Author: KahawaTungu Reporter

The Kenya Tea Growers Association (KTGA) Monday sounded an alarm over a series of rising land invasions and criminal activities targeting large-scale tea producer estates. The lobby singled out the ongoing Zimbabwe-like illegal land invasion of Sitoi Estate owned by Eastern Produce Kenya Limited (EPK) in Nandi County and the recent unlawful harvesting of trees at Sambret Estate in Kericho County. Chairperson Silas Njibwakale said at Sitoi Tea Estate, the invaders have been actively plucking the firm’s tea crop, occasioning more than Sh30 million monthly losses since August 2024 and have also taken over prime parcels of land. This includes…

President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated Monday, taking the oath of office to formally kick off his second term in the White House. The inauguration marks the official transfer of presidential power, with the executive branch changing hands from the Biden administration to the Trump administration. The 20th Amendment states that a president’s four-year term ends at noon on Jan. 20, and the president-elect is sworn in shortly after. The inaugural ceremonies of the president-elect and vice president-elect are planned by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Led this year by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, the…

Incoming first lady Melania Trump has launched a cryptocurrency on the eve of her husband’s inauguration as US president. The announcement comes after President-elect Donald Trump launched the $Trump cryptocurrency. Both coins have risen but have seen volatile trade. “The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now,” she posted on the social platform X on Sunday. The website for the “Official Melania Meme”says it is a crypto asset created and tracked on the Solana blockchain. Disclaimers on the websites of both the $Trump and $Melania coins said they were “not intended to be, or the subject of”…

A body of a man aged about 45 was found on the roadside in Kamulu area, Nairobi. Police said they were called Saturday night and informed the body was lying at the scene and rushed there and confirmed the same. The victim did not have identification documents at the time of the discovery of the body. The body had multiple injuries all over and blood was oozing from the mouth and nose. Police said the victim seemed to have been attacked and killed at the scene and they are yet to establish the motive of the same. The body was…

Two families are mourning after three children drowned in separate incidents in Laikipia and Busia Counties. The incidents involved children aged 11, eight and 2 respectively, police said. The first incident happened in a village where two siblings drowned in a dam in Miteta, Ngarua, Laikipia County. The children aged 11 and eight were swimming in the pool of water when the incident happened on Saturday, January 18 evening. Their parents said the children were in a group of friends and had ventured into Miteta Dam, which is within the village when the incident happened. Other children realized the girl…

Tanzania’s ruling party on Sunday nominated President Samia Suluhu Hassan as its candidate in general elections due to take place in October.  Her party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), held a general assembly over the weekend at the end of which it said it had named her as its sole candidate for the October poll. After taking power, Hassan was initially feted for easing restrictions that Magufuli had imposed on the opposition and the media in the country of around 67 million people. But rights groups and Western governments have criticised what they see as renewed repression, with the arrests of…

Hours before he will be sworn into office, Donald Trump promised to sign a host of executive orders on his first day as president while celebrating at a victory rally.  Trump addressed the crowd of thousands of supporters in Washington DC on the eve of his inauguration, offering a preview of the next four years and celebrating his election victory over Democrats. The Republican promised to act unilaterally on a wide array of issues, using his new presidential powers to launch deportation operations and slash environmental regulations. “I will act with historic speed and strength and fix every single crisis…

The death toll from attacks by a rebel group in Colombia’s Catatumbo region has risen to 60, the country’s human rights office has said. Rival factions have been vying for control of the cocaine trade in the region – which sits near the border with Venezuela – for years. The Ombudsman’s Office said the latest violence involved the National Liberation Army (ELN) – the largest armed group still active in Colombia – and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), which signed a peace treaty with the state in 2016. The attacks broke an uneasy truce between the guerrilla groups,…

A court in Seoul has extended the time South Korea’s impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol will be detained over his botched attempt to impose martial law in the country last month. Citing concerns Yoon could destroy evidence if released, on Sunday a judge issued a warrant allowing investigators to keep the suspended president in custody for up to 20 days. The 64-year-old was arrested on Wednesday after a weeks-long standoff between investigators and his presidential security team. Supporters of the president broke into the court after his detention was extended, reportedly smashing windows and doors in an incident condemned by…

A hidden cross-border tunnel used to smuggle migrants and contraband between the US and Mexico will be sealed, Mexican border officials have said. Running between Ciudad Juarez in Mexico and El Paso in Texas, which sit next to each other on either side of the border, the 300m tunnel was concealed in a storm sewer system and only discovered last week – despite official estimates it took at least a year to build. Investigators are now looking into whether local officials knew of its construction. Security has been ramped up on both sides of the border ahead of the inauguration…

Fighters from the Rwanda-backed M23 movement seized control of a key mining settlement in Democratic Republic of Congo, their latest advance in the country’s war-torn east, local sources said on Sunday. Residents said the armed group took control of Lumbishi, a mineral-rich site in the Sud-Kivu region, around 1530 GMT on Saturday. From there they were progressing towards Numbi and Shanje, two other locations in the surrounding Kalehe territory, sources said. “Since this morning there has been fighting against the enemy in Kalehe,” said a security source who asked not to be named on Sunday. M23, or the “Movement of…

President William Ruto Sunday responded to his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta’s recent remarks regarding Gen Z activism.  On Friday, January 17, Uhuru urged the youth commonly known as Gen Z, including his daughter Ngina, to not just sit around, but instead to continue fighting for their rights. The former president said many people have become afraid of defending what rightfully belongs to them. “The problem with you is that you have become afraid, even you Ngina join the others because Gen Z is the story of the future. Fight for your rights and stop just sitting around while your hard-earned sacrifice…

A popular youth leader and outspoken government critic Richard Raymond Otieno was found dead after being killed by unknown people. Otieno, also known as “Molo President”, was found dead in Molo after he was reportedly attacked by unknown assailants with an axe. He was killed and his body was discovered outside the gate to his rented apartment Saturday night, police said. Police said they are investigating claims he had received death threats by unknown people in the past days. Outraged locals stormed a local mortuary where his body had been taken, removed it, and took to the streets in protest,…

The Israeli military says special forces have recovered the body of a soldier killed in the 2014 Gaza war, which had been held hostage by Hamas since then. Staff Sgt Oron Shaul’s remains were found during a “covert, special operation” by the Israeli military and Shin Bet security service in Gaza, according to a statement. His family was informed following an identification procedure carried out by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Military Rabbinate, it added. Hamas had been expected to hand over Shaul’s remains as part of the new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, which was…

The Deputy National Security Advisor Joseph Boinnet, Deputy Inspector General of Administration Police Gilbert Masengeli and the commandant of General Service Unit Ranson Lolmodooni accompanied the 217 fresh police officers sent to Haiti. The security bosses delivered a message from Kenya to Haitian authorities after landing in Port-au-Prince. The team includes 30 female police officers who arrived in Port-au-Prince on Saturday aboard a chartered airplane escorted by the U.S. military.
This came after months of uncertainty about whether Kenya would continue to field cops for the struggling mission in Haiti, where gang violence last year reached record levels. After disembarking, the…