Author: Francis Muli

Four families in Murang’a have been left distraught after their kin were killed in a hit and run accident on July 18. Police reports indicate that four women Jane Waiego, Mary Njeri, Margret Karura Waithaka and Mary Waithera were the victims in a hit and run accident involving a teenager. The teenager is said to have taken the father’s car without permission, causing the accident along the curvy Murang’a- Kangema road. Read: Physics Teacher at Pioneer School in Muranga Smokes Live During Virtual Class According to the police, three women died on the spot while one succumbed to injuries while…

Vodafone Group Plc has hinted at the possibility of spinning off Mobile Money Service, Mpesa following its huge success especially during the pandemic. Mpesa allows customers to send and receive money on their mobile phones. In the last few years, the financial services have grown to include loans, savings and pay roll. The service is available in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Vodafone Chief Executive Officer Nick Read discussed the company’s plans, saying although there was a possibility of branching out in the future, keeping Mpesa within the telco was more logical for now to…

A 24-year-old vegetable vendor has been arrested at Rabango Estate within Siaya township after she allegedly stole a three-month-old baby in Kisii. According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the baby disappeared on July 13, 2021 evening after the mother rushed to a nearby stream to fetch water, leaving the toddler with his three-year-old brother at her house within Nyakongo Estate. “Shock of her life came when she returned minutes later, only to find the months-old baby missing, with no trace of a female vegetable vendor said to have been spotted boarding a motorbike with the infant,” said DCI.…

Kenyan companies are breaching data protection laws to share financial and personal data belonging to millions of Kenyans. A report from a survey conducted consultancy firm Ernst and Young shows that third party companies had obtained customer data from 41 percent of the companies holding the data. Out of this figure, 53 percent did not seek the customer’s consent before sharing their personal information. Some companies are said to be passing their client data to industry players, while some forward personal information to the authorities for investigations. The data is used by third parties for advertising, analysis, sending bulk SMSs…

Members of the Nairobi county assembly attending plenary meetings via videoconferencing app, Zoom, have been asked to style up and dress appropriately. Temporary speaker Emapet Kemunto raised the concerns after it emerged that some of the county legislators had been exposing their ‘naked tummies’ during the virtual meetings. “I have a concern about some members who keep on showing us their bare tummies and all on Zoom. We are not concerned about that. We are here to help mwananchi. Please it is really distressing. Style up,” said Ms Kemunto. This is not the first time drama is being reported at…

One industry that has been thriving despite all those ongoing coronavirus pandemic-related restrictions and limitations in place is most certainly the online gambling industry. The African continent is one of the most promising places for online casinos and online sports betting sites and this does not come as a surprise considering the fact that almost sixty percent of the entire population is under the age of twenty-five. Globally, the iGaming industry is expected to reach over $127 billion in the six years from now at an expected growth rate of 11.5%. With more and more people using smartphones and with rising internet…

Born of a carpenter in New Deli, India, Khalsa Lakhvir Singh’s destiny was tied to the moves of his father. In an interview with blogger Rober Alai in The Audit show, Lakhvir revealed that he has been in the country for over 40 years and now considers himself a Kenyan national rather than Indian. He moved to Kenya in the 1980s alongside his father who migrated to the country to work as a carpenter for a certain company. Occasionally, the family would go back to India to their ancestral home to visit friends and family but with time, the Indian…

Kenya Airways (KQ)will start offering month long courses to aspiring drone pilots seeking to obtain a Remote Pilot Licence (RPL) The training course is offered through KQs subsidiary, Fahari at a cost of Sh180,000. The courses are part of the carrier’s plans to diversify its revenue streams. Aspiring drone operators will benefit from the courses which are a prerequisite for obtaining the licences in Kenya. Speaking to Business Daily, KQ’s technical director Evans Kihara said the cost is exclusive of a Sh10,000 Class 3 aviation medical exam fee. “We have an introductory price of Sh180,000 for a Remote Pilot License…

Kenya’s public debt has hit Ksh7.71 trillion from Ksh7.28 trillion in December 2020 according to official data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). For the first time in history, the government is set to hit the Ksh1 trillion mark in borrowing, with this year’s debt projected to hit Ksh1.169 trillion. “Kenya’s public and publicly guaranteed debt stood at Ksh7.7 trillion by the end of June 2021. This comprised Ksh3.69 trillion domestic debt (47.9 percent) and Ksh4.01 trillion external debt,” said CBK. The Ksh1.169 trillion encompasses the 38-month loan agreement between the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth…

High Court Judges Aggrey Mchelule and Said Chitembwe have been arrested. Kahawa Tungu is informed that Justice Mchelule was arrested in the company of other people and taken to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters for processing. The two judges were accused of receiving bribes for various cases they previously handled. Also quizzed were their drivers and clerks before they were released at about 5pm on Thursday. In a statement on Thursday, the director of public prosecutions Noordin Haji said he was not aware of the reason leading to their arrests and questioning, and that his office had not received…

Instagram has rolled out a feature to automatically translate texts in stories. The company announced that when users post their stories in a foreign language, viewers will be able to click on “see translation” at the top left of the top screen, just under the user’s profile. The translation will be displayed at the bottom. The translation feature has been rolled out globally, including for Instagram users in Kenya. It supports over 90 languages, making it easy for people to share content with an international audience. Read: Instagram Working on Subscription-Based Feature for Exclusive Stories Instagram already offers its users…

The High Court has stopped the University of Nairobi (UoN) from effecting changes announced by Vice-chancellor Prof Stephen Kiama. This follows a case filed by Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) opposing the changes, that scrapped several positions and campuses. Early this month, the Institution abolished five Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) posts, retaining only two harmonized positions renamed to Associate Vice-Chancellor. Also, the institution trimmed and abolished 24 colleges from the total 35 to now only 11. Read: UoN Abolishes 5 Deputy VC Posts, 24 Colleges in Bid to Cut Costs On the same note, all college principal and deputy principal positions had…

Kenyans should expect some downtime on their fibre optic connections in the next six weeks. This is due to the planned relocation of the fibre optic cable from the Nairobi-Mau summit by the Ministry of ICT. The relocation is meant to pave way for the construction of a Sh160 billion dual carriageway starting September this year. The two-way Nairobi Summit highway is due for expansion into a four-lane dual carriage in efforts to improve transportation from the eastern and western regions of Kenya. The construction of the 233 kilometre stretch will be led by a French consortium of four companies…

Twitter is testing a downvote button with a selection of iOS users. If you are on Reddit, you might have seen a thumbs down button that you can click to downvote. Twitter is introducing a similar concept to allow users to show what is not relevant in a conversation. The social media app revealed the latest development in a tweet, saying the downvote button is not a ‘dislike’ button “Some of you on iOS may see different options to up or down vote on replies. We’re testing this to understand the types of replies you find relevant in a convo,…

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has given businesses until August 2022 to install new electronic tax registers connected to its systems for monitoring of daily sales, popularly known as ETR machines. The law requires all businesses with an annual turnover of at least Ksh5 million to have ETR machines for easy monitoring of daily sales and tax returns. “Kenya Revenue Authority wishes to inform the public that the rollout of the Electronic Tax Invoice pursuant to the provisions of the Value-Added Tax (Electronic Tax Invoice) Regulations 2020 shall commence on August 1, 2022,” said KRA in a statement. Initially, businesses…