Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

A police reservist died on Wednesday morning after Al Shabaab militants launched an attack in Koromey, Mandera, a third attack to be reported in the county this week. The deceased was among three reservists who were guarding the Banyole dam which is under construction. The other two officers sustained serious injuries during the attack. The militants torched two tractors including an excavator that were at the site as other workers ran for their lives. The attack comes a day after at least three police were injured when Al-Shabaab gunmen attacked their vehicle in Bambahowla area. Read: Suspected Al Shabaab Militants…

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested six suspects in connection with a series of robberies targeting pedestrians and motorists in the Southern by-pass, Nairobi. The suspects were arrested in Kawangware area following a cyber and forensic analysis conducted by the Crime Research & Intelligence Bureau (CRIB). During the operation mounted by Langata based crime busters, a total of 112 assorted mobile phones suspected to have been stolen were recovered. In a statement on Wednesday, DCI said one victim who had previously been attacked by the vicious gang along the highway, managed to identify her phone. The…

The National Assembly Finance and National Planning Committee has rejected a proposal by Finance Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani to impose tax on bread, a staple food in many households in Kenya. The committee chaired by Homa Bay Woman Representative Gladys Wanga recommended that provisions to raise VAT on bread be deleted from the Finance Bill, 2021. Currently, bread prices range between Ksh50 to 55 depending on the brand. The MPs have also opposed the variation of excise duty on imported motorcycles. The recommendations were highlighted on Tuesday during the second reading of the Bill. Yatanin had proposed to move the treatment of value…

Police in Chuka, Tharaka Nithi County, are holding a colleague who was arrested for allegedly robbing a local M-Pesa agent Ksh9,000. Julius Oduor Ayieko of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit (CIPU) is reported to have gone to an M-Pesa shop in Chuka town and requested to withdraw some money. According to police reports, as the shop attendant identified as Moreen Kanana waited to serve him, the officer gained access to the kiosk through the backdoor. “…(He) robbed M-Pesa agent Moreen Kanana cash amounting to Ksh9000, and upon trying to shout, he showed her a rifle,” a police report reads in…

A Kenyan national has admitted her role in a fraud conspiracy involving romance scams targeting individuals in the United States. Florence Mwende Musau aged 36 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud before U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs on Monday. The woman, who previously resided in Canton, Ohio, will be sentenced on October 14, 2021. Mwende was among five people charged on March 25 this year with defrauding individuals and the government out of more than $4 million (Ksh430 million) through broad online schemes, including romance scams. Mwende and Mark Arome Okuo, 41, a Nigerian national,…

Amid a worrying trend of unresolved murder cases in the country, there are fears that Kenyans might never know who killed sergeant Kipyegon Kenei, a police officer who was attached to Deputy President William Ruto’s Harambee Annex House office in Nairobi. Kenei’s body was found lying on the floor, near the door, at his Twiga Court house in Imara Daima Estate, Nairobi on February 18, 2020. The Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti told the public in a televised press conference that the officer was murdered in cold blood and the killing staged as suicide. He linked the officer’s murder…

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has appealed to members of the public to report mugging cases to the police amid a worrying trend in Nairobi’s Central Business District. In a statement on Monday, DCI boss George Kinoti encouraged victims to filed formal complaints at the Nairobi Central DCI offices whenever such unfortunate incidents happen instead of social media rants. According to the DCI, whereas sharing mugging cases on social media is good for sensitization, members of the public are encouraged to file formal complaints to help the police and the prosecution build water-tight cases against perpetrators once arrests are…

Police in Mandera South have launched an operation to rescue two men who were abducted by suspected Al Shabaab militants on Monday morning. The gunmen are reported to have attacked a construction site on the Elwak-Falama road where the driver and his turnboy were working. Mandera South Deputy County Commissioner Nyamboga Mounda confirmed the incident. He identified the truck diver as Ali Mohamed and the turn boy as Kerow Adan Abdi. “There was an incident where a tipper belonging to a local contractor working on a road was set ablaze and the driver and his turn boy are missing,” Mounda…

22 people have been arrested in a crackdown on illegal pharmacies in Garissa and Wajir counties. The raid was conducted by officials from the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) with the help of officers from the National Police Service. Kahawa Tungu understands that the team has been camping in the counties for the past week. Northeastern PPB’s inspector Ali Omar told members of the press in Garissa on Sunday that at least 48 chemist owners who got wind of the operation shut down their businesses to evade arrest. “It is unfortunate that they resorted to closing down their facilities after…

Six police officers are among revellers cooling their heels in police cells in Kusumu after they were found flouting curfew rules last night. The officers were arrested while partying in Nyamasaria area within Kisumu at around 8 pm on Saturday. According to Kisumu County Commander Samuel Anampiu the officers were in the company of six civilians. The officers have since been identified as Stanley Kimato, Reuben Ngelech, Vine Okenyo, Angima Harriet and Daniel Maina from Nyakacho Police Station. The other cop was identified as John Ongweno from Central Police Station Nakuru. Read: CS Matiang’i Warns of Stringent Containment Measures in…

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested one suspected linked to the kidnapping of a 23-year-old Kamukunji businesswoman. Hafsa Mohamed Lukman, who disappeared on June 15 was rescued from her captors by detectives from Crime Research & Intelligence Bureau and the Special Service Unit on Sunday morning. The businesswoman, DCI said, was found in a dingy room in Matopeni, within Kayole, where she had been forced to fit in a water tank. “The badly shaken woman who had visible bruises on her face and hands, was immediately rushed to hospital for medical attention,” DCI said in a…

A 23-year-old woman, who was recently kidnapped by unknown people in Kamukunji area, Nairobi, has been rescued by police. Kahawa Tungu understands that Hafsa Mohamed Lukman was found abandoned and locked in a house in Matopeni area, Kayole, on Sunday. Police who have been hunting for the criminals behind her abduction said she was alone in the house. Hafsa was taken to a local police station to record a statement before being taken to hospital for check-up. The officers and her family said no ransom was paid. Hafsa went missing from her shoe shop in Kamukunji Trading Centre on Tuesday,…

Parents and guardians can now breathe easy after the government resolved to slash school fees paid in secondary schools in the new academic year starting on July 26, 2021. The reasoning behind the reduced fees, Kahawa Tungu understands, is the reduction of the number of weeks in a term from 39 to 30. The Ministry of Education formulated the new calendar following the disruption of learning last year by the coronavirus pandemic. In a new circular sent to all school heads across the country dated June 16, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, through Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Jwan, said…

A matatu driver suspected of knocking down and killing Deputy Inspector General of Police Edward Mbugua’s daughter has been arraigned in court in Nairobi. Patrick Macharia Magu, a KMO Sacco driver, was arrested on June 17, 2021, for the allegations of causing the death of Nelly Waithera by dangerous driving. He appeared before senior resident magistrate Esther Kimilu on Friday. The magistrate allowed police to hold the suspect for four more days pending conclusion of investigations into the killing. He will be detained at Central Police Station. The police told the court that at the time of the fatal accident…

Former Nairobi Deputy Governor Polycarp Igathe has revealed the late industrialist Chris Kirubi’s hand in the 2017 partnership with Mike Sonko that saw the duo elected to head the city. Speaking during Kirubi’s funeral service at the Faith Evangelistic Ministry Church in Karen, Nairobi, on Friday, Igathe confirmed rumors that widely circulated in 2017 that the successful businessman played a key role in his appointment as Sonko’s running mate. “This country is indebted to Dr Kirubi in many ways. When it was impossible to do business in Nairobi, it was Kirubi’s idea to make sure Nairobi is back to National…