It is indeed with great pleasure that I welcome you to the Launch of NCIA’s inaugural Journal, said Ms. Jacqueline Oyuyo Githinji, Chairperson of the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration. This is a culmination of deliberate
and painstaking effort driven by our Editorial Board and enabled by our Contributing Authors, Reviewers, Scholars, and the Centre, she added.
The Chair continued on and acknowledged the contributing authors Alexandrede Gramont, Ben Sanderson and Alice Adu Gyamfi, Jacqueline Waihenya, Dr.Kariuki Muigua, Muiruri Wanyoike, Peter Mwangi Muriithi, Paul Ngotho and
Tabitha Joy Raore. Similarly acknowledged the Honorary Members of the Editorial Board for their
selfless service including Hazron Maira, Eng. Fredrick Aluoch, Bryan Muindi and Aleem Visram. The inaugural journal provides a platform for scholarly discourse on pertinent issues relating to the reform of the investor-state dispute settlement regime (ISDS) which allows foreign investors to sue host states through investment arbitration.
The ISDS regime has been on the spotlight with commentators advocating for and against its legitimacy. Observers of the debate disagree on the value and fairness of the mechanism, with ISDS now a reform topic in both host states as
well as capital-exporting states. It is our hope, therefore, that the journal provides a forum to interrogate and contribute to that debate.Indeed, most new ISDS cases derive from treaties signed at least 15 to 20
years ago, rather than those ratified in recent years. The most important reform effort lies not with future treaties but with existing treaties. Even if all newly negotiated investment treaties were improved, or governments refrain from
negotiating ISDS provisions altogether, the existing stock of over 3,000 investment treaties continues to provide access to ISDS on the same terms as before.This journal offers insights and perspectives into the debate surrounding the reform of the ISDS regime, concerns, challenges, and opportunities. The