Author: Francis Muli

President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged Kenyans to take advantage of this period to travel around the country and enjoy the beautiful scenery. The president said that although Kenyans must stick to health measures to keep Covid-19 at bay, you should not be limited and locked in the houses. “You have the ability to take advantage of the wonderful gift God has given this republic and to be able to tour with your family. Despite Covid-19, you are as safe as you want yourself to be,” he said. Uhuru was speaking during a zoom video call with Tourism CS Najib Balala…

Mark Zuckerberg has officially joined the world’s most exclusive club of the ultra rich. The Facebook founder and CEO this week became a Centibillionaire, meaning that he is worth more than $100 billion. Zuckerberg achieved the remarkable milestone after shares in his social network surged. The elite club features two other men; Microsoft’s Bill Gates and, yeah, you guessed it, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Zuckerberg founded Facebook while in Havard in 2004 and to date, his biggest asset is his 13 percent stake in the company. This is according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks the world’s wealthiest people. Zuckerberg,…

Brookhouse schools and parents are embroiled in a fresh tussle after the school asked the parents and guardians to pay Sh 45,000 to re-enroll the students by Monday next week. The Parents’ Association has protested the move terming it as illegal. Parents and Guardians said that the committee had advised them against heeding the call “as it amounts to a new contract and an attempt to undermine the pending petition determination”. By Friday, it was still not clear what would happen if one failed to pay, although according to an official, the parents had misunderstood the request. The parents and…

A fuel tanker lost control and burst into flames along the northern corridor road in Busia, killing the driver instantly on Friday night. The fire, which  spread out to three other trucks ferrying goods sparking fire balls in the vicinity. Teso North sub-county commander Wilson Muraya arrived at the scene where he had a hectic time managing the surging crowd. The county fire engine arrived thirty minutes after the fire broke out and managed to put out the flames. The deceased driver’s body was pulled out of the truck while the occupants of the rest of the trucks managed to…

Kenya Airways (KQ) has suspended operations in eight African routes, after experiencing a deep downturn, which it attributes to the COVID19 Pandemic. In a statement to newsrooms, KQ said that the drastic decline in revenues has had a debilitating effect on the airline’s ability to continue operations. “The immediate outlook of the industry is not promising. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) projects that air travel will most likely take 2-3 years to recover to 2019 levels,” said KQ. Among the routes that have been suspended include Nairobi – Luanda, Angola, Nairobi – Bamako, Mali, Nairobi – Brazzaville, Republic of…

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has declared 30 brands of hand sanitizers substandard, following factory inspections, product certifications and market surveillance activities done recently. Among the brands include Velvex from Chandaria Industries and Zoe by Flame tree Africa Limited, Nairobi. In a statement, KEBZS said that the brands are substandard, and suspended their production and sale immediately. Sanitizers contain antiseptic properties or agents that when used disinfects the hands and can be used on their own when soap and water is not available. They protect users by eliminating or reducing viruses, bacteria and other disease-causing pathogens. “It is against…

Facebook will let its staff continue working from home through July 2021, the company has announced. It joins companies such as Google which have already announced that they will continue to let their staff work remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Facebook has had almost all of its 48,000 workforce operating remotely since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic and stay at home orders issued in March this year.  The tech giant had previously announced that it would let its employees work remotely through 2020. “Based on guidance from health and government experts, as well as decisions drawn from our…

Uber has continued to make losses during this pandemic period, reportedly losing up to $1.8 billion in the last three months, with adjusted net revenues down by 29 per cent compared to Quarter 2 of 2019. The company’s delivery business has been quite successful overseas but not enough to boost its returns. Gross bookings on the ride-hailing division, which shows the amounts before paying drivers, fell by 73 per cent year over year. This was a slight improvement compared to the first quarter of 2020 with an 80 per cent decline. It is no doubt that the Coronavirus pandemic has…

Renowned African football journalist Bonface Osano is the latest entrant in the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) presidential race. FKF Electoral Board is expected to give a roadmap for the repeat polls next week Tuesday. Osano, 34, is not new to football management, he has previously served as Deputy Secretary of former Kenyan Premier League side, Agro Chemicals FC. He promises to give Kenyan football a new face and restore credibility in it’s management. “Kenyan football needs a fresh breath of air; most of the people who are offering themselves for the top job have been tested and failed spectacularly. It’s…

An anonymous hacker has leaked data from the Transnational bank which has been offline for a couple of days now. This was revealed via a twitter account going by the username @SzandorTigris. The alleged hacker promised yesterday that he would share sensitive information today and true to his word, he has shared a Google drive link that contains data from Transnational bank including customer data. https://twitter.com/SzandorTigris/status/1291643697797496832?s=20 According to the alleged hacker, Transnational bank have been telling their customers that they are migrating their systems and even went offline to prove this. He, however, warns that the bank should tell the…

M-Pesa, partly owned by Safaricom and South Africa’s Vodacom Group, is the largest mobile money service provider in Africa, according to data released by the Vodacom Group. Vodacom revealed that the Mobile money service provider processes at least is Ksh1.6 trillion per month in Kenya and other African countries every month. “Since launching in 2007, M-Pesa has grown to have the largest reach of any financial services provider in Africa, with 39.6 million active customers, including Safaricom, up 9.7 percent year-on-year,” said Vodacom. “Customers in our international markets, including Safaricom, now process more than $14.7 billion (Ksh1.6 trillion) a month…

A Ksh5.6 billion dispute between the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Coca-cola company will now be decided in the the Supreme Court. In the dispute which started in 2009, KRA claims that the Coca-cola company failed to pay taxes on costs incurred during washing and sanitising of returned bottles. The Court of Appeal overturned a High Court decision, which allowed the taxman to levy tax on returnable containers, prompting the taxman to move to the Supreme Court. Coca-cola’s three franchises in Kenya, Mount Kenya Bottlers, Rift Valley Bottlers, Nairobi Bottlers and Kisii Bottlers, opposed the move saying that the…

Twitter will henceforth make it easier for users to identify official government accounts and state-affiliated media. The social media platform will begin adding labels to accounts that represent the government and state-backed media. Twitter shared that it will start with “accounts of key government officials, including foreign ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, official spokespeople, and key diplomatic leaders,” and that the “focus is on senior officials and entities who are the official voice of the state abroad.” The labels will initially cover official accounts from the US, UK, Russia, China and France, with more countries to follow in the near future.…

President Donald Trump has signed executive orders officially prohibiting US residents from doing business with Chinese owned apps, TikTok and WeChat after 45 days. The order regarding TikTok prohibits after 45 days “any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd.,” the Chinese company that owns the social media platform. The US president had intimated his intention to ban the Chinese app last week while aboard the Airforce one. The move puts pressure on the sales talk in progress between Tech Giant Microsoft ad TikTok. Microsoft has…

Kenya National Highway Authority (KENHA) has been ordered to pay lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi Ksh750,000 after his Bentley Bentyaga’s windscreen was damaged during road repairs on Nairobi Namanga Road. The money amounts to damages caused, labour for repair work and costs of the case which was filed on November 27, 2018. “The court today rightly held that Public authorities like the Kenya National Highways Authority have a duty of care to road users when they do a shoddy job. KENHA was compelled to pay the cost of my car’s windscreen valued at Ksh.750,311,” he tweeted. https://twitter.com/ahmednasirlaw/status/1291369726065639425 The lawyer argued in court…