Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

Kenyan food producer and exporter Kakuzi PLC has appointed Nicholas Nganga to chair its board with immediate effect. Nganga served as chairman of giant telecommunication company Safaricom’s board from 2007 until his retirement in July this year. He is the current chairman of Car & General Kenya limited and G4S security. He takes over from Graham Mclean who steps down from the role but will remain a non-executive director. Nganga joins the company at a time when it’s battling human rights abuse claims that saw its supply of avocados suspended by UK’s supermarket giant Tesco. Last month, 79 Kenyans through…

17 More people have succumbed to the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) raising Kenya’s death toll to 1,013, the Ministry of Health said on Sunday. At the same time, 685 more cases have been confirmed from a sample size of 4,433 tested in the last 24 hours. The cumulative tests conducted so far stand at 699,520. This brings to 55,877 the number of confirmed positive cases in the country. Of the new cases, 659 are Kenyans and 26 are foreigners. In terms of gender, 449 are males and 239 females. The youngest is a two-year-old baby, while the oldest is eight…

A police officer has been arrested for allegedly shooting dead his colleague after a confrontation at Gathambi Coffee Factory in Ndia, Kirinyaga County. While confirming the incident on Sunday, Ndia sub-county police boss Joseph Mwika said the officers attached to Ndiriti Police Station were guarding the factory when they got into a heated argument on Sunday at around 1am. One of the officers is said to have been drunk. Police Constable James Oburu is said to have shot Luka Kimuge on the neck killing him on the spot. “It happened that PC James Oburu and PC Luka Kimuge were guarding…

Tanzania president-elect John Pombe Magufuli was on Sunday issued with the certificate of victory at the National Electoral Commission’s headquarters in Dodoma. NEC Chairman Semistocles Kaijage declared Magufuli the winner of this year’s presidential election for a second term on Friday with 12.5 million votes (84%) amid strong opposition from his main challenger Tundu Lissu who managed 1.9 million votes (13%). While receiving the certificate, the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) candidate thanked Tanzanians for re-electing him and his Vice President Samia Suluhu. He also thanked the people of semi-autonomous Zanzibar island for electing CCM candidate Hussein Mwinyi as President. Magufuli…

Machakos County Assembly Speaker Florence Mwangangi has revealed that she is among two people who recently tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the assembly. The speaker, who is also the mother of Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr Mercy Mwangangi, said she tested positive for the virus nine days ago. She told a local media that she was tested alongside all MCAs and staffers after one of their colleagues showed coronavirus symptoms. Ms Mwangangi said she is in self-isolation. “Each day is different and one may face different symptoms, those who are sick should take heart and be hopeful…

Deputy President William Ruto has defended besieged Mathira Member of Parliament Rigathi Gachagua in alleged Ksh12.5 billion scam. Speaking in Mathira Constituency, Nyeri County, on Saturday, October 31, the second in command claimed that Gachagua’s woes are politically instigated. The DP asked the Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti not to be used to settle scores. “I want to tell DCI to leave Rigathi Gachagua alone. I want to tell those in charge of the Criminal Justice System not to use the system for matters of politics and to settle political scores,” Ruto said. “It’s criminal to use the criminal…

Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli has been declared the winner of this year’s presidential election held on Wednesday, October 28. According to Tanzania’s National Electoral Commission (NEC), the Chama Cha Mapinduzi candidate garnered 12,516,252 votes with Chadema’s candidate Tundu Lissu coming in second with 1,933,271. The commission said a total of 15,091,950 voters participated in the poll out of the 29,754,696 registered voters. Magufuli, who assumed office on November 15, 2015, will be awarded the winner’s certificate on Sunday, November 1 in Dodoma at the NEC’s headquarters. The presidential poll that attracted 15 candidates was marred by claims of arrests,…

Two Westgate terror attack convicts, Mohammed Abdi and Hussein Mustafa have been sentenced to 33 and 18 years in jail respectively. The ruling was delivered on Friday by Milimani Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi. The two will, however, serve 26 and 11 years respectively as the magistrate considered seven years trial period behind bars as time served. In the first count of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, Andayi sentenced the two to 18 years in prison. In the second count of knowingly giving support to terrorist activity, they were slapped with 18 years but the court said both sentences will…

10 More students have tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at Siaya County-based Maranda High School. Confirming the cases, Health Chief Officer Eunice Fwaya said the results were announced on Thursday evening. Dr Fwaya further disclosed that the county’s emergency response team was examining students to establish who should be taken to Bondo Sub-County Hospital for isolation. “The cases are from the first student who tested positive earlier this week,” Dr Fwaya told the Nation. The Ministry of Health began targeted testing after the student who is said to have travelled from Mombasa County tested positive. Read: Learning Suspended…

Deputy President William Ruto has told off ODM leader Raila Odinga for criticizing IEBC’s quotation on an anticipated referendum. Hussein Marjan, the electoral commission’s Chief Executive Officer, had on Wednesday indicated that the referendum would cost Ksh14 billion, a figure that Raila said was outrageous. In a statement on Thursday, the former Prime Minister said the referendum would cost taxpayers about Ksh2 billion. But Ruto on Friday while speaking at General Kago stadium in Kangema, Murang’a county, where he presided over an empowerment programme for local boda boda operators, dismissed Odinga’s estimation, telling him to leave the independent commission alone.…

Tanzania Elections Watch (TEW) has poked holes in the just concluded General Election in the East African Country citing numerous irregularities which affected the credibility of the poll. TEW is a regional initiative established in 2020. Its mandate is to, shed light on the electoral context in Tanzania and offer a regional response. In a preliminary report released on Friday morning, the panel, led by three co-chairs Prof. Frederick Ssempebwa from Uganda, Dr. Willy Mutunga from Kenya and Alice Mogwe from Botswana, agreed to a large extent to opposition claims that the election process was flawed right from the beginning.…

ACT Wazalendo party leader Zitto Kabwe has lost his Kigoma Urban Parliamentary seat to Chama Cha Mapinduzi’s Kirumbe Ng’enda in poll results announced on Thursday evening. According to Tanzania’s National Electoral Commission (NEC), Ng’enda garnered 27,638 votes with Kabwe coming in second with 20,600. Shortly after the results were announced, Kabwe took to social media to allege electoral malpractice. According to the seasoned politician, the President John Pombe Magufuli-led government rigged the election in favour of their CCM candidate. “Another opposition stronghold forcefully taken. My constituency has been taken. It is a New Dawn, ” said Kabwe. https://twitter.com/zittokabwe/status/1321821036120313861?s=20 Kabwe said…

Tanzania opposition chief Tundu Lissu has said that he will not recognize the outcome of the Wednesday, October 28, General Election. In a press statement on Thursday, the Chadema presidential candidate said the election was marred by irregularities further accusing President John Pombe Magufuli of using the country’s electoral commission and the police to rig the poll. “Whatever happened yesterday was not an election, and thus we do not recognise it. We do not accept the result,” Lissu told reporters in Dar es Salaam as he called for mass protests to challenge the fraud. “This is not an election at…

Tanzania’s presidential hopeful Tundu Lissu’s lawyers are now asking the Commonwealth Secretariat and the African Union to investigate claims of electoral fraud, violence, and human rights violations that characterised the Wednesday, October 28 General Election. In a press statement on Wednesday night, Robert Amsterdam, founding partner of Amsterdam & Partners LLP, which represents the Chadema candidate, said the irregularities delegitimized yesterday’s presidential poll. In a letter to the bodies, Mr Amsterdam urged member nations to withhold recognition of the fraudulent results. “On election day we witnessed President John Magufuli and the CCM government administer a death blow to Tanzania’s democracy,”…

The Court of Appeal has handed embattled Gatundu North Member of Parliament Anne Wanjiku Kibe temporary relief after suspending a High Court ruling that declared her seat vacant. While suspending the ruling delivered by Justice Weldon Korir early this month, the Appellate Court restrained the National Assembly and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) from declaring Ms Kibe ‘s seat vacant or ordering a by-election pending the hearing and determination of her petition challenging the ruling. “Having looked at all the proposed grounds of appeal, we do not entertain any doubt that the intended appeal is arguable. As has…