Category: News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 12 – The High Court of Kenya has temporarily stopped the enforcement of the recently launched instant traffic fines system introduced by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).

Justice Bahati Mwamuye issued conservatory orders suspending the implementation of the system following a petition filed by lawyer Shadrack Wambui, who is challenging its legality.

In the case, Wambui argues that the instant fines framework may violate due process and motorists’ constitutional rights by allowing penalties to be issued and enforced without adequate legal safeguards.

The orders mean that NTSA and other enforcement agencies cannot implement or enforce the instant fines system until the court hears and determines the petition.

The instant fines system had been introduced as part of efforts by NTSA to strengthen road safety enforcement and improve compliance with traffic regulations by allowing motorists who commit offences to pay fines immediately rather than undergoing lengthy court processes.

However, critics have raised concerns over transparency, accountability and the potential for abuse if the system is implemented without clear legal frameworks and oversight.

The High Court will now consider the arguments presented in the petition before determining whether the instant fines system can proceed or requires further legal and regulatory review.

Detectives in Kakamega are investigating a shocking suspected murder–suicide after two university students were found dead inside a house in Maraba, Kakamega Central.

Police said the two victims were students at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST). Their bodies were discovered in the same house, sending shockwaves through the local community.

Preliminary investigations indicate that one of the victims may have fatally stabbed the other before taking their own life. However, police say the motive behind the incident remains unclear.

Relatives of one of the deceased, a 21-year-old third-year student identified as Dariel Jedidah Luvunga, said they last spoke to him on the evening of March 8, 2026.

Their concern grew after repeated attempts to reach him the following day failed. On March 10, family members visited the house where he lived, only to find the door locked from the inside.

According to police, the relatives peeped through a small opening and spotted someone lying motionless on the floor, prompting them to alert authorities.

Officers arrived at the scene and forced their way into the house, where they discovered two bodies. One man was lying on the floor with multiple stab wounds to the head and stomach, while the other was found hanging in the bathroom.

Police confirmed that the body found hanging was that of Dariel. A blood-stained kitchen knife believed to have been used in the attack was recovered at the scene. Investigators also said no suicide note was found.

The bodies were moved to the Kakamega General Hospital mortuary for postmortem examination as investigations continue.

The incident drew a large crowd of residents who gathered at the scene as police removed the bodies.

Authorities have urged residents to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activities as detectives work to establish the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.

In a separate incident in Vihiga County, police are searching for a 43-year-old woman accused of fatally stabbing her 79-year-old father in Chamasilihi village in Mbale Sub-location.

Police said the victim, identified as Mundanya Hezron Madaga, died after being stabbed in the neck during the attack. The suspect reportedly fled the scene immediately after the incident.

The body was taken to Vihiga Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary as police launched a manhunt for the suspect.

According to police statistics, murder cases have been rising in the country, with authorities reporting up to eight incidents daily, many of which remain under investigation.

The Ministry of Mining and Blue Economy recently published notice that Halal Mining Company Limited, Shanta Gold Kenya Limited, Royal DFC Limited, Rotor Systems Limited and Altona Mining Ltd have submitted formal applications for mining licenses. Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho has granted the public 42 days to file objections.

Kenya Insights’s investigations desk spent time dissecting each applicant. What we found should give the Cabinet Secretary serious pause.

Kenya’s mining sector has historically been a stage for spectacular wealth extraction and equally spectacular betrayals of communities and the public purse.

From the Goldenberg scandal of the 1990s, which bled the state of the equivalent of ten percent of GDP through fictitious gold exports, to the phantom Mrima Hill licensing scandal of 2013, which was so riddled with irregularities that the incoming Kenyatta administration cancelled every license issued in the transition period, this country has been here before.

The five firms now standing at the gate are not all equal in their problems.

But none of them arrives without questions that demand answers before a single license is signed.

“Kenya has been here before. The five firms now standing at the gate are not all equal in their problems. But none arrives without questions that demand answers.”

I. SHANTA GOLD KENYA LIMITED — BLOOD ON THE GROUND IN KAKAMEGA

Of the five applicants, Shanta Gold Kenya Limited carries the most immediate and viscerally documented record.

The British-owned firm, incorporated locally as Shanta Gold Kenya Limited in 2010 and listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market as the parent Shanta Gold, has become the most politically explosive name in Kenya’s extractive sector. Its application concerns gold mining rights in Kakamega County, a county the company has already turned into a war zone.

The facts are on the record.

On December 4, 2025, a National Environment Management Authority public participation forum in Ikolomani’s Emusali Primary School disintegrated into deadly violence.

At least four people were killed when police opened fire on artisanal miners and residents opposing the company’s bid to acquire 337 acres of ancestral land to establish what it describes as an underground mining operation at the Isulu-Bushiangala site. Six others were hospitalised, including two police officers. Scores were arrested. Journalists covering the forum were assaulted and had their equipment seized.

Two days after the December 4 killings, a mine shaft in the same district collapsed at Wangoto village, killing three more artisanal miners who had been scrambling for survival since Shanta’s arrival began displacing their livelihoods. These deaths did not occur in a vacuum.

The artisanal mining community of Kakamega has consistently levelled a damning accusation against Shanta Gold: that the company has been conducting mining operations in Ikolomani under the legal pretence of conducting mere exploration. Artisanal miners who have worked the Isulu and Bushiangala sites for generations accused the firm of exploiting local resources for years while its exploration license technically barred it from commercial extraction. The accusation is not new. Similar allegations preceded Shanta’s operations in Siaya County, where the government issued a mining license in late 2025 over the objections of residents in seven villages. No member of affected communities attended the stakeholders’ workshop in Kisumu at which the government proclaimed the project would benefit locals.

Shanta Gold’s own Environmental Impact Assessment, submitted to NEMA and prepared in partnership with South Africa’s Digby Wells Environmental, confirmed 1.27 million ounces of gold at the Isulu-Bushiangala site, placing its total value at an estimated Ksh 683 billion. The arithmetic of extraction that follows from these figures has detonated public fury. The national government stands to collect between Ksh 555 million and Ksh 607 million in annual royalties, plus Ksh 193.8 million through the Mineral Development Levy. Kakamega County would receive approximately Ksh 111 million from its 20 percent share. The 800 households being displaced from their ancestral land would collectively receive a community share of approximately Ksh 55 million per year, which breaks down to less than Ksh 7,000 per household annually from a Ksh 683 billion operation built on their land.

Trans-Nzoia Governor George Natembeya and Kakamega Senator Dr. Boni Khalwale, speaking on behalf of leaders from five Western counties, were categorical: the proposed Ksh 3 billion compensation package for relocation is a grotesque insult when the gold beneath these villages is worth more than Ksh 680 billion. They accused the national government of enabling a foreign-driven land grab disguised as development. Their demands included the immediate suspension of Shanta’s operations and full accountability for the deaths on December 4.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission added its institutional voice to the chorus of condemnation. In a formal press release on December 8, 2025, KHRC registered outrage at the killings, arbitrary arrests and procedural chaos at the December 4 forum, noting that what should have been a lawful civic process had degenerated into intimidation and impunity. The Commission found that artisanal miners had been systematically excluded from the consultations required by law under the Mining Act 2016, that no transition or inclusion plan had been presented to thousands of families whose sole livelihood depended on small-scale mining, and that the approval process itself was riddled with what it called flawed NEMA approvals and violations of the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent.

Environmental research compounds the human rights indictment. Soil, sediment and water analysis from 19 artisanal and small-scale gold mining villages in Kakamega and Vihiga counties found arsenic concentrations at mining and ore processing sites reaching up to 7,937 times the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s safety standards for residential soils. Chromium, mercury and nickel concentrations in a majority of samples exceeded applicable safety thresholds. These are the villages into which Shanta Gold proposes to sink its billion-shilling operation.

The governance pattern visible in Shanta’s Kenyan trajectory raises a legal question that the Mineral Rights Board must answer before any further license is granted: can a company whose exploration activities in Siaya have been formally challenged by community groups for procedural flaws, and whose December 2025 public participation forum in Kakamega produced four civilian deaths, lawfully be granted an additional mining license in the same political and social environment before those deaths have been accounted for?

“800 households face displacement from Ksh 683 billion of gold. Their annual community share works out to less than Ksh 7,000 per family.”

II. HALAL MINING COMPANY LIMITED — A NAME THAT DEMANDS SCRUTINY

Halal Mining Company Limited presents a different category of concern. The company is seeking a mining license in Kilifi County to extract lead, zinc and barytes. On its surface, it is an application for a relatively conventional industrial mining operation. But the name itself, in the context of Kenya’s extractive history and the documented trajectory of similarly-named entities in the Horn of Africa, demands a level of due diligence that goes beyond routine bureaucratic processing.

Nairobi Law Monthly’s research found no publicly available records establishing the ownership structure, directorship or corporate history of Halal Mining Company Limited in Kenya’s official registries or in the mining ministry’s publicly accessible license database. This opacity is in itself a compliance issue. The Mining Act 2016 requires prospective license holders to demonstrate technical and financial capacity, and the ministry’s due diligence framework is premised on the assumption that it knows who it is dealing with.

The naming concern is not merely semantic. In March 2024, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on a network of entities across the Horn of Africa that raised and laundered funds for al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-affiliated terror organisation responsible for some of the worst attacks in East African history. Among the sanctioned Kenya-based entities was Haleel Commodities Limited, a business identified as a key node in al-Shabaab’s financial facilitation network. Though Haleel and Halal are distinct names and distinct entities, the pattern of naming in the region’s informal financial networks frequently involves deliberate proximity to established, credible-sounding names. The ministry owes the public a transparent disclosure of the full ownership and directorship of Halal Mining Company Limited, its source of capital and its previous commercial activities.

Beyond the naming question, the mineral combination that Halal Mining proposes to extract in Kilifi requires careful environmental scrutiny. Lead and zinc mining carries significant contamination risks to groundwater and coastal ecosystems, particularly in Kilifi’s topography where rivers flow toward the Indian Ocean and where communities depend heavily on subsistence agriculture and fishing. Barytes extraction, while commercially low-risk from a toxicity standpoint, is frequently used in the oil and gas drilling sector as a weighting agent, raising the question of who the end buyer for Kilifi barytes would be and whether Kenya’s royalty calculations reflect the market value of what is being exported.

The Kilifi region has already experienced the political fallout of mining ambitions that went badly for local communities. Marula Mining’s acquisition of the Kilifi manganese processing plant through its subsidiary Muchai Mining Kenya has proceeded under conditions of limited public transparency, while community expectations around employment and environmental management have frequently outpaced the delivery. Halal Mining Company Limited must demonstrate, before any license is granted, that its Kilifi application is not another instance of extractive opportunism cloaked in a thin corporate structure.

III. ALTONA MINING LTD — A DELISTED SHELL CHASING COASTAL SAND

Of all five applicants, Altona Mining Ltd presents perhaps the most structurally ambiguous profile. The company has submitted two applications seeking rights to mine heavy mineral sands in Kwale County. Kwale is a county whose extractive history is deeply instructive, and the timing of Altona’s applications, coming as the county’s residents continue to await royalty payments owed to them from a decade of titanium extraction under Base Titanium, makes it among the most sensitive license decisions the ministry will face.

The Altona Mining referenced in Australian Securities Exchange records was an ASX-listed copper company, ticker code AOH, which focused its operations on a copper-gold project in Queensland, Australia. That company was acquired by Canadian copper producer Copper Mountain Mining Corporation in 2018, through a scheme of arrangement approved by courts on both the ASX and Toronto Stock Exchange. Following the acquisition, the Altona Mining entity on the ASX was delisted. The company that acquired Altona’s Cloncurry Project was subsequently itself absorbed, creating a chain of corporate succession that makes the lineage of any entity currently trading under the Altona Mining name in Kenya deserving of the most rigorous verification.

Nairobi Law Monthly’s research could not confirm that the Altona Mining Ltd applying for Kwale heavy mineral sand mining licenses has any verified structural or operational connection to the Australian entity that was previously publicly traded. The ministry must establish and publicly disclose whether the Altona Mining Ltd appearing in the Gazette notice is a genuine mining enterprise with documented technical capacity and capital resources sufficient for heavy mineral extraction, or a shell incorporation.

The Kwale heavy mineral context raises the stakes considerably. Base Titanium, which operated the Kwale Mineral Sands Project as Kenya’s largest mining project from 2013 until depletion of its ore reserve in December 2024, was absorbed by Arizona-based Energy Fuels Inc in October 2024. In 2023, its final substantial year of production, Base Titanium paid Ksh 2.9 billion in royalties, of which Kwale County was entitled to Ksh 1.2 billion under the 20 percent county allocation stipulated in the Mining Act. As of early 2026, Kwale County Governor Fatuma Achani has publicly stated that not a single shilling of those royalties has reached the county. The community’s 10 percent share, mandated by law, has similarly vanished into the national government’s account without disbursement.

Governor Achani’s response to new mining applications in Kwale has been unambiguous. Speaking in the context of prospecting interest in Mrima Hill, she stated that she would not allow any new mining until the government could demonstrate that Kwale residents would actually benefit, referencing the billions in unpaid royalties as proof that formal legal frameworks are routinely ignored when it comes to revenue sharing. Altona Mining Ltd’s two applications land directly in this political environment. For the Ministry of Mining to grant Kwale heavy mineral sand licenses to an entity of uncertain provenance while the county waits for Ksh 1.2 billion in lawfully owed royalties from the previous operation would be an act of institutional contempt toward both the county government and the communities it serves.

The Kwale coastal ecosystem adds a further dimension. Heavy mineral sand extraction involves hydraulic mining and wet concentrator processing that historically creates significant pressure on water sources, coastal vegetation and marine environments. Kwale’s communities have already lost agricultural land, fishing resources and cultural assets in the course of Base Titanium’s operations. Any entity proposing to commence a new extraction cycle in this environment must face the highest level of technical, financial and corporate scrutiny the ministry can apply.

“Kwale County is still waiting for Ksh 1.2 billion in royalties from the last mining operator. Granting Altona a license before that debt is settled would be institutional contempt.”

IV. ROTOR SYSTEMS LIMITED — GOLD IN SAMBURU, QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS

Rotor Systems Limited is seeking gold mining rights in Samburu County. Of the five applicants, it is perhaps the most opaque. Nairobi Law Monthly’s exhaustive search of public records, corporate registries, mining databases and media archives produced no substantive information about the company’s ownership, directors, financial standing, technical capacity or previous mining or commercial activities. It does not appear in any publicly accessible list of licensed mining operations in Kenya. It does not appear in media coverage of Kenya’s extractive sector. It is, for practical purposes, invisible.

This invisibility is itself a serious red flag. Any company seeking a gold mining license in Kenya is expected to demonstrate, under the Mining Act 2016, that it possesses the technical expertise, financial resources and institutional capacity to conduct mining operations responsibly, manage environmental impact and fulfil its royalty and reporting obligations. A company with no verifiable public footprint cannot satisfy that standard on the available evidence.

The Samburu context sharpens the concern. Samburu County is home to one of Kenya’s most historically marginalised pastoralist communities, the Samburu people, who have experienced repeated cycles of state-facilitated displacement from their ancestral grazing lands. The Samburu have been subjected to what Cultural Survival and other international human rights organisations have documented as systematic land dispossession, often justified through development framings. The history of Laikipia, which borders Samburu and hosts overlapping Samburu pastoralist land claims, is a chronicle of eviction, violence and legal subordination of indigenous land rights to commercial and political interests.

Kenya’s record on mineral rights in pastoralist and indigenous counties is troubling. Gold deposits have been identified in Samburu’s Nachola area. Copper, chromite and other minerals are documented across northern Kenya’s geological belt. The Ministry of Mining’s own critical minerals catalogue acknowledges that most of these areas remain at reconnaissance or early exploration stages, with limited systematic evaluation of economic viability. The rush to license before adequate assessment exposes communities to speculative operations that will extract and depart without adequate accountability.

Rotor Systems Limited must, before any license decision is made, publicly disclose its directors, shareholders, source of capital, technical team, previous corporate activities in Kenya and elsewhere, and evidence of its capacity to meet the financial assurance requirements for environmental rehabilitation mandated by the Mining Act 2016. In the absence of that disclosure, the Ministry should decline the application on grounds of insufficient documentation.

V. ROYAL DFC LIMITED — KITUI’S RARE METALS AND UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Royal DFC Limited is seeking a mining license in Kitui County to extract minerals classified under Group E: Base and Rare Metals. This is a broad and commercially significant category that includes niobium, tantalum, cobalt, lithium, manganese and related strategic minerals that have become the focus of intense global competition as demand for battery technology and defence manufacturing accelerates. Kitui County is known to host deposits of iron ore, coal, copper, amethyst and sapphire, and its geological profile makes it a legitimate target for base and rare metal exploration.

Like Rotor Systems Limited, Royal DFC Limited has left no visible trace in the public record. Nairobi Law Monthly found no company by that name in publicly accessible Kenyan corporate or mining license databases, no media coverage, no industry association membership and no prior licensing history. Its application for what is potentially a strategically important category of minerals in a politically sensitive county arrives without a public identity.

The rare metals dimension places Royal DFC’s application in a geopolitical context the Ministry of Mining cannot afford to treat lightly. Kenya’s Critical Minerals Catalogue, released in August 2024, explicitly identifies Kitui as among the counties with the highest mineral wealth prospects. The global scramble for rare earth elements and critical minerals has seen Kenya targeted by interests from the United States, China, Europe and the Gulf states, all seeking to secure supply chains for the energy transition and advanced manufacturing. In this environment, opaque license applications for rare metal extraction in high-value counties represent a potential national security concern, not merely a regulatory compliance issue.

The Ministry of Mining must conduct a full beneficial ownership disclosure process for Royal DFC Limited before this application is processed. The source of the company’s capital, the nationality of its ultimate beneficial owners and the identity of any foreign partners or investors must be placed on the public record. Kenya has no sovereign wealth fund stake, no mandatory state equity participation requirement and no publicly disclosed critical minerals strategy that would ensure the national interest is protected in any licensing arrangement. Until those gaps are addressed, granting a rare metals license to an entity with no public profile is a gamble with Kenya’s long-term strategic mineral wealth.

VI. THE SYSTEMIC ROT: WHAT THESE FIVE APPLICATIONS REVEAL

Taken individually, each of these five applications presents specific concerns that the Ministry of Mining and the 42-day public objection window should be used to address. Taken together, they reveal something more troubling: a licensing system that consistently serves the interests of capital over community, obscures corporate identity behind bureaucratic form-filling and deploys the language of development to justify extraction that leaves counties poorer and communities displaced.

The figures are stark. Kenya’s total mineral production value stood at Ksh 25.5 billion in the most recent official reporting period. Gold accounted for Ksh 3 billion. Base minerals added Ksh 801 million. Against the Ksh 683 billion sitting beneath Ikolomani’s fields alone, the scale of what Kenya is giving away is extraordinary. The Goldenberg scandal of the 1990s, which cost the state between Ksh 158 billion and the equivalent of Ksh 3.4 trillion in today’s money depending on the estimate used, was a lesson about what happens when licensing is captured by political and commercial interests that have no accountability to the communities above whose land extraction occurs.

The pattern has not broken. Kwale County is still owed Ksh 1.2 billion in royalties from an operation that closed more than a year ago. Affected residents of Tiomin’s original titanium operations in Kwale were displaced from their land in 2007 and have spent seventeen years seeking adequate compensation. The Ramula and Mwibona communities in Siaya, where Shanta Gold has already been granted a license, conducted a community survey showing that most households had not reviewed the Environmental Impact Assessment document they were supposedly consulted on. The EIA for Kakamega was prepared in Kiswahili, which a significant proportion of the affected Luhya-speaking community could not read.

Mining Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho is not without options. The 42-day objection window is not a formality designed to absorb public comment before a predetermined outcome. It is, in law and in constitutional principle, a genuine accountability mechanism. The Kenya Human Rights Commission has already placed its formal objection to Shanta Gold’s Kakamega application on the public record. Civil society organisations, county governments, artisanal mining associations and individual residents in all five affected counties have both the right and the legal standing to submit objections that the ministry is constitutionally obligated to consider.

What is required, before any of these five licenses is granted, is a transparent public hearing process that discloses the full beneficial ownership of every applicant, publishes their financial and technical capacity documentation, mandates community impact assessments in accessible languages, establishes binding royalty disbursement mechanisms with independent oversight, and holds any company with a documented record of community harm to the highest possible standard of justification.

“The 42-day objection window is not a formality. It is a constitutional accountability mechanism. Communities, counties and civil society have every right to use it.”

Five firms. Five counties. Five applications that between them could reshape Kenya’s mineral landscape for decades. The question is not whether mining should happen. The question is whether it can happen in a Kenya where the law means what it says, where communities own what the Constitution says they own, and where no company gets to build its profits on the graves of the Kenyans who had the misfortune to live above what their country calls wealth.

NOTE

This investigation relied on government gazette notices, court records, parliamentary transcripts, environmental impact assessments, official corporate registries, US Treasury OFAC records, documented media reporting from accredited outlets, and statements by county governments, civil society organisations and human rights bodies. All claims attributed to named parties are drawn from publicly available documents and verified statements. Readers, affected communities, county governments and members of civil society are encouraged to utilise the 42-day objection mechanism by submitting formal objections to: The Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs, Works Building, Ngong Road, P.O. Box 30009-00100 Nairobi, or by email to [email protected]. You can also write a confidential report to us.

Nairobi, March 10 — Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has summoned oil marketers for an emergency meeting as the government races to contain fears of a potential fuel shortage triggered by escalating disruptions in global petroleum supply chains.

The urgent consultations come just hours after Wandayi held discussions with companies supplying fuel to Kenya under the government-to-government (G-2-G) petroleum import arrangement, which anchors the country’s fuel procurement system.

Speaking in Nairobi on Tuesday during the official listing of shares for Kenya Pipeline Company at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the CS sought to calm mounting anxiety among consumers and transport operators who fear that the turmoil in global energy markets could spill over into local pump prices or supply disruptions.

Wandayi said Kenya remains in close contact with its key suppliers under the G-2-G framework, including Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Emirates National Oil Company, as part of contingency planning aimed at protecting the country’s fuel supply.

“We continue to engage very closely with our government-to-government suppliers in terms of contingency planning,” Wandayi said, adding that current stock levels remain stable.

“For that reason, there is really no cause for alarm. In the short to medium term we have security of supply and we continue to monitor the situation very closely,” he said.

The emergency meeting with oil marketing companies, scheduled for later Tuesday, is expected to review supply flows, stock levels and potential response measures should the international crisis deepen.

“From here I am going to a meeting with oil marketers to continue close review and monitoring of the situation,” Wandayi said.

The government on Monday had already moved to reassure Kenyans that the country holds sufficient petroleum stocks to cushion it against immediate supply disruptions linked to the unfolding crisis in the Middle East.

According to Wandayi, Kenya has secured scheduled petroleum imports through to the end of April 2026, a move designed to guarantee stable supply even as geopolitical tensions rattle global oil markets.

“Kenya has sufficient petroleum products to cover both the country and the region in the wake of the crisis in the Middle East,” he said.

Kenya relies almost entirely on imported refined petroleum products, leaving the economy exposed to external shocks whenever geopolitical conflicts disrupt supply chains or trigger price spikes.

The current turmoil follows a wave of military escalation in the Gulf region, where coordinated airstrikes by the United States and Israel on Iran — and Tehran’s retaliatory missile attacks — have shaken energy markets and threatened exports from one of the world’s most critical oil-producing corridors.

Energy analysts warn that prolonged disruption could tighten global supply and drive up prices, a scenario that would quickly filter through to import-dependent economies such as Kenya.

For now, officials insist the country’s forward-contracting strategy and the G-2-G supply arrangement are providing a buffer against immediate shortages, even as authorities intensify monitoring of the volatile global oil market.

Nairobi, March 10, 2026 — Kenyan authorities have arrested TikTok creator Maximilian Motara, popularly known as “Billionaire Son,” after he filmed himself tearing Sh100 banknotes and posted the video online.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) confirmed that Motara is in custody and awaiting arraignment on charges related to the defacement of Kenyan currency.

The arrest follows a video circulated on TikTok showing Motara seated in a white sleeveless shirt as he tears several pink Sh100 notes while looking directly at the camera. In the clip, he rips the banknotes into pieces and discards them.

According to the DCI’s Banking Fraud Investigations Unit, Motara was wanted for allegedly mutilating Kenyan currency notes and flaunting the act on TikTok.

Kenyan law prohibits the deliberate destruction or defacement of currency. Section 367A of the Penal Code states that any person who wilfully and without lawful authority defaces, tears, cuts or otherwise mutilates a currency note commits an offence punishable by imprisonment for up to three months, a fine of up to Sh2,000, or both.

The video triggered debate online, with some Kenyans condemning the act as irresponsible, while others questioned why authorities were pursuing what they described as a minor offence.

Authorities have not yet disclosed when Motara will appear in court.

NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 9 – Residents of Kahuro in Kiharu Constituency witnessed an unusual standoff on Monday after government administrators failed to attend the official opening of a newly built Assistant County Commissioner’s office presided over by area MP Ndindi Nyoro.

The new Kahuro Assistant County Commissioner (ACC) offices were launched in a ceremony attended by local residents, but the absence of the administrators expected to work from the facility cast a shadow over the event.

Sources indicated that the officials who had initially been scheduled to attend the launch reportedly stayed away after receiving instructions from senior authorities not to participate in the ceremony.

According to the sources, the administrators cited receiving “orders from above” directing them not to attend the event or formally take up the office.

Despite the absence of the officials, Nyoro went ahead with the opening ceremony, saying the facility was ready to serve residents of the area.

The event briefly turned dramatic when police officers arrived at the venue and attempted to stop the proceedings, prompting protests from residents who had gathered for the launch.

Nyoro criticised what he described as attempts to frustrate development efforts in the constituency.

“This office is ready to serve the residents. There were issues here and there. I want to tell those people, they are seeing us quiet but they should not forget who we are. Those who had sent the officers, next time don’t send them  come face me one on one,” he said.

Residents confronted the officers, forcing them to withdraw from the venue before the ceremony continued.

The boycott by administrators mirrors a similar incident last year in Murang’a County, when several chiefs and police officers failed to attend another handover ceremony organised by Nyoro in the Mjini area of Kiharu.

That project involved the opening of another administration block funded through the National Government Constituencies Development Fund.

Following the latest incident, Nyoro dismissed the absence of the officials as an attempt to undermine his work, insisting he would continue pursuing development initiatives for his constituents.

In recent months, the Kiharu legislator has appeared to distance himself from the agenda of the ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance, instead highlighting programmes aimed at improving education and social support in the constituency.

Among the initiatives he has announced is a plan to provide free primary education for learners in Kiharu. Secondary school students are also required to pay only Sh500 in school fees, while all learners benefit from a free lunch programme supported by the constituency leadership.

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) is preparing to fundamentally change how traffic laws are enforced in Kenya, rolling out an automated system designed to detect violations, instantly notify offenders, and impose fines without the need for roadside cash transactions.

The new regime introduces instant penalties ranging from KSh500 to KSh10,000, targeting dozens of common offences committed by motorists, motorcycle riders, PSV operators and even pedestrians.

At the centre of the new enforcement system is a nationwide network of surveillance technology. Authorities plan to deploy 700 fixed traffic cameras and 300 mobile camera units along highways, urban roads and accident-prone corridors.  

These devices will automatically detect violations such as speeding, driving on pedestrian paths, or ignoring traffic signs. Once a violation is captured, the footage will be transmitted to a National Command and Control Centre, where it will be processed in real time.

The system will then generate a digital offence record linked to the driver’s second-generation Smart Driving Licence (e-DL). From there, the registered vehicle owner or driver will receive a notification of the violation and the fine due.  

Motorists will be able to pay the penalties electronically through mobile money platforms, banking channels, USSD codes, or a digital driving licence wallet. The move is meant to eliminate roadside cash payments and reduce bribery, which anti-corruption investigators have long identified as a major problem in traffic enforcement.  

Kenya’s road safety record has deteriorated sharply in recent years, with fatalities rising from 3,875 deaths in 2019 to more than 5,100 by 2024, according to road safety data. Authorities say weak enforcement, corruption and limited surveillance tools have allowed dangerous driving habits to flourish.  

The automated system is part of a long-term project expected to run for 21 years under a public-private partnership valued at roughly KSh42 billion, aimed at restoring discipline on Kenyan roads.  

Highest Instant Fines — Up to KSh10,000

The most serious traffic offences attract the highest penalties.

Drivers will face KSh10,000 fines for offences including:

Driving without identification number plates.

Operating a vehicle without a valid inspection certificate.

Exceeding speed limits by 16–20 km/h or more.

Causing obstruction by leaving a vehicle blocking traffic.

PSV operators employing unlicensed drivers or conductors.

Common Traffic Offences and Penalties

The NTSA schedule lists 37 minor traffic offences and their corresponding fines.

Some of the most common include:

Speeding

Exceeding limit by 1–5 km/h: Warning.

6–10 km/h: KSh500.

11–15 km/h: KSh3,000.

16–20 km/h or more: KSh10,000.  

Driving and Road Conduct

Driving on a pedestrian walkway: KSh5,000.

Failure to obey traffic signs: KSh3,000.

Failure to obey police directions: KSh3,000.

Failure to stop when ordered by police: KSh5,000.

Using a mobile phone while driving: KSh2,000.

Vehicle Compliance

Failure to carry a driving licence: KSh1,000.

Failure to renew a driving licence: KSh1,000.

Failure to wear a seat belt: KSh500.

Failure to install seat belts in a vehicle: KSh1,000 per seat.

Failure to carry reflective warning triangles: KSh2,000.

PSV and Matatu-Specific Offences

Public Service Vehicle operators face additional penalties aimed at tightening discipline in the sector.

Some of the key offences include:

Driving a PSV while unqualified: KSh5,000.

Employing an unlicensed driver or conductor: KSh10,000.

Driver or conductor failing to wear badge or uniform: KSh2,000.

Operating a PSV with tinted windows: KSh3,000.

Failure to install a speed governor: KSh10,000.

Picking or dropping passengers at unauthorized locations: KSh3,000.

Motorcycle riders will also face penalties, including KSh1,000 fines for riding without protective gear or carrying more than one passenger.  

Pedestrians Not Spared

Even pedestrians fall under the new enforcement regime. Anyone found wilfully obstructing vehicles on the road can be fined KSh500, while passengers boarding or alighting vehicles at unauthorized points may face KSh1,000 penalties.  

Officials say the automated system is intended to remove discretion from roadside enforcement and replace it with data-driven policing.

By linking violations directly to digital driver records and automated fines, authorities hope to close loopholes that have long enabled bribery, ignored offences and inconsistent enforcement.

For motorists across Kenya, the message is clear: once the cameras go live, every lane change, speed surge or illegal stop could be recorded — and the fine may arrive before the driver even reaches home.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 9 — The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has launched a new Instant Fines Traffic Management System that will automatically issue traffic violation notifications to motorists via SMS.

In a public notice issued Monday, NTSA said the system is now live and is designed to enhance transparency, efficiency, and accountability in traffic enforcement by eliminating human intervention in the issuance of fines.

Under the system, motorists who violate traffic regulations will receive automated notifications indicating the offence and the fine payable.

NTSA said all fines issued through the platform must be paid through the KCB Group branch network within seven days.

Motorists who fail to settle the fines within the stipulated period will have the amount accrue interest.

In addition, vehicles or drivers with outstanding penalties will be unable to access NTSA service platforms until the fines are cleared.

The authority urged motorists to strictly observe traffic regulations and respond promptly to official notifications sent through the system.

NTSA said additional details about the system will be communicated through official government channels.

The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) has opened applications for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) courses for the May 2026 intake.

The applications target students who sat the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in 2025 and previous years.

In a notice to candidates, KUCCPS said students can now apply for courses offered in National Polytechnics, Technical Training Institutes, Institutes of science and technology, and other accredited technical colleges across the country.

The placement body encouraged candidates to log in to the KUCCPS student portal and select courses of their choice, noting that students with any KCSE mean grade are eligible to apply for various TVET programmes.

Applicants are required to access the portal through: http://students.kuccps.ac.ke.

KUCCPS also clarified that the opportunity is not limited to the 2025 KCSE class, as Form Four leavers from previous years are also eligible to submit applications.

The application window will remain open until March 18, 2026, after which the placement process will begin.

TVET institutions in Kenya offer practical training in fields such as engineering, ICT, hospitality, construction, and business, equipping learners with technical skills needed in the labour market.

The institution has online portals designed to help students, parents, and learning institutions conveniently access placement services and programme information.

The Institution’s portal is designed for university vice-chancellors, college principals, or their authorised representatives.

Through this portal, institutions can declare or update their programme capacities and institutional details to facilitate the national student placement process. The portal also allows them to access placement-related data.

The Principal’s Portal was previously used by secondary schools to submit course applications on behalf of their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education candidates under the School/Centre Application system.

However, KUCCPS said the School/Centre Application process was discontinued in 2023, and schools seeking more information have been advised to contact the placement service directly.

KUCCPS continues to encourage students and stakeholders to use the online platforms to easily access placement services and information on academic programmes offered across institutions.

Nairobi, March 8, 2026 – A dispute over access to Kabogo Kangethe Road II in Nairobi’s upscale Runda estate has drawn Information, Communications and the Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo into a legal and public controversy over whether the road is private or public.

The dispute emerged after resident Esther Muthoni filed a case at the Milimani Law Courts against the National Land Commission, the Kenya Urban Roads Authority and several other parties, claiming she was denied access to her residence through the road.

The court issued interim orders in late February 2026 restraining any party from blocking or interfering with her access and directed the Officer Commanding Station at Runda Police Station to enforce compliance. The case will be mentioned on March 18.

Kabogo was recently seen in a viral video during a confrontation with a motorist who had been stopped from using the road.

In a statement, he maintained that the road is private property and not a public road. He declined to comment further, citing the ongoing court case.

Questions have arisen over whether Kabogo personally owns the road. The name Kabogo Kangethe Road II has drawn attention because of its similarity to his family lineage named after his uncle Joseph, although no official confirmation of ownership has been made public.

Kabogo has significant real estate interests in the wider Runda and Kiambu Road area, including the Iguta Paradise Homes residential development.

Like many gated estates in the neighbourhood, such developments often maintain internal roads through private management arrangements.

The dispute comes amid growing debate over access to roads within gated communities in Nairobi, where residents’ associations sometimes restrict entry to non-residents.

Neither the National Land Commission nor the Kenya Urban Roads Authority has publicly clarified the ownership status of Kabogo Kangethe Road II.

With the matter now before the courts, the legal process is expected to determine whether the road is privately owned or forms part of the public road network.

Ten people have been confirmed dead in Nairobi following the devastating floods that struck the city on Friday.

Nairobi Police Commander George Seda said eight of the victims were swept away by fast-rising floodwaters, with some dying while inside vehicles that were carried away by the raging currents.

Seda added that two other victims died in separate electrocution incidents during the floods in different parts of the county.

According to the county police boss, at least 71 vehicles were trapped or stranded across the city after major roads became impassable due to the heavy flooding.

Speaking to Radio Citizen, Seda warned that the death toll could rise as search and rescue operations continue in several areas severely affected by the floods.

Residents across Nairobi woke up to flooded neighbourhoods, stranded motorists and widespread disruption on Saturday morning after the heavy downpour left several parts of the city submerged and major roads impassable.

According to the Secretary General of the Kenya Red Cross Society, Ahmed Idris, multiple residential estates and informal settlements were severely affected as floodwaters surged through low-lying areas and along river corridors.

Among the hardest-hit areas were Pipeline and Embakasi, where sections of Kware Road were completely cut off by floodwaters. Other affected neighbourhoods include Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Reuben, Viwandani, Kibra, Mathare, Huruma, Baba Dogo and Bosnia.

Flooding was also reported in South B and South C, Nairobi West and Lang’ata, as well as Umoja 3, Chokaa, Njiru, Ruai and Utawala. In northern and western parts of the city, Roysambu along Kamiti Road, Kahawa West, Githurai, Loresho and sections of Westlands also experienced rising waters.

Major highways and urban roads were heavily disrupted, with some rendered impassable through the night. The Kenya Red Cross Society reported that traffic snarl-ups stretched into the early hours of Saturday morning as motorists struggled to navigate flooded sections.

The most affected transport corridors included roads within the central business district and surrounding feeder routes such as Museum Hill, Uhuru Park and Uhuru Highway, as well as Mbagathi Way.

Floodwaters also disrupted traffic along Mombasa Road near South C, Bellevue, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport exit and Kyumbi junction.

On Thika Superhighway, motorists reported difficult driving conditions around Githurai, Kahawa Sukari and Kenyatta Road.

Other roads experiencing severe flooding included Lunga Lunga Road near the Kenya Power and Lighting Company depot, Limuru Road near the Belgian Embassy, Jogoo Road, Enterprise Road, Lang’ata Road near T-Mall, Riverside Drive, Kawangware at Amboseli, Kamukunji and Kabete.

Emergency response teams, including the military, were deployed overnight to assist stranded residents and restore mobility in affected areas.

The Kenya Red Cross Society said its first responders rescued at least 20 people who had been stranded along Kirinyaga Road after floodwaters overwhelmed parts of the area. The victims were safely evacuated as teams continued to monitor the situation and support affected communities.

A military Rapid Response Unit was also mobilised to support emergency operations in the city. The unit conducted traffic control operations and facilitated the towing of five vehicles that had stalled at the Kariokor–Ring Road roundabout due to the swollen Nairobi River, helping restore traffic flow.

Additional traffic management was set up at the Mbagathi Roundabout, which had also been affected by flooding.

The Kenya Meteorological Department has warned that intense rainfall is expected to continue in most parts of the country, increasing the risk of flooding, swollen rivers and transport disruption.

In response to the unfolding situation, Public Service, Human Capital Development and Special Programmes CS Geoffrey Ruku announced that an emergency coordination meeting will be held on Saturday morning bringing together key national disaster response agencies.

The meeting will involve the State Department for Special Programmes, the National Police Service, the National Youth Service, the St. John Ambulance Kenya, as well as the National Disaster Management Unit, the National Disaster Operations Centre and the National Drought Management Authority.

Authorities say the meeting will focus on accelerating response measures and strengthening coordination among emergency agencies as the country braces for continued rainfall.

When the bombs started falling across the Middle East and the skies above the Gulf filled with smoke, more than 500,000 Kenyans — domestic workers, construction labourers, nurses, hospitality staff — were left to fend for themselves. The Kenyan government’s message, dressed in the careful language of diplomacy, amounted to this: get out if you can, and pay for it yourself.

Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi issued a statement on Friday telling Kenyans in the region to make their own arrangements through “available commercial airlines or licensed travel agents” if they wished to depart. There was no mention of evacuation flights. There was no mention of government-chartered aircraft. There was no mention of financial assistance for workers whose employers have, in many cases, been holding their passports.

The advisory effectively handed the bill — and the burden — to the very people least equipped to carry it: migrant workers earning poverty wages in foreign countries, many of whom are legally and physically trapped by the kafala system that governs employment in Gulf states and strips workers of the right to leave without employer permission.

A hotline that no one answers

The dysfunction of Kenya’s crisis response machinery was exposed in a spot check conducted by a local publication, which placed calls and WhatsApp messages to ten official emergency contacts listed by the State Department for Diaspora Affairs and Kenyan missions across the Gulf and Middle East, including embassies in Israel, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Kenyan consulates in Dubai and Jeddah.

The results were damning. The State Department for Diaspora Affairs operates what it grandly describes as a 24-hour diaspora emergency hotline. The department’s own promotional material promises that calls will be answered within four rings or 30 seconds. When the reporter called, the line did not ring at all. Multiple attempts returned the same automated response: out of service.

The hotline that is supposed to be the first point of contact for any Kenyan facing a crisis abroad — the number listed on government websites, circulated by embassies, and cited in official advisories — was dead.

Of the nine embassy and consulate contacts tested, only the Kenyan mission in Tel Aviv returned a direct call. A Kenyan official there phoned back in the early morning hours after receiving a WhatsApp inquiry about evacuation plans. He said contingency plans existed and described the situation as “fluid yet manageable” — a formulation that captured perfectly the gap between official posture and the lived reality of Kenyans watching missiles light up the sky on their phones.

The Kenyan Embassy in Qatar did not answer repeated calls placed at dawn and again later in the morning. It responded only after a WhatsApp message was sent. When a worker asked what to do if their employer refused to release their passport in the event of an emergency evacuation, the embassy replied that it would assist “when the time comes” — and then asked for the worker’s name, passport number, and next-of-kin details to be emailed to a labour desk.

The response from Oman was to direct Kenyans to an online registration portal. The embassy in Kuwait sent a generic notice urging Kenyans in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Lebanon to register on the government’s diaspora platform. The Dubai consulate eventually responded, pointing to a registration link and noting that, in a worst-case scenario, Kenyans without passports could obtain an emergency travel document at the consulate — a useful piece of information buried under hours of silence.

The Kenyan embassies in Saudi Arabia and the Jeddah consulate had no WhatsApp presence at all, cutting off the primary communication channel used by hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in the Kingdom. The emergency contact for the Tehran embassy appeared to have an active WhatsApp account but remained offline for the entire period of inquiry. The Abu Dhabi embassy did not respond to calls or messages at all.

Njogu’s media disappearing act

The Ministry’s communication problems were further illustrated by an embarrassing episode that played out in public on Wednesday. Principal Secretary for Diaspora Affairs Roseline Njogu was scheduled to appear on a KTN Prime panel discussion on the Middle East conflict alongside the ambassadors of Iran and Israel to Kenya.

Then she vanished. A poster advertising the programme circulated widely on social media. Njogu subsequently issued a statement denying she had agreed to appear, accusing KTN of “disinformation” and declaring the network “out of order.” The Standard Group, which operates KTN, maintained that Njogu had earlier agreed to a phone interview during the 9 pm news bulletin. KTN clarified that the ambassadors were to be hosted on a separate occasion and that the poster was intended only to preview the broadcast lineup.

The following day, Foreign Affairs PS Korir Singoei was deployed to clean up the mess. He issued a statement describing the episode as a scheduling matter, insisting there had been no intention to mislead the public. He neither confirmed nor denied that Njogu had agreed to appear. The episode left the public with the uncomfortable image of the country’s top diaspora official refusing to face the cameras at the precise moment 500,000 Kenyans needed her to.

How other countries are doing it

The contrast with how other governments have handled the same crisis is instructive and humiliating in equal measure.

Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport together operated more than 1,140 flights in a 84-hour window between March 2 and 5, offering roughly 105,000 outbound seats to travellers from more than 80 countries. Airport authorities noted that the number of flights was likely to increase as airlines expanded schedules to absorb demand from those seeking to leave the region.

The Sultanate of Oman, coordinating with international airlines and foreign governments, organised dedicated flights enabling nationals of what it described as “brotherly and friendly countries” to return home safely. Oman’s approach was proactive, structured, and communicated clearly through official channels.

Governments across South and Southeast Asia — countries whose migrant worker populations rival Kenya’s in scale — have emergency evacuation infrastructure that includes government-chartered aircraft, dedicated crisis funds, and consular staff trained to deal with mass departure scenarios. The Philippines maintains a permanent overseas workers welfare architecture with emergency repatriation as a core function. India has demonstrated in previous Middle East crises, including the 2015 Yemen evacuation, that it can move tens of thousands of citizens out of conflict zones in a matter of days.

Kenya has no equivalent architecture. The State Department for Diaspora Affairs was established in 2022 under President William Ruto with much fanfare, promising a new era of responsiveness to the needs of Kenyans abroad. Its emergency hotline, which apparently cannot be reached, is the most visible measure of how far that promise remains from fulfilment.

Workers trapped by the kafala system

At the heart of the crisis is a structural vulnerability that the Kenyan government has consistently failed to address. The kafala system, which ties migrant workers’ legal status to a single employer and prohibits departure without employer consent, is in force across the Gulf states where the vast majority of Kenya’s diaspora works.

Passport confiscation, while technically illegal under Kenyan and international law, is routine. Workers who attempt to leave without permission risk arrest, deportation, and blacklisting from future employment. In a conflict scenario, these are not abstract risks. They are the difference between getting on a flight and being stranded.

When this reporter asked the Qatar embassy what a worker should do if their employer refused to release their passport as the security situation deteriorated, the response was to wait until “the time comes” and then contact the labour desk. There was no protocol. There was no urgency. There was no acknowledgment that the question described a situation already affecting workers across the region.

Half a trillion shillings at stake

The government’s apparent indifference is remarkable given the economic stakes. Remittances from the Gulf and broader Middle East region represent one of Kenya’s largest sources of foreign exchange, running into billions of dollars annually. Kenya’s total trade volume with Gulf countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar stood at $6 billion as of 2024, with agricultural exports — fresh flowers, fruit and vegetables — flowing through the very air corridors now disrupted by conflict.

The Central Bank of Kenya consistently ranks the Middle East among the top sources of diaspora remittances. Any prolonged disruption to the movement and employment of Kenyan workers in the region will feed directly into household incomes, school fees, and the informal credit chains that run through communities across the country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged this in its Friday statement, noting that the conflict could disrupt trade flows and that it was working with Kenya Airways to secure special cargo permits and additional flight capacity for perishable exports. The government’s greater anxiety, it appeared, was for the flower consignments than for the workers.

Mudavadi’s reassurances ring hollow

Mudavadi said in his Friday statement that no Kenyan casualties had been reported since hostilities began and that the government’s “top priority” was the safety and welfare of citizens abroad. He said Kenya’s seven embassies and two consulates across the region had “activated emergency and contingency response mechanisms, including evacuation plans should the security situation deteriorate further.”

The gap between that statement and the experience of a Kenyan worker trying to reach an embassy that does not answer its phone was left unaddressed. PS Singoei, meanwhile, said the State Department for Diaspora was playing a “frontline role” in addressing the welfare of diaspora communities. The frontline, based on a test of its emergency lines, appears to have been abandoned.

In a crisis, preparedness is measured not by the language of official statements but by whether someone answers the phone. On that test, Kenya is failing its citizens in the Gulf — not quietly, but loudly, and in real time.

NAIROBI, Kenya, March 7 — They sat in separate offices across the same capital city, speaking with the quiet authority of men whose words carry the weight of war. One insisted the bombing of a girls’ primary school was enemy propaganda. The other said 185 little girls were dead, and that the number was still climbing. This is what diplomacy looks like when the world is on fire.

As United States and Israeli warplanes pounded Iran for a seventh consecutive day on Friday, raining penetrator bombs on deeply buried missile sites and regime infrastructure in Tehran, the ambassadors of both Israel and Iran to Kenya fought a parallel battle for the African narrative, dispensing opposite and irreconcilable accounts of the most dangerous conflict the Middle East has seen in a generation.

Israel’s Ambassador to Kenya, Gideon Behar, told Capital FM on Thursday that the joint US-Israeli military campaign — code-named Operation Epic Fury and launched on February 28 — was a pre-emptive strike against an existential threat. Iran’s Ambassador to Kenya, Dr Ali Gholampour, told the Nation that his country had no choice but to defend itself and that it alone would decide when the fighting stopped.

The death toll in Iran from the US-Israeli bombardment had risen to at least 1,332 by Friday, according to the Iranian Red Crescent, including more than 181 children. Among the dead is Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the opening night of the assault when strikes targeted his office compound in Tehran. Iran’s parliament building, its state broadcaster headquarters, and a presidential office complex have since been reduced to rubble, as US B-2 stealth bombers drop 2,000-pound penetrator munitions on underground ballistic missile facilities and the US Central Command reports having struck nearly 2,000 targets inside Iran.

Iran has struck back with waves of missiles and drones targeting Israel and military installations across nine countries, killing US soldiers in Kuwait, damaging an oil refinery in Bahrain, hitting an Amazon data centre in the UAE, and sending a drone into a British air base runway in Cyprus. At least six American service members have been confirmed killed in the conflict, all from a single Iranian strike on a base in Kuwait. The US embassy there has been closed indefinitely.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump demanded Iran’s unconditional surrender and said he would not negotiate on any other terms. His defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, warned the bombardment was about to surge dramatically. Israel’s military announced a new phase of operations, targeting what it called regime infrastructure across the capital.

* * *

In Nairobi, the proxy battle for hearts and minds played out with equal intensity. Behar, speaking in a virtual interview with the Nation, was asked about the bombing of a girls’ primary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab on the first day of the war, a strike that killed at least 180 students and staff, a figure Iran’s own health ministry confirmed. His answer was instantaneous and categorical: fake news, he said. Iranian propaganda.

Gholampour had a different version, one buttressed by satellite imagery, independent analysts, UNESCO, the UN Human Rights Office, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. By Friday, UNICEF had confirmed at least 181 children were among the more than 1,300 dead in Iran. A school in Tehran’s Niloufar Square had been struck earlier that day; Iran’s Foreign Ministry posted footage of destroyed classrooms to X. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said American forces would never deliberately target a school and that the Department of Defence was investigating whether the strike was theirs.

On the nuclear question, Behar argued the strikes were necessary precisely because of timing. Iran, he said, had been on the verge of moving its nuclear programme into tunnels too deep to hit from the air. The Iranians had been dragging their feet through negotiations for years, buying time. The talks had collapsed in early February 2026 after the US demanded a complete halt to all uranium enrichment and Iran refused.

“We knew that once these capabilities were buried underground it would be almost impossible to stop them from acquiring an atomic bomb,” Behar told the Nation. “Our action was a pre-emptive action to stop an existential threat against Israel.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency had said as recently as March 2 that it had no indication any nuclear installation had been hit or damaged in the strikes, though Iran said at least one site had been targeted. The strikes follow the October 2025 triggering of snapback sanctions against Iran by the United Kingdom, Germany and France under the 2015 nuclear deal.

Gholampour rejected the nuclear justification entirely, calling the war an illegal act of military aggression in violation of the United Nations Charter. Iran, he said, would decide when it ended. “Everything depends on when the aggression is stopped. If it is stopped, our authorities will consider the situation. But if not, then we will continue to defend ourselves — we have no other choice, because this is an imposed war against my nation and my country,” the ambassador said.

Behar also widened the frame beyond the nuclear issue, accusing Tehran of financing militant networks across Africa, including in the Horn of Africa. Destroying Iran’s capacity to fund such networks, he argued, would reduce the operational reach of extremist groups on the continent. He described ordinary Iranians as friendly and peaceful, painting the war as one against a terrorist regime that the Iranian people themselves opposed, pointing to the nationwide protests that security forces crushed in early 2026.

* * *

Kenya was drawn into the diplomatic crossfire almost immediately. President William Ruto condemned Iran’s retaliatory strikes on the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, warning that the regionalisation of the conflict posed a grave threat to international peace and security. He did not mention the original US-Israeli attack on Iran. Tehran was not amused.

Gholampour told the Nation he was surprised that Kenya had chosen to condemn Iran’s response rather than the initial aggressor. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs scrambled to clarify that Nairobi was not taking sides but was opposed to the ballooning of the conflict through attacks on countries not at war. Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei said Kenya was only opposed to escalating violence, not backing any belligerent. The apparent contradiction left analysts questioning whether Ruto’s statement reflected considered foreign policy or, as one Nation columnist put it, personal ties to American evangelical networks rather than Kenya’s national interests.

The stakes for Kenya are vast. Some 500,000 Kenyans live and work in the Middle East, with roughly 300,000 in Saudi Arabia, 70,000 in Qatar and between 60,000 and 80,000 in the UAE. Iran is among Kenya’s top ten tea export destinations, purchasing 13 million kilogrammes worth Sh4.26 billion in 2024. Kenya Airways suspended flights to Dubai and Sharjah as airspace closures disrupted routes. Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi warned Parliament that a prolonged war would force Kenya to rethink its economic strategy as supply chains fracture and oil prices surge to their highest levels since September 2023.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen met Behar on March 3 to explore deepening Kenya-Israel cooperation, a meeting that sparked sharp reactions online. Gholampour, meanwhile, moved to reassure Kenyans that Iran’s missiles would not reach Kenyan territory, saying the country’s strikes were deliberately limited in range to US military targets and designed to signal defensive rather than expansionist intent. Kenya hosts a US military base in Manda, Lamu County.

As the conflict entered its seventh day on Friday with no end in sight, Nairobi’s balancing act grew harder by the hour. International relations expert Professor Macharia Munene, who tracks Kenya’s foreign policy, described Ruto’s response as a survival tactic. “He wants to be in the good books of the US and Israel,” Munene said. “But the optics have complicated Kenya’s diplomatic posture in a region where it has deep labour and trade ties.”

Behar ended his media interviews with confidence in the conflict’s outcome. He predicted a more stable Middle East once what he called the destabilising influence of the Iranian regime had been removed, and described Kenya and Israel as close partners built on mutual respect and a long history of cooperation. Gholampour ended his with defiance. Iran, he said, had been under attack in violation of international law, and the international community, Kenya included, had an obligation to direct its condemnation at the aggressors.

Meanwhile, in Minab, the families of the dead continued to bury their children.