Posts

Posts

Drop-shipping: What should be done to protect the Consumer?

Image
  Image from Oberlo, A dropshipping website. When my mother retired from her teaching job in 2016, she requested her children to suggest to her some businesses that she could engage in. As a novice entrepreneur, my siblings and I were determined to steer her toward a low-risk, low-capital-intensive business idea. Incidentally, the talk in town at this time was about individuals, most of whom have full-time jobs, importing products from China for resale locally. As a family, we settled on a children’s clothing shop. These are popular and fast-moving items. In addition, we decided to ship the products through a third-party platform where you place and pay for your order, as opposed to traveling to China. The retailer, in this case, pays and passes the order on to suppliers: the wholesalers. The suppliers process the order and ship it to the customer, my mother, in this instance. This process is called drop-shipping, where the e-commerce platform owner receives the order and forwards i
Post a Comment
Read more

From Democracy to Despotism: The Encroaching Shadow of A Police State in Kenya

Image
  Photo by Ben Curtis/AP Kenya, a democratic spotlight in Sub-Saharan Africa, is now facing concerning trends toward authoritarianism. A country previously recognized for its dynamic civil society is now grappling with an increasingly repressive regime that stifles dissent and erodes fundamental freedoms. In recent years, the government's aggressive responses to protests have sparked significant concerns regarding the potential emergence of a police state. This situation raises important questions about civil liberties, public safety, and the balance of power. The recent surge in police violence during the ‘Reject Finance Bill’ protests in Kenya has ignited a firestorm of outrage and demands for accountability, raising alarming questions about the nation's trajectory. As many citizens confront an escalating threat to their freedoms, one pressing concern emerges: Is Kenya on the verge of becoming a police state, and what would this mean for the future of democracy in the nation?
1 comment
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Read more

HUSTLER NATION; Two years later

Image
A vendor with Kenyan shilling banknotes in Nairobi.Photographer: Patrick Meinhardt/Bloomberg More than two years after the inauguration of president William Ruto as Kenya's fifth commander in chief and coming to power of the Kenya Kwanza Government, Kenya has experienced moments of significant social, economic and political transformation. It is important to underscore the strides made by the government in the preceding two years towards increasing efficiency in service delivery to its citizenry. However, the government has come under sharp criticism for its immense failure to oversee the economic emancipation of the country under the Bottom Up Economic model and live up to numerous other campaign promises. In this article I delve into a fact finding mission of whether or not the Kenya Kwanza government has put Kenya first in its policies two years later. One of the major leitmotifs of the Kenya Kwanza coalition campaign trail message was the Bottom Up Economic model. The proponent
1 comment
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Read more

LESS IS MORE: UNLOCKING KENYA’S ECONOMIC POTENTIAL THROUGH SMARTER TAXATION

Image
  Image from Pexels by Nataliya Vaitkevich Taxation is anchored on the four canons of equity, certainty, convenience, and economy. Equity calls for the burden of taxation to be distributed fairly, while certainty ensures taxes are determined by law, avoiding arbitrariness. Convenience demands that taxes be levied in a manner that is least burdensome to the taxpayer, and the econom y emphasizes keeping the cost of tax collection low. Adam Smith argued that these four canons should form the foundation of a country's taxation regime, applied holistically, like instruments in an orchestra. No one instrument takes precedence, but together, they create a harmonious symphony—in the case of taxation, that harmony is economic prosperity. Unfortunately, in recent years, the Kenyan government has refused to draw from Adam Smith’s fountain of wisdom, embarking on what can only be described as a taxation extravaganza. Taxes have been imposed on everything and anything, leaving a trail of eco
Post a Comment
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Read more

ELECTORAL VIOLENCE IN KENYA: A CONSISTENT VIRUS

Image
  Elections in Kenya, Image by CCPR Centre  There has been a wave of massive civic education and a better understanding of pivotal moments in our history as a republic due to the ongoing “GENZ REVOLUTION”. This “organic revolution” by the youth has brought forth drastic improvements in governance as they are constantly breathing fire down the necks of corrupt politicians. Something that until recently, has rarely been witnessed in Kenya’s young history as an independent nation. However, in the wake of these improvements, the history of electoral violence in our country is extremely understated. Most individuals in our nation except for Boomers and early GEN X, are not aware of this existing issue that has afflicted our great republic since the early 90s and which for the most part, has been sanctioned by the state. My article seeks to stress just how much electoral violence diminishes our attempts at unity as a nation, and how ignoring it further will exacerbate our current situati
Post a Comment
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Read more

THE CROSS AND THE CAUSE

Image
 Image from Fintech Association Africa, by Google The recent protests in Kenya, dubbed "Reject the Finance Bill," have illuminated the relationship that exists between religious institutions and the political class. These protests, predominantly led by the youth, emerged in response to a controversial bill perceived as yet another ploy by the government to extort its citizens . Despite the lawmakers' failure to heed the concerns of their constituents, they proceeded to pass the bill through various legislative stages, awaiting only the president's signature. As the protests unfolded over several weeks, they revealed deeper issues plaguing the Kenyan populace, including systemic corruption, poor governance, and a pervasive sense of extortion. These challenges have persisted since the country gained independence from colonial rule, and the mounting frustration among citizens has become palpable. The demonstrators voiced their demand for accountability, urging their repr
1 comment
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Read more

THE TRENDS OF AI POLICY AND REGULATIONS IN AFRICA

Image
 Image powered by Microsoft Bing The advancement of artificial intelligence (herein referred as AI) in Africa is poised to shape the continent’s future. More than ten (10) states have positively embraced this transformative technology to enhance efficiency and accessibility of government services. In Tanzania, farmers are now using an AI assisted app called Nuru to detect crop diseases while in South Africa computer scientists have built AI models to analyze the impact of racial segregation [1] . In the bustling city of Nairobi, Kenya we have surveillance cameras perched on lampposts which use AI to classify images [2] . Following this rapid evolution of AI, there are challenges that have necessitated comprehensive governing frameworks. Many governments have resolved to policymaking and building strategies to regulate AI within their jurisdictions. [3]   The African Union (AU) has proposed a draft AI policy aimed at establishing a cohesive regulatory environment across its 55 membe
Post a Comment
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Read more