Author: Francis Muli

Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) chief executive officer Carole Kariuki and Mavuno Chapel’s Senior Pastor Rev Muriithi Wanjau have been pushed out of their positions as Daystar University Council members. The changes have been triggered by recommendations in an Independent Taskforce’s report that looked into the crisis that has gripped the university. Others who lost their positions in the new council include University of Nairobi dons Prof George Khroda and Prof Nancy Karanja. Dr Fredrick Ringo, Mulatu Belachew and Dr Victor Madziakapita also lose out in the new Council. The changes were announced on July 24 by the Daystar Company Board — the legal…

Details about how Rama Homes Company mistreats its employees have emerged, showing that the employees face a fine of up to Ksh10,000 to a delayed e-mail response past 24 hours. According to a document named ‘Violation and Fine Policy’ obtained by Kahawa Tungu from the company, the employees face fines ranging between Ksh200 and Ksh10,000 or even more, for drivers who take 100% risk for any damage that happens to vehicles. “Any costs incurred as a result of the negligence of the driver or rider will be borne by him/her 100%,” states the document in part, in reference to drivers.…

Fully trained, and qualified local engineers and other skilled professionals (accountants, project managers etc) were last year asked to leave Chinese Technological Company, Huawei, in a technical sense, to create space for their Chinese counterparts. According to a source privy to the deals, all the local Huawei Staff (who had been contracted to Huawei via a management firm called Insight Management Consultants) were moved to another engineering contractor, called Whitespace, as its new employees. The employees were forced to sign a document, virtually transferring themselves from one employer to another, under false pretense that the terms and conditions will remain the same…

Three suspected SIM swap scammers have been arrested, the National Police Service  has announced. Joseph Kuria Kariuki, Grace Wanjira and Meshack Okoth Okuta were arrested on Tuesday, in connection to a scam that has seen Kenyan lose millions. “The trio were arrested in connection with the recent case that saw a Kiambu MCA lose Ksh1.9 million shillings. One of the key suspects is a Safaricom Customer Care Executive who has since been dismissed. Detectives are closing in on leads that may lead to the arrest of two more,” tweeted the National Police Service. Read: Police Arrest Mulot SIM Swap Scammers…

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) is is set to acquire defunct Imperial Bank, after its competitor, State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) pulled out. The bank was put under receivership in October 2015 after it emerged that it was operating two sets of books, with a potential fraud of $449 million (Ksh44.9 billion). Consequently, in October last year, Central Bank communicated to shortlisted candidates believed to be KCB and the Mauritius lender, SMB Holdings , requesting them to submit their formal proposals by January 15 2018. “The revised proposal was received from KCB Bank Kenya while the other bidder has withdrawn from the…

Chief Justice David Maraga has said that Kenyans may wait longer for their cases to be decided, following government move to reduce judiciary budget by more than half from what they had asked for. Giving an update of the budget cut in Nairobi, Maraga said the Judiciary requested for Ksh31.2 billion to support its operation in the 2018/19 financial year but ended up with Sh14.5 billion which is not enough to implement most of the projects. “The undertaking by the Chief Justice to ensure that all cases above five years old are cleared by December 2018 is now a mirage.…

A parliamentary report has revealed that counties spent Ksh2.5 billion in just two years to pay lawyers for litigations in extravagant or questionable contractual arrangements. According to the report prepared by inter-governmental relations committee, Narok and Nairobi top the list of counties that spent the most in legal fees. The report shows the two counties jointly spent Sh1.2 billion between June 2014 and June 2016. While Narok spent Sh591 million, Nairobi sank Sh577 million, a figure that, however, contradicts the Auditor General’s which put Nairobi’s expenditure on legal fees at Sh1 billion. During the same period, the national government spent…

AirHelp has ranked Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) as the best airport in Africa and 38th globally in the 2018 worldwide rankings. The ranking was based on assessment of the quality of service, on-time performance, and the passenger experience of a given airport. In an out of ten scorecard, JKIA scored an overall 7.9 out of 10, 8.3 on-time performance, 7.2 quality of service, and 9.3 on passenger sentiments. Read: Astral To Fly The First Cargo Drone In Kenya AirHelp is a service that helps airline passengers to get the compensation that’s owed to them after a disrupted flight (including cancellations,…

Kenya-based cargo airline Astral Aviation is in the process of acquiring two Lucas-F250 cargo drones to operate in Kenya, the first of the type in the country. According to a letter of intent signed between the company and Dubai-based Falcon Drones Technology FZ-LLC, Astral will acquire two Lucas-F250 drones with an option to purchase an additional 10 in 2019. The F-250 is an unmanned aerial vehicle with a range extending 1500 kilometres, endurance of up to 10 hours, a cruise speed of 150km/h and maximum speed of 200km/h. It also benefits from a cargo weight of up to 250 kilograms,…

It has emerged that Uber eats, an American online food ordering and delivery platform with subsidiaries in Kenya, is defrauding their drivers of their guaranteed income. It is worth noting that Uber eats riders use the Uber driver application. According to one of the drivers who spoke to Kahawa Tungu, Uber eats have secretly programed their system to auto log them (drivers) out so that they can’t log in till the next day. Worse still, their accumulated promotion hours disappear when the drivers are able to log in next day. “My problem is that they have secretly programed their system to…

The government has issued a directive freezing all new government projects until those that are ongoing are completed. The directive was issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta who spoke at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre where he addressed a meeting bringing together all government accounting officers including Principal Secretaries, Parastatal Heads, Vice Chancellors of Public Universities and Chairmen of State Corporations In the directive, President Kenyatta warned that the officers would be held responsible if they sanction new projects without express authority from the National Treasury. President Kenyatta said the directive is aimed at stopping wastage of resources and the habit…

More than 200 houses in Athi River allegedly built in a disputed parcel of land previously owned by East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) were demolished today, leading to loss of property worth millions of money. The demolition was done under the tight watch of the police, who repelled any resident trying to stop the exercise. The demolition of the houses comes barely hours before a Machakos court ordered that no more destruction should take place. A court order by Justice O Angote indicated that the on-going demolitions and eviction of people should be stopped forthwith. The court also ordered…

Pastor Godfrey Migwi from House of Hope Church in Kayole has published a video on Facebook calling on Women Representatives and other female leaders in the country to leave their bossy behaviour expressed in public. Pastor Migwi was responding to a video posted online by Laikipia Women Representative Catherine Waruguru, who bashed Sunshine Upperhill Hotel, which denied her entry into the hotel for lack of a marriage certificate. “Our women leaders are doing things which are not good. We elected them to work, not to catwalk in the country talking about hotel owners and petty issues. You cannot go to a…

Former Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph, the pioneer of the revolutionary Mpesa mobile money was the keynote speaker in Ethiopia during the launch of Amole, another digital payment method by Ethiopia’s leading private digital bank, Dashen Bank. Launched in partnership with Moneta Technologies, Amole is named after the ancient salt-bar currency used in ancient Ethiopia. The new payment method will offer subscribers digital payment capability and access to aggregated digital products and services from retailers, the entertainment industry, airtime dealers, bill payment points, airlines, social media players and third-party service providers. The former CEO and “the father” of the M-Pesa mobile…

Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) has issued a public warning concerning the SIM swap scammers, instead of instituting measures to cub them. This comes one day after Kahawa Tungu’s investigative desk put onto spotlight the CID and Safaricom staff for aiding the scammers. Responding to the expose, CA Director General Francis Wangusi only reiterated what was in the expose without highlighting what the authority has put in place to cub the vice. “In the case of SIM swap fraud, a fraudster usually makes a call pretending to be an employee of a mobile network operator. The fraudster further asks the…