Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga has been discharged from hospital, just days after testing positive for the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19). In a short video shared on his official Twitter page on Sunday, the former Prime Minister, in a tracksuit and exercising, is heard telling his daughter Winnie Odinga that he is happy to be back home after spending days at the Nairobi Hospital. He likened hospital to “prison”. “It’s so nice to be back home. I was like in a prison back there … even though I am in isolation I can see nature, ” said…

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has pledged government support in the implementation of tea reforms aimed at dealing with cartels in the sector and saving farmers from the agony of perennial economic losses. Speaking during his tour of Murang’a County on Thursday, the CS said the government is determined to ensure farmers realize the value of their sweat in the farms. “I want to tell those who are challenging the reforms that we are determined because we are interested in the welfare of the farmers…we will make sure it’s done and there is nothing that will stop us, ” said…

President Uhuru Kenyatta has encouraged Kenyans to take the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine amid safety concerns from some European countries. A number of countries in the European Union (EU) including Denmark and Norway recently suspended the use of the jab following reports that a small number of people had developed clots after receiving the vaccine. But in his state of the nation address on Friday, President Kenyatta allayed the fears saying it was safe for use. “This vaccine has been tested and our medical experts are persuaded that its safety profile is bankable,” said the head of state. “The vaccine roll out…

Two former accountants at the Ministry of Education have been sentenced to seven and half years in prison each after they were found guilty in Ksh2.5 million graft case. Perminus Njoroge Kamau and Kepha Oseko Mareli were accused of having fraudulently acquired the current expenditure money from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology in 2008. In a ruling delivered on Friday, Milimani Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi ruled that the prosecution had proved their graft case against the two. In the case that has been going on for years, the court was told that on February 11, 2008, at the ministry’s…

Former Nairobi County Governor Mike Sonko has been discharged from hospital, a week after he was freed on bail in the terror case against him. The embattled former city boss had been admitted at the Nairobi Hospital for about a month after reportedly falling ill at the Gigiri Police Station where was being held over several offences. City lawyer John Khaminwa told a Nairobi court on Friday that Sonko was discharged from the private health facility on Thursday. Addressing the court during a morning court session where the Director of Public Prosecutions presented a sealed mental assessment report in Sonko’s…

The National Environment Managing Authority (NEMA) has issued orders suspending a Chinese contractor, Mango Tree Group, from harvesting sand in Lake Victoria. This is following public outcry over illegal sand harvesting activities at Takawiri Island in Lake Victoria by a 70 metres long and 4,000 tonne dredging vessel owned by the company based in Uganda. The activities took place on 10th and 13 February this year without approval from the environment authority, NEMA Director General Mamo B. Mamo said in a press statement dated February 24. The company had been contracted to implement the Kisumu Port Revitalization Project. According to…

Tanzania’s minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Innocent Bashungwa, has warned the media and members of the public against falling for what he termed as rumours as pressure mounts on authorities to come clean on President John Pombe Magufuli’s whereabouts. The Tanzanian government is yet to issue any official statement on Magufuli’s health status and whereabouts even as the opposition in the country claim that the President is receiving Covid-19 treatment at the Nairobi Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Sources in the know revealed to several news outlets in Kenya recently that Magufuli, who is on record denying the existence…

High Court Judge James Makau has dismissed a case by the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) questioning the academic qualifications of Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja. In his ruling on Thursday, Justice Makau said the constitutional court lacks jurisdiction to handle the matter. He avered that the anti-graft agency ought to have filed its case before an electoral court and not a constitutional court. Governor Samboja has been under investigations by EACC for years now over questionable academic qualifications. Read: Relief For Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja As Court Suspends Impeachment In another case touching on the governor’s academic qualification, a…

Dutch billionaire Tob Cohen’s widow Sarah Wairimu has been dealt a blow in a case in which she is charged with the murder of her husband. This is after the High Court in Nairobi dismissed Wairimu’s application to have the murder charges against her dropped. Wairimu, who was charged with her husband’s murder in 2019, moved to court in November last year pleading with the court to declare her trial a mistrial. Through city lawyer Philip Murgor, Wairimu claimed that the deceased was murdered when she was still in custody and the body dumped in a septic tank in their…

Retired President Mwai Kibaki’s aide has dismissed reports that the former Head of State is admitted to hospital. A source had disclosed to a local news outlet that Kibaki, 89, was recently admitted to the Nairobi Hospital after falling ill on Sunday evening over what was described as “low blood pressure”. “He has been undergoing treatment for the last two days. He is being managed by his doctors,” the source told the Star. Kibaki, according to the publication, has already undergone several blood tests. But Kibaki’s private secretary Ngari Gituku dismissed the reports saying the former President is not admitted…

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has criticized the Judiciary over what he alluded to as laxity in the fight against crime in the country. Speaking at the Kenya School of Government during the National State of Crime Conference on Wednesday, the CS stated that every state agency in the criminal justice system should play its role appropriately as “law enforcement does not begin and end with the police.” He said the role of the police is to initiate the suspects’ journey through the judicial process. According to Matiang’i, while the police have been doing their work in ensuring that criminals…

At least 4,000 Kenyans have so far received the Covid-19 vaccine, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangangi said on Wednesday. The CAS said this while appearing before the National Assembly Health Committee. She told the Members of Parliament that no major side effects have been reported from those who have voluntarily taken the jab. “The only issue is some pain at the injection point,” Mwangangi told the committee. Kenya received 1.02 million doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday, March 3 with the government giving priority to health workers in the vaccination exercise that kicked off officially on Monday across…

Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala has been granted Sh2.5 million grant with surety in Matungu by-election chaos case. The lawmaker surrendered to the police on Monday after DPP Noordin Haji directed the DCI to arrest and interrogate him in connection with the violence. Malala was among other elected leaders summoned by the DCI for grilling over the violence. Read: Lawmakers Malala, Osoro Surrender To Police Over By-election Chaos He was also among 10 others summoned by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) over the violence witnessed during the mini-polls. The Kakamega lawmaker was allegedly involved in a scuffle with Homa Bay…

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party that is associated with Deputy President William Ruto won’t field a candidate in the Garissa Senatorial by-election scheduled for May 18, his ally Aden Duale has revealed. In an interview with a local publication, the former National Assembly Majority Leader intimated that the party will back the second-born son of the late Senator Yusuf Haji, Abdul Haji, who has been endorsed for the seat by local clans. This, Duale said, is “in honour and respect of the late senator” who died on February 15, 2020, after a long illness. Abdul’s candidature was recently supported…

A voter in Nyamira County has moved to court seeking orders to stop Governor Amos Nyaribo from nominating a second person for the position of Deputy Governor. The new governor, who took office in December last year, had nominated former West Mugirango Member of Parliament James Gesami as Deputy Governor, but the appointment was rejected by the Nyamira County Assembly. The voter, Patrick Atambo, wants the governor barred from nominating a second person for the position saying the law does not allow it. According to Atambo, he is apprehensive the governor will go ahead and nominate a candidate a second…