Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

The High Court in Mombasa has ruled that State Officers should not represent public officers linked to graft cases. In a ruling delivered on Tuesday, April 27, Justice Ogola said state officers who double up as lawyers should not represent the suspects as the acts amount to conflict of interest. Consequently, the judge barred Siaya Senator James Orengo or any other state officer from appearing for former Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Managing Director Daniel Manduku in a Sh244 million procurement graft case against him. Orengo has been appearing for Manduku alongside the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Nelson Havi…

The Court of Appeal has suspended orders issued by the High Court last week barring the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) from nominating retired Chief Justice David Maraga’s successor. “The orders granted by the high court last week barring the continuation of the recruitment and appointment of the chief justice and is hereby stayed pending the hearing of this intended appeal,” a three-judge bench ruled citing public interest. The orders blocking recruitment of the Supreme Court Judge have also been stayed by the Appellate court. This means that the interviews that were scheduled to kick off on Monday, April 26, will…

Cash-strapped retail chain Tuskys has been dealt a blow in its bid to stop the auction of its goods by Auchland Agencies Auctioneers over rent arrears. The rent arrears amounting to Sh40 million are due to the owner of Juja City Mall on Thika Road. In a recent court ruling, Justice Lucy Gacheru lifted temporary orders Tuskys obtained last September blocking the public sale. “The applicant (Tuskys) admits that it has rent arrears but has not provided or tabled evidence in this court to demonstrate how the same will be paid and neither has it provided a schedule of payment.…

Detectives from the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) are holding an officer from the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC) for forgery of academic certificates. Lilian Akoth Ochieng, an assistant supply chain management officer at REREC, was arrested in Kisumu on Monday evening. The arrest followed investigations that began in 2018. Read: Graft Rocks Rural Electrification And Renewable Corporation According to the anti-graft watchdog, investigators have established that the suspect forged her diploma in management Purchasing and Supplies certificate. She was also found to have forged her Certificate in Purchasing and Supplies Management. The agency forwarded the investigation file to…

Police in Nairobi are holding a man believed to be part of an international conspiracy ring out to tarnish Kenya’s image in the athletics world by developing false doping allegations against Kenyan athletes. According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the man identified as Elias Kiptum was arraigned before Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Court on Monday, April 26. Kiptum’s arrest and subsequent arraignment, DCI said, followed investigations by the Anti-Narcotics. The sleuths have been pursuing a criminal syndicate believed to be working with foreign journalists in fabricating information on doping against Kenyan athletes. The operation began in September 2020.…

Desert locusts that invaded 25 counties in Kenya have been contained in all the devolved units except Samburu, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has announced. In an update on the locust invasion on Monday, the United Nations agency said the only known group of swarms is currently in Barsaloi area, Samburu County. “The team is conducting surveys for any unspotted swarms. Otherwise, the rest of the affected counties are now locust-free. We remain vigilant, & have also upscaled livelihood recovery,” FAO said in a tweet. https://twitter.com/FAOKenya/status/1386597058618986501?s=20 FAO had last week indicated that desert locusts swarms are on the decline…

Tropical Cyclone Jobo made a weak landfall on Tanzania’s coastline on Sunday as residents remained on high alert following a warning by weathermen. Confirming the latest development, Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA) said the cyclone lost its momentum as it made a land fall in areas of South of Pwani and Dar es Salaam on the night of April 24 as a result its effects were not felt as earlier on expected. “The situation was as a result of continued strong winds in the direction of Cyclone Jobo. Rain clouds that accompanied the cyclone have also spread to the sea and…

The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Kenya rose to 156,787 on Sunday after 469 more people tested positive. In a statement to newsrooms, the Ministry of Health said a total of 4,194 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. Kenya’s positivity rate dropped to 11.2 percent from 12.4 percent announced on Saturday. Cumulative tests so far conducted are 1,645,209. From the new cases, 437 are Kenyans while 32 are foreigners. 300 are males and 169 are females. The youngest is a six-month-old infant while the oldest is aged 91. The cases are distributed in counties as follows:…

Taita Taveta County government is mourning the death of nominated MCA Joyce Mwangoji. According to Taita Taveta Assembly Speaker Meshack Maganga the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) lawmaker died on Sunday morning while being rushed to St Joseph’s Shelter of Hope hospital in the outskirts of Voi town. The speaker said Mwangoji had complained to him that she was not feeling well. “She told me she was under medication and did not complain that it was serious,” Maganga said adding that burial plans are underway. The deceased is the sister of former Taveta legislator Mwacharo Kubo. She becomes the third female…

Homicide detectives probing the murder of National Lands Commission (NLC) deputy Director of Communications Jennifer Wambua have ruled out abduction in her disappearance before she was found dead in Ngong Forest. The sleuths have concluded that Jennifer left her car at the commission’s headquarters before proceeding to Ngong for prayer in isolation. Reports indicate that the detectives arrived at the conclusion after mobile phone record analysis led them to a conversation between Jennifer and a Machakos-based religious leader who advised her to take some time alone in the forest and pray over her depression. According to the police, Jennifer followed the clergyman’s…

36 teenagers were last night arrested while partying at a house within Koweo village in Rachuonyo East sub-county, Homa Bay County. The children, aged between 12 and 17 years, include eight girls and 28 boys. Four others escaped arrest during the operation led by Kojwach Kawere sub-location Assistant Chief Isaiah Ondoro and his Kojwach Kamyoro counterpart Fredrick Okeyo. According to the administrators, a majority of the teens arrested include students who recently completed their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE). Others were primary school pupils. Read: Alcohol And Bhang Seized As 44 School…

President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered a review of the police recruitment process, directing the bosses in the National Police Service (NPS) to consider more recruits from the National Youth Service (NYS). Speaking in Gilgil, Nakuru County, where he presided over the passing-out parade of 7,479 NYS recruits at the National Youth Service Training College on Saturday, the  Head of State noted that while NPS had recruited 50 NYS graduates into the Directorate of Command, Control and Communication (IC3) centres in Nairobi and Mombasa, the number is still too low. “Nasema hiyo haitoshi, lazima tuongeze (That number is not enough. We…

Joseph Mwangi, the 32-year-old man who was recently arrested for being in possession of uncustomed ethanol, has been sentenced to one year in jail. Mwangi pleaded guilty to the offense at the Kibera Law Courts hence the fast sentencing. In a ruling delivered by Senior Resident Magistrate Charles Mwaniki on Thursday, the accused was given an option of a paying Sh250,000 fine or serve the jail term. Mwangi was found carrying 25 drums of ethanol in a lorry that he was driving. Read: 26 Kenyans Sentenced To A Year In Jail For Entering Tanzania Illegally The lorry was intercepted in…

A joint parliamentary committee considering the BBI Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020, has confirmed that 32 County Assemblies debated documents containing errors. There were claims that only 13 assemblies received and discussed the right document. However, addressing members of the press on Friday, the committee’s co-chairs, Kangema Member of Parliament Muturi Kigano and Nyamira Senator Okong’o Omogeni, downplayed the errors as minor and correctable. They said the report is now ready and will be sent to the Speakers of the National Assembly and Senate for consideration. “We have taken note and that affects 32 County Assemblies and that is…

Former rugby player Alex Olaba has been arrested over alleged attempted murder of key witness in the rape case against him and Frank Wanyama. Olaba was arrested in Nairobi West on Thursday night. According to the police, he was planning to eliminate a key witness in the case in efforts to defeat justice. He was arrested as he met an undercover detective planning of killing the witness. Police confiscated two mobile phones from Olaba which are undergoing forensic analysis to establish if there were more players in the crime. Reports indicate that Olaba had approached another party seeking ways of…