Author: Francis Muli

Atlas Tower Kenya, a Telecommunications infrastructure firm is set to install 4G towers which will be leased out to mobile network operators Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Kenya. The company has invested Sh5.4 billion into the venture. The telcos have been are in a rush to provide 4G coverage to subscribers across the country in a bid to attract and retain a huge percentage of smartphone users. Safaricom and Airtel are already mapping out the roll out plan for 5G. However, a huge chunk of the Kenyan market is still on 3G, an issue that the telcos need to address. Atlas…

Microsoft has announced plans to shut down the local version of LinkedIn in china citing a operational challenges in the country. According to Mohak Shroff, senior vice president of engineering at the career networking platform, the Chinese market is a significantly more challenging operating environment with greater compliance requirements. Microsoft has instead made plans to roll out a new platform named InJobs this year that will be exclusive to China. The portal will not include a social feed or the ability to share posts or articles but simply serve as a platform for listing and applying for jobs. Read also: Microsoft…

Today 134 people have tested positive for the Covid-19, from a sample size of 6,047 tested in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate is now at 2.2%. Total confirmed positive cases are now 251,803 and cumulative tests so far conducted are 2,630,712. 142 patients have recovered from the disease in the period, 49 from various hospitals across the country and 93 from home based care and isolation. This brings the total number of recoveries to 245,077. Read: Kenya Announces 550 Covid-19 Cases, 7 Deaths in 24 Hours Currently 612 patients are admitted in various health facilities across the country, while…

The High Court has quashed Section 22 of the Elections Act that requires aspirants for parliamentary and MCA seats to have a university degree. Justice Mrima ruled that there was no public participation towards the enactment of the requirements, which had already been made mandatory by the IEBC for the 2022 General Elections. The case was filed by a lobby group dubbed Sheria Mtaani through lawyer Danstan Omari, arguing that the law was discriminatory. “That the General elections which should by law be held on the second Tuesday of August 2022 are fast approaching as IEBC makes preparations and directives…

At least 150 chiefs and assistant chiefs are among 859 newly appointed assistant county commissioners, Interior principal secretary Karanja Kibicho has revealed. Initially, assistant chiefs were only promoted upon the death or retirement of the chiefs, hindering their growth in their administrative careers. “Before the Government made this possible through policy change that allows them to rise through the ranks by undertaking relevant training, assistant chiefs used to pray very hard for the death of the chiefs. It was the only way they could get promoted,” said Kibicho. Read: MPs Plan To Make SRC Commissioners Part-Time Workers With Ksh16,000 Monthly Salary…

Cytonn Investments has taken to court the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) CEO Wycliffe Shamiah over defamation allegations. According to Cyton CEO Edwin Dande, Shamiah has been “loitering the halls of parliament, TV stations, and social media”, telling half-truths and fabrications about two Cytonn products, the Cytonn High Yield Solution (CHYS) and Cytonn Private Notes (CPN). “The purpose of the lawsuit is to stop Mr Shamiah from loitering the halls of parliament, TV stations, and social media telling half-truths and outright fabrications, and in the process hurting the very investors he is handsomely paid by taxpayers to protect. We need a…

The Attorney General has filed  notice of appeal against the high court ruling that declared the roll out of the Huduma Namba illegal. Sources indicate that the Attorney General’s office was dissatisfied with the ruling and was going to appeal the judgement. The high court on Thursday declared the roll out of the Huduma Namba illegal, saying it contravened the data protection act. During the ruling, Justice Jairus Ngaah said the state had failed to conduct a data protection impact assessment prior to rolling out the cards. Read: Gov’t Distributing 3.8m Huduma Namba Cards, Urges Kenyans to Act on Prompt Messages “An…

WhatsApp is adding end-to-end encryption for cloud backups on both iOS and Android effective today. The messaging app has had end-to-end encryption for five years now, but chats backed up on cloud storage such as Google Drive on Android or iCloud on iOS could not be encrypted. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced this latest development on his social mediating users can now turn on end-to-end encryption for their backups. Read: Facebook Looking To Integrate Messenger With Whatsapp It is not clear whether the encryption will be automatic, but to activate it, go to Settings > Chats > Chat Backup > End-to-end…

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has accused the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) of trying to usurp powers vested upon the Directorate of Public Prosecutions in Tob Cohen murder case. In a statement on Friday, LSK President Nelson Havi said that the DCI, which is under the NAtional Police Service has been overstepping its mandate, by trying to initiate criminal prosecution against suspects, a function of the DPP. “The function of the National Police Service in general and the DCI, in particular, is to investigate crime. On the other hand, the DPP is tasked with the criminal prosecution of…

Even after confessing to having killed at least 12 children, Masten Wanjala still longed for freedom from the stinking police cells in Jogoo Police Station. Wanjala, who was lynched by his village mates in Bungoma, was compelled to explain how he escaped from police custody before travelling to his rural home. Wanjala told the mob that he disguised as a petty offender and bribed the officers with money before he was set free on Tuesday night. Unknown to him that he had been declared an enemy of the people back in Bungoma, Wanjala sought the help of a lorry driver,…

Police in Rwanda on Thursday arrested six people, among them a popular YouTuber and three members of the opposition for spreading rumours with the intention of undermining the government. The arrests come just two weeks after a court sentenced a 42 year old popular genocide survivor and YouTube commentator to 15 years in prison for inciting violence by criticising the President, Paul Kagame. Yvonne Idamage, a mother of four, was jailed for 15 years and ordered to pay a fine equivalent to $2,000 after she was convicted of six charges. She had accused the President and the government of dictatorship.…

Vihiga Boys Secondary School dormitory has gone up in flames, hours after a similar attempt was thwarted on Thursday night, the school administration has said. Vihiga County Commander Benjamin Ong’ombe confirmed the Friday morning incident that has disrupted learning at the school. “We will get more information after the fire is contained and investigation done,” Mr Ong’ombe said. Firefighters from Vihiga County government rushed to the school to help put out the fire. https://twitter.com/KahawaTungu/status/1448925309219352578 The cause of the fire is yet to be established. Email your news TIPS to Editor@kahawatungu.com or WhatsApp +254707482874. You can also find us on Telegram through www.t.me/kahawatungu

Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen’s rise to fame can be likened to a shooting star, whose prominence shone so bright, but lasted for a very short time. An unknown lawyer, Murkomen shot to fame in 2013 after beating the late Nicholas Biwott in the Elgeyo-Marakwet Senatorial race in 2013, becoming the first senator of the county. He was then a musketeer of Deputy President William Ruto, credited for massive grassroots campaigns in the Rift Valley region for Ruto and President Uhuru Kenyatta, who were in a joint ticket for Presidency. In the 2017 general elections, Murkomen would trounce former Inspector General of…

The government has borrowed Ksh2 billion meant for the dualling of the Eastern Bypass, which connects Thika Road and Mombasa Road through City Cabanas, Pipeline, Njiru. The construction of the 32-km bypass started in 2013, by has never been dualled, something Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia says should have been done from the beginning. “They should not have done that road without dualling it,” said Mr Macharia as quoted by Business Daily. Documents tabled in Parliament show that the loan was signed on September 28, 2021, but is yet to be disbursed. Treasury did not however reveal the financial. The…

Suspected serial killer and rapist who has been the nightmare of Ruiru residents for the last four months has been arrested. Paul Magara Morara, 29, who has been linked to the deaths of three ladies and seriously injured four within the period, was arrested today in an operation by Ruiru-based detectives, who were acting on an attempted murder report. Magara has remained in the detectives’ list of wanted persons since 2020, but the masked hitman was only known by his alias name, Mkisii. According to DCI Ruiru profiling, the masked Magara occasionally struck ladies in the hours of darkness, killing…