Author: Francis Muli

Twitter is rolling out support for voice direct messages (DMs) for iOS and Android in India, the company has announced. According to Android Central reports, the audio, messages are live in three countries: Brazil, India, and Japan. The feature, which was first announced last year, is still in the “experiment” stage and is being rolled out in phases.  Twitter India’s managing director Manish Maheshwari, said the voice messages have been designed to “give people a new way to express themselves and help them connect through the nuances, emotion, and empathy built by hearing someone’s voice.” https://twitter.com/TwitterIndia/status/1361900922465644544 Other social media apps…

The Ministry for ICT is unable to account for Ksh12.7 billion for the financial year 2019, auditor general Nancy Gathungu has said. Most of the money was spent on payments to foreign contractors, but the ministry did not provide supporting documents. “In my opinion, because of the significance of the matters discussed, the financial statements do not present fairly the financial position of the State Department for Information Communication Technology as of June 30, 2019 and its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended,” said the Auditor General in the report. The Ministry is said to…

Kenya has taken the seventh position in a survey gauging the African countries’ preparedness to support online business. This a drop from position four in 2020. Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, and Libya trumped Kenya to take positions three, four, five, and six respectively. The United Nation’s Conference on Trade and Development’s Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce Index 2020 ranked the countries with Mauritius and South Africa retaining their top two positions. Nigeria also dropped from the third position in 2019 to position eight in 2020, the report showed. “To facilitate more inclusive e-commerce, African countries would benefit from catching up in all policy…

Safaricom accounts for an 80 percent increase in investor wealth at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) since the year began, new data has shown. Since the year started, Safaricom, BAT Kenya and East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) accounted for 92 percent of the increase in investor wealth at NSE. In total, investor wealth at NSE reached a high of Ksh199.12 billion, with the three stocks accounting for Ksh183.86 billion, representing 92.3 percent. Safaricom, BAT and EABL are the only companies that have recorded double-digit growth since the year started, giving a false impression of a bull run at the bourse. Read: Safaricom…

Facebook has blocked users in Australia from accessing or sharing news content on the platform. The move is in response to the country’s proposed law to make tech giants pay from news content disseminated on their platforms. The social media platform announced the news on its blog, saying the law misunderstands the relationship between them and publishers. “In response to Australia’s proposed new Media Bargaining law, Facebook will restrict publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content.” The blog post said. BBC News reports that Australians woke up to find that Facebook pages belonging to local…

ODM Party Leader Raila Odinga has urged MPs not to criminalise Deputy President William Ruto’s ‘hustlers versus dynasties’ campaign slogan through a new bill. In a statement, Raila says that he has learned that the Parliament’s National Security Committee is planning to pass a bill that will criminalise the slogan, and impose hefty fines, jail time and even removal from office for any leader who propagates it. ” I would strongly appeal to members of parliament to drop any attempts to legislate against this otherwise deadly slogan. As a country, we fought for, and should respect free speech and association.…

Ghana is planning to lower internet and data costs by widening the scope of its telecommunication licenses to allow mobile operators access to more spectrum. Communications Minister-Designate Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, during her reappointment process, said that Ghana currently sells spectrum-specific licenses “and the technology is tied to the spectrum that you can use” Once the new change is effected, it will not “matter whether its 2G, 3G or 4G spectrum that you have, you can use whatever available technology there is on (your available spectrum) to deliver the service that you want,” she said, in reference to the voice and internet…

Interior CS Dr Fred Matiang’i on Wednesday toured Mombasa county to inspect development projects and host meetings on security-related issues. The project inspection started at the Mwache-Mteza Bridge and Dongo Kundu before he proceeded to the Liwatoni floating bridge and the Liwatoni fish processing factory. Matiang’i challenged the Mwache-Mteza bridge contractor to consider locals when sourcing for materials and labour. Read: CS Matiang’i Warns Against Hiring Of Goons In Political Rallies To Divide Kenyans Ahead Of 2022 Polls Construction of the bridge, which began in March 2020, was slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic. With the progress at 18 percent now,…

The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority has fined six telcos a total of Sh38.1 billion (about Kshs. 1.8 billion) for failing to meet standard quality in line with the guidelines set in 2018. Airtel was fined Tsh11.5 billion (Kshs. 550 million), Tigo-Sh13 billion (Kshs. 614 million), Halotel -Sh3.4 billion (Kshs.160 million), Vodacom -Sh7.8 billion (Kshs. 368 million), Zantel -Sh1 billion (Kshs 47 million), and TTCL Sh-1.3 billion (Kshs.61 million) TCRA Director Engineer James Kilaba said the fines were imposed after the assessment of the telco’s services in Q4 2020. The service providers failed to meet the required quality standards in the…

Only two airlines from Africa have signed an agreement with the United Nations (UN) for the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccines worldwide, and Kenya Airways (KQ) is not one of them. UN has listed 16 airlines that have signed an agreement to transport over 600 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines globally between March and December 2021. The two African airlines include Nairobi-based Astral Aviation and Ethiopian Airways. Other airlines include AirBridgeCargo, Air France/KLM, Emirates SkyCargo, Brussels Airlines, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific, Etihad Airways, IAG Cargo, Korean Air, Lufthansa Cargo, Qatar Airways, Saudia, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines. “These airlines have signed…

Two weeks ago, the UNDP and the Japanese government donated three robots to be used in the fight against Covid-19 in Kenya. The three, Jasiri, Shujaa, and Tumaini have already adapted to their roles at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The three have been assigned various roles from disinfecting the airport to monitoring arrivals for signs of the virus. “I have every confidence that all our travelers, foremost the tourists visiting Kenya, will appreciate the ability of these robots. As a country, we are open to any and all innovations that add value to our health care services and ask…

The Court of Appeal has temporarily halted the auction of businessman William Osewe Guda over a Ksh330 million debt owed to Guaranty Trust Bank (GT Bank). Mr Oswewe, who owns the Bluewater Hotel in Kisumu, faces auction of his apartment in Nairobi’s South C. Mr Osewe owns the Ronalo or K’Osewe eateries in Nairobi and Kisumu. A bench of three judges ruled that the auction be put on hold on the condition that they deposit Sh25 million in court within 45 days. Read: K’Osewe Kisumu Hotel Set To Be Auctioned in January Over Sh330 Million Debt “We have considered the application…

Safaricom has been shortlisted as one of the firms eligible to bid for one of two telecommunication licenses to be offered by Ethiopia. The Ethiopia Communications Authority shortlisted six companies from the 12 that had expressed interest in entering the Ethiopian market. The shortlisted firms will be expected to submit their technical bids by April 5, 2021. “There are about five to six consortia who are qualified to bid. Bids are due to be submitted in April,” said Michael Joseph, Safaricom chairman, in an interview. “We are working towards the final submission around March/April.” Safaricom Ltd, together with its parent…

Digital content platform, the Kenyan Wallstreet, has launched a mobile trading application, Hisa App. The App, which is still in Beta, will provide investors trading on the Nairobi Stocks Exchange real-time information pertaining to business and finances. The Kenyan Wallstreet partnered with Faida Investment Bank to develop the engaging and intuitive mobile app that will provide a variety of services. Investors will have access to real-time business and financial news, over 300 business-related podcasts, and Real-time Stock Market Data. “Our goal with Hisa App is to improve financial literacy and make the whole investing process simpler through a social feed…

The government is seeking Sh64 billion towards the implementation of Phase II of the Digital Literacy Programme. The initial phase saw 1,169,000 tablets distributed to 21,638 public primary schools countrywide. The ICT Authority revealed that a study conducted in 15 counties between May and June 2019 showed a 64.7 percent usage and utilization, which some stakeholders have rejected. The ICT Authority was tasked with the implementation of the Digital Literacy Programme after President Uhuru Kenyatta launched it in 2016. Read: Public Schools Digital Literacy Programme to be Piloted During the Pandemic Period- CS Mucheru The Digital Literacy Programme aims to…