Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

Four legislators allied to ruling party Jubilee risk losing their seats at the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) over failure to remit membership fee. In what looks like an extension of the purge witnessed in the National Assembly and Senate recently, Jubilee Secretary-General Raphael Tuju wrote to the four legislators on Monday notifying them of intention to commence disciplinary proceedings against them. The four are former MPs Simon Mbugua (Kamukunji), ex Nyandarua Woman Rep Wanjiku Muhia, Noor Mohammed Adan and Florence Jematiah. The party has only five members at the assembly and reports indicate that only former Tigania East MP…

The Cooperative Bank of Kenya and the Laikipia County government today jointly launched the Laikipia Enterprise Fund as part of efforts to offer affordable financing and business support to co-operatives and entrepreneurs in the county. To kick-off the Fund with an initial kitty of KSh300 million, the bank and the county government entered into an Interest-Sharing and Guarantee Arrangement whereby the Laikipia county government will be offering an interest subsidy of 5 per cent, thereby reducing the bank lending rate from 12.1 per cent to 7.1 per cent per annum for all borrowers. In a joint statement on Monday, the…

Last week Nation Media Group (NMG) laid off a number of top anchors and reporters at NTV newsroom, a time when Kenyans are struggling to make ends meet due to adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy. Ken Mijungu, who anchored prime time news and also hosted Sidebar show at NTV, was among top talents sacked. Mijungu was the first anchor from the station to go public about the mass layoffs at NMG. In a post shared on his Twitter page, Mijungu seemed to criticize his employer for the unceremonious dismissal after seven years of service. “7 years…

A police officer involved in the fatal shooting of a businessman at Rioma market in Marani, Kisii County has been interdicted. The officer was arrested after the incident and is in custody awaiting to be arraigned. While addressing residents at Rioma market on Monday, Kisii County Police Commander Jebel Munene said the officer will be charged with murder. The cop reportedly shot and killed the trader, who was selling sanitisers at the market after a disagreement on Sunday. Locals said the cop accused the man of selling fake sanitisers. Angry residents protested the killing calling for the immediate arrest of…

International air travel will resume on August 1 after months of suspension, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Monday as he reopened the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic. Addressing the nation from Harambee House, the Head of State also stated that local flights shall resume operations on July 15 under strict guidelines by the Ministry of Health and Transport. “This will be in strict conformity with all protocols from the Ministry of Health, local as well as international civil aviation authorities and any additional requirements applicable at the ports of departure arrival or transit,” the President said while lifting travel restrictions…

President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered reopening of places of worship after months of closure over Coronavirus fears. In a state of the nation address from Harambee House on Monday, the President noted that the congregational activities shall be limited to 100 people at a time. A worship session, the head of state said, shall be limited to 1 hour. Uhuru, however, pointed out that Sunday school and Madrasa lessons remain suspended. The president stated that persons under the age of 13 and those over the age of 58 shall not be allowed to attend the physical worship services. The directive…

Former K24 TV Swahili news anchor Nancy Onyancha is set to make a TV comeback at Redcross owned-media house, Switch TV. The media personality shared a Switch TV logo on her Instagram page and captioned it, “Good morning My neighbours.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CCSYjF2g0gP/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet Former colleagues at K24 TV including Fred Indimuli and Shiksha Arora thronged the comment section to congratulate her for her new job. Nancy’s husband, Job Mwaura, who was also sacked in recent mass layoffs at K24 TV newsroom congratulated her saying, “Go Shine Girl”. Read: K24 TV Anchors, Reporters Sacked As Media House Unveils New Team Nancy, her husband…

A section of Rioma Police Station in Kisii County was on Sunday set ablaze by residents who were protesting the killing of a local businessman by a police officer. It’s alleged that the cop attached to the police post shot and killed the resident following a disagreement over a sanitizer. The police reportedly accused the man, who was selling homemade sanitizers, of disobeying Covid-19 guidelines leading to an argument. https://twitter.com/InsecurityKE/status/1279835312273920003?s=20 This comes just days after similar protests in Nandi county after a police officer shot and killed a cobbler for allegedly not wearing a face mask. Riots that ensued afterwards…

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has now said that all teachers must undergo a test for the novel coronavirus disease before schools reopen. Speaking after a consultative meeting with principles and college representatives at the Kenya School of Government in Embu, Magoha said the initiative will be part of efforts to curb the spread of the virus. Magoha warned that no college will be allowed to reopen without testing its tutors. “We must test all the teachers before they go to class. They are not many, but if a teacher is Covid-19 positive, he or she has to stay at…

The government has confirmed 309 new Covid-19 cases after testing 4,228 samples in the last 24 hours. The number of infections reported in the country since the outbreak of the disease now stands at 7,886. A total of 189,263 samples have been tested so far. In a press statement on Sunday, Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Rashid Aman said that one more patient had succumbed to the disease raising the fatalities tally to 160. 52 more patients have also been discharged after recovering. The number of recoveries recorded in the country now stands at 2,287. New cases All the positive…

A Shanzu Law Courts clerk has been arrested by detectives based in Mombasa in connection with a missing court file in a drug-related case. James Makumi was arrested alongside David Kiatu, the person in charge of the court’s archives. While confirming the arrests, Kisauni Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Josephat Kisingu also revealed that the police are holding a third suspect, Mark Otieno, who was nabbed on suspicion of having given Ksh500,000 to the court clerk to facilitate the disappearance of the file. According to Kisingu, the court file in a Ksh2 million drug-haul case was reported missing a…

Baringo County Woman Representative Gladwell Tungo is in mourning following the death of her husband Isaac Cherogony. The family indicated that Cherogony succumbed to COVID-19 at a hospital in Eldoret. Cherogony is said to have died on Saturday evening at the facility where he was rushed after developing breathing complications. The lawmaker has since also been tested for the novel coronavirus and is expected to receive her results this week. Reports indicate that the home of the deceased has been cordoned off as contact tracing continues. The latest comes at a time the country continues to report a spike in Covid-19 cases.…

A Kenyan owned Fokker 50 registration 5Y WFC crash-landed in Bardere, Somalia on Sunday morning. Kahawa Tungu understands that the plane is owned by Buff Air Services, a firm that offers air transport services for the passengers, cargo and charters. It operates from Wilson Airport, Nairobi. It was not immediately clear on what led to the incident. Here are photos from the scene: In May this year, Kenyan authorities wrote to the Somalia government demanding answers after a light aircraft was shot down in Bardale area, Baidoa killing all six on board. The Embraer 120 plane with tail registration 5Y…

Newly appointed National Assembly Majority Leader Amos Kimunya made a false start in his first major assignment in the house after he was heckled over the distribution of plum committee positions formerly held by Deputy President William Ruto allies. Reports indicate that the select committee meeting whose main agenda was to share Jubilee purge spoils turned chaotic after the Kipipiri MP declined to allow any changes proposed by the majority and minority sides. While opposing changes on the list, Kimunya reportedly claimed that the list had been endorsed by President Uhuru Kenyatta and that he could not change even a…

Police in Busia are holding five suspects including a police officer who were arrested yesterday after an attempt to withdraw Ksh28.5 million from a local Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) branch failed. According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the transaction was flagged after a discrepancy was noted in documents presented to the bank manager. “Arrest of three suspects followed a discrepancy noted in the transaction form presented to the branch manager that bore a different ID No. to that of the account holder, whereby detectives were alerted & swiftly responded nabbing Bhavin Ramesh, Vijay Jamnaday & Desmond Lusweti, “…