Author: Francis Muli

Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC (Safaricom Ethiopia) has announced a countrywide staff recruitment drive and introduced its leadership team as it affirmed its commitment to investing in Ethiopia’s digital future ahead of its commercial launch. At a media conference today held at Safaricom Ethiopia’s new offices, Mr. Peter Ndegwa, Chief Executive Officer of Safaricom PLC, leading a senior delegation from the Global Partnership for Ethiopia (GPE) for a visit to Ethiopia this week, conveyed the shareholders’ commitment to investment in Ethiopia and contributing to the achievement of the digital Ethiopia objectives. “The Global Partnership for Ethiopia is proud to be investing…

Twitter has developed a new feature to help in the crack down of trolls who have become common on the platform. The safety mode will crack down on abusive trolls who bombard users with hateful uninvited comments and block them for seven days. The process is completely automated, and can be enabled or disabled based on preference. It will make it easier for creators to focus on sharing posts on the platform. The feature will assess the relationship between the tweet author and the person commenting before action is applied. Accounts followed by the author or with frequent engagement will…

There was the gold rush in Australia, the diamond rush in South Africa, the Quail bird business in Kenya and now, the sericulture trade (silk farming) that has gripped Kenyans and seen thousands rush to cash in on the lucrative trade. Now, the bandwagon effect, as it’s called, has seen thousands of Kenyans rush to make a killing from the sale and produce of silk with the huge returns from the trade enticing many. Unbeknownst to many, a kilo of silk goes for around Ksh3,000 and many traders have been camping at the door of sericulture pioneer Joe Kariuki to…

Apple has added a new update on iOS 15 that will see it ask users for permission before displaying personalized ads. The company used to collect information from users based on their App store activities and what they searched for and read on Aple News. However, Apple now says it will ask users for permission before tracking them, and ask them to opt-in to personalized ads. In its iOS 14 release last year, Apple said it would give users more control over their data and how it is used. Read: iOS 14 Update Alerts You When Other Apps Are Spying…

Rwanda is set 4,072 tons of sugar to Kenya, joining the league of sugar exporters to Kenya in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) region. This comes at a time Kenya targets to import at least 210,163 tonnes of sugar from Comesa region, with shipments from Eswatini, Zambia, and Mauritius accounting for 69.5 percent of the imports. Eswatini is set to dwarf other countries in terms of exportations, with traders in Kenya allowed to import 68,959 tonnes from Eswatini, followed by Zambia at 41,152 tonnes and Mauritius 36,036 tonnes. Uganda will be allowed to export 18,923 tonnes…

WhatsApp has been fined $266 million (29 billion) for failing to disclose how it handles personal data. This is a first under the streamlined European Union data protection laws. The Irish Data Protection Commission said that the messaging app did not properly inform users on how it handles and processes data, and how it is shared with the parent company, Facebook. WhatsApp was ordered to update its privacy policy to comply with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that governs how tech companies handle data in the EU. The GDPR, which came into effect in May 2018, delivered the ruling…

Murang’a-based agriculture firm Kakuzi is yet to get a nod to supply avocados to Britain’s largest supermarket, Tesco. This follows a ban instituted by Tesco to Kakuzi on October 11, 2020, following reports of assault and sexual misconduct by some Kakuzi employees. Kakuzi, for over a year now, has been unable to tap into the expansive market share enjoyed by Tesco which operates over 3,961 grocery stores in the UK and Ireland. In April, Kakuzi took to court the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and Ndura Resource Center (NRC) over human rights abuse reports. Read: Kakuzi Sues KHRC, NRC Over…

October 25, 1969, is termed by many as the turning point for Kenya’s political landscape when the founding President Jomo Kenyatta and the then opposition leader Jaramogi Oginga Odinga became total political enemies till death. This was three months after the assassination of Tom Mboya, the then most accomplished Kenyan politician who was seemingly a “threat” to President Kenyatta’s leadership. Mboya, who came from Rusinga island, had gained a lot of following across the country and a cult-like following from his community, the Luos. The brutal murder of the young Mboya, though no official confirmation, was associated with the Kenyatta…

The Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) is set to auction 193 unclaimed motorcycles that were impounded in the city over one year ago. According to NMS Deputy Director of Operations William Kangogo, the owners have failed to show up with legal documents, including logbooks and receipts, to claim them. “When we impound the motorbikes, we require logbook and receipt given by the companies and distributors because we suspect some of these motorbikes were stolen or acquired illegally,” said Kangogo. NMS is currently preparing a list of the motorcycles that are lying in the Dagoretti and Ngong Road county yards, which will…

Governors have opposed an announcement by the Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua which require Cabinet Ministers and other officers of the National Government to exercise pervasive control and direction on the management and administration of pension schemes for County Government workers. In a statement, governor Wycliffe Wangamati who serves as the Chairman of Human Resource and Social Welfare Committee termed the announcement as unconstitutional, illegal and ultra vires. “Laptrust and CPF are neither state corporations nor agencies of the National Government to warrant the pervasive control and direction embodied in the impugned Directives. Laptrust and CPF are pension schemes…

Spotify recently released an analysis of Kenyans’ most preferred music on the platform since its launch six months ago. The report showed an affinity towards local genres such as gengetone and internationals stars including Drake and Pop Smoke. According to the report revealed during a Spotify event marking six months since launch, the top streamed artists are Drake followed by boy band, Sautisol and Justin Bieber. The most streamed Kenyan song in the past six months is the smash hit “Niko Sawa” by Bien and Afropop artist Nviiri the Storyteller. “Spotify has always celebrated Africa’s abundance of talent and diversity.…

Deputy President William Ruto has come out to explain some sources of his wealth, claiming that he makes Ksh1.5 million every day from his poultry farm. Responding to revelations of his wealth by Interior CS Fred Matiang’i, Ruto said that his Koitalel Poultry farm in Eldoret produces around 150,000 eggs every day that gives him at least Ksh1.5 million daily. In addition, Ruto says he has 400,000 Safaricom shares that give him millions at the end of the year. “Now the OP people have gotten it 70% right but I don’t have a farm in ADC. They, however, forgot to…

Twitter has started rolling out it’s Super Follows feature, allowing users to monetize from tweets to an exclusive audience. Twitter users with a huge following will be able to allow interested audience to subscribe to their tweets at a fee. The tweets will then appear on the timelines of the super followers only. The creators will be able to identify the Super followers by badge that will appear under their names when they post a comment. Twitter says it is rolling out the feature starting with iOS users in the US. There are plans to roll out the feature to…

Telegram has announced a new update on its livestreams feature, allowing an unlimited number of viewers to its groups and channels. Also included is the option to remove captions from media and hide identity of senders when forwarding files. In a blog post, the company said users can now host livestreams and group video calls with an unlimited number of participants. For video calls however, the unlimited number depends on the number of people in the group. Admins can tap on “livestream ” in a channel or “video chat” in groups to start a session. The livestream audience can also…

The Institute of Certified Investment and Financial Analysts (ICIFA) has warned the public of persons in the public domain fraudulently offering the services of investment and financial analysts without being registered and authorised to practice. In a statement on Thursday, ICIFA flagged the operations of Doublecoinfx, a firm claiming to offer investments and financial analysis services. “ICIFA has been made aware of such fraudster activities by Doublecoinfx, claiming to be acting as a firm registered by ICIFA pursuant to section 18 (1) (e) and 24 of the IFA  Act. We hereby wish to notify the public that Doublecoinfx is not…