Thursday, November 29, 2007
Post Incorporation Issues
| Most people do appreciate the advantages of incorporation and especially limited liability and that the company is a complete person with an ability to own property. Especially in this time of IPO's many people are taking advantage of incorporation to buy shares. So you have your certificate of incorporation, what next? 1. Get a PIN and VAT certificate from KRA. They are issued free of charge. Tax returns are filed every month. 2. You are required to hold an Annual General Meeting, 18 months after incorporation and consistently every year. The purpose of an AGM is to among others receive Accounts for the previous year. A board of directors meeting is to be held immediately after that or as consistently after that. 3. You are also required to file Annual Returns (14 days after the AGM). Many companies neglect to file Returns which could lead to a company being deregistered. Filing returns at the company registry is not expensive and its required to communicate to the Registrar of any changes in capital and directors. 4. The Accounts of a registered company are required to be prepared in accordance with Companies Act Cap 486. The immediate benefit of incorporation is that all expenses are deducted before the taxable profit unlike a partnership. Finally Small Business resource www.aren.co.ke is a site that enables you to calculate P.A.Y.E for employees. Very useful indeed. Labels: Business |
Thursday, October 04, 2007
G.L.A.M.O.U.R.O.U.S
| I woke up today in the morning sure i wasn't going to court but deep in my head i knew there is always this case that pops out in the morning due to inefficiencies and stuff, all lawyers know that. As it can be when it can, one of those mammoth files dating the early 90's appears and good gracious it is yes for today. Anyway having mastered the art of crash reading early in life, i half expect by the time the matter is heard i will have sorted the file, read it, sorted the wheat and chaff and produced the wheat in court. So i did speed reading , had all my facts, confirmed with my witnesses what they would be saying and waited. this was within a span of 1 hour. The magistrate then with a tired look just realizes that the Defendants are not in court and we can't continue. The fact that they weren't there gave me 200% confidence in a file i had not seen ever in my life. I felt sudden annoyance at no one in particular and i thought G.L.A.M.O.R.O.U.S Labels: GLAMOOROUS |
Friday, September 28, 2007
ड्रेस CODE
| I have been going to court and wondering why i haven't got memo for changed dress code. A lawyer with open shoes is simply a NO NO NO. Again i meet another lady in a Light Blue suit, goodness i couldn't believe it Then i hear a master tell his pupil "Look you shouldn't be just standing you should get inside the court and see whats happening" I think thats rather common sense. Then looking at the pupil she is in Hipsters A tight shirt No jacket and the worst White Shoes. Dayum, how does a lawyer wear white shoes to court. Its NOT OK for a lawyer to wear white shoes even out of court. Ok, I know you think Ally Mcbeal did wear RED suits, that was drama that is what it is. Legal Drama Until the dress code is changed Stick to your dark colours Labels: ड्रेस code |
Friday, June 15, 2007
Access
| This article discusses the ability of the poor to access justice in Kenya. Access to Justice Labels: Access to Justice |
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
LSK AGM
| On Saturday the LSK held its Annual General Meeting which in my view was well attended. The AGM is quite a tense one because it is the time the members get to know the Chairman of the Society. Most motions were shot down or deferred. One that was particularly interesting is the motion to have a 1/3 of the elected members of the council to be women. I am of the view that though affirmative action helps, it should really not apply to learned members of the society. Getting to be a member of LSK is work itself, surely only presenting oneself for voting. Nevertheless the motion was shot down, though eventually 1/3 of the elected members of the society were women. The Chairman of the LSK this year is Eric Okongo Mogeni. What the papers did't say was that as sooon as he was announced Chairman, all lawyers stormed out in protest. Wonder who elected him in the first place. The Ojienda chairmanship has been viewed largely as a failure. It is been largely felt that the LSK chair should abstain from matters which are clearly political. Kenyans have MPs but issues pertaining to the profession have been left largely unattended while the Chair comments on everything political. Lets give the Mogeni man a chance though. |
Friday, March 23, 2007
Events
| The commonwealth Law Conference will be held in Nairobi this year. This will be a perfect event for Kenyan Lawyers to meet with their counterparts from Commonwealth countries. This will be the second time the conference is coming to Africa. For more details check this website Commonwealth Law Conference Meanwhile some Law Student claims the reason she can get a job is due to deragatory comments made about her on the WWW. Check this Article |
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Shoot To Kill?
| The criminal Justice System and its role in preventing crime Crime in Kenya if we are to go by the newspaper reports and news broadcasts is at an all time high this year. From carjacking, murders, shooting of policemen, rape cases crime seems to have entrenched itself in our society. One thing that is clear in the rising of crime is the failure of the criminal justice system to effectively deal with the menace. When I talk of criminal justice system I mean from the police officers, judicial officers, prosecuting officers, and investigators e.t.c. all persons who are responsible for dealing with crime. It is common knowledge that “shoot to kill” has been adopted these days because accordingly because the criminals “accused” always have an easier way out of their mess. State prosecutors are if anything else mediocre, not even the worst of criminal defense lawyers can lose a case against them. They are rarely ready to successfully argue a case and most of the time; lawyers make meat out of them. Mistakes in criminal law are unforgivable! Small omissions on the part of the state prosecutor can lead to an acquittal. More often than not even having a correct charge has proven a challenge. Then there is the burden of proof that should leave no reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the accused. Hence leaving the criminals in the hands of the justice system is tantamount to releasing them with no charges. So the police force has been left helpless because they rely on successful prosecution and the ultimate confinement of alleged criminals behind bars. This has therefore led to the massive shooting of criminals and the brutal retaliation of the criminals on the police. Obviously, there are numerous disadvantages about this shooting to kill phenomenon. It assumes that the person being shot is already guilty and does not give the very constitutional right of a person to a fair hearing or what is commonly referred to as audi alteram partem . As the public we assume for sure that the police have already rightly identified the suspects and the person shot for sure must have been found with the rounds of ammunition. It is though just populist to shoot alleged criminals before their guilt has been proved. What would we achieve with a thorough efficient Criminal Justice System? i. Crimes would definitely go down. ii. The public would stop shielding the criminals because it is a well known fact today that one risks their lives by going to report a criminal to the police. For one, the person reporting may be called to give evidence in court so the accused identifies them. Shortly, that person accused is released and baying for the informer’s blood. As it is now a lot of crime & criminals go unreported. iii. Protection of lives, property is needed for a healthy & robust economic environment. People need to be ensured that persons involved in crime do not get away just like that. Kenya would do with a radical surgery of the criminal justice system. Labels: Crime |