Author: Francis Muli

Kenya Airways’ (KQ) suspension at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has been extended for further six months. The extension becomes effective from October 4, and has been approved by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to allow KQ adequate time to prepare for its planned nationalisation. Currently, National Management Aviation Bill, 2020 which will legalise nationalisation of the airline, is under the second phase of public participation. In the nationalisation plan, KQ will merge with  Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) under a new company, the Kenya Aviation Corporation Board. If enacted, the bill will pave way for buyout of minority shareholders at…

NCBA bank has been trending on social media for the better part of the week with disgruntled customers sharing their frustrations accessing their services. Some users have reported inability to access the bank’s online portal while others have decried their lack of customer service. Frustrated customers seem unable to get help and this has resulted in a few not so friendly tweets. NCBA had apparently alerted its Customers of a System integration that has led to intermittent services in some of their channels. However, the bank promised its customers that the systems would be working well by Monday, only for…

Former Local Government permanent secretary Sammy Kirui has been acquitted by the High Court over his involvement in Ksh283 million cemetery land saga. Kirui was jailed for three years alongside former City Town clerk John Gakuo after being found guilty of abuse of office and failure to comply with procurement rules. Gakuo later died while serving his jail term. Others who were convicted in the saga include former legal director in the now defunct Nairobi City Council (NCC) Mary Ngethe and a tender committee member Alexander Musee. In his ruling that acquitted kirui, Justice John Onyiego said there was insufficient…

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has reported a decline in the number of mobile internet subscribers following uncertainty over a proposed merger deal between Airtel and Telkom. According to the report, there were only 38.85 million internet subscribers as of March 2020, a 16 percent fall from 46.46 million subscribers in the same period last year. “The merger deal collapsed last month with Airtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya citing unacceptable conditions placed on the proposed amalgamation besides delays in receiving regulatory approvals,” reports Business Daily. “The companies had entered into an agreement on February 8, 2019 to combine their…

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has rubbished claims that foreigners are handling the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) famously known as Huduma Namba. In a statement on Friday, Matiangi said that 90 per cent  of the datasets collected have been cleaned up and matched, with mass production of Huduma cards set to begin by end year. “The database logistics and the software for NIIMS are 100 per cent Kenyan government funded, designed and developed and solely managed by Kenyans,” said Matiang’i. This comes in the wake of allegations by Deputy President allies that Foreigners were handling Huduma Namba, and…

Ethiopia airlines recently completed its 86,000 square metre terminal expansion at Bole International airport, Addis Ababa making it the second largest capacity airport in the continent after South Africa’s O.R. Tambo International. Bole now has the capacity to serve up 22 million passengers a year. The $300 million project has seen the airport transition from an ordinary terminal to a distinct ultramodern facility geared towards biosafety. The Covid-19 pandemic has seen the airport adapt to high levels of hygiene and the digitization of most of its processes in efforts to achieve contact-less travel. The airport features state of the art…

Cytonn Investments CEO Edwin Dande denied reports that its unregulated investment arm, the Cytonn High Yield Solution (CHYS) has defaulted as reported by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA). In a statement to investors and stakeholders, Dande says that CHYS is not regulated by the CMA, and that the media misreported the developments. This comes after the Daily Nation and its sister paper the Business Daily reported that 13 investors had reported CHYS to CMA for defaulting a payout of Ksh122.8 milion. In his response, Dande says that the investment arm has over 4,000 investor, and only 13 disgruntled investors reported…

The current Lands Permanent Secretary Nicholas Muraguri has been accused of  hiding documents in the infamous Ksh63 billion managed equipment services (MES) while he was the Health PS between 2015 and 2017. According to a Senate report on the scandal, Muraguri withheld the contracts and other supporting documents on grounds that they were ‘secret’. In the contract, the State was to supply counties with medical equipment, but it was found that the supplies were “overpriced and unnecessary”. The report reveals that the then Health cabinet secretary Dr Cleopa Mailu was denied access of the contract documents, alongside other top health officials.…

Huawei AM08 Bluetooth Speaker Swan Mini Portable Subwoofer Music Player Handsfree Call CSR A2DP Wireless Speaker by BDZ The speaker features an elegant design based on a swan’s graceful appearance. It has high audio neodymium magnet quality meaning the sound output is authentic and natural. The speaker features 360 degree surround sound with a maximum volume of 83dB from a 10m transmission distance. The breathing light keeps flickering with the music to create a conducive atmosphere. Bluetooth: 4.0 Bluetooth, Protocol: Support, A2DP1.2, HFP1.6, HSP1.2, AVRCP1. Interface: Micro-USB Power: 1.8W Input Voltage: 4.75V-5.25V Sony Bluetooth Compact Portable…

Wikipedia is getting a new look for the first time in a decade to make it more appealing to new users. The website, which is a go to referral for personalities, places, companies and history is an integral part of the overall web culture worldwide. Users can access the crowd sourced encyclopedia entries using their smartphones, tablets or desktop computers. Among the proposed features detailed in a mediawiki post include changes to the header. “The first iteration of this header includes a reconfigured logo, of a smaller size (however the wordmark and tagline remain the same size as they are…

Instagram is unveiling a bunch of new updates to its latest invention, Instagram Reels. Among the updates are longer slots for the videos, increasing to 30 seconds from 15. Reels main competitor, TikTok, allows users to record up to one-minute length videos. Instagram will also extend the Reels timer from three seconds to ten seconds and allow users to trim and delete clips in an attempt to make the editing process easier. Instagram is yet to release any statistics on the use of Reels so far. It has been barely two months and maybe they are still observing and tweaking…

The children of the late founder of Tuskys Supermarket Joram Kamau risk losing ownership of the chain retailer in Ksh2 billion deal with Mauritius-based investor. The unnamed investor is demanding that the seven siblings place all their shares as security for the loan, which they will have to cede in case they default the loan. Tuskys’ holding company, Orakam Holdings, through lawyer Philip Murgor has already summoned all the shareholders to a shareholders’ meeting on Monday, September 28, to sign the agreement. “A notice has been sent for shareholders of Orakam on September 28, 2020 to validate negotiations of receiving…

Safaricom finally launched its new MySafaricom App which has been on Beta since February this year. The app has been available to download on Google Playstore and Apple App store but in the beta version. Last week, however, Safaricom issued an update to its users to replace the old MySafaricom app with the new one. According to Safaricom, the beta version was downloaded 50,000 times while the old MySafaricom app had 6.1 million users. All apps which were incomplete or blocked in the beta version are now activated and accessible. The app comes with a clean neat user interface that…

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has withdrawn charges against JamboPay boss Danson Muchemi in Ksh1.1 billion case at the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). Muchemi, alongside his business partner Robert Muriithi and their company Web Tribe ltd, agreed to become state witnesses and cooperate with the DPP in the case. In the agreement, Business Daily reports that the two will make a full disclosure of how they were awarded the contract and its extension. JamboPay was contracted in 2014 to offer a payment solution to NHIF at a fee of between four and 4.5 per cent of collections. The…

The High Court has issued stay orders against the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) over its attempt to limit Cytonn High Yield Fund (CHYF) to 10 percent investments into Cytonn managed projects. Recently CMA asked that CHYF, which is regulated by CMA, to reduce its investments into Cytonn managed projects to a maximum of 10 percent of CHYF, allegedly as per regulation 16 (2) of the Collective Investments Schemes regulations. This prompted a court case filed by Cytonn Investments CEO Edwin Dande seeking to quash the directive from CMA. In court documents seen by this writer, Dande argues that the regulation…