Author: Francis Muli

Three Masters students from Mount Kenya University have won a grant to distribute solar-powered lanterns to families living in informal settlements in Thika. The students will receive the $2,500 grant from the COV-AID Graduate Student Mini-Grants by Talloires Network of Engaged Universities and the Open University Network to supply the solar lanterns in Kiandutu slums in Thika. Rose Macharia who is studying Information Technology, Nelly Kayanda, counseling psychology, and Daniel Kiriti, Governance and Ethics won in the grants program that is designed to recognize outstanding commitment to civic engagement by students during the Covid-19 pandemic. Read: MKU Establishes Mental Health…

Huawei could soon be launching its Gmail alternative, Petal mail. The giant tech manufacturer announced in August, 2020 that it was building its own HarmonyOS into their smartphones beginning 2021. The Chinese company announced that it would also offer the OS to other manufacturers as an alternative to Android Last year, Huawei was at the centre of tensions between the US and China. This resulted in the US  imposing sanctions against the Chinese company. The UK also cut its 5G links with the telecom infrastructure firm. Huawei can therefore no longer offer Android or Google on its latest devices without…

Early Monday morning, Kenyans woke up to an interesting piece titled “Kenya’s Spy Queen” on BBC’s YouTube channel. The BBC Africa Eye Documentary was based on Kenyan private detective, Jane Mugo. BBC’s Sharon Macharia interviewed Mugo who let in viewers into her detective work from her dogs led by one known as Hitler, her chef who is tasked with tasting all of Mugo’s meals before consumption as well as her squad led by one Charlie One. Mugo introduced her squad who had to undergo “rigorous” training which she said was helpful in the line of duty. She said she is…

Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) Boss Mohammed Badi has announced that the Ministry of Water is developing a new app that will be used to curb cartels who interfere with the constant supply of water in the city. Badi said that the app was designed to work a bit like Uber or Little cab apps where users could gain access to all registered water bowsers and select where they wanted to buy their water from. The Ministry of Water has since ordered for the registration of all water bowsers and water trucks in the city towards the exercise. “Nobody knew the…

Chelsea Football Club has sacked its head coach Frank Lampard over poor performance, the club has said in a statement. “We are grateful to Frank for what he has achieved in his time as Head Coach of the Club. However, recent results and performances have not met the Club’s expectations, leaving the Club mid-table without any clear path to sustained improvement,” Chelsea said in a statement. The club says that the change is aimed at giving the Club time to improve performances and results this season. Read: Retired Petr Čech Returns For Chelsea In Tottenham Win “This was a very difficult…

Kenya and the United Kingdom (UK) have signed a new security cooperation deal, that will see the two nations strengthen security ties. The agreement was signed under the third UK-Kenya Security Dialogue by Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government Fred Matiang’i and the UK’s Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace. Matiang’i hosted Mr Wallace at the start of a two-day visit to Kenya, which now moves on to focus on the UK and Kenya’s longstanding defence relationship. “We, the Governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Kenya,…

Female KCPE and KCSE candidates across the country will get a free three month supply of sanitary towels, Education CS George Magoha has said. The Ministry of Education has partnered with the M-Pesa Foundation to provide Sanitary towels to the students who are set to begin the exams in March. The foundation has provided 540,000 sanitary towels to 188,000 girls from slums and poor backgrounds with The CS flagged off the towels on Monday at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development headquarters in Nairobi. M-Pesa Foundation Chairman, Michael Joseph, said that the lack of the vital items was exposing the…

Auditor general Nancy Gathungu has flagged supplies worth Ksh281 million to the National Youth Service (NYS), raising eyebrows at the already tainted image of the government body. In her latest audit report, Gathungu flagged the supplies for 20,000 woolen blankets, 126,000 metres of digital camouflage material, 10,000 pairs of high-ankle military boots, canned beef and pineapples, uniform materials, and gumboots. The supply of camouflage material would cost Ksh74.97 million, woolen blankets Ksh51.4 million, olive green jerseys Ksh49.5 million, canned beef and pineapples Ksh31.74 million, high-ankle military boots Ksh29.8 million, uniforms materials Ksh20.16 million, gumboots Ksh0.95 million and police uniform Ksh23.4…

Netflix has upgraded Android users to studio-quality audio on the app. Android app users will be able to stream audio in xHE-AAC (Extended HE-AAC with MPEG-D DRC consistently to be enjoyed in many places. The format’s variable bitrate will improve audio quality when you are on a good connection, and fluctuate on a less stable link. It also has loudness management to prevent sudden volume changes for instance, when you move from a spirited action movie to a quiet movie. Read: Netflix Surpasses 203.6 Million Subscribers Globally Loudness management also compensates for noisy environments, offering clarity. This allows android app…

Heavy gunfighting was reported on Sunday night in the town of Beled Hawo (Bula Hawo), between forces loyal to Jubaland state and those of Federal Government forces. The Somali Information Minister has accused Kenya of arming and aiding what he called a rebel group. “The Federal Government of Somalia declares that the Kenyan-backed rebel group that crossed the border into Somalia tonight has attacked Gedo Region, particularly Belet Xaawo District. The Somali National Army (SNA) bravely repulsed the illegal foreign-organized invasion. We strongly condemn this aggression in Kenya which violates the interests of peaceful coexistence of the people of the…

MeWe, an alternative social media app that claims to be more secure and private compared to Facebook, has reported a spike of subscribers by 2.5 million in the last week alone. The surge is attributed to Whatsapp’s latest update that alerted users of the intention to share their data with Facebook.The announcement of the update, which was expected to take effect on February 8, 2021 but was pushed to March 15,2021, triggered a mass exodus from Whatsapp. Signal, an alternative messaging platform, reported a 4,200 percent jump in downloads within the two weeks of the announcement. Read: Whatsapp Reassures Users…

Legendary TV Talk Show Host, Larry King, has died at 87 years old. The news was confirmed by his Family to several media houses, adding that King died Saturday morning. Ora Media, the parent of Ora TV which was co-founded by King issued a statement regarding his death: “With profound sadness, Ora Media announces the death of our co-founder, host and friend Larry King, who passed away at age 87 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.” According to a family member, King had been hospitalized since January 2, 2021, after he tested positive positive for Covid-19. Read: Former CNN…

Faiba 4G is now offering eSIM support for compatible smartphones. This means that users will now be able to connect to the network without attaching a physical sim card. eSIM stands Embedded Subscriber Identity Module or simply, embedded SIM card. Phone manufacturers have eSIM within the devices which works perfectly in markets like the US where phones are attached to the mobile network provider. To use the eSIM, customers simply have to update some profile settings provided by the carrier through QR codes. Read: Telkom Extends Fibre Network To Mombasa As Data Wars Escalate The availability of eSIMS means you…

Kenya is set to take its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic a notch higher with help from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Japanese government. The two bodies have delivered three multi-functional robots to the Kenyan government which will intensify the fight against the pandemic in the country. The three robots, dubbed Roborafiki, have been named Tumaini, Jasiri and Shujaa. They will perform similar functions to the ones frontline health care workers provide. These include; disinfecting contaminated areas, performing temperature checks and issuing timely reminders to citizens to sanitize, wear masks and maintain social distance. Read: Rwanda to…

Using the pseudo name Mr Kiptoo, Allan Chesang received over 1,707 laptops in Eastleigh, Nairobi from businessman Charles Musinga of Makindu Motors. This was after Chesang and his friends at the Office of the Deputy President William Ruto lured Mr Musinga into signing a fake laptops deal at Harambee House Annex, in the disguise of being supplied to the Ministry of Devolution. While collecting the laptops, Mr Chesang’ came with a police escort, driving a Range Rover with Parliament and Deputy President Office’s stickers. In total, Mr Musinga and his co-director Stephen Ngei Musyoka lost at least Ksh181 million, in…