Author: Francis Muli

At least 74 percent of urban dwellers say they are unable to pay their rent on time, according to a recent poll released by Infotrak. The poll conducted between May 28 and June 2 shows that apart from urban dwellers, 63 percent of Kenyans nationwide say they are unable to pay their rent on time. 79 percent say they can no longer remit money to dependents back home while 75 percent have been unable to pay formal and informal loans. 68 percent are unable to buy adequate gas/kerosene/charcoal while 67 percent are unable to adequately pay for utilities like electricity…

Four people have succumbed and 13 others remain admitted at the Garissa Referral Hospital following the outbreak of the Kala-Azar disease in Kitui county. The nursing officer in charge of Garissa Referral hospital paedriatic ward, Abdullahi Abdi said that the four died within the last two weeks as more patients are being brought in. “This is the highest number of patients we’ve gotten from Kitui. We used to admit 2 to 3 patients a month,” he stated. Kala Azar is the second largest parasitic killer in the world, after Malaria. Symptoms include fever, weight loss, anaemia, fatigue and substantial swelling…

The Nairobi hospital has suspended Jubilee Insurance from the list of its insurance providers over a Ksh80 million dispute. In a statement dated June 20, 2020, the underwriter says that the hospital has not been able to provide substantiating documents for the said claim, forcing them to withhold the pay. “Jubilee Health Insurance Limited would like to notify our Esteemed Clients that we are currently experiencing service interruption at the Nairobi Hospital. This is as a result of a dispute arising from the failure by the hospital to provide justification for some bills adding up to about KES 80million, compared…

In the last 24 hours, at least 3 fake job adverts claiming to be from the ill-fated Tuskys supermarket have been doing rounds on social media. The post details vacancies in various departments such as procurement, cleaning, accounts, health and shop attendants. Interested parties are advised to click on a Google docs page which collects personal information and directs the applicants to pay a registration fee of Sh 450 for online application processing. Grace Muthoni fell for the scam recently and after sending money to an official listed on the site, she was sure she would be refunded if at…

The Court of Appeal has declared the entire Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) contract illegal following a case filed by activist Okiya Omtatah. In a ruling delivered by a three-bench jury, Justices Martha Koome (presiding), Gatembu Kairu and Jamila Mohammed ruled that the the government flouted procurement rules. “We set aside that part of the judgment of the High Court holding that the procurement of the SGR was exempt from the provisions of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005 by reason of Section 6(1) thereof. We substitute therefore an order declaring that Kenya Railways Corporation, as the procuring entity, failed…

Six Kenyan Startups are among those selected for the fifth Cohort of the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa that is set to take place virtually for the next 3 months, starting on June 29 until September 11. The aim is to support the participating startups by leveraging Google’s technologies and people to scale. The Startups representing Kenya are: Logistics Platform AmiTruck, transport tech Start up Buupass, Consumer lending service Crediation, diagnostics software provider Ilara Health, Enterprise Resource planning tool, Uzapoint, and blended learning platform Zuka Data Science. The Google for Startups Accelerator Africa programme was formed six years ago and…

Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has denied reports that they have formed a splinter party named Jubilee Asili. In a tweet, Murkomen says the Jubilee Asili Centre is a new meeting point for Jubilee Party members who have been denied access to the main offices along Thika Road. “Ignore the rumors doing rounds.Jubilee Party is our party,our labour of love & visionary investment,whose fruits we look forward to enjoying.Jubilee Asili Centre is the meeting Venue for & by members who have been denied access to our party office on Thika Road.Tuko Sote Pamoja!” he tweeted. https://twitter.com/kipmurkomen/status/1273943390917464064 Jubilee Asili Centre is…

President Uhuru Kenyatta has nominated Ms Nancy Janet Kabui Gathungu as the new Auditor General, awaiting approval by Parliament. In a statement Friday, Spokesperson Kanze Dena says Ms Gathungu was the first among the top three candidates presented to the President for nomination by the Recruitment Panel for the Selection of the Auditor General as set out in law. “The President has forwarded the name of Ms Gathungu to the National Assembly for vetting ,” read the statement. She will serve to serve single 8-year term upon approval. The office of the AG fell vacant in August 2019 following the retirement…

Last month, Facebook acquired Giphy, the GIF Making app, for $400 million. The takeover is now under investigation by the UK’s competition authority. As reported, the GIFs are popular on Facebook apps, but the company has been providing the animations to Facebook’s competitors such as Twitter, TikTok and Snapchat. The UK Competition and Markets Authority is investigating whether the takeover could be a problem under the circumstances; and whether the acquisition “may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition.” At the announcement of the acquisition a few weeks ago, a lot of concerns were raised about the…

TikTok is in plans to collaborate with hundreds of experts and institutions to incorporate educational content into the platform. The giant platform is set to pay universities and charities to create bespoke content. This new focus is expected to position TikTok with the micro-learning trend. At the launch of the educational videos, a British actor, Sean Sagar, will share tips on how to prepare for auditions and a TV presenter and Mathematician, Rachel Riley, will help to develop math skills. Rich Waterworth, TikTok’s general manager for Europe, spoke to BBC saying that the platform had noticed a peak in users’…

Deputy President William Ruto today met with Jubilee MPs who were removed from various parliamentary committees after being perceived to be rebellious to President Uhuru Kenyatta. While the meeting was going on, blogger Dennis Itumbi revealed a banner similar to that of Jubilee Party, but branded Jubilee Asili and with a new slogan, Sote Pamoja. The slogan for the original Jubilee Party is Tuko Pamoja, and the new development is perceived to be a public revelation that the much talked about Jubilee fallout could be happening sooner than expected. DP Ruto confirmed holding the meeting, saying that the MPs “were…

Safaricom today launched a Lipa Na M-Pesa Business App for about 170,000 merchants on the service. The app, dubbed M-Pesa for Business, is designed to empower business owners by enabling them access to real time statements, export statements and track business performance any time. The M-Pesa for Business App gives merchants/business owners access to real-time statements and allows business owners export of their statements. The app also provides tools for business owners to track their businesses remotely with rich and well detailed reports supported with money-in and money-out charts, the store’s overview, frequently used bills and a lot more. Business…

Early this week, WhatsApp launched its in-app payment feature dubbed WhatsApp Pay. It enables users to send money on WhatsApp just like one would send a photo. The payment feature is set to be integrated to all Facebook social media platforms: Whatsapp, WhatsApp business, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Facebook’s newly launched feature, Facebook Shops. Many people have raised the alarm over what the new feature could mean for homegrown Safaricom payment service M-Pesa. According to analysts quoted by People Daily, M-Pesa will survive Whatsapp Pay competition. The head of Research at Genghis Capital, Churchill Ogutu said M-Pesa could very easily…

The Director-General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay has called on the authorities of Cameroon to investigate the death in detention of broadcast journalist Samuel Wazizi who had been imprisoned since August 2, 2019. Wazizi was arrested for criticising the government’s handling of a separatist revolt and died while still in detention in mysterious circumstances. After his arrest, his family and his lawyers were not allowed any contact with him or given any information, according to rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Read: Three Disguised As Citizen TV Journalists Arrested While Trying To Interview John Mututho (Video) “I am deeply concerned about…

Twitter has debuted an interesting future that will add on to the way we tweet. The new feature allows users to post their thoughts and ideas by voice. Everyone on the social media platform will soon have access to the voice feature, which will give you the option of sharing audio recordings of up to 140 seconds directly to your feed to accompany the texts, GIF, videos and photos you can already share with your followers. According to twitter, the new feature is designed to add ‘a human touch’ to using the platform. “There’s a lot that can be left…