Author: Francis Muli

President Uhuru Kenyatta today unveiled a USD 30 billion (Ksh3 trillion) United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) mechanism to help stimulate Kenya’s manufacturing sector. The initiative dubbed Programme for Country Partnership (PCP) Starter Pack, is a model for accelerating industrial development in UNIDO member states by mobilizing resources for investment in high potential economic sectors. The PCP, which is also successfully being rolled out in Ethiopia, Senegal and Peru, will boost Kenya’s manufacturing potential by injecting more than USD 30 billion in the sector in the next five years. Read: Internet Economy to Contribute Sh786 Billion to Kenya’s GDP in 2020…

The Facebook Oversight Board is set to review the ban of President Donald Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram. The Board said that it had been following the events in the United States closely and Facebook’s response to them. Trump’s accounts on the giant social media network were suspended indefinitely on January 7, 2021. “Trump’s decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world. We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect -and likely their effect-…

State Department for Social Protection is unable to account for Ksh24.5 billion stipends meant for the elderly, disabled and orphans, auditor-general Nancy Gathungu has revealed. According to Gathungu’s latest report, the department did not provide records for the cash transfers effected in the year to June 30, 2019. The money should have been disbursed through the Co-operative Bank of Kenya, Post Bank, Equity Bank, and KCB Bank. The department also lacked payrolls and reconciliation reports for also the service providers, raising questions on whether the money really reached the intended beneficiaries. “Management has explained that it was unable to access…

Kenya has the highest internet penetration rate in Africa with 87.2 percent of the population connected to the internet, ranking from the Internet World Stats (IWS) has shown. According to IWS, Africa registered a 47.1 percent penetration rate for its collective population of 1.3 billion people. The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) reports that in Quarter one of the 2020/2021 Financial Year (July- September 2020), Kenya recorded a total of 43.45 million internet/data subscriptions, a 4.8 percent increase from the previous quarter. Read: Internet Economy to Contribute Sh786 Billion to Kenya’s GDP in 2020 According to CA, the increase in…

A few days after restoring internet access in Uganda, the government seems to have blocked a couple of News sites denying users access to information. Ugandans have reported on twitter that they are not able to access a number of news sites including The New York Times, CNN, The Irish Times and Vice. The sites seem to have been blocked on Zuku, an internet provider in Uganda. https://twitter.com/sallyhayd/status/1352488230688600069 Further reports indicate that the sites are also unavailable on Airtel Network while other users have said that the denial of access is a government project being implemented by Huawei. Read: Uganda…

When Charles Musinga of Makindu Motors met a Ms Muhoro through a friend identified as Augustine Matata, he knew it was time to mint millions, from the government. A promise was made that he would be awarded a tender to supply at least 2,800 laptops to the government. To make it look real, all the dealings would be made in the office of the Deputy President William Ruto, Harambee House Annex. “Miss Muhoro also said she was the secretary of a Mr Wanyonyi who was the personal assistant to the Deputy President,” Mr Musinga told chief magistrate Martha Mutuku. Read: Pilot…

Close to one year after rolling out in Kenya, Alphabet is winding up Project Loon. The tech giant confirmed on Thursday that it was done exploring the idea of using balloons to provide internet to remote areas. The company said that the nine year old project had failed to find partners and a sustainable business model. Project loon was inaugurated in April by President Uhuru Kenyatta  following a partnership between Google and Telkom to provide internet to Kenya’s remote areas. Read: Alphabet’s Project Taara Set to Deploy Internet in Kenya Using Beams Of Light Loon’s mission, stated on the website,…

Former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko on Thursday stormed Capitol Hill Square Nairobi, demanding to meet ODM leader Raila Odinga. Reliable sources intimated to Kahawa Tungu that Sonko arrived in the offices earlier in the day, and found Mr Odinga in a meeting hence he had to wait to be invited after the meeting. Sonko, upon realizing that Raila’s meeting was taking longer than expected, stormed out a frustrated man. “He had not booked an appointment to be included in Baba’s (Raila’s) itinerary of the day, so everyone was surprised to see him,” said our source. The official spokesman of the…

Kenya Power employees are planning a countrywide strike over disagreements with the employer regarding the terms of service for live line employees,  Kahawa Tungu can authoritatively report. According to a letter in our possession from the Kenya Electrical Trades and Allied Workers’ Union (KETAWU) secretary-general Ernest Nakenya Nadome, Kenya Power has reneged on several agreements signed in 2017. This includes an agreement on the employment and remuneration of live line staffers. “There has been continued management violation of the CBA (Combined Bargaining Agreement) in force and failure to honour direct commitment hence affecting the morale of your employees and general…

Iran has taken a step to strengthen its trade ties with Kenya through the development of an innovation center located at Kilimani, Nairobi. The Iran House of Innovation and Technology (IHIT) which is set to be unveiled next week, will offer Kenyan and Iranian companies a workspace and internet connection. “In our foreign policy, we consider Kenya a friendly county equipped with good infrastructure and through which we can reach the other countries of the region,” the Iranian ambassador to Kenya, Jafar Barmaki said. Read: MEST Africa Challenge Announces 2020 Winners According to the Iranian ambassador to Kenya, Jafar Barmaki,…

35 out of 100 buildings in Kenya are likely to fail the safety test, the National Construction Authority (NCA) has discovered in its latest survey. The finding were pegged on issues such as physical, social and environmental considerations, which entail structural integrity, energy consumption and environmental protection. Since 1990, 87 buildings have collapsed around the country, the peak being in 2015 when 21 failed buildings were documented. Over 200 Kenyans have died between 1990 and 2019, following the collapse of buildings. According to NCA Executive Director Maurice Akech, building failure does not necessarily mean collapse. “When I talk about failure,…

LG has disclosed that is considering exiting the smartphone market in 2021. The company CEO Kwon Bong-Seok sent out an internal memo to staff, hinting at changes in its phone business. “Since the competition in the global market for mobile devices is getting fiercer, it is about time for LG to make a cold judgment and the best choice,” says an LG official in a statement. “The company is considering all possible measures, including the sale, withdrawal, and downsizing of the smartphone business.” LG’s Smartphone business has reportedly lost the company about $4.5 billion in the last five years. The…

Kiambu county under governor Dr James Nyoro used Ksh1.69 million to purchase 11 phones for the county, a new audit report by auditor general Nancy Gathungu has revealed. According to the report, the purchases were done in the 2019/2020 fiscal year, with each phone costing between Ksh84,000 and Ksh198,000. The county purchased 2 iPhone XS (Max) at a cost of Ksh198,440 each, an iPhone X at a cost of Ksh198,000, and an Ipad at a cost of Ksh170,689. The county also bought 2 Samsung S10s at a cost of Ksh146,160 each, a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and an Ipad Pro…

Twitter on Wednesday officially handed over the  @POTUS account to President Biden’s team as part of the process of the transition. Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the US, with Kamala Harris as the Vice President. Biden’s team is now in control of all the official @Whitehouse twitter accounts in various social media platform. Twitter also activated a new @secondgentleman account belonging to Vice President’s Kamala Harris husband. “Accounts for the White House, President, Vice President, First Lady and White House Press Secretary have now inherited their new institutional usernames,” Twitter support said. Read: Biden Starts Off With…

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been sworn in as the President of the United States and the Vice-President respectively. The two were sworn in at Capitol Hill in a ceremony attended by former Presidents including Bill Clinton (42nd), George W. Bush (43rd) and Barrack Obama (44th). The 45th President, who is the outgoing Donald Trump, did not attend the ceremony after holding that he won the November 3, 2020. However, Trump’s Vice-President Mike Pence attended the ceremony. Biden and Harris, of the Democratic Party won by 306 college votes while Trump from the Republican Party got 232 college votes.…