Author: Francis Muli

During any major event, media houses line up their most experienced reporters, and sometimes editors take up the task to ensure the best quality coverage. The case was no different in the Kibra by-election, with leading media houses such as Citizen TV, NTV, KTN and K24 having their editors and best reporters on ground for live reporting. Before going to the field for live coverage, a lot of meetings happen in the background to prepare all the crew involved in the event. Read: Kibra By-election Face-off Live Blog: All Briefs In Race To Succeed Ken Okoth However, the case was…

The rift between Kenya Airways (KQ) and its pilots is still widening, with the latter now issuing a new threat that they are going to reject planes released under ‘crew concept’, where they (pilots) do the safety checks instead of the engineers. Through the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa), the pilots say that all planes that have not been signed off by engineers will be grounded, a move that could see more delays and cancellation of flights. “By copy of this letter, with immediate effect, Kalpa members will no longer comply with the crew concept procedure. Kalpa members will only…

In April this year, the government embarked on a 52-day exercise to list Kenyans on the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) dubbed Huduma Namba. Five months down the line, the exercise that was meant to improve service delivery seems to have been in futility, with no card (promised by the government) and no improved services. However, the registration seems to have been on purpose, to draw customer data for few banking-affiliated businesses for who-is-who in the country. Days before the registration started, information leaked that the data was needed for the benefit of a number of business entities in…

Silverstone Air has suspended operations on three of its routes including Nairobi-Homa Bay, Nairobi-Wajir and Nairobi-Lodwar following below par performance in the routes. Homa Bay Route was launched two months ago, but has been unable to break even following stiff competition and online attack following a number of accidents that have hit the local airline. “The temporary suspension of scheduled flights on these routes is purely a business decision. However, the chartered services on these routes are still active. Maasai Mara is a seasonal route, thus scheduled flights occur during peak seasons,” Silverstone told Business Daily. The Nairobi-Wajir route was…

A Kenya Airways (KQ) from Johannesburg bound for Nairobi was yesterday forced to turn back over a suspected stowaway case. According to the Aviation Herald, a magazine that reports on aviation, KQ761 was midair when the pilot was notified of the presence of a maintenance engineer aboard the aircraft. “While levelling off at FL310 the crew turned around and returned to Johannesburg for a safe landing on runway 03R about 30 minutes later. While the aircraft vacated the runway the crew reported “He’s here and conscious!”, the aircraft taxied to the apron to offload the engineer,” the report said. Read: Man…

French company Rubis Energies is poised to take over Gulf Energy, months after the turbulent acquisition of KenolKobil. According to media reports, Rubis is planning to spend at least Ksh5 billion in the acquisition that will make it the largest oil marketer in Kenya. Rubis spent close to Ksh36 billion to acquire 97.6 percent stake at KenolKobil in a deal that was filled with turbulence, with reports of insider trading. Read: KenolKobil Delisted From NSE Following Acquisition By Rubis Energie Currently, Gulf Energy has a market share of 5.8 percent while KenolKobil, as of June, had a market share of…

Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram and messenger’s parent company Facebook has unveiled a new logo, that is meant to distinguish it from the one used by Facebook, its social media platform. The new logo uses a ‘flat’ font, with different colours for its platforms, with blue for Facebook, green for WhatsApp and pink-orange for Instagram. The logo is reported to be a precursor to their planned merger of their platforms where they’ll add “from Facebook” tag, but set apart their parent company name from their brand assets. Read: Facebook Extends Fact-checking Programme To 10 More African Countries To Curb Fake News Snap…

Residents in Kigali Rwanda will not have to leave office or their homes to the bus stop to wait for public transport vehicles that they are uncertain of, following the development of new bus service that relies on technology. In the new bus service to be launched next year dubbed Generation 2, passengers will be able to know which bus stop is the closest, the time the bus arrives, and the route that the bus operates. “We are working with partners who are developing apps that will give people information. For example you will be able to know that the…

Fraudulent deals involving the purchase of the Integrity Centre by the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) is the reason the latter is after Nairobi governor Mike Sonko, it has emerged. In a Facebook post, Sonko says that he decided to investigate the matter which cost taxpayers at least Ksh1.5 billion, and discovered that the previous owners of Integrity Centre had not been paying land rates prior to the sale. According to Sonko, they had used a fake Rates Statement of the defunct City Council of Nairobi. Sonko reveals that after investigations, he also discovered that EACC Director of Investigations Abdi…

April 2018 was the grand month, when prime suspects in the Arror and Kimwarer Dams Scandal closed the deal, that would see over Ksh21 billion taxpayers money lost. Among those who featured prominently and also fired were the then Treasure Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and his PS Kamau Thuge, said to have been the masterminds. Bihind them, there were over 25 other suspects, that were termed as ‘others’ by the media, and portrayed to be less harmful. Read: Uhuru Should Find Ways To Recover Sh21 Billion Kimwarer and Arror Dam Funds Or Risk Impeachment – Rutto One of the ‘others’…

A major political fallout could be looming between ODM leader Raila Odinga and Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka following Kibra by-election. Over the weekend, three Ukambani governors Charity Ngilu (Kitui), Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) and Dr Alfred Mutua (Makueni) accompanied Raila to campaign for ODM candidate in the Kibra by-election. This was seen as a move of defiance against Kalonzo, who is perceived to be the Kamba Kingpin. Two of the governors, Ngilu and Kibwana supported Kalonzo in the 2017 general election, who was in the Nasa coalition which was led by Mr Odinga. Read: Respect My Community, Wavinya Ndeti Lashes…

Gospel singer Simon Peter Wambua popularly known as Hope Kid has introduced the beautiful woman in his life to the world. The lad took to Instagram to share photos of the woman identified as Njambi Giitwa. Fans thronged the comment section to congratulate him for his newly found love. “Now it’s official… CONGRATULATIONS MY PEOPLE .. God bless your union, ” Mr Seed Wrote. His friend DK Kwenye Beat was also not left behind only saying, “MR & MRS WAMBUA.” This comes months after Hope Kid and DK were involved in a threesome scandal that broke the internet. The two…

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru and her Makueni counterpart Kivuta Kibwana have declared their support for Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) candidate in Kibra by-election Imran Okoth. The two joined a host of other leaders including Kamba Governors Charity Ngilu (Kitui) and Alfred Mutua (Machakos) who pledged their support for Imran on Saturday ahead of the by-election slated for November 7. The four Governors were present in the ODM rallies at Woodley grounds in Kibra on Sunday afternoon. Waiguru, who a few years ago couldn’t see eye to eye with Odinga over his stance on her alleged involvement in the National Youth…

China Global Television Network (CGTN) anchor Beatrice Marshall has been criticized over a post on Twitter alluding that drying clothes in balconies is a sign of poverty. In a tweet on Saturday afternoon, the Talk Africa host stated that she was recently shocked to see laundry hanging on balconies in Kilimani, Lavington and Kileleshwa posh estates. The former KTN news presenter claimed that the estates were being turned into “informal settlements.” “Kilimani, Lavington, Kileleshwa fast becoming overpriced informal settlements. Driving along, one is shocked by all the laundry hanging from balconies in those ‘leafy suburbs’, ” Ms Marshall wrote. The…

There was panic at the Wilson Airport on Saturday after a police helicopter crash-landed metres from the runway. The helicopter, a Mil Mi-17 Hip, with registration number 5Y-SFA is said to have developed mechanical glitches as the pilot prepared to land. Two police officers — a chief inspector and an inspector attached to the Kenya Police Airwing — and a flight engineer, were onboard during the afternoon incident. Luckily, none of the occupants was injured during the scary incident. A source intimated to a local media that the helicopter had arrived from Liboi in Garissa County. This is the third…