Author: Francis Muli

The National Treasury diverted Ksh18.1 billion meant for fuel subsidy to a Chinese firm operating the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), it has emerged. The scheme started in July last year is supported by collecting Ksh5.40 a litre of fuel, with Ksh31 billion having been collected. Ksh8.6 billion was used for fuel subsidy up to July 2021, before the remaining cash was diverted to other uses. The remaining amount got depleted in August after the government used Ksh3.8 billion to upgrade infrastructure in the energy sector. Ksh18.1 billion was disbursed to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure to support SGR operations.…

National Assembly Finance Committee is seeking seven more days to investigate factors behind the high fuel prices. Led by Homa Bay Woman Representative Gladys Wanga, the committee asked a plenary sitting on Tuesday to be granted more time to scrutinise new details on demurrage costs. Demurrage is a charge payable to the owner of a chartered ship on failure to load or discharge the ship within the time agreed. “The committee has received new information on demurrage charges which has a bearing on fuel prices. We want to inquire further on the charges which arise from delayed clearance of imported…

The National Cement Company is set to send home over 860 workers after its clinker manufacturing factory at Emali is unable to operate optimally. In a statement, Devki Group Chairman Narendra Raval said that cheaper imports are eating into the market, shrinking their profits. “We had hired additional staff in line with our expanded clinker capacity so as to satisfy local demand, but imports are eating into this market. It is, therefore, difficult to sustain jobs when there is no demand to allow us to operate at full capacity,” said Raval. The company shut down its Mombasa clinker plant a couple…

Netflix is rolling out its ‘Play something ‘ feature for Android users worldwide. The feature which was launched in April this year, was first rolled out to TV users as a test. It now official for Android users, although it is still not supported for iOS users. The feature allows the video-streaming app to select something for users to watch based on interests and the Netflix’s algorithm.The selection could include completely new shows that you are yet to watch, or shows that you have watched until halfway. The Play Something button for Android users is located on the navigation bar…

Evans Monari, one of the lawyers in former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali’s legal team at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has died. Monari died at the Nairobi Hospital after a long illness according to family spokesperson Ken Monari. He has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Nairobi Hospital for over two months. “It is with profound sadness that I would like to inform on behalf of the Ogeto family that Evans has gone to be with the Lord. May the almighty God rest his soul in peace. Thank you for your continued support,” Ken Monari said. Apart…

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal wealth dipped by about $7 billion within a few hours after popular social media platforms Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram suffered outages. Zuckerberg’s rank went down to number 5 in the list of the world’s richest people, just after Bill Gates. Facebook’s stock plummeted 15 percent since mid September and 4.9 percent on Monday evening. According to Bloomberg, the social media giant’s stock dropped from $140 billion to $121 billion within just a few weeks. Read: Reactions As Mark Zuckerberg “Leaks” Chat With Campbell Brown’s Son Apart from the outage, Facebook has had a series of…

Facebook suffered what is considered the worst outage since 2019 when the popular social media platform went down for 24 hours. On Monday evening, users around the world reported outages on all three of the company’s platforms: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The outage that lasted six hours caused a lot of speculation among Netizens who at some point believed that hackers had taken over the network. “To all the people and businesses around the world who depend on us, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused by today’s outage across our platforms. We’ve been working as hard as we can…

Social media platforms Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are down for most users worldwide. According to Downdetector, a section of users across the globe are experiencing varying outages on the Facebook-owned platforms. WhatsApp users have reported problems on the app, connecting to the servers and sending messages. The company has confirmed knowledge of the problems via Twitter. “We’re aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We’re working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!” Read: How to Turn On the Follow Button on…

Nyali-based detectives are pursuing a man suspected to have murdered his lover at 3am on Monday morning, by throwing her from the balcony of their bedroom in Nyali’s Sunny Side apartments. The suspect believed to be a foreign national immediately fled the scene after committing the crime. “A guard at the apartment was on the beat walking around his area of assignment when he heard delirious screams of a woman from the skies, followed by a loud bang metres from where he was standing. Thunderstruck, he cautiously approached what seemed to be an object only to discover that it was…

Olusegun “Segun” Ogunsanya has taken over as Airtel Africa’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. His tenure officially started on October 1. Effectively, Segun also joins the Board of Airtel Africa plc. He is taking over from Raghu Mandava who retired from his position as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, as a Director of Airtel Africa plc and as a member of the Market Disclosure Committee on September 30, 2021. Segun Ogunsanya joined Airtel Africa in 2012 as Managing Director and CEO Nigeria and has been responsible for the overall management of Airtel operations in Nigeria, Airtel’s largest market…

Former US President Donald Trump has moved to court seeking to have his Twitter account reinstated. Trump filed a motion with a Florida court asking the district judge to grant a preliminary injunction to restore his Twitter account. Trump sued the Tech giant for the ban mid this year. According to the filing presented to court, Twitter’s ability to censor Trump, allows the platform too much power over political discourse in the US. The filing also indicates that the ban was orchestrated by Trump’s opponents in Congress. Trump was suspended from multiple social media platforms after allegedly inciting a group of…

Controversial singer Alex Apoko commonly known as Ringtone is on the verge of losing his expensive Runda home, as the administrator comes knocking. According to documents in our possession, Ringtonne was given 10 days to leave the home or be forcefully evicted from the multi-million home. The home, situated on parcel number L.R. 7785/94, previously belonged to Mona Ingegard Bjorklund, a Swedish national who died on July 5, 2007. The letter dated September 28, 2021 by AGN Kamau Advocates indicates that Ringtone acquired the property fraudulently. “The provisions of the Law of Succession Act mandatorily requires the administrator of the…

Hennessy launched the second edition of the Hennessy cypher over the weekend at the 1824 club, Nairobi, more than a year after the launch of the first edition of the cypher in April 2021. For the second edition, the company brought together some of Kenya’s talented hip hop artists, including Boutross Munene, Rekles, Xtatic, Elisha Elai, and Monski, who performed live at the launch, creating an eclectic mix of musical talents. The Hennessy Cypher highlights Kenyan hip-hop culture, delving into each of the artists’ unique stories to discover their inner drive, confidence, passion, and talent that can create chain reactions…

91 people have tested positive for Covid-19, from a sample size of 3,435 tested in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate is now at 2.7 percent. Total confirmed positive cases are now 250,114 and cumulative tests so far conducted are 2,572,609. As of October 2nd, 2021, a total of 3,874,083 vaccines had been administered across the country. With these, 2,944,584 were partially vaccinated while those fully vaccinated were 929,499. The uptake of the second dose among those who received their first dose was at 31.6%.  Proportion of adults fully vaccinated was 3.4%. The Government is working towards vaccinating a targeted…

Police in Turkana have been forced to open fire against residents protesting after a convoy of a governor from South Sudan knocked down a child, killing him on the spot. The residents of Kalobeyei Settlement Scheme were protesting outside a police station near the border of Kenya and South Sudan, demanding justice for the young one. The convoy allegedly belonged to Governor for Eastern Equatorial State of South Sudan, Louis Lobong Lojore. The Kalobeyei Settlement Scheme was opened in 2013, following a continuous influx of South Sudanese refugees, after renewed conflict broke out in South Sudan. Several people in a…