Author: Francis Muli

President Uhuru Kenyatta today stunned Kenyans after appearing in parliament for the State of the Nation Address clean-shaven. It has not been the norm for the President to appear in public clean-shaven, since he was elected as the President in 2013. The President has always appeared with short hair (almost a centimetre long) unlike his deputy William Ruto who has adopted a clean-shave all through. Speaking during the address, the president affirmed that the delivery of the Big Four agenda is on course. “We expect the private sector to take advantage of the policies and incentives in place, and turn…

Six Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) officials have been sentenced to seven months in jail over contempt of court. The six include Peter Kinyua, Eston Gakunga Gikore, Kennedy Omanga, Francis Macharia,  Lerionka Tiamapati and Stephen Maina Githiga. The six have an option of paying a fine of Ksh400,000, or face the jail term. They were found guilty of contempt of court after they were accused of proceeding with an election at the Kiiru Tea Factory which had been stopped by court on November 27, 2017. Read: Another Scandal For KPC As Ksh2.4 Billion Jet Fuel Goes Missing This comes amidst…

Kenyans are staring at fuel shortage, the independent fuel distributors have warned, with Nakuru and Bomet Counties being on high alert. The distributors have attributed to lack of supplies from major fuel depots for the last one week. “For the last one week we have been unable get fuel. Both Kenya Pipeline and the regulator are unable to explain why we have this shortage,” said Martin Mureithi, a fuel distributor. The distributors normally buy the surplus fuel from the major oil marketers since they are not factored in when fuel is being imported. However, the fuel is now being sold…

Members of parliament are planning to fly to Malaysia to learn corruption fighting techniques. This was revealed by National Assembly Committee on Administration and National Security Chairman Paul Koinange, who said that he will be sending some MPs on a bench-marking mission. “The MPs will travel to Malaysia to study their system and submit a report,” said Koinange. In July last year, MPs from Zambia visited Kenya on a similar mission. The Zambian Committee on Privileges, Absences and Support Services visited the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) offices in Nairobi where they hoped to learn techniques the body was using…

The Kenya manufacturing industry is at stake, even as firms find the cost of doing business stifling in the country. Most manufacturing firms are said to have shifted to neighbouring Ethiopia, citing high cost of electricity. Among those severely hit by the rates are glass manufacturers, with one of them set to shift to Addis Ababa by November this year. This will leave only one glass manufacturer in the country, which might not survive. Most glass consumers have opted to import cheaper glass from Egypt, hence posing a threat to local manufacturers who are forced to hike prices to cater…

Fresh details have emerged on the Ethiopian airplane crash that consumed 157 lives. According to the Wall Street Journal, pilots of the ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 tried all the emergency steps outlined by the manufacturer but still could not regain control. The pilots even switched off the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) but failed to recover control. The paper reports that the pilots then switched the system back as they tried to find other ways to control the jet before it crashed. MCAS was a system that didn’t exist in any of the Boeing 737’s before. This…

UAP Holdings Limited lost Ksh518 million in the year ending December 2018, down from Ksh608 million profit made in same period the previous year. According to CEO Peter Mwangi, the business was faced with a tough working environment during the period. In recovery plans, Mwangi says that they will “let go of accounts we couldn’t price properly”. “Performance was impacted by a tough operating environment in Kenya and the wider region. We have had to let go of accounts we couldn’t price properly and that has had an impact on the top line,” said Mwangi. This comes at a time…

Kestrel Capital East Africa CEO Andre DeSimone has resigned, even as pressure piles in the KenolKobil insider trading scandal. DeSimone resigned on Friday during a board meeting, which is thought to be a fallout in the ongoing investigations which has tainted the image of the firm. “The board accepted the resignation and has instructed the company to inform all appropriate authorities, including Capital Markets Authority (CMA), of Mr Desimone’s resignation,” said a statement signed by founder Charles Field-Marsham. DeSimone’s 24-year reign was brought to a halt over alleged involvement of insider trading in the Ksh26 billion KenolKobil buyout by French…

Officials of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) are under investigation over embezzlement of over Ksh135 million donated by world football body, Fifa. According to sources, the money was meant for the purchase of an Outdoor Broadcasting (OB) van for the Kenya Premier League. Through the van, FKF would have raked in millions through selling TV rights for airing local games, a move that would have saved ailing clubs. According to the contract letter, the OB van was supposed to be delivered by the end of February, but officers at the helm kept giving excuses. The delivery was pushed to the…

Deputy President William Ruto was the talk of the town after he snubbed Huduma Namba launch, which was attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta and all key opposition leaders in different parts of the country. His absence was conspicuously visible even as leaders avoided talking about his whereabouts, except ODM leader Raila Odinga who noted that the DP was expected at Kakamega, where he was a no-show. Taking to his Twitter account, Ruto revealed that he was meeting the Vice President of the Cuban Council of State and of Ministers, Ms Ines Maria Chapman. He said that they had agreed that…

His source of wealth has been unknown to most members of the public in the Eastern Africa region, only concealed under the disguise of ‘blessings’ from God. However, blessings do not just fall like manna, hence there must be a channel, whether legal or illegal. For one Lawrence Malong Lual Yor, it has been revealed that he has been in the middle of gold scammers in the region, which explains his lavish lifestyle. One of the victims came out to narrate how he was conned close to Ksh200 million in a deal gone sour involving over Ksh150 Kg. The victim…

Kenya Power managers facing graft allegations have been offered over Ksh200 million to quit on ‘separation by mutual agreement’ basis. Of the 15 officers facing the charges, three are said to have agreed to the deal while the rest are yet to respond. The board is meeting today to decide the fate of the managers, after reviewing the responses. The fifteen include former managing director Ken Tarus, Beatrice Meso, Joshua Mutua, Abubakar Swaleh, Samuel Ndirangu, Stanley Mutwiri and Peter Mwicigi. Others include Benson Muriithi, Peter Mungai Kinuthia, Harun Karisa, Daniel Tare, Daniel Ochieng, James Muriuki, Noah Ogano Omondi, John Mwaura…

The Kenya Commercial Bank KCB has opened a new branch in Kakuma Market, to serve the North Western region. This brings the total of KCB’s total number of branches to 200, 367 ATMs and over 16,000 agents offering banking services on a 24/7 basis in East Africa. “The Kakuma branch will effectively bring banking services closer to the local communities, government agencies and the various Non-Governmental Organizations in the region. The Kakuma branch will offer all the bank’s products including personal loans, business loans, mortgages, and Forex services and will be complemented by an ATM, agency and mobile banking services.,”…

Kenyans are decrying high penalties to graduates by the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb), amounting to Ksh5,000 per month. According to Kenyans who expressed their distaste online, most of the graduates are unemployed and have no source of livelihood, hence penalizing them would be like overburdening them. Here are some reactions from Twitter. “Nobody takes Helb loan out of fun. It is poverty that takes people there. This penalty is effectively a tax on poverty. There should be a law to cap the escalation otherwise the levy may be counterproductive and an exercise in futility,” tweeted Ainabkoi MP William Chepkut.…

10.2 million cyber threats were detected between October and December by the National Kenya Computer Incident Response Team – Coordination Centre (National KE-CIRT/CC), up from 1.8 million reported in the preceding quarter, nine million of which were malware attacks. In a report by the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA), October-December 2018 shows a dramatic spike in malware attacks, targeting mobile devices and which has seen unsuspecting Kenyans defrauded in online platforms. ‘‘In particular, there was a rise in cases of malware and the sale of stolen data and credentials including personal data and credit card information,’’ notes the report in…