Author: Francis Muli

London Ward member of county assembly (MCA) Sammy Mbugua has passed on London Ward is in Nakuru County, where Hell’s Gate MCA John Njuguna alias Wa-Sussy succumbed to the novel Covid-19 less that two weeks ago. The member of the Nakuru county assembly was receiving treatment at the Nakuru War Memorial Hospital when he passed away. According to reports, the MCA drove himself to the hospital, but developed breathing problems before breathing his last on Wednesday, November 18 at 10pm. He was last seen in public on Saturday during the burial ceremony of Hells Gate MCA Njuguna in Naivasha. The minority…

A report from Google and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) shows that Kenya is among the five countries in Africa with the highest number of software developers. The e-Conomy Africa 2020 report shows that Africa has about 690,000 devlopers with 50 percent of the professionals concentrated in South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and Egypt. The report shows that 60,000 of the total number of developers are in Kenya, coming in after Nigeria which has 85,000 developers accounting for 12 percent of the continent’s total. South Africa leads the continent about 120,000 developers Read: Internet Economy to Contribute Sh786 Billion to…

The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has announced the commencement of construction of the T-Mall Flyover Project on Lang’ata Road. The Project consists of the upgrading of the Langata-Mbagathi-Mai Mahiu crossing by means of a four-lane flyover on Langata Road, and the expansion of the adjacent roads. The Project also comprises the construction of a footbridge on Mbagathi Way. “Pursuant to Traffic Act Cap. 403 sec.71, KeNHA wishes to notify the general public that sections of Langata Road and Mbagathi Way, contiguous to the TMall Roundabout area shall be narrowed by means of fences, to allow construction works on the…

Sidian Bank has posted a consolidated net profit after tax of Ksh8 million as at Q3 2020 being an improvement from the net loss of Ksh85 million as at Q2 2020. The lender closed its Trade Finance business Ksh11.9 billion as at September 30, 2020. The profitability was driven by the increased loan book which grew by 29 percent to Ksh18.4 billion from Ksh14.3 billion in the prior period growing the interest income on loans and lending fees. Customer deposits grew by 24 percent to Ksh21.6 billion from Ksh17.5 billion in the prior period attributed to continued customer deposits mobilisation…

Huduma Namba cards will be issued to Kenyans starting December 1 2020. The National ID is expected to cease operating from December 2021, ICT CS Joe Mucheru said while officiating the commencement of the distribution of the cards in Machakos County. The swearing in of Immaculate Kassait, Kenya’s first data commissioner paved way for the exercise that will see the country adopt a National register through the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i is rolling out the distribution of the cards at a separate event at the county commissioner’s office in Kiambu County. Read: No…

WorldRemit, the global digital money transfer service, has announced the launch of its WorldRemit Entrepreneurs Program in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and Zimbabwe. Since the outbreak of Covid-19 across Africa, the continent has experienced a significant setback with the businesses of many entrepreneurs taking a hit. These entrepreneurs control the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) landscape, that have made significant contributions to the growth of the African economy especially through the creation of jobs. WorldRemit says it is kickstarting the  investment with an aim of supporting and empowering small businesses to grow. Read: Airtel Money Partners With World Remit To…

Kenya owes China at least Ksh650 billion to China, most of which was acquired during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s tenure. The debt represents a 10 percent of Kenya’s public debt, which has ballooned to over Ksh6.6 trillion in the last few years of Jubilee regime. Kenya’s external debt rose four times in the last ten years, only competing with Ethiopia whose debt rose five times. A talk of China taking over Kenya’s Mombasa Port and the Inland Container Deport (ICD) has been gaining traction in the last few days, in case the country fails to repay the debt. Mombasa is East…

Telkom has announced that it has revamped its daily, monthly and unlimited home-plan data bundles. The revamp is aimed at giving more value to pre-paid heavy data customers for a better experience as well as the amount of data they will get when they purchase the revised offers. The company reviewed the Fair Usage Policy (FUP) that guides on speed limits applied to unlimited bundles to ensure connection speeds at peak times are not slowed down when users are uploading and downloading large files. Read: Telkom Restrategizes To Focus on Consumer And Data Products after Failed Merger Talks With Airtel…

Safaricom has named Morten Bangsgaard as Chief Technology and Information Officer (CTIO) to man the newly formed Technology and Information Organisation department. The department was formed following a merger of the Information Technology and Network departments, a change announced by Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa. Bangsgaard joins Safaricom from Maxis, a Malaysia-based communications provider, where he worked in the same capacity. His appointment takes effect on January 1, 2021. “To provide our customers with the best in class fibre connectivity, whether at home (FTTH) or in business (FTTB) and address the current pain points, I have converged the FTTH and FTTB…

Twitter is today rolling out fleets, a new way to share text, photos and videos on the app. Unlike the usual tweets, fleets will not appear on the timeline and will also not get any likes, retweets or mentions. That thing you didn’t tweet but wanted to but didn’t but got so close but then were like nah. We have a place for that now—Fleets! ” Twitter said while announcing the new feature. This makes it a perfect way to share spur of the moment information that you are probably not sure about having on your timeline. Read: Twitter to…

There are significant business opportunities in the mobile-broadband space in building an ecosystem of affordable mobile devices to support user migration to 4G and 5G cellular network technology. This was the message emerging from the 5th Huawei Africa Mobile Broadband Salon taking place at the online Africacom Africa Tech Festival from 9-12 November. “Connectivity is the foundation for digital transformation,” said Salon facilitator Mohamed Madkour, Vice President, Carrier Business Marketing and Solutions for Huawei. “It’s about time that we address mobile connectivity not just in terms of speed or capacity or coverage, but also in terms of ecosystem accessibility, affordability,…

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party has affirmed reports that they have not been sharing the Political Parties Funds with former coalition members in Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) and the National Super Alliance (NASA). In a statement, ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna said that the move was occasioned by legal issues that have made former coalition members including the Wiper Party, Amani National Congress (ANC) and Forum for the Restoration of Democracy – Kenya (Ford Kenya) not qualify for the funds. Sifuna quoted Section 25(2) of the Political Parties Act which requires that for a Party to qualify…

The world’s only white giraffe found in Kenya has been fitted with a GPS tracker at Ishaqbini conservancy in Garissa county after poachers killed two of the three remaining white giraffes. The giraffe is said to suffer from a rare condition called leucism, that alters its genetic traits, hence the white colour. A white female giraffe and her calf were killed by poachers in March this year leaving only one surviving giraffe with the rare trait. Read: Court Gives Go-Ahead On Huduma Namba, Bars Collection Of GPS, DNA Data Following the deaths, the board of Ishaqbini community conservancy sent a…

American cybersecurity corporation Fortinet has recognised Safaricom as the Best-Managed Security Services Provider in East Africa. Safaricom achieved the fastest and most efficient evaluation, deployment and operation of the technology among small, medium and large enterprises in the market. “We are very honoured to win this award as it is a true reflection of our comprehensive understanding of the unique security needs that businesses of different sizes have especially with the recent push to digitize operations,” CEO Peter Ndegwa said. Ndegwa says that the accolade acknowledges the investments made by the giant telco into reducing the complexity of safeguarding enterprises…

Apple and Google have joined the Next G alliance, a US trade group that consists of potential 6G Stakeholders. The group is managed by trade association,  ATIS, and is due to convene this week. The  Next G alliance operates with a vision to “advance North American mobile technology leadership in 6G and beyond over the next decade while building on the long-term evolution of 5G.” Despite the fact that some parts of the world are yet to be connected to the internet, especially in Africa and Asia, 6G is already becoming a reality. Read: 44 Countries Have Already Launched 5G…