Author: Francis Muli

The government will spend Ksh1.7 trillion in the 2019/2020 financial year on recurrent expenditure, out of the Ksh2.7 trillion budget floated. The budget has increased from the current one by Ksh252 billion. In the budget, the government will have a deficit of Ksh607.8 billion from Ksh559 billion this year, which calls for more borrowing. The government will however spend almost an equal amount to pay debts, Ksh551 billion. This is Ksh61 billion more than the Ksh490 billion spent this year. The amount spent on salaries and wages will rise from Ksh425 billion to Ksh470 billion. Projects under the Big 4…

Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai held a meeting this afternoon with troubled police officer Asbel Kiprop at the National Police Service Headquarters-Jogoo House. This comes a few days after Kiprop asked to be relieved off his police duties or ‘misuse’ his gun, after he was banned from athletics following doping allegations. In a tweet, the National police service said that the Inspector General Mutyambai termed Kiprop as a hero who should never be forgotten. “Chief Inspector Asbel Kiprop is our hero, we. must never forget him,” the NPS quoted Mutyambai. Earlier on, the Deputy Inspector General Police Joseph Kiget…

Pheodor Mundia Njoroge, the strategic business manager to the managing director at Unilever East Africa, will replace Maggie Ireri as the chairperson of the Marketing Society of Kenya. Maggie Ireri is a director at TIFA Research. The changes were made public as the body announced its Board of Directors for 2019 through 2021. Carolyne Kendi who is head of brand, marketing & communication at Safaricom, Joseph Karamoja who is the Vice President and Head of Marketing, PR & Communications at SBM Bank, and Charles Kariuki who is the managing director at AAR Healthcare were also elected to the board among other…

Kenyans had one of the toughest months in April in the last 12 months, even as inflation race hit 6.58 percent. This is the highest score in a year, attributed to prolonged drought that saw prices of some consumables soar, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). “Sifted maize flour, kales, potatoes, loose maize grains and flour and tomatoes recorded increases of 29.82, 25.30, 19.27, 26.14, 15.90 and 15.31 respectively, in April compared to March 2019,’’ KNBS said. The items above are said to have contributed to 6.25 per cent of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) weight. The…

Kenya’s military budget hit Ksh109.7 billion, as compared to Ksh101.5 billion spent in 2017. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), the budget surpassed that of her East Africa peers, Tanzania and Uganda combined. According to the independent global security think tank, Tanzania’s military spending last year was Ksh67.5 billion, while Uganda spent Ksh40.8 billion. “Kenya’s military spending for last year really did not increase much as compared to its neighbours. For Uganda, the increase in Uganda could be related to equipment purchases in the past year, this is stated in the budget but exactly what it is…

Kenya Airways (KQ) has blamed its Ksh7.5 billion loss to high cost of fuel, high salaries and fleet ownership cost. The loss, which covers the 12 months ended December 2018, is an escalation from a Ksh6.41 billion loss reported in 2017 for nine months ending December 2017. According to KQ CEO Sebastian Mikosz, high cost of fuel, high salaries and fleet ownership cost accounted for nearly two thirds of the its operating costs. “Fuel is our greatest challenge and this will be for a while, oil prices are up by 30 percent. Fuel represents over 40 percent of our direct…

With a population of over 1.386 billion, the People’s Republic of China becomes the most populated country on earth, currently. Of these people, up to 115 million people practice Christianity. Of this number, only 30 million practice it openly in official churches in China where pastors are paid by the state. Most people in China are taught to pay allegiance to Mao Zedong, the founder of the Communist Party who died in 1976. It is alleged that there were over 900 temples in Beijing, but now the number has gone down to 20, even as the government cracks whip on…

The government borrowed Ksh125 billion between January and March, to service existing loans that had reached maturity. The medium-term syndicated loans are meant to cover a total of Ksh364 billion reaching maturity in June, meaning that the government might be forced to borrow more before June. “We reduced debt by paying off an already existing debt and took a fresh loan; so no change in debt stock to the extent of the maturing loan repaid. This is called liability management in international finance circles,” said Treasury CS Henry Rotich, as quoted by a local daily. Kenya has been on a…

Royal Tulip Hotel Hurlingham is on the spot for employing four Eritreans and three Indians on low ranking jobs such as storekeepers, juniour cook, procurement officer, front office manager and restaurant manager, jobs that can be done by Kenyans. How the department of immigration gave work permits to the foreigners to do such jobs still remains a mystery, despite the big number of jobless graduates in the country. According to the United Nations Human Development, one in five Kenyans between 15 and 34 is unemployed, a much higher rate than any other country in the region. The foreigners seem to…

Mr Simon Kariuki Wangeci alias Tony, an alleged drug dealer in Githurai 44, Nairobi, has been arrested with two assistants in his home. According to the police, Tony is rated among the top suppliers of bhang in Kiambu and Nairobi counties. He was nabbed together with his two workers while packing bhang. Also, a load of cash was recoverd during the operation that entailed officers drawn from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI)  and the regular police. “We have managed to arrest the main suspect and nab a huge amount of bhang,” said Kasarani OCPD Peter Kimani. Read: Lawyer Assa…

No civil servant will be able to travel abroad unless they acquire digital passport, the government has said. Announcing the development, the head of public service Joseph Kinyua said that a passport should be valid for at least six months at the time of travel. This is unlike the current machine-readable passports, which expire in four months time. “Considering that the machine-readable passport will cease to be a valid travel document with effect from September 1, 2019, any machine readable passports is already outside the six months validity period,” read a circular by Kinyua in part. In October last year,…

The street camera you face every day in the city could not be for the good of the ordinary citizen, but to protect power, it has emerged. According to reports by the New York Times, a part from footages from the cameras going to security personnel, they also are relayed to leaders of most African countries. The publication reports that over 18 countries, mostly in Africa including Kenya, have imported the cameras from China. “Today, 18 countries — including Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kenya, the United Arab Emirates and Germany — are using Chinese-made intelligent monitoring systems, and 36 have received…

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has changed its name to Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). This follows coming to effect of the Energy Act, 2019. “We wish to notify the public that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is transitioning into the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), established under the Energy Act 2019,” said the commission in a public notice posted on their Facebook Page. The commission also changed its social media pages to EPRA, in relation to the same. The Energy Bill was signed into law by the President Uhuru Kenyatta in March, which calls for an integrated…

Kenya Power has advertised a whistle-blowing tender, raising eyebrows for another possible scandal at the firm. The firm has in the recent past been hit by several scandals, which have been exposed by the media before investigating authorities took over. Through the services, it is possible that the body wants to prevent any scandalous information from reaching the media, hence baring the public from accessing such information. Through such services, investigations can be sabotaged by destroying supporting evidence. The tender was announced through government publication, MyGov. According to the tender documents, the objective is to provide the company with expertise…

President Uhuru Kenyatta is the only honest person in the efforts of uniting the country, national assembly majority leader Aden Duale has said. Duale was speaking today in parliament in response to State of the Nation Address delivered a month ago by the President. Duale accused politicians of dividing the country along ethnic lines in the name of handshake and uniting the country. “President Uhuru Kenyatta is the only honest person about uniting the country. The rest of us starting with the former prime minister (Raila Odinga), including DP William Ruto, Kalonzo Msyoka, Musalia Mudavadi, MPs and Senators, when we…