Kenya dispatch: Supreme Court hears presidential election challenges
Aynsley Genga is a JURIST Staff Correspondent in Kenya. She reports from Nairobi. This has been a very hectic week for Kenya. Mombasa and Kakamega had their gubernatorial elections on Monday, while Rongai, West Pokot South and Kacheliba had their Member of Parliament (MP) elections the very same day. The Azimio La Umoja party won [...]
The Problem with Kenyan Elections is Not a Lack of Law, It's a Lack of Enforcement
This commentary was written just before Raila Odinga filed his Supreme Court petition challenging the announced presidential result of Kenya’s general election. On 9 August, 2022, Kenyans turned out in large droves to elect the fifth president of the Republic of Kenya, and as in previous elections this one was marked by never-ending drama like [...]
Kenya dispatch: multiple election petitions flood Supreme Court as presidency hangs in the balance
Aynsley Genga is a JURIST Staff Correspondent in Kenya. She reports from Nairobi. Kenyan elections are like a movie – a really good movie, in fact. We have the theatrics and the suspense element and our elections have enough plot twists to leave the whole world at the edge of their seats as they wait [...]
Kenya dispatch: 'Kenya is in a state of limbo at the moment'
Aynsley Genga is a JURIST Staff Correspondent in Kenya. She reports from Nairobi. It has been five days since we in Kenya had our elections on August 9th. Five days, and still we do not know who our president is. As the wait continues, so does the pressure. Kenya is in a state of limbo [...]
Kenya dispatch: walkout and boycott turn national presidential debate into two one-man shows
Kenya’s presidential debate was held this week at the Catholic University for Eastern Africa (CEUA) in Nairobi and it was divided into two tiers. The first tier was to be between presidential candidates whose popularity ratings, based on three recent opinion polls, stand below 5 percent, while the second tier involved candidates who have polled [...]
Kenya Supreme Court invalidates constitutional amendment bill
The Supreme Court of Kenya (SCoK) Wednesday declared the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020, popularly known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), unconstitutional. Rendered by the highest court in the land, the decision puts an end to a cascade of litigation that originated in the high court last year. The bill proposing an expansion [...]
On 10th December, 2021, the High Court of Kenya in the Commercial and Tax Division gave a landmark decision on the question of withholding payment of tax on software licenses in the case pitting Seven Seas Technologies Limited (the appellant) against the Commissioner for Domestic Taxes (the respondent). The appellant is an ICT company that [...]
There has been concerted global lobbying for the abolition of capital punishment. This is evidenced by, among other things, the passage of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty and a similar move being made by other regional entities such as [...]
Kenya appellate court affirms high court judgment invalidating constitutional amendment bill
In a 5-2 decision, the Kenya Court of Appeal on Friday upheld a Kenya High Court decision declaring the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), a constitutional amendment bill, unconstitutional. The decision has been rendered on a string of appeals flowing from the high court judgment in May, which termed BBI an usurpation of the people’s exercise [...]
Kenya president appoints Martha Koome as country's first-ever female Chief Justice
Through a special gazette notice on Wednesday, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta confirmed the appointment of Lady Justice Martha Koome as the Country’s inaugural female Chief Justice (CJ). The presidential appointment marks one of the final stages of the rigorous recruitment exercise, which was occasioned by the retirement of her immediate predecessor, David Maraga late last [...]
