Expert Analysis

Curbing Alcohol Abuse in Kenya: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Government Measures and Proposed Solutions

Alcohol abuse is a prevalent issue in Kenya, and the government has implemented various measures to tackle it. These measures comprise policies, programmes, and regulations to reduce alcohol abuse, enhance treatment and rehabilitation, and promote responsible drinking habits. This article analyses the government’s efforts to

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An Explainer: The Draft Public Finance Management (Transfer of Functions) Bill, 2023

Background With the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, the country took up a system of governance which embodies devolution and decentralization. The country has two levels of government i.e., the national and county governments. While these two levels of government are separate and

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Curbing healthcare brain drain: A look at the proposed migration workforce policy

In a recently leaked Cabinet memo, the Ministry of Health signaled its plans to initiate and put in place restrictions to deter unemployed medics from seeking employment opportunities abroad. The major reason cited by the ministry for this approach is the shortage of health workers

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Hustler Fund: The question of defaulters amidst plans to roll out second phase

The Hustler Fund, which was launched late last year and has been in operation for over two months now, has so far disbursed Kshs. 15.9 billion in loans with about half of that money (Kshs. 7.7 billion) being repaid. 18.4 million Kenyans are subscribed to

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Snooping on tax evaders: Balancing between protection of personal data and KRA’s bid to monitor transactions

As the world marks Data Privacy Day on 28th January 2023, Kenya has been busy this week with a series of activities organized by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) to commemorate the day. The week-long events will culminate in a two-day Data

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Tips for mainstreaming sustainability among employees

To enjoy success, every organisation must ensure that its employees understand, own, and support its sustainability agenda. Companies must, therefore, engage their employees and carry them along the journey as ambassadors and champions of the sustainability agenda. As Doug Conant – former President and CEO

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The tragedy of collapsed buildings: Where we are getting it wrong and the antidote

In the past two weeks, at least four apartments have collapsed in the counties of Kiambu and Nairobi, claiming lives and damaging property worth millions of shillings. The World Bank estimates that Kenya has a housing shortage of at least two million homes, which rises

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Re-constitution of Kenya’s Cabinet

Vide a Notification of Presidential Action [II] publicized via a Press Statement on 29th of September, the President of Kenya, H.E. Uhuru M. Kenyatta notified the public of the changes to his Cabinet. This is in exercise of the presidential prerogative vested in the Head

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There’s a New Sheriff in Town: Meet the New Communications Authority Boss

Following a dramatic exit from the public stage after a protracted procurement controversy at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) three years ago, Mr. Ezra Chiloba has returned to the limelight. Popularly referred to as “Chilo-bae” during the 2017 General Election, Mr. Chiloba re-enters

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Tolling Nairobi Expressway: More Needs to Be Done to Convince the Public

It’s 4:45a.m, Mutuku Keith is preparing to leave his home in Syokimau. He has been trying to figure out how he can evade traffic for months now.  Sometimes when he leaves as early as 5a.m there’s traffic and other times there’s not much traffic or

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Mergers & Acquisitions: Lessons to Learn From Rubis And Gulf Energy Dispute

Gulf Energy and Rubis Energy are battling in court over privacy and security issues that arose after an acquisition. Rubis Energy acquired KenolKobil in 2019, a transaction that enabled it to acquire Gulf Energy. In the transaction, Gulf Energy transferred all its ICT assets including

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This is what the Kenya Airways and South African Airways Collaboration Means For KQ, a Partnership is Only the Beginning

The cooperation agreement between Kenya Airways (KQ) and South African Airways (SAA) announced this week marked the first steps towards the creation of a Pan-African Airline Group despite the path being littered with a myriad of domestic issues. Both airlines are facing financial difficulties, which

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MY COVID TIME

By John Ngirachu The week of March 8 had been busy, as usual. On Thursday, I attended the Sir Elvis show at Treasure Gardens with a bunch of colleagues and had a really good time. The following Friday went well enough as we had the

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Data Protection Regulations: What To Expect

In January 2021, the Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communications, Technology, Innovation and Youth Affairs Hon. Joe Mucheru constituted the Taskforce on the Development of Data Protection General Regulations. The mandate of this taskforce is to develop data protection regulations, conduct a comprehensive audit of the

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BBI: Mwananchi speaks

TIFA Research has conducted a survey on Sentiments in the nation regarding BBI. The TIFA survey was designed and the data collected several weeks before the writing/release of the “letter” authored by Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata on various aspects of the BBI Report and referendum

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BACK TO SCHOOL

Learners in Kenya are back to school for in person learning  after nearly 10 months of virtual learning in the wake of the COVID-19. The government  ordered a phased reopening of schools in 2020 where about 3 million students, who were exam candidates reported to

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Highlights of the Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill, 2020

Amos Kimunya, the Leader of the Majority Party is proposing amendments to the Anti-Doping Act, 2016 through the Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The object of the bill is to align the Anti-Doping Act 2016 with the 2021 Anti-doping Code and Regulations so as to allow

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Business Laws(Amendment) (No. 2), Bill, 2020

The Business Laws (Amendment) Bill (No.2), 2020 seeks to make various amendments to various statutes highlighted as follows:  Clause 2 of the Bill seeks to amend the Law of Contract Act, Cap 23 to eliminate the requirement of a company seal in execution of documents

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Colour me orange: 16 days of activism against gender-based violence

Accompanying the COVID-19 crises was the spike in reported instances of domestic violence mostly targeted at women and girls. This was one of the observations made by UN Secretary- General, António Guterres in a report dubbed Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity: Responding to the socio-economic impacts

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FTA Series – Part 6 : Kenya concludes its negotiations with the UK

With the United Kingdom (UK) set to conclude its exit from the European Union (EU) at the end of December, 2020 it has decided to enter into a bilateral agreement with Kenya. On Tuesday 08th December, 2020, the two countries formally signed a trade agreement ending an

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Sports and Gender – Breaking stereotypes in women’s sport

Written by Sarah Ochwada & Jaaziyah Satar This article looks at the historical, political and legal effects of sexual identity and sexism in the development of women’s sport. This feature is in part informed by the consistent forms of discrimination meted out against women and

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The next frontier: Sports and Entertainment Series

Youth unemployment continues to rise globally and is a significant policy pain point for many Governments. However, in Africa the youth unemployment rate is the lowest in the world compared to other regions, mainly reflecting the fact that unemployment is not a good measure of

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What is in the latest BBI Bill?

On the 25th of November, 2020, a newer version of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was published by the Government Printers.  The object of this Bill according to its promoters, is to amend the Constitution of Kenya 2010 to address issues arising from

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ICT Practitioner’s Bill: The “Birth of a Profession?”

Hon. Godfrey Otsotsi is back with the Information Communication Technology Practitioners Bill 2020 which has triggered murmurs across Kenya’s technology community. The bill seeks to establish a legal framework for the training, registration, licensing, practice and standards of Information Communication Technology (ICT) professionals in Kenya.

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Biden’s climate change agenda for Kenya

In a tele-conversation between United States President-elect Joe Biden and President Uhuru Kenyatta, Biden conveyed his interest in building on the strong and lasting partnership between his country and Kenya across a variety of issues affecting both countries. Among the host of areas of partnership

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Race to the Sun: Kenya’s aspirations for Solar Energy

Kenya Power has recorded losses in the last financial year and according to KPLC, the losses were due to top clients turning to solar as a source of energy. Clients such as factories, universities and companies who according to Business Daily on Friday 20th of

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Proposed administrative reforms under the BBI

The BBI Taskforce Report posits that a majority of Kenyans want things done differently. It highlights many factors that impede the implementation of administrative action such as: Negative attitude/ lethargy/ poor behaviour within the public service; Systems that are created to fail; Inadequate funding Lack

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BBI at a glance: Uniting Kenya through legal and policy reforms

The Steering Committee on the implementation of the Building Bridges Initiative made recommendations on the implementation of the Report, which are structured in the following thematic areas: Constitutional; Legislative; Policy; and Administrative. Proposed Constitutional Reforms Chapter Two on formative aspects of the Republic. This chapter

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Highlights of policy reforms proposed in the BBI report

The Steering Committee made Policy Reforms proposals to effectively implement the recommendations in the BBI report. The Committee was not able to develop the multiple policies, so they developed a set of doctrines as well as policy intervention guides for each identified priority policy area.

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Summary of the consolidated government investment report 2019/2020

Introduction The Consolidated Government Investment Report 2019/2020 (“the Report”) is put together in accordance with Section 89 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2012.  The Section requires the Cabinet Secretary for Public investments to submit to Parliament, a detailed status of Government Investments for each

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KRA Commissioner General elected as member of ATAF executive arm

The Commissioner General of the Kenya Revenue Authority was nominated as a Member of the Governing Council of the Africa Tax Administration Forum (ATAF). He was voted during the ATAF General Assembly meeting held 4th November, 2020 by 13 member states, accounting for the highest

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Highlights of Kenya Revenue Authority 6th Annual Tax Summit

The 6th Annual Tax Summit that took place on the 4th and 5th of November, 2020, sought to advance conversations based on the four strategic goals that guide its 7th Strategic Plan by driving public and international participation in discussions geared towards providing solutions for enhancing

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FTA Series – Part 3: What you need to know about the COMESA Digital Free Trade Area

COMESA is the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. In 2018, they agreed to establish a Digital Free Trade Area (DFTA). The initiative that upon inception was expected to create a $17.2 billion-worth market for member states is an online platform for trade facilitation

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End of Cabinet working recess: Goodies in Cabinet Despach

The Cabinet ended a two week working vacay on the 28th August and had its first Cabinet Meeting yesterday the 10th of September. The focus areas of the meeting, according to a despatch released soon after, were an economic stimulus as well as seminal programmes and projects under the Big Four agenda.

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KQ forecast: Cloudy with a chance of administration

Kenya Airways(KQ) has suffered a turbulent ride in the recent past with the COVID-19 pandemic only sinking the airline further into distress. As a result of the global pandemic the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has forecasted a 29-billion dollar loss from passenger revenues and somewhere in this statistical figure must lie the approximation of 400 -500 million dollars that KQ likely to lose according to the CEO Allan Kilavuka.

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Voluntary Tax disclosure programme: Opportunity for clean bill for tax payers

By Stephen Kyande High tax compliance levels are the backbone of enhanced revenue mobilisation and collection in any jurisdiction. As such, tax administrators employ varied strategies in order achieve high compliance levels. One such strategy is provision of tax amnesty windows. Under tax amnesties, taxmen

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Why more taxpayers are opting for ADR in resolving tax disputes

In a quiet revolution against the traditional practice of enforcement, taxmen globally are now showing serious interest in finding ways to solve business disputes without going to trial. Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has not been left behind in this revolution and is indeed among the

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ICDC gets a new lease of life: A sovereign wealth fund in the making?

Earlier today through Executive Order number 5 of 2020 the President promulgated the new framework for the management, co-ordination and integration of public port, rail and pipeline services via the newly constituted Kenya Transport and Logistics Network (KTLN) which shall be coordinated by the Industrial

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MOVING FORWARD: THE ICT SECTOR

On Wednesday this week, the Senate ICT Committee had a meeting ICT industry stakeholders to discuss industry views on items the Senate should focus on in its current session. The meeting was held online and attendance by the Committee members as well as industry was

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FLYING THROUGH TURBULENT TIMES

It is no longer a question of whether or not Kenya Airways will be nationalized, but rather a matter of when. The wheels to nationalization have been in motion since 2019 and the process is set to conclude in March 2021. However, these timelines were

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Ban on Plastic Bags

The National Environmental Management Authority (“NEMA”) has clarified that the Plastics ban shall apply to all plastic carrier bags and flat bags used for commercial and household packaging, including garbage bags.

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CMA Stakeholders’ Consultative Paper

The CMA’s initiative is worthy to be applauded. It is hoped that it will ignite more collaboration among all the regulators of financial services.

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People’s Assembly vs DOJ

On the 7th of December the office of the Attorney General (AG) addressed the issue of the public discussions and debates on the people’s assemblies.

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