Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

Ugandan opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has suspended his campaigns citing threats to his life. This is after several members of his campaign team were injured on Tuesday after an encounter with police. According to Wine, the police fired bullets at his car, puncturing the tyres and rendering it immobile in Kayunga District. Wine, who is running for presidency on National Unity Platform (NUP) party ticket, was trying to use force to access Jinja city through one of the roads that had been blocked by police and the army. One of his aides was shot and his…

As a probe into the alleged Ksh7.8 billion scandal at the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) continues, it has now emerged that some officers at the agency were under duress to award tenders to certain firms. Appearing before the parliamentary Public Investments Committee (PIC) on Tuesday, suspended Kemsa procurement boss Charles Juma turned the tables on suspended Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jonah Manjari who he accused of flouting procurement guidelines in favour of certain companies during the acquisition of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) following the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country. Juma told the committee that his office was pressured…

United States President-elect Joe Biden has promised to work closely with the Kenyan leadership to address a variety of issues affecting both countries. In a phone call with President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday, Biden expressed his interest in partnerships with Kenya on issues including tackling the threat of climate change, supporting refugees and their host communities and addressing challenges of regional security and instability. Biden was calling to offer his appreciation for President Kenyatta’s congratulations after emerging victorious in the recent US presidential poll. In his message on November 8, President Kenyatta said Biden’s victory in the hard-fought election demonstrated…

Lawmakers allied to Deputy President William Ruto on Tuesday continued to condemn the Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti over his recent remarks on the 2007-2008 Post-Election Violence (PEV). Speaking in Nakuru County, the legislators who accompanied Ruto to the funeral service of Bahati Member of Parliament Kimani Ngunjiri’s mother, Edith Ngunjiri, accused the DCI boss of being used to divide Kenyans. Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to sack Kinoti for lacking decency in handling the matter. “Mr President, rebuking Kinoti is not enough. You need to fire him as an example to the civil servant…

Besieged Nairobi County Governor Mike Sonko can now breathe easy after the High Court temporary suspended his planned impeachment. In an order issued on Tuesday, Justice Nzioki Makau of the Employment and Labour Relations Court barred Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) from debating the impeachment motion against the governor pending inter parties hearing of his petition set for Thursday. The impeachment motion was filed on Thursday last week. Minority Leader Michael Ogada, who moved the notice of impeachment, said 86 out of 122 members had appended signatures in support of the motion. The MCAs want the governor kicked out…

Lawyer Paul Gicheru is now facing hurdles in his bid to have the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, grant him conditional release from detention after Kenya said it will not cooperate with the court on the matter. Attorney General Kihara Kariuki told the court, in a letter dated November 24, that the lawyer went against “a binding decision” of the High Court dated November 16, 2017, that had frozen the ICC’s arrest warrants against the lawyer and his co-accused Phillip Bett on allegations of witness tampering. In the letter addressed to presiding judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou, the…

17 more patients have succumbed to the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) raising the number of fatalities recorded in Kenya so far to 1,469. In a statement to newsrooms on Monday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said that 302 more people have tested positive for the virus, from a sample size of 3,038 tested in the last 24 hours. The number of confirmed positive cases in the country now stands at 83,618. “The cumulative tests are now 888,971. From the cases 286 are Kenyans while 16 are foreigners, ” the statement reads. The youngest is a one-year-old baby and the oldest…

The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has awarded Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua $25,000 (Ksh2,752,500) for violation of her right to fair hearing in an election petition against Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru. The former minister for Justice had moved to the regional court after the Supreme Court of Kenya dismissed her petition challenging Waiguru’s 2017 victory on August 6, 2019, on a technicality. In a ruling read out by Justice Isaac Lenaora on behalf of five judges who heard the matter, the Supreme Court upheld the rulings of the two lower courts. The judges agreed with a High…

Besieged Nairobi County Governor Mike Sonko was on Monday briefly detained after police stormed his meeting with ward representatives opposed to his planned impeachment. Police fired teargas to disperse the Members of County Assembly (MCAs) who were holding a meeting at Riverside. They accused the leaders of flouting Covid-19 rules. This writer understands that Sonko and the MCAs were planning to hold a press conference at the same location. Sonko is said to have been plotting with the MCAs on how to block his impeachment. An impeachment motion against the governor was tabled on Thursday with 86 out of 122…

On Wednesday, November 25, Deputy President William Ruto was the talk of the town after skipping the launch of the collection of signatures to support proposals to amend the 2010 Constitution through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) process. The DP’s communication team later defended the second in command saying he missed the event that was held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) because nobody sent him an invitation. It has now emerged that the DP also skipped a key event last Thursday presided over by President Uhuru Kenyatta, raising concerns over the duo’s working relationship amid differences in the…

Seven more patients have succumbed to the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19), raising the number of fatalities recorded in Kenya so far to 1,452. At the same time, 711 more people have tested positive for the virus, from a sample size of 6,672 tested in the last 24 hours, bringing to 83,316 the number of confirmed positive cases in the country. Cumulative tests now stand at 885,933. In a statement on Sunday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said that from the new cases, 692 are Kenyans and 19 are foreigners. 468 are male and 243 are female. The youngest patient is…

National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) will today, November 29, 2020, resume direct flights between Nairobi and New York City, US. In a tweet on Sunday afternoon, the airline announced that customers, who will book flights before December 10, will enjoy discounted prices. “Welcome back to the Big Apple (New York)! Today we resume our service between Nairobi and New York, and we can’t wait to welcome you on board, ” the airline said. “Book your ticket via https://kenya-airways.com/en-ke/flights-to-new-york before December 10th to enjoy discounted rates.” https://twitter.com/KenyaAirways/status/1333021985350311937?s=20 KQ was last month forced to postpone the resumption of its flights to the…

The Service Party leader Mwangi Kiunjuri has changed tune on proposed constitutional amendments through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI). Speaking on Sunday during a church service in Umande Ward, Laikipia County, the former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary celebrated amendments made to the BBI report that was launched at Bomas of Kenya on October 26 by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his handshake partner Raila Odinga. Kiunjuri said that the amended BBI document has addressed majority of concerns raised by Kenyans. He lauded among others the allocation of one extra constituency to Laikipia, his home county. TSP party, he said, will engage its…

Jubilee party is working on a plan to ensure all its members fully support proposed constitutional amendments through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), Kahawa Tungu has learnt. Raphael Tuju, the party’s Secretary General, yesterday told The Standard that Jubilee will next week issue instructions to all its elected members to back the constitutional amendment process. In a move that is expected to escalate further wrangles in the ruling party, Tuju said the Jubilee leadership will have the option of either suspending or expelling any member who will go against the party position on the push to amend the 2010 Constitution. Tuju…

Police are holding a 24-year-old woman accused of drugging a man at an entertainment joint in Nyali, Mombasa County, before stealing Ksh1.7 million. According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Beatrice Mueni Mbiu stole the victim’s phone before transferring the money from his bank account. She was arrested by detectives based in Nyali after the victim positively identified her. The suspect, DCI said, was captured on surveillance cameras on the fateful day, together with her two accomplices, who are still at large. They have been on the run since the incident was reported on September 8, 2020. Read: Two…