Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday directed the National Treasury and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to find ways of lowering taxes of vehicles fully assembled in the country. Speaking during the unveiling of the Mahindra vehicles at State House, Nairobi, the President stated that the move is aimed at making the vehicles more affordable. The Mahindra Scorpio Single and Double cabin pick-ups were assembled at the Associated Vehicle Assembly (AVA Kenya) plant in Mombasa. AVA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Simba Corporation Limited. “To make locally assembled vehicles more affordable and available to Kenyans, I have also directed that the…

Journalists covering an event by trade unionist Francis Atwoli were on Monday taken aback after he tossed away his smartphone while commenting on former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa fake arms deal case. The Central Organisation Trade Union (COTU) Secretary-General was giving his two cents in the case that has attracted public interest over the alleged role of the office of Deputy President in the Ksh39 billion scam. He wondered how the DP could tell Kenyans that he was unaware of the meeting between Echesa and two foreigners who visited the Harambee House Annex office, in the era of smartphones.…

Msambweni Member of Parliament Suleimani Dori is dead. The ODM lawmaker passed on at Aga Khan Hospital in  Mombasa early on Monday morning. A relative, Shahame Azizi, told a local media that the MP passed on at around 5 am at the hospital where he has been receiving cancer treatment. Reports indicate that he had been admitted at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for a week. He will be buried at 4 pm at his home village of Gasi, in Msambweni Constituency, ODM party communicated. “Msambweni MP Hon Ramadhan Suleiman Dori who passed on early today will be buried…

Cabinet Secretary Without portfolio Raphael Tuju is back home from the United Kingdom where he had been admitted after he was involved in a road accident last month. Reports indicate that the Kenya Airways plane carrying Tuju touched down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Saturday at 5am. He was flown to London in a chartered air ambulance on February 20 for specialized treatment after spending days at Karen Hospital in Nairobi. Defence CS Monica Juma led a delegation that received Tuju and some members of his family who had accompanied him to UK. “He was received at the…

The government has broken its silence after reports emerged that a patient exhibiting coronavirus-like symptoms passed on in Nairobi yesterday. In a tweet on Sunday, the Health Ministry stated that samples taken from the patient, who passed away at the MP Shah hospital, tested negative for the virus. “The Government wishes to inform the public that there is NO confirmed case of #Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in Kenya. Last evening, one suspected case (now deceased), was investigated at MP Shah hospital but turned negative on testing for COVID-19, ” the tweet reads. https://twitter.com/SpokespersonGoK/status/1236624206042927104?s=20 The government added that investigations are ongoing to…

The 5th Beyond Zero Half Marathon went down today in Nairobi, an event that was graced by President Uhuru Kenyatta, Governors, Cabinet Secretaries and many other government officials. However, Deputy President William Ruto, who has in the past participated in the annual event meant to raise awareness and galvanise support towards maternal and child health, was conspicuously absent. The DP’s wife, Rachael Ruto, also missed First Lady Margaret Kenyatta’s pet project that she has actively been involved in for years now. In 2015, Ruto donated Ksh17 million in the Beyond Zero campaign that raised a total of Ksh46 billion. Ruto…

The government has temporarily lifted a ban suspending flights from Italy to allow Italian nationals stuck in the country be flown home. In a statement on Friday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe stated that an empty plane from Italy will be allowed to land in Kenya to ferry the Italians back home. “There are people locked up in Malindi about 800 of them. What we have done is to allow an empty flight to come into the airport and the passengers will have a safe flight home, ” said Kagwe. The CS was speaking during the opening of an isolation…

Deputy President William Ruto has come out guns blazing over reports by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) that put his Harambee Annex Office at the centre of the alleged murder of his guard Sergeant Kipyegon Kenei. Kenei was the officer in charge of security at the DP’s Annex Office the day former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa and three others, who are facing fraud charges, arrived with foreigners said to have been duped in a Ksh39 billion arms tender. In a message directed at the DCI, the DP termed revelations by the DCI from CCTV footage revealed to the…

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Somalia counterpart Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo on Thursday agreed to work together in a bid to mend strained relations. The two leaders reportedly had a phone conversation and agreed to appoint committees to look into several matters affecting the two countries border security being key. This comes a day after President Uhuru Kenyatta warned Somalia to desist from “provoking Kenya by violating her territorial integrity.” In a statement on Wednesday evening, the President called on the neighbouring country to resolve its internal political disputes and to stop using Kenya as its scapegoat. The statement followed a…

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has left a section of Kenyans in shock after revealing that the commission is not aware that former Nairobi County Deputy Governor Polycarp Igathe resigned. While responding to a letter from the County Assembly Clerk and Speaker Beatrice Elachi, the commission stated that it has never received official communication of Igathe’s exit. “On the vacancy in the office of the Deputy Governor, Nairobi County, the Commission has not received any formal communication as to the alleged vacancy other than information in the media,”  reads the letter signed by Michael Goa, IEBC Director of…

The High Court has given Kenya Airways to respond to a suit filed by one of its employees Gire Ali over unlawful suspension. While giving the directives on Thursday morning, justice Weldon Korir also extended the orders barring Ali’s arrest pending the hearing of his case. The judge had on Monday nullified Ali’s suspension days after the national carrier punished him for filming a China Southern Airlines plane landing at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) amid coronavirus fears. In a statement on Sunday, KQ stated that the suspension followed a complaint filed by Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) over security…

Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia has condemned a Kenya Airways employee Gire Ali, who was recently suspended for filming a Chinese plane landing at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport with 239 passengers amid coronavirus fears. The video went viral on February 26, moments after China Southern Flight No.6044 touched down at JKIA with 239 passengers from China, where coronavirus has left at least 2900 people dead and over 80,000 infected. The video elicited public uproar on social media after it appeared that the state was exposing Kenyans to coronavirus. Appearing before the joint health committee on Wednesday, the CS stated…

Tanzania’s opposition party Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) has moved to court seeking orders to compel the police to release Arusha City Member of Parliament Godbless Lema who was arrested on Monday, March 2, 2020. In a statement on Wednesday evening, the party condemned Lema’s arrest saying the police have been holding the lawmaker illegally for over 48 hours contrary to the law of the land that stipulates that a suspect is supposed to be arraigned in court not later than 24 hours from the time of arrest. According to the party, the police in Singida region have continued…

The High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Third Way Alliance party leader Ekuru Aukot challenging the constitutionality of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) task force. In a ruling delivered on Wednesday, Justice John Mativo said the team meets the requirements of the law of the land as stipulated in article 132 and 132 of the constitution. Justice Mativo noted that the task force formed by President Uhuru Kenyatta has passed the legality test. “I find and hold that this petition fails and is dismissed with no orders as to costs,” Mativo said. In the petition that was filed…

As detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) piece together information to help crack the mysterious death of sergeant Kipyegon Kenei, who was until his death, attached to Deputy President William Ruto’s Harambee Annex House office, it has now emerged that the officer was drugged before he was killed. The detectives believe that Kenei was intoxicated before the people behind his murder fired the killer shot, the Standard reports. The police probing the death believe that Kenei was murdered and the killing staged as suicide. A DCI source intimated to the local media that there were three unidentified men…