Author: Francis Muli

Firefox team has redesigned its Android browser known as “Fenix”. The new updated version comes with a lot of changes to enhance the browsing experience. With this update, Firefox’s stable channel on Google Play Store jumps from v68 to v79 and include a year’s worth of updates for the browser all at once. The updated version uses the same codebase from the beta versions of Firefox on Android, as well as pulling over the redesigned UI. Among the changes, you will notice include the more modern design and some quality-of-life changes. You can now move the address bar to the…

Central Bank of Kenya’s (CBK) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has retained the benchmark lending rates at 7 percent for the third time in a row. In a statement, CBK termed the current monetary stance as “accommodative”, in relation to the prevailing economic conditions caused by Covid-19 pandemic. “The MPC concluded that the current accommodative monetary policy stance remains appropriate, and therefore decided to retain the Central Bank Rate (CBR) at 7.00 percent,” the statement read in part. CBK said that the economic outlook for 2020 remains highly uncertain, reflecting the unpredictability of the severity and persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic.…

M-Net, the MultiChoice Group’s flagship channel on DStv Premium, has acquired the rights from The Walt Disney Company to screen Black Is King across Africa. The film by Beyoncé is based on the music of The Lion King: The Gift from last year’s release of Disney’s The Lion King.  The teaser and trailer about this new visual album are already available. M-Net is scheduled to bring Black Is King to the continent within 24-hours of its debut on Disney+. The M-Net screening is scheduled for Saturday, August 1 at  20:00 CAT and 21:00 EAT. And, DStv customers who don’t have access to M-Net will also not miss out.…

The latest video to capture the public’s imagination this week is of a press conference organized by a group of people, dressed in white coats, with one of them claiming to be a doctor treating Covid-19. As it has emerged, the video was created by US right-wing media outlet Breitbart. The video depicts a group of people calling themselves “America’s Frontline Doctors” staging a press conference outside the US Supreme Court in Washington DC. The video has done rounds on Facebook shared on individual accounts and various groups. The content is very catchy, with strong claims that the drug hydroxychloroquine…

Digital payments group based in Dubai, Network International, is set to acquire Kenyan-based Direct Pay Online (DPO) Group for USD288 Million (approximately Ksh29 billion). Network International, which operates in Middle East and Parts of Africa is looking to solidify its footing in the African market. The Venture will fund the acquisition through proceeds of an equity placing representing 10 percent of the Company’s existing issued share capital, USD50 million vendor consideration shares issued to Apis Growth Fund and USD13 million consideration shares issued to the DPO co-founders. The remaining amount will be funded through existing debt facilities. “We are excited…

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has declared Friday, July 31, a public Holiday to celebrate Idd-ul-Azha. Idd-ul-Azha is the single-most important feast of the Islamic year, falling on the 10th day of the final month of the Islamic calendar (Dhu al Hijjah). The date moves on the Gregorian calendar by around 10 days per year. “Friday, 31st July, 2020 has been designated as a Public Holiday of General Observance throughout the territory of the Republic of Kenya in celebration of Idd-ul-Azha,” said Matiang’i in a Gazette notice dated July 29. Matiang’i added that celebrations countrywide will be made in full…

TikTok seems to stumble on a new challenge each week. As the US government is still mulling with the idea of banning the short video app, Facebook is reportedly offering money to top TikTok influencers in a bid to lure them to create content for Reels. Reels is a short video platform, viewed as Facebook’s attempt to compete with TikTok, which currently has over 2 billion downloads worldwide. Facebook is getting ready to launch the app in August and this explains their attempt to lure influencers. According to the WallStreet Journal, Facebook has asked the TikTok content creators to post…

Microsoft has launched a new family safety app for iOS and Android. The app, which has been in testing for a few months now, is designed to allow families manage screen time and app usage. Using the Family app, parents can now receive reports on their children’s app usage, including how much time is spent on each. They can also set limits on the time to spend on each app with the ability for children to request for an extension. Microsoft Family safety syncs across Windows, Xbox and Android so that time limits set on the app will also be…

The Covid-19 pandemic seems to be hitting Kenyan citizens selectively as the wealthy have managed to keep orders for luxury cars high. Despite the much talked about financial crisis in the country, orders for Mercedes and BMW have in fact seen a 14.5 per cent increase in the last six months. The Kenya Motor Vehicle Industry Association (KMI) reported that BMW and Mercedes saw a rise in the orders for high-end cars to 79 units in the review period compared to 69 units same period, a year earlier.’ As the luxury car sales increased, the entire new vehicle market in…

Wanted Kenyan fugitive Mansur Surur, alias Mansour, has been arrested at Mombasa Airport after landing from Yemen. Surur is wanted in the US over links to illegal rhino horn and elephant ivory trade and is also a member of a gang known as African Criminal Enterprise which deals with large-scale trafficking of rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory and heroin distribution. Surur was charged alongside his Kenyan counterpart Abdi Hussein Ahmed, Moazu Kromah alias Ayoub alias Kampala Man from Liberia and Amara Cherif alias Bamba Issiaka from Guinea. In a media statement from the US State Department of Justice dated June…

Reinstated Nairobi County Assembly clerk Jacob Ngwele has issued a notice suspending Speaker Beatrice Elachi awaiting tabling and debate of an impeachment motion against her. In the notice of suspension, Ngwele says that he has received a Notice of Motion, dated July 27, 2020 and sponsored by MCA Waithera Chege, seeking to impech Elachi over gross misconduct, incompetence and violation of the Constitution among other reasons. “This Office, in compliance with the provisions of the said Section 11 of the Act and the Standing Orders, has undertaken a verification exercise for compliance of the Notice of Motion to the law…

Economist David Ndii says that secession is an option to the losing counties in the revenue allocation debate, if the formula proposed by the Commission for Revenue Allocation (CRA) is passed by Senate. “If Kenyatta and his Kikuyu supremacist cabal feel it is intolerable, there is always the alternative of a full federal system. Mombasa and Lamu get to keep their ports. Turkana gets to develop its oil resources. Marsabit gets to charge for its wind resources. The Tsavo National Park reverts to Taita-Taveta county. Without a commitment to equitable development, there is no social contract, which is to say, sooner…

Hormuud telecoms, one of the largest telecommunication companies in Somalia, has revealed its aim to reach 100 per cent of the population with its mobile money financial solution. Over the last 10 years, the telecommunications industry in Somali has grown substantially to accommodate about 11 different providers in the market. Due to the healthy competition, the average cost of 1GB data bundles have fallen to the lowest levels in Africa and the Middle East. Despite the long history with civil unrest, Somalia seems to have gotten a good grip on its business community. Mobile money penetration in the country’s urban…

Google has announced that it is building a new undersea cable to connect the UK, US and Spain. The company said that it is incorporating new technology into the cables, making it an upgrade from the existing lines. The project is expected to be complete by 2022. According to Google’s estimates, undersea cables are vital to the global communications infrastructure, as they carry about 98 percent of the world’s total data.Undersea cables are built by telecommunication firms, typically by pooling resources and later charging other mid-level companies to use them. The latest cable, named “Grace Hopper” after an American computer…

NCBA Bank has filed an auction suit against businessman Zedekiah Bundotich Kiprop alias Buzeki and his company Buzeki Enterprises over Ksh2.7 Billion debt. NCBA is seeking to block Landmark Port Conveyors Ltd from auctioning 53 trucks and trailers belonging to Buzeki over a Ksh118 million loan. According to the lender associated with the first family, the 53 trucks and trailers are part of the 289 trucks and 141 trailers bought using the Ksh2.7 billion loan. On Friday, Justices Roselyn Nambuye, Hannah Okwengu and Daniel Musinga granted NCBA’s prayers, blocking Landmark Port Conveyors Ltd from auctioning the vehicles. “If the properties…