Author: KahawaTungu Reporter

Interior CS Kithure Kindiki says Kenya will not allow its troops to exit the Country for Haiti until all the required resources, including equipment and finances, are mobilised and availed. Speaking on Thursday, the CS said that no taxpayers’ money will be spent to deploy the 1,000 National Police Service Officers as part of the Multi-National Security Support in Haiti. “The cost of deployment will be borne by United Nations member states through voluntary contributions,” said Kindiki. Further, the CS stated that the deployment of officers will neither compromise nor undermine the capacity and capability of the service to fulfil…

Former Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya has asked Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza to reconcile with MCAs and her deputy Isaac Mutuma. The ODM deputy party leader urged the county boss to provide leadership for the sake of the people of Meru. “Local settlement of issues should be given first priority and both parties need to consider how much resources and time is lost when fighting each other at the expense of service delivery to the people,” he said on Thursday. Oparanya said Motions of impeachment should not be used as yardsticks for settling political disputes, but rather as a last resort…

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna will not attend President William Ruto’s inaugural State of the Nation Address scheduled for Thursday. The President will address a joint Parliamentary sitting of both the National Assembly and the Senate for the first time since taking office in September 2022. Speakers from both Houses, Moses Wetang’ula (National Assembly) and Amason Kingi (Senate) called on all members to attend the joint sitting of Parliament. Article 132 of the Constitution states that; Once every year, a report, in an address to the nation, on all the measures taken and the progress achieved in the realization of the…

Ivanka Trump said she could not remember property deals she handled at her father’s firm, as she testified in a civil fraud case that threatens his business empire. A judge has already found Donald Trump and two adult sons, Eric and Donald Jr, liable for fraud, ruling they inflated assets to secure favourable loans. Ivanka Trump, 42, was initially a co-defendant, too, until an appeals court ruling in her favour this year. She fought hard to avoid testifying. The mother-of-three had argued she could not leave her children in Florida during a school week. But a New York judge and…

The Government has summoned the management of 17 state-run agencies next week to explain their failure to comply with a presidential directive on payments of services through eCitizen. The Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau who chairs the eCitizen Implementation Committee said Principal Secretaries for State Departments under which the agencies fall, chief executive officers and Board chairpersons will be in attendance. Among the summoned agencies are Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Power and Lighting Company, Kenya National Examination Council, National Hospital Insurance Fund, Higher Education Loans Board, the Hustler Fund and the Agricultural Finance Corporation. Others are Kenyatta National Hospital,…

Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza for the second time, survived a bid to remove her from office by impeachment. This is after a majority of the 47 Senators failed to uphold any of the seven charges cited against her by by the County Assembly that voted to remove her. Mwangaza was accused of misappropriating county resources, nepotism and unethical practices, bullying and vilifying other leaders, usurping her statutory powers, contempt of court, illegally naming a public road after her husband and contempt of the Meru County Assembly. After a two-day-long hearing of the impeachment case against her, the 47 Senators took…

Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Principal Secretary Roseline Njogu Wednesday issued a public apology over the release of a Gazette Notice which reported that fees for the processing of permanent residences for children of Kenyan citizens born outside the country had increased.  The notice said the fee had increased to Sh1 million. The notice, which triggered a heated public debate, reported that fees for the processing of permanent residences for children of Kenyan citizens born outside Kenya had doubled to Sh200,000 while the fees for the issuance of permanent residences for the same children had increased to Sh1 million from Sh500,000.…

Passport fees have been revised upwards in all categories. In a gazette notice dated November 7, Interior CS Kithure Kindiki said, ordinary passports (34 pages) will now cost Sh7,500 up from Sh4,500. Kenyans applying for an ordinary passport (50 pages) will now have to part with Sh9,500 up from Sh6,000. A 66-page ordinary passport will cost Sh12,000 up from Sh7,500. Diplomatic passports of 50 pages will now cost Sh15,000 up from Sh7,500. The cost of replacing a lost passport has jumped from Sh12,000 to Sh20,000 while the cost of replacing a mutilated passport has increased from Sh10,000 to Sh20,000. Further,…

The government has increased replacement of identity cards fee from Sh100 to Sh2,000. In a gazette notice issued by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, those applying for a national ID for the first time will part with Sh1000, a service that was previously free. Further, birth certificates will henceforth go for Sh200 up from Sh50. Those looking to make changes in their ID cards will pay Sh1,000 while those seeking identification reports will part with Sh1000 up from Sh300. Civil servants’ cards will now go for Sh1,000 up from Sh100 while those in need of staff badges will have to…

Embattled Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza on Wednesday cried during the hearing of her ouster by the Senate. The county boss shed tears during cross-examination by her lawyer Elias Mutuma on some utterances made against her by politicians believed to be behind her second impeachment attempt. In one of the clips played before the senate  Tigania East MP Mpuru Aburi verbally attacks Mwangaza for not siring children with her current husband. In the video, the MP is seen rubbing a stick between his palms as he addresses the crowd in his vernacular language. Read: Senate Warns Moses Kuria Against Commenting on Mwangaza’s…

The El Nino weather phenomenon, which triggers higher global temperatures, is expected to last until at least April 2024, the United Nations said on Wednesday. El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere. The UN’s World Meteorological Organization said the current El Nino, which developed rapidly during July-August this year, was likely to peak between now and January. “There is a 90-percent likelihood it will persist throughout the upcoming northern hemisphere winter/southern hemisphere summer,” it said in its latest update,…

Senators on Wednesday paused the ongoing impeachment trial of Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza to debate Public Service CS Moses Kuria’s continued interference in the matter. CS Kuria on Tuesday evening alleged that Mwangaza’s sole offense was “looking down on people”. This he said as he singled out 13 senators for being misled. Led by Majority leader and Kericho senator Aaron Cheruiyot, the lawmakers demanded that the former Trade CS be removed from office. Cheruiyot said that the CS’s continued stay in office was detrimental to the President William Ruto-led administration. Read: Senate Warns Moses Kuria Against Commenting on Mwangaza’s Impeachment Trial…

Public Service CS Moses Kuria has been warned against commenting on the ongoing Impeachment trial against Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza at the Senate. Senate Speaker Amason Kingi had on Tuesday evening cautioned legislators against uttering statements on the trial. “It has been brought to my attention that comments that are prejudicial to the ongoing trial have been made in various social media platforms including X by Kenyans including the public and senior officers,” he said. “In particular CS Kuria has made several posts criticising the ongoing proceedings.” Kingi warned that Kuria risked being summoned if he continued to express his…

Canadian poet Rupi Kaur has declined an invitation to a Diwali celebration at the White House in protest against the Biden administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas war. In a post on social media, Ms Kaur said she refuses “any invitation from an institution that supports the collective punishment” of civilians. She also called on other South Asians to hold the US government accountable. The Diwali event is due to take place on 8 November. It will be hosted by Vice-President Kamala Harris, who has yet to comment on the remarks. Read: Israel Rebuffs Blinken’s Call for Gaza Humanitarian Pause Ms Kaur,…

Police Monday recovered a Ceska pistol, which was robbed from a civilian firearm holder in Kahawa Sukari in January 2023, following a search at a wounded man’s house in Makongeni, Thika.  According to police, the search and subsequent recovery of the weapon followed an alarm raised by members of the public that an unknown man had been sprayed with bullets near the Thika Level Five hospital on Monday, by an occupant riding in a Toyota Probox which then sped off. Police rushed to the scene where they found the badly injured man whom they helped to hospital, just in time…