Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

The leadership of the Murang’a County Assembly on Wednesday resolved to suspend sittings over a surge in Covid-19 cases. The assembly’s clerk Kuria Thuita said in an internal memo that the assembly will be closed for two weeks as part of efforts to curb further spread of the virus. During the 14-day period, all members of the assembly and staff were directed to work from home. “Officers offering essential services will be on duty on a structured reporting schedule,” the memo read. Health officials in the county have been on a high alert over a spike in cases in the…

A police officer has been arrested for allegedly violently robbing a Tuk Tuk driver of Sh1,100 in Kandara, Murang’a County, in yet another incident of rogue officers in uniform terrorising members of the public. The officer was arrested yesterday following a complaint filed by the victim at Kabati Police Station on Tuesday evening. According to the complainant, the officer flagged down his Piaggio Tuk Tuk, registration number KTWA 546X, before making a demand of Sh2,000. “When the driver failed to part with the money, the officer allegedly snatched Sh300 that the driver was holding,” a police report reads. Read: Five…

Deputy President William Ruto on Wednesday continued to popularise the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party as political temperatures in the country heighten ahead of next year’s General Election. In a brief statement after hosting hundreds of political aspirants allied to UDA from Nairobi County at his Karen home, the country’s second in command said his team is focused on building a ‘tribeless party that will take Kenya forward’. “National political parties are the ultimate guarantee for democracy, unity and development. The United Democratic Alliance is building a tribeless and equal-opportunity mass party that will take Kenya forward,” he said. The…

Flashy South Sudanese national Lawrence Lual Malong has been jailed in Uganda over fraudulent gold dealings. Malong, who rose to fame after a video of him ‘swimming’ in dollars went viral in 2018, was handed a six-year jail term alongside two others by the Ugandan Anti-Corruption court on Tuesday. The court found the three guilty of obtaining $1 million (Ksh109 million) through false pretenses. The other convicts are Mike Lota, a Congolese national, and Zikusooka alias James Byaruhanga, a businessman in Kajansi Central Town, Wakiso District. The three were charged with fraud in March 2019 following a complaint filed by…

Five police officers in Kiambu are in trouble following a robbery with violence complaint made by a suspect they had arrested while enforcing curfew rules. The officers were arrested on Tuesday evening after preliminary investigations confirmed that they stole Sh1,030 from the suspect in Ruiru town on August 12. Police reports indicate that the complainant, a male adult, was arrested for violating curfew rules and handcuffed by the officers. The man claims that one of the officers took charge of his mobile phone, demanded his pin number and transferred the money to another subscriber and deleted the M-Pesa message. “This…

Three people were on Tuesday arrested after detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) recovered illegal firearms from their vehicles in Kilimani area, Nairobi. Police reports indicate that Chris Mwangangi and Lucia Wanjiku were driving along the Arwings Khodek and Ring Road junction within Kilimani, when they were intercepted by the Kilimani-based crime busters. The sleuths, who were on routine  patrol became suspicious after coming across a black land cruiser V8 motor vehicle with no front number plate, prompting them to immediately flag it down. “Upon a thorough search of the vehicle, detectives managed to recover one Ceska Pistol with…

The One Kenya Alliance (OKA) has announced that it will field its own presidential candidate in the General Election scheduled for August 9, 2022. OKA principals Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Musalia Mudavadi (Amani National Congress), Moses Wetangula (Ford Kenya) and Gideon Moi (KANU) said this on Tuesday after a two-day retreat at Great Rift Valley Lodge in Naivasha, Nakuru County. “As the ‘GREAT RIFT VALLEY DECLARATION’, we hereby unequivocally state that One Kenya Alliance will field a presidential candidate in next year’s general elections,” the principals said in a statement. The flag bearer, the principals noted, will be announced in ‘due…

Benson Melonyie ole Mungai, the prime suspect in the murder of four men in Kitengela a week ago, will stay in police cells longer, a Kajiado court ruled on Tuesday. Magistrate Becky Cheloti allowed police to hold the suspect for 10 more days pending conclusion of investigations into the case. “I order the suspect be detained at Kitengela Police Station for ten more working days to allow detectives to complete their investigations,” said Magistrate Cheloti. Ole Mungai was arraigned in court on Tuesday morning following his arrest last night. Earlier, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations said the suspect was seized…

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) courses in the country continue to attract a high number of students who complete high school as the government urges the society to embrace the institutions. Statistics released by the Ministry of Education on Tuesday show that a total number of 6,617 students who qualified to join university after attaining C+ and above chose TVET programmes and were placed to the institutions by Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS). In a press statement, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said the number is an increase from 2,632 who were placed in the…

Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM) boss Isaac Rutto has said that he won’t fold his party despite calls from a section of leaders to join forces and increase chances of Deputy President William Ruto winning the 2022 presidential election. In a recent interview with a local publication, Rutto indicated that he is ready to enter into a coalition with Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) but not merging the parties. He said he fully backs the DP’s 2022 presidential bid and his ‘hustler’ agenda. “Whoever is agitating for the folding of political parties is wrong…we are not going back to the single-party…

Two suspected gangsters have been killed in Nairobi following separate operations conducted by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). One of the suspected thugs was gunned early on Monday morning as he led a cabal of thugs in staging attacks targeting Dandora residents. The wanted man only identified as Fidel, DCI said, was the ringleader of a gang of five that has been terrorising locals. He was shot dead after defying orders to surrender and firing at officers shortly after staging a robbery along Mwas Road. “Fidel, who has been engaging our men in a cat and mouse…

Police officers linked to the alleged murder of two brothers in Kianjokoma, Embu County, have been suspended pending prosecution, Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai has confirmed. In a brief statement during the #EngageTheIG session with members of the public on Twitter on Monday, Mutyambai disclosed that the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) had concluded investigations into the matter. The Authority, the police boss said, had submitted the investigation file to the Office of the Directorate of Prosecutions (ODPP) for further action. “Good morning, first, my sincere condolences to the Kianjokama family. IPOA has concluded investigations on the matter and…

Kenya is set to receive more doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid-19 vaccine donated by the United Kingdom government on Tuesday, British High Commissioner Jane Marriott has confirmed. In a tweet on Monday, Ms Marriot said the second batch of the donation constituting 407,000 doses will arrive in the country on Tuesday night. “The Flag of United Kingdom has donated 817,000 COVID-19 vaccines to Kenya, with the 2nd shipment arriving tomorrow night,” she tweeted. https://twitter.com/JaneMarriottUK/status/1427154689699860480?s=20 The first shipment of 410,000 doses transported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) arrived in the country a fortnight ago. The Government of Kenya is…

Zambia’s opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema is the winner of the just concluded presidential election, the country’s electoral commission announced on Monday after a final tally of votes. Hakainde of the United Party for National Development (UPND) garnered 2,810,777 votes to trounce incumbent Edgar Lungu who managed 1,814,201 votes, out of 7 million registered voters in the country. “I, therefore, declare that the said Hichilema to be president of Zambia,” electoral commission chairman, Esau Chulu, announced at a national tallying center in Zambia’s capital Lusaka. The opposition leader will now be sworn in as the country’s seventh president. This was Hakainde’s…

ODM leader Raila Odinga on Thursday continued to make inroads in the vote-rich Mount Kenya region as 2022 succession politics take shape. The former Prime Minister was in Tigoni where he met business leaders from Kiambu County at the home of James Anthony Kariuki Nginyo, son of the late politician and businessman Nginyo Kariuki. Nginyo Kariuki, who died on February 24, 2020, was the founder of The National Alliance (TNA) party which was later taken over by President Kenyatta and rebranded as the vehicle for his 2012 presidential campaign. In a brief statement shared on his social media pages, Odinga…