Author: Francis Muli

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has come out to dismiss violence claims against pupils sitting for their national exams. Students sitting their KCPE exam in Kapkosum village in Baringo south were on Monday reportedly attacked by bandits in the area. Magoha said all the students in the country had started their exams and that security had been heightened in the volatile area to ensure that the students remain safe until the last day of their exams. Regarding the incident on Monday, the CS said that the gunshots were more than three kilometers away. Speaking after he oversaw the distribution of…

In a significant clean-up by the Registrar of Political Parties, almost 600,000 voters were purged as members of various political parties. The Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) rolled out the electronic system allowing users to manage registration and resignation from the parties. In 2021, a majority of Kenyans discovered that they had been registered to the political parties without their knowledge, prompting the ORPP to digitize the process. “The political parties are expected to use their membership register during nominations. The membership data should be credible.” the Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu, said. “The office is…

M-Pesa is marking 15 years since Safaricom and Vodafone launched the service in March 2007. Since inception in Kenya, M-Pesa has grown to more than 51 million customers, 465,000 businesses, 600,000 agents and 42,000 developers across Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Ghana and Egypt. The service currently processes more than 61 million transactions a day making it Africa’s largest fintech provider. The shift to 3G and 4G broadband smartphones have facilitated M-Pesa’s growth to a digital financial services provider. In 2021, M-Pesa Africa launched the Super App and an Business Super App which enable business on…

Entertainment service provider, Netflix is the latest company to suspend its operations in Russia as a result of the country’s invasion of Ukraine. “Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia,” Netflix spokesperson Emily Feingold said in a statement. Last week, Netflix declined to conform to a new Russian law that large streaming platforms to host 20 Russian propaganda channels, including NTV and the state-run Channel One. Read: Cooking Gas Prices Soar Over Russia-Ukraine War Netflix later declared that it would suspend all productions and acquisitions in Russia, despite the fact that it…

Kenya Power is set to start distributing high speed internet to businesses after a successful pilot with a number of corporate users. The company will provide the service through a package bundled with electricity and internet as it seeks to tap into the country’s internet demands. “We will provide our corporate sector customers with a bundled service of electricity and internet,” Kenya Power said in a statement to the Business Daily. The electricity provider already has a laid-down infrastructure after leasing its fibre-optic cables attached to its transmission lines to internet service providers. “Kenya Power will leverage on our vast network…

The Ministry of ICT, Innovation, and Youth Affairs has partnered with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to guarantee the implementation of the National E-waste Management Strategy from 2019 to 2023/24. Principal secretary in the State Department for ICT and Innovation Jerome Ochieng said the five-theme strategy aims to enhance the country’s E-Waste coordination structures at both the national and county levels “Besides raising awareness, the strategy will also put in place a monitoring and evaluation mechanism, as well as promote research and innovation in for E-waste management in Kenya,” said Ochieng. Speaking at the UN’s World Environment Situation Room…

Keroche Breweries Limited CEO Tabitha Karanja’s daughter Anerlisa Muigai has weighed in the current predicament the company is facing. The CEO of Nero, a water bottling company, said it was unfortunate what her mother’s company was going through. “It’s so sad that Keroche has been shut down and nobody seems to want to listen, help or negotiate.”the statement on Instagram read. Anerlisa said at least 650 people had been stranded for two months, and were on the verge of losing their jobs. “We, (Nero Company) happen to share the same compound with them and I must say, it has been…

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested the mastermind behind the disappearance of new generation passports from several recruitment agencies across the country. 22 passports were recovered from Stephen Obiero who was arrested by Detectives in Nairobi on Friday. The Detectives who were posing as pidgin-speaking West Africans interested in purchasing a passport lured Obiero to a Matatu along Mfangano street where the transaction took place. Read: KQ Now Included In The List Of Covid-19 Vaccine Transporters The passports, which are on high demand among West Africans who are in the country illegally  are sold for Sh22,000 each.…

The National Treasury has announced that it will make it’s 2022 budget statement presentation on April 7. This will be the last statement issued by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani under the current administration. The final budget policy statement is likely to include highlights of the expenditure plan as well as new revenue mobilization methods and tax measures that will serve as the foundation for the Finance Bill for 2022. Read: Festive Bread Manufacturers Accused Of Using Harmful Preservatives Ensuring Longer Shelf Life The public has been invited to contribute and share their ideas on policy and tax measures to be…

Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) officers probing Migori Governor Okoth Obado’s graft case have told the court that they were forced to start afresh after a section of the county offices burnt down during the investigation. The investigator, Robert Cheruiyot Rono, who was giving his account in a case where the governor is accused of embezzling county funds said fire razed the procurement office forcing them to start the probe afresh. Rono added that the timing of the fire was suspicious as they had just requested to be supplied with key documents in the case. Read Also: Governor Obado Surrenders…

Detectives recovered Wildlife Trophies worth over Sh5 million in Taita Taveta county on Friday afternoon. A suspect identified as Bakari Barisa was found trading in Pangolin scales worth Sh5 million and elephant tusks worth Sh400,000. The Detectives ed the 40 year old to his hideout before arresting him. Read: Deputy Headteacher Among Five People Arrested Selling Elephant Tusks In Kajiado “Posing as well oiled unscrupulous business men who rule the underworld, the sleuths led the man to his waterloo before pouncing on him.” the DCI said on social media. Pangolin scales which fetch a fortune in the black market are used…

Google has announced that it has halted all advertising in Russia after the country’s internet regulator said that the tech giant was presenting what is believed to be ads promoting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The company halted all search, YouTube, and display advertising. Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor demanded that Google take down ads portraying false political information about Ukraine. It accused YouTube, a Google subsidiary, of launching ad campaigns aimed at misleading Russians about current events. The move came just days after the the company announced that it will no longer advertise anything created by Russian state media as a way…

Twitter has announced the rollout of NFT profile pictures to all users on the platform. The feature was initially limited to iOS users who also had to be Twitter Blue users in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. NFT (short for Non-fungible tokens) are digital items that you own. Proof of ownership is stored on a blockchain, a digital database that is publicly available.” Twitter explained in the announcement. Read: Tech Trends: Understanding NFTs and How they Work The company further said that the NFT profile pictures would be displayed through a special Hexagonal shape on user profiles. NFTs…

Twitter is reportedly working on enhancing its existing audio features. After launching Spaces and Audio tweets in 2020, the company seems to be focusing on bringing podcasts to the app. According to screenshots shared by reverse engineer Jane Wong, the company is looking to add a sparate podcast tab on the app. However, the tab appears to replace the Spaces icon with a the podcast microphone icon on the bottom navigation app. Twitter is working on Podcasts tab pic.twitter.com/64tTd3XPdu — Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) March 2, 2022 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js It is however not clear how podcasts would be shown on the…

YouTube has called out artists who buy views for their channels on the platform, saying the company deletes views exhibiting ‘bot’ behaviour. Speaking during a YouTube Music Event last week, YouTube Kenya communications manager Sharon Machira, she said the company is keen on the organic viewership of videos. “YouTube doesn’t allow anything that artificially increases the number of views, likes, comments or other metrics either by using automatic systems or serving up videos to unsuspecting viewers.” Views reflect how many times a YouTube video has been watched. YouTube Music Head of Music in Sub-Saharan Africa, Addy Awofisayo also encouraged fans…