Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

Namibia’s third secretary to Tanzania Selina Tjihero has passed on after a short illness. Namibia’s ambassador to Tanzania Tobia Lebbeus confirmed that Tjihero died on Tuesday. “She did not feel well, and unfortunately we lost her,” the ambassador told The Namibian, the largest daily newspaper in Namibia. Tjihero, who passed on at the age of 57, was in the country for a diplomatic mission. While the ambassador didn’t reveal Tjihero’s cause of death, reports indicate that she succumbed to the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) that continues to ravage the country amid silence from the Tanzanian government. High-ranking officials in the diplomatic…

Deputy President William Ruto has criticized former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for likening his “hustler” narrative to Adolf Hitler’s National Socialism often referred to as Nazism, the ideology of the Nazi Party, which ruled Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. The ODM leader made the remarks on Wednesday as he asked Members of Parliament not to criminalise Ruto’s hustler narrative but maintained that it is a dangerous slogan. Responding to Raila on Wednesday evening Ruto said he disagreed with the former’s “very wrong understanding” of the hustler campaign. “While agreeing fully with your defence of freedom of speech & thought…

A former Kenya Defence Forces officer is the latest person to be arrested in connection with fraud in the ongoing KDF recruitment exercise. In a statement on Wednesday, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said the ex-soldier had planned to obtain hundreds of thousand shillings from two unsuspecting victims before he was cornered by authorities last evening. Washington Mutinda Mutuku was ambushed by Mlolongo-based detectives and a Military Police Corporal at Gallas Resort in Machakos County. The officers confiscated from Mutuku two suspected forged calling letters for the ongoing KDF recruitment and Sh180,000. Read: KDF Officer, 3 Others Arrested For…

Zanzibar First Vice President Seif Sharif Hamad is dead. The president of Zanzibar and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council Hussein Mwinyi announced Hamad’s death on Wednesday afternoon, declaring Seven Days of national mourning. He didn’t reveal the VC’s cause of death. Hamad, 77, passed away on Wednesday morning, two weeks after confirming reports that he had been hospitalised over Covid-19. The Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Wazendo) party official said his wife had also contracted the virus. “It is true I am at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital where I am being treated for Covid-19 and my wife has been isolated at…

Students of revered national school, Moi Girls Eldoret, in Uasin Gishu County, on Wednesday morning, held demonstrations in the institution calling for the removal of their Principal Christine Chumba. In a video seen by this writer, the students, who boycotted classes, marched around the school chanting “Haki Yetu”. The students camped at the school gate as they were not allowed to demonstrate outside the institution. https://twitter.com/teddyeugene/status/1361925432153681920?s=20 The girls accused the principal of embezzlement of school funds, harassing them and also mistreating teachers and support staff. In a list of claims, the students further accused the principal of abolishing entertainment and…

Police are holding a five-member gang linked to carjacking incidents in Kiambu County. The five, Peter Njoroge Kirika, John Muchoki Gatuhu, John Kimani Nganga, Peter Mwangi Murima and Benson Itimu Kariuki, were arrested on Monday following a robbery with violence incident that was reported on Wednesday, February 10. The vicious gang that operated between Githurai, Ruiru and Kirigiti in Kiambu targeted Little Cab drivers. According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the gang was organized in such a way that one of them posed like a usual cab passenger but once inside the cab, he squeezed the victim’s neck…

A 65-year-old woman has emerged claiming that the late veteran politician Simeon Nyachae sired her two grown-up sons. In an interview with members of the press on Tuesday, a day after Nyachae was laid to rest, Margaret Kerubo Chweya claimed that her family was allowed into the Gusii Stadium where the funeral service for the late cabinet minister was held but blocked from accessing Nyosia home for final funeral rites. Ms Chweya, who has lived in the United States of America (USA) for the better part of her life, said her elder son is over 40 years old and the…

West Pokot Members of County Assembly (MCAs) voted on Tuesday to pass the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020. This now raises to five the number of Assemblies that have passed the Bill. Others are Busia, Homa Bay, Kisumu and Siaya. The County becomes the first Assembly in Deputy President William Ruto’s Rift Valley home turf to pass the Bill. This writer understands that the West Pokot MCAs unanimously voted to pass the Bill. West Pokot Governor John Krop Lonyangapuo and Pokot South Member of Parliament David Pkosing attended the Tuesday sitting. The BBI proponents need…

National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has reduced its flights to New York City, in the United States of America, to one weekly citing low demand. KQ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Allan Kilavuka said the airline was forced to scale down frequency from the planned two weekly flights after demand failed to grow since resuming direct flights to and from New York in November 2020. He attributed the low demand in the air transport sector to strict Covid-19 protocols as some countries have been forced to reinstate tougher measures in response to the second wave of the virus. Passengers, the KQ…

For many years, Muslim funeral rituals have attracted attention from Christian counterparts mainly because of their simplicity. Yesterday, two high profile octogenarians, who played key roles in Kenyan politics and civil service, were laid to rest. One, ex-minister Simeon Nyachae, a Christian of a Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) faith and Senator Yusuf Haji of the Muslim faith. The two funeral services sparked debate on social media with a section of Christians seeking answers on Muslim funeral rites. Nyachae, who died on February 1 at the Nairobi Hospital aged 88, was laid to rest two weeks later at his Nyosia village…

The government will rename Gusii Stadium located in Kisii County in honour of the late veteran politician Simeon Nyachae, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Monday. Speaking during a funeral service for Nyachae at the Gusii Stadium, the Head of State said the Stadium will be upgraded to international standards and renamed Simeon Nyachae Stadium. To support the project, the President said the national government will allocate Ksh150 million to facilitate the upgrade through the Kisii County Government. At the same time, President Kenyatta directed the Sports Ministry to establish a Sports Academy at Nyanturago Stadium located in Nyachae’s Nyaribari Chache…

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday led the nation in mourning Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji, eulogising him as a dependable Kenyan leader and patriot. Senator Haji, a former long-serving Provincial administrator and Cabinet Minister, passed away Monday morning aged 80 years. The father to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji has been ill for a while. Until his death, he was the chairperson of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Taskforce, a brainchild of the Head of State and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga. In his message of comfort to the family, acquaintances and residents of Garissa County,…

75 more people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19), raising the number of confirmed cases in the country to 102,867. In a statement to newsrooms on Sunday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the cases were from a sample size of 3,025 tested in the last 24 hours. This, he said, translates to a positivity rate of 2.4 per cent. The total number of tests conducted so far stands at 1,241,368. From the new cases, 62 are Kenyans while 13 are foreigners. 48 are males while 27 are females with the youngest being five years old and…

The body of former Cabinet Minister Simeon Nyachae arrived in Kisii from Lee Funeral home in Nairobi on Sunday ahead of a burial ceremony slated for Monday, February 15, 2021. A police chopper carrying Nyachae’s remains landed at Kisii High School on Sunday morning. The body was received by top Gusii leaders led by Kisii Governor James Ongwae and taken to his home in Nyosia village in Nyaribari Chache for a short church service. Tomorrow’s funeral service for the former Finance Minister will be held at Gusii Stadium. Top government officials including President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto…

Deputy President William Ruto and his Tangatanga troops are now calling for a boycott of a section of news alert premium services terming them as a propaganda tool against the “hustler” nation. The second in command shared a screenshot on his social media pages on Saturday night confirming that he had unsubscribed from 21411 service that cost him Ksh5 per SMS. 411 News alert service is powered by Capital FM. https://twitter.com/WilliamsRuto/status/1360653311221891079?s=20 Ruto’s allies led by former Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen, Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika, Kapseret Member of Parliament Oscar Sudi also announced exit from the platform. Belgut MP Nelson…