British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Award
The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships is a three year award made to an annual cohort of outstanding early career researchers in the humanities or social sciences.
Dr Daisy Akinyi Ogembo is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with significant 13 years post-study experience. She holds degrees from the University of Oxford (DPhil in Law), University of London (LLM Commercial and Corporate Law), and University of Nairobi (LLB). Her research interests are in tax law and policy, constitutionalism and taxation, tax and administrative law, comparative taxation, tax and development, taxation of the shadow economy, and taxation of small businesses. Daisy has recently completed her doctoral research on the taxation of 'hard-to-tax' professionals in Africa and has been awarded the prestigious British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship, to commence at the Oxford University Law Faculty in September 2019. An abstract of Daisy's research can be found below:
A Constitutional Prod: Has Transformative Constitutionalism in Africa Resulted in Institutional Change and Power Shifts in Tax Administration?
'Transformative constitutionalism' describes the process by which the enactment, interpretation, and enforcement of a constitution transform a country's social and political institutions, and power relationships, steering them towards democracy, participation, and egalitarianism (Karl Klare, 1998). This radical social change, described as more than 'reform' but less than a 'revolution', is delivered through constitutional interpretation and enforcement by courts, and by public institutions such as tax administrations. Has transformative constitutionalism influenced tax administration in Africa? Coming at a time of renewed global focus on tax administration in Africa, the proposed research will address this question by bridging scholarly perspectives from tax, constitutional, and administrative law, to determine how the transformative constitutions of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya have: (i) influenced judicial decisions in watershed tax cases, (ii) resulted in institutional change in tax administration, (iii) impeded or strengthened tax administration, and (iv) transformed power relationships between tax authorities and taxpayers.
Out now: 'The Tax Justice Network-Africa v Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury & 2 others: a big win for tax justice activism?’ (2019) British Tax Review, No. 2, 105 (Available on Westlaw)