Author: Francis Muli

A suspected armed bandit in Elgeyo Marakwet shot his six children after a fight with his wife. Three of the children are reported to have died on the spot, while the remaining three were rushed to County Referral Hospital in Elgeyo Marakwet County where they are nursing gun-shot wounds. The incidence was confirmed by Marakwet East Sub-County Police Commander Vincent Kitili who said the man shot the children while they were sleeping at their home in Kapker Village. Read: Six Teenagers Arrested Over The Killing Of Nine Year Old Boy In Latest Matungu Killings The wife was not present during…

Kenya Railways lost over Ksh3.5 billion to the company operating the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in the agreement contract. According to reports, Kenya Railways was compelled to lend the Chinese operator Ksh3.5 billion in a sweetheart deal without any interest on repayment and generous grace period. Yesterday, it was revealed that the SGR is not directly run by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a State-owned Chinese company with Kenyan offices, as agreed in the initial contract. Instead, the line is operated by a “special purpose operating company” formed in May 2017, Africa Star Railway Operation Company, which received the…

Urithi Housing Co-operative Society is facing a market backlash after one of mega-projects land was put up for sale, after defaulting a loan. The land, Panorama Gardens in Gatanga, was acquired in 2016 at a price of Ksh1.5 billion from the owner with a down-payment of Ksh1 billion. The balance of Ksh500 million was to be paid in five years time. Urithi also took over the loan liabilities of the then owner, who had failed to service his bank loans. Read: Britam At The Brink Of Exiting Real Estate Market, Now Offsetting Prime Properties Worth Ksh6.5 Billion The bank appointed…

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has intercepted two high-end motor vehicles at the Port of Mombasa suspected to have been stolen from the United Kingdom. According to import documents, the Range Rover Sport cars, which were subject of an international motor vehicle crime and smuggling investigation, were on transit to Uganda. On May 9, 2019, Customs officers in Mombasa received intelligence to the effect that two 20-foot containers on board a ship sailing to the Port of Mombasa were suspected to be stolen motor vehicles from the United Kingdom. Read: KRA Threatens To Auction 438 Cars Seized At Mombasa Port Over…

Members of Parliament are planning to tame commissioners of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) by making them part time workers with Ksh16,700 monthly salary. This comes days after SRC initiated a litigation against the MPs, demanding that they return Ksh700 million paid to them as house allowance. The MPs allocated themselves Ksh250,000 house allowance per person, which they backdated to October 5, 2018, when High Court judge Chacha Mwita ruled that every state official is entitled to a house allowance. SRC moved to court terming the allowance as illegal, but the legislators have vowed to fight the commission both…

Tanzanian government has suspended exchange of its currency with that of Kenya, as well as inflow of Kenyan currency to the country. This follows the issuance of new bank notes by the Kenyan government meant to curb graft in the country and illicit cash flows. In a special notice to banks, the Bank of Tanzania said that it has frozen Central Bank of Kenya’s (CBK) cash collection account with immediate effect. “Given the gravity of illicit flows concerns raised by CBK, you are required to subject all flows from and into Republic of Kenya to enhanced due diligence,” read the…

State House Secretary of Digital Communication Dennis Itumbi has said that he met and had a conversation with Monica Kimani’s father, Paul Ngarama on a flight to Nigeria. In a Facebook post,Itumbi says that Ngarama immediately identified him, and requested that the switch seats before the flight began. “”I follow you Dennis and I love your updates, especially the way you deal with insults,” He told me. He then asked if we can change positions, he wanted the window position. I agreed. He then introduced himself by name and business card,” narrates Itumbi. Read: Journalist Jacque Maribe to Testify Against…

Nairobi women representative Esther Passaris has responded to Nairobi governor Mike Sonko’s allegations of blackmail and swindling. In her response, Passaris termed Sonko as a liar, inviting him to present his evidence to Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to prove his case. “Let him take his evidence to @EACCKenya I invite them to investigate if indeed I was paid twice for CSW 2018. It’s very shameful for one to knowingly lie, deceive the public with online theatrics and in the same breath refuse to engage all investigative arms of government,” tweeted Passaris. https://twitter.com/EstherPassaris/status/1137309594139578368 Read: Sonko Now Demanding Apology From The Star…

Murang’a County Executive Committee (CEC) member for Water Paul Macharia is nursing injuries at the Murang’a Level Five Hospital after getting involved in a grisly accident that left one dead this morning. According to police reports, the CEC was driving himself towards Murang’a town when he lost control of the car and hit a tree near  Kenol Murang’a road near Maragua. Murang’a County police Commander Josphat Kinyua confirmed the incdence, saying that the identity of the passenger who was in the company of the CEC is awaiting confirmation. The passenger died on the spot while Macharia suffered a broken leg.…

Gilbert Andika, a Kirinyaga police officer who assaulted three people demanding that they buy him beer has been arrested. Andika is said to have attacked the three victims after refusing to buy him beer at a pub in Kiamutugu Trading Centre, Gichugu Sub-county. Gichugu OCPD Anthony Mbogo said the officer was detained at Kianyaga Police Station pending arraignment on Monday. Read: SGR Noise Disturbance To Cost Gov’t Ksh467 Million For Relocation Of School, Hospital Scores escaped with minor injuries as they fled after the officer used his gun to hit the residents. The residents are reported to have held protests…

The Standard Gauge Railway is not directly run by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a State-owned Chinese company with Kenyan offices, as agreed in the initial contract, media reports have indicated. It is alleged that operations of the SGR are run through a “special purpose operating company” formed in May 2017, Africa Star Railway Operation Company. According to reports by the Sunday Nation, the company is majority-owned by CRBC, but the other shareholders remain a mystery with details unavailable at the Registrar of Companies in Nairobi. Read: Raila Responsible For China’s Refusal To Loan Kenya Sh368 Billion For SGR…

Sotik Constituency CDF board is on the spot over misappropriation of funds, Kahawa Tungu can reveal. According to a letter addressed to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) by a section of the residents, committee members have been allocating themselves, family members and friends bursary funds at the expense of the needy. The needy students who get the funds get very little, while the committee members, family and friends allocate themselves as much as five or ten times the amount for the needy. According to evidence in our possession, the vice is led by the committee chairman Vincent ChirChir who…

Garam auctioneers pink advertisements on Monday newspapers elicit little attention assumed to carry struggling nobodies properties on auction. But when they carried Tiara Villas, the Sh384 million luxury apartments belonging to Peter and Susan Muraya (Suraya) on the hammer for a loan, then the contagion of bad real estate investment had crept up from the anonymity of nobodies to the men who run this town. Over the last few weeks Investment firm Britam Holdings has been pulling all the machinations to keep sale of its properties as quiet as possible. Read: ‘Theft’ Case Against Former Employees Spells Doom For Britam…

Nairobi governor Mike Sonko is now demanding an apology from the Star publication, following a story they published alleging that he is HIV positive. Sonko, through his lawyer Cecil Miller, gave the Radio Africa-owned publication to publish an apology or face litigation. The Nairobi County chief wants the Star retract the story, and publish an apology in words acceptable to him and given similar prominence to the initial publication. Read: Sonko Issues Tough Warning To Saumu’s Attackers, Claims State Operatives Sent Them According to Sonko, the story headlined ‘How HIV report helped Sonko out of Kamiti Maximum Prison’ was published…

Co-operative Bank Of Kenya will on Saturday night suspend its services for ten hours in a bid to upgrade its systems. In a public notice issued today, the lender said that the move will affect all its banking services including ATMs, mobile banking, visa card, agencies, saccolink, account to Mpesa and vice-versa and Kenswitch. “This is to notify all Co-operative Bank customers and general public that we will be upgrading our IT network to improve system performance and provide faster banking services. Therefore, all our banking services will be switched off from 10pm Saturday 8th June to 8.00am Sunday 9th…