Author: Francis Muli

Despite an economic slowdown, most African countries are reported to have a positive economic outlook. This is according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales’ (ICAEW) latest report. In Economic Insight: Africa Q3 2018 launched yesterday, the accountancy body provides GDP growth forecasts for various regions including East Africa which is forecast at 6.3%, West and Central Africa as 2.9%, Franc Zone at 4.6%, Northern Africa at 1.8% and Southern Africa at 1.5%. The report highlights remittances as a key economic driver for most African countries. Ethiopia remains the region’s powerhouse, with growth forecast at 8.1%, thanks…

Eldas MP Adan Keynan, Supreme Court Judge Smokin Wanjala and Kenya Universities and Colleges Placement Service (KUCCPS) CEO Dr John Muraguri have fake degrees from non-existence Commonwealth University. They join embattled Nairobi County Speaker Beatrice Elachi who according to evidence in possession of Kahawa Tungu bought the doctorate degree for Ksh655,000 which the Commonwealth University listed as award “summit fees.” In April, a local daily reported that Keynan’s and Wanjala’s honorary degrees were awarded during a recent graduation ceremony, without mentioning the exact dates the degrees were awarded, a suggestion of dubiety in the matter. Muraguri on his part received his…

Loon, the Alphabet company that is planning to launch balloon powered internet connectivity in Kenya next year, has successfully sent a test internet connection 1,000 kilometers across seven balloons. That represents a distance that would span the entire country from the port city of Mombasa to the Kenya-Uganda border.  The test, which was carried out in the United States last month (August), marks a positive step towards the rollout of service next year in partnership with Telkom Kenya. This was just a few weeks before the team attained another milestone by sending a single connection across two balloons 600km apart – the longest…

Two childhood friends, Tim Kamanga and Mark Njagi have developed a new taxi-hailing app, Wasili Rider,  tailored for their home town, Nakuru. The two who are in their early 30’s say that they were pushed to develop the app for Nakuru, so as to match other towns that are saturated with taxi-hailing apps such as Uber, Taxify, Little Cab, Delight Cab, Jatco Travels, Jim Cabs and Pewin Cabs. “We grew up in Nakuru and knew the challenges of securing a taxi, particularly as a visitor, so we decided to do something about bridging the gap. We also realised that the…

Taxify has announced a new feature that connects drivers with trips headed to their destinations. The new feature, Driver Destinations, allows drivers to indicate where they are heading and then synchronizes with the Taxify app to find and connect them with trips that are on their way. The Driver Destinations feature can be set up two times every day. This means that drivers that are on their way back home, or towards areas with high demand, can set their destination to earn fares that are along their route. “We value our driver-partners and are always looking for ways to improve…

Kenya Film and Classification Board has banned two adverts running on radio and TV, one belonging to Pwani Oil’s Fresh Fry cooking oil and the other for Marie Stopes, for contravening the law. The Fresh Fry ad was banned by the Ezekiel Mutua agency for promoting sexual content during watershed hours while the Marie Stopes ad was banned for promoting abortion, in contravention of the law. The Fresh Fry ad shows a woman on the sea shores seducing a man, while the one for Marie Stopes promises relief for women with unplanned pregnancies, suggesting a solution for safe abortion. According…

Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) has announced a funding round of Ksh70 million in startups formed from its recently graduated 2018 training program cohort. Out of 17 teams, composed of 58 entrepreneurs hailing from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire and Zimbabwe, MEST will invest Ksh10 million in each of seven companies who will join MEST Incubators in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya.MEST Africa’s 10th cohort has been its most Pan-African, and its largest, yet. “The seven teams we are investing in today represent the strength of the incredible diversity within our cohorts,” said MEST Managing Director Aaron Fu. “Not…

Migori Governor Okoth Obado could spend the night in police cells after he was whisked away from Nyanza Regional DCI offices in police cars after more than six hours of questioning. However, his lawyer Cliff Ombeta has denied that his client was arrested, saying that he came to record a statement concerning Sharon Otieno’s murder. Earlier reports indicated that Obado is set to undergo DNA tests as detectives seek to ascertain whether he has any connection with the murder of Rongo University student Sharon Otieno. Read: https://kahawatungu.com/2018/09/10/sonko-deputy-hopeful-agnes-kagure/ “Our client was not arrested. He came here to give his statement and that is…

The Chairman and founder of the Alibaba Group Jack Ma has announced that he will take early retirement to concentrate on philanthropy. In his place, Ma announced that Daniel Zhang will take over when he retires in a year’s time at the age of 55. Zhang will double up as the chairman and CEO during his tenure. Zhang, 46,  also known as Zhang Yongis the CEO of Alibaba Group. Before becoming the CEO, Zhang was best known for his roles as CEO of Taobao and president of Tmall.com (owned by Alibaba). While running Tmall, Zhang created the Singles’ Day shopping holiday, an annual Chinese sales event with gross…

Vodacom has appointed Hisham Hendi to act as Managing Director in Tanzania, even as embattled Sylvia Mulinge is waiting to get a work permit from Tanzanian government. The government has seemingly refused to issue a work permit to Ms Mulinge, who was appointed to take over the leadership of Vodacom as the Managing Director in Tanzania in April. This is despite Kenyans sending lobbyists to Tanzania to try and intervene, after five months of deadlock. According to local media reports, the state has suggested that there are Tanzanians who could do the job, while other reports say Mulinge had not…

Loved and hated in equal measure, he is one of the most feared cops in town, hunting down robbers to their hideouts, and if need be, sending them to their graves. Kenyans love him for saving them from gangsters, robbers hate him because he spares them not while human rights activists demonstrate against his actions in the name of extra-judicial killings. Ahmed Rashid came into the limelight last year when he shot thugs in Eastleigh, first avenue, believed to be members of the dreaded Gaza group that has been terrorizing Kenyans in low income residential areas such as Dandora, Mathare…

Visa has announced that Marianne Mwaniki has joined the company as senior vice president of social impact, with responsibility for the company’s comprehensive strategy in the areas of financial inclusion, financial literacy, corporate social responsibility and corporate giving programs. In this new role, Ms Mwaniki will also lead the Visa Foundation, which was established in 2017 to build on Visa’s activity in corporate giving and to accelerate the delivery of the company’s social impact goals by helping small and microenterprises thrive. Prior to joining Visa, Ms. Mwaniki spent more than 20 years in the international banking sector, leading teams across…

Former Kiambu KANU Secretary General Moses Antony Njehu Boro is on the spot for allegedly threatening his widowed neighbour in Kikuyu Constituency, Kerwa Location over a piece of land. The neighbour, whom Kahawa Tungu has identified as Margaret, lost her husband an year ago. According to a neighbour of the two who spoke to Kahawa Tungu, Boro started creating land conflict with an aim of force her out of the land in cahoot with unknown parties . They raised boundary issues. Margaret, went out of her own way and cost and paid the district surveyor to come an arbitrate the boundary…

Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko has taken the issue of Sharon Otieno’s murder head on, accusing his colleague from Migori Okoth Obado of being the main suspect. In an audio, the governor is heard saying that Obado tried to force Sharon to abort, which she did not budge to. According to Sonko, this is what could have led to the gruesome murder of Sharon. “The main suspect (of Sharon’s murder) is my fellow governor, governor Obado, Shame on you! The postmortem report shows that Sharon was stabbed on the uterus to kill the embryo, because Obado told Sharon to abort…

Operations at Mumias Sugar Company have been halted following Kenya Power’s decision to cut electricity for the sugar miller over Ksh2 billion arrears in electricity bills. The power was disconnected on Saturday evening, following ‘an order from above’. This is despite a meeting held last month between the two companies, that deliberated how embattled Mumias will pay the bill. A local daily reports that Mumias was preparing to start producing ethanol on Monday, when Kenya Power threw them off the balance. “We were set to start processing ethanol production when the electricity supply was switched off. We had already fermented…