Indigenous or traditional knowledge (TK) systems are the springboard of authentic African innovation and creativity. However, there has been no adequate attempt to determine whether Africa internalizes its comparative advantage in Indigenous knowledge systems in its continental frameworks for socio-economic and development collaboration and aspirations. Despite TK's presumed significance and Africa's proactive promotion of Indigenous knowledge in international fora, TK is treated marginally in key instruments, perhaps as a legacy of colonially entrenched contempt for Indigenous knowledge systems. For Africa to effectively participate in the science and technology revolution, it is necessary to have an introspective and critical appraisal of the present traction around Indigenous knowledge, which is a logical starting point for effective science, technology and innovation policy-making in furtherance of African socio-economic and development collaboration in the knowledge economy.

Certificates of title are a feature of the Torrens system of land registration which originated in Australia and which operates in Uganda. The system confers primary responsibility to register title, and guarantee its security, upon the state. A certificate of title is indefeasible and conclusive evidence of ownership, except in cases of fraud by the registered proprietor. This article uses a doctrinal legal research approach to analyse the legal framework on certificates of title, citing court decisions to give an interpretive lens to the law. It finds that the almost century-old system remains immature and its actualization is hampered by the socio-political context of Uganda. Certificates of title are a feature of a capitalist order and produce unfavourable outcomes, including fraud through double titling, illegal entries in the register and spurious caveats. Government needs to address the socio-political and administrative challenges inhibiting the evolution and practical application of the Torrens system in Uganda.

Child labour is prevalent in both developed and developing countries and has become a global concern. This is because of the negative impacts that it has not only on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of children, but on their development and health due to possible exposure to hazardous substances. This article interrogates the magnitude of the problem of child labour in the gold mines of Uganda and seeks to highlight the gaps in the existing legal framework on the protection of Ugandan children from hazardous labour. It asserts that although poverty and a failed educational system are believed to be the root causes of child labour in Uganda, weak and inefficient laws coupled with a lack of coordination between institutions responsible for protecting the child contribute equally. Thus there is need for political will by the government of Uganda to help prevent the problem.

The socio-economic and productive strength of every nation is determined by the health (the physical, mental and psychological wellbeing) of its people. To guarantee this, the constitutions of some countries, including Nigeria, provide for the right to health, and have framed institutional and policy systems to operationalize and realize this goal, as one of the major objectives of governments. However, despite this great intention on paper, the realization of good healthcare for most of the citizens of this country is still a mirage, despite legal and policy interventions in the form of human rights. The question is, can a rights-based approach to healthcare facilitate or guarantee the realization of this normative claim through access to medical care? This article contends that mere legal and policy frameworks that guarantee the right to health do not automatically engender access to good medical care, as there are hurdles to cross beyond the “limit of available resources”.

This article contends that the interpretation of article 115 of the Constitution of Kenya as providing for amendatory recommendations as a form of presidential veto to legislative bills is a departure from the common negative veto to bills which was the form envisaged by the drafters of the Constitution. Moreover, it is argued that the interpretation that article 115 of the Constitution allows the president to make positive legislative recommendations which can only be overridden by two-thirds of members of the legislature has transformed the president into the most decisive player in the legislative process in Kenya. The overarching contention of this article is that allowing the president to make positive legislative recommendations that can only be overridden by two-thirds of members of the legislature goes against the goal of tempering presidential powers, which was one of the animating goals that informed the quest for constitutional change in Kenya.

The scholarly literature on sentencing reform has largely overlooked the African continent. The paucity of legal scholarship is particularly striking with respect to Tanzania, one of Africa's largest and most populous countries. This article explores the first significant sentencing reform in Tanzania's history. In 2020, the Tanzanian judiciary issued a comprehensive set of sentencing guidelines for courts to follow. Until this point, sentencing was a highly discretionary stage of the criminal process, and the Tanzanian penal code offered very little guidance with respect to the exercise of that discretion. After providing a brief summary of the new sentencing regime, we explore the innovative guidance contained in the reforms. In the conclusion we discuss the extent to which the Tanzanian reforms reflect core African values of Ubuntu, or more specifically in the case of Tanzania, Ujamaa, the philosophy popularized by Tanzania's first president, Julius Nyerere.

Expert evidence is an increasingly prominent feature of criminal litigation. Confidence in the reliability of such evidence is therefore vital to the integrity of the justice process. Of late, there have been concerns in most jurisdictions that liberal admissibility standards allow expert evidence of doubtful reliability to be admitted by courts, leading to miscarriages of justice. Consequently, most adversarial common law systems now apply reliability standards to the reception of expert evidence. Malawian law makes provision for the admissibility of expert evidence on mere production if the parties to the case consent. This article critically evaluates this position, arguing that it provides no safeguards for assessing the reliability of expert evidence, thereby making the criminal justice system prone to injustices and challenges related to the use of such evidence. It proceeds to consider how the law and the courts can enhance the reliability of expert evidence in criminal proceedings.

Prior to the inception of the Employees’ Compensation Act 2010 (“ECA”), the workers’ compensation system in Nigeria was governed by the Workmen's Compensation Act 1987 (Cap W6 LFN 2004) (“WCA”). The WCA failed to provide an adequate compensation regime for employees, notwithstanding the fact that payment of compensation stems from the employer's duty of care to the employee. Though an employer may be liable for injury, whether physical or mental, sustained by an employee, the WCA, among other things, had no provision for mental stress claims. Neither was the mental health of employees contemplated under its regime. The ECA has sought to close this gap by the provisions of its section 8. Using a comparative perspective, this article examines the dynamics as well as the challenges of applying section 8 of the ECA in the overall interest of the legal system and the labour environment.

Morocco's Competition Council has undergone major reform since 2011. New legislation has elevated the Council from its former role as a consultative authority to an independent, financially autonomous, decision-making authority. Despite these changes, however, many questions have been raised with regard to the Council's independence, and its duty to monitor and enforce free and fair competition, as well as the sufficiency of the guarantees concerning the statutory impartiality and powers that enable the Council to fulfil its mandate independently. The Council's independence merits discussion in the debate on the optimal implementation of a competition authority, as it is relevant to good governance and the rule of law. To regulate competition effectively, it is essential that the competition regulator remains independent. However, within a democratic framework, the Council's independence must be balanced by parliamentary accountability and budgetary control.