Author: KahawaTungu Reporter

The Environment and Land Court in Nairobi struck out a constitutional petition filed by TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya PLC and Gapco Kenya Limited in a land dispute. The court ruled that the dispute should have been brought as an ordinary civil suit rather than a constitutional petition. In a ruling, Justice Grace Kemei upheld a preliminary objection raised by businessman Samuel Kazungu Kambi and Riva Oils Limited, finding that the petition improperly invoked the court’s constitutional jurisdiction. The petitioners had accused land authorities, including the National Land Commission, the Chief Land Registrar and the Director of Survey, of unlawfully allocating and…

Detectives are investigating the murder of a two-year-old boy whose body was found at a dump site in Mlolongo, Machakos County. The boy is believed to have been killed elsewhere and the body dumped at the site behind Mlolongo Primary School on January 22, 2026. Police said the body had healed scars and blood was oozing from the left ear. The body was moved to the mortuary pending an autopsy and other procedures. No arrest had been made by Friday morning and the child was yet to be identified, police said. Elsewhere in Koru, Kisumu County, a man was killed…

A section of Northern Kenya media practitioners collectively withdrew from a planned roundtable interview with former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. The interview was originally scheduled for Thursday, January 22, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. It went on as scheduled, with some attending the session. In a statement released on Wednesday, the umbrella body representing local radio stations and digital media outlets cited concerns over responsible journalism, national unity, and constructive public discourse as reasons for the decision. “It is with deep regret that we inform our esteemed audience of our decision to terminate the planned roundtable interview,” the statement…

A 64-year-old man was killed after a quarry he was working in collapsed in Giatumbi village, Kinyaga, Kirinyaga County. Another man was injured in the Thursday incident and rushed to the hospital, police said. The two had ventured into a quarry when sand debris collapsed and trapped them. Police said Phillip Njagaru Kariuki, 64, died while his colleague was rescued alive and taken to the hospital. A crowd gathered at the scene as rescue teams rushed to help the victims. The body was moved to the mortuary pending an autopsy and other procedures. In Maua, Igembe, Meru County, a man…

A police recruit was killed when a speeding car rammed onto a group of recruits on a morning jog along Marua-Chaka Road in Kiganjo, Nyeri County. The driver also hit and injured 24 other recruits in the tragedy on Friday January 23, 2026, police said. The driver who was in a Toyota Fielder car was blamed for the accident after he allegedly failed to stop as directed by police. The recruits were on a morning run exercise when the incident happened. Police said the driver hit the recruits who were jogging on the left side of the road from Chaka…

A 25-year-old man was killed by a crocodile in Lake Victoria’s Kendu Bay. Police said Ezekiel Ondieki had gone to fetch water and bathe at the shores of the lake at Achuodho beach when the crocodile attacked him. The animal dragged his body into the water as other witnesses rushed to the scene to rescue him in vain. Kenya Wildlife Service officials were informed and visited the scene joining the locals in efforts to retrieve the body in an operation that ran into the night on Thursday January 22. The body was later retrieved and moved to the mortuary. Officials…

Police are hunting for a 26-year-old man after he strangled his aunt in a village in Ratta, Kisumu County. The suspect later sent a text to his relatives confessing he had strangled his aunt, identified as Ruth Achieng Apiyo, 60. Her body was found lying lifeless on the bed long after the murder. The nephew lived in the woman’s house by the time the murder happened on January 22, and the motive is yet to be established, police said. When the relatives received the message, they rushed to the home only to stumble on the body lying in bed. The…

US President Donald Trump has withdrawn an invite for Canada to join his newly constituted Board of Peace, in the latest spat between the North American neighbours. “Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining,” Trump said on Truth Social in a post addressed to Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney made headlines this week warning of a “rupture” in the US-led global order. Ottawa also said it would not pay to join Trump’s new body. The board, which gives Trump wide decision-making powers as chairman, is being…

In his first public testimony about his criminal investigations of Donald Trump, former special counsel Jack Smith said the president was responsible for the violence on 6 January 2021, when hundreds of rioters stormed the US Capitol. Smith told a congressional committee that he believed his team had “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” and enough evidence to win convictions against Trump in both cases they had prosecuted – one into Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the other into accusations that he illegally retained classified documents after leaving office the first time. Trump pleaded not guilty in…

President Donald Trump filed a $5bn (£3.7bn) lawsuit against America’s biggest bank JPMorgan Chase, accusing it of illegally closing his accounts for political reasons. The lawsuit, which also names the bank’s chief executive Jamie Dimon, alleges that Trump and his businesses suffered “considerable financial and reputational harm” after the bank abruptly closed their accounts in 2021. The bank moved to close the accounts after the 6 January, 2021 riot when Trump supporters descended on the US Capitol to disrupt formal ratification of the election results. A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said “the suit has no merit”.” “JPMC does not close accounts…

The Gates Foundation and OpenAI are setting up a Sh6.4 billion ($50 million) partnership to help several African countries use artificial intelligence to improve their health systems and mitigate the impact of international aid cuts, Bill Gates said on Wednesday. The partnership, called Horizon1000, plans to work with African leaders to determine how best to use the technology, starting with Rwanda. “In poorer countries with enormous health worker shortages and lack of health systems infrastructure, AI can be a gamechanger in expanding access to quality care,” said Gates in a blog post announcing the launch. Speaking to Reuters in Davos…

High Court judge Bahati Mwamuye declared the creation of offices for 21 advisers to the President unconstitutional, faulting the process used to establish the positions and appoint the office holders. The court found that the actions leading to the establishment of the advisory offices by the first and second respondents were unlawful, rendering the appointments of all 21 advisers null and void. The judge issued orders quashing the decision to create the advisory positions and to appoint individuals to occupy the offices, effectively removing the advisers from their roles. Further, the court issued a permanent injunction barring the respondents from…

Ghislaine Maxwell, the jailed associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has agreed to testify under oath before the congressional committee investigating the federal government’s handling of the Epstein files. Committee chairman James Comer, who is leading the investigation, says Maxwell will depose virtually on 9 February. Maxwell’s legal team has previously said she would decline to answer questions under her constitutional right to remain silent unless she is granted legal immunity. Comer, previewing the deposition, said, “her lawyers have been saying she is going to plead the Fifth,” referring to the US Fifth Amendment right to decline to speak…

Mexican authorities sent 37 inmates allegedly linked to powerful drug cartels to face trials in the US, after Trump floated the possibility of US land strikes targeting organised criminal gangs inside Mexico. It marks the third round of extraditions of alleged criminals from Mexico to the US over the past year, as President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government faces accusations of appeasing Trump. Mexico’s secretary of security Omar García Harfuch said in a post on X the transferred detainees posed a “threat to the country’s security”. The US Justice Department welcomed the extraditions, declaring it a successful part of a broader strategy…

A Texas jury has found a police officer who responded to the 2022 mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, not guilty of child endangerment charges. Officer Adrian Gonzales was charged with failing to act during the fatal shooting at Robb Elementary School in May 2022, when an 18-year-old gunman shot dead 19 students and two teachers. Nearly 400 officers responded to Robb Elementary school but it took 77 minutes after the first officers arrived for police to confront and kill the shooter, according to a 2024 federal report. The jury returned its not guilty verdict on Wednesday about seven hours after…