Author: Francis Muli

Tullow Oil, the company hired to mine Turkana oil in Lokichar will use at least Ksh110 billion ($1.1 billion) to construct the pipeline that will transport crude oil from Lokichar wells to Lamu. The oil company has hired UK based Wood Group to design the 800km (500-mile) pipeline. In addition, Ksh290 billion ($2.9 billion)will be needed for upstream operations, Tullow says. Tullow picked Australia’s Worley Parsons as engineers for its oil blocks. A final investment decision on the upstream and pipeline plans is expected in 2019. Upon completion, the oil will be stored in the Kenya Petroleum Oil Refinery storage tanks, which are being…

Businessmen Evans Gor Semelang’o and Paul Gathecha Muhoho together with PetroKenya Oil Company have written to the Standard Newspaper demanding an apology for articles published implicating them of being recipients of the NYS scandal proceeds. In the letter obtained by Kahawa Tungu, the two say that the articles published on June 13 and June 16 “were not proceeded by any attempt to verify the accuracy thereof”. “You have made defamatory allegations in relations to, and cast aspersions against, our said clients; by alleging expressly and by innuendo, that our clients have, improperly and/or otherwise directly, or in collusion with others,…

The main contraband sugar suspect Mr Jaswant Rai has said that he is building a Ksh5 billion factory/storage facility in Kenya to advance his business agenda in the sugar industry. In an interview with a local television station, the West Kenya Sugar chairman has also exonerated himself of the allegations labeled against him. The tycoon is accused of importing several tonnes of the poisonous contraband sugar in the country with his brand, the Kabras Sugar. “More than a million tonnes of sugar have been imported, of which mine are 185,000 tonnes. This is what I produce locally using local sugarcane.…

Sportpesa has become an household name in the world of betting in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and even in the United Kingdom. However, its owners still remain in the background. Ronald Karauri, the CEO is the commonly known shareholder of the betting firm. He however owns only 6%, ranking number three among the biggest Kenya shareholders and number five generally. Read: Brand Kenya Honoured Agreement, KRU Mismanaging Rugby In Kenya Out of the ten known shareholders for Sportpesa, there are five Kenyan shareholders having a cumulative of 48% of the shares. There are three Bulgarians with 26% of the…

Instagram has launched IGTV, a new app for watching long-form, vertical video from your favoorite Instagram creators as it hit one billion monthly active users since its launch in 2010. The platform had 800 million users in September last year. The new channel will be accessible to users from within the Instagram app or a new  stand-alone IGTV app. According to Kevin Systrom, Co-Founder & CEO of Instagram, IGTV will be accessible on both Android and iOS platforms. Read: Lawyers And Accountants Develop Platform To Help Citizens File Returns “IGTV will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks on Android and iOS. IGTV is…

Kahawa Tungu’s Investigative Desk can now authoritatively report that internal wrangles and mismanagement at the Kenya Rugby Union spoiled the Ksh20 million deal with Brand Kenya. An insider has intimated that at the time the Shujaa Rugby players concealed Brand Kenya message on their jerseys, they had already received Ksh4 million through KRU, which was misappropriated. “KRU was paid Ksh4 million shillings as first installment which is 20% of the total agreed amount of Ksh20 million. The next installment was to be paid by 30th June 2018 according to the MOU signed,” intimated our source, who sought anonymity for security…

Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) Managing Director Charles Ongwae has refuted claims that seized contraband sugar has mercury traces. Instead, Ongwae said that the infamous sugar has copper and lead metals beyond the recommended levels. The copper that was detected was above the required levels identified by the KEBS standards making it unfit for consumption,” the agency confirmed. According to KEBS, normal sugar fit for human consumption contains 2 milligrams of copper per kilogram. Their tests on one of the consignments however found 20.7 milligrams of the metal per kilogram. Read: Carrefour To Open New Branch At Galleria Mall The…

The path to recovery of the embattled Nakumatt Supermarket has taken a new twist, with the court’s appointed administrator Peter Kadhi accusing the CEO Atul Shah of writing off suppliers’ stock worth Ksh18 billion, without following the due procedure. Addressing the Senate Tourism Trade and Industrialisation committee which is investigating the slow death of what was Kenya’s biggest retail chain, Kadhi said that the stock could have been sold and the funds pocketed before the retailer fell into financial distress. Mr Kahi told the Senate that around May 2017, Nakumatt wrote off stocks worth Ksh18 billion on grounds that there…

Embattled Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) CEO Ezra Chiloba reported to work on Wednesday as ordered by the court, only to find his office door lock changed. Upon inquiry, the CEO was told that the IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati had changed the lock and flew out of the country with the keys. Responding to the allegations, IEBC tweeted saying that Chebukati does not carry office keys, as he is not the janitor. https://twitter.com/IEBCKenya/status/1009496125160722434 Throwing weight to IEBC’s response, the Chairman stated that he was trying to coin a joke to take care of the situation. https://twitter.com/WChebukati/status/1009531834873638912 The Employment and Labour…

A clique of lawyers and accountants have launched Kenya’s first premium online tax website, Ushuru.co.ke, in a bid to ensure that every citizen is tax compliant. The site aims to lighten taxpayers burden, by making the process of filing their tax returns a little easier, which Kenyans have complained for years on end of its tediousness. The new platform uses your PIN, itax password and your tax deduction card (P9) if you are an employee and the details of your business income and expenses if you are self-employed/business person to file returns upon consensual submission, at a fee. Read: This Year’s TechCrunch…

TechCrunch, in partnership with Facebook have chosen three locations across the globe to host the annual TechCrunch Competition for technological enthusiasts. Nigeria will be the second country to host the prestigious event for Sub-Saharan Africa after Kenya, which hosted last year’s event. In last year’s event, Nairobi-based e-logistics platform Lori Systems was crowned “Sub-Saharan Africa’s Most Promising Startup”. Beirut will host the event for Middle East and North Africa while São Paulo will be the convergence point for Latin America. Beirut’s event is on track for early October, São Paulo’s for early November and Lagos’ for early December. “TechCrunch is once again teaming…

Details have emerged that PetroKenya Oil could be a victim of circumstances in the NYS scandal after a misunderstanding with the authorities of the National Youth Service (NYS). According to documents obtained by Kahawa Tungu’s Investigative Desk, the NYS delayed payment meant for PetroKenya, which had been subcontracted by Horizontal Limited. In turn, PetroKenya was forced to acquire a loan of Ksh53,500,000 from Equity Bank to service its creditors. With NYS still holding payments, PetroKenya was unable to service the loan as of August 31, 2016, prompting the bank  to launch a formal demand of the loan through writing. “We…

High Court Judge Francis Tuiyott has blocked the owners of Westgate Mall from registering their Sony Holdings name as a trademark for aspects of business, citing synonymy with Japanese electronics giant Sony Corporation in Kenya. High Court Judge Francis Tuiyott has ruled that Sony Holdings can only register their name as a trademark for four classes – 12, 16, 25 and 4 – which do not clash with the Japanese Sony’s registered trademarks. The classes Tuiyott allowed Sony Holdings to register for are vehicles, paper and cardboard products, clothing and legal services. Alex Trachtenberg and Vishiali Madan, the owners of Westgate,…

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has banned public events from schools in a bid to protect the young minds to focus on educational matters. The order will be fully effective as from next week. Ms Mohamed said the move will ensure that students prepare well for the National exams, whose timetable has been released. She also said that the move will reduce cheating incidences, whereby answers are sneaked into schools during such events, as it happened last year. Speaking during the annual Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha) conference in Mombasa, Ms Mohamed said that she will personally lead the teams…

Nyamira County Assembly will spend Ksh379 million in construction of a modern office block with a restaurant, barber shop, salon and a gym. According to Speaker Moffat Teya, the honourable members have been crossing borders to get the services in other counties. “The construction will be a relief to the county assembly members who have had to go the neighbouring Kisii County to get those services,” says Teya. Media reports indicate that another Ksh2 million is to be used to carpet and sound proof the offices of the Nyamira County Assembly Clerk, Deputy Speaker as well as that of the Majority…

The Director of Public Health Kepha Ombacho has directed wholesalers, supermarkets and retail shops to undertake laboratory analysis of all their sugar consignments to test for any poisonous substances therein. In the new directive, the traders will have to undertake the tests at their own costs despite having the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) mandated to ensure quality of goods sold to the public. According to blogger Abraham Kiplangat Mutai alias Lord Mutai, the move is misinformed. “We have a budget set aside for Kebs to ensure that all goods consumed by Kenyans are safe. It is the job of…