Author: Francis Muli

The Casino employees union has written to the Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i seeking to reopen business with strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols. The Chairman, Mark Wanyanga, noted that many employees had been rendered jobless since March, when the first case of the novel Corona virus was reported in the country. “We are requesting the CS to consider reopening our businesses to enable us earn a living.” Mr Wanyanga said, noting the industry employs about 10,000 employees with around 30,000 dependents. The union also revealed that the employees were drowning in debt and were facing multiple threats from lenders and…

Police in Kehancha Sub-County are investigating a theft syndicate by health officials after two suspects were arrested with stolen hospital beds. Kuria West Sub-County police commander Cleti Kimaiyo revealed that the most of the beds were from Kehancha Sub-county hospital. Over 100 beds are reported to have disappeared after they were sneaked out of the hospital during a public auction. Investigations show that the suspects ferried the beds were in a lorry and produced a forged auction certificate, claiming they had been authorized by health department officials to pick up the beds. “The two are helping with investigations, we are…

US President Donald Trump has issued another executive order giving ByteDance a reprieve by extending the TikTok sale deadline to 90 days. The company now has up to three months to negotiate and complete a sales deal or wrap up its operations in the US. “There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that ByteDance … might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States,” Trump wrote in the order, which references national security concerns. The Trump administration has had concerns with that TikTok could compromise national security by sharing information with the Chinese…

Snapchat has launched lenses to be used specifically on TikTok. The company is aware that many social media users like to use their lenses for images which they share on other apps. Snap has now partnered with four TikTok stars to create lenses which can be used on the app. The new lenses will track people’s bodies as they move and change poses. One of the lenses is said to place rain around the person with cartoon lightning bolts and fireworks, depending on their movement. Snapchat has revealed that the lenses track 18 joints around the body and users can…

Daniel Adongo is remembered as the first Kenyan to play in the National Football League (NFL), a game that Americans worship just like the British do to soccer. Until three days ago, very few people knew his whereabouts and how he is faring on with life after bagging a Ksh216 million contract in 2013. In 2013, Indianapolis Colts, an AFC South team, and one of the only 16 NFL teams in the United States poached Adongo from the Blue Bulls of Pretoria. The scouts and coaches of the Colts had not heard of Adongo before. They had only seen a…

The Co-operative Bank of Kenya (Co-op Bank) restructured loans worth Ksh39.2 billion to support borrowers who have been affected by Covid-19 pandemic between March and June. Releasing the half year financial results for the period ended June 2020, the bank said that several of their clients had faced reduced cash flow after the first case was confirmed and containment measures announced. “We are actively engaging our customers to support them through this period by re-aligning servicing of facilities, funding and transactional needs as the situation unfold,” said Co-op Bank Group MD Gideon Muriuki. As of June, the total amount of…

The prices of secondhand imported cars of popular brands like Mazda Demio, Toyota Fielder, Toyota V8 and Subaru Outback  have dropped by between Ksh100,000 and Ksh1.2 million. The drop represents over 15 percent of the normal prices even as importers grapple with reduced demand due to the effects of Covid-19 pandemic to the economy. The price of a 2013 model of Toyota V8 has dropped from Ksh9.2 million to Ksh8 million, while that of a 2013 Subaru Outback is going for Ksh2.3 million, down from Ksh2.5 million. A 2013 Toyota Premio can now be bought for Ksh1.6 million down from…

Apple is planning to unveil a bunch of subscription services along with the latest iPhone release in October this year, Bloomberg has reported. The services, dubbed ‘Apple One’ internally, will likely not necessarily be known as such. The subscription will be tiered with the most basic comprising a combo of Apple Music and Apple TV, followed by an addition of Apple Arcade in the next tier, and addition of Apple News in the third tier and an addition of extra iCloud storage in the topmost tier. The top tier subscription services are also rumoured to include an as-yet seen fitness…

Google is testing a function that will see them display website domain names on the Google Chrome address bar instead of the full URLs. The feature has been developed with the aim of protecting websites from scams and phishing attacks, and will be tested on the upcoming Chrome 86 release. Domain names and URLS’ are the main pointers online, allowing users to search and find anything and anyone online. Unfortunately, the same can be used to target and mislead people. Hackers and scammers are known to develop ingenious ways of misleading people for instance creating fake websites with URLs containing…

Postal Corporation of Kenya (Posta) employees have not received their salaries for five months now, it has emerged. The employees now want the National Assembly through the departmental committee on Information, Communication and Technology to intervene. Through Wajir East MP Rashid Amin, Posta employees want the Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communications and Telecommunication to initiate a rescue plan for the cash strapped parastatal. “I, the undersigned, on behalf of the employees of the Postal Corporation of Kenya draw the attention of the House that over the past five years, the corporation has consistently posted a deficit in an increasing trend…

Facebook has introduced yet another function in its continued efforts towards curbing the spread of misinformation regarding the Coronavirus pandemic. The social media platform will now use a notification screen to warn users about the context of the information they are about to share. “We want to make sure people have the context they need to make informed decisions about what to share on Facebook, especially when it comes to COVID-19 content,” says the social media giant in an official blog post. “So today, we’re starting to roll out a global notification screen to give people more context about COVID-19…

The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and the Mastercard Foundation have launched a fund to provide loans to a maximum of 400 Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) whose businesses have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The loan facility will be interest-free and repayable by up to six months. The Fund is created through support from the Mastercard Foundation COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program and is targeting businesses that find it difficult to access financing from formal lending institutions such as banks and micro-financers. Priority will be given to businesses run by women and young people. KEPSA will carry…

The Sh1,000 weekly M-pesa stipend to cushion Kenyans during this tough financial times is a reality to some, a rumour to many and unknown to the majority. The government has now announced plans to stop the payments after six months of sending Sh 1,000 to vulnerable Kenyans through Mpesa on a weekly basis. The Cabinet Secretary for Labour and Social Protection, Simon Chelugui, told parliament that the cash transfers would be halted within the first week of October. The government estimates to have spent about Sh1.36 billion every month in cash transfers to some of Kenya’s poorest households. About 341,958…

Fuel prices are set to hike once more in the upcoming August review by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). The price per litre of Petrol and Diesel is set to go up by Ksh3.32 and Ksh2.57 respectively, according to reports by Business Daily. This will see the price of a litre of petrol retail at Ksh103.80 in Nairobi from the current Ksh100.48, while a litre of diesel will retail at Ksh94.44, up from the current Ksh91.87. The increase in prices could be attributed to the implementation of petrol levy at Ksh5.40 from Ksh0.40, a 1,250 percent rise. The…

Businesswoman and the proprietor of beauty salon and spa Posh Palace, Susan Kaittany has has announced expansion of her business to deal with high-end beauty products. Kaittany says that she will soon be launching “one of a kind” beauty hub; retailing high-street products targeting the luxury market. “The international cosmetics and skincare venture will feature brands like Fenti and Dior, and the physical shop is set to launch in the next few days,” she says. “The idea of her beauty business was informed by the need to create a safe haven where women could relax, unwind while receiving state of-the-art…