Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

National carrier Kenya Airways has scaled up its domestic flight operations ahead of Monday deadline when the flights will be suspended. KQ said on Saturday that due to high demand it had added more flight capacity to help air travelers beat the Monday 12pm deadline as declared by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) on Friday. KCAA set the deadline following President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cessation of movement directive affecting Nairobi, Kajiado, Machakos, Kiambu and Nakuru Counties. “We have added more flight capacity to get you to your loved ones. See the Mombasa schedule between today until 29th March 2021, at…

Nine Kisumu County Government Askaris were on Friday arraigned and charged with assaulting a city trader they had arrested for hawking oranges and lemons in the Central Business District. The officials, who were captured on camera dragging Beatrice Magolo tarmac road on Wednesday, were arrested after the video went viral eliciting an angry reaction from members of the public. The woman was filmed hanging behind a speeding county pickup, with her lower limbs on the tarmac. Behind in pursuit were boda boda riders who were hooting in protest of the act. The hawker, whose clothes were tattered, suffered bruises on…

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) are holding a woman who staged her own kidnapping with the hope of defrauding her parents. According to the DCI, Jane Wamuyu, a resident of Sattelite in Riruta, received disturbing messages from her daughter’s phone number two days ago. Wamuyu was informed that her daughter, Clare Muthoni, had been kidnapped and her captors were demanding a ransom of 30,000 Shillings to secure her release. “Failure to which, her throat would be slit open,” the message continued. https://twitter.com/DCI_Kenya/status/1375321441248423938?s=20 To make the kidnapping look real and serious, a photo of a purportedly shaken Muthoni, with…

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i Thursday held a meeting with United Nations, World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) representatives on Kenya’s plans to shut down Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps. According to the CS, the virtual meeting with 25 officials centred around consideration of refugee rights in the government’s move that if executed will affect about 500,000 people accommodated in the two camps. Foreign CS Raychell Omamo also attended the meeting. The talks came a day after Matiang’i gave the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 14 days to develop a road map on definite closure of the…

One Kenya Alliance comprised of four partners from Amani National Congress (ANC), Wiper, KANU and Ford Kenya parties has pulled out of the three by-elections in Garissa, Bonchari and Juja scheduled for May 18. All the three seats fell vacant following the death of elected leaders Senator Yusuf Haji (Garissa), MPs Oroo Oyioka (Bonchari) and Francis Munyua Waititu (Juja). In a joint press statement read by Moses Wetangula of Ford Kenya at Serena Hotel in Nairobi on Thursday, the alliance declared support for Jubilee candidates in the three mini-polls. Other leaders in the alliance include Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), Gideon Moi…

Deputy President William Ruto has hinted at vying for presidency on the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket as the rift in the ruling Jubilee party continues to widen. Speaking with Radio Citizen’s Vincent Ateya during the “Jambo Kenya” program on Thursday morning, the second in command claimed that Jubilee is being turned into a tribal grouping. Ruto stated that if worse comes to worst he will decamp to UDA and rally his troops to make it a national party. According to Ruto, the party shares a similar “hustler ideology” that he stands for. The narrative champions a bottom-up economic…

The government has received 170 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds that were part of a 500 batch that had been procured last year from local artisans following the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country. Interior Principal Secretary Karancha led a government delegation that received the beds at Uhuru Park in Nairobi on Wednesday. The PS said the beds will be distributed to 14 counties with an urgent demand. He noted that other counties will share out the remaining 330 beds which will be delivered progressively. The beds were delivered two months after the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU), which had been…

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has ordered the closure of Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps for posing a threat to the country’s security. The CS has given the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 14 days to develop a road map on definite closure of the two camps. UNHCR is a UN agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. “There is no room for negotiation. We must strike a balance between Kenya’s international obligation and her domestic duties.…

At least two people died and several others injured on Wednesday morning after a bus they were travelling in ran over an Improvised explosive device  (IED) set on Arabia Road in Mandera county. Eyewitnesses said the was heading to Mandera Town from Lafey. In photos seen by this writer, the bus that overturned due to the impact of the bomb was badly damaged with its roof ripped off. Police fear that the number of casualties might increase. Read: Suspected Al-Shabaab Militants Destroy Newly-built Police Station In Mandera The attack comes a day after security agents reportedly repulsed an attempt by…

The Muslim Society in Kenya has expressed its gratitude to President Uhuru Kenyatta for pausing his speech yesterday during the funeral service of late Tanzanian Head of State John Pombe Magufuli in honour of Adhan, a Muslim call for prayer. President Kenyatta, who doubles up as the Chairman for the East African Community (EAC), stole the show after he momentarily went silent for about two minutes when Adhan was called in a nearby Mosque. In a special message to the Head of State, the society said the gesture is evident President Kenyatta acknowledges that religious tolerance fosters peace, co-operation and…

Kericho Law Courts, which was closed early this month over structural deficiencies, will remain closed for a further two weeks, Acting Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu has announced. The Judiciary was forced to suspend operations at the Kericho Law Courts on March 5 after an inspection by the State Department for Public Works revealed that the building posed a risk to Judiciary personnel and other court users. The investigation report highlighted that the structural flaws were arising from modifications undertaken on the building in 2014. In a press statement on Monday night, Mwilu said her office had made significant progress towards…

Doreen Moraa Moracha, one of the young people living with HIV in Kenya, has raised alarm over shortage of antiretrovirals (ARVs) in the country, a drug key in the fight against the virus. In what points to devastating consequences due to the limited supply of the drugs, Moraa, who has been leading HIV/AIDs awareness campaigns for some time now, said in a tweet on Tuesday morning that people on the raltegravir (DTG) drug are now being given one month or two weeks dosage from the previous six months dispensing. “Such scenarios make me hopeless because how can we fight HIV…

Amid reports that President Uhuru Kenyatta has blocked the removal of Deputy President William Ruto as Jubilee party deputy leader, the ruling party’s Vice Chairman David Murathe says the second in command’s ouster is still on course. Murathe claims that plans to strip of the DP the party role were put on hold to allow for the mourning of late Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli who passed on last Wednesday. “We have put everything on ice in honour of Magufuli and out of respect for our partnership with Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). Everything is on hold until we finish mourning…

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko is fit to stand trial a Nairobi court ruled on Monday. According to the court, a mental assessment examination recently ordered revealed that Sonko’s bi-polar condition does not bar him from attending and following court proceedings in a multi-million graft case against him. Principal Magistrate Peter Ooko had on March 4 directed that Sonko be examined by a government psychiatrist to confirm if he is fit to stand trial. This was after the court was supplied with two medical reports, one from Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and the other from a private doctor, which indicated…

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya has been hailed for pausing his speech during the late John Pombe Magufuli’s memorial service at Jamhuri Stadium in Dodoma, Tanzania, in respect of the Muslim community’s call for prayers known as Adhan. The President was delivering his speech minutes before 1pm Monday when Adhan was called in a nearby Mosque. Uhuru, who doubles as the Chairman for the East African Community (EAC), paused his speech for about two minutes until the call for prayers was over. As he resumed the speech the crowd applauded in recognition of his respectful gesture. https://twitter.com/ntvkenya/status/1373942327803265025?s=20 He eulogized the…