Category Archives: General News

General News

Latest news on the 2019 Census job adverts, KNBS issues warning

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‘Ignore fake Census job adverts doing rounds on Social media platforms,’ is the latest warning from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, KNBS. KNBS via a presser has thus notified the general public that recruitment for this year’s census officials will be done in June. “Job advertisements will only be placed on the local newspapers and the official KNBS website – https://t.co/AIxuCPupLy in June 2019. Anything prior to this date is unfortunately fake,” KNBS has warned.

KNBS says no one should pay for recruitment to Census jobs. “KNBS does not require any payment for any job application,” KNBS adds.

KNBS is currently undertaking the cartographic mapping exercise in Nairobi County until 31st May 2019. This is in preparation for the upcoming national Census exercise.

A number of fake adverts have been doing rounds on Social media with some aimed at conning unsuspecting job hopefuls.

Below is one of such fake advert;

RECRUITMENT OF 2019 KENYA CENSUS FIELD PERSONNEL
The Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, through the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), will conduct the National Population and Housing Census in 2019 in accordance with the Statistics Act 2006.
The Bureau is embarking on recruitment and training of the field personnel that will be involved in the enumeration exercise.

POSITIONS
The personnel are divided into three categories, namely;
Senior Supervisors (6,573)
Supervisors (25,831)
Enumerators (151,936)
REQUIREMENTS
The following are the requirements for various positions.

Enumerators:

Must be of good conduct and responsible citizens
At least form four level of education with a minimum of C- or equivalent
Must have legible, neat handwriting
Must be residents of the sub-locations, preferably the enumeration areas, they wish to work in
Aged between 18 and 50 years old
Must have a national identify card
Fluent in the main local language/dialect
Must be available from 14th August to 2nd September, 2019

Supervisors:

Should be mature and responsible citizens, preferably teachers, government officers, or university graduates with management experience, or persons with equivalent qualifications such as higher national diploma with experience in coordinating research/ surveys, or presiding officer in general elections
Must be residents of the sub-locations they wish to work in
Aged between 25 years and 50 years Must have a national identity card
Fluent in the main local language/dialect
Must have good communication and training skills
Must have good public relations
Must be available from 4th August, to 4th September, 2019
Senior Supervisors:
Applicants should be mature and responsible citizens, preferably senior teachers or head teachers in secondary schools, or senior civil servants, or university graduates with a master’s degree (preferably with management experience) or senior employees of NGOs or private sector with experience in surveys/census/research
Must have good communication and training skills
Must have good public relations
Must be aged between 30 and 60 years old
Must have national identity card
Must be available from 26th July to 6th September, 2019
Applications should be received by Noon, 29th June 2018 for Senior Supervisors and Supervisors, and by Noon, 4th July, 2018 for Enumerators.
Additionally, Enumerators and Supervisors must apply to work in the sub-locations where they usually live.

Short listed candidates will be interviewed as follows:-
Position: Senior Supervisors
Recruitment Date: 2nd-3rd July, 2018
Recruitment Place: County Headquarters
Position: Supervisors
Recruitment Date: 6th – 7th July, 2018
Recruitment Place: Constituency Headquarters
Position: Enumerators
Recruitment Date: 8th- 10th July, 2019
Recruitment Place: Constituency Headquarters
The District Census Committees may make special arrangements to lower or raise the minimum qualification depending on availability of personnel.
Note: That all applications should be done online; that no application forms have been issued; and that the application process is free and open to the public.

General News

KRA interdicts 75 employees for abetting bribery, corruption and money laundering

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The Kenya Revenue Authority, KRA, has today (Friday 10th May, 2019) interdicted 75 staff suspected of involvement in activities that undermine the institution’s mandate by abetting tax evasion and facilitating access to services through bribery and corruption. The practices in question include facilitation of irregular/fraudulent clearance of cargo, fraudulent amendment of tax returns so as to help taxpayers evade taxes and the irregular issuance of Tax Compliance Certificates.

Of those affected, 61 are from Domestic Taxes Department and 14 are from Customs and Border Control Department. The bulk of the cases (62) touch on staff based in Nairobi. Investigations into the rackets have been in progress for the last four months with covert assistance provided by national law enforcement agencies to help in trailing money and communication.

The officers affected have been detained for questioning and statement recording, prior to their arraignment in court, expected to happen within May 2019.

Today’s crackdown is part of KRA’s enhanced anti-corruption push which has gained momentum with the full establishment of the Intelligence and Strategic Operations Department, whose mandate includes combating tax evasion through the promotion of ethical practices amongst KRA staff.

The department is tasked to promote ethical conduct through the creation of effective corruption prevention frameworks, staff sensitization and the detection and investigation of corrupt acts. Its other roles include providing KRA support to National Government initiatives touching on corruption and crime eradication and the combat of cross border criminal activities including terrorism and money laundering.

Part of the recent corruption interdiction activities within KRA have seen the termination of employment for 85 officers within 2018, the institution of 15 cases of life style audits of which have been completed and appropriate actions taken to implement the findings including asset
recovery and employment termination.

Future plans will see intensified focus on lifestyle audits with the goal to undertake up to 50 such audit cases annually.

Meanwhile, arrangements are in high gear to implement an electronic Intelligence Gathering System, expected to be in place within the next 3 months.

Further details on this matter may be obtained from; [email protected] or on tel: 020-2817042

General News

Update: Recruitment for Census personnel will commence in June, 2019- KNBS Director General says

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The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, KNBS, has said recruitment of personnel to conduct the 2019 National Census exercise will commence in June, 2019. Addressing a media briefing this morning, KNBS Director General (Mr Zachary Mwangi) warned the public against falling prey to social media posts on enumerator jobs, saying the reports are false.​

There have been numerous posts doing rounds on Social Media advertising for enumerators’ jobs. An example of such scamming posts is displayed below:

“Let me caution the public against falling prey to fraudsters who have formed a syndicate to defraud Kenyans with promises of securing jobs in the forth coming Census,” said Henry Rotich, the Treasury Cabinet Secretary.

The media briefing was attended by the National Treasury & Planning Cabinet Secretary, Mr.Henry Rotich, and Permanent Secretary planning, Dr Julius Muia, and Senior officers from KNBS.

KNBS will acquire about 165,000 mobile devices to undertake the digital census slated for August, 2019. the two day exercise will start on August 24, this year. The devices will be acquired from the local higher learning institutions through the digital literacy programme. The Government would have spent about Kshs. 18.5 billion by the time the exercise comes to a close. Census is done after every 5 years.

KNBS will recruit about 135,000 enumerators, 27,000 content supervisors and 2,700 ICT (Information Communication Technology) Supervisors.

Crimes and Courts

A group of young men caught on camera stealing from a Nairobi shop (Video)

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A video of young men wielding lethal fire arms and robbing Nairobi shoppers has emerged. In the video, the young men enter a shop in Nairobi and hold shoppers hostage as they steal from them and the shop keepers.

Watch the video, below;

This comes after detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, DCI, announced that they had on Saturday (1st December, 2018) arrested  Mr.Leonard Munyaka Wambua alias ‘Lion’-a notorious house breaker and burglar. he was arrested in Langata area of Nairobi. According to the DCI; “The suspect has been involved in numerous house breaking and burglaries in Nairobi and Mombasa. He targets Electronics, Jewelry and Mobile Phones when Stealing.”

Leonard Munyaka Wambua- A dangerous house breaker and burglar arrested in Lang'ata, Nairobi, yesterday
Leonard Munyaka Wambua- A dangerous house breaker and burglar arrested in Lang’ata, Nairobi, yesterday

 

General News

University workers’ salary to be reviewed by SRC as court clears way

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The Employment and Labour Relations Court has dismissed without costs the case filed by Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) challenging the job evaluation (JE) exercise that was conducted by SRC. UASU, in their petition, claimed the Commission failed to involve them, despite being key stakeholders with an existing Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Further, they claimed that their exclusion from the JE process infringed on the university academic staff’s rights to collective bargaining, which is guaranteed by the Constitution. They stated that they should have been involved and consulted in development of a relevant tool for assessment of their jobs.

In dismissing UASU’s case, the court, however, found that members of the union were involved from the inception of the JE exercise, and their rights had not been violated. The Court heard that the tool used to evaluate members of UASU is compatible with the Patterson philosophy and is internationally connected to recognized JE tools. In addition, the tool known as REMeasure was reliable and consistent and was suitable to evaluate academic positions and had incorporated “Sapiential Factor” to differentiate academic jobs. Sapiential Factor refers to authority/the right a person has to be heard by reason of the person’s superior knowledge and experience.

SRC launched a country wide JE exercise for the entire public service in 2015 to determine the true worth of public service jobs, including Public Universities, Research and Tertiary Institutions. The lack of a harmonized framework had brought forth huge disparities in remuneration across various sectors, creating inequity for similar jobs. This led to discontent, low morale, and inefficiency in the public service, hence the need for a JE exercise.

Elsewhere, SRC has filed a suit in high court to stop the payment of house allowance to Members of Parliament, MPs, by the Parliamentary Service Commission. The Commission is also suing to have the Sh250,000 monthly housing allowance for each of the 416 MPs which were backdated to October 2018 is recovered. SRC is to recover from salaries and allowances paid to Members of Parliament (MPs) any allowance paid pursuant to the illegal and unconstitutional decision of the respondents to pay MPs house allowance outside the constitutional structure of Remuneration and Benefits of all State Officers in Parliament.

Through a petition filed in court SRC says;
“The decision of the Parliamentary Service Commission to set and pay MPs a house allowance is antithetical to the rule of law. In addition, it contradicts the express and clear constitutional provisions in Article 230(4) (a) that empower SRC to set and review the remuneration and benefits of all State officers. Moreover, the decision violates the provisions of Chapter Six of the Constitution on Leadership and Integrity.
A housing benefit is the physical building/house that is provided by the Government using taxpayers’ funds to house a State Officer due to the unique nature of their work that require hosting of State functions. These officers are not entitled to payment of house allowance. The costs of constructing and maintaining the house is borne from public coffers within the limits set by SRC. A house allowance on the other hand is paid as a cash benefit through the payroll. This benefit is available mostly to public officers whose pay is not consolidated”.

General News

Reprieve for Kenyans as Cooking Gas Prices Drop

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A spot check by KNA conducted at major gasoline stations and retail distributors of cooking gas in Migori town revealed that the price of cooking gas has dropped.

The majority of the gas traders noted that the price slash is attributed to the removal by the government of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) levies. Prices for refilling 13-kg and 6-kg cylinders have fallen below Sh3, 000 and Sh1, 500 for the first time since May this year.

Initially, the cooking gas marketer in Migori County was charging Sh3,500 and Sh1,500 for the 13 and 6 kilogrammes of the product, respectively.

During the month of July, after the taxes were removed, the gas market took a turn where the 13-kg cylinder was going for Sh2,800 while the 6-kg Meko gas was retailing at Sh1,350,  translating to a cost reduction of 20 and 10 percentage points, respectively.

Evans Otieno, a retail store owner in Migori town, said that the reduction in liquefied petroleum gas prices can be attributed to the global decrease in oil prices. This has in turn enabled an increase in the production of LPG and domestic supply across the country.

Otieno said that the price of liquefied petroleum gas in Migori County has dropped drastically between the months of May and July. “The cost of refiling gas cylinders has gone down mainly due to the removal of taxes,” said Otieno.

Julius Ochieng, a hotel manager who uses gas to cook, could not hide his joy when he found out that the price to refill a gas cylinder had decreased.

Crimes and Courts

Kenya Defense Forces, KDF, mission in Somalia – Latest KDF News

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Kenya Defense Forces, KDF, mission in Somalia – Latest KDF News

Kenya Defense Forces, KDF, officers have began their mission in Somalia. They will focus on medical ethics and principles of nursing care. They are also joining the KDF medical personnel while conducting daily hospital routines to equip them with managerial skills to run the hospital.

The mentorship program which has targeted four main areas of a hospital operations: pharmacy, laboratory technician, clinical officers and nurses is in line with ATMIS’s mandate on capacity building of SSF as they prepare to take on security responsibilities by December 2024 and will be on rotation basis.

Rage Rabi Kulu, SSF clinical officer undertaking the course pointed out that the mentorship program is a game changer in skillset acquisition.

“We are lucky to learn from the KDF medic team. Once we take the security responsibilities, it will be our burden to shoulder now. The skills we get here are vital for our colleagues who will be dependent on us. We are grateful for this gesture of brotherhood,” added Kulu.

The Senior Medical Officer, Kismayu Forward Operating Base (FOB), Lieutenant Colonel Onyango indicated KDF’s commitment to mentoring the SSF in order to take up security responsibilities and other sectors of Somalia.

General News

Why Kenyans should continue going to Qatar Saudi Arabia even with tortures

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Why Kenyans should continue going to Qatar Saudi Arabia even with tortures

Agencies Oppose Ban On Domestic Workers Going To Gulf
Private recruitment agencies in Mombasa have asked the government to not to make decisions based on content shared on social media on mistreatment of domestic workers in gulf countries saying some content are mainly to spread malice.

 

Led by their chairperson Mohammed Mwaguzo, the agencies accused social media users responsible for slandering thus asking the government to investigate further on a recent video that went viral on social media where a woman alleged to be a house help in Saudi Arabia was seen breastfeeding puppies.

Mwaguzo noted that the proposed ban on recruitment agencies by Secretary General of Central Organization of Trade Union (COTU) Francis Atwoli is unfair to the accredited employment agencies.

He said that despite the few misfortunes, many Kenyans have benefitted from labour migration to the gulf countries.

“We are really concerned as to why people are producing fake videos on mistreatment in Saudi Arabia. This is a serious issue that needs no social media entertainment for followers. We are calling upon the government to apprehend and arrest those responsible for such videos,” he said.

At the same time, he asked Kenyans who wish to travel abroad for work to use registered agencies to avoid future misfortune. “Travelling through a registered agency is important as they can easily follow up on any incident happening abroad in case the worker is in trouble,” added Mwaguzo.

On his part, Yusuf Ibrahim, a member of Pwani Welfare Association and also an accredited agent based in Mombasa said that they are happy as the new government introduced the State Department of Diaspora Affairs that will help them tackle all the issues happening in Saudi Arabia.

Ibrahim also asked the government to sign the pending bilateral agreement and also negotiate the few terms on labour immigration with the concerned countries.

He also thanked the National Employment Authority (NEA) for their support and the good partnership they have with civil organizations in sensitizing private recruitment agencies on practicing ethical recruitment.

Mathias Shipeta from Haki Africa has asked Kenyans to verify the agencies that take them to the Middle East as some are illegal. “Before you go to the Gulf, find out the details of the signed agreement and who takes you there,” said Shipeta.

He further added that there are not enough job opportunities in Kenya and that is why many people want to travel abroad to at least curb the poverty they face here at home.

Maimuna Hassan, a representative of Asali Commercial Agency said many people think that recruitment agents are criminals and are doing illegal jobs due to how they are portrayed on social media platforms.

She added that most of them only look on the negative side of Saudi Arabia without pointing out the positive side where many Kenyans have benefited from.

General News

SRC on MP’s House allowances- ‘We will move to court to contest the illegal house allowances for MPs’

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The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has said it will go to court to stop payment of the hefty house allowances paid to legislators as well as recover the paid funds. SRC says the house allowances enjoyed by the Legislators are illegal.

Chair (SRC) Lyn Mengich says Parliamentary Service Commission has no constitutional mandate to determine or review salaries for State officers. According to the Commission, the Sh830 million paid to MPs in house allowances will further push up the already ballooned wage bill.

Here is SRC chair’s response to the hefty house allowance perks for the Legislators;

“SRC’s Mandate

Arising from previous challenges of an unsustainable Public Wage bill in this country, Kenyans through the Constitution, established the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to address this matter among others. SRC derives its mandate from Article 230 of the Constitution, which gives it exclusive responsibility to set and review remuneration and benefits for all State Officers. The Commission also advises the County and National governments on remuneration and benefits for other Public Officers.

To effectively implement this mandate, SRC is bound by the Constitutional Principles outlined in Article 230 (5) of the Constitution and SRC Act, 2011 Sec. 12 (1) which are as follows:-

The need to ensure that the total public compensation bill is fiscally sustainable;
The need to ensure that public services are able to attract and retain the skills required to execute their functions;
The need to recognize productivity and performance;
Transparency and fairness; and
Equal pay to persons for work of equal value.
SRC, as the only body mandated to set and review remuneration and benefits for State Officers and in line with the principles, is concerned with any remuneration and benefits paid without its approval. Such payments have far reaching ramifications on the fiscal sustainability of the public wage bill and go against the principles of fairness and equity.

Housing Allowance for State Officers

The Commission in Gazette Notices No. 6516, 6517, 6518 and 6519 of 2017 set gross pay (consolidated pay) for State Officers, including MPs and Senators. The gross pay comprises basic salary and allowances, inclusive of house allowance. Any payment of house allowance outside the gross pay is therefore, unconstitutional. It is important to note that SRC has not set any house allowance for State Officers in the Executive, County Governments, Parliament, Judiciary, Constitutional Commissions and Independent Offices, outside the Gazette notices.

Housing Allowance for MPs and Senate

Members of Parliament and Senate, as per Article 260 of the Constitution, are State Officers. Consequently, the setting of their remuneration and benefits is the exclusive responsibility of SRC. It has come to SRC’s attention that the Parliamentary Service Commission (PARLSCOM) in the recent past has determined and paid house allowance to MPs and Senators backdated to 5th October 2018. PARLSCOM does not have constitutional authority to determine any remuneration and benefits of State Officers. These actions by PARLSCOM are therefore, unconstitutional. Additionally, the payment of this house allowance to MPs and Senators amounts to double payment of a benefit which is already included by SRC in the gross pay.

Public Wage Bill

Kenya’s public wage bill for the financial year 2017-2018 stood at about KES 733 billion. This translates to about fifty percent (50%) of the country’s total revenue for the period. This exceeds the limit stipulated in the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act which provides that the expenditure on public wage bill does not exceed thirty five percent (35%) of total revenue.

This unconstitutional action by PARLSCOM to pay MPs and Senators house allowance of KES 250,000/- monthly, will cost taxpayers an extra KES 104 million every month, which is KES 1.2 billion annually. This payment will not only create inequity in remuneration and benefits for State Officers, but will also lead to demands for house allowance by other State Officers. The additional cost to tax payers of such an action will be an estimated KES 5.2 billion per year. The increase in the public wage bill will not only crowd out the already scarce resources for development, but also negatively impact on provision of services to wananchi.

Action by SRC

The Commission has taken steps to ascertain compliance to ensure that all payments that do not have SRC approval are stopped. The Commission will take legal action to stop any payment that has not been set or advised by SRC and recover such payments.

In the interest of the citizens of Kenya and in accordance with Article 249 of the Constitution of Kenya, the Commission will always defend its constitutional mandate to set and review remuneration and benefits for State Officers as provided by Article 230 of the Constitution.”

Mrs. Lyn C. Mengich

Chairperson, SRC

Crimes and Courts

Muggings in Nairobi- This is what you should do

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If you won’t be mugged off your belongings, you will not escape a sharp knife on your ribs.
This is becoming increasingly prevalent in Nairobi, Thika and surrounding but before we discuss why it is happening , let’s discuss YOU:

PERSONAL SECURITY 101:

Can you remember that stranger you’ve passed a few minutes ago if you met him again in another street? Can you notice those two guys following you and another one coming your way?

Many are times we are told to stay alert, but how do we stay alert? Do you know how to stay alert and conscious?

Just take simple a look around you right now, in a public matatu, in the street, in that shopping mall, you will notice one common factor among the people;
They are heads down, they are on phone in deep conversations with their wives, boyfriends, employers, some are texting, maybe some are on Facebook reading this post including you.

While some are not on phone, some are preoccupied with stress, some are daydreaming about their lives, some are on vacation in their minds.

From above no one is alert, they are all disengaged from their surroundings, their bodies are there but their minds and souls are elsewhere. Simply they are not CONSCIOUS
This is called lack of SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.

Whenever you are disengaged from your surroundings, do you know what you are? –
You are VULNERABLE!

In victimology, criminals choose targets after assessing vulnerability.

Situational awareness is simply knowing what’s happening around you, allowing your mind to process everything, being able to assess your environment, anticipate danger and be ready to take further action.

There are four degrees of situational awareness;
•White
• Yellow
• Orange
• Red

• Condition White- here you are totally unaware of what is happening around you, totally unprepared.

Likely your head is down, eyes averted and your mind disengaged.
You are likely on phone or your mind is wandering off away from your body.
In this condition you might even head towards danger without knowing, people might be running away from danger when you walk towards it.

Here you can’t notice that bodaboda rider approaching you to snatch your phone or those thugs preying you waiting for an opportunity to pounce on you.

• Condition Yellow- This is the state of relaxed alert, in this condition you are allowing your brain to process what’s happening around you, there is no specific threat but you remain aware.

Your head is up.

In this state you can never be surprised by a sudden occurrence, you are not disengaged, you will notice a person approaching you, you will notice that car with windows down, that dog with tongue out, you will notice a beautiful lady walking across the street, you will see that motorbike and realize it is carrying two passengers wearing red , grey and green. Simply you are aware.

You will have noticed a strange happening and have ample time to either run, change direction, prepare for a fight or call for help.

• Condition orange-
you can notice that person in red jubilee cap calling, you can probably tell he is talking to his wife, you can see that person idling across the mall looking at you,
You can notice that man pretending to be on phone but he is probably lost.

You can notice that man in the corner who is going for his pocket.

Your mind is processing every detail around you, you are extra careful.
You are in specific alert.

• Condition red- this is a crisis situation, you are looking for an escape route.

Never allow yourself to be in this situation, maintain to be in orange.
This is the panicky situation where you got no option other than fight or Run.

Now, this is what we mean when we tell you to be alert.

This might save you.
Practice it now. Stay alert! Stay in yellow, stay in Orange.
Let your mind process the environment.
In case of danger Run, Disrupt /Scream, Fight or Cooperate.