Author: Francis Muli

YouTube has unveiled the lineup of artistes who will perform at this year’s Africa Day Concert. The event, which will be hosted by American Actor Idris Elba will feature artists from five African countries. Kenyan artists are notably missing from the elaborate lineup that includes Tanzania’s Zuchu, Nigeria’s D’Banj and Yemi Alade among others. The annual Africa Day concert is a musical homage to Africa, showcasing African artists making headlines across the globe. This year’s event will feature artists from Tanzania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South African and Congo. The concert will be streamed on YouTube at 19:00 CAT / 18:00 WAT…

A senior police boss is the latest victim in a series of electronic fraud cases that have rocked the country. Kasarani Police boss Mr. Peter Mwanzo on Monday narrated to the court how he lost Sh600,000 within six hours in a syndicate involving the infamous Mulot scammers. “Within less than six hours Sh597,100 had been transferred from my Equity Bank account to my M-Pesa account and later sent to a number unknown to me and withdrawn in Mulot, Bomet County. How this happened is still a mystery to me,” said Mr Wanzo. The police boss narrated the ordeal while testifying…

The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has recommended three cross-cutting thematic agendas to the government to fast-track business and economic recovery by mitigating the effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic, rising food prices, and the ongoing drought. According to KEPSA, sustained business incentives including tax, and regulatory reforms for economic competitiveness, guaranteed security, and smooth transition of leadership after the elections, and curbing the high cost of food production should be of top priority in 2022. Speaking following a meeting with Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Interior & Coordination of National Government and Chairman National Development Implementation Communication Cabinet Committee (NDICCC) Dr.…

Equity Bank customers will now be able to access support services from a chat banking platform dubbed Equity Virtual Assistant (EVA). The solution comprises WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Telegram chat services. The EVA chatbot will will be able to simulate conversations with users. allowing them to manage their accounts and perform transactions such as buying airtime, sending money, buying goods and services and paying bills. They sill also be able to view their account balances and access their statements from any of the three social media platforms. Read: Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi Summoned By MPs Over Alleged Ksh15 Billion Loan…

WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature that allows businesses to communicate directly with customers. The cloud-based software enabling apps to communicate with each other will be available for small businesses for free. According to Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, the development will go a long way in helping businesses customize their experience. “The best business experiences meet people where they are,” he said while announcing the launch of the feature. Read: WhatsApp Could soon Allow Users to Log in to One Account on Multiple Phones The service uses an API (application programming interface) software that allows two apps to…

TikTok is reportedly venturing into gaming after entering into a partnership with social video games developer, Zynga last year. The move could see TikTok users access and play video games directly on the platform in what Reuters termed as a ‘major push’ into the industry. The company is looking to tap into the huge following by gamers on the platform. “The global gaming community is massive, and judging by the amount of gaming-related content on the platform, many of these gamers can be found on TikTok. In fact, the top 100 gaming-related hashtags on TikTok receive more than 40 billion…

Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata is the latest victim to be targeted in electronic fraud. Kang’ata on Sunday reported to the police in Maragua that fraudsters were demanding ransom from him after sending out fake messages to about 2,000 people. According to the Senator, the messages, which had been sent out to close allies who helped him organize an economic brainstorming forum where the Deputy President Dr William Ruto was the chief guest implied that he had sent out Sh5,000 to the recepients and reversed it. “someone manipulating my personal mobile phone number sent at least 2,000 people messages on their…

The National Transport and Safety Authority has relaunched its self-service mobile application with an aim of improving access to information. According to a statement from the agency, the application will enhance service delivery to members of the public when verifying the validity of their licenses. The NTSA said that the relaunch comes with additional capabilities allowing the app to support the public transport sector, enable verification of Boda Boda licenses as well as driving school instructors’ licenses. “The roll out comes at a time when the Authority has re-engineered its operational processes, revamped the Transport Integrated Management System (TIMS), synchronized…

Canada has announced a ban of Chinese telecoms equipment makers from working on its 5G networks. Francois-Philippe Champagne, the country’s industry minister on Thursday said that Huawei and ZTE had been banned to protect the safety and security of Canadians. The move comes after a number of Western countries banned the Chinese telecommunications companies from working on their 5G gear. The countries which include UK, Australia, US, New Zealand and Canada make up an intelligence-sharing arrangement dubbed ‘Five Eyes’, which was established during the cold war as a mechanism for monitoring the Soviet Union and sharing classified information. “Let me…

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has been dealt a blow after Airtime and data tax collections plummeted. The taxman had imposed a higher tax in a bid to Sh8 billion from mobile operators. Instead, Kenyans reduced their usage of the services, resulting in a 19.8 percent drop in tax collections. KRA collected Sh7.4 billion less after the excise duty went up from 15 to 20 percent. Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom passed on the increment to its consumers , with Safaricom increasing its peak call rates per minute from Sh4.30 to Sh4.87. According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the…

Twitter has announced a new policy for preventing the spread of misinformation on the platform. The company said it had established new standards for gating or blocking promotion of tweets spreading misinformation during a crisis. “Content moderation is more than just leaving up or taking down content,” Twitter’s head of safety and integrity Yoel Roth, said in a blog post. “We’ve expanded the range of actions we may take to ensure they’re proportionate to the severity of the potential harm.” Read: Elon Musk Launches Hostile Twitter Takeover, Offers to Buy Company for Sh4.9 Trillion As part of the new policy, Twitter…

You will soon be able to give credit to the originator of a trend on TikTok. The video-streaming company will now allow users to tag individual creators in video descriptions to recognize creators that kick off viral trends. The change comes after users complained that the platform thrives off a  ‘parasitic approach to viral content.’ Early this year, several black users went on strike from TikTok after a number of dance challenges went viral without due recognition to the origination. Read: TikTok’s Projected Income Expected to Surpass Combined Twitter, Snapchat Ad Revenue “These features are an important step in our ongoing…

A General Service Unit (GSU) officer drowned on Wednesday during a swimming training session at the GSU Training School in Embakasi, Nairobi. According to a police report seen by this writer, Wycliffe Geresa, 37, was taking a swimming lesson with other cadets on Wednesday afternoon when he sunk into the pool. He was rescued by the swimming pool attendant and rushed to Riara Hospital where he was unfortunately pronounced dead on arrival. Also Read: Cop Dies In Embakasi Chaos After Landlord Disconnected Water, Electricity For Delayed Rent – Video “Today the 18/05/2022 at around 16.30 hrs his course men NCO’s special…

A Kenyan man has been left perplexed after he discovered that a Safaricom line registered in his name was being used to make transactions running into millions of shillings.  Anthony Mugo discovered that someone unknown to him has in the past six months transacted about Sh2.7 million using a line registered in his name. Mugo was seeking a loan at Equity bank, Kilimani, when he was informed that he could not access the loan as he had been listed with the CRB as a defaulter. The shocked Mugo had not applied for any loan. On enquiry from Transunion Credit Reference…

YouTube viewers can now skip to the most interesting part of a video. The streaming company is rolling out a feature that highlights the most replayed part of a video in the mobile and web apps. The feature had been rolled out as an experiment for YouTube prime subscribers prior to its release for all users. Users will be able to identify popular parts of a video from a graph which shows up behind the progress bar. “If the graph is high, then that part of the video has been replayed often. You can use the graph to quickly find…