Dr. Daniel Achach

International Trade Law and Trade Policy Expert

[Dr. Daniel Achach @ACHACHDAN]

My publication on Trade Remedies in Regional Trade Agreements.

https://t.co/5HMOBwgPKX

[Dr. Daniel Achach @ACHACHDAN]

@DrBKhalwale Sincere condolences Mheshimiwa for this untimely loss. May the good Lord shower you with abundant grace to go through this difficult time

[Dr. Daniel Achach @ACHACHDAN]

Today I was greatly privileged to speak to the #Judges of COMESA Court of Justice during the induction for the newly elected Judges. I presented a paper titled 'The Bench at the Frontier: Navigating the Intersection between WTO Law and Regional Integtation'.

[Harry Karanja, DTM @harrykaranja]

The #SmallClaimsCourt is dead. Small Claims Court was built on three promises: fast, simple, and affordable. The tragedy is that each promise has been dismantled, partly by court decisions and partly by internal practice that drifted back into the old Magistrate’s Court culture.

First, Fast
The Act was designed around speed. Timelines were meant to force discipline, but the High Court softened them. On 17 January 2023, Majanja J in Crown Beverages Limited v MFI Document Solutions Limited treated the timeline as directory, not mandatory. On 31 July 2023, Magare J in Biosystems Consultants v Nyali Links Arcade called the sixty-day timeline aspirational. That Biosystems decision also tried to rescue speed with firm case management guidance. Day to day hearing. Minimal adjournments. Quick judgment. The system did the opposite. People took the word aspirational and ignored the discipline. Cases started creeping into many months.

Second, simple.
On 18 October 2022, Majanja J in Christoffersen v Kavneet Kaur Sehmi effectively pushed rent arrears out of Small Claims Court, one of the most common small disputes in urban Kenya. That alone made the court less simple, because litigants were forced into heavier forums. But simplicity also died from inside. Many adjudicators imported Magistrate’s Court habits. Written submissions became routine, even when the model was meant to be conversational and evidence-led. The three-day post-hearing judgment timeline became optional. Extempore judgment templates that Justice Kimaru suggested during training colloquia were ignored. Standards of proof became inconsistent, swinging from strict formalism to casual assumption depending on the day and the adjudicator. The result was unpredictability, and unpredictability is the enemy of a simple court.

Third, affordable, meaning affordable to win and affordable to enforce.
A cheap judgment that cannot be enforced is not affordable; it is a paper trophy. Ogwari v Hersi on 3 July 2023 created serious uncertainty on road traffic injury jurisdiction. Then on 22 January 2026, a three-judge bench, Ogola, Nyakundi, and Mabeya, closed the door on road traffic injury claims and removed committal as an enforcement tool in the Small Claims framework. Enforcement was blunted at the exact moment demand was rising.

How this gets fixed is not mysterious.
Practice directions. Clear templates. A firm ban on unnecessary written submissions. Mandatory extempore judgment structures for routine matters. A standard evidentiary checklist. A public timeline dashboard. Supervisory audits.

The deeper scandal is that I sat in a committee of advocates and adjudicators and we prepared a zero draft for Small Claims Court practice directions in 2022, which was promptly shelved, and never implemented. Leadership matters. The Chief Justice bears substantial responsibility for failing to provide that leadership, and for failing to staff the court with seasoned, respected practitioners as adjudicators. Instead, the system too often relies on inexperienced Resident Magistrates, sometimes treated as though a posting is punishment rather than prestige.

The court is not dead because Kenyans do not need it. The court is dying because the system refused to protect its founding promises.

[The Footy Section @FTBLsection]

Romelu Lukaku: "I was 6 years old, and I came home for lunch after school. Mom had the usual on the menu: bread and milk. But that day, I came home, and Mom started mixing the bottle of milk with something else.

"She served me lunch with a smile as if everything was fine. But I understood what she was doing. She was mixing milk with water. We didn't have enough money to make the bottle last the whole week. We weren't just poor; we were broke.

"My parents, in the midst of misery, bet on me. They made huge efforts to take me to training. That's why I played that first World Cup match with a lot of anger, for many reasons: for the rats running through our apartment, because I couldn't watch the Champions League, we didn't have a TV.

I'd go to school, and all the kids would talk about the final. I had no idea what had happened. Everyone was talking about Zidane's volley. I pretended to know what they were talking about, for the classmates' parents who looked down on me because of my characteristics and condition."

"One day I asked my father at what age it would be ideal to debut in football, and to give me any age (I found this out years later), he said 16. I didn't stop until l achieved it. At that time, I was a substitute for Anderlecht, about to turn 16.

l approached the coach and asked him to bet on me. I promised him a certain number of goals, and if I didn't achieve them, he could bench me again. Indeed, at 16, I forced my debut. Not only did I score the promised goals, but I also became the top scorer in the national championship.

I scored 76 goals in 34 matches; I did them all with my dad's boots. From then on, I decided to be the best player in Belgium's history. Not good. Not excellent. The best."

[Dr. Daniel Achach @ACHACHDAN]

@AlfredKOmbudo Sincere condolences Ambassador, may Mama's soul rest well

[Dr. Daniel Achach @ACHACHDAN]

@LempaaSuyinka @kamandamucheke @waikwawanyoike Congratulations bro, well deserved 👏 👏

[Lake Victoria North Water Works Development Agency @LVNWWDA]

May this season bring warmth to your heart, light to your home, and hope for the year ahead.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our Chairman - Board of Directors, Hon. John Imoite

[Lake Victoria North Water Works Development Agency @LVNWWDA]

Happy Jamhuri Day from our Chairman, Board of Directors, Hon John Imoite, and us...!

[Dr. Daniel Achach @ACHACHDAN]

@husseinmoha Congratulations @husseinmoha , make our football great again!

[Dr. Daniel Achach @ACHACHDAN]

@FaithOdhiambo8 Oh nooo! What a loss to the legal fraternity and to the nation......... May he rest in eternal peace

[Lake Victoria North Water Works Development Agency @LVNWWDA]

This morning, Water CS Hon. Eng. Murithi paid a courtesy call to the Agency's Headquarters, In Kakamega ahead of the 2023-2027 Strategic Plan Launch by the Agency.
He met the Board of Directors and Staff.

[Lake Victoria North Water Works Development Agency @LVNWWDA]

Our CEO @wamalwajl has assured the guests and stakeholders that he will work hard towards realizing the Strategic plan implementation.

#LVNWWDAStrategicPlanLaunch

[Lake Victoria North Water Works Development Agency @LVNWWDA]

Water Secretary Eng. Alima encouraged stakeholders to be keen on the issue of vandalism and old vices that might take the region behind in matters water provision.

[Dr. Daniel Achach @ACHACHDAN]

This is so sad, what a huge loss! RIP my mentor #justicemajanja

[Lake Victoria North Water Works Development Agency @LVNWWDA]

Happy 61st MADARAKA Day from Us...!

[WTO @wto]

The entry into force of new disciplines on services domestic regulation at #WTOMC13AbuDhabi marks the first WTO result in services in over 25 years! These disciplines are set to reduce global services trade costs by over USD 125 billion. More: https://t.co/6bCmyKxNPe

[Lake Victoria North Water Works Development Agency @LVNWWDA]

WATER AND SANITATION INVESTORS CONFERENCE 2024

Date: 7th March, 2024
Nairobi.

On 6th March, 2024 the Agency's CEO, Mr. Wamalwa Joel, attended the official opening of a three-day Water and Sanitation Investors Conference (WASIC) at KICC, alongside other stakeholders.This year's

[Lake Victoria North Water Works Development Agency @LVNWWDA]

The event runs until Friday 8th March 2024.
#WASIC2024

[Lake Victoria North Water Works Development Agency @LVNWWDA]

conference is themed " Accelerating Investments for Sustainable Access to Water and Sanitation for All." The event is aimed at fostering open discussions, partnerships and funding to ensure sustainable access to water and sanitation services for all Kenyans.