Author: Francis Muli

Chief Justice David Maraga on Friday admitted 96 more advocates to the bar, after starting off the process that saw 102 advocates admitted on Thursday. Among the graduands were Sports CS Amina Mohamed and Bob Orengo, James Orengo’s son. “On the second day of admissions today, I presided over the admission of another 96 advocates, among them CS Amina Mohammed, bringing the total to 198 new members who have joined the Bar. My hearty congratulations,” Maraga said. Bob Orengo’s admission also attracted reactions from Kenyans, many urging him to follow in his Father’s footsteps while noting that the family was…

Tuskys Supermarket employees will now be forced to work for only 18 payable days every month, it has emerged. In an email to employees, the retailer said that all employees under the Tusker Mattresses Ltd (TML) banner and Artemis will go for a monthly unpaid leave of 12 days while interns will go for a five-day leave every month. “In one month you will therefore be working up to to a maximum of 18 per days including weekly offs. All pending annual leaves have been suspended until further notice.All ongoing annual leaves have been cancelled with the last date being…

You will soon see a message at the top of your Facebook and Instagram apps reminding you to wear a mask. The company confirmed that they will add a message on the Facebook feed directing you to the Covid-19 information centre with links to the Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) for prevention and more information. Instagram will also have the same prompt with the CDC links The social media giant has said the action has been prompted by the escalation of Covid-19 cases in the US. The country experienced an all time high on Wednesday with 50,000 confirmed cases in…

Images believed to be of Samsung’s latest 5G mobile device have surfaced online, according to The Verge. The Galaxy Z Flip 5G photos, first featured by China’s TENAA certification centre, confirm certain key designs specs as well as a new silver colour scheme. The images indicate that the foldable device is likely powered by the Snapdragon 865+ as opposed to the Snapdragon 855+ which was fitted to the original LTE Z Flip. “There’s still 8GB of RAM, but the batteries are listed with capacities of 2,500mAh and 704mAh, compared to the total capacity of 3,300mAh the phone had previously,” writes…

KaiOS Technologies, in partnership with Econet Wireless have launched the Atom 3G phone in Zimbabwe. It is said to be the first 3G feature smart phone in the country. Announcing the launch, Econet revealed that the phone will be bundled with a 3-month data package offering customers 6GB of data for every purchase. The phone will retail at half of the average price of Android phones in the market, making it one of the most affordable devices in Zimbabwe. “The COVID-19 pandemic has made life difficult for people in Zimbabwe. We want to help them get online, communicate with their…

National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has been suspended from trading its shares at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) as government takeover nears completion. This follows the tabling of the National Aviation Management Bill 2020 in Parliament last week, officially opening the debate into the planned nationalisation of KQ. If enacted, the bill will pave way for buyout of minority shareholders at a premium and converting shares held by banks into Treasury bonds. Currently, the government holds a 48.9 per cent stake while 7.8 per cent is held by Air France-KLM. Minority shareholders hold 2.8 per cent of the shares currently…

Google has launched the “Google For Nonprofits” initiative in Nigeria with an aim of empowering Non-profit organizations (NPO) in the country by providing free premium services. Google for Non-profits will award free access to organizations that qualify for the program. These are the same premium tools used by large enterprises. NPOs which qualify will have access to tools such G-suite for Non-profits, Google Ad grants and YouTube’s Non-Profit program among others. “Nonprofits face unique challenges when making decisions about what technology to acquire amid competing demands for funding and resources. Our overall goal is to provide access to tools and…

President Uhuru Kenyatta has issued a directive to the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) to enable hourly payments for parking in Nairobi. Until today, motorists have been paying a flat rate of Sh 200 daily for parking in the Central Business District (CBD). Director General Mohammed Badi said that parking facilities at the law cours, the sunken car park, Desai road and Machakos Bus station have been automated following the president’s directive. “We have integrated the automation of Desai Road, Machakos Bus Station, Sunken Car Park and the Nairobi Law Courts Parking into the Nairobi Revenue Service Programme,” said Mr Badi.…

Text Book Centre has closed its Kijabe Street outlet after one of its staff members tested positive for Covid-19. In a statement to newsrooms, Text Book Centre said that the store which serves as the headquarters will be opened on Monday, July 6, after thorough cleaning and disinfection. “Text Book Centre Ltd confirms that an officer from one of our service providers attached to Kijabe headquarters tested positive for Covid-19. The individual is currently isolated, in a stable condition and receiving the appropriate medical and counselling support. We also confirm that Covid-19 screening for all staff at the headquarters and…

All Apps connected to your Facebook account should be prevented from accessing your personal data if they have not been in use for more than 90 days. However, the social media platform says it erroneously allowed 5,000 developers to gather information from user profiles long after the time limit on their rights expired. Facebook said that the lock-out failed to work due to a flaw in how it recorded inactivity. It also revealed that its estimate of 5,000 developers was only based on data available from the last few months. “Recently, we discovered that in some instances apps continued to…

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has reported that M-Pesa’s market share has grown to 98.8 per cent with 29.1 million registered active subscribers as of March 31, 2020. Since the establishment of M-Pesa into the market in March 2007, many Kenyans have adapted to the mobile money transfer product entrenching it deeply into Kenya’s economy. Almost every mobile phone user is registered on M-Pesa and businesses depend on it as an alternative to cash payment. It is almost impossible to run a business nowadays without providing the M-Pesa payment option. Read: Safaricom Announces Five Hours Of M-Pesa Outage Over…

Instagram stories is one of the most popular features on the app and as of last year, about 500 million- half of Instagram users- interacted with stories on a daily basis. The company is now testing a feature that will allow users to see more stories at a go on the home screen and introducing a new stories only experience. In the test, you will now see two rows of stories instead of the one row that appears when you open the Instagram. Beneath the expanded stories, there will also be a button you can click to “see all stories”…

The government has banned the importation of brown sugar in Kenya, in a bid to protect local farmers. Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya said that licences for importation of brown sugar had been cancelled with immediate effect, even as the government moves to rescue the ailing sugar industry in the country. This comes hours after President Uhuru Kenyatta met a section of leaders from Western Kenya, where among other agenda they discussed the sugar sector especially Mumias and Nzoia sugar factories. “The Head of State assured the leaders of the Government’s commitment to reviving the sector by fast tracking the…

While Kenyans were discussing the 2020/2021 Budget appropriations by the government, the members of parliament silently shot down the 20 percent excise duty on bets staked that was introduced last year, leading to the withdrawal of several betting companies from the Kenyan market. The scrapping, interestingly, was proposed by a non-existent stakeholder group who identified themselves with a non-existent URL, shade.co.ke. “In their (shade.co.ke) letter Ref: SMIDIR/002/2020 dated 15th May, 2020, they proposed that the Excise Duty Act should be amended to remove the 20% excise duty on the stakes placed by a punter on a platform provided by a…

Tourism Fund Chief Executive Officer Mr Joseph Cherutoi and the Director Corporate Services Mr Eric Kiplagat have resigned. In a memo to all staff members from the chairman Board of Trustees Mr Alphonse Kioko, he said that the two tendered their resignation on June 26. “On 26th June 2020, we received a resignation letter from the Chief Executive Officer Mr Joseph Cherutoi, giving three months’ notice. Further, we received a letter of resignation from the Director Corporate Services Mr Eric Kiplagat,” said Mr Kioko. Following the exit of the two, the Board met on Wednesday, July 1 to deliberate on…