Author: Francis Muli

Four executive managers have been shown the door at the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), even as the lender embarks on a restructuring move. Among those who have retired from the lender include director of credit Apollo Ongara, head of corporate and regulatory affairs Judith Sidi Odhiambo, company secretary Joseph Kania and the managing director of KCB Foundation Jane Mwangi. Ongara’s position has been taken over Benard Okello in an acting capacity while Wanyi Mwaura will be the acting director for marketing, corporate affairs and citizenship. The role of a company secretary will be under the position of the general counsel,…

Attorney General (AG) Paul Kihara Kariuki has filed a petition appealing judgment on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) bill, citing dissatisfaction in the decision made by the five-bench judge. The petition filed through Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto claims that the AG will suffer prejudice if the stay orders are not granted. “The 1st respondent will suffer prejudice as the applicants will proceed to execute the orders rendering the appeal nugatory and causing not only the 1st respondent but also the citizens of Kenya at large irreparable harm,” read court papers. The BBI Bill, officially known as Constitutional Amendment Bill 2020,…

State House intruder Brian Bera now claims to be a prophet, collecting tithes and offerings online. Brian, a student of engineering at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), was shot on the shoulder as he attempted to gain access to State House on June 10, 2019. He has been regularly posting on Facebook, mainly sharing Bible verses, photos of him smoking what looks like tobacco or bhang and sometimes accusing his father of oppressing him by detaining him in rehabilitation centres. “If I disappear, ask my father Pusit to produce me. He usually takes me to the…

In the last 24 hours, Kenya has recorded 267 new Covid-19 infections from a sample size of 4,436. From the cases 253 are Kenyans and 14 are foreigners. 237 are males and 155 females. Total confirmed positive cases are now 165,379 and cumulative tests so far conducted are 1,741,604. On a positive note, the Ministry of Health recorded 54 recoveries in the last 24 hours.  34 from the Home Based & Isolation Care while 23 are from various health facilities countrywide. Total recoveries now stand at 113,489 of whom 82,484 are from Home Based Care & Isolation, while 31,005 are…

Betting firm 22Bet has awarded African Boxing Union Middleweight champion Rayton Okwiri Ksh350,000 ahead of his travel to US for training. The 35-year-old has held the African Boxing Union middleweight title since June 2019, but was stripped of the title in 2020 after returning to amateur boxing in a bid to help Kenya’s Hit Squad team qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Okwiri is preparing to fight in his favoured middleweight category in a bout promoted by legendary Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. Okwiri made his professional debut on February 4, 2017, defeating Salehe Mkalekwa at the Crowne…

The government has urged Kenyans to collect their Huduma Namba cards once they receive the notification messages. The ministry of Interior published a notification Friday urging Kenyans to collect the 3.8 million Huduma Namba cards currently in distribution. “Once the card is produced, a text message is sent to the number used during the registration period,” the Ministry said. “The message prompts the owner to select the preferred collection centre, after which another notification is sent when the card is delivered and ready for collection.” Read: “Don’t Wait For Last Minute!” Gov’t Urges Kenyans To Respond to Huduma Namba Messages…

An elderly man who was ejected from the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) passenger train has been found alive. Mr. Peterson Mwangi Ngunyi was reportedly found in Nairobi’s Buruburu estate, Phase 1 barefoot, cold and sickly. The family said Saturday that Mr. Mwangi was found without shoes and a coat. The elderly man, who the family revealed is mentally ill, boarded the 8am Madaraka Express on March 11bheading to the coast from the Nairobi terminus in Syokimau only to be kicked out at Athi River station on grounds that he had an invalid ticket. The SGR yesterday released a statement detailing…

Safaricom is reportedly in talks with multinational ecommerce giant Amazon to integrate M-pesa as a payment option. The move will see shoppers in Kenya check out using the popular electronic payment system. Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa revealed the plans during an interview podcast with biztech platform, The Kenyan Wallstreet.  The CEO was speaking on Safaricom’s latest earnings call that saw the telco dip in profits to Sh68 billion for the first time in nine years. Mr. Ndegwa said they are pursuing the partnership with Amazon as part of the company’s new strategy to transform Safaricom into a purpose-driven technology-led organization.…

The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) process culminating into the Constitutional Amendment Bill is unconstitutional, the High Court has ruled. According to a ruling by judges Prof Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Jairus Ngaah, Teresia Matheka and Chacha Mwita, President Uhuru Kenyatta does not have the power to initiate a Constitutional amendment. The five bench judges ruled that even the BBI Steering Committee unconstitutional. “It is our finding that popular initiative is a power reserved for Wanjiku neither the president or any other state organ can utilize article 257 to amend the constitution. President cannot purport to directly initiate a constitutional amendment.…

YouTube has lined up a series of music and related performances in celebration of Africa Month starting tonight. In partnership with MTV Base Africa, YouTube Music will showcase the continent’s popular culture with performances by popular artistes from Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. The event leading to the Africa Day Concert will kick off on Thursday with live performances expected from Kenyan boy-band Sauti Sol and Nigerian Afrobeats star Fireboy DML. Fans will be to enjoy the event via livestream on each of the artistes’ YouTube channels. YouTube Music has also partnered with Afro Nation, Slikour Onlife and Leading Ladies Africa…

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced that it is bringing its re/Start programme to Kenya and South Africa this month as part of its rapid expansion plan. The cloud skills training programme will be launching in Kenya for the first time. AWS re/Start is partnering with a tech company with roots in Germany, getINNOtized which is driven by creating social impact in Africa. It is also partnering with a Kenyan Government Initiative driven by the Ministry of ICT, innovations and Youth Affairs, Ajira in efforts to empower over one million young people to access digital job opportunities in Kenya. AWS…

TikTok is reportedly testing a recruitment service on the app to connect job seekers with interested companies. A number of TikTokers already offer career advice in their short videos, and soon users will be able to find jobs. Recruiters will also be able to scurry through profiles to build a solid database of suitable candidates. TikTok told Engadget that it will have more to share regarding the feature in the coming days. However, reports indicate that the recruitment feature will not appear on the TikTok app, but will appear as a web page with job listings, mainly entry level positions.…

Telkom has introduced a new monthly data bundles tariff aimed at giving competitively priced data and minutes to its prepaid customers The new Mambo 99 tariff will give customers a daily data allocation of 99MB, along with 99 on-net minutes for a monthly amount of KSh.99, for a period of 30 days.  The other bundle option, Mambo 199, gives prepaid customers a daily 250MB data allocation and 100 on-net minutes for a monthly amount of KSh.199, for a period of 30 days. The new bundle proposition will give Telkom prepaid customers increased data allocations, non-expiry bundles and competitive voice allocations. The…

West Pokot and Laikipia have emerged as the counties with the most transparent budgets according to a survey released by the International Budget Partnership Kenya (IBP Kenya). The two counties had scores of 73 and 71 points out of 100 respectively. The organization launched findings of the survey that evaluated the level of budget transparency across Kenya’s 47 counties. Nyeri, Makueni and Samburu locked up the remaining three slots in the top five counties with the most open budgets with 71,70 and 64 points respectively.  The County Budget Transparency Survey 2020 highlights performance of each individual county and a performance…

Whatsapp users may have no choice but to accept the company’s proposed privacy policies, otherwise it will be very difficult to keep using the app. The company announced on its Whatsapp page that it will send reminders to users and failure to accept the policies will result in the limited functionality on the app. “After giving everyone time to review, we’re continuing to remind those who haven’t had the chance to do so to review and accept. After a period of several weeks, the reminder people receive will eventually become persistent.” the blog read. Whatsapp goes on to say that…