27-Year-Old Joyce Achieng Omondi who stabbed a 19-yr-old KCSE candidate after a tiff between them on Wednesday night is in custody. The 10pm incident that occurred at Kamagambo area in Migori’s Rongo sub county was reported by members of the public whose efforts to break into the house where the suspect had locked herself up after the incident proved futile.
The deceased, a male student at Kuna Secondary School, was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, but succumbed in the wee hours of Thursday. The suspect only opened her doors after police arrived surrendering herself and the kitchen knife she had used to stab the victim. With her in custody, detectives are investigating the motive behind this killing.
In a separate incident in Kiambu County’s Gatongora area, George Oduor Ouma was also fatally on Wednesday night, in a fight between him and a female 17-yr-old neighbour.
Ruiru-based detectives who rushed to the scene learnt that the deceased, aged 28, a tenant at Utugi estate had knocked at the girl’s house, requesting to be guided on how to top up airtime in his Telkom line. He had found her in company of another lady, both preparing supper after closing their grocery shop.
Having been assisted, the suspect-who appeared tipsy-would not leave for his house, prompting the 17-yr-old to push him out while trying to lock the door behind him.
Vexed by the unceremonious riddance, Oduor had grabbed the girl by her neck, pushing her into a corner. As the melee ruptured into a serious scuffle, the startled friend shot out calling for help from the landlord, after her efforts to separate them bore nil.
Meanwhile, the overpowered girl got hold of a knife that lay by her groceries stock, with which she stabbed her opponent through his intestines, killing him. She has since been arrested and undergoing legal procedures, as detectives further investigate the matter.
The Privatisation Commission of Kenya has given the Government a nod to sell these state-owned corporations. The proceeds from the sales are meant to support the Government’s budget. These are the Companies to be sold, soon:
1. National Bank of Kenya
2. Consolidated Bank of Kenya
3. Kenya Meat Commission
4. Development Bank of Kenya
5. East African Portland Cement
6. Kengen
7. Kenya Pipeline Corporation
8. Kenya Ports Authority,
9. Chemilil Sugar
10. Sony Sugar
11. Nzoia Sugar
12. Miwani Sugar
13. Muhoroni Sugar
14. Agrochemical and Food Corporation,
15. New Kenya Co-operative Creameries,
16. Numerical Machining Complex 17. Isolated Power stations,
18. Kabarnet Hotel,
19. Mt Elgon Lodge Limited
20. Golf Hotel Limited
21. Sunset Hotel Limited
22. Kenya Safari Lodges and Hotels Limited
23. International Hotels Kenya Limited
24. Kenya Hotels Properties Limited
25. Mountain Lodge Limited
26. Ark Limited
A Mumias Court has released five teachers who were arrested yesterday for alleged examination irregularities. Mumias Law Court’s resident Judge, Charity Kipkorir, has today released the five teachers on a kshs. 100,000 bond or Kshs. 50,000 cash bail for each of them with surety of the same amount.
The five teachers are alleged to have abetted cheating during the Kenya Certificate of Secondary education, KCSE, French examination that was done yesterday. It is alleged that Mr. kenneth Onyango Oloo, the French teacher at the school, was caught in the examination room, without permission, giving students answers to the questions. Four of the suspects: Bonventure Makokha Ouma (center manager who is also the Deputy Principal), Bernard Shikuku Nanjira (Supervisor), Eunice Oluoch and Okura Juma (invigilators), faced two charges of jointly conspiring to assist the candidates sitting the French paper one exam, 501/1. Mr. kenneth Onyango Oloo was charged with entering the examination room without permission and unlawfully gaining access to examination materials.
The five denied the charges and their case will be mentioned on 6th December 2018 and will be heard next year, on 25th February 2019.
Meanwhile, the magistrate, Charity Kipkorir, also directed the prosecution to supply documentary evidence that will be used in the case to the accused persons’ Lawyer, Anase Momanyi. Koyonzo Secondary School is located in Koyonzo Location in Matungu Constituency within Kakamega County and is a mixed day secondary school.
The month long KCSE Examinations came to a close today with students writing their Home Science, Art & Design, Wood Work, Metal Work, Power Mechanics, Electricity, Drawing & Design, Aviation Technology and Computer Studies.
Marking of the scripts is expected to kick off next week at various marking centres in Nairobi with results to be released before Christmas.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations, DCI, detectives have arrested Mercy Chepngeno aged 22 years, the mother of the child who was found wrapped in a polythene paper on 31.10.2018. Mercy, a resident of Narok County, was arrested yesterday in Kuresoi. She confessed to strangling the child and dumping the body at the Meteorological Staff Quarters’ dumpsite where she worked as a house help for a few days.
On 31.10.2018, the DCI Detectives appealed for information on the identity (or any other information) of a male child aged 1 year, who was found wrapped in a paper bag and dumped at a dumpsite within the Kenya Meteorological Department Staff Quarters.
The suspect will be arraigned in court after necessary police action and be charged with the offence of infanticide contrary to section 210 of the Penal code.
Journalist Jacque Maribe and her fiance, Joseph Irungu, will spend another 7 days in police custody. The decision was made by Judge James Wakianga who presided over the case, this morning, at Milimani law courts. Maribe and Irungu’s bail application hearing has now been set for October 24th, 2018. The two are facing charges over Monica Kimani’s murder.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, has announced the disbursement of funds for the January payment to beneficiaries enrolled in the Inua Jamii programme, alongside the Nutrition Improvement through Cash and Health Education (NICHE) programme.
Speaking at the event, State Department for Social Protection and Senior Citizen Affairs Principal Secretary (PS), Joseph Motari, stated that a total of Sh. 2,089,844,000, was released for Inua Jamii beneficiaries, and Sh. 5,930,000 for NICHE beneficiaries.
“The payment, slated to begin today 7th February 2024, follows a Presidential Directive to facilitate stipend disbursements through M-pesa,” said Motari.
The PS disclosed that the targets of this initiative through Cash Transfers are Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) and Caregivers of Persons with Severe Disabilities (PWSD).
To enrol for M-pesa payment, he posited, caregivers are required to dial *222# using their registered M-pesa phone numbers.
According to Motari, there are currently 207,000 beneficiaries enrolled for M-pesa payments, who have already received their December stipends. However, approximately 100,000 beneficiaries are yet to enrol through *222#.
“These beneficiaries will receive their payments through bank accounts for the last time this month and are urged to enroll for M-pesa payments, to ensure continued receipt of Inua Jamii stipends,” he reiterated.
The Ministry emphasizes that caregivers for CT-OVC and PWSD must register for M-pesa payments to avoid disruption in stipend disbursements which are meant to cushion them from poverty, hunger and improve their lives.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has flagged off subsidized fertilizer to farmers across the country.
Speaking during the exercise at the Harambee House Annex in Nairobi Thursday, Gachagua said that the Kenya Kwanza administration had from the very onset spelt out the prioritization of improving agricultural production through availing affordable and accessible inputs as an intervention.
The DP said that they have identified fertilizer for immediate intervention due to its potential immediate and profound impact on agricultural productivity in the medium term, as well as in the long term.
“Our first pronouncement was to lower fertilizer prices and to set the pace for the implementation of this intervention dubbed, The Fertilizer Subsidy Programme, for which the National Treasury has already availed Sh3.55 billion towards this intervention,” said Gachagua.
He said under the fertilizer subsidy programme, the Government through the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), will make available 1.4 million bags of 50 kg of fertilizer to farmers, during the ongoing short rains season at the stipulated prices.
The new fertilizers prices stand at DAP and UREA (Sh3, 275) per 50 kg bag each, Sh2, 875 and Sh3, 500 respectively, whereas NPK will cost (Sh3, 275) MOP (Sh1, 775) and Sulphate of Ammonia (Sh2, 220) per 50 kg bag.
The DP also assured farmers throughout the country that the government was privy to all their fertilizer requirements for the long rainy season in 2023.
At the same time, Gachagua appealed to farmers in the regions where the consignments will be delivered to avail themselves at their respective NCPB Depots and Sub-depots.
“I appeal to farmers in the regions that are receiving the short rains to reach out to local NCPB depots and sub-depots to access the required fertilizer,” he said.
Kenya Airways chief executive Sebastian Mikosz has said he will be resigning on 31 December, 2019. Mikosz says the resignation is due to personal grounds.
Photo- Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Mikosz at a past event. Mikosz has said he will leave the troubled airliner this year.
Here is the resignation note from Mikosz;
‘Dear KQ Family, Given that we are a listed company we are subject to specific stock exchange regulations. The information I am sharing with you here was already communicated to both the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) as per the regulations.
Since started working as CEO at KQ, I have always tried to inform you about any management decisions before you learn it from the public domain. It is in line with this practice that I would like to take this first chance to inform you that I have made the decision to shorten my contract term and have decided to resign on personal grounds effective December the 31st of this year.
It is my personal decision and I have obviously discussed it with the Board as well as with my family. I believe that this
is the ideal timing to begin a transition process to find someone who will continue with the turnaround initiatives that we began 3 years ago.
Let me however be very specific that for the remaining 7 months as CEO I am fully determined to continue delivering the improvements that we have been executing together and that are showing visible results. I must point out that I am particularly proud of all of you as thanks to our collective efforts we’ve managed to bring the company from a historic loss in 2014 of Ksh 25bn and narrowed it down to Ksh 7.Sbn in just 4 years.
My clear intention is not to slow down for a single day, and we will continue this improvement trend as I am convinced that KQ is on a good path for a full recovery. You will notice the confirmation of this in the next few weeks through the announcements of some good news concerning our future developments.
Nevertheless, I am fully aware that some of you might be surprised. I am also aware that in the next few days this news will be in the public domain taken out of context with many rumours and comments, Please don’t pay attention to these and please remember that this kind of change is part of a normal company life. I am sure that in the next few weeks I am going to meet most of you on different occasions, and we can take time to discuss about it directly and openly, as always.
In the meantime, I am going be away travelling to China to work on the launch of our direct Beijing flight, I will also be attending IATA General Assembly as well as conducting a business review in Bangkok as previously scheduled. Lastly let me use this opportunity to attach the presentation of our 2018 results that I shared during the last town hall meeting. I promised to do it for those who could not attend it.
I would like to insist again that 2018 was a good year for us and we have improved our results as presented in the attachment. I am determined to continue this improvement trend and be sure that we can do at least as good in 2019 as we did last year. I wish you a very good weekend and see you onboard our planes this week!’
Mikosz leaves the troubled Airliner at a time when it is making huge back to back losses.
It is painful to watch the TSC overreacting to the court order requiring it to promote teachers who are waiting for promotions after acquiring higher academic qualifications. Honestly speaking,these teachers are not making a strange demand. They are sharing stations and staff rooms with fellow teachers who have got promotions on the basis of such qualifications.
Here below,I wish to make some points very clear:
1.The assertions by KEPSHA and KESSHA that the teachers are against the recent court ruling is a white lie. It is the Head teachers,principals and other administrators who are opposing it. This is because the current CBA favoured them at the expense of the assistant teachers who were obviously sidelined.
2.The stopping of promotions of teachers upon acquisition of higher academic qualifications is not in the interests of those teachers. In fact,the court was clear that it is a deviation from the existing schemes of service. TSC last promoted teachers on this scheme of service in January 2014.
3.RESOURCES: These teachers took loans and sold property in a bid to sharpen their skills and thereby benefit from the lawful schemes of service only for the employer to frustrate their aspirations. Some have retired or even died without benefitting despite being qualified. It is stressful that those in service share staff rooms with others who were promoted on the same schemes.
4.KEPSHA and KESSHA: It is ironical that the unions secured a CBA which overly favoured these administrators YET assistant teachers did not stand against it since after all,they too are teachers. This is despite the fact that a number of such heads (particularly in primary) just hold P1 certificates. What makes them think that promotions and better remuneration only belong to the heads, deputies and senior teachers?
The truth is that the main teaching force (assistant teachers) is opposed to the infamous stance taken by these heads. Let them keep off the issue affecting these deserving teachers. Let them shelve their greed.
PASSIONATE APPEAL
TO THE TSC:
Please purpose to feel for and promote these teachers promptly. It’s inhuman to keep on ignoring their plight while the men and women are suffering yet expected to perform well. Promote those whose KCSE grades allowed them to go for further training.
TO THE KNUT:
Be realistic in your demands. TSC is under obligation to promote ONLY THOSE WENT FOR HIGHER EDUCATION WITH THE MINIMUM PREREQUISITE QUALIFICATIONS. Why, for example, would someone pursue a bachelor’s degree without at least a mean grade of C+ in KCSE? Do not present such cases to be considered for promotion thereby causing a mix up!
TO THE PRESIDENT:
Mr President,these teachers are neither too many nor do they belong to a lesser god. Do not allow the supremacy battles between KNUT and TSC to continue pushing the qualified teachers into depression and desperation.
CONCLUSION
The TSC has the mandate to vet the teachers to whom it sent acknowledgement letters. Let them be vetted and those qualified promoted as a matter of urgency.
OR
Let all these teachers who have rightfully earned higher academic qualifications be invited to a place and killed all at once. This will end their their suffering and false hopes.
The author, Mr. Amos Ongechi Oirongo, is a Teacher at St.Don Boco Primary School-Kisii County.
Nairobi Governor, Mike Sonko, has nominated the following County Executive Committee Members. Governor Sonko announced the nominees, today. Sonko failed to name the new Deputy Governor as he considers proposals from NASA. The following individuals have been nominated:
Lucia Mulwa- Education, Youth, Gender & sports
Dr Stella Bosire – Health
Winfred Kathangu- Finance and Economic Planning
Pauline Kahiga Waititu- Public service Management
The Nairobi county Executive committee will now be full as the following members are already serving:
Charles Kerich- Lands, urban Planning and Housing
Mohamed Dagane- Roads, Infrastructure and transport
Allan Igambi- Trade, Tourism and Co-operatives
Larry Wambua- Agriculture and Water
Newton Munene- ICT, Communications and E-Government
“This is to also notify you that I have received a request from the NASA coalition that, in the spirit of the Handshake and subsequent cooperation with the ruling Jubilee Coalition, I should consider their proposed nominee, Rahab Wangui, for the position of Deputy Governor. This is therefore to notify you that I shall not be forwarding the name of my Deputy Governor nominee today, to allow for further consultations. I will however nominate a suitable Deputy Governor at the earliest possible opportunity,” said Governor Sonko.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has today eulogized fallen Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe as an icon of Africa’s liberation struggle and an elder statesman who relentlessly championed for African dignity.
The President said the founding father of independent Zimbabwe will forever be remembered for his contribution to the liberation of many African nations which benefitted from the veteran liberator’s material and tactical support in the 80’s and 90’s.
“The late Comrade Mugabe was an embodiment of the Pan-African spirit, offering immeasurable assistance and solidarity to many other African countries in their struggles to end colonial rule and apartheid,” the President said.
President Kenyatta spoke at Rufaro National Sports Stadium in Harare, Zimbabwe, where he joined other world and regional leaders, and thousands of Zimbabweans at the state funeral service of former President Robert Gabriel Mugabe who died aged 95 at a Singapore hospital last week.
He said former President Mugabe was always mindful of African interests and never shied away from pushing for the ownership and prudent utilization of African resources for the benefit of its people.
“The late President Mugabe has left an indelible mark in the history of Zimbabwe and the African continent at large, through his political astuteness and zeal for the political and economic liberation of Africa,” the Kenyan leader said.
The President who was accompanied by Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa and former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said throughout his lifetime Cde Mugabe kept on challenging Africa to stand tall and find its place and voice among the community of nations.
“As an African leader and intellectual giant, he was firm and steadfast regarding Africa’s quest to address the challenges facing the continent. He was unwavering in his insistence that Africa’s problems demanded African solutions,” he said.
President Kenyatta challenged African leaders to stand firm and champion the continent’s interests in honour of its independent heroes saying this is the only way to give a befitting tribute to departed African statesmen.
“The onus is now on us to keep the hope alive and deliver on the dream of a truly free and prosperous Africa,” the President said adding that despite being shunned by some for his fervent belief in the African cause, Mugabe maintained close working relationships with his continental counterparts.
In honour of the late Mugabe, the President called on the continent’s leaders to guard against negative influences and manipulation that erode common values and aspirations for socioeconomic emancipation and prosperity.
“As African leaders, we should continue to champion African interests as an enduring tribute to the late Comrade Mugabe and other departed icons of the African political and economic liberation struggle,” the President said.
Other African leaders who spoke at the sombre funeral service included the host President Emerson Mnangagwa, Theodore Obiang Nguema (Equatorial Guinea) and Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa) as well as former presidents Jerry Rawlings and Sam Nujoma of Ghana and Namibia respectively.
President Mnangagwa described the late Mugabe as a revolutionary leader, a patriot and a nationalist who believed in Pan-Africanism that put empowerment of the people ahead of all other partisan interests.
“Today Southern Africa mourns the sad loss of a frontliner, today Africa weeps, grieving over the loss of a true pan-African. Our motherland is in tears, our region is in grief and our continent is in sorrow, above all a family is stricken and in deep sorrow,” President Mnangagwa mourned his predecessor.
He pointed out that the late founding father of Zimbabwe was a great scholar, a thinker, a teacher and above all a true African who inspired the continent by speaking for the oppressed.
President Ramaphosa who apologised for the recent spate of xenophobic attacks in his country said the flare-ups were not good for the unity of Africa.
The South African leader assured that his government was taking proactive measures to ensure that all people continue to live together in an environment of sustainable peace and harmony.
As part of the state send-off ceremonies, the fallen former Head of State was accorded a 21-gun salute and a military fly past as part of the full presidential military salute.
Born in 1924, the late Mugabe who started out as a trained teacher and rose through the liberation struggle to earn his country independence in 1980 and thereafter led Zimbabwe for 37 years as founding president and father of the nation until 2017 will be remembered by many for his fiery and passionate speeches, and witty anecdotes.
A staunch Catholic, a powerful orator and a political maverick, the late Mugabe leaves behind a widow, Mrs Grace Mugabe and three children-Bona, Robert Jnr and Chatunga Bellermine.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations, DCI_Kenya, Detectives yesterday afternoon arrested Mr. Joseph Kipkoech Keino; a man who has been defrauding people with the promise that he can secure them employment in Qatar.The suspect will appear in court today to face charges of obtaining money by false pretenses.
Safaricom has today announced the availability of its “Reverse Call” feature enabling its more than 31 million customers to pay for calls for loved ones. The service enables a caller to transfer the cost of a call to the receiver by adding ‘#’ before the number they are calling. For instance, to transfer the cost of the call to 0722000000, a customer will dial #0722000000.
“At Safaricom, we maintain our commitment to always provide our customers with relevant products in line with their needs. This innovation is in line with this commitment and has been tailored to mirror the relationships between our customers with a goal of empowering them to always remain connected with their loved ones,” said Sylvia Mulinge, Chief Customer Officer, Safaricom.
A customer receiving a reverse call request will see the caller’s details appear on the screen as normal, but once they pick the call, they will receive a voice prompt asking them to key in “1” to accept the reverse call. The cost of the call will be equivalent to the receiver’s normal call cost.
The service is only available for on-net calls and will not be applicable for off-net, roaming and international calls.
The Reverse Call feature complements Safaricom’s existing “Please Call Me” service which enables a customer to send five free messages to other customers requesting for a call back.
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