Telkom Kenya CEO Mugo Kibati is is on the spot for billing and collecting fibre optic revenues on behalf of the ICT ministry without Treasury’s approval.
Mr. Kibati was on Wednesday summoned by the Public Accounts Committee(PAC) following revelations by the Auditor General that the National Fibre Optic Backbone Infrastructure (Nofbi) program was marred with irregularities in the tendering process. Mugo was swearing horizontally before the committee as he had no clear words how he collected money from Nofbi users without the approval of the National Treasury as required by law.
Telkom’s contract had ended in 2016 but Mugo has continued to collect revenue from Nofbi. According to the reports, Telkom has collected Sh2 billion since it was contracted in 2013 by the ICT ministry, Telkom Kenya has not remitted anything to the government contrary to the contractual terms.
It took the curious eyes of the ICT Principal Secretary Jerome Ochieng’ to blow the scandal following the tabling of the ICT audit report in parliament. It has now emerged that Mugo worked secretly with Information Communication Technology Authority (ICTA) in collecting the funds without informing the parent ministry body ICT.
PS Ochieng while appearing before the same committee said he was totally unaware of the deal which Telkom executive executed with ICTA contrary to the laws.
Article 209 (1), (2) and (4) of the Constitution and Section 75 (1) of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act confers the Cabinet secretary in charge of the National Treasury the powers to designate in writing the receivers of the national government revenue.
“Where did the CEO Telkom Kenya draw the powers to collect revenue on behalf of the government? What is clear is that they collected without the concurrence of the National Treasury,” Mp Aden Duale said.
“You are doing this thing (billing and collection of revenue) behind the back of the PS,” added Mr Duale.
It also emerged that ICTA extended the contract of Telkom in what appears to be a boardroom deal and a malpractice in all its form. PS Ochieng told the committee that ICTA CEO breached the law by circumventing the system, extending the contract without the full knowledge of his office.
The committee also noted that this was a dirty deal and vowed to bring to books all those involved in the scandal.
Telkom has kept the ICT ministry in the dark by not submitting Billings and collections for auditing and accountability as per the contract. The PS said they’ve never received any report in this respect.
The Auditor General has flagged the multi-billion National Fibre Optic Backbone (NOFBI) project over opaque tendering processes.
She said the taxpayers’ resources could have been lost in the project. In 2018/2019, the State Department of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) paid Chinese firm Huawei Sh1.7 billion for the construction of the second phase of NOFBI.
However, according to the Auditor General, there are no details in respect to the date the payments were made or who authorised the Exim Bank to release the payments.
In the report for the State Department of ICT covering the year ended June 2019, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu says the project lacks crucial documentation over its financing and management.
“Although the financing agreement indicated the government would sell out excess capacity commercially to the public and bill them to finance the loan repayment, there has been no billing done for the last five years it has been in operation,” explained Gathungu in her report.
The service provision framework deal with other internet service providers has not been implemented, with no records provided detailing users and the amount payable by each.
“The government has therefore been funding the operations of commercial entities without recovering the cost, which amounts to lack of prudent use of public resources,” explained Gathungu.
NOFBI started in 2005 as a State project to connect all major towns with high-speed broadband fibre.
Phase one of the project was given to three contractors and connected 28 counties. They were Huawei Technologies, ZTE and SAGEM that took 1,112km, 1,342km and 1,771km, respectively. Phase two was expected to cost Sh7.2 billion funded through the State and China’s Exim Bank, but has run into delays.
The Auditor General, however, queried the automatic extension of NOFBI contracts, lack of an inspection and acceptance committee, and lack of details on the assets created or the billing of service providers.
Electoral Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati is being directly targeted in an investigation into the contract he awarded to British firm De La Rue to provide ballot papers for a constitutional referendum due in June.
It has emerged that IEBC, which singlesourced a local firm to print ballot papers for by-elections in September 2019, had also included a provision for printing referendum materials.
In the deal entered between IEBC and De La Rue Kenya, EPZ Ltd, the commission included the printing of 20 million ballot papers at Sh397.4 million.
The electoral agency entered into a deal for tender No. IEBC/DP/02/2019-2021 with De la Rue on September 20, 2019, after abandoning a restricted tender.
The award was on ‘as and when required’ for a period from October 2019 to the end of 2021, suggesting IEBC had factored a possible referendum by end of this year.
And in another separate contract for tender No. IEBC/02 (B)/2019-2021 for supply and delivery of forms 35A on an A3 paper, the commission seeks to acquire at least 41,000 result declaration forms at Sh383 per page.
This means the IEBC will spend a minimum of Sh16 million if the result declaration forms will only be a single page for all the 40,833 polling stations across the country.
When the commission signed the deal, activist Okiya Omtatah wrote to the IEBC seeking information on who had participated in the restricted tender that had been floated initially.
Omtatah sought to know how and why the commission had settled on De la Rue that had not shown interested when the restricted tender was floated.
In his response dated November 24, 2019, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said four firms; Ellams Product Ltd, Sintel Security Solutions Ltd, Hills Converters (K) Ltd and Kenya Literature Bureau, had applied. Ellam Products Of the four, only Ellams Products was found to be responsive in the preliminaries but was knocked out for allegedly failing to pass the technical evaluation stage.
“Therefore, the procurement was terminated on 27th August, 2019 and on 28th August, 2019, wrote to the Procurement Regulatory Authority seeking approval as there was urgency forward by-elections,” Chebukati said.
Mukoya Andrew Musangi, the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) chairman, has already provided the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) with all documents relating to De La Rue’s contract. The British printer obtained exclusive rights to print ballot papers for Kenya’s upcoming referendum.
Former IEBC CEO James Oswago Image: FILE
In 2013, Oswago and Wilson Shollei were charged with failing to comply with procurement laws. The two allegedly failed to ensure the changes made to the contract awarded to Face Technologies Limited by the IEBC for the supply of Electronic Voter Identification in Tender No. IEBC14/2011-2012 were approved by the agency’s tender committee.
On a different count, they were accused of using their offices to improperly confer a benefit on Face Technologies Limited by approving payment of Sh1,397,724,925 for the supply of EVIDs without ascertaining that devices supplied were inspected, accepted and met the technical specifications in the contract.
Still on tender skirmishes, in 2016 ahead of 2017 elections and still under leadership of Chebukati, NASA leader Raila Odinga, petitioned against Sh2.5B Tender No. IEBC/01/2016-2017 for supply and delivery of ballot papers for election results, declaration forms and poll registers to Al Ghurair Print and Publishing Company Ltd of Dubai.
Chairman Majid Al Ghurair again led a delegation from the Dubai Chamber of Commerce to Nairobi in October last year and was hosted by the President at State House, Nairobi. A picture from the State House meeting was published at the chamber’s website, www.dubaichamber.com
NASA argued that the tender awarding was illegal and contrary to the provisions of the law. The NASA chief claimed that owners of the firm are close to Jubilee administration’s top officials and are likely to influence the outcome of the August 8, 2017 polls in President Kenyatta’s favor.
EACC is now reviewing the tender files with aim of weeding out the possible loopholes that were left in the single sourcing of the tender and if the chairman was personally culpable as the net is cast wider. The now disintegrated NASA team has consistently called for reforms in the electoral body. With Kenya likely to hold a referendum this year and a general election next year, it will be important not to leave any stone untouched and any rogue character sent to the bins.
The once popular airline Silverstone is plotting for a comeback under new name. The airline has already informed the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority(KCAA) over their intention to rebrand to Jetlite Air Limited in a strategic direction to steer clear from the negative publicity the airline received in the heights to its suspension by the regulator in 2019.
While making the bed for a comeback, Silverstone in a PR interview said that they’ve met most of their debt obligations. The firm says that they’ve paid off 85% of their debts including tickets repayment and money owed to suppliers.
Even though it was faulty old planes, security threats that led to the halt of the wheels, Silverstone in the interview attribute their fall to competitors in the market who were jealous of their success.
Trouble for Silverstone started in 2019 when it experienced a series of minor accidents, forcing it to suspend scheduled passenger services. In October 2019, one of its DHC-8-300s skidded off the runway at Nairobi Wilson, injuring two of the 50 passengers on board. In November the same year, another one of its Dash-8-300s made an emergency landing at Eldoret after one of its wheels came off.
This prompted the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) on November 12, 2019, to temporarily suspend Silverstone’s Dash 8 turboprop fleet for inspection.
In December 2019, Elix Aviation Capital repossessed Silverstone’s fleet of Dash 8 turboprops, which consisted of two DHC-8-100s and four DHC-8-300s.
Some of Silverstone’s remaining fleet was chartered out to Somali domestic carriers Salaam Air Express, Som Express Airways, and Maandeeq Air.
In September 2020, a Silverstone air cargo flight was reported to have crash-landed at Mogadishu airport.
Silverstone Air Services started as a charter and contract air operator using a Cessna (single turboprop) CE208 to serve northern Kenya and South Sudan, primarily on behalf of NGOs. In 2017, the company rebranded as Silverstone Air, deploying two 50-seater Fokker 50s to serve Kisumu and Ukunda in October that year. The airline then expanded to the coastal destinations of Malindi and Lamu, adding two DHC-8-Q100s.
According to the ch-aviation fleets advancedmodule, Silverstone Air continues to have eleven aircraft, including one CRJ100ER(F)leased from Avmax Aircraft Leasing; seven F50s, of which three are wet-leased to Maandeeq Air; and three F50(F)s.
While Silverstone hopes with rebranding the PR nightmares of negative publicity will go away, some moves could work against them and delay their return.
Catherine Wanjiru proprietor of Saffara Travel Ltd has written to KCAA seeking compensation before the company changes its name in what could legally lock out those that are still owed. Catherine in a tweet addressed to the regulator claims that Silverstone was lying about having paid back their debts.
“Silverstone Air owes my company Kshs. 147,124. Maurine Bittah says in the article that they have paid their debts. They have not. They must pay their debts before name change is considered.” She demanded as a condition for KCAA in considering the name change and possible repercussions to those still owed by the company.
While making her claim clear, she posted a screenshot of an email from Silverstone dated February 18th 2020 when the firm promised to pay ticket reservations money that had been sent.
This is a confirmation that Silverstone Air is still and h. been committed to fully refund you for the un-utilized tickets. We kindly request that you bear with us as we work through the bulk of requests that our team is and h. been handling.
You request has been regarded as VERY urgent and with HIGH importance. We take your sentiments positively and with great Interest.
Once again we sincerely apologize for the delay occasioned in the refund process.
Thank you so much for your co-operation and patience.” The email reads.
This could see others owed money by the airline run to the regulator for help in recovering their money before Silverstone finally closes doors and opens newly as Jetlite.
The bigger concern is if the airline will change its aircraft or mode of operations with the rebranding and that’s for KCAA to ensure it conforms with the industry’s standards.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has said the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) constitutional reform process will better the business environment in the country.
The President said reform proposals such as the seven year tax holiday proposed by the BBI will guarantee the survival of business start-ups in the country.
“In fact, the BBI initiative, which is about constitutional change and legislative change as well, will facilitate this process. Through the legislative aspect of BBI, we intend to provide a seven-year tax holiday for young entrepreneurs like the 750 grantees of this project,” President Kenyatta said.
He noted that the tax holiday will assist young entrepreneurs to plough back their profits into business and grow their enterprises.
“Instead of taking 1 billion shillings in taxes from the 250 young entrepreneurs in 7 years, we are proposing to have them retain this money and expand their endeavours,” the President said.
The Head of State spoke Wednesday at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani where he unveiled the 750 winners of the ‘MbeleNaBiz’ business plan competition and launched the 2020 to 2024 Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) strategic plan.
The business plan competition is a component of the 1.3 billion World Bank funded Kenya Youth Employment and Opportunities Project (KYEOP). KYEOP’s objective is to create new and expand existing youth-led enterprises by providing them with grant financing and business training.
A total of 11,737 youth participated in the competition out which 750 emerged winners. From the winners, 250 participants were awarded grants of Shs 3.6 million while 500 were granted Shs 900,000 each.
On YEDF, the President said the Fund, which is one of the Government’s strategies to address youth unemployment through entrepreneurship has to-date supported 2 million youth with loans worth Shs13.5 billion.
He said the plan launched today will raise the revolving Fund from Shs 4.5 billion to Shs 5.5 billion and is expected to raise loans disbursement to Shs 16 billion in five years.
“I am pleased to note that the Fund has disbursed a total of Ksh. 501 million in loans since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Kenya. These loans have helped to sustain youth owned enterprises, thereby enabling them to diversify into new opportunities, and to maintain employees.
“The plan we launch today aims to transform the Fund into an efficient and responsive entity that meets the needs of our young people. We consulted widely; we listened keenly; the plan is our attempt to align the work of the Fund with the expectations and aspirations of our young people.
President Kenyatta expressed optimism That YEDF, which also offers training to the youth on how to grow their businesses, will enable young entrepreneurs to recover from losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
World Bank Kenya Country Director Keith Hansen said the Kenyan economy has shown remarkable resilience in confronting the COVID-19 and thanked the Government for taking steps to manage the situation.
He expressed gratitude that 33 percent of the winners of the business plan competition are women noting that the enterprises which have a multiplier effect are a model to be utilized elsewhere in the world.
Other speaker were the ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs CS Joe Mucheru and Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry Nadia Abdala.
Education CS Prof George Magoha and his trade counterpart Betty Maina were among several senior Government officials at the event.
Molo court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for defiling his eight year old daughter.
Eric Osoro, 28, pleaded guilty to the incest charges that he committed on diverse dates between the month of January and 22nd February of this year at Kisii Ndogo village in Kuresoi North Sub County.
The court heard that on the material day, while drank, he sneaked into his daughters’ bedroom in the evening and asked the young one to undress, warning her not to cause any alarm and remain mum on the same.
The victim’s elder sister was awakened by the confrontation and later reported to her mother, Linnet Kemuma. Kemuma took up the matter and had a one on one talk with her eight year old daughter.
According to her, she was hesitant to reveal what had been happening to her but after several engagements, she disclosed what the father had been doing.
Shocked over the incident, Kemuma took her daughter to Molo sub-county hospital for examination.
She later reported the matter to Mau Summit police station leading to Osoro’s arrest on 22nd February.
Resident Magistrate, Emmanuel Soita found Osoro guilty of the incest charge. Soita in his ruling said that Osoro deserved a lengthy custodial sentence after admitting to committing incest which he is aware that is a wrongful deed.
He continued to say that such societal ills will not be tolerated and anyone found committing such heinous acts will face the wrath of the law.
Parents are expected to be the least of persons causing harm to their children and thus handed him a life sentence, it will serve as a lesson to other parents of similar habits.
The stage is set for what could be a grand legal battle as former Chief Justice David Maraga sues Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdulahi over a defamatory tweet. In what has been simmering for a longtime now, Grand Mullah(GM) consistently mentioned Maraga in an alleged bribery scandal involving unnamed Senior Supreme Court judge.
According to the Civil Case No E047 of 2021 filed by Maraga’s lawyers TripleOK Law LLP Advocates, it was the tweet made by GM on 12th January 2021 that broke the camel’s back. “If CJ Maraga is a decent and honest Kenyan, he should come clean on the issue of the SENIOR judge of the SUPREME COURT who took Kshs 220 million BRIBE. Me and CJ Maraga know the judge…intelligent Kenyans must read A LOT on Maraga’s astute silence on this matter!” The offensive tweet read.
Maraga says GM’s words well calculated, intended, contrived and well designed to pain him as an indecent, dishonest Kenyan and that he was aware of the unnamed judge being offered Sh220M bribe and that Maraga was party to the arrangement and didn’t conceal the identity of the judge.
If CJ Maraga is a decent and honest Kenyan, he should come clean on the issue of the SENIOR judge of the SUPREME COURT who took Kshs 220 million BRIBE. Me and CJ Maraga know the judge…intelligent Kenyans must read A LOT on Maraga's astute silence on this matter!
Maraga also sued GM over defamatory claims that appeared on other media outlets including Standard and Tuko which he compiled as evidence in the suit. GM had said on KTN that Maraga presided over the most corrupt judiciary in Kenyan history and that the CJ protected the corrupt judges.
The Sh220M deal has featured prominently on GM’s Twitter going to hint at how much he knows about the secretive deal.
On that matter of Kshs 220 Million BRIBE and the SENIOR judge of the Supreme Court who alleged that he DIDN'T EAT ALONE but shared with TWO OTHER JUSTICES of the Court…who brokered this DEAL? WATCH this space…@dkmaraga@Kenyajudiciary@StateHouseKenya
In a rebuttal to the suit, Ahmednasir who had earlier dismissed the Maraga’s lawyers demand for a pull down and apologize over the tweet, had now threatened to open the lid on the alleged grand corruption in the judiciary. The lawyer said he’s going to unmask what he terms as ‘biggest bribe in Supreme Court.’
In a scathing attack tweet, GM claims that the judge in question fraudulently acquired huge compensation from SGR after falsifying land evaluation report on a land that was registered to his daughter.
That SENIOR JUDGE of the SUPREME COURT falsified evaluation report for some land which he registered in his DAUGHTER'S name and got HUGE FRAUDULENT COMPENSATION from SGR. The police investigated the matter and recommended prosecution….but…but…but..@dkmaraga
Maraga’s suit coincidentally relies on Ahmednasir defamation suit against Njeri Thorne. The lawyer had sued the alleged NIS operative after she claimed he was engaged in money laundering and handling proceeds from the Somalia pirates.
Njeri who’s been subliminally attacking the SC on her Twitter page as a smart strategy to cushion her from further law suits, has been throwing more hints on the case that has been clouded with a lot of secrecy.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://kenyainsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Defamation-Suit-David-Maraga-CJ-Emeritus-v-Ahmednasir-Abdullahi.pdf” title=”Defamation Suit – David Maraga CJ Emeritus v Ahmednasir Abdullahi”]
Maraga demands that Ahmednasir pulls down the defamatory tweets and apologize publicly on his Twitter page, daily Nation and standard newspapers. While reading malice, Maraga questions why Ahmednasir did not seek the correct legal route by reporting the bribery to JSC, DCI, EACC as he should’ve.
And even before the ball drops, GM has slammed the CJ with yet another article on Daily Nation and Standard criticizing his legacy as the CJ.
Article appeared on Standard’s publication of 24th February two days after the filing of the suit.
A similar rebuttal appeared on the Nation of 24th February.
It is not the first time Ahmednasir is attacking the Supreme Court and accusing the courts of corruption.
In the Sh200M bribery scandal that implicated Judge Philip Tunoi in the election petition against Evans Kidero, Ahmednasir claimed that other Supreme Court judges were bribedbribed as well to the tune of Sh300M.
Shortly after the Supreme Court upheld their decision overturning the decisions of the High Court and the Court of Appeal nullifying the election of Wajir Governor Mohammed Abdi Mohamud on February 15 2019, Ahmednasir took a swipe at the six judges claiming corruption was rife ahead of the ruling.
“Many Kenyans know that they are judges of the SUPREME COURT OF KENYA who take bribe in every case that comes before the COURT.These judges have made a killing in petition cases…yet the CJ and JSC do nothing about them…when will these notorious judges be removed.” Ahmednasir tweeted on February 19th, 2019.
As soon as the murmurs about the alleged misconduct by Supreme Court judges began to swirl, Chief Justice Maraga, while presiding over the launch of the State of the Judiciary report, called on Mr Abdullahi to immediately file the petition containing his allegations against the judges.
“In the last few weeks, senior counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi publicly claimed that some judges of the Supreme Court were bribed to decide the Wajir gubernatorial petition in the way that they did. I challenge him to file a petition and assure him that the Judicial Service Commission will take stern and appropriate action against those judges if given the evidence of alleged corruption,” the Chief Justice said.
Lawyers for governor Abdi have since the day the judgment was delivered on February 15 maintained that there was no bribery and the allegations by the governor’s rivals were a case of sour grapes.
“Mr Abdullahi has formed a habit of complaining every time a matter does not go his way. The allegations on bribery have no foundation. If there was bribery he should have petitioned the JSC earlier before the judgment was delivered. But he is complaining because he lost fair and square,” lawyer Nelson Havi who was in Governor Abdi’s legal team said.
The battle in the Supreme Court over Wajir Gubernatorial election is exposing one self styled Senior Counsel as a distinguished fraud-star. Problem is that the Advocate is so brazen that he always goes to press with the created evidence. #SiHiyoNiKiriminoo?
Ahmednasir filed a petition with Judicial Service Commission (JSC) for the removal of Mohamed K. Ibrahim, Jackton B. Ojwang, Smokin C. Wanjala, and Njoki S. Ndung’u whom he had linked to the bribery scandal.
While Ahmednasir has been on the frontline demanding for accountability and competent judiciary putting up a spirited fight against Supreme Court, himself has also been accused of briberyaccused of bribery.
Businesswoman Rose Mbithe had claimed before a tribunal in 2016 that Ahmednasir asked for a bribe to help her in a property suit.
Ms Mbithe, who is a Sehit Investments director, said Abdullahi had first asked for Sh4 million through one Rashid Hussein, who is her family friend. The lawyer, she said, later asked for Sh20-30million to help her sort out the case.
Mbithe further told the tribunal that after the suit house in Karen, Nairobi was valued at Sh220 million, the lawyer asked for half the value of the property (Sh110million).
In his latest battle with Maraga, many will be waiting to see how far it goes and the juicy details that the lawyer has promised to splash in his defense.
Kenyans will become the first adopters of Hype in the world.
Opera becomes the first browser developer to collaborate with local artists to design truly African inspired sticker packs for Hype
Opera Mini with Hype provides Kenyans with a fun and engaging browsing experience that no other mobile browser can offer today on Android devices.
Opera, the Norwegian browser developer is announced the launch of its new dedicated chat service Hype, built into mobile web browser Opera Mini. With the introduction of Hype in the Opera Mini browser, Opera is rethinking the concept of mobile browsers providing its users with a personalized, engaging browsing experience that enables seamless surfing, sharing and communication – without compromising speed or driving increased data consumption.
“Chat services and browsers are apps people use every day and feel very personal about,” said Charles Hamel, Product Lead for Hype. “With the integration of Hype in Opera Mini, we are not only rethinking what a chat service should be like in 2021, but also changing the very definition of what a mobile browser should be.”
Hype is launching first in Kenya as a pilot market, where starting today, users will be able to easily set up their Hype account and start chatting with secure end-to-end encryption. This launch is a facet of Opera’s emphasis on investing and growing its digital ecosystem in Africa, with the goal of bringing more people online; since 2018, Opera has grown its user base in Africa by 40%.
“Hype was developed first and foremost with African consumers in mind. Today, 40% of the Kenyan population has access to smartphones, with younger generations dominating as 75% of their 47 million inhabitants are under 30 years old,” said Hamel. “With such early adopter demographics at play, there is massive potential for the growth of Hype in Kenya. On top of that, we are also partnering with the leading telecommunication carriers in the country, offering free daily browsing to all Opera Mini users. We believe the combination of these factors will lead to the rapid adoption of Hype in the country.”
First major browser developer to collaborate with Kenyan artists
Hype is the first African inspired chat service built into a mobile browser. It offers its users a series of stickers created by Kenyan artists Brian Omolo and Lulu Kitololo to create original sticker packs for Hype that reflect everyday expressions unique to Kenyans.
“We are extremely happy to celebrate African culture with Hype and we are very excited with the end result and the collaboration we had with Brian and Lulu.” said Hamel. “These unique stickers with original designs are something we are very proud of at Opera as we become the first major browser to integrate real African art and pop culture into our products.”
Current messaging services were created almost a decade ago, and none of these has ever focused on having such a collaboration with local artists to make online conversations more engaging. This unique offer from Hype stands out from other chat services and provides Kenyans the ability to express themselves more accurately when using chat apps.
This announcement follows similar browser innovation from Opera, which was the first to integrate messenger services as part of their PC browser, in 2019. Today, its more than 80 million users enjoy the integration of services such as Facebook messenger, Telegram, Whatsapp, Instagram and Twitter.
Share internet content in a snap
The way people communicate is constantly evolving. Today, new generations are relying on new formats like memes and stickers to express themselves, often relating to pop culture references and internet content they find. To make this easier and fun, Hype brings WebSnap, a feature previously known from the Opera desktop browser, that allows users to take snapshots from the web.
Once a websnap is captured, users can edit it by adding colors, text, and emojis, making it fun and entertaining before sharing with others.
WebSnap also allows users to smoothly share the link of the original website from which they took their snaps. This comes in handy as users no longer need to copy links from websites and switch between apps to share the content they want.
Opera Mini is a leading mobile browser
Launched in 2006, Opera Mini is a small, fast and powerful browser. It comes with unique features such as Data Compression, Offline File Sharing, and built-in Ad-blocker. Opera Mini also enables access to free ebooks through the Worldreader speed dial, and the music catalogue of the Kenyan music-streaming service, Mdundo, allowing users to stream or download music through the Opera Mini browser.
Today, Opera Mini is used by more than 100 million MAUs who chose it over the pre-installed browsers on Android mobile devices. Opera Mini has a 4.4-star rating on Google Play and has been reviewed by more than six million people worldwide.
On February 4, Emmanuel Dogbevi turned to Twitter with a plea for help. He tagged press freedom groups and colleagues in a series of tweets, lamenting how allegations that he violated U.S. copyright law had prompted his news website to be taken offline.
Dogbevi told Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that Ghana Business News, the Ghana-based website he edits, was pulled down for roughly four hours by its web host, U.S.-based DigitalOcean, following two complaints it received in January. The complaints, which CPJ reviewed, alleged Ghana Business News had republished an investigative report about Kenya’s gambling industry without permission.
In fact, Dogbevi did have permission to republish the piece, which first appeared in the Kenya-based Daily Nation, the authors of the report, Lionel Faull and Paul Wafula, told CPJ via phone.
Ghana Business News’ brief removal is the result of what appears to be a multi-pronged attempt to censor the report, which was republished in several outlets, CPJ has found. A similar complaint last month compelled AllAfrica, a news website that operates out of cities in Africa and the United States, to take down the same story, Reed Kramer, the site’s chief executive officer, told CPJ via email. The strategy resembles other efforts documented by CPJ to use U.S. copyright law to quash critical journalism online, from Nigeria to Nicaragua.
A February 16 screenshot of a page on Ghana Business News‘ website shows a “Not Found” message in place of a story on the Kenyan gambling industry. The story has since been restored.
The complaints were sent using email addresses purporting to be the two journalists who authored the report and cited the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a U.S. law also known as the DMCA. A fourth complaint, which CPJ reviewed, was sent last month to Finance Uncovered, a London-based investigative journalism organization where Faull works as a chief reporter, citing the U.K.’s Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
“I think it’s an affront to press freedom,” Wafula, business editor and investigative reporter with Daily Nation, told CPJ. “The world has moved on to a very dangerous line of very fishy characters behind keyboards.”
CPJ was unable to confirm the true identities of those responsible for the complaints.
Under the DMCA, U.S.-based internet intermediaries like web hosting companies can avoid liability for content published on sites they support by taking down the materials after receiving a complaint, as CPJ has documented. Cara Gagliano, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation digital rights group, told CPJ via email that an intermediary company may find it simplest to disable access to disputed content by taking down the entire website.
Dogbevi told CPJ that DigitalOcean brought his website back online after he started making noise on social media, but insisted he take the Kenyan gambling story down pending resolution of the complaints, which he did on February 4.
Today, Dogbevi restored the article on his site after an email from DigitalOcean, which CPJ reviewed, said he was free to do so since the host had not received responses from the complaining parties and “the counter notice period laid out in the DMCA has lapsed.” According to the law, that period from is 10 to 14 days. (Dogbevi said that period began on February 5 after he responded through a lawyer, following DigitalOcean’s request that he do so, according to another email which CPJ reviewed.)
“What DigitalOcean did tells me that anybody that is unhappy with any story on a news site can issue a complaint and take down any report,” Dogbevi told CPJ. “Anybody that doesn’t like a story about them can easily attack the website by issuing a DMCA takedown notice. They don’t have to be the copyright owner, they just have to fake it.”
Emmanuel Dogbevi is the editor of Ghana Business News, which was briefly taken offline by its web host after it received complaints falsely alleging that the site had republished an article without permission. (Ghana Business News)
He said that he repeatedly informed DigitalOcean that the complaints were fraudulent and forwarded the company corroborating testimony from the real Faull and Wafula, which CPJ reviewed. But he said DigitalOcean insisted the claim was valid.
“[A]s a hosting provider we have limited leeway in how we treat DMCA reports and are required to take action when they’re presented in a specific format as outlined by the DMCA itself – that is what we mean by valid,” DigitalOcean wrote to Dogbevi in a February 2 email, which CPJ reviewed.
In response to CPJ’s questions sent to DigitalOcean, Robert Smith at Highwire Public Relations said in an email that the company cannot comment on specific customer accounts. However, Smith said that “our actions and policies strictly adhere to the guidance” of the DMCA.
The gambling story first went to print in the Daily Nation on May 18, 2020, in cooperation with Finance Uncovered, which republished it later that month. Ghana Business News also republished the story in May, as did AllAfrica, according to Dogbevi and Reed.
It is unclear why the takedown complaints were sent at least nine months after the outlets republished the article.
The two complaints to DigitalOcean impersonating Wafula and Faull included links to sites where they falsely claimed the Kenyan gambling story had originally been published. The email from Wafula’s impersonator linked to dailynationreport.blogspot.com, where a version of the Kenyan gambling report was the only published content. The email from Faull’s impersonator linked to the story on AllAfrica. Kramer told CPJ that AllAfrica removed the article after it received a separate DMCA complaint from the same email address pretending to be Faull.
“We do not have resources to adjudicate complaints or take on legal battles — or battle breach-of-copyright complaints with our service provider,” Kramer told CPJ, adding that it wasn’t the first copyright complaint the website had received.
Faull told CPJ that freethought, Finance Uncovered’s U.K.-based web hosting company, had maintained access to the gambling report after it agreed that the complaint, which alleged the article was originally published by a website called latimeslivenews.blogspot.com, was illegitimate. The site’s header included a copy of the Los Angeles Times logo.
Edward Dore, a director at freethought, told CPJ via email that the host did not take down the gambling report because evidence found online and provided by Finance Uncovered contradicted the complaint. “We don’t want to enable intellectual property theft, but at the same time we also want to protect our customers from spurious allegations,” Dore said.
The complaints regarding the three outlets’ publication of the story were sent from Gmail addresses with the same naming convention: the emails impersonating Faull and Wafula came via [email protected] and [email protected]; the complaint to Finance Uncovered was sent by [email protected].
Faull told CPJ he worried about the implications of someone pretending to be him, or any other journalist. “An impersonator could phone up someone and try to blackmail them in your name or be unreasonable in requests for comment,” he said. “Your name is a really important aspect of your reputation as a journalist. So this is a form of identity theft.”
Google says that “impersonating another person, company, or entity with the intent to deceive or mislead” is a violation of Gmail’s program policies. CPJ emailed Google questions about the use of its products to impersonate journalists but it did not respond beyond a confirmation of receipt.
Dogbevi told CPJ that he doesn’t really make money from Ghana Business News, but the experience of fighting the complaints was costly in other ways. “The shock, the anger, the pain, the frustration. I couldn’t eat that night, I couldn’t sleep,” he said, remembering the period after his site was taken offline. “It’s annoying when you get punished…with the tacit support of my [web] server.”
Jonathan Rozen is CPJ’s senior Africa researcher. Previously, he worked in South Africa, Mozambique, and Canada with the Institute for Security Studies, assessing Mozambican peace-building processes. Rozen was a U.N. correspondent for IPS News and has written for Al-Jazeera English and the International Peace Institute. He speaks English and French.
The Story.
Below is the story that irked the gambling cartels into hiring dark web geeks into censoring the report in spirited effort to not only muzzle media free speech but wipe out the devastating effects of gambling in Kenya and the destruction in the society.
By Lionel Faull & Paul Wafula
(This story was first published by the Daily Nationin Kenya).
The enormous scale of Kenya’s betting addiction can be revealed after leaked figures from the regulator show that punters wagered more than Shs30 billion (£235m) in a single month last year.
The staggering size of the local betting industry has emerged from a leaked spreadsheet of revenue declarations made by gambling firms to the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) for May 2019, shortly before the government introduced tougher regulations and higher taxes.
Extrapolating from this monthly figure, punters were on track to spend more than Sh360 billion (£2.8 billion) on betting annually had the government not stopped the party.
This amount is Sh257 billion (£2 billion) more than what the national government allocated to health in 2019/20.
The leaked data reveals that Kenyan punters staked nearly 180 million individual bets in a single month.
Kenya has an adult population of around 35 million, according to 2019 population census figures released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statics (KNBS). The average amount bet per stake was Sh170 (£1.30).
Mental health
Gaming Awareness Society of Kenya co-founder Nelson Bwire reacted with shock at the figures: “Data we have submitted to the presidential task force on mental health indicates that gambling is a major contributor to mental health-related problems.
“The effects are devastating — family breakups, addiction, depression, unmanageable debt, increased crime and suicides. But to learn that people are spending such huge amounts on betting in such a short time? It’s absurd!”
The revenue declaration snapshot was obtained by Finance Uncovered, a UK-based investigative journalism and training project, and shared with the DailyNation. It originated from an insider at the BCLB, which receives and compiles monthly revenue declarations from the industry.
This is thought to be the first time that betting figures for the entire industry, albeit a one-month snapshot, have been made public.
An industry source suggested that the numbers could be higher because the BCLB relies on companies’ self-reporting.
The Kenyan gambling market is heavily dominated by online betting, which industry experts say typically returns 90 per cent of bets to punters as winnings. Retail outlets, or betting shops, return 85 per cent.
The amount firms retain after making winnings pay-outs is called the Gross Gaming Revenue, or GGR. Betting firms could, therefore, be retaining between 10 to 15 per cent of bets staked.
This means they could have raked in GGR of between Sh3 billion and Sh4.5 billion (£23-£35 million) in May 2019. This works out at between Sh36 billion and Sh54 billion (£280-£420 million) in annual GGR.
Betting firms would have been expected to pay a 15 per cent tax on GGR, plus a 20 per cent withholding tax on punters’ winnings, following a series of tax laws passed in 2018.
The big two
Topping the BCLB’s leaked spreadsheet of nearly 40 betting and lottery firms was SportPesa, who declared monthly bets totalling nearly Sh20 billion (£157 million).
SportPesa, which became a roaring success after it launched in Kenya in 2014, accounted for almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of market share.
The firm stepped to the international stage after it announced a Sh1.3 billion (£9.6 million) a year sponsorship deal with Everton FC in 2017. It was the biggest deal in the club’s sponsorship history.
It would also set up a global headquarters in Liverpool. Before it shot to global fame, it had entered smaller deals with Arsenal, Southampton and Hull City football clubs, as well as the Spanish La Liga and a top Italian club teams.
Rival firm Betin came in second, with declared bets of almost Sh6 billion (£47m) — nearly 20 per cent of all market share.
Government clampdown
Sportpesa and Betin were among the 27 firms whose betting licences were withdrawn by the government in July last year over alleged tax non-compliance.
SportPesa and Betin fought the tax demands, which the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) claimed they owed in arrears under the 2018 revenue laws, in court.
They were given tax compliance certificates for the previous year only for the government to demand more.
Two directors of Betin Kenya, Leandro Giovando and Domenico Giovando, were also deported and later denied entry back into Kenya, despite holding valid investor work permits last year.
While some of the other suspended firms later had their licences reinstated, both SportPesa and Betin to date have not.
This saw them shut their Kenyan operations in September last year, rendering hundreds of Kenyans jobless.
The biggest blow was felt in the local football league after SportPesa withdrew from sponsorship deals citing “the hostile taxation and operating environment”.
Before its withdrawal, SportPesa had waged a public relations campaign in the media, reportedly claiming in a series of full-page newspaper adverts that they had collected Sh20 billion (£157 million) in revenues in 2018, made Sh9 billion (£70 million) in gross profits and paid Sh6.4 billion (£50 million) in taxes.
They also claimed to have invested a total of Sh1.37 billion (£11 million) in local clubs, and a further Sh171 million (£1.3 million) in other socio-economic causes, including Sh41 million (£320,000) in community health.
The firm maintains that it has been playing by the rules and paid its fair share of taxes. It has a tax clearance certificate and several awards from KRA to prove it.
In February this year, SportPesa also withdrew from its international sponsorship commitments, including a reported £9.6 million a year shirt sponsorship with English top-tier football side Everton FC and a reported US$10 million a year deal with Formula One team Racing Point, whose CEO reportedly explained was because SportPesa “had some difficulties in their home market.”
Before Covid-19 struck, the betting regulator said the interior ministry was still conducting security checks on owners of the big companies before it could grant them back their licences.
Best of the rest
Betika, the third biggest betting firm by declared bets in May last year (Sh1.45 billion, £11 million), has retained its licence throughout those turbulent months and is now thought to be Kenya’s biggest betting company.
However, they now operate in a more curtailed market that has been further depressed by the wide-ranging impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the temporary closure of betting shops and cancellation of local and international sporting fixtures.
According to the data, Betpawa (since closed) and Sportybet (still operational) completed the top five.
Betpawa director Nikolai Barnwell was also included in the deportation list of 17 foreign directors of betting firms operating in Kenya — but claimed he had a valid investor permit and was on the list erroneously.
Betika appears to be the only company in the former top five that was not majority-owned by foreign investors.
It is owned by Beverly Technologies Limited, whose directors are John Michemi Muthuro and Sophia Nyarora Gichuhi. The company is not linked on the online company registry search.
A surprise entry in the top five, SportyBet has flown beneath the radar until now. Its directors are Jai Ashok Mahtani and Sudeep Ramesh Ramnani.
Their nationality is unknown. They co-own a company called Marawin, which operates the SportyBet brand in Nigeria.
Under-declaration?
The leak of the figures from the BCLB is significant. The regulator releases very little information publicly. But the monthly figures should be treated with some caution, experts say.
A source who has worked in a senior management position in one of the smaller companies said that firms who operate from physical shops, where bets are wagered in cash, can “potentially get away with” under-declaring revenue by up to 80 per cent.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was much harder for mobile and online betting companies to under-declare their revenues because of the digital trail left by betting activities on their servers.
However, the sheer number of bets and the regulator’s inability to access the data in real-time mean that “significant” under-declaring is also possible for digital firms.
Other experts who have viewed the data point out that one would need to know companies’ operating costs and taxes paid in order to calculate their profits.
Further obscuring their true profitability, some betting companies have set up related companies in countries where there is little or no publicly available information about how much money they derive from their operations in Kenya, and how this is accounted for.
SportPesa, for example, set up a holding company in the Isle of Man, while Betin’s biggest shareholder was a company incorporated in Mauritius.
Public health
Betting, particularly on sport, exploded in Kenya from the mid-2010s onwards, finding fertile ground among a youthful populace who combine sports mania with digital savvy.
By 2019, betting was impossible to ignore, as firms such as SportPesa and Betin ploughed millions back into blanket advertising campaigns and high profile sports sponsorships.
But concerns about the prevalence of betting addiction, particularly among unemployed youth, also grew.
Mr Bwire, a campaigner for stricter reforms in the industry, said that the government should now turn its attention away from the industry as a source of tax revenue and gear its efforts towards public health and welfare, “especially in this Covid-19 era when isolation and boredom will increase gambling participation and fuel gambling addiction”.
“Gambling companies have realised this and are using our new-found isolation to their own advantage, going by the recent guerrilla marketing of online casino games,” he warned.
Story republished with permission and partnership with FU.
The Information Communication Technology ministry is on the spot over utilisation of Sh577.9 million for purchase of ICT components for Huduma Namba.
The State department paid for undisclosed activities related to the Huduma Namba long after the closure of the registration exercise, raising questions of possible fraud.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has specifically zeroed in on Sh95.9 million pending payment saying “its accuracy and validity could not be confirmed.”
The Information Communication Technology ministry is on the spot over utilisation of Sh577.9 million for purchase of ICT components for Huduma Namba.
The State department paid for undisclosed activities related to the Huduma Namba long after the closure of the registration exercise, raising questions of possible fraud.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has specifically zeroed in on Sh95.9 million pending payment saying “its accuracy and validity could not be confirmed.”
The registration exercise for the National Integrated Information Management System (Niims), commonly known as Huduma Namba, started on April 2, 2019 and ended om May 25, 2019.
“However, there were payments and expenditure for activities undertaken long after the closure, some of which were in relation to the negotiation process,” Ms Gathungu says in a report tabled in Parliament on February 11.
The State chief auditor also flagged Sh120.25 million that was paid to internet Service providers despite the ICT department having ownership and controls the National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI), which provides internet to the service providers.
“However, the service providers have not been charged for the use of this infrastructure. No explanation has been provided for this anomaly,” the Auditor-General said.
The ICT ministry could not explain why it wired back Sh255 million out of the Sh577.9 million the Interior docket provided for purchase of Huduma Namba ICT equipment.
The ministry also failed to provide for audit review a breakdown of expenditure that are in line with the detailed critical infrastructure component budget as well as approved work plan and procurement plan as submitted by Interior ministry.
The State has started rolling out issuance Huduma Namba cards which is billed to be “the authentic single source of truth on personal identity in Kenya”.
Some 38 million people had been registered by the time the Sh9.6 billion exercise closed in May last year.
Data collected through the Huduma Namba registration will be stored in the Integrated Population Registration System (IPRS) — the central location for easy electronic access by institutions, including private corporations that provide crucial and sensitive services.
At the touch of a button, it would produce one’s details stored at the various registries, including births and deaths, marriages and divorce, as well as passport, aliens, ID cards and citizenship registers.
Such details will be linked and relayed in real time to agencies like the Lands registry, the National Social Security Fund, law enforcement agencies, the National Hospital Insurance Fund, the Kenya Revenue Authority, financial agencies, and National Transport and Safety Authority.
Homa Bay County government is on the spot over Sh602 million spent on projects that were either not implemented or have stalled.
The Governor Cyprian Awiti-led county government has been accused by the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu of having paid out the millions of shillings for works that were either stalled or had not started.
According to a Auditor General report for the financial year ending June 30, 2019, Sh19.7 million was paid out by the county government for projects that have not been implemented.
Homa Bay County government is on the spot over Sh602 million spent on projects that were either not implemented or have stalled.
The Governor Cyprian Awiti-led county government has been accused by the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu of having paid out the millions of shillings for works that were either stalled or had not started.
According to a Auditor General report for the financial year ending June 30, 2019, Sh19.7 million was paid out by the county government for projects that have not been implemented.
One such project is the construction of Miyuga-Mawego Road which was awarded in March, 2018 for a contract sum of Sh4.3 million but years later it had not been implemented despite Sh3.9 million forked out.
For Kogwe-Randung-Sinema Road construction, the total contract sum of Sh5.86 million had been paid out despite the project not taking off. The contract was awarded in March, 2018 and was to take about seven months.
The same fate has befallen the construction of Rapedhi-Riat Road, which despite the total contract sum of Sh5.86 million being paid out, the project has not begun. The two projects were awarded at the same time.
The county government is also on the spot for paying Sh4.3 million for the construction of Nyangwethe-Sindo Road. The project’s contract was awarded in April, 2018 and was to take 15 weeks to be complete.
“Management paid for works that were not complete or had not been started. In the circumstances, it is not possible to confirm whether citizens of Homa Bay County have received value for money on projects,” read the report.
In regards to stalled projects, the county government paid the total contract sum of Sh2.51 million for the construction of Kabondo Water Pan Spillway despite the spillway having been washed away by water.
The county government was also on the spot over the construction of Kadongo-Gendia Road, which despite being awarded in October, 2015 for 12 months, still had road furniture works outstanding with the county having already paid Sh481 million of the Sh687 million total contract sum.
Construction of maize processing plant at Kigoto in Suba, though the contract sum was not indicated, the county government paid out Sh12.9 million.
However, an audit of the project revealed that construction had stopped at window level and the contractor was not on site. Interestingly, the contract was awarded in July, 2015 and was to be completed within six months.
Another project is the construction of post-harvest grain handling facility at Kigoto. The contract was awarded in June, 2016 at a cost of Sh23 million and was to take 42 weeks.
But four years later, the contractor was not on site and the project had only reached the substructure level with Sh9.9 million already shelled out.
Sixteen water projects awarded at a combined cost of Sh99.9 million were not complete and not in use despite Sh51.4 million already paid out.
The construction of Apuoche Early Childhood Development Education classrooms, awarded in October, 2018 for a period of 12 weeks, had also stalled and the contractor was not on site.
In yet another staled project, Sh5 million out of the contract sum of Sh19.82 million had been paid out for the construction of outpatient and casualty block at Rachuonyo District Hospital.
However, the contractor was not complete and the contractor not on site. The contract was awarded more than seven years in April, 2012 and was to take only five months.
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The Italian ambassador to Congo, an Italian carabineri police officer and their Congolese driver were killed Monday when gunmen attacked a U.N. convoy going to visit a school in eastern Congo, the Italian Foreign Ministry and residents said.
The ambush occurred as the convoy was travelling from Goma, Congo’s eastern regional capital, to visit a World Food Program school project in Rutshuru, the U.N. agency said.
The WFP said the attack occurred on a road that had been cleared previously for travel without security escorts, and it was seeking more information from local officials on the attack. Eastern Congo is home to myriad rebel groups all vying for control of the mineral-rich Central African nation that is the size of Western Europe.
Luca Attanasio, Italy’s ambassador to the country since 2017, carabinieri officer Vittorio Iacovacci and their driver were killed, the Foreign Minister said. Other members of the convoy were injured and taken to a hospital, WFP said.
The attack, a few kilometers north of Goma, was just next to the Virunga National Park. North Kivu Gov. Carly Nzanzu Kasivita said the U.N. vehicles were hijacked by the attackers and taken into the bush. The Congolese army and park guards for Virunga National Park came to help those who had been attacked, he said.
“There was an exchange of fire. The attackers fired at the bodyguard and the ambassador,” the governor said, adding that the ambassador later died from his wounds.
Attanasio, a 43-year-old career diplomat, left behind a wife and three young children.
The attack occurred in the same area where two Britons were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in 2018, said Mambo Kaway, head of a local civil society group.
“The situation is very tense,” he added.
More than 2,000 civilians were killed last year in eastern Congo in violence by armed groups whose brutal attacks have also displaced over 5.2 million people in what the U.N. calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Marie Tumba Nzenza, Congo’s minister of foreign affairs, sent her condolences and promised the Italian government that the Congolese government would do all it could to find those behind the killings.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Premier Mario Draghi also expressed their condolences to the victims’ families.
“The circumstances of this brutal attack are still unclear and no effort will be spared to shed light on what happened,” Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said.
Di Maio was flying from Brussels to Rome to meet with Draghi and to brief Italian lawmakers on the attack. The Rome prosecutors’ office routinely leads investigations of Italians who are victims of crime abroad.
A special Carabinieri investigative unit was headed to Kinshasha and expected to arrive Tuesday, Italian state TV reported.
After serving in diplomatic roles in Switzerland, Morocco and Nigeria, Attanasio was assigned to the Italian embassy in Kinshasa in September 2017.
Last October, he was awarded the Nassiriya International Prize for Peace in a ceremony held in a church in southern Italy. Attanasio was cited for “having contributed to the realization of important humanitarian projects, distinguishing himself for altruism, dedication and the spirit of service for people in difficulty,” the La Repubblica newspaper reported.
It quoted Attanasio as saying that “all that which we take for granted in Italy isn’t in Congo, where, unfortunately, there are so many problems to resolve.”
Attanasio described the role of the ambassador is “above all to be close to the Italians but also to contribute to achieving peace.” Some 1,000 Italians live in Congo.
Congo suffered through one of the worl’s most brutal colonial reigns before undergoing decades of corrupt dictatorship. Back-to-back civil wars later drew in a number of neighboring countries. In January 2019, Congo experienced its first peaceful democratic transfer of power since independence in 1960 following the election of President Felix Tshisekedi.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission has been working toward drawing down its more than 17,000-troop presence in the country and transfer its security work to Congolese authorities.
WhatsApp users who do not accept its updated terms and conditions by the 15 May deadline will be unable to receive or send messages until they do so.
Their account will be listed as “inactive”. And inactive accounts can be deleted after 120 days.
Calls and notifications will still function for “a short while” but, TechCrunch reported, probably only a “few weeks” .
WhatsApp announced the update in January.
There was a backlash among many users who thought it meant the company was planning to change the amount of data it shared with its parent company, Facebook.
It later clarified this was not the case – the update is actually aimed at enabling payments to be made to businesses.
Notifying users
WhatsApp already shares some information with Facebook, such as the user’s IP address (a sequence of numbers attached to every device which connects to the internet, it can also be used to pin down its location) and purchases made via the platform.
But this is not the case in Europe and the UK, where different privacy laws exist.
Following the initial announcement, platforms such as Telegram and Signal saw a huge surge in demandas WhatsApp users sought alternative encrypted-messaging services.
In October 2020, Kenya Ferry Services (KFS), a public entity, introduced a cashless system linked to Safaricom to collect tolls at the Likoni crossing channel.
KFS’ e-system automatically locked out ferry users not subscribed to Safaricom, especially motorists, motorbike riders and handcart pushers who must pay levies to cross the channel, a waterway connecting Mombasa island and the mainland side of Likoni.
KFS’ decision to force levy payment through Safaricom’s M-Pesa—a private mobile money transfer service—was unilateral and lacked public approval.
This secret deal has monopolized payment services at the public body in favour of a privately-owned telecommunication company. Safaricom’s private shares stand at 40 per cent—35 per cent owned by South Africa’s Vodacom and five per cent by British’s Vodafone. Kenya government controls a 35 per cent stake. There’s a 25 per cent free float.
The process to award Safaricom the deal remains unaccountable, opaque, and shrouded in secrecy, yet the company continues to rake in millions of shillings monthly. Safaricom earns a minimum of Sh8 and a maximum of about Sh100 per toll, depending on the size and weight of the vehicle crossing the Likoni channel. At least 6,000 motorists use the channel daily, KFS data shows. It means more than 816,000 crossings have occurred since KFS imposed the system on October 8, 2020. And this not to mention the numbers of motorbike riders and handcart pushers who have used the channel since.
KFS has kept the public in the dark about the deal’s details. The entity infringes on the right to access information, equality, consumer choice, and freedom from discrimination.
But despite Kenya having four mobile network operators, some with mobile money service like Safaricom, KFS continues to discriminate subscribers of other telcos–Airtel Kenya, Telkom Kenya, and Jamii Telecommunication Ltd.
MUHURI chairman Khelef Khalifa and rapid response officer Francis Auma protested urging structured public participation for a new inclusive system.
KFS has placed no remedy to cushion against the adverse effect of its e-system. Many non-M-Pesa ferry users are being turned away and denied crucial service. KFS is not taking hard currency.
Likoni channel remains the most preferred route between Mombasa island, a business hub, and the mainland side of Likoni, a mostly residential area. The Indian Ocean connects these areas by a 500-meter distance, making it the cheapest, fastest, and shortest course.
An alternative route, a road through Kwale town, is 30-kilometre-long and gobbles-up costly fuel than a toll across the Likoni channel. Further, the Sh28 billion Dongo Kundu bypass—under the second phase of construction as of January 28, 2021—will connect Mombasa island to Likoni by 17 kilometres.
MUHURI protests
KFS-Safaricom deal, effected on October 8, 2020, violated the rights of consumer equity services. It lacked public input, too. That month, MUHURI wrote to KFS urging a non-discriminatory e-payment system. KFS did not respond or act.
And on the morning of February 18, 2021, four months later, MUHURI chairman Khelef Khalifa and rapid response officer Francis Auma staged a peaceful protest at the channel’s island side. They called for the revocation of a discriminatory system. They urged structured public participation for a new inclusive system. Hundreds of motorists were in support.
KFS has kept the public in the dark about the deal’s details. The entity infringes on the right to access information, equality, consumer choice, and freedom from discrimination.
The demo led to their detention at Likoni Ferry police station and subsequent arraignment over trumped-up charges of causing disturbance and obstruction. A brutal response from security officers preceded this arrest.
Police arrest MUHURI chairman Khelef Khalifa (left) after he protested the M-Pesa-only charge at the Likoni channel on February 18. Photo: Ernest Cornel.
The pair got arraigned before magistrate Rita Amwayi on February 19, 2020, where the state prosecutor charged them with creating disturbance. But they denied it because they demonstrated peaceably and unarmed. Amwayi released each on Sh20,000 cash bail and set the hearing on May 4.
MUHURI chairman Khelef Khalifa and rapid response officer when they got arraigned on February 19. Photo: Ernest Cornel.
Second arrest
But police forcibly arrested the duo again, just under 30 seconds after the court freed them at 11:40 am. This arrest still arose from the peaceful demo at the Likoni channel, which wanted to overturn the discriminative e-payment system.
Cops pounced and shooed Khalifa and Auma from court corridors to the tent guarded by several detectives. The rearrest, an afront to their right to protest, attracted massive condemnation. Calls for police accountability raged.
The police arraigned them before Mombasa Resident Magistrate Christine Ogweno, and for the first time, revealed they faced an alleged traffic offence—causing an obstruction. Khalifa and Auima denied, and the court released each on Sh10,000 cash bail. The hearing is on March 9.
Police rearrest Auma and Khalifa on February 19. Photo: Ernest Cornel.
High Court has ordered a company associated with billionaire investor John Kibunga Kimani to complete sale of its land in Murang’a to a cotton manufacturing company.
Justice Grace Kemei ordered Rural Development Services Limited to complete the agreement for sale of the land, located within Makuyu measuring 126 acres, to African Cotton Industries Limited.
In the agreement dated July 2, 2013, Dr Kimani’s company was selling the land at a cost of Sh205,360,000 but the process stopped after he tried to back out of the sale agreement.
According to African Cotton Industries Limited v Rural Development Services Limited [2014] eKLR ELC CASE NO. 212 OF 2013 before a Nyeri Court, Kimani entered into agreement to sell Salim Hussein Anjarwalla a parcel of land LR NO. KAKUZI/KIRIMIRI BLOCK 7/ 281 located within Makuyu measuring 51.28 ha.
In a gentleman’s agreement, sale price set at Kshs.205, 360,000 and as per their agreement of 10% deposit, Salim went ahead and paid Kshs.20, 536,000 before car and mouse games ensued
Turned out that after deliberations with his wife Lilian Wanjiku who’s also a co-director, Kimani had a change of heart and refused to sell the land giving back the Cheque, feeling that the contract was breached, Salim sued Kimani. His wife told the court that they rescinded the sale because Kimani made the decision with unsound mind. She argued that he had just suffered brain damage in an accident in Sudan that had him flown to Nairobi and that by the time of agreement signing, he was mentally incapacitated. The court overruled the argument as an afterthought given that the decision to sell the land was made by Kimani before the accident.
Dr Kimani has 30.7 percent stake in Nairobi bourse listed Kakuzi worth Sh2.16 billion.
Justice Kemei declared that the agreement for sale between the two parties is valid and enforceable as he ordered Dr Kimani’s company to complete the sale within 30 days.
After successfully completing the agreement for sale by executing and delivering to the land buyer all such documents necessary to effect due and effectual transfer of the suit property, the court directed that the buyer to pay Sh205,360,000 within 15 days.
If he fails to execute and deliver to the buyer documents necessary to effect transfer of the Suit Property, the judge said the court’s Deputy Registrar will execute and deliver the said documents to the buyer at Dr Kimani’s expense.
The judge also issued an order for extension of the statutory time limit for applying for Land Control Board Consent pursuant to Section 8(1) of the Land Control Act for a period of 120 days. The businessman has investments in most blue-chip stocks at the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
Justice Kemei made the orders after the land buyer sued claiming that it had paid 10 percent, which is Sh20.5 million, of the purchase price but Dr Kimani’s company had “refused, neglected or failed” to complete the sale of the suit land.
One of the defence witnesses was Salim Hussein Anjarwalla, chairman of African Cotton Industries Limited, which is located at Athi River off Mombasa Road, Nairobi. It manufactures cotton products for household and hospital use including cotton wool, toilet paper, sanitary towels, and diapers. He said at the time of the transaction the Company faced challenges such as reliable power supply, expansion space and poor road network.
To meet the challenges it decided to purchase land and set up a new cotton processing factory. That the suit land was sourced in January/February of 2013 and negotiations on the sale and purchase began.
British American Tobacco (BAT) has dropped Engage Burson Cohn & Wolfe(BCW) Kenya the PR agency that was handling its communication following bribery claims by a reporter.
Working on a story about how BAT is targeting young non smokers in criticized advertising, a journalist Edwin Okoth attacked to UK’s The Bureau was approached by an employee of Engage BCW with a bribe offer to leak details of the story on BAT activities in Kenya that he was investigating.
In text messages, the employee asked Okoth, “what is your price?” for leaking the information and subsequently confirmed he was “serious”. They went on to say that the offer was part of a “media intelligence” gathering operation that would help them “manage the client”, meaning BAT.
Screenshot of the conversation between Engage BCW employee and The Bureau’s journalist. Courtesy.
Okoth said that corruption is an “everyday challenge” faced by journalists in Kenya, but that this attempt was brazen.
“Often when you try to expose a scandal of a government officer here they will send a public relations person or a former journalist to try and talk to you to see if you can drop the story or cut a deal or two,” he said.
“It is normally expected that an agency representing a multinational will be more professional … I was shocked that this person was actually acting on behalf of this respectable multinational from Britain.” He added: “My shock was how bold they were … BAT being cleared [by the SFO], that was the point of them becoming bold.”
Leaked conversation.
In a statement, BAT said: “BAT Kenya has, with immediate effect, stopped all activities with Engage BCW Kenya, and a full investigation into the allegations has been launched … We will not tolerate improper conduct anywhere in the world and take allegations of misconduct extremely seriously.”
Engage BCW said it has a “zero-tolerance policy towards any form of bribery or unethical conduct”.
A spokesperson added: “All our employees undergo mandatory anti-bribery training and are obliged to sign our code of conduct confirming their adherence to it.
“We are committed to the highest standards of behaviour in all our work and we take this issue extremely seriously. We have immediately commenced an internal investigation and suspended the employee concerned pending its outcome.”
Rory Donaldson, programme manager at Transparency International, an NGO that works to combat global corruption, said: “Offering a bribe to a journalist isn’t just an attempt to undermine honest reporting and journalistic integrity, the very offer of a bribe is a crime in most jurisdictions.
“Corporations should be aware of the activities of third parties acting on their behalf such as PR agencies. When undertaking internal investigations corporations must ensure the investigation is not a whitewash. Bringing in external investigators can help mitigate this risk.”
Okoth had been researching the sale and promotion of BAT’s new Lyft product, a tobacco-free nicotine pouch that Kenyan officials believe is being marketed to young non-smokers as well as existing adult smokers.
The offer of a bribe was received shortly after BAT shared a statement with Okoth that revealed that the tobacco company was threatening to pull investment from Kenya over uncertainty on the classification of Lyft.
Even though BAT has told regulators around the world that its new products, including heated tobacco and oral nicotine(Lyft), are for current adult smokers. It’s aggressive sponsorships make clear, it has launched an aggressive £1bn marketing campaign that leans heavily on social media, concerts and sporting events, which could have the effect of encouraging young people to pick up a potentially deadly tobacco habit that still kills 8 million people a year, notwithstanding long-established rules aimed at preventing this.
According to investigations by The Bureau it revealed that several of these tactics, employed in different countries around the world, have attracted a new generation including non-smokers to highly addictive nicotine and tobacco products – and that this seems to be a consequence of BAT’s plans for yet more growth.
These tactics include:
Presenting nicotine products as cool and aspirational in a glossy youth-focused advertising campaign;
Paying social media influencers to promote e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches and tobacco on Instagram, notwithstanding the platform’s ban on the practice;
Sponsoring music and sporting events, including an F1 e-sports tournament that was streamed live on YouTube and could be watched by children;
And an international free samples offer for nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes that appears to have attracted underage people and non-smokers.
BAT told the Bureau: “All marketing activity for our products will only be directed towards adult consumers and is not designed to engage or appeal to youth … All our marketing is done responsibly, in strict accordance with our International Marketing Principles, local laws, legislation and platform policies … We only use influencers in some countries where it’s permitted, and social media platform policies allow.”
Despite claiming these products are aimed at adults who already smoke, in part to help them quit cigarettes, there are clear signs the business also wants to attract new customers. Alongside its slogan “A Better Tomorrow”, BAT’s mission is “stimulating the senses of new adult generations”.
Paid promotion by Kenyan influencers gave the Lyft brand a glamorous, aspirational appeal. On Jumia, a shopping site popular with Kenya’s young middle class, BAT sold Lyft under the party category. (The Bureau learned this month that BAT has since pulled Lyft from sale in Kenya.) Beside pictures posed on the tarmac, one influencer left the caption “Fast cars and kaftan dreams … #LYFTxMcLaren.”
A promotional post by a Kenyan influencer at the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.
In Kenya, the alleged availability of Lyft pouches through vending machines at major shopping centres prompted the Ministry of Health to write to the Pharmacy and Poisons Board. In the letter, the ministry described the practice as “contrary to the law”. BAT said: “Our Kenyan subsidiary, BAT Kenya, strongly denies it has ever sold Lyft pouches in automatic vending machines in Kenya. BAT Kenya has confirmed this in writing to the Pharmacy and Poisons Board and Ministry of Health. BAT’s guidance to its retailers requires them to ensure that the product is only physically accessible by the retailer.”
In the opinion of Anne Kendagor, head of Kenya’s Tobacco Control Division: “The industry has been saying that the product was meant to help smokers quit but it was being marketed to non-smokers, the youth … which means it was not serving its purpose.
“It should be sold to cigarette smokers only. Our surveillance showed that it is new entrants, the young people are the ones starting to use it.”
Lyft banne in Kenya.
BAT has made no secret of its desire to increase the overall size of the nicotine market. Its own research shows that at least half of adult vapers and those using nicotine pouches were not using nicotine products before.
Thanks to tax breaks, the new products are also more profitable: BAT’s gross margins on Glo heated tobacco and Velo nicotine pouches are 78% and 70% respectively, compared with 67% for cigarettes.
These findings seem to contradict what BAT has said to the FDA in the US, regulators in the European Union, and in its own materials in at least three other countries, which state that the purpose of new products is to provide adult smokers with credible and viable alternatives to smoking.
In fact, in a ruling, the FDA stated: “It is important to note that these products are not safe, so people, especially young people, who do not currently use tobacco products should not start using them or any other tobacco product.”
Across the globe regulators have struggled to keep pace with the explosion of alternative nicotine products on the market. Many health experts believe that stricter laws are necessary in order to prevent these products causing a net harm to public health.
Last year Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe declared the registration of nicotine pouches, including Lyft, illegal and wanted them deregistered.
According to a directive communicated to the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, he reckoned that licencing of nicotine pouches by the agency contravened the law.
The ban followed intense lobbying by parents and anti-tobacco groups to have the Ministry of Health ban Lyft.
The Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance (Ketca) had raised concerns that Lyft is easily accessible and being abused by minors.
“A product that is highly addictive, which poses health risks, should not be sold freely. We want the nicotine product heavily taxed and regulated, just as we handle other tobacco products,” said Ketca chairman Joel Gitali.
Parents asked the government to carry out further tests on the nicotine products, expressing concern children were abusing it.
National Parents Association Chairman Nicholas Maiyo warned that children might become addicted because there are no restrictions on sale of the product.
Lyft is a nicotine pouch marketed by BAT Kenya as an alternative to cigarettes for addicted smokers. The product has been gaining popularity since being introduced into the market late last year.
It is sold over the counter in supermarkets and local shops at Sh20 a pouch.
While pouches are marketed as a safer alternative for smoking addicts who want to quit the habit, nicotine is still a highly addictive substance.
Many users say it gives one a high in a very short span, from the time it is placed in the mouth and when it takes effect. The effects are further heightened if one is taking alcohol.
BAT announced early this year that it would build a Sh2.5 billion factory in Nairobi to produce the nicotine pouches.
BAT is seeking to reverse the ban on the nicotine pouches by the Kenyan government.
In an earnings update on Wednesday, February 17, BAT Kenya’s parent company BAT Plc noted that it was engaging authorities in a bid to resume sales.
It referenced the introduction of pouches in emerging markets as part of its larger global diversification strategy, with cigarette sales in decline around the world.
(In response to the Bureau’s inquiries in Kenya, BAT’s PR agency(Engage BCW) asked their reporter “what is your price” to hand over their research. The agency told the Bureau it “has a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of bribery”).
Engage, is affiliated with the UK-based advertising giant WPP which is also currently in a crisis following the scandals involving the WPP-ScanGroup CEO Bhaktar.
BAT on its side is not new to bribery scandals in Kenya, accord into a BBC documentary in 2015, BAT bribed KRA officials to spy on Mastermind Tobacco, its local competitor. The kickbacks were paid to the KRA officials to hand over tax files belonging to rival Mastermind Tobacco — maker of the Supermatch cigarettes.
The KRA officials also pocketed huge bribes from BAT to make numerous tax demands from Mastermind, a strategy whose aim was to intimidate and damage the reputation of the homegrown Kenyan firm.
In the BAT bribery scandal, the British cigarette maker also reportedly infiltrated Mastermind’s C-suite to recruit executives who leaked sensitive information such as board meeting minutes, marketing plans, confidential financial data, trade secrets, production processes and expansion plans.
BAT was also alleged to have bribed government officials Former Justice minister Martha Karua and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula(then trade minister) in a bid to stifle anti-smoking laws in 2015.
UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO)had picked up the investigations into the bribery claims. Under the UK Bribery Act, British companies can be prosecuted for bribery which takes place overseas.
BAT has parted company with the agency, Engage BCW, with immediate effect and is investigating the incident. Engage, which is affiliated with the UK-based advertising giant WPP, has suspended the employee involved pending the outcome of an internal investigation. There is no suggestion BAT had any involvement in the matter.
In text messages, the employee asked Okoth, “what is your price?” for leaking the information and subsequently confirmed he was “serious”. They went on to say that the offer was part of a “media intelligence” gathering operation that would help them “manage the client”, meaning BAT.
Just days earlier the UK’s Serious Fraud Office had announced that it was closing an investigation launched in 2017 over allegations BAT had bribed officials in Kenya. It said there was insufficient evidence to bring a prosecution.
Okoth said that corruption is an “everyday challenge” faced by journalists in Kenya, but that this attempt was brazen.
“Often when you try to expose a scandal of a government officer here they will send a public relations person or a former journalist to try and talk to you to see if you can drop the story or cut a deal or two,” he said.
“It is normally expected that an agency representing a multinational will be more professional … I was shocked that this person was actually acting on behalf of this respectable multinational from Britain.” He added: “My shock was how bold they were … BAT being cleared [by the SFO], that was the point of them becoming bold.”
In a statement, BAT said: “BAT Kenya has, with immediate effect, stopped all activities with Engage BCW Kenya, and a full investigation into the allegations has been launched … We will not tolerate improper conduct anywhere in the world and take allegations of misconduct extremely seriously.”
Engage BCW said it has a “zero-tolerance policy towards any form of bribery or unethical conduct”.
A spokesperson added: “All our employees undergo mandatory anti-bribery training and are obliged to sign our code of conduct confirming their adherence to it.
“We are committed to the highest standards of behaviour in all our work and we take this issue extremely seriously. We have immediately commenced an internal investigation and suspended the employee concerned pending its outcome.”
Rory Donaldson, programme manager at Transparency International, an NGO that works to combat global corruption, said: “Offering a bribe to a journalist isn’t just an attempt to undermine honest reporting and journalistic integrity, the very offer of a bribe is a crime in most jurisdictions.
“Corporations should be aware of the activities of third parties acting on their behalf such as PR agencies. When undertaking internal investigations corporations must ensure the investigation is not a whitewash. Bringing in external investigators can help mitigate this risk.”
Okoth had been researching the sale and promotion of BAT’s new Lyft product, a tobacco-free nicotine pouch that Kenyan officials believe is being marketed to young non-smokers as well as existing adult smokers.
The offer of a bribe was received shortly after BAT shared a statement with Okoth that revealed that the tobacco company was threatening to pull investment from Kenya over uncertainty on the classification of Lyft.
A six months’ salary of the late Garissa senator Mohamed Yussuf Haji that he earned while sick will be shared out to the families of less fortunate in the six sub-counties of Garissa county.
Delivering his father’s last wishes in an emotional speech at a Garissa hotel Friday, the director of public prosecution Noordin Haji said his father regretted that for the period, he could not serve his people because he was unwell.
Noordin who on several occasion had to cut short his speech as he was overcome by emotions, narrated how his late father battled with the illness before eventually succumbing on Monday at the Aga Khan University in Nairobi.
“As a family we have lost not only a father but a pillar that glued us together as a family unit,” Noordin said.
“Going forward we intend to donate our late father’s six months’ salary that he earned while indisposed to orphanage centers in the six sub counties in Garissa. The monies will be handed over to the Kenya Red Cross who will reach out to the families,” he added.
The DPP said that when the health of their father deteriorated, the late Haji made some wishes to the family for the people of Garissa County, one of which was to have the money offered to the less fortunate.
Haji said the family travelled all the way to Garissa to thank the area residents for standing with the family, praying for his departed soul as well donating to the less fortunate in the society.
He also thanked the residents for their overwhelming messages of condolences after the loss.
“As a family we will also try and complete all the projects that our late father had started. We will walk this journey together. That I can promise,” Noordin noted.
He also took the opportunity on behalf of the family to ask for forgiveness from all those who may have crossed paths with his late father as he went about executing his duties.
Noordin thanked President Uhuru Kenyatta and all the leaders who stood with family during his late father ailment.
Garissa governor Ali Korane on his part said that the county will work closely with the family in ensuring that that all the incomplete projects that he had initiated are finalized.
Korane further said that the county would look for ways of remembering him noting that naming an institution or a street after the late senator was an option.
Isiolo governor Mohamed Kuti appealed for the two counties to strive and find lasting peace as a way of honouring Mzee Haji whom he said was on the forefront in uniting warrying communities.
In his condolence message that was read by CS Ukur Yatani, President Kenyatta described the late Haji as an outstanding leader who served the country with commitment throughout his life.
Uhuru said at a personal level, Mzee Haji walked with him throughout his political life noting that he benefitted immensely from his wise counsel.
“I always held very constructive and candid discussions with Mzee Haji on my various political maneuvers and most fundamentally on the future of this country. His personality and strength of character was best manifest to me as my political mentor,” the speech read in part.
The family is set to travel to his rural home town of Malani, Ijara sub-county to hold similar prayers as well as thank the residents whom he represented for two terms as an elected MP and once as a nominated MP.
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) has been awarded Sh6 billion grant from Flemish group of Universities in Belgium to strengthen its capacity on food security, management of natural resources and provision of universal health services in the region bordering Lake Victoria.
JOOUST is one of the 70 universities in Africa that applied for the grant in 2019 and the only one to receive the grant in Kenya after beating the only other shortlisted Kenyan institution-The Technical University of Kenya to the prize.
Addressing the press at the institution, JOOUST Vice Chancellor prof. Stephen Agong said the 12-year support grant will also see them mentor other institutions of higher learning around the lake region on the thematic areas.
“We are more than happy to have been awarded the grants and actually being ranked 3rd globally in the list of awardees in a process that was very rigorous. It shows that the donor was convinced that we are above board and have credible system and capable leadership,” Agong said.
Agong disclosed that JOOUST used its competitive advantage of being the only university in the region with a research hub on shores of Lake Victoria and the experience of successfully establishing a center of excellence on food security- a project funded by World Bank, to clinch the coveted grant.
“We’ve always known that our competitive advantage is the lake and the research hub that is focused to find solutions to problems affecting more than 70 million people in East, Central and North Africa whose livelihoods depend on the lake waters. And with rich experience in matters of food security, we knew we had a good chance to get the grant,” Agong explained.
The Vice chancellor stated that 2021 is a preparatory phase for project activities which are expected to start early 2022. “Right now we have already received funds to set up systems in place before activities commence in January next year. The award should have been in 2020 but due to outbreak of Coronavirus everything delayed so this year is a preparatory year,” Agong remarked.
He disclosed that activities funded by the grant is expected to reduce pollution in Lake Victoria thereby raising the population of fish and also reducing disease burden so that the people living around the lake become empowered and self-reliant.
He projected that besides creation of direct employment opportunities, with the wide value chain, close to 10 million people in the country will benefit indirectly from the grants.
The university don stated they have aligned the activities to be implemented by the grant to be in sync with the governments Big Four Agenda which include manufacturing, affordable health care and food security.
“We are focusing on natural resources in the lake in terms of extractives for manufacturing purposes, food security and combating health issues through provision of universal health services,” he said.
Sulwe, a children’s book written by Academy award-winning actress Lupita and illustrated by Vashti Harrison, is getting animated for Netflix.
The international streamer announced the news stating, “We’re so excited to announce SULWE, the animated musical, is coming to Netflix! Based off of Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o’s New York Times bestselling book, SULWE tells the story of a young girl born “the color of midnight” who learns to embrace her inner and outer beauty.” (SIC)
We’re so excited to announce SULWE, the animated musical, is coming to Netflix! Based off of Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o’s New York Times bestselling book, SULWE tells the story of a young girl born “the color of midnight” who learns to embrace her inner and outer beauty. pic.twitter.com/jv9ENBfAuu
Sulwe was written as a response to colourism. In her debut post about the book in 2019 Lupita wrote. “I wrote #Sulwe to encourage children (and everyone really!) to love the skin they are in and see the beauty that radiates from within.”
In an interesting turn of events, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission EACC has instituted investigations into the chaos that characterized debate of the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2020 in Baringo County Assembly.
The agency has specifically issued summons to the County Assembly Speaker, his deputy, and 12 other Members of The County Assembly to shed more light into last week’s messy proceedings.
Also, in the list of people under EACC probe are the three sergeants at arms and the clerk of the county assembly.
In a letter written by the Commission’s Chief Executive Officer Christine Natome, the anti-graft agency wants the said officers to avail themselves to its South Rift offices in Nakuru for “interviews and statements recording as the schedule” issued by EACC indicates.
To facilitate the investigations, the county assembly leadership is required to furnish the commission with the original or certified copy of the Hansard for the 11th February 2021 (the day of proceedings).
Also needed are personal files of two members of the county assembly namely; Charles Kosgei and Ernest Kibet.
At the same time, the speaker is expected to present a report on the steps taken so far in respect to the incident and any other information relating to the incident.
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“Our investigators Roselyn Omondi and Eric Kirui will be available to collect documents, interview, and record statements from the above-mentioned persons,” Natome said in the letter to MCAs.
Baringo County became the first county in Kenya to reject the BBI bill when it shot down the constitution amendment bill 2020 last week.
