Author: Wycliffe Nyamasege

Ugandan opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine now claims that military officers surrounding his home turned away US envoy Natalie Brown during a recent visit. In a tweet on Monday night, Wine, who claims to be under house arrest for days now, said the US ambassador to Uganda was turned away shortly after arriving at his home on Monday afternoon. “This afternoon, the US Ambassador to Uganda made an effort to visit me but was turned away from my gate by the soldiers who have held me and my wife captive for the past five days, ” the…

Eight council members of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) were on Monday suspended as a special general meeting convened to address issues affecting the bar association turned chaotic. The meeting marred by disgraceful conflicts ended with the resignation of one council member, Roseline Odede, who was among members who attended the meeting virtually. The members suspended are opposed to how LSK President Nelson Havi is running the society. Also suspended was besieged LSK Chief Executive Officer Mercy Wambua who has been at loggerheads with Havi since last year. While expressing why she had to quit, Ms Odede told the…

The High Court has issued orders temporarily stopping a possible swearing-in of Anne Kananu Mwenda as Nairobi County Governor pending a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK). The orders were issued on Monday by Justice Anthony Mrima. LSK moved to court on Monday morning, seeking orders mandating a by-election within the 60-days legal timeline as provided for under Article 182 (5). The society wants the court to halt a plan to confirm Ms Mwenda as a substantive governor even as Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura, who has been acting as the city boss since December 21,…

Ousted Nairobi County Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko has lashed out at President Uhuru Kenyatta over claims that he helped him clinch the top city’s job. Speaking on Monday morning during an interview with Kikuyu vernacular stations, the President admitted to influencing Sonko’s unceremonious removal from office through impeachment. The head of state said Sonko’s style of leadership almost brought service delivery within the county to a halt. But in a hard-hitting statement on Monday afternoon, Sonko rubbished the President’s claims saying his removal from office was nothing but a political witch-hunt. “For the record, it is NOT Uhuru Kenyatta who…

Acting Nairobi County Governor Benson Mutura who doubles up as the Assembly Speaker has relinquished power to Anne Kananu Mwenda. Ms Mwenda was sworn in as Nairobi Deputy Governor on Friday after successful vetting by the assembly. The speaker said he handed over to Ms Mwenda on grounds that Nairobi has a substantive Deputy Governor who should assume to the office given the vacancy that exists. “I feel honoured to have served … now that my time to leave has arrived I thank the almighty God for the opportunity, ” Mutura, who took over as acting governor on December 21,…

Three more patients have succumbed to the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19), raising the number of fatalities recorded in Kenya so far to 1,731. At the same time, 80 more people have tested positive for the virus, from a sample size of 3,733 tested in the last 24 hours. In a statement to newsrooms on Sunday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the number of confirmed cases in the country stands at 99,162. A total of 1,125,679 samples have been tested so far. From the new cases, 62 are Kenyans while 18 are foreigners. 48 are male and 32 are female.…

On Sunday, January 17, 2021, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s congratulatory message to Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni following his re-election for a sixth term in office was flagged by Facebook as false shortly after being shared on State House Kenya page. The page handlers were forced to pull down the message that had also been shared on microblogging site Twitter. However, hawk-eyed netizens were quick to notice that the post had erroneously been labelled as the explanation given didn’t match the content of the president’s message. Facebook had attached an article by one of its third-party fact-checkers, PesaCheck, published on December 4,…

Ugandan opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine now claims that he and his family are under house arrest. In a tweet on Sunday afternoon, Wine, who lost to incumbent President Yoweri Museveni in the country’s recent General Election, said that the family had run out of food supplies and the soldiers surrounding his home were blocking attempts to restock. He claimed that his wife Barbara Itungo was assaulted by the soldiers as she attempted to get food from their garden on Saturday. “It’s now four days since the military surrounded our home and placed my wife and I…

The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has closed Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s terminal 1B and 1C to pave way for renovation works to upgrade the airport. In a statement shared on KAA’s official Twitter page on Sunday, the authority said the 12-month project is aimed at improving passenger experience. “All flight operations previously in T1B and T1C have now been migrated to Terminal 1A and Terminal 2, ” the statement dated Saturday, January 16, 2021, reads. “KAA is working closely with all its partner airlines and stakeholders at JKIA to provide a seamless travel experience; In order to minimize any inconvenience…

A plane full of Africans deported from the United States of America by the Donald Trump administration landed in Nairobi, Kenya on Friday morning, Kahawa Tungu has learnt. Reports indicate that besieged Trump, who will be leaving office on Wednesday, has intensified a crackdown on illegal immigrants ahead of the inauguration of Joe Biden, who has promised a 100-day suspension of deportations. The Guardian reports that the charter plane carrying Kenyan, Somali and Ethiopian deportees left Louisiana on Thursday night bound for Nairobi. By the time of departure, the international publication reports that there were 50 Somalis, two Ethiopians and…

Anne Kananu Mwenda has been sworn in as Nairobi Deputy Governor, just hours after Members of the County Assembly vetted her for the position. Ms Mwenda took oath of office at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) on Friday afternoon. She is now on course to become Nairobi County Governor, a seat currently held by Speaker Benson Mutura on acting capacity following the ouster of Mike Mbuvi Sonko in December last year. Ms Mwenda, who was nominated by Sonko was successfully vetted by a 10-member committee of the county assembly on Friday morning. This was after High Court judge Justice…

Ugandan opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has rejected preliminary results announced by the country’s electoral commission. In the results announced on Friday mid-morning, incumbent President Yoweri Museveni is leading with 1,852,263 (63.2%), Wine comes a distant second with 821,874 (28.6%), from results declared in 10,212 (29.4%) polling stations. But addressing members of the press in Uganda moments after the commission released the results, Wine, 38, alleged massive irregularities in polling stations further saying that he is leading by a lot. “We secured a comfortable lead against Museveni. I call upon all Ugandans to reject this blackmail. We…

Retired Chief Justice David Maraga has opined that President Uhuru Kenyatta should have been impeached by now over violation of the Constitution. In an interview with Citizen TV’s Joe Ageyo on Thursday night, just days after he officially handed instruments of power to Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, the former President of the Supreme Court said Parliament has failed Kenyans for failing to hold the President accountable for disregarding the Constitution he swore to defend. Maraga pointed out that the Head of State had intentionally declined to appoint 41 judges recommended by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) despite court orders…

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) boss Wafula Chebukati has dismissed claims that the Commission is sabotaging constitutional reform process by delaying the verification of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) signatures. The claims were made on Wednesday by BBI Secretariat co-chair and National Assembly Minority Whip Junet Mohamed. But in a statement on Thursday, Chebukati termed the remarks as false further saying the signature verification exercise is going on well at the Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi. “…the Commission would like to state that the allegation that the Commission is sabotaging the process is not only unfortunate but also completely false.…

Deputy President William Ruto’s camp has resolved to support Urbanus Mutunga Muthama Ngengele as its candidate for Machakos Senatorial by-election slated for March 18, 2021. In a tweet on Thursday afternoon after meeting leaders from the region led by United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party chairman Johnson Muthama at his Karen home, the DP stated that other candidates, who were eyeing the seat, had ceded their aspirations to back Ngengele for the race. It’s now clear that Ngengele will fly the Ruto linked party’s flag in the race to succeed Senator Boniface Kabaka who passed on in December last year. “Grateful…