Legal conference a great learning opportunity

Nairobi having won the hosting rights for this year’s African Bar Association (AFBA) conference is a golden opportunity for the Kenyan legal fraternity to learn and benchmark with colleagues from Africa and the diaspora.

Judicial officers, eminent scholars, senior advocates and experts in various fields will be resource persons for the July 22-28 conference at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) whose theme is "Africa’s Socio-Economic and Political Future: The African Union’s Agenda 2063 in Perspective".

DEVELOPMENT

The keynote speaker being Dr Benedict Oramah, president and council chairman of Egypt’s Afrexim Bank, an AU banking partner, there could never have been a better opportunity to dissect the continent’s economic and political challenges.

The theme of the 2017 AFBA Port Harcourt, Nigeria, conference having been dissecting the legal and regulatory framework for doing business in Africa, with the keynote speaker the former Tanzanian president, Dr Jakaya Kikwete, this year’s is primed to directly address the core issues hindering Africa’s development.

CONSTITUTIONALISM

The discussion is themed on Africa’s socio-economic and political future as tied up with the AU’s 2063 vision and agenda, the continental body’s achievements and its relevance in as far as Africa’s intertwined socio-economic and political challenges are concerned.

The AU’s capacity to cease to be a powerless entity would be an issue for great debate.

For the Kenyan lawyers, the meeting presents a great opportunity to break legal barriers, do limitless networking and explore new areas in the study and practice of law in various jurisdictions. There are enticing topics on human rights and constitutionalism and, for the women lawyers and child rights activists, a separate forum for the African woman and for children’s rights.

TOURISM

There are also sessions on the law of the mining and extractive industry, intellectual property and even sports — all new frontiers for the Kenyan lawyer. The African business round table, featuring the continent’s business community, will also be on the programme, and a bar-bench forum for magistrates, judges and advocates.

The conference also presents an opportunity to showcase Kenya’s tourism sector, beauty, great hospitality and potential.

It is commendable that the new office of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), led by Mr Allen Gichuhi, immediately on assumption of office, saw in itself the compelling need to partner with the AFBA to enable the hosting of the conference. The AFBA-LSK partnership has enabled full sponsorship for 50 young lawyers to attend the conference, giving them the much-needed exposure.

JURISPRUDENCE

The Nairobi conference should therefore form the benchmark for the 2019 AFBA Cairo, conference in Egypt and should be an opportunity for the Kenyan lawyer to transcend beyond the Kenyan borders in a learning expedition. As the doors of the conference open at the KICC in Nairobi this Sunday, the Kenyan legal fraternity should be expected to attend in droves as they hunger to learn more so that the level of jurisprudence can continue to be developed in tandem with international standards and best practices.

Mr Sumba, advocate of the High Court of Kenya, is the international liaison manager for AFBA. [email protected]