Author: Francis Muli

Kenyans today were left speculating after Deputy President William Ruto met former President the late Daniel Moi’s longest serving press secretary Lee Njiru. During Lee’s service to the retired President in his last days, Ruto was not allowed to meet Moi for unexplained reasons. It is perceived that Mr Njiru carried a lot of Moi’s secrets after serving him for 42 years, and it was though that he might never meet Ruto, who is perceived to be a public enemy to the Moi family. Ruto heaped praises on Njiru, terming him as a brilliant legend in the media industry, who…

Huawei Kenya has launched their new initiative, UniTech Talk, a regular lecture series for University lecturers, students and tech enthusiasts to share the latest technologies, industry trends, development policies and insights. The UniTech Talk series will help position the Kenyan ICT industry to take advantage of the latest technologies, providing more awareness, knowledge and insights on where the opportunities are and the technical capabilities to grasp them. The series complements the ICT Academy program that partners with universities and training institutes to provide advanced, in-depth globally certified programs to hundreds of lecturers and thousands of students a year in Kenya…

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayers has resigned from his position, just four months after he took up the job. TikTok has been facing opposition from US President Trump’s administration, resulting in an imminent ban if current sales talks are not concluded. In recent weeks, as the political environment has sharply changed, I have done significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require, and what it means for the global role I signed up for,” Mayer said in a letter viewed by the Financial Times. “Against this backdrop, and as we expect to reach a resolution very soon, it is…

Jambojet’s customers can now pay for their air tickets using Bonga Points following a partnership between the carrier and Safaricom. The partnership will allow Jambojet customers redeem their Bonga Points to purchase air ticket to any of its six local destinations namely Nairobi, Mombasa, Diani, Malindi, Kisumu and Eldoret. To pay for the flight ticket using Bonga Points, dial *126# select ‘Lipa Na Bonga Points’, then select ‘Pay Bill’. One will then be prompted to enter the Jambojet Pay Bill number, 737700, and account number, which is the Reference Number issued during booking. The customer will then be required to…

End month is the period most people gift themselves for a hard work done throughout the month, or even gift loved ones. With the advent of Covid-19, online shopping has been the order of the day as people observe social distancing guidelines. One of the leading online shops in Kenya is Safaricom’s Masoko.com, which has various offers of several items such as phones, tablets and computers. Today we look at top five end month offers on phones:- Tecno Pop 2X PLUS Tecno Pop 2X PLUS is one of the latest 4G smart phones for low budget consumers. The phone has…

Apple announced new updates on iOS 14 in June and one notable change is that apps will be required to ask users for permission to collect and share their data using Apple’s Device Identifier. This will make it more difficult for companies to track users’ data and Facebook has revealed that this will have devastating effects on its business. Facebook’s Audience Network has been using the Unique Device Identifier (IDFA) to track users data and develop personalized advertising in third-party apps “For developers and publishers using Audience Network, our ability to deliver targeted ads on iOS 14 will be limited.…

TikTok is taking hits from all directions starting from an impending ban in the US, Facebook’s recent launch of Reels in Instagram and joining the foray is Google, which is now reported to be testing TikTok style videos on its discover feed. Google discover displays a feed of the most relevant information according to your preferences. The feed is reportedly showing short TikTok like videos as a test. As TikTok’s woes deepen, companies have been rushing to replicate and offer users alternatives to the popular app. Google Discover is said to be displaying videos from similar video making apps Trell…

The High Court has ordered the Ngirita family to surrender three vehicles and five parcels of land to the State. Issuing the order, Judge Mumbi Ngugi said that the properties are proceeds of crime. Among the vehicles include a Toyota Station Wagon (2009) registration KCH 753U, Toyota Station Wagon (2016) registration number KCH 600H and a Toyota Pickup (2016) registration number KCH 889M. The parcels of land to be surrendered to the state include Waitalulc/Mabonde Block 12/Sirende/410 measuring 0.70 hectares situated within Trans Nzoia county, Naivasha/Municipality Block 2/884 measuring o.2305 hectares in Nakuru county, No. L.R 8208/4 Nakuru East measuring…

President Uhuru Kenyatta gave his 11th State Address since the outbreak of Covid-19 in Kenya this afternoon. He gave new directives based on the current status of the pandemic in the country. The President gave new directives including the formation of a National Consultative Conference to review the country’s national and county covid-19 response and together with all stakeholders, chart Kenya’s post-covid future. He also noted that since the start of the pandemic, Kenyans have had to cut down gatherings in churches, funerals and other events. He said that after consultations with the Inter-Faith Council, the number of people allowed…

Facebook has announced that it is working rapidly to go international with a news tab feature which will see news publishers get paid for content delivered on the social media platform. Facebook debuted its News Section in the US last year and has announced plans to roll out the feature globally starting with Brazil, Britain, France, Germany and India. “In each country, we’ll pay news publishers to ensure their content is available in the new product,” Facebook global news partnerships vice president Campbell Brown said in a blog post. “We will keep building new products and making global investments to…

Outspoken city Pastor Godfrey Migwi now says he will never officiate any marriage that the man has not seen the wife to be without makeup three weeks to the wedding day. In a Facebook post, the pastor says that makeups have become a form of deception and a cause of divorce, since men marry a different face from what they see. “I will never officiate any wedding in the church if the man has not got the privilege to see the bride face to face without makeups at least three weeks in their courtship,” wrote Migwi. He also urged other…

Safaricom customers will now enjoy free 500MB daily bonus data in new campaign dubbed ‘Browse Bila Waas’. The bundle will be available to customers with every purchase of a personalized no-expiry data bundle and will be accessible to both Prepay and PostPay on *544# under option “0” – Unlock your Free 500MB. “Our ambition is to connect our customers to the opportunities presented by the internet by availing affordable data, expanding our 4G network and facilitating access to quality smartphones,”CEO Peter Ndegwa said. “The new data offer goes back to our promise to always provide our customers with more for…

Anti-fraud firm, Upstream has discovered a malware pre-installed on thousands of Chinese phones which are sold in Africa. The malware signs users up for subscription services without their authorization. Upstream found the code on 53,000 Tecno mobile phones which were sold in Ethiopia, Ghana, Cameroon, Egypt and South Africa. The firm also reported that it had found ‘suspicious activity’ in more than 200,000 Tecno smartphones. According to the phone manufacturer, Transsion, the malware was installed along the supply chain without their knowledge. Research firm, IDC revealed that Transsion is a leading phone manufacturer in China and the top-selling mobile phone manufacturer…

Facebook has started rolling out the Facebook shop tab on its App. The company had announced that they were working on the feature when they unveiled a  shopping tab on Instagram in July. The feature will enable small businesses to sell their products on Facebook. The social media platform has developed Facebook shops with the aim of creating a marketplace for small businesses on the app which previously did not have a storefront. Most marketing pages on Facebook list catalogues of their products but to shop, clients are often redirected to external e-commerce websites where they can place their orders…

Board of management (BOM) teachers will be paid Ksh10,000 per month for five months to December, the government has said. This means that the teachers might not be compensated for the previous months they have gone without pay since March when the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in the country. “Each teacher must sign for the money personally and records must be kept for later auditing,” said Education Pincipal Secretary Belio Kipsang in a circular to regional coordinators of education and county directors of education. The money will only be paid to teachers who worked at the schools as…