TO THE MEMBERS OF KENYA BRANCH
Dear Colleagues,
It has been enormous privilege for me to be with you for a few days at the time of the Branch’s short seminar, Chartered Arbitrator interviews, a meeting with the students of Nairobi University, and with senior officers of the legal system, including the Chief Justice of Kenya, the Minister for Justice, and the Attorney General.
I use this occasion to thank you for your kindness during my all-too-brief visit, and to mention my excitement at the vibrant and thriving branch which I found in Kenya.
I would like if, I may, to share with you for a brief moment, the vision which are trying to articulate across the world. It reads:
“Our vision is for the CIArb’s global reputation to be so high that all involved in private dispute resolution throughout the world will wish to join and support us”
You will immediately realize the difference between vision and reality. A lot of hard work has to be carried out in every country where we operate, to bring the vision home. Not everyone has the enthusiasm, the same ability or the same opportunities to develop their interest in this field. We still have a lot to learn about tailoring products to local circumstances. But I think it is important for Kenya to feel that it is not alone in any sense, but rather that our back up, designed for you as members, is powerful and extensive. It is also important to remember that while the institute is what you joined, and it is there for you, The entire membership can benefit from individual contributions you make to your local effort- by improving our training, writing for our publications, speaking at our conferences and meetings, and linking up with other branches, and so on.
What I can say to each member of the branch directly is if and when you wish to take your membership forward to a higher grade, whether in developing your skills as a Dispute Revolver, learning about the positive power of Mediation And Conciliation, starting to move into Arbitration and Adjudication (which are already very important in Kenya) or engage with intellectual thought around the subject, or whatever you decide, we are there to try to help you.
All of our trained staff in London are well used to dealing with our members inside and outside the UK, and will be very glad to hear from you and to offer their skills and advice to individual Members and to the Branch, whatever the problem.
Success as a branch is hard to measure; only you know if it is doing well, engaging people to make positive contribution, and giving the Membership value for its money. We try hard in London, to keep the cost of everything as low as we can. Please talk to us as often and as fully as you need to. You will find that now that we are well established here in Kenya, the power of positive cooperation with other professional bodies in many other walks of life will make our Vision into a reality much more quickly than perhaps you could imagine. I am looking forward to hearing about successful mediations in shipping, financial services, tourism industry and elsewhere, as well as the success of Kenya’s own arbitrators. There is absolutely no reason why Kenya cannot stand tall in the world and become a successful Regional Centre for International Arbitration.
I hope you will give my successor, Mr. Joe Behan from Ireland, as much support as you have given to me, I send the Kenya Branch and its Members my warmest good wishes and my thanks for your kindness, and making me feel very welcome.
John Campbell, QC FCIArb
President, 2009.
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MY YEAR AS PRESIDENT
To squeeze the sights, sounds and impressions of twelve months’ activity into this short piece would be impossible. It has been a tremendous honour for me to lead the world’s largest professional Institute for dispute revolvers. A mere list of places that I have visited would do no justice all to the energy and commitment of all CIArb’s dedicated people in London and its 35 branches, nor to the enormous range of vision and skills which I have encountered.
I should like to thank Kate and my family for putting up with so much disruption to our normal lives and also our Executive elected branch leaders and members for their uniform courtesy, dignity and untiring helpfulness.
I have tried to lead in a visible way from the front. Not having managerial responsibilities has not always been easy, since the speed of an institution’s response cannot possibly march that which an impatient one year president nay desire! But I hope that I have planted some seeds.
The privilege lies in being able to meet our membership, receive and generate ideas and watch them later turn into firm plans, new adventures and solid resources for the entire membership. That is what this job is really about.
Dispute Resolution requirements across the world are growing all the time and the need for our training and education with it. The post recession burst has regenerated a new interest in what we do in very many places. The UK and Western Europe is seeing growth too, but at a quite different rate. It seems that part of my countries renewal and revival has been a close look at their dispute legislation and institutions. From the formality and significance of giant international commercial arbitrators to the careful processing of tiny consumer disputes, we-the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, all 94 years of it-are the home for it all. And we should be very proud of that.
We have better skills than any other body to pass on this knowledge. Thanks to Our Practice Standards Committee, we now publish over 30 guidelines and sets of rules for the conduct of Dispute Resolution. Our subsidiary, IDRS Ltd, independently manages more than 120 business to business or business to consumer schemes, and more are being added all the time. With the help of our education and training staff and committee, more and more excellent and better regulated course work is coming forward, and most of our branches are feeling their way with their own higher and higher level teaching ambitions.
Delegation to branches in the UK and overseas is paying off and is its own reward. The quality of our workbooks and tutorials is copied around the world, and when we meet practitioners in Myriad places, the talk is of CIArb’s high standards and shining excellence. From China’s and Nigeria’s judges to local authority mediators in London’s outer burghs, they all come to talk to us. We must be doing something right.
So what happens next? In a decade, we have gone from a smallish construction-based “club” to an outward facing, well organized institution which in my humble opinion is only just beginning to fulfill its potential. We have embraced internationalism, and we still have half the world to think about, yet we are also flourishing on our home patch.
You all need to know that our executives’ ambition is to help and guide these efforts in a way it can, not to dominate them. Our courses, conferences and tutorials are priced as low as we can set them, to try to catch as many as possible of those who want to take part. And there many imitators, some of them very good. Education and training to deliver practical professionalism to the highest level of membership across the world is our most important ambition, besides being a Chartered Institute and a Learned Society, and it is to that end that all our efforts, strategic and operational, must be directed.
For that reason, I have tried to make my privileged travel serve the dual purpose of representing the CIArb and articulating its vision, and leaving some practical experience behind.
Dispute Resolution skills and practice are evolving around cultures and societies, to the point where it may be thought there are no longer any absolutely right answers. Increasingly, there is a wide range of choices for our clients and customers whether they are government, companies other organizations or individuals. I would like to think that all our members have at the forefront of their learning and practice a great awareness.
John Campbell, QC FCIArb
President, 2009.
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Opening speech by the City Engineer, Eng. S.K. Mburu during the opening of the FIDIC CONTRACT COURSE on Thursday 26th November 2008 at Nairobi Club at 0900hrs.
Dear Colleagues, Ladies and gentlemen and all protocols observed.
I feel honored to be here with you and to officiate at the opening ceremony of the FIDIC Conditions of Contract Course organized by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
FIDIC Conditions as an alternative method of resolving disputes in the construction industry is a valuable tool to all parties that is also enforceable in terms of any contract. The term FIDIC is a French acronym for the International Federation of Consulting Engineers. However, the concept has been in widespread use internationally for nine (9) decades.
FIDIC Conditions are balanced so as to give degree of fairness to both the employer and contractors. The conditions are cross-referred so that one clause refers to other clauses. It is important to read clauses together so that proper interpretation is made.
FIDIC Conditions have proved useful in project management. The benefits of using them are immediate experience gained in their operation.
The City Council notes with appreciation the efforts of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators to promote and enhance the understanding of FIDIC Conditions among stakeholders through training.
It is also needless to reiterate that the government continues to experience constraints in the utilization of resources availed by donors and development partners due to inadequate capacity among both contractors and client ministries. The major impediments particularly to the utilization of external resources are poor project completion rates. The low completion rates are mostly as a result of contractual disputes and subsequent legal suites.
Lastly I am aware that this is the fifth course that is being conducted since the first one which was in 2005 and that you will be introduced to the latest version of FIDIC March 2006. It is my hope that during this course, you will have an overview of the entire FIDIC Conditions and its revision so that as you go back to perform your duties, you will add value to projects delivery. It is also my hope that the course will meet your expectations.
With those remarks, it is now my pleasure to declare this course officially opened.
Thank you.
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Presidential Visit.
The branch will be hosting CIARB president between November 2009 and 2nd December 2009. He is scheduled to give a number of talks during his stay.
New Branch Executive
The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Kenya Branch, elected Mr. J Havelock as the new Branch Chairman. The Honorouble Secretary/Treasurer are: E. Kinyenje and V. Aharoni respectively.
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