Author: Eva Nyambura

US President Donald Trump on Monday called for a “much tougher version” of his travel ban and an “expedited” hearing for the measure before the Supreme Court. In a series of early morning tweets, the president also said the United States was already “extreme vetting” travelers coming into the country for safety reasons. “The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.,” Trump wrote. “The Justice Dept. should ask for an expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme Court – & seek much…

Nurses have downed their tools in some parts of the country to protest what they say is a breach of a collective bargaining agreement they signed with the government. The Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) through its acting secretary general, Maurice Opetu, on Sunday directed all its 45,000 members to strike starting Monday morning until the CBA is signed and implemented. “Between now and Monday, if the deal is not signed, the nurses are not going to report on duty on June 5. We are going to down our tools at midnight on Sunday,” said Opetu. Following the directive,…

AccorHotels announced the signing of a management agreement to operate the currently branded Tune Hotel Westlands, Nairobi. The agreement which was signed on Monday morning will see AccorHotels relaunch the existing property under the ibis Styles brand during the second half of the year. Present during the signature signing were: Naushad Jivraj, CEO of Queensway, Steven Daines, CEO of AccorHotels for Africa & Middle East and the group’s New Businesses and Olivier Granet, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of AccorHotels Middle East & Africa. This agreement is said to be an important step for AccorHotels towards expanding its footprint…

James Ratemo whose three children went missing and later found dead three weeks ago has been cleared by the IEBC to vie in Kapsoya ward on a Kanu ticket. Charles Nyamweya, the family’s lawyer says Ratemo decided to go ahead and vie for the seat in honor of his children. He presented his papers to the IEBC last week and was cleared. “He is in the race and will be contesting for the Kapsoya MCA seat as he had planned before the killing of the children,” Nyamweya said. He also confirmed that the three children will be buried on Friday…

The High Court on Monday directed IEBC to explain why it locked out presidential aspirant Peter Gichira from vying in August 8th General Election. Justice George Odunga asked the electoral commission to file its response by Tuesday and appear for the inter-party hearing on Wednesday. Peter Gichira filed the application seeking to be allowed to submit signatures of people who had nominated him to vie for the presidency. The presidential aspirant claims that he faces an imminent threat of being denied the right to vie as an independent candidate after IEBC  declined to allow him to submit his list of…

Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president, on Sunday denied owning a “palace” in the United Arab Emirates, after local media reported that an influential family bought him a home in the wealthy Gulf state. Graft accusations in more than 100,000 leaked documents and e-mails last week heaped more pressure on the scandal-plagued Zuma only days after he survived a no-confidence vote by members of his own party’s top body. South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper reported that several independent sources had said that the Gupta family had bought Zuma a retirement home for 330 million rand ($25 million) in an upmarket suburb…

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, aged 93 years, will be running for the country’s top seat in the next general elections. Mugabe has been in power from 1980. Mugabe on Friday begun a series of rallies across the country in a bid to win the support of young people ahead of elections next year. A huge crowd gathered for Friday’s rally in a stadium at Marondera, a small town east of the capital, Harare, the state-run Herald newspaper reports. The president is  said to be planning nine other similar rallies this year At the rally, he told those who are vying…

Mumias Sugar Legal Officer was on  Sunday night shot dead in cold blood at his home in Kakamega County. Ronald Joseph Lubya, the legal manager and company secretary was shot in the head by three gunmen who were demanding documents and cash at his new Matungu home. Lubya was with his wife when the gunmen attacked at around 10.30 pm, police said. The criminals stole household ‎goods and the family vehicle, a Toyota Harrier, which they used to escape in. Lubya, a seasoned lawyer for various companies had apparently received a call and got out of his house. They gunmen…

Safaricom on Friday announced the rolling out 4G+ services in major towns, advancing its LTE Advanced (4G) proposition. The development follows sustained investments by Safaricom in building a robust digital network that can enable its customers to browse faster as well as enjoy improved voice services. “Our tests reveal that 4G+ allows us to offer the fastest network speeds as it is two times faster than 4G and eight times faster than 3G. These faster speeds not only benefit the customer, they also empower small businesses who can now use the internet for more commercial activities – democratizing data access,”…

Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, better known by his stage name Wizkid a Nigerian singer and songwriter will be in Nairobi at the biggest Barbecue live on the 22nd of July. The Daddy yo hit maker will grace the event that will be happening at the KICC grounds from 2 pm till sunrise. With the music genius on board, the BBQLiveKE will be off the hook. The ticket prices are off the roof with vvip tickets going for 25,000 and advance tickets going for 4,000. The father of two will be performing his massive hits and hopefully will not be a 30…

Activist Boniface Mwangi and Starehe MP aspirant was on Friday cleared by Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to contest the Starehe parliamentary seat. Mwangi arrived at Jamhuri High School escorted by his supporters, in fleets of boda boda riders and buses with banners written “Nairobi CBD iko na Bonnie”. Mwangi will be battling it out with ODM’s Steve Mbogo, Kigeugeu hit maker, and Jubilee party aspirant, Charles Njagua (Jaguar). Among Mwangi’s top agendas is improvement of the working conditions of small business owners, hawkers and boda boda operators. Just a week after launching his Ukweli Party in March, Mwangi…

According to Jung Hyun Park, Vice President and Managing Director of Samsung Electronics East Africa, global climate change is at Africa’s door step. The past month alone has seen countries across the world, from the US to Thailand, the Caribbean and Kenya, hit by devastating encounters with flooding. The wrath of global warming, according to studies, is expected to take its toll over the coming years, with the threat of everything from flooding to drought, the spread of disease and even lack of drinking water looming. According to National Geographic, the global average surface temperature has already increased between 0.6…

All students countrywide will get personal identification numbers by the end of this month. Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi says, the National Education Management Information System (EMIS) for which a national launch is set for this month is a management tool that will be a source of accurate, reliable and timely education data. Matiangi, who chairs the project said that “the system’s data will be validated in a systematic manner and that the first phase of reform will ensure that every student in Kenya will have a six-character Unique Personal Identifier.” He explained that it has been designed in such a…

Jack Ranguma, Kisumu Governor, has dropped Deputy Governor Ruth Odinga as his running mate. Ranguma who is seeking re-election as an independent candidate, has now picked Nyando sub-county Knut secretary Ephraim Kananga. Ranguma and Ruth have in the past differed over county appointments, policies, nepotism and war on corruption. Kananga was unveiled at Tom Mboya Labour College shortly after IEBC cleared Ranguma to defend his seat as an independent candidate. Ranguma said he settled on Kananga because of his youthfulness and for his involvement in trade unionism. Addressing the press after presenting his nomination papers to IEBC, Ranguma said they…

President Donald Trump’s administration asked the US Supreme Court on Thursday to reinstate its temporary ban on travelers from six Muslim majority nations despite repeated setbacks in the lower courts. In its filing, the government asked the top US court to rule on the legal standing of Trump’s order, appealing a ruling by the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a nationwide block of the travel ban. It also asked the Supreme Court to lift another US-wide injunction issued by a federal judge in a separate case based in Hawaii. That case is currently before the Ninth Circuit…