Author: Francis Muli

Safaricom today unveiled their Sustainable Business Report 2020 through a virtual event on zoom and YouTube. The event was hosted by Citizen TV News Presenter Yvonne Okwara Matole with keynote speeches from notable personalities including the immediate former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication Bitange Ndemo, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa and the CEO of Capital Realtime Ltd, Kiprono Kittony. The theme for this year’s report is “Resilience through transition” highlighting Safaricom’s growth and strength in the face of disruption. Challenging situations that shook the company include the passing of their CEO Bob Collymore which saw the company…

Construction of 16,000 capacity Kirigiti Stadium near Kiambu town has commenced, and will be complete in seven months, the contractor has said. The construction was launched this week by Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed after the National Government released Ksh590 million for rehabilitation of the stadium. The stadium will have two basketball courts, a swimming pool and an amphitheater, netball and volleyball courts, a football pitch and an athletics track. “The President has insisted that stadiums must be done for the youths of the country. The youths must have a ground to grow and develop their talents,” said Ms Mohammed. The…

LinkedIn has integrated popular videoconferencing services, Zoom, Teams and BlueJeans into its messenger app. This will make it easier for professionals to organize and conduct meetings without leaving the platform. Videoconferencing has become more popular since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. With work from home advisories, many companies have been holding meetings remotely through the videoconferencing apps. LinkedIn has integrated the Microsoft Teams, Zoom and BlueJeans apps into its platform for easy access and convenience. Users can now request a meeting from LinkedIn, and send it on the app where they also get to host it. Their messenger will…

Police have now shifted their focus to Lucy Wahu, the third wife to missing Thika businessman Julius Gitau who went missing three weeks ago. The police feel that Wahu and Mr Gitau’s driver, Mr Geoffrey Wachira, could have lied in their statements to the police, suggesting a forced disappearance and conspiracies to cover up. First of all, Wahu and Wachira while reporting Mr Gitau’s disappearance, indicated his age as 60 instead of 44, raising suspicion on whether Ms Wahu knew the real age of his husband. “The two reported Gitau as missing at around 4pm. Of great interest is that…

Apple finally unveiled the iPhone 12 this evening after pushing the event from its usual September announcement. Dubbed Hi, Speed, the virtual event featured details of the much anticipated iPhone. The most prominent feature of the iPhone 12 isits5G capabilities which seemingly inspired the event’s tagline. Just like iPhone 11, the iPhone 12 features a 6.1 inch display with an all new OLED screen. The phone also has flat aluminum sides for a polished look closely resembling the iPad Pro and iPad Air. Apple says that the water resistant OLED screen is also fitted with aceramic shield for improved durability.…

Maersk, arguably world’s biggest container shipping company has announced plans to lay off over 2,000 employees as it plans to cut costs. This is despite the company announcing recovery in business following adverse economic effects caused worldwide by the Covid-19 pandemic. “A.P. Moller – Maersk is on track to deliver a strong quarter 3 with solid earnings growth across all our businesses, in particular in Ocean and Logistics & Services. Volumes have rebounded faster than expected, our costs have remained well under control, freight rates have increased due to strong demand,” Chief Executive Soren Skou said in a statement. Maersk…

Samsung has unveiled its latest smartphone, the Galaxy A42 5G. The unveiling happened ahead of Apple’s anticipated iPhone 12 event. The Samsung Galaxy A42 5G is the latest addition to Samsung’s A-series line up and is considered the most affordable 5G smartphone. “We’re excited to bring to market our latest 5G smartphone within the A-Series line-up. The Galaxy A42 5G delivers premium features and innovation, powered ready for super-fast 5G network connectivity; it is part of our ongoing commitment to deliver next-generation connectivity to more people,” says James Kitto, VP of Sales at Samsung UK and Ireland. Read: Here Are…

Ahead of the International E-Waste Day on 14th October, Safaricom has announced that it will work with partners and regulators to support the informal sector in e-waste management. Through the programme, the telco aims to create a sustainable business model which will create employment opportunities and link the sector to potential markets for their products. The programme will also see the telco work with regulators to support the licensing of informal sector players to increase their capacity and foster transparency in their waste management operations. Safaricom has collected over 1,200 tonnes of e-waste working in partnership with the Waste Electrical and…

Techno Brain Kenya are no longer eligible to engage or bid for any World Bank financed projects. The ICT firm was found to be engaging in fraudulent activities, prompting the 28 month debarment. The World Bank issued a statement yesterday explaining how Techno Brain Kenya won a tender in Liberia fraudulently. The company is said to have engaged in a plan that saw them obtain and edit confidential bidding documents to bag the contract. “Techno Brain Kenya was subsequently awarded the contract, even though its bid did not meet tender requirements, thus necessitating a substantial reduction in the extent of…

A proposed change to the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) Act will see 100 constituencies lose at least Ksh771 million of the funds they receive every year. In the proposed changes, the 290 constituencies will equally share 75 percent of the annual NG-CDF allocation, with the rest distributed based on the number of wards in each constituency. The changes contained in the National Government Development Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2019 have already been adopted by the National Assembly’s Select Committee on the NG-CDF. “Using the annual allocation for 2020/21 of Sh41.7 billion the proposal resulted in a high of Sh156.8…

Facebook has started rolling out Marketplace in Kenya, four years after the official rollout in the United States. The tech giant confirmed that the feature will rolled out in Kenya and should be available for use by end of November this year. “We had already seen people buying and selling with each other on Facebook so we decided to launch Facebook Marketplace —  a safe and convenient destination in the Facebook app where Kenyans can discover, buy and sell items from people in their community,” Facebook Head of Public Policy for East and Horn of Africa, Mercy Ndegwa said. Facebook…

A survey from the World Wide Web Foundation revealed that only 19 percent of women in Uganda use the internet compared to 27 percent of men in the country. The survey was conducted in four countries targeting women’s online experience. In Ghana, men were found to be 6 percent more likely to go online compared to women. In Uganda, men are 43 percent more likely to go online although the overall internet usage usage remains low at 27 percent compared to Ghana’s 30 percent. The report warns that women’s exclusion from the digital society is a huge threat on gender…

Family Health Options Kenya (FHOK) executive director (ED) Edward Marienga has been accused of embezzling institution funds amounting to millions, Kahawa Tungu can authoritatively report. According to an audit report in our possession, Mr Marienga and the Director of Finance and Administration (DFA) have been receiving kickbacks from the institution’s suppliers.The two even admitted that they had been receiving favours from suppliers. “The ED informed us that they normally receive gifts from suppliers in the form of additional items (i.e., free gifts) or 10% of the contract amount in cash. The DFA informed us that he received a “token of…

The Kenya Revenue Authority will start using Internet-enabled electronic tax registers to track real-time data on traders’ daily sales. The new law was published by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani as a measure to curb tax evasion. Businesses will be required to install new electronic tax registers which are connected to KRA for monitoring. Electronic tax registers are a requirement for all businesses with an annual turnover of Sh 5 million. The new system will enable KRA to receive sales and data from registered companies and companies on a daily basis. The move will boost revenue collections and curb tax…

Data usage in Kenya increased by 5.1 percent between April and June 2020, a report from the Communications Authority shows. The Communication Authority released its fourth quarter financial report for 2019/2020 showing that the total internet subscriptions hit 41 million compared to 39 million that was recorded in the previous quarter. The authority attributed the growth to the increased demand for information online. “The number of data/Internet subscriptions continued to grow due to increased demand for access to information online, coupled with the transfer of more services to the digital space,” said CA. Read: Safaricom Adds Data And Airtime Usage…