Author: Francis Muli

Facebook announced the launch of “My Digital World” a programme designed to equip the youth and general public across Sub-Saharan Africa with digital skills needed to navigate the digital world. My Digital World is a consolidation of all Facebook digital literacy programs including Safe Online with Facebook; Ilizwe Lam- a digital literacy programme which offered youth communities in secondary schools and after-school programmes on how to stay safe online including, online safety, privacy, news literacy and digital citizenship skills; and eZibo- a network in Zambia in partnership with Asikana to offer youths in secondary schools and after-school programmes vital training…

Kenyans online were in shock this morning to learn that one of the biggest Facebook groups “Group Kenya” had been taken down. The group boasted more than 2.1 million members and was among the biggest online forums in Africa. Members have been posting a wide range of topics in the group including relationships, politics, job searches and trending issues. It is not clear what prompted the group to be brought down, although it is reported that several of its users reported the page for “Objectionable Content”, which contravenes the social media platform’s community standards. According to Facebook’s terms and conditions,…

Leading pan-African telecommunications group Liquid Telecom has entered into a partnership with Twiga Foods to increase agricultural productivity through precision farming. This partnership is opening up a new world of opportunities, enabled by Kenya’s rapid expanding Internet of Things (IoT) network. Liquid Telecom has deployed a complete precision agriculture IoT system to improve farm productivity at Twiga’s Takuwa farm. The system includes four different types of agriculture sensors: a comprehensive weather station, soil moisture and temperature probes, borehole water meters, and sensors for measuring irrigation water acidity and salinity. The system takes advantage of Liquid Telecom’s extensive low-power wide area…

Safaricom customers have redeemed more than 1 billion Bonga points in two months through the Bonga For Good Initiative, which came to an end on June 4, 2020. The initiative, which sought to cushion Kenyans against the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, saw over 600,000 customers donate points equivalent to over Ksh330 million at over 40,000 Lipa na M-Pesa merchants across the country. Food and household items, solar-lighting solutions and entertainment accounted for most of the points redeemed, while Kenyans also donated their points as a show of goodwill, with over Ksh150 million being redeemed from points transferred from…

Instagram is set to overtake Twitter as a News source. A report by the Reuters Institute Digital News found that more young people between the ages of 18-24 use Instagram as their primary source of News for the Corona virus pandemic, with the figure doubling since 2018. The report however showed that social media was also the least trusted source for News. The national governments and News organisations are trusted by about 59 percent of the population compared to 26 percent who trusted the social media sites for news about the Corona virus with a similar percentage trusting News shared…

University workers could soon be unable to access some services after their employers failed to remit over Ksh19 billion statutory deductions to the relevant authorities. Statutory deduction include the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) and sacco deductions. According to a report tabled in Parliament by the Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC), the University of Nairobi has not remitted Ksh5.5 billion.  Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture Technology (JKUAT) and the Technical University of Kenya have not remitted Ksh3.5 billion each, while Kenyatta University has not remitted…

Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) detectives have arrested senior county officials of the County Government of Samburu for alleged embezzlement of public funds in the award of a tender worth Ksh8.4 million. Among those arrested include the chief officer for Agriculture Mr Reuben Lemunyete Maruben, Finance Chief Officer Mr Daniel Nakuo Lanolkirina and Head of Procurement Mr Geoffrey Kitewan Marun. In a statement, EACC said that  the tender was illegally awarded to CMC Motors for the supply of two tractors and two ploughs. Read: Shabaa Maralal Land Heist: Samburu Governor Lenolkulal Accused Of Grabbing Community Land, Allocating It To Relatives,…

Google recently launched Meet, its rival to video conferencing app, Zoom. This was after the demand for the cloud meeting app shot through the roof due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Microsoft also revamped Teams and Facebook enabled messenger for meetings as well as increasing the number of participants in a WhatsApp group call. Zoom initially faced a lot of backlash due to security lapses during meetings prompting users to opt for other services. Meet has been around for a few weeks now since Gmail rebranded its Hangout feature and made it available to all its users for free. The beauty…

WhatsApp has started rolling out a Payments service in Brazil after successfully testing the product in India. It is the first time the service is being rolled out in any part of the world, as the app joins in the efforts to help businesses accept digital money. The new product on WhatsApp will allow users to pay for items without leaving their chat. The Facebook owned app has unleashed a first just as Facebook announced development of Shops on its platform, allowing users to add items to cart and check-out on the business pages. With the seamless integration between Facebook…

As more people opt for and sign up for streaming services as compared to traditional TV, the threat of illegal third party providers remains a reality despite affordable pricing. It is not uncommon to bump into ads on social media with users selling Netflix subscriptions for a subsidized fee. These users normally subscribe to premium accounts on the streaming service and because Netflix allows you to add up to 4 accounts, the account holder finds viewers who cannot afford to pay for the subscription but can collectively pay an amount that would allow them pay for their subscription and make…

Starting July 1, the prices of goods such as bottled water, fuel, juice and beer will shoot up following last week’s 2020/2021 budget proposals. The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) will increase the excise duty chargeable on about 3 products by approximately 5.5 percent. This means that consumers will have to dig in their pockets a little deeper starting next month. The Kenyan law demands that excise duty be adjusted on specific items upwards to coincide with the annual inflation rate or the 12 months through June as well as to reflect the cost of living. The revised rates are bound…

240 Indian nationals who have been stranded in Tanzania since the outbreak of Covid-19 have been evacuated. This was confirmed by Air Tanzania, Tanzania’s national airline, which said that the country would also evacuate its citizens stranded in India. “Air Tanzania is pleased to confirm the charter evacuation flight of 240 Indian nationals who were stranded in Tanzania due to the pandemic disease of Covid-19 took off this morning from Dar es Salaam to New Delhi then Mumbai,” tweeted the carrier. https://twitter.com/AirTanzania/status/1272401744769609731 The airline announced that the plane will fly back with 251 Tanzanian nationals who are stranded in India.…

Leaked letters by Wikileaks now show that former first lady Lucy kibaki and retired police commissioner Major General Hussein Ali had ordered the killing of prominent politicians, including Martha Karua and Gitobu Imanyara. According to the written by a policeman (Wilfred Njenga) who claims to be a member of the defunct Kwekwe Squad, among the prominent people who were monitored for possible assassination were Paul Muite, Ferdinand Waititu, GG Kariuki, Bonny Khalwale, Gitobu Imanyara, Martha Karua and businesswoman Mary Wambui. According to the author, by the time the 200/08 post-election violence calmed down, the killer squad alone had killed at…

The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has announced new fuel prices in which Petrol price per litre increases by Ksh5.77, while Diesel and Kerosene prices per litre fall by Ksh3.80 and Ksh17.31 respectively. This means that a litre of Petrol in Nairobi will trade for Ksh89.10, Diesel for Ksh74.57 and Kerosene for Ksh62.46. “The changes in this month’s prices are as a result of the increase of average landed cost of imported Super Petrol by 31.54% from US$ 188.70 per cubic metre in April 2020 to US$ 248.21 per cubic metre in May 2020 while Diesel decreased by 5.58%…

Emurua-Dikir MP Johana Ng’eno has vowed to sue  the company that supplied feeds that led to the death of his 24 cows. The feeds products had a January 28, 2022 expiry date, but the cows started dying within five minutes taking the supplies. “I will take legal action against them for selling uncertified feeds and also for selling to me feeds that they knew to be poisonous. They have caused me grave devastation on my investment,” he told a local publication. According to Olekisiara farm manager Fredrick Mutai, the cows started dropping one after the other shortly after feeding on…