The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and the National Council for Law Reporting (Kenya Law) have jointly released a premier Digest of 27 capital markets decisions delivered by Courts in Kenya.
The Digest, which summarizes critical milestones in capital markets jurisprudence is the first of its kind to be published in the financial sector in Kenya. It covers a ten-year period from 2008 to 2018 and is indexed into seven categories covering civil cases, civil appeals, constitutional petitions, judicial review applications, miscellaneous applications, civil suits and criminal cases.
“The capital markets, both domestically and globally, are highly specialized and governed by distinct statutes, rules, regulations, best practices and procedures which are continuously evolving to promote market development and secure investor protection. The Authority trusts that this Digest will go a long way to demystify some of the myths and misconceptions on the operations of capital markets,” said
CMA chief executive, Paul Muthaura during the handover ceremony.
Kenya’s judicial system, said Kenya Law CEO Long’et Terer, lays emphasis on previous decisions as a guide to the resolution of future similar disputes. “The cataloguing and tracking of these decisions is therefore a critical aspect of Kenya’s legal traditions and systems especially currently when there are numerous judgements, decisions and opinions that are issued by the courts of record on daily basis,” he added.
The Digest is intended to become a regular publication noting that a number of the highlighted cases are currently the subject of appeals. The Authority and Kenya Law remain committed to making accessible evolving judicial trends on key capital markets issues.
Going forward, the Digest is a critical innovation underpinning the CMA Strategic Plan 2018-2023, which seeks to ensure optimal institutional efficiency and effectiveness by prioritizing the development of internal data analytics. The Digest is expected to serve as a valued reference point in guiding all players in the capital markets, especially legal practitioners, Judges and Judicial officers, scholars, investors, institutions and individuals on how disputes arising from regulation of capital markets have been dealt with by the Courts.
The Digest acknowledges that the Judiciary is set to only grow in its importance as a critical pillar of a robust, reliable and globally competitive capital market. The nature and scope of judicial decisions will be instrumental in determining Kenya’s emergence as an International Financial Centre in line with Vision 2030 and its development into ‘The Heart of African Capital Markets’ as envisaged in the Capital Market Master Plan 2014-2023.
The Digest is available both locally and regionally. It is accessible to law firms, law school libraries and public libraries operated by the Kenya National Library Services, government agencies, and the Judiciary, Law Society of Kenya and Financial Sector Regulators offices. In the region, it is available through capital markets regulators in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) was set up in 1989 as a statutory agency under the Capital Markets Act Cap 485A. It is charged with the prime responsibility of both regulating and developing an orderly, fair and efficient capital markets in Kenya with the view to promoting market integrity and investor confidence.
The regulatory functions of the Authority as provided by the Act and the regulations include; Licensing and supervising all the capital market intermediaries; Ensuring compliance with the legal and regulatory framework by all market participants; Regulating public offers of securities, such as equities and bonds & the issuance of other capital market products such as collective investment schemes; Promoting market development through research on new products and services; Reviewing the legal framework to respond to market dynamics; Promoting investor education and public awareness; and Protecting investors’ interest.
The National Council for Law Reporting (Kenya Law) on the other hand is a body corporate established by the National Council for Law Reporting Act, 1994 and given the exclusive mandate of: “publication of the reports to be known as the Kenyan Law Reports which shall contain judgments, rulings and opinions of the Superior Courts of record and also undertake such other publications as in the opinion of the Council are reasonably related to or connected with the preparation and publication of the Kenya Law Reports.” The Kenya Law Reports are the official law reports of the Republic of Kenya, which may be cited in proceedings in all courts of Kenya
Kenya Law has the largest database of Kenyan decisions currently at 124,201 and has created a national unified law reporting system for civil, criminal, commercial law as well as specialised law reporting systems for land and environmental law, election law and gender and family.
