Author: Francis Muli

The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has proposed that all government-sponsored freshmen in universities across the country be given loans for the purchase of laptops. Helb CEO Charles Ringera said that the move would address the inequality among students witnessed since the adoption of remote learning in the institutions. Speaking during the board’s 2021 universities consultative forum in Mombasa, Ringera said that students from poor backgrounds had struggled with e-learning. Read: HELB Seeking Sh2.5 Billion for 60,000 University Laptops’ Loan for Students He said that the students from poor families should be assisted to procure laptops. “All learners must have…

Tanzania’s Prime Minister has moved to reassure citizens over President John Magufuli’s health, rubbishing rumours that he is incapacitated. “Tanzanians be calm, your president is there, in good health, he is working,” Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said. This is the first time Tanzania’s government has reacted to news of the President’s health since rumours started going round that he had contracted Covid-19. Read: Magufuli Admitted At Nairobi Hospital For Covid-19 Treatment – Reports Apart from the Prime Minister, Tanzania’s ambassador in Namibia, Modestus Kipilimba is the only other person to have issued an official reaction regarding the President’s health. “For…

Self-Proclaimed President of Comedy, Eric Omondi has issued an apology saying the concept behind his popular “Wife Material” show is to unite East Africans and Africa as a whole. The comedian took to his Instagram account to issue the apology, saying he had personally reached out to the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) Chairman Ezekiel Mutua over the show’s content. “I called Mutua and spoke with him for almost an hour talking of how we can have a ‘handshake’ on the issue. He was kind to me and reasonable throughout the talk and I am happy that through this we…

Netflix is testing a new way to curb the sharing of passwords. According to BBC, some users have reported seeing a message on their screen saying “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.” According to a Netflix spokesperson, users can then verify authorization to access the account using a code sent via text or email. “This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so.” the spokesperson said. Read: Netflix Testing Timer Feature For Android A decision has not been arrived at…

President Uhuru Kenyatta has revised the Covid-19 containment measures, even as the country experiences the third wave of infection coupled with a new strain of the virus. In his address, President Kenyatta lauded Kenyans for their resilience in containing the virus, but reiterated that more needs to be done in order to flatten the curve. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 growth rate had spiked from the beginning of the year as more Western countries reported the emergence of new stronger mutations. Following the escalation of Covid-19 numbers, President Kenyatta has banned political and any other public gatherings for a period of 30…

Kenya lost at least Ksh500 billion in terms of GDP in the year 2020 due to Covid-19, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said. The President also announced that Kenya’s economy had grown by 0.6 percent, against a projection of over 6 percent. “This translates to a loss of approximately Ksh 560 billion of GDP arising from the resultant economic downturn. And this is the price we had to pay in 2020 for the bold decisions we made to contain this economic free fall,” he said. According to President Kenyatta, Kenya’s economy is set to grow by over seven percent in the…

Facebook has announced that it is testing a way for creators to monetize from their Stories. The company says the test involves allowing creators to place ads that look like stickers in their stories. Facebook Stories was launched four years ago allowing users to post content that disappears in 24 hours. The company now says that creators can earn a cut from ads placed on their stories. Chatting with The Verge, Yoav Arnstein, director of product management said the feature is still in the early stages of development, and that the test was “very small” although there were plans to…

Twitter has announced plans to make its audio feature, Spaces live to all global users by April 2021. The Clubhouse copycat was first rolled out in late February to 1,000 users who fall in marginalized groups among them women. Twitter said that women and marginalized users would be given priority in the creation of spaces because they are more vulnerable to abuse and harassment whenever they try to engage other users in the normal comment sections on tweets. This week, Twitter announced that it was rolling out the feature to Android users allowing them to join spaces. Read: Twitter Starts…

National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has now been included in the list of carriers for the Covid-19 vaccine after the government intervened. According to a communication quoted by a local daily, Unicef made a U-turn and signed an MoU with the government of Kenya. “KQ is now among the carriers in Unicef humanitarian airfreight initiative and as such would be eligible to carry Covax vaccines and other essential supplies to different countries and we have already signed the MoU,” reads the communication. Only two airlines from Africa had signed an agreement with the United Nations (UN) for the distribution of…

TikTok has developed an array of tools to give content creators more control on the type of comments that will be displayed. In addition to this, users who are about to post unkind or inappropriate comments will be given a second chance to reconsider before posting. The Filter All Comments feature allows users to select the comments they want displayed. When the feature is enabled, users’ comments will be subject to approval before they are displayed. Read: TikTok Faces Backlash For Allegedly Propagating Violence, Racism The new tools are part of TikTok’s #SharingPositivity campaign with an aim of reducing bullying…

Kenya has lifted the ban on importation of maize from Uganda and Tanzania, but with strict rules on importers. In the new regulations, all maize importers will have to be registered with the government and also make open the details of their warehouses. Also, maize imports coming in must be accompanied with a certificate of conformity on aflatoxin levels. “While we strive to give Kenya safe food by addressing the challenge in production system, we equally expect our trading partners to trade safe maize as per the East African Community (EAC) standards,” said Agriculture Chief Administrative Secretary Lawrence Angolo. Read: Gov’t…

The Tanzanian government is developing a framework to enable it charge WhatsApp calls as the country grapples with declining revenue from international calls. The emergence of messaging apps like WhatsApp have given users alternatives for making international calls free of charge or at a very low rates. As a result, the telecommunications industry has lost revenue from international tariff charges.. A report from the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) shows that the number of international calls over mobile networks have plummeted drastically in the last ten years. Read: Tanzania Fines Six Telcos Sh1.8 billion for Sub-standard Quality of Service The…

The Court of Appeal on March 10 declined to grant Safaricom Plc a request to set aside an interim court order issued last year by the High Court directing Kenya’s largest mobile communications operator and other internet service providers to block domains infringing on Multichoice networks. All eyes are now set on the Court of Appeal, which has set the ruling on the stay application for the March 19, 2021. In November 2020, the High Court issued a landmark ruling that required Safaricom Plc and Jamii Telkom Limited to pull down and disable 141 sites that were cited for infringing…

Instagram is launching a 2MB Lite app in 170 countries. The first version of Instagram Lite, which required only 573 kilobytes, was launched in 2018 and pulled off from the playstore last year, after just two years. Instagram says the bigger lite version allows for more features including the Reels Tab, ability to send DMs, and record and post videos. The app will however not feature a shop tab which is available on the 30MB regular Instagram app. Instagram Lite will be available for Android Phones. The Lite app means users can use it even with slower 2G networks found…

PETCO Kenya and World-Wide Fund Kenya (WWF) have signed a partnership agreement worth Ksh6 million to boost environment protection through enhanced waste collection in the coastal region. The memorandum will provide technology transfer from Denmark through a partnership with Plastix, a Danish cleantech recycling company. This will be implemented by partnering with local organizations that are pioneers in the waste management sector. Additionally, the partnership will provide a range of benefits that include a donation of collection infrastructure support and training worth Ksh6 million to over 800 waste reclaimers. “Our focus is to rid-off plastic waste in the Coastal region,…