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Ms Attiya Waris

Attiya Waris

Thesis Working Title

A Critique of the Legality of the Power to Levy and Disburse Tax: The Kenyan Constituency Development Fund and the Right to Development

Research Interests

I hold two Masters of Laws one in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria in South Africa and another in Business and Commercial Law from the University of London. I obtained my Undergraduate Law degree from the University of Nairobi (LLB (Upper Second Class Honours)). I am both a DAAD scholar and a scholar of the European Union.

Professional experience

I am currently an Assistant Lecturer, Department of Commercial Law, the School of Law of the University of Nairobi in Kenya. In addition, I am an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a member of the Law Society of Kenya, a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK & Kenya) and a Certified Public Secretary (Kenya).

I have worked in several countries in Africa in various diverse institutions including law firms in Kenya, a Non-Governmental Organisation in Egypt as well as the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Tanzania.

Research Interests

My research interests include work on tax law combined with poverty alleviation and development and human rights. My additional research interests include the rights of the marginalised and minorities specifically religious minorities and women as well as international humanitarian law. I am the current Vice-Chairperson of the Tax Justice Network and am also on the Board of Tax justice Network (Africa).

PHD Research

I am currently working on my PHD in Tax Law, Human Rights and Development at Lancaster University in the UK under Prof Sol Picciotto and Dr Israel Butler. My PHD research centres on the issue of the connection between tax revenue and expenditure and its application to development and the Constituency Development Fund in Kenya as seen through the lens of fiscal sociology.

Abstract

Taxation is largely seen today as a compulsory contribution to the state which does not create a commensurate right for individuals to demand services. Yet, the fiscal legitimacy of the State rests on public acceptance of tax levied and its redistribution in such a manner as to promote the good of the community. While developed states have gradually developed a modern fiscal state, this construction was thrust on developing states during colonization. The modern fiscal state faces a crisis of legitimacy, afflicted by corruption and a lack of accountability. New forms of public finance have emerged and been advocated as a means of relegitimising taxation by connecting it with expenditure, such as user fees and charges. This thesis investigates whether the remedy is to establish a link between taxation and government expenditure using the right to development as a vehicle for citizens to demand that expenditure be dedicated to development. This discourse will be used to analyse the newly established Kenyan Constituency Development Fund created to allow the allocation of money to communities specifically to promote development.

Publications

Peer Reviewed JournalsTaxation Without Principles: A Historical Analysis of the Kenyan Taxation System Kenya Law Review (2008) (forthcoming)

Making a Mountain out of a Molehill: The Protection of the right to the freedom of religion of the Muslim Religious Minority in Kenya's Constitution International Journal of Minority and Group Rights 14 (2007) 25-57

The Remedies, Application and Enforcement Provisions of the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights Judiciary Watch (ICJ, 2006)

An Analysis of Section 4A of the Kenyan Income Tax Act and a case for Reform: KRA Assessments and the Claiming Foreign Exchange Losses East African Law Journal 2 (2005) 92

The Attorney General as the Chief Prosecutor in Kenya: Towards Depoliticizing the Office of the Attorney General Judiciary Watch (ICJ, 2005)

The Legal Implications of Terrorism in East Africa University of Nairobi Law Journal (2003) 147-159.

Book Chapters

Taxation and a Clean and Healthy Environment: A Case Study of the Mining of Titanium in Kenya in Nathalie Chalifour, Janet E Milne, Hope Ashiabor, Kurt Deketelaere, and Larry Kreiser (Eds) 'Critical Issues in Environmental Taxation International and Comparative Perspectives Volume V' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008)

(With A. Kiamba) An African Feminist Perspective on Security and Early Warning Mechanisms: IGAD in Mwagiru Makumi & Oculli Okello (Eds) 'Rethinking Global Security: An African Perspective?' (Nairobi: Heinrich Boll Foundation, 2006) 86

International Conferences

January 20-25, 2007 Seventh World Social Forum, Nairobi, Kenya. Presented 2 Papers: International Taxation and User Charges and Globalization the WTO and Taxation

January 18-19, 2007 Tax Justice Research Workshop: Tax, Poverty and Finance for Development, Nairobi, Kenya. Presented a paper on The Effect of the East African Community Customs Union on Human Rights

October 22-24, 2006 Seventh Annual Global Conference on Environmental Taxation: Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa. Presented a Paper on Taxing the Way to a Healthy Environment: A Kenyan Case Study of the Mining of Titanium

1- 3 September 2006 International Symposium on Islamic Civilization in Southern Africa: Johannesburg, South Africa. Presented a Paper on Making a Mountain out of a Molehill: The Protection of the right to the freedom of religion of the Muslim Religious Minority in Kenya's Constitution

Current Teaching

Am an Assistant Lecturer from Nairobi University, Kenya on study leave while I complete my PhD studies at Lancaster University.

Would like to meet

I am the current Post graduate student representative for the law department and we enjoy meeting and mixing with students from all disciplines.

I would like to meet anyone with interest in human, rights, development, poverty as well as finance and taxation.

Other Interests and Hobbies

Badminton, squash, aeroball with anyone who feels like a game! I also enjoy friendly chess or scrabble games with chats over coffee( preferably Kenyan).

Associated research centres: Centre for Law and Society, Human Rights Forum, International Human Rights Obligations Network (IntHRON), Researching Equity Access and Participation (REAP)

Keywords: Development, Human rights, Law and globalization, Law and politics, Law and society, Legal history, Poverty, Tax law, Welfare