Kenya Insights

Category: Opinion

  • Expert Opinion: Is Coronavirus As Deadly As They Say

    Expert Opinion: Is Coronavirus As Deadly As They Say

    By Wall Street Journal

    If it’s true that the novel coronavirus would kill millions without shelter-in-place orders and quarantines, then the extraordinary measures being carried out in cities and states around the country are surely justified. But there’s little evidence to confirm that premise—and projections of the death toll could plausibly be orders of magnitude too high.

    Fear of Covid-19 is based on its high estimated case fatality rate—2% to 4% of people with confirmed Covid-19 have died, according to the World Health Organization and others. So if 100 million Americans ultimately get the disease, two million to four million could die. We believe that estimate is deeply flawed. The true fatality rate is the portion of those infected who die, not the deaths from identified positive cases.

    The latter rate is misleading because of selection bias in testing. The degree of bias is uncertain because available data are limited. But it could make the difference between an epidemic that kills 20,000 and one that kills two million. If the number of actual infections is much larger than the number of cases—orders of magnitude larger—then the true fatality rate is much lower as well. That’s not only plausible but likely based on what we know so far.

    Population samples from China, Italy, Iceland and the U.S. provide relevant evidence. On or around Jan. 31, countries sent planes to evacuate citizens from Wuhan, China. When those planes landed, the passengers were tested for Covid-19 and quarantined. After 14 days, the percentage who tested positive was 0.9%. If this was the prevalence in the greater Wuhan area on Jan. 31, then, with a population of about 20 million, greater Wuhan had 178,000 infections, about 30-fold more than the number of reported cases. The fatality rate, then, would be at least 10-fold lower than estimates based on reported cases.

    Next, the northeastern Italian town of Vò, near the provincial capital of Padua. On March 6, all 3,300 people of Vò were tested, and 90 were positive, a prevalence of 2.7%. Applying that prevalence to the whole province (population 955,000), which had 198 reported cases, suggests there were actually 26,000 infections at that time. That’s more than 130-fold the number of actual reported cases. Since Italy’s case fatality rate of 8% is estimated using the confirmed cases, the real fatality rate could in fact be closer to 0.06%.

    In Iceland, deCode Genetics is working with the government to perform widespread testing. In a sample of nearly 2,000 entirely asymptomatic people, researchers estimated disease prevalence of just over 1%. Iceland’s first case was reported on Feb. 28, weeks behind the U.S. It’s plausible that the proportion of the U.S. population that has been infected is double, triple or even 10 times as high as the estimates from Iceland. That also implies a dramatically lower fatality rate.

    The best (albeit very weak) evidence in the U.S. comes from the National Basketball Association. Between March 11 and 19, a substantial number of NBA players and teams received testing. By March 19, 10 out of 450 rostered players were positive. Since not everyone was tested, that represents a lower bound on the prevalence of 2.2%. The NBA isn’t a representative population, and contact among players might have facilitated transmission. But if we extend that lower-bound assumption to cities with NBA teams (population 45 million), we get at least 990,000 infections in the U.S. The number of cases reported on March 19 in the U.S. was 13,677, more than 72-fold lower. These numbers imply a fatality rate from Covid-19 orders of magnitude smaller than it appears.

    How can we reconcile these estimates with the epidemiological models? First, the test used to identify cases doesn’t catch people who were infected and recovered. Second, testing rates were woefully low for a long time and typically reserved for the severely ill. Together, these facts imply that the confirmed cases are likely orders of magnitude less than the true number of infections. Epidemiological modelers haven’t adequately adapted their estimates to account for these factors.

    The epidemic started in China sometime in November or December. The first confirmed U.S. cases included a person who traveled from Wuhan on Jan. 15, and it is likely that the virus entered before that: Tens of thousands of people traveled from Wuhan to the U.S. in December. Existing evidence suggests that the virus is highly transmissible and that the number of infections doubles roughly every three days. An epidemic seed on Jan. 1 implies that by March 9 about six million people in the U.S. would have been infected. As of March 23, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 499 Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. If our surmise of six million cases is accurate, that’s a mortality rate of 0.01%, assuming a two week lag between infection and death. This is one-tenth of the flu mortality rate of 0.1%. Such a low death rate would be cause for optimism.

    This does not make Covid-19 a nonissue. The daily reports from Italy and across the U.S. show real struggles and overwhelmed health systems. But a 20,000- or 40,000-death epidemic is a far less severe problem than one that kills two million. Given the enormous consequences of decisions around Covid-19 response, getting clear data to guide decisions now is critical. We don’t know the true infection rate in the U.S. Antibody testing of representative samples to measure disease prevalence (including the recovered) is crucial. Nearly every day a new lab gets approval for antibody testing, so population testing using this technology is now feasible.

    If we’re right about the limited scale of the epidemic, then measures focused on older populations and hospitals are sensible. Elective procedures will need to be rescheduled. Hospital resources will need to be reallocated to care for critically ill patients. Triage will need to improve. And policy makers will need to focus on reducing risks for older adults and people with underlying medical conditions.

    A universal quarantine may not be worth the costs it imposes on the economy, community and individual mental and physical health. We should undertake immediate steps to evaluate the empirical basis of the current lockdowns.

    Dr. Bendavid and Dr. Bhattacharya are professors of medicine at Stanford. Neeraj Sood contributed to this article.

  • Coronavirus:David Ndii Dares Uhuru To Resign And Be Given Two Weeks To Save Kenya Or Be Executed In Public If He Fails

    Coronavirus:David Ndii Dares Uhuru To Resign And Be Given Two Weeks To Save Kenya Or Be Executed In Public If He Fails

    Economist Ndii had come up with a Lifeline Funds plan to cushion workers and small businesses. Ndii insists on this as the only policy instrument that can mitigate the economic shocks from this coronavirus crisis.

    However, not everyone is in the thought that Ndii’s proposals are workable as one Twitter user posed, “Solutions by Ndii are impractical. Lifeline fund?  To an economy that already can’t sustain itself?

    In a quick rejoinder, Ndii lashed, “Tell them(Uhuru’s administration) to resign or step aside. Give me one week and it will be running. If not, I’m ready to be executed in public. And that is a dare.”

    Ndii had elaborated the details of his lifeline fund plan in a letter addressed to the President. Read it below.

     

    Your Excellency,

    COVID-19 is here. Fatal errors have been made. People from Italy managed to travel to western Kenya when Italy was already the global epicentre of the pandemic. One of them was infected. This is unacceptable.

    Last Sunday, the government suspended international flights and imposed mandatory quarantine. Passengers did not find quarantine plans in place. They were held up for hours, and then allowed to go home and report back the following day. The following day, they were shuttled from place to place for hours. Yet, the Government had given assurance that a contingency plan for every scenario was in place. This is not true. It was the usual public relations, then shambles. Unfortunately, we are accustomed to this.

    Last week, in only your second address on the pandemic, you launched an Internet service. This was a serious error of judgment on your part, and distasteful opportunism on the part of Google. People are worried about food, and you call the nation to attention to launch balloons? Many Kenyans have accused you of being a prisoner of your privileged upbringing. Yet you continue to reinforce that perception. This was yet another one of many let them eat cake moment. It is one too many. Learn from it.

    I do not know what your analysts and advisors are telling you but here is the low-down I think you need to have.

    If the pandemic progresses to Europe level, we are sitting ducks.

    The data we are observing shows that availability of intensive care (i.e ICU) beds is the most critical survival factor. Germany has 1.5 times more infections than France, 30,000 and 20,000 respectively as I write, but France has seven times (860) the fatalities in Germany (130). But it is also the case that Germany has 29 ICU beds per 100,000 people, three times France with 11.6 beds per 100,000 people, that is a 40/100 ratio. What this means is, for 100 people needing ICU beds at the same time, Germany will save most of them, but France could lose all 60 who fail to get ICU beds. In every country, deaths have risen sharply once intensive care capacity is exhausted. The UK delayed its emergency response. With only 6650 confirmed cases, a fifth of Germany’s, they already have two and a half times the number of deaths. But the UK has only 6.6 ICU beds per 100,000 people, less than a quarter of Germany’s capacity.

    I gather that we have a total national ICU capacity of 200 beds. That works out to 0.4 beds per 100,000 people, or one bed for every 250,000 people. The global critical illness rate is at 4%. To exhaust our 200 ICU beds at this rate requires only 5000 infections. But many of these beds are already occupied; therefore the actual capacity that will be available is much less. We cannot afford 1,000 infections let alone 5,000.

    Allow me to turn to the economy. As Kenyans watch other, mostly European governments roll out economic mitigation and social protection measures, they are wondering when their government will come to the rescue.

    We could not be more ill-prepared.

    You will no doubt recall that as Finance Minister, you rolled out an Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) to aid recovery from the 2007 global financial crisis and 2007/8 post-election violence shocks. You may also recall that the budget deficit at the time was running at below 4% of GDP, which left plenty of headroom to borrow and spend without risking macroeconomic stability. You will probably also be aware of a fiscal prudence rule of thumb, a deficit “red line” if you like, of 5 – 6 percent of GDP that should not be crossed for too long. You will certainly know that your government has been running a deficit in the order of 7-8 percent of GDP for six years now.

    What this means then, is that we do not have the fiscal space for a borrow-and-spend fiscal stimulus. This year, your government has revised domestic borrowing upwards by more than Sh200b from a target of Sh300b at the start of the financial year, to the latest figure of Sh514b. The going just got infinitely tougher. Tax revenue performance which has been in decline throughout your tenure, is about to go in free fall. The deficit will rise regardless.

    Ten days ago, I expressed the opinion that fiscal or monetary economic stimulus—what we call demand management instruments in economics— are not the appropriate response and argued instead for a “lifeline fund” to protect jobs. Several countries including UK, Denmark and the Netherlands have since adopted this approach.

    What do I mean by “lifeline fund?” Let me use the simplest of examples — a hair salon or barber shop. Hair grooming is the very opposite of social distancing— and it can certainly wait. But thousands of people depend on it for their daily bread (ugali and githeri more like it). Most live day to day. How are they surviving?

    The lifeline fund is first and foremost, a safety net for workers like these whose sectors are most badly affected. This is the government’s responsibility just as it provides relief to drought and natural disaster victims. These people, particularly those in the urban informal sector, have nowhere to turn.

    Secondly, the lifeline fund aims to keep businesses, especially those that are providing essential goods and services open instead of closing because of low business. We want to avoid shortages that could encourage hoarding, heighten social stress, and drive up prices. Third, the more businesses we keep alive, the faster the recovery will be.

    For people in Nairobi’s crowded informal settlements and elsewhere, who do not know where their next meal will come from, the language of social distance and on-line working comes across as a cruel joke. We already have volatile powder keg of gross inequality and social exclusion, and as I already remarked, you personally have reputation for elitist insensitivity. If people get hungry, the soldiers you love to turn to will not help you. Let us not tempt fate.

    I have estimated in an op-ed published today on the TheElephant.info that a lifeline fund in the order of 0.5 – 1% of GDP or Sh50-100b would be sufficient to save the situation. But having already argued that it is not prudent to borrow-and-spend, I am obliged to offer suggestions on how else this might be funded. I see two options.

    The first is budget reallocation within the existing deficit by (a) drastic cutback on development projects and (b) mothballing non-essential functions thereby freeing up some non-wage recurrent budget. Certainly, monies budgeted for international travel; workshops and public events can be redeployed immediately. This will require political resolve and execution discipline, the lack of which has been the bane of your government. Time and again, austerity plans are announced, but not followed through. You do not have that luxury anymore. You can no longer kick the can and hope that we will muddle along until it becomes someone else’s problem. Mr. President, your luck has finally run out. If you do not impose financial discipline, you are looking at a financial meltdown in a few months, if not sooner. That will be your legacy.

    The second is external finance. The IMF has stated it can avail $57b quickly to low income and emerging markets. If it was shared pro-rata between low and middle countries based on GDP, our share would be in the order of Sh18b ($180m), significant but inadequate in the context of the revenue shock referred to earlier. The Prime Minister of Ethiopia has appealed to the G-20 to advance Africa $150b in emergency funds and to write off debts. I am of the view that African leaders should unite around a moratoriam on debt repayment to official creditors (i.e. multilateral and bilateral lenders). New money even if it could be made available, which I doubt, couldn’t come fast enough, and all sorts of paper work would have to be prepared. The same applies to debt write-offs.

    A debt service moratorium on the other hand is equivalent to budget support with money we already have. It is a case of a bird in hand being worth two in the bush. Moreover, on this, it is we the debtors who have the leverage because we can’t pay. Won’t pay is an option.

    Our foreign debt service budget to official creditors for the coming financial year is in the order of Sh220b. I propose you reach out to Prime Minister Abiy and work together to champion this alternative.

    The next question is how would the lifeline be delivered. The western countries are offering partial salary subsidies, up to 80 percent in UK to companies that keep workers on payroll. I think we should do it differently, for two reasons. First, I need not belabour that the government is broke. Simply put, they are rich, and we are poor. Second, and to my mind more importantly, it will be very difficult to target grants efficiently and fairly in our predominantly informal economy. If money is free, demand will overwhelm supply, and if truth be told, the corruption opportunities are beyond measure.

    For these reasons, I propose that the lifeline fund be in the form of a very soft loan with long grace period (6 – 12 months) and reasonable tenure (3 – 5 years). The amount should be a fixed sum per employee and disbursed monthly over a fixed term. Should be entirely linked to the number of employees to the loans should be made available to both workers (as check-off loans) and businesses (business loans). To illustrate, working with a figure of Sh30,000 per worker per month for four months, a restaurant with 10 workers would be entitled to borrow Sh1.2 million. If shared equally between the business and workers, and is interest-free over five years, the business would repay Sh10,000, and the workers Sh500 a month each once the crisis is over. The screening of eligible businesses and actual nitty-gritty of loan administration should be left to banks.

    In conclusion Mr. President, allow me proffer what I think are your leadership imperatives:

    1. Broaden your leadership team by establishing a National Covid-19 Response Task Force that includes the other arms of government (Judiciary, Legislature, and Council of Governors) as well as private sector, private healthcare providers, professionals and other leaders in society, with you as Chair. The task force should meet at least twice a week, daily if necessary and update the public on a weekly basis. May I propose you personally take charge of this by way of a weekly press conference.
    2. Establish an independent scientific advisory panel, along the lines of the UKs Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) to advice you and the National Response Task Force. You need doers (the taskforce) and thinkers (the advisory panel). What we don’t need is provincial administration enforcers donning fatigues and issuing edicts like they have done since colonial times. If we don’t adapt, we will die.
    3. Task the health authorities to mount an aggressive testing effort of high exposed people and clusters (airline and international hotel staff, tourism centres e.g Malindi and Diani etc) to establish the extent, if any, of local transmission. This is imperative because many urban Kenyans have travelled back to rural homes, and they, as well as the Government, needs to know whether they and their families are at risk so that the appropriate response can be mounted.
    4. Task the Treasury, Central Bank and the Kenya Bankers Association to set up a Lifeline Fund along the lines proposed. Task the cabinet to craft an austerity plan within the next seven days with a target of identifying (a) development projects that will be frozen and (b) non-essential functions that can be mothballed with immediate effect.
    5. In addition to the lifeline fund, it may become necessary to provide a social safety net at the community level in the near future. In this regard, may I propose that Ward Level response teams comprising of political (MCA), county and relevant government officials (ward administrators, chiefs, social workers) and community leaders be established, and tasked the responsibility of identifying vulnerable households that may need assistance, if and when that time comes.

    Mr. President, you need to get your act together for this. This is our last big ask from you. It’s also your last scene on the big stage. God knows your performance has not lived up to its billing—and that’s being polite about it. It is your chance for public redemption. It many not matter to you, but it matters to us— to the thousands, maybe millions of lives at stake. Stop listening to your buddies, sycophants and frontmen for commercial interests. You will not get away with throwing up your hands and asking the public what they expect you to do.

    The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor wealth to men of understanding, nor favour to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all. For surely no man knows his time. Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensared in an evil time than suddenly falls upon them. (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12)

    Godspeed

    Most respectfully,

    David Ndii DPhil(OXON)

    Nairobi, 25 March 2020

    David Ndii is a leading Kenyan economist and public intellectual.

     

  • Why Is Everyone Getting Paycuts Except Politicians?

    Why Is Everyone Getting Paycuts Except Politicians?

    There is a global pandemic, Kenya was already suffering a major economic recession threat way before COVID-19, massive redundancies have been making the papers for the last few months with major employers announcing huge losses, yet, the common mwananchi can still afford to pay politicians millions of shillings. How?

    Just yesterday, Kenya Airways announced its top managers would be forced to take a pay cut of up to 35pc to preserve cash and cut costs amid the coronavirus outbreak that is grounding airlines across the globe.

    Just to give you a hint of how bad the situation is, about 30,000 casual workers in Kenya’s flower farms have been axed in the last week and over 40,000 permanent staff asked to go home on unpaid leave due to the crisis. Tuskys has announced plans to send home employees this month, same as Standard Group Limited which just yesterday announced in a circular that over 170 employees will be shed off in a move that is aimed at cutting the companies spending.

    With these heavy economic losses being experienced across various sectors of the economy, how can we still afford to pay our lazy politicians these hefty amounts? why are they not taking any pay cuts?

    While other countries are announcing tax cuts and wage boosts, Kenya is doing the exact opposite, the hand to mouth mother who farms spinach and takes it to the market can not do that anymore but she is still carrying this heavy tax burden to finance bloody MCAs who are milking counties to the ground, Mpigs who have built mansions with the money supposed to be bursary for the mothers child.

    Where are these politicians anyway? saw on the paper Saboti MP Caleb Amisi has offered to sponsor any person who will come up with a good song that will create awareness among the youth about the coronavirus pandemic. Is that the best they can do, make songs? We are paying them Sh3.1 billion and the best they can do is go on Twitter and tell China to forego Kenya’s debt?

    The government should announce tax cuts, better yet freeze them! Strip these politicians their nonsensical allowances, cut their salaries and make life easier for Kenyans.

  • Coronavirus: Kenya Must Now Prepare For The Worst

    Coronavirus: Kenya Must Now Prepare For The Worst

    ‪A crisis-weary nation and now Kenya has to deal with the onslaught of the Coronavirus. Health infrastructure has been in tatters for the longest time. Fear is making things worse. Medical personnel who’re on the war front are afraid as well, they’ve accused the government of not training them adequately to deal the contagious virus and neither equipped them to the teeth with the ideal protection clothing.‬

    Government has taken steps to contain the virus spread including suspension of flights from flagged countries, restricting public gatherings, imposing a mandatory self quarantine for those who’ve traveled from hit countries. They’ve also boosted public sensitization on the Coronavirus especially on the need for hand washing, not touching face as important measures in curbing the highly contagious virus.

    However, the reality is yet to hit home as many continue with normal behaviors despite many deer examples from the affected countries. It’s not unusual to find others still shaking hands despite several warnings that its one of the ways the virus is spread.

    While the government has banned public gatherings, it’s been observed in parts of the country people crowding especially in bars. In Nairobi, revelers continues to throng their favorite pubs which were observed to be full even by Wednesday night.

    Nairobians continues with their partying lifestyle despite Coronavirus threats.


    Kenya on Wednesday confirmed three more cases of COVID19 bringing the total number to seven. Government said they’ve so far tested 132 with 22 people under watch. The number is expected to go up today.

    While there’s no deaths so far reported since the first confirmation of the virus in Kenya less than a week ago, Kenya is sitting on a time bomb and the authorities must move ten steps ahead of the virus.

    Its not a secret that Kenya lacks the capacity to contain a full blown case of Coronavirus, we lack the capacity both by infrastructure, finance and generally the crippled healthcare system cannot even handle 1000 Coronavirus cases.

    According to healthcare practitioners, Kenya has less than 100 ICU beds in public hospitals and with slightly over 100 in private hospitals. These beds have not even been able to handle the existing conditions with doctors constantly forced to make the decisions on whom to allocate the bed, it’s unthinkable what the situation would be of Coronavirus pandemic is fully blown and thousands of patients in critical conditions need ICU treatment to survive.

    With the glaring truth that Kenya cannot handle the virus’s blow, containing the virus from spreading further is the only option left since it’s already here. Countries like Spain, Italy, South Korea who’ve been worst hit have put the countries in a lockdown. Movements are restricted because they realized free movements accelerated the spread of the virus.

    Italy despite being the 4th economic giant in Europe is being brought to its knees with Coronavirus. From 2 deaths reported less than three weeks ago, Italy as of Wednesday had 2,978 deaths with a record of 475 deaths in a day. That’s how ravaging the virus is.

    When the news of Coronavirus hit Italy, many didn’t take it seriously and they went about euthanasia their lives as normal, going to the bars, cinemas and other socializing places without realizing the virus was silently spreading.

    Kenya is almost replicating this entire script and a reason why the state must take the unthinkable and lockdown the nation as the virus is likely and silently spreading.

    Back to Italy and the astonishing data, its outbreak may be so devastating because it has such an old population and the elderly come into frequent contact with the young.

    A study by the University of Oxford has suggested that multiple generations living under the same roofs ‘accelerated’ the spread of the virus in rural Italy.

    More than 31,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus in the crisis-hit country and at least 2,978 people have died – a death rate of almost one in 12.

    The country has the world’s second oldest population after Japan – 22 per cent of people are over 65 – and people in that group are known to be more likely to die if infected.

    But it could be the movements of young people which triggered the disaster.

    It’s common for young adults in rural areas to live with their parents and grandparents but to commute into cities, such as Milan, to work and socialise.

    Situation in Italy as hundreds of bodies are prepared for burial.

    They may have been picking up the virus while travelling and brought it home without realising they were ill, the Oxford researchers said.

    Another study published this week suggested that 86 per cent of patients may have no idea they’re ill in the early stages of a country’s epidemic, raising the risk of this deadly spread going unnoticed.

    Kenya has in the past few days realized a mass migration of people from the urban to rural areas as the panic mode got triggered. This is one dangerous move given in the rural is where the old and most vulnerable group live and with almost non existent health system, the results is unthinkable. This is why the state must urgently move in to stop travels to the villages to cushion the old age from extinction and generally contain the virus from spreading further.

    Today the cabinet will hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the possibilities of putting the country on a possible lockdown.

    France Deserted Paris landmarks after a strict lockdown came into effect to stop the spreading of the COVID19 in the country.

    All said, people must now stick to social distancing like a script. Being a body/body transmission phenomenon, keeping at least 1 meter away from anyone while in public is a key measure in preventing infections.

    Social distancing as seen in Spain.

    If the country is put on a lockdown as it should, then what are the essentials one would need as this will mean restricted movements and stocking of essentials.

    Experts are advising people to stick non-perishable foods and in the case of Kenya this could be anything like unga, rice, tea, sugar, cereals, dengu amongst others as lockdown could go for 1 to 3 months according to the evaluation.

    Stock basic medical supplies, while doctors are warning against inflammatory drugs, you need to shield yourself with cough, fever and congestion drugs. Soap for hand washing, and disinfectants to clean surfaces.

    Goverment on the other end must cushion the public from essential bills. With a big population living in a hand-mouth basis, the lockdown is likely to leave many vulnerable, hungry. So the government will need to work out ways on ensuring the nation has food.

    Essential bills like rent, water and electricity bills should preferably be suspended until the situation eases and economy gets better. Government should give cash to households as this will not only ensure the basic needs are taken care off, but also keep the economy afloat with money circulation.

    As Kenyans await for the directives from the government, an urgent boost in health facilities need to be prioritized and Kenyans in general need to prepare to give up certain privileges to save the nation from the pandemic.

    To defeat Coronavirus pandemic, the best strategy is to prepare for the worst but expect the best.

  • Mutahi Ngunyi Offers KRA Advice On How They Can Recover The Sh9B Tax Debt From Keroche

    Mutahi Ngunyi Offers KRA Advice On How They Can Recover The Sh9B Tax Debt From Keroche

    Keroche Breweries is facing a possible closure with KRA moving in speed to recover Sh9B owed by the firm. Court had given a ho ahead for the tax payer for the recovery.

    KRA then moved to freeze the firm’s bank accounts, however, in a reprieve following petition, High Court barred KRA from forcing the holding banks for Keroche to remit cash.

    Many have viewed the spirited fight by KRA on Keroche as deliberate effort to close it down with some suggesting the new Danish Brewery planet in Naivasha could be favored to take over the market on the death of Keroche.

    An hashtag #SaveKeroche has been trending on Twitter for a while now with many Kenyans including intellectuals like economist David Ndii calling out the government for frustrating the Tabitha Karanja’s empire. Many have suggested for KRA to negotiate long term payment plan with KRA instead of closing it down given the impossibilities of it paying Sh9B debt.

    Political analyst, Mutahi Ngunyi has an idea that he thinks is timely and could be helpful to KRA and save Kenyans in the glaring dangers of Coronavirus. “KRA has the rare OPPORTUNITY of NEGOTIATING with KEROCHE to produce ALCOHOLIC hand sanitisers in EXCHANGE for the HEFTY taxes. If TIMES change, METHODS must CHANGE! Be NICE!” Tweeted Mutahi.

    Kenya has of today confirmed 7 Coronavirus cases with 18 cases are currently admitted at Mbagathi, 7 have been screened & are negative. Samples from the remaining 11 are currently being tested.

  • Experts Warn Of Looming Crisis With Internal Spread Of Coronavirus In Africa

    Experts Warn Of Looming Crisis With Internal Spread Of Coronavirus In Africa

    (AP) — The coronavirus has now been confirmed in at least 30 of Africa’s 54 countries, officials said Monday, and regional power South Africa warned of a new crisis once the virus begins to spread at home and into crowded low-income communities.

    The most alarming confirmation of a first case came from Somalia, the Horn of Africa nation with one of the continent’s weakest health systems after nearly three decades of conflict. Tanzania, Liberia and Benin also announced their first cases.

    African nations have begun imposing travel restrictions as many confirmed cases come from abroad. Algeria cut off all air and sea contact with Europe, effective Thursday, and Botswana barred travelers from 18 high-risk countries.

    South Africa announced it will revoke nearly 10,000 visas issued to people from China and Iran, two of the hardest-hit countries, in January and February. It also will require visas from several hard-hit countries that had been visa-free, including the United States and Italy.

    Both are dramatic steps that target important business partners at a time when South Africa’s economy has again slid into recession. In response, France’s embassy urged French citizens visiting South Africa to leave as soon as possible.

    “The internal transmission risk is now setting in,” South Africa’s health minister, Zweli Mkhize, told reporters a day after the country declared an unprecedented national disaster. It has 62 cases, all from abroad. Health officials are investigating two cases of possible local transmission.

    “The reality is this: For now, individuals that have been infected thus far are people who can afford going on holiday abroad or they travel for business. Those individuals also have accommodation for self-quarantine,” the minister said. “However, when this outbreak starts affecting our poor communities where families do not have enough rooms or spaces to quarantine those affected, we will experience a crisis.”

    South Africa might have to impose a “lockdown” if these and other new measures including travel restrictions and school closures don’t work within two weeks, the health minister said: “It’s going to be very hard.”

    South Africa has one of the most developed health systems in Africa, and global health experts have openly worried for weeks that the virus could quickly overwhelm countries on the continent with weak health systems.

    Somalia is one of them. Health Minister Fawziya Abikar said the country’s first confirmed case was in a Somali national who had recently arrived from abroad. Somalia’s government quickly announced that international flights to the country would no longer be allowed as of Wednesday.

    Large parts of Somalia remain under the control of the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group, which has been hostile to aid groups and often carries out deadly attacks in the capital, Mogadishu. The insecurity will hurt efforts to contain the virus.

    In Liberia, the executive director of the country’s environmental protection agency tested positive after arriving last week from Switzerland.

    Liberia, along with neighbors Sierra Leone and Guinea, was devastated by an Ebola outbreak from 2014 to 2016 that killed more than 11,300 people.

    “There is no cause for panic,” Information Minister Eugene Nagbe said.

    Tanzania’s health ministry said the country’s first confirmed case was a a 46-year-old Tanzanian woman who recently traveled from Belgium. Tanzania came under unusual criticism from some global health officials last year after the East African nation was accused of not sharing information about a possible Ebola virus case.

    For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But severe illness can occur, especially in the elderly and people with existing health problems. Worldwide, over 169,000 people have been infected, 6,500 have died and over 77,000 have recovered, most of them in China.

    Across Africa, some health experts worried that other virus cases were going undetected.

    “We have to ask the question: How strong are our monitoring systems, especially those in rural areas or with limited technology? That is a reality on the continent and perhaps why we have not yet seen a surge in cases,” public health researcher Dr. Shakira Choonara told The Associated Press.

    Professor Cheryl Cohen with South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases expressed concern that the current numbers could rise rapidly.

    “The major area for the virus is now Europe, and we are connected more to Europe and U.S. than we are with China,” she said.

  • Slay Queen Pastor Lucy Natasha Defies Goverment’s Directive To Self Quarantine

    Slay Queen Pastor Lucy Natasha Defies Goverment’s Directive To Self Quarantine

    Known for pomp and opulence, Rev. Lucy Natasha who courts media attention is not new to controversy. It’s normal to spot her traversing the world in private jet, SUVs while surrounded with bodyguards. She has made a name for herself with the pageantry.

    Kenyan government like the rest of the world is struggling with the deadly Coronavirus cases with key containment measures taken to halt the spread further. Kenya has confirmed three cases both of whom had traveled from London together.

    Rev. Natasha preaching.

    President Uhuru in his address to the nation banned all public gatherings including church as a curbing measure of the virus that now threatens to spread to many. President also encouraged social distancing and asked employers to allow staff working from home to avoid being in crowded places.

    Uhuru also banned travels to and from countries with confirmed cases of Coronavirus. Those whom have traveled recently from areas with confirmed cases were directed by the President to self quarantine for 14 days to avoid spreading the virus should they have been in contact.

    Rev. Natasha had just arrived from Ghana where she was on a religious tour interacting and preaching with the locals. Ghana has registered 6 Coronavirus cases.

    Ghana is closing its borders to travelers from countries with more than 200 cases of the coronavirus as the West African nation seeks to prevent contagion of the disease.

    Its therefore disturbing that despite the Rev falling under the square of those who recently traveled from affected countries, has defied the directive to quarantine and instead putting many of her followers at risk l. She continues to hold her normal church services where the crowd obviously come into contact.

    https://twitter.com/revlucynatasha/status/1239434206406721536?s=21

    It’s not enough assuring that the church will put in place sanitizers but extremely dangerous for the Rev to take such an irresponsible stand. In China, those who deliberately put others to risk of contracting and spreading the Coronavirus are arrested and charged with homicide.

    South Korea now has reported 1900+ deaths from the Coronavirus in what officials have traced to have started from a church. The now famous patient 31 had defied doctors advice to self quarantine and went about with her normal life including attending church twice. When she tested positive, her contacts were traced and it would later turn out that the escalation emanated from the church with over 200,000 followers, 70% of infections in South Korea have since been traced back to the church.

    Rev. Natasha is unnecessarily irresponsible and putting many in risk. What is wise to do now is to stay at home, she can livestream her sermons to the followers without crowding, better safe than sorry. This is what should happen with all other religious institutions.

  • Fight, Not Flight, Must Be The Strategy For Flattening The COVID-19 Curve

    Fight, Not Flight, Must Be The Strategy For Flattening The COVID-19 Curve

    The number of coronavirus cases in Kenya has jumped to three after the government confirmed two more cases. President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced a raft of proactive measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

    Barely three months into the COVID-19 outbreak, stock markets have plummeted, and global supply and production systems have wobbled. Across the world panicked shoppers have cleared shelves of hand sanitizer, soap and tinned food, as if preparing for a siege.

    The message by UN Secretary-General António Guterres that ‘as we fight the virus, we cannot let fear go viral’ is absolutely pertinent. And the people of Kenya can count on the United Nations Country team as an ally in this fight.

    Global pandemics are the new threat to humanity. The number of new diseases per decade has increased nearly fourfold over the past 60 years, and since 1980, the number of outbreaks per year has more than tripled.

    Factors such as climate change, rising populations and increased travel have made humans more vulnerable today than they were 100 years ago. An infection in one corner of the world can make its way to the most distant corner within a day.

    In sub-Saharan Africa, there are genuine fears over how health systems will cope. Most are ill-prepared and ill-equipped to implement public health measures such as surveillance, exhaustive contact tracing, social distancing, travel restrictions and educating the public on hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette.

    These are the basic steps that will delay the spread of infection and relieve pressure on hospitals, even as support is sought for costlier solutions such as personal protective equipment, ventilators, oxygen and testing kits.

    For countries in Africa and other areas where health resources are limited, a little-understood pandemic such as COVID-19 is a challenge that requires a whole-of-society response. While science creates the tests and will eventually develop a vaccine, the most effective immediate responses to pandemics depend more on simple actions we can all carry out than on pharmaceutical-based solutions.

    Flattening the COVID-19 curve will also be aided by accurate information. Rising public panic and hysteria is stoked by the difficulty in sifting fact from rumour, speculation and inaccurate information. One of the problems of the age of social media and citizen journalism is that it provides a forum for everyone, and enables the dangerous fiction that anyone with an opinion is an expert. In such circumstances a rational, science-driven narrative is difficult to sustain.

    Getting ahead of COVID-19 by ensuring that only accurate information and scientific guidance takes control of the narrative is crucial. It is for this reason, the United Nations Country Team in Kenya is offering communications support – amongst other initiatives – to the Ministry of Health in its current commendable response to the problem. Everyone will benefit if they heed the wise counsel of CS Mutahi Kagwe. For example he emphasizes the importance of frequent and thorough hand washing. Hand washing saves lives and is the best defence against communicable diseases.

    Though microbes are evolving millions of times as fast as humans, and humans have little or no immune protection against new flu strains, the scientific understanding of the risk of pandemics, and our ability to predict the next pandemic before it even happens, is better than ever.

    It is now known, for instance, that most new infectious diseases originate in animals, including SARS from bats and some strains of influenza from birds. Factors that include close proximity to live animals, poor hygiene in relation to meat and live animals at markets, overcrowding, and bushmeat consumption can allow pathogens to jump the species barrier to humans.

    These scientific advances are being deployed to find more comprehensive solutions such as vaccines. Widespread access to such vaccines confer immunity to individuals and even ‘herd immunity’ for populations. Vaccines work and have saved countless lives.

    Countries in Africa must also take the fight to the pandemic through simple but effective measures for detecting, testing, isolating and mobilizing their people to mitigate transmission.

    With simple, fact-informed hygiene measures as the main weapon, the continent can slow the virus’s spread and flatten the curve. And the UN family in Kenya is in lockstep with the Government of Kenya to fight COVID 19 on all fronts.

    By Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya.
  • Expert Opinion: Fake News, Misinformation and the Coronavirus Crisis

    Expert Opinion: Fake News, Misinformation and the Coronavirus Crisis

    The coronavirus crisis has presented an unprecedented dilemma; the balance between freedom of expression, freedom of the press and ensuring the public are adequately informed on what measures need to be put in place to deal with the crisis. Unlike casual political, social or economic banter, incorrect or blatant false information on the coronavirus could lead to catastrophic consequences especially at an age where information from the State is treated with suspicion. Anyone who adopts the wrong coronavirus management protocols is at a risk to themselves and anyone they interact with.

    It is a task to define what constitutes ‘fake news and misinformation’. There is hardly an objective analysis of the two concepts. This is made worse by the reach social media has; one post has the potential of going viral within minutes and there are tonnes of views on each and every subject. If the Kenyan situation is anything to go by, anyone who contradicts what the Government says sees their post go viral on social media. Our collective scepticism is on high alert, but we are not in a position to objectively identify what may be fake news or misinformation.

    Freedom of expression and free press exist on the premise that a democratic society ought to allow a free market of ideas. This free market enables society to sift through diverse views, opinions and facts; in the long run, ideally, the ‘truth’ is meant to triumph in such an environment. Unfortunately, a public health emergency is not like a political or social debate where facts are juxtaposed against each other in the hope that society will sift through the facts and consume what is true. The public must be presented with ‘facts’ and ‘truth’ from credible sources and act upon such with haste. The question on what or who constitutes a credible source is a dicey one.

    With the above in mind, Article 33(2)(d)(i) states that the right to freedom of expression does not extend to advocacy of hatred that constitute incitement to cause harm. Does fake news or misinformation on the coronavirus extend to advocacy of hatred that constitute incitement to cause harm?

    A comparative study indicates that the Governments of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore continuously presented the public with information on how to act amid the coronavirus crisis. While I couldn’t find any information on whether there was a proliferation of fake news and misinformation, the three have been touted as having successfully contained the crisis. Also, Singapore has stringent laws on fake news and misinformation in the form of the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, 2019.

    Granted, the Kenya Government has put in place initiatives to constantly inform the public on what measures have been put in place to deal with crisis and what individuals can do to protect themselves and those around them. The periodic updates and reminders are all over traditional media and social media. Notwithstanding, social media accounts continue to post what may be considered as fake news or misinformation.

    Fake news and misinformation are covered by Section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018 which provides –

    A person who knowingly publishes information that is false in print, broadcast, data or over a computer system, that is calculated or results in panic, chaos, or violence among citizens of the Republic, or which is likely to discredit the reputation of a person commits an offence and shall on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding five million shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or to both.

    The above provision is currently being used to arrest and charge individuals who post or spread fake news and misinformation on the coronavirus crisis. The challenge with the provision is that it is poorly drafted and, in my view, may not result in any convictions. The provision is vague on various aspects, one, how does one prove motive to create panic or chaos or violence? Two, how does one measure panic? Is it panic by one person or more than one person? Who determines that another person has panicked?

    While Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018 may be used as a deterrent to future fake news posts, it hardly meets the threshold of a penal provision that constitutionally provides for the limitation of fundamental rights and freedoms. Compare Section 23 cited above with Section 7 of the Singapore Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019 which states –

    (1)  A person must not do any act in or outside Singapore in order to communicate in Singapore a statement knowing or having reason to believe that — (a) it is a false statement of fact; and (b) the communication of the statement in Singapore is likely to —(i) be prejudicial to the security of Singapore or any part of Singapore; or (ii) be prejudicial to public health, public safety, public tranquillity or public finances;

    The Singapore provision mention public health and public safety which may arguably indicate an objective analysis on what may constitute fake news. The jury is out there on how the Kenyan State will enforce the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, but one thing is for sure, the law will be used to clamp down on fake news and misinformation during this moment of crisis. Perhaps, once charged, the accused persons will seek an interpretation of Article 33 of the Constitution vis a vis the Cybercrimes Act.

    As we wait to analyse the legal processes, it is imperative that we deal with the coronavirus crisis together. Only our collective actions can manage and contain the crisis. Hence, let us –

    NOT post, share or spread any fake news or misinformation in relation to the coronavirus and hope that the Government will offer verifiable, credible and real time information to the public.

    By Mugambi Laibuta

    Mugambi is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, a trained Mediator and a legislative and policy analyst. He currently teaches Legal Writing and Legislative Drafting at the Kenya School of Law.

  • How To Politely Turn Down Handshakes Without Offending

    How To Politely Turn Down Handshakes Without Offending

    Should you want to make a case for banning handshakes during the coronavirus crisis, there’s plenty of damning evidence out there to help you do it.

    The gesture is a super-efficient way to spread germs, given that we also touch our facesunwittingly about one or two dozen times per hour, according to studies, most often touching our eyes, nose, or mouth. Performing the perfectly unnecessary custom of shaking someone’s hand raises the likelihood that you’ll infect yourself with any virus that’s going around.

    Indeed, around the world, governments are recommending alternatives to handshakes (and kisses or nose-to-nose touching) to prevent the spread of the virus behind Covid-19.

    alternatives to handshakes

    Many politicians and business leaders are finding alternatives to handshakes.

    Image: World Health Organisation

    But none of those facts do you much good when you’re standing in front of someone, who, apparently having missed your anti-handshake nonverbal messaging, extends a palm and expects you to take it.

    In the moment, chances are you will return the gesture out of a sense of obligation, out of fear of looking like a jerk. What else could you do?

    Adeodata Czink, who runs Business of Manners, a consulting company in Toronto, says you could do this: “Put up both your hands like a five-year old is holding a pretend gun against you, and say, ‘Please forgive me, I don’t dare, I have this coronavirus phobia.’”

    The key to this response is tone, she says. It must be playful, which makes the image of a five-year-old posed with a squirt gun useful to keep in mind. “Make it a light thing,” Czink advises, “rather than ‘I don’t want to shake your hand,’” the latter of which is insulting and only adds to current hysteria.

    Another option: “Say ‘I’m so sorry, but I don’t want to shake hands with anybody,’” she adds. “Throw in the coronavirus right away. Then you have not singled them out, but the virus.”

    If you already have gloves on, you could keep them on and shake someone’s hand, but only if you explain, “I know it would be polite to take my gloves off, but I’ve got this coronavirus phobia,” she says.

    In other words, don’t pretend the weird behavior isn’t happening.

    Doctors are ahead of us

    Handshakes are particularly difficult to decline because of when they happen. We generally do not shake hands with friends or family, who might forgive your germaphobic reaction or be aware that you live with someone at a heightened risk of developing deadly complications from Covid-19. Instead, we shake hands with people in professional settings—it’s a cultural norm in the business world globally—and there’s typically an agenda, an ego, or a power structure to consider.

    Doctors, who have been dealing with handshakes-or-no-handshakes debate for several years, understand the significance of this social habit. In their arena, a handshake establishes trust. It helps allow a patient to feel they are being seen as a whole person, not just another body, in an era when medical appointments are often rushed.

    Nevertheless, some physicians believe you can (and should) send the same message with an alternative greeting that also appears intentional and warm. In an op-ed in 2014 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, for instance, three US doctors suggest either waving, putting your hand over your heart like you’re about to make a pledge, or holding your hands in the “namaste” prayer position in front of your chest. Any of these actions could signal that a greeting has happened, with the certainty that a self-conscious half-greeting could not.

    One of the doctors who authored that article also put up signs in a neonatal intensive care unit that read “handshake-free zone.” For employees at workplaces where customers typically expect a handshake and may initiate one, at a car dealership or mortgage lender’s office, for example, this might be an idea worth stealing, at least in the time of coronavirus. The message is clear: It’s not you, it’s policy.

  • Insight: You Converted All Bars To Coffee And Biriani Houses Lawyer Donald Kipkorir Breaks It Down Why Mombasa Is Dying

    Insight: You Converted All Bars To Coffee And Biriani Houses Lawyer Donald Kipkorir Breaks It Down Why Mombasa Is Dying

    By DBK

    Open Letter to My Friend, Fauz Khalid aka Abu Sakeena
    MOMBASA

    RE: Why Mombasa City (And Nairobi ) Is Dying

    Fauz,

    Great cities that remain alive have character. Damascus, Rome, London & Athens have remained alive from the time they were established thousands of years ago. Modern cities like Vienna, Cape Town, Melbourne, Toronto and Montreal are great for what they are and offer.

    Today, when we spoke, like many times before, you reminded me that Mombasa City is dying and no one is saving it. Many residents of Mombasa honestly think SGR killed it. I have never supported SGR but it didn’t kill Mombasa. The residents and leaders of Mombasa killed it. All cities and towns in a Kenya have been killed. Let me tell you why all Cities and towns in Kenya are dying.

    Great Cities have beautiful transport system, power supply and water supply infrastructure. Across History, people congregate and continue living in an urban settlement because of these. Rome of 2,000 years ago had all these. When the British Colonialists built our cities less than 100 years ago, they tried to borrow modern urban planning which survived their rule. When they left in 1963, we converted our Cities and towns to villages.

    Great Cities have educational institutions from Kindergarten to Universities that are world class. They also have Theatres, Museums and Hospitals that are world class. Only Nairobi tries with these. But not much. The other cities including yours have nothing. Even your own leaders don’t trust your schools or hospitals.

    Great Cities have excellent restaurants, bars, clubs and liberal life. And security. Tourists go to a city that offers cuisine thst delights, lots of alcohol, entertainment and liberal sex life. Malta is a dry island but one of the richest countries because of tourism. They receive tourists five times its population. Literally, any restaurant in Malta serves 5* food. There, the government closes its eyes to prostitution and marijuana. You will hardly see Policemen in Malta yet there is no crime. Your people in Mombasa converted all bars to coffee and biriani houses. Tourists won’t travel all the way to Mombasa to take coffee or biriani. Tourists are not pilgrims. I won’t either.

    And great cities have to have a working environment policy. The cities must be clean. Garbage must be collected. Urban planning is respected. Kiosks, matatus and hawkers are out of CBDs. In Kenya, kiosks, matatus, boda Boda and hawkers reign supreme. Garbage is never collected.

    Bottom line, Cities in Kenya including Mombasa, Nairobi, Malindi, Naivasha, Nakuru, Nanyuki and beautiful suburbs like Karen and Westlands are dying because we have brought our villages to them. We have killed the souls of liveable cities. Cities have to have life. By killing clubs, bars, red-light districts and allowing kiosks, matatus and hawkers, we are killing our cities.

    The Chinese haven’t done us much good, but they didn’t kill our cities. Our cities will only be revived if we elect leaders who are transformative and visionary. This generation is guilty of destroying Kenya and its cities with selfish and short term goals.

    Jioni Njema Kaka.

  • Scramble For Naivasha: Of Keroche And Danish Brewing Company

    Scramble For Naivasha: Of Keroche And Danish Brewing Company

    Keroche and KRA are entangled in a fierce war. The KRA is set to collect Sh9.1 billion in taxes from Keroche Breweries Limited with regard to products manufactured and marketed by the company. This follows a win by the KRA in six appeals filed by Keroche before the Tax Appeals Tribunal in 2015 and 2017, respectively.

    Experts have already warned that the huge cash demand could send the only surviving indigenous brewer hurtling down the precipice.

    While Tabitha would be moving to court to challenge the tribunal’s decision, KRA has moved quickly to freeze her banks accounts thereby freezing the operations of the company.

    At a time when unemployment rates in Kenya are at an all time high, its immoral for KRA to deliberately kill a struggling company that has employed many Kenyans. The consequences of imminent closure of Keroche would be devastated families,l, suppliers of raw materials and all those in the value chain would be affected in what eventually would be felt in the economy.

    Its within Keroche’s is mandate to pay taxes and now that we’re here, the only thing we need to address is how to keep the company running rather than closing it. One would wonder how Keroche got away with all this for all that long and ask where KRA was.

    KRA and Keroche need to work out a payment plan, Sh9B fir a company with an estimated turnover of Sh6B is unrealistic.

    Danish Brewing Company

    As Keroche puts up a fight for survival, few meters away a brewery plant is being set up in what many have pointed an accusing finger as a factor behind Keroche’s woes. Could it be true that there’s an elaborate plot to kill Keroche for the Danish brewing company to takeover the existing market?

    Danish Brewing Company East Africa, a subsidiary of US firm Bounty Global Management Company founded in 2015, is set to begin production of Carlsberg, Tuborg, Holsten and Kronenbourg beers in Kenya.

    The US $45 million (KSh 4.59 billion) investment will involve the construction of a modern plant in the Naivasha Industrial Park situated around 100 km from Nairobi. At full capacity the plant will produce 12-15 million cases of beer annually (around 1-1.3 million hl) and will employ 350 people.

    A signboard of the firm erected in Naivasha.

    In 2015, Carlsberg entered the beer market in Kenya after signing an exclusive distribution contract with Centum Group, which operates as an affiliate of the Kenyan government-owned Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation and which is listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). Centum targeted the premium beer market, by importing the beer mainly from Denmark and selling it in the local market through its 100% subsidiary King Beverage Ltd. The company also said it had plans to set up a beer bottling plant, depending on sales volumes.

    However, in August last year after being 4 years in the market, Centum sold 100% of the shares in the company for USD1.3 million (KES 130 million) to Danish Brewing Company. “The strategic intent by Centum was to grow volumes of the business, initially under an import model and later under local production.

    However, due to various industry challenges, including competition from gray products and parallel imports of similar products, it was evident that the business would not be able to scale up volumes to warrant the further investment by Centum into local production,” said Centum in a statement in August. Two months earlier, Centum already announced to sell all its shares in two Kenyan Coca-Cola franchise bottlers; Almasi Beverages Limitedand Nairobi Bottlers to Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) for USD 192.5 million (KES 19.5 billion). Centum is associated with Chris Kirubi who’s a substantive shareholder of the company.

    Beer market leader in Kenya with five production sites for beer and spirits is East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL), a subsidiary of Guinness.

    There has been silent tones that the foreign company is being favored. Danish Brewing Company E.A Limited, is set to be the first anchor tenant at the Naivasha Industrial Park.

    Under the 2019/20 budget, the government allocated a total of Sh1.1 billion to go towards the development of textile and leather industrial parks, the Naivasha Industrial Park and the Cotton Development subsidy.

    Construction works at the Sh6.9 billion industrial park began early last year after President Uhuru Kenyatta opened the Mai-Mahiu SGR Terminus.

    Land for the industrial park is situated where the SGR and the Inland Container Depot will meet.

    If we’re to theorize then would it be right to say Keroche is being pushed away to create a market and takeover of Keroche which is now left with few options including selling or shutting down.

    Some questions that have been flying around like who owns the Naivasha land where the dry port was forced to and now the industrial park? Could EABL be having a hand in Keroche’s woes given it’s the only closest market rival with some claiming that major political family recently bought shares in EABL and determined to dominate the market.

  • The Signature That Might End Mike Sonko’s Woes.

    The Signature That Might End Mike Sonko’s Woes.

    Governor and his co-accused faced 19 charges of corruption, abuse of office and irregular payments that saw the county lose Sh357 million.

    Count 1: Sonko, alongside Fredrick Odhiambo alias Fred Oyugi T/A Yiro Enterprises, Web Tribe Limited, Danson Muchemi Njunji, Robert Muriithi Muna, Zablon Onyango Ochomo, ROG Security Limited and Antony Otieno Ombok alias Jamal are accused of conspiring to embezzle Sh24.1m between July 1, 2018 and January 31, 2019.

    Count 2: The governor is accused of conflict of interest. Sonko is accused of knowingly receiving Sh1 million from Web Tribe Limited, the parent company of JamboPay, through ROG Security Limited. The money is said to have been received on or about January 19 through Equity Bank Limited, Nyali branch.

    Count 3: The governor is accused of knowingly receiving another Sh1 million from Web Tribe through ROG, through Equity Bank, Kenyatta Avenue branch.

    Count 4: Sonko is accused of knowingly receiving Sh1 million from Web Tribe through ROG on January 19, through Equity Bank’s Gigiri branch.

    Count 5: The county boss is accused of knowingly receiving Sh1 million from Fredrick Odhiambo alias Fred Oyugi of Yiro Enterprises through ROG on December 27, 2018. The cash was received through Equity Bank’s Four Ways branch. According to the charge sheet, the county hired unspecified “heavy equipment” from Yiro.

    Count 6: The county boss is accused of receiving Sh1 million from Yiro through ROG on December 27, 2018. The cash was deposited into his account at Equity’s Nyali branch.

    Count 7: Sonko is accused of knowingly receiving Sh1 million from Mr Odhiambo through ROG on December 28, 2018. The prosecution says the cash was received through Equity Bank’s Kwale branch.

    Count 8: Sonko is accused of receiving Sh1 million from Yiro through Equity’s Nyali branch on December 28, 2018. The alleged irregular payments were a facility by ROG.

    Count 9: The governor allegedly received Sh1 million from Mr Odhiambo through ROG on December 27, 2018. The money was deposited into his account at Equity’s Kenyatta Avenue branch.

    Count 10: Sonko is accused of unlawfully receiving Sh400,000 from Mr Odhiambo on December 28, 2018 through Equity’s Kenyatta Avenue branch. The payments were facilitated by ROG.

    Count 11: The governor is accused of pocketing Sh1 million from Mr Odhiambo and Yiro through ROG on December 28, 2018. The illegal payments were done through Equity’s Kenyatta Avenue branch.

    Count 12: Sonko is accused of receiving Sh8.4 million in proceeds of crime, contrary to Section 4 of Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money laundering Act. He is accused of receiving the cash from Mr Odhiambo between December 27 and 28, 2018 at Equity Bank.

    Count 13: The governor is accused of receiving proceeds of crime – Sh3 million – from Web Tribe – on or about January 19 at Equity Bank.

    Sonko denied all these charges and secured his release after paying a cash bail of Sh15 million. The High Court in Nairobi had granted him a Sh15 million cash bail or an alternative bond of Sh30 million with a surety of a similar amount. Court also barred Sonko from accessing his office and commenting on the case on social media as were the directorates of public prosecutions and criminal investigations and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. And being that he had no Deputy, the Magistrate ruled that if need be, he can be escorted by the investigating officer or any other authorised officer.

    Recalling back on 8th Nov, 2017 when President Uhuru Kenyatta in his Harambee House chaired a meeting aimed at ‘Regeneration of Nairobi.’

    President Uhuru Kenyatta charing a meeting aimed at Regeneration of Nairobi County. 8/11/2017. Photo|PSCU

    “The programme is between the national government and the County Government of Nairobi, and will cost billions of shillings, focuses on key economic and social sectors. It is expected to significantly improve the livelihoods of Nairobi residents.” Said PSCU on a statement . The Nairobi team was led by Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko, former Deputy Governor Polycarp Igathe and the then nominee for County Secretary Peter Kariuki.

    The meeting agreed that in the next four weeks all relevant state departments and city county departments realign their procurement plans to ensure relevant allocations are available for the implementation of the programme and what turned out to be 2 years for the implementation to come to pass evidently at a time when the Governor is facing Corruption charges, barred from office and facing impeachment motion in the County assembly. Your assumption is as good as mine. If he had no graft cases, he would have not handed over and he would have had a deputy Governor by now. The deep state power ready to save him from his ouster by advising him to do the handing over.

    Moving on — Deputy Governor Polycarp Igathe and Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala co-chaired the technical committee of the special task force on Nairobi. “The programme focuses on Housing and Settlement, Infrastructure and Transport, Energy, Water Resources, Environment and Solid Waste, Youth, Women and Persons with Disability. Other sectors are Land, Information and Communication Technology.” PSCU on a statement. The meeting was attended by Cabinet Secretaries Henry Rotich (Treasury), James Macharia (Transport and Infrastructure), Eugene Wamalwa (Water and Irrigation), Cleopa Mailu (Health) and Jacob Kaimenyi (Lands, Housing and Urban Development) among others.

    Governor Mike Sonko (right) and CS Eugene Wamalwa (left) signing the transition documents in presence of President Uhuru Kenyatta(standing left) and Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka(standing right) at State House. 25/2/2020. Photo|PSCU.

    Yesterday Tuesday 25 Feb, 2020 In a historic but not a surprise to me, land mark agreement signed at State House where Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko and Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa in concurrence with H.E President Uhuru Kenyatta, signed an agreement, officially handing over functions of the Nairobi County Government to the National Government, pursuant to Article 187 of the Constitution.

    The signing of the agreement was also witnessed by the Speaker of the Senate, Hon. Kenneth Lusaka and the Attorney General Paul Kihara.

    The National Government therefore, will take over the following functions of the Nairobi County Government:

    i)County Health services

    ii)County Transport services

    iii) County Public Works, Utilities and Ancillary services

    iv)County Government Planning and Development

    “This will ensure Nairobi residents receive services efficiently. The move comes as a breakthrough in the running of county services that had ground to a halt.” State House spokesperson Kanze Dena-Mararo.

    A move that has been gazetted.

    Take a look at J.B Kenya™ (@JohnBosco_Juma): https://twitter.com/JohnBosco_Juma?s=09

     

    https://www.facebook.com/ItsJohnBoscoJuma/

  • Levin Opiyo: Untold Story Of Dr. David Silverstein The Moi’s Doctor ‘Doktari’

    Levin Opiyo: Untold Story Of Dr. David Silverstein The Moi’s Doctor ‘Doktari’

    Who is Dr David Silverstein?

    Shortly after his arrival in Kenya in the 70s, he operated the first cardiac catheterization laboratory or cath lab, an examination room where doctors use diagnostic imaging equipment to diagnose and treat heart conditions with catheters instead of surgery.

    But that was just the beginning for the Chicago native of Jewish heritage, whose initial plans of a two-year stint in Kenya turned into an adventure of a lifetime that has spanned over four decades.

    “When I was at the University of Chicago, I didn’t really know there was a world out there,” Silverstein said. “I was so much into academics and school and trying to excel.”

    After graduating from the University of Chicago Medical School at the young age of 22, Silverstein, now 76, completed his residency in Seattle and later served in the US Air Force in Taiwan.

    That experience birthed in him a desire to see more of the world. After his military service, he returned to Seattle and completed a cardiology fellowship.

    Later when a cardiologist friend from Kenya suggested to him to apply for a position at the University of Nairobi, he didn’t hesitate.

    “I didn’t hear from the University of Nairobi for a long time, and suddenly they called and said, ‘Please come tomorrow. You’re badly needed to run our new cath lab,’” he said.

    Within a few years, Silverstein went from running the cath lab at the Kenyatta National Hospital to heading its cardiology unit. Additionally, Silverstein was promoted to senior lecturer at the University of Nairobi Medical School.

    “I had just arrived for the first graduating class, so everybody from the second graduating class onward were my students,” he said.

    In 1977, he was named chief cardiothoracic physician for the government of Kenya, and in 1983, he was asked by president Daniel Arap Moi to be his personal physician. He had met Moi some years earlier.

    “The exciting part is that I got to travel with him all around the world,” said Silverstein. “Whenever the Head of State traveled overseas, I would go too. I was in the Great Hall of the People in China during Deng Xiaoping’s time,” he noted.

    Along the way, Silverstein would also care for Charles Njonjo and Nelson Mandela. Two years later, Silverstein happened to be at the same hotel as Mandela was walking through a hallway.

    “When a Head of State walks through the halls, we all move to the side,” Silverstein said. “When he (Mandela) passed by me, he said, ‘Dr. Silverstein, I’m still alive. You’re a better doctor than you thought.’ I couldn’t believe he remembered my name,” laughed Silverstein.

    But the road to success came with its own set of challenges. Shortly after Silverstein arrived to Kenya, he quickly had to learn Swahili to communicate with his patients.

    Now he’s fluent in four languages and comfortable with six. Despite his service in the Air Force, Silverstein had a tremendous fear of flying. To overcome his fear, he earned his pilot’s license.

    “Somehow I was convinced that the only way I was going to relax is if I learned how to fly,” he said. “I was also a control freak.”

    After establishing a private practice, Silverstein bought a farm near Lake Naivasha . The farm, with chicken, cows, horses, geese, dogs, and cats, has become a place of refuge and peace for him and his wife.

    “I go out and I jog in the morning with giraffes, zebra’s impalas, warthogs and eland,” he said.

    “I think they’re beginning to know who I am now,” he joked. “Hippos are also in the background, and occasionally a buffalo, which is a little more exciting.”

    Silverstein, the father of four young men, met Channa his wife at Nairobi Hospital, where she was working at the time.

    Their first date followed the bombing of the American Embassy in 1998. After a full-days work treating nearly 500 patients, they had dinner together. “We’ve been together ever since,” said Commanday.

    Today, he continues to practice at Nairobi Hospital, teach at the University of Nairobi, and has managed to cut back his hours to just 12 a day. A ravenous reader who is academically driven, Silverstein says he still has more to accomplish.

    “I’ve really enjoyed the type of medicine I get to practice,” Silverstein said. “It’s been very challenging and a lot of fun. I know I’ve made a big difference to a lot of people. Many of my friends and colleagues in the United States have retired due to burn out. To be honest with you, I don’t think I’ll ever retire as I haven’t found anything more fun than being a doctor in Africa.”

  • Setting The Records Straight On The ‘Renegade’ Asian Family That Wrecked Havoc

    Setting The Records Straight On The ‘Renegade’ Asian Family That Wrecked Havoc

    Dear Editor 

    I write to you with regard to the article published on Weekly Citizen on the 27 01 2020, namely: “Renegade Asian family wrecks havoc in community”.I am both shocked and horrified to learn that such an article has been written about my family and I. I have documented evidence to rebut all the contents there written.

    These are the facts here written to counter the defamatory lies published by Weekly Citizen:

    Harish Devji

    Harish, the eldest son of the late Ramniklal Devji, started his career at his father’s shop Pattni Jewellers on River Road at a tender age of 13 years. Harish sacrificed his academics to help his parents and younger siblings. His sacrifice paid off when he was able to send his brother Bipin to America for higher education.

    Harish left Kenya during the aftermath of the failed 1982 coup as he feared for the safety of his new born son. He built up his life in the UK with the help of bank loans and mortgages. He established a business in Wembley, namely Devji’s and purchased a home in the affluent neighbourhood of Middlesex. His family did not provide any help as his father didn’t like the UK.

    Unfortunately due to being a victim of several violent robberies, mainly affecting the jewellery industry, Harish reluctantly had to close down his business. He gifted the business premises to his mother as a pension fund. Harish left the tertiary market for the secondary market and traded in prestige goods.

    Harish’s health started to decline rapidly in 2017, he was diagnosed with chronic arthritis and in 2018 he was diagnosed with diabetes. The doctor recommended that he moves to warmer climes. Therefore Harish decided to sell his house and move back to Kenya to be close to his family. He arrived in Kenya on 01 09 18 with his wife and son.

    On 31 01 19 Harish collapsed in the morning after suffering 3 strokes. He was rushed to Aga Khan Hospital where he underwent an emergency neurosurgery. There was 50% chance of mortality and 50% chance of permanent brain damage. Miraculously he survived. The doctor said that he must be kept stress free and properly cared for to avoid a repeat attack.

    In June 2019, Harish lost his father from a severe heart attack and was forced to attend the funeral and take part at the mourning ceremony despite being frail. Nevertheless he carried out his responsibility being the eldest child and heir to the family.

    When all the expat mourners had left, Harish’s brother Bipin together with his business partners Yogesh and Kanji Damji Pattni of Victoria Commercial Bank, hatched a plan to kill Harish because his father had died intestate. Removing Harish would automatically grant Bipin the position of family head.

    Bipin attacked Harish at the family home on General Mathenge and forced him to take residence at the abandoned property on Brookside Drive. To make sure Harish and his family couldn’t claim their rights as heads of the family he took out court orders to stop them from entering any of the family’s properties under false pretences. The court orders were lifted because the plaintiff failed to show up to court after Harish petitioned against him.

    Bipin had very much hoped that the stress inflicted on Harish by the court proceedings would end his life.

    Frustrated from his failure, Bipin enlisted the help of his business associates Yogesh and Kanji Pattni to hatch a new plan. Kanji, being very well connected, was able to hold Harish against his will and without due process at the Parklands police station from a Saturday afternoon to a Tuesday morning when he was finally admitted to court to face bogus charges invoked upon him. Harish was deprived of medical attention, food, water and medicine by Kanji’s accomplices at the Parklands police station in an attempt to murder him. Harish was rushed to the Aga Khan A&E straight after leaving court. He is lucky to be alive. The case is yet to be heard.

    Hasmita Devji (Harish’s wife)

    Harish’s wife has been by far the biggest support in his life. After Harish’s jewellery store, Devji’s, closed down Hasmita studied to qualify as a bookkeeper and a paralegal and has worked at several respectable law firms since.

    This is where it gets interesting: Hasmita’s father, the late Girdharlal Pattni, is Kanji Pattni’s uncle. Kanji Pattni’s father, late Damji Devji Pattni, was Girdharlal’s step brother and business partner respectively. Harish’s father, the late Ramniklal, used to be Girdharlal’s employee initially when he first moved to Kenya. Kanji Pattni exiled his uncle to India and usurped his uncle’s share of the property and became his father’s business partner.

    Things get even more complicated: Harish’s sister Indira got married to Kanji’s eldest son Arvind Pattni and Harish got married to Hasmita (Kanji’s uncle’s daughter that he exiled).

    I’m sure that, evidently, it becomes quite clear to the readers that Kanji never expected his exiled uncle or his children to return to Kenya and he was furious when they did even going as far as to break off Harish’s wedding. In September 2018, Hasmita returned to Kenya with Harish and her son and this was the last straw for Kanji Pattni. He vowed to destroy them by hook or by crook.

    Bhavin Devji

    Bhavin, a Kenyan born national, has been the pillar of strength for Harish and essential in nursing him throughout his recovery.

    He graduated with a LLB Honours Law Degree from the UK and continued to progress to obtain a LLM Masters in International Law.

    During his post graduate education, Bhavin was rushed to hospital with severe pancreatitis. Pancreatitis has a high mortality rate and therefore the doctor advised that all family members meet him within 48 hours, just in case. However, his family in Kenya continued to holiday in Bali instead of rushing to the UK. Kanji Pattni prayed that Bhavin would pass away to spite Harish and Hasmita.

    On returning to Kenya, in September 2019, he filed papers at the Council of Legal Education and was admitted to Riara Law School to start the pre KSL Course in January 2019. Unfortunately, on the second day of enrollment at Riara University, Bhavin woke up to find his father Harish collapsed in the bathroom. He rushed him to Aga Khan Hospital and had to drop out of the course to assist with his father’s recovery.

    Just like his father, who sacrificed his education for his younger siblings, Bhavin sacrificed his career for his father. Like father like son.

    As human beings, regardless of our profession or walk of life, our obligation is to speak the truth and only the truth can set us free.

    “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

    Thus far, this is our story. By the mercy of God we live to tell this tale regardless of any words written or spoken against us.

    I sincerely hope that you publish our story on your credible website.

    Thanking You

    Harish Devji

  • How DP Ruto’s Miscalculations Handed Waititu His Impeachment

    How DP Ruto’s Miscalculations Handed Waititu His Impeachment

    Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu did not see his impeachment coming.

    He had faith in his political support base. And he was right. Until January 21, Mr Waititu’s position as governor appeared relatively safe after the County Assembly had voted to impeach him.

    According to a senior Jubilee Party official, Mr Waititu’s impeachment was a distant issue within the top echelons of the State and neither President Uhuru Kenyatta nor his court thought much about it.

    But things turned ugly during the debate to form a Special Committee that would have investigated the allegations levelled against the governor during the Special Senate sitting last Tuesday.

    Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen ripped open Deputy President William Ruto’s plan to save Mr Waititu, bringing the heavy hand of State House into the picture.

    This triggered a chain of events that would culminate in the Senate voting to kick out the governor on Wednesday evening.

    Mr Waititu’s trial in the Senate had been an ordinary affair just like those of eight others that had preceded him.

    But Mr Murkomen — either overconfident or plainly naïve — exposed Dr Ruto’s scheme when picking the six Jubilee senators to the 11-member special committee.

    First, he picked legislators that are rabidly loyal to the DP, much to the discomfort of some within the Senate.

    The committee had Kakamega senator Cleophas Malala as chairman with his Nakuru counterpart Susan Kihika as deputy.

    Other members were Sylvia Kasanga (nominated), Mohamed Faki (Mombasa), Eric Okong’o Omogeni (Nyamira), Fredrick Outa (Kisumu), Hargura Godana (Marsabit), Aaron Cheruiyot (Kericho), Anuar Oloitiptip (Lamu), Mithika Linturi (Meru) and Iman Falhada (nominated).

    However, this committee was challenged by some in Jubilee Party, who saw it as skewed in favour of DP Ruto and concluded that it had been designed to save the governor from the guillotine.

    And, true to these fears, Senators Kihika, Oloitiptip, Linturi, and Godana voted to save Mr Waititu on Wednesday evening. This was the first wrong move.

    As if that was not enough, there was concern from a section of Jubilee senators that there was no consultation before the names were picked.

    Some from Central Kenya counties complained that their interests were not represented as none of their own had been picked to the committee.

    The conclusion was that Dr Ruto’s men would easily manipulate the committee and that some of the members lacked the necessary competence and independence to hear the charges on the basis that some of those proposed rarely attended House and committee business.

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    Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata fired the first shot when he accused Mr Murkomen over the skewed membership to the committee.

    “Mr Murkomen brought exclusively Tangatanga names. I urged him to change, but he refused to make it more accommodating. Our differences spilled to the floor and we mobilised and got it rejected. It was Uhuru versus Ruto,” Mr Kang’ata, the Deputy Majority Whip, complained.

    Some accounts suggest that it was Mr Kang’ata who reached out to some powerful people at State House when it was clear that Dr Ruto’s men would have their way.

    This alarmed State House which, for the first time, got interested in the matter with President Uhuru Kenyatta personally reaching out to ODM leader Raila Odinga for help.

    At this time, debate on whether the list should be adopted was well under way. In fact, Mr Orengo and former AG Amos Wako had already supported the names presented by Senator Murkomen and pleaded with the House to approve them.

    Hurriedly, some State House officials reached out to Mr Kang’ata and ordered him to oppose the list as they explored other options.

    As this was unfolding, Mr Odinga called Mr Orengo and asked him to call for a brief adjournment of the House for consultation. This was the final straw.

    It was this adjournment that would scuttle the scheme by the DP’s allies and deliver Mr Waititu’s Waterloo. The matter was now a battle between State House and Dr Ruto.

    During the adjournment, both President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga took charge of the initiative when they mobilised lawmakers allied to them to oppose the list and ensure it was defeated.

    Mr Orengo and Mr Kang’ata were tasked with ensuring the trial of the governor was done by the whole Senate sitting as a committee.

    On the one hand, Mr Kang’ata and senators Charles Kibiru (Kirinyaga) and Johnson Sakaja (Nairobi) were detailed to whip Jubilee senators to vote out Mr Waititu.

    On the other hand, Mr Odinga would summon his Nasa troops for a secret meeting on Wednesday, January 22, where he pleaded with them to vote out the governor.

    “The President is keen to see the governor removed and he is seeking our support,” Mr Odinga told his troops. “We have a duty to support the President and I plead with you not to let the President and myself down.”

    This was the point of no return.

    And, as the session dragged into the night and Speaker Kenneth Lusaka patiently called senator after senator to debate the matter, Mr Waititu’s only hope was divine intervention — this too failed him.

    An outwitted Murkomen was asked to move the motion. “I can see the mob lynching of the governor. The politics of the day is favouring his lynching. But politics changes. Times change. If God gives me the opportunity to be in this House again, I will be very happy when another governor, who has been one of us, is brought to the dock … I know what vehicle drove people to what direction … I want to make it abundantly clear, when it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.”

    He sank into his chair and watched as Governor Waititu became the first administrator to be impeached. Defeated, they trotted out of the plenary into the chilly darkness that is Nairobi’s night.

    via Daily Nation.

  • James Nyoro Sworn In As Kiambu Governor What Next For Waititu

    James Nyoro Sworn In As Kiambu Governor What Next For Waititu

    End of the road for embattled and now former Governor Ferdinand Waititu as his then deputy Nyoro is officially the new governor after being sworn in by Justice John Onyiego.

    Waititu who was impeached by the Senate had moved to court in a bid to stop the scheduled inauguration in an appeal that will be heard on Monday.

    With Nyoro now sworn in as the Governor, Waititu’s goose is cooked and served as it will take a miracle to change anything. Babayao was impeached on three charges by Kiambu Assembly all of which were upheld by the Senate; gross violation of the Constitution, Public Finance Management Act and PPD Act.

    Having reached the high rank of Governor the only next step would’ve been the Presidency and that’s a dream that’s likely impossible with the current political setup. So what’s next for the Tanga Tanga allied politician? Nobody knows and only time will tell.

  • Wanjeri Nderu: Setting The Records Straight

    Wanjeri Nderu: Setting The Records Straight

    #AmKenyan.

    SORRY. LONG READ:

    Friends, I will not watch the so called ‘documentary’. It is not worth my time. They can make new ‘documentaries’ with the money they stole from Nairobians when in power everyday if they so wish! Engaging with criminals is worse than swimming with pigs.

    This post is for you. Genuine supporters. Those who change lives one case at a time with their love, generosity and prayers.

    I became an admin of this amazing group in early 2018. At the time only the amazing Jackson Njeru and Mildred Atty Owiso were admins. It has remained this way to date.

    We worked together before I became admin since many of the human rights violations the group had to deal with usually landed with me. They both requested that I co-admin so that I get the cases directly and to ease their work load.

    Though it is a joy to serve, managing BB issues at times becomes a full time affair. Those we have walked the justice journey with can attest to the fact that we follow through until cases and campaigns are concluded logically. Exposing the rot at Nairobi County, that is now attracting sponsored cyber bullying by suspected THIEVES, is a good example, including all the individual cases we handle.

    OTHER THAN MY HUMAN RIGHTS WORK, WHAT DO I AS WANJERI DO (when I am not being labelled a ‘murderer’ and ‘extortionist’ by known THIEVES)

    I quit my very well paying job in the finance/insurance industry in 2013. My intention was to quit for one year to be a full time volunteer. At the time I was a partial volunteer working on Child Abuse cases, especially the rape of BOYS. A crime that is often not handled because of the stigma around it. I was to use this one year break to focus on my passion then go back to work. I was very sure I would get another job without a problem because of my experience and the fact that I had been recognised with a professional award for my work was an added plus. I believe if I wanted to go back to work today, I would still get a job if the company is not bothered by my ‘ACTIVIST’ tag ?.

    It is said human beings can make plans, but only God executes according to His Will. That one year period has since stretched to date because the more cases I handled, the more I would get. I ended up working on many other forms of human rights violations.

    As a Human Rights Defender. I have been blessed in many ways. Though there has been ZERO financial reward, I have been recognised and awarded not just locally but internationally. This I give praise to God for.
    On the flip side, my work has exposed me and those I love to very many risks that are at times not disclosed publicly. In some instances physically leaving KENYA has been the only way to keep sane and safe! (This is a topic for another day!)

    SO HOW DO I PAY MY BILLS?

    I am a professional communications consultant for mainly civil society organisations and I have recently started venturing into corporate and individual consultancies. This is what has been feeding me and my family for the last several years. The money is not as great as what I made in the financial world but the satisfaction that comes with successful campaigns is worth the occasional brokeness and I get to sleep better at night when I touch and change another persons life!

    In addition to this, I am in the process of starting a project that works on issues of WELLBEING, SELFCARE and the MENTAL HEALTH of HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS. This project will be jump started by the aid of an award I won last year at The University Of YORK in the UK, where I had gone for a 6 month protection fellowship that gave participants an opportunity to compete for the Jerry Lockspeiser award for the best research project.
    Mine was on the need to focus on protecting the mental health of human rights defenders in order for them to pursue their calling effectively and by God’s Grace, I won.

    So now you all know what I do.
    I am blessed to have an amazing support system surrounding me. I am able to pursue my ‘madness’ as people call it because of a tight circle of people who hold my hand every day.

    That support system also includes BB members. We may not always agree but when I ask for support on behalf of others, like what you all did, paying school fees for poor KCPE kids all over KENYA, I get. That cannot be taken for granted. And I thank you!

    Yours,

    WANJERI NDERU

  • KOT Goes Berserk After Lawyer Steve Ogolla Claims He Was Conned Sh500K By Woman Parody On Facebook

    KOT Goes Berserk After Lawyer Steve Ogolla Claims He Was Conned Sh500K By Woman Parody On Facebook

    One of the most vocal twitter user and Nairobi-based lawyer Steve Ogolla has been trending for a better part of Sunday—29th Dec— after he alleged a Facebook Woman parody swindled their KSh500,000 wedding funds.

    In a depressing Facebook post, Steve Ogolla narrated how he was financially whacked by a Woman named Dorcas Sarkozy, who he had never met.

    “I was in a fake relationship with this ‘lady’ and she conned me in excess of 500K, planned a fake wedding and nearly drove me to suicide. I reported to authorities but she came back and blackmailed me by sharing my private love WhatsApp chats with her to third parties,” Ogolla wrote.

    Here is randomly samples tweets in response to the Lawyers Facebook post.

    https://twitter.com/Nichonasri1/status/1211297865378742272?s=19

    https://twitter.com/BravinYuri/status/1211242780363767808?s=19

    https://twitter.com/CharleeOddie1/status/1211206509264281602?s=19

    Other Netizens however rubbished the story and termed it as a cheap scheme of using a hoax to gain popularity.

    https://twitter.com/gabrieloguda/status/1211269931830001665?s=19

    Check more tweets here https://twitter.com/hashtag/steveOgolla?s=09

    In his response, the now trending lawyer has said that is past history and nothing from his post is affecting his present life as he’s in Mombasa eating with a big spoon in this festive season.

  • ALERT: Avoid Nano Liquid Screen Protectors

    ALERT: Avoid Nano Liquid Screen Protectors

    With every smartphone owner going the extra mile to make sure their phone remains as good as new, protecting the screen from cracks comes first. A couple steps in Nairobi and you will not miss them, set up on a desk, mostly a silver briefcase and manilla papers advertising what they do. They claim to coat your smartphone with Nano Liquid (Silicon Dioxide (SiO2)) that’ll deem your phone unbreakable, this is a hoax.

    Purported to be unbreakable, here is how SiO2 works, when applied on your smartphone the SiO2 dries and becomes liquid glass, the liquid screen protector naturally provides oleophobic coating, anti-bacterial properties and the tiny layer of glass also adds a LITTLE more impact protection to the phone. The Nano liquid can be used on anything.

    The liquid screen protectors are approx. 100 nanometers thick so it wouldnʼt add any noticeable thickness to your device. Technically, the liquid screen protectors just add scratch resistance since youʼre adding another layer of glass on top of the smartphone screen. But this layer is only 15-30 molecules thick and itʼs still just GLASS. you’re permanently adding another layer of glass on your phone!

    Most Nano Liquids boast of 9H hardness, which might sound very safe to a normal Kenyan, making it a major selling factor. However, the average tempered glass screen protector also has 9H hardness, and we all know it breaks, so having the liquid screen protector as 9H is nothing special from a features standpoint.

    I am not an expert and the Nano Liquid doesn’t at all bring a disadvantage to the phone. I do not see any advantages either. Say you drop your phone without the liquid protector, the glass breaks you have to change it, so you decide to put the liquid glass on the new screen, you drop it it cracks you basically have to change the screen again, the liquid Nano did not break your phone, neither did it change anything. On a regular tempered glass protector you can just peel it off.

    It is not entirely proven that the Nano liquid used in the streets of Nairobi is pure Silicone Dioxide, this may explain the malfunctions, however, best make a good financial decision and keep off it and stick to the tempered removable screen protectors.