime deserves punishment; it is morally repugnant when double standards apply like this, by those who should judge in ‘letter and spirit’.

Read More

By Nkwazi Mhango When former AG Amos Wako, who also is the Senator for Busia, said that Raila Odinga still has the chance to become the next president of Kenya, I was pushed to write this piece. First of all, I fully concur with Wako. Secondly, the impromptu marriage, ala handshake, between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Odinga added more vim. I am one of many who wanted the duo to talk in order to pull Kenya out of the impasse resulting from last year’s elections. Now that they’re working together, we need to support them. Raila must soldier on in…

Read More

By Payton Mathau The Kenyan embassy in Somalia is secured by a team of Ugandan private military security guards. The private security guards are also deployed to several hotels and businesses operating within Mogadishu’s airport, which is secured by Amisom troops from Uganda and Burundi. Their services are procured by individual entities. The move comes after fifteen people were killed in an explosion at Jazeera Palace, a diplomats’ hotel on July 26, 2015. China, Qatar and Egypt had embassies at the hotel. The Kenyan ambassador to Somalia Major General (Rtd) Lucas Tumbo, who was rescued from the Jazeera Palace Hotel,…

Read More