Author: Francis Muli

Former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko will remain under police custody for two more days awaiting bail ruling on Thursday. Sonko was charged with 12 counts, among them assault, robbery with violence, and destruction of property. The former governor was arraigned at the Kiambu Law Courts where he was charged with assaulting Evans Obaga, George Chege, Paul Kahiga, and Charles Karori. According to the charge sheet, Sonko is said to have led a group of men to Buruburu Phase 4 in Kamukunji sub-county, Nairobi on May 25, 2019, where they assaulted the above-mentioned victims. He has also been charged with forcibly…

Jambojet Kenya and the Kenya Airports Authority are the latest victims to have their Instagram accounts hacked. All photos from the @flyjambojet account which has about 33,000 followers and @kenyaairports with 5,300 followers have been deleted. Jambojet’s content has been replaced with numerous versions of Instagram’s logo. The low-cost carrier took to Twitter to alert their fans of the hack, saying they had lost access to the account. https://twitter.com/FlyJambojet/status/1356498805072551936 Read: JamboJet Launches Web App To Allow Customers Access Services Using Their Smartphones It appears that the Instagram and Facebook team have taken over Jambojet’s page although we cannot confirm that.…

Low-cost carrier Jambojet has introduced a new flexible payment plan dubbed Jaza pole pole allowing passengers to book and pay for their flights at least 60 days in advance. This follows the introduction of the new ticketing product where passengers will be required to make a down payment of as low as Kshs. 2,670 per person and the balance paid in three installments. Passengers using this platform will have up to 2 hours to make any changes to their booking after the initial deposit has been made. Passengers are required to complete paying for their tickets within 21 days prior to the…

Small Unregulated savings and credit societies (Saccos) have been given 30 days to file their details with The Sacco Society Regulatory Authority (Sasra) or risk losing their operating certificates effective June 2021. The government has moved in to regulate Saccos that have accumulated more than Sh100 million. The authority is targeting tech-enabled non-deposit taking Saccos that collect contributions from its members online and on mobile phones, and those that collect funds from the diaspora. “Given that upon the expiration of the transition period on June 30, 2021, no Sacco shall be allowed to undertake or to continue undertaking the specified…

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha has appointed Agnes Wahome as Chief Executive Officer at the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS). Ms Wahome will take the place of John Muraguri who left KUCCPS in November 2020. The appointment took effect on February 1, 2021. Ms Wahome has been the CEO in an acting capacity since Muraguri left. Ms Wahome beat over 76 other applicants for the job, to emerge among the top three alongside Dr Joel Mabonga, Senior Deputy Director Corporate Services at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and Soigwa Tom Ombasa. Read: State Proposes Radical…

New entrant Cartoon comedian, 2020 online sensation Erastus Otieno popularly known as Flaqo Raz, and controversial blogger, Edgar Obare emerged among 19  winners at the inaugural Africa Digital Influencer Awards (ADIA20) held at Konza technopolis over the weekend. The Awards recognized the digital influencers who were lauded for using their platforms to impact society positively in 2020. Kilome MP Thaddeus Nzambia who spoke at the event said that the legislators would continue to develop laws that would help to promote the creative industry. Read: ICT Authority Announces Presidential Digital Talent Award Winners “I am humbled to be here today for…

The Labour Relations Court has refused to throw out a plea by Capital Markets Authority (CMA) James Ndegwa, in which he wanted an ouster case against him thrown out. In a case filed last year,  activist Okiya Omtatah wants Ndegwa and six board members thrown out since they were not recruited based on a transparent, competitive and merit-based process. The six board members include John Birech, Freshia Mugo, George Moibi, Thomas Kibua, Christine Okoth and Peter Mungai. Ndegwa and the board members argued that the case was not properly placed in the court, since the court lacks requisite powers to…

Facebook is testing a pop-up alert for iPhone and iPad users that will emphasize the gains of collecting personal data. The move comes ahead of Apple’s upcoming privacy changes that have threatened to disrupt Facebook’s core business. Apple is planning to make it a requirement for apps to seek explicit permission from users before they collect any personal data or track their digital footprint. Facebook now says it will prompt users, alongside Apple, in an effort to remind them how personalized ads “support small businesses and keep apps free,” the company said in a blog post titled “Speaking up for…

Airtel has announced plans to sell some stake in its mobile money platform Airtel Money in a bid to raise cash, months after its merger with Telkom Kenya collapsed. In a market update, Airtel said it was also pursuing the sale of the remaining owned tower sites that sit across several countries that they operate in. “We are actively pursuing the sale of the remaining owned tower sites that sit across several of our operating countries and the group is in discussions with various potential investors in relation to possible minority investments into Airtel Money,” said Airtel. “Discussions are ongoing…

The High Court has thrown out former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko’s application against honouring the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) summons to record a statement on post-election violence claims. While speaking in Dagoretti South in Nairobi, the ousted county boss claimed that he alongside Interior PS Karanja Kibicho and other members of the “deep state” had second-hand cars burnt during ODM demonstrations in 2017. Sonko also alleged that they printed ODM t-shirts. “We are now seeing the deep state burning cars to paint hustlers in a bad light. I want to confess and say this; in 2017 when ODM was…

Following Google’s imminent exit from Australia, Microsoft’s is confident that its search engine, Bing, can fill the gap. Google has threatened to leave Australia after the government introduced new laws requiring companies such as Google and Facebook to pay for News According to the Australian Lawmakers, the tech giants will be required to negotiate payments with domestic media outlets who they believe their links drive traffic to their platforms. Google Australia’s managing director Mel Silva said that should the government’s proposal go ahead, “we would have no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia.” Read: How…

Airtel and Telkom Kenya are on the spot after they both failed to meet the minimum 80 percent threshold for quality of calls. Airtel scored 52 percent while Telkom scored 72 percent in the survey that evaluated the quality of calls across 33 counties in the year ended June 2020. In the survey conducted by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) last year, Safaricom emerged the leading network with a 92 percent score in quality of calls. Telkom and Airtel have now been put under watch to ascertain whether they will improve their services. Read: Communications Authority Wants To Bar…

Deputy President William Ruto now says President Uhuru Kenyatta does not owe him any political debt. This comes a day after President Uhuru Kenyatta told off Ruto and his allies over demands for payback in 2022 by supporting Ruto’s presidential ambitions. “I supported my friend Uhuru Kenyatta not because of his community, not because of the language he speaks… as President Kenyatta said yesterday correctly, he has no debt to me. Uhuru Kenyatta owes me nothing. There is only one debt that I share with Uhuru Kenyatta, and that is the debt of uniting this country,” said Ruto. While speaking…

Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr now says that the Court of Appeal should quash orders by the High Court removing acting Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu from office. This comes days after the High court issued an order barring Mwilu from acting as the Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice and a judge of the Supreme Court. “The Court of Appeal should not have any difficulty staying the ex-parte order purporting to remove Acting Chief Justice Philomena Mbete Mwilu. The people of Makueni are taking notes,” tweeted Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. https://twitter.com/SenMutula/status/1355795123708293120 The order also barred her from being a member of the…

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga has told off “Tanga Tanga” MPs from the Mt Kenya region who wrote to President Uhuru Kenyatta saying that they cannot “sell” him to the region. Speaking to journalists in Bondo, Raila said that no one had asked them to market him in the region, arguing that he has direct access to Mt Kenya region since it is part of Kenya. “No one asked them to market Raila in Central Kenya, if Raila wants to market himself in Central, he does not need them to do that,” he said. Raila spoke after…