Kenya News
Nairobi MCA’s slam Gachagua over Sakaja snub
Kenya Kwanza and Azimio la Umoja coalition members who are members of the Nairobi City County Assembly (MCA) have criticized Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua after it appeared that he disregarded Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja at an event in Uhuru Park on September 25, 2023, where President William Ruto was launching Community Health Promoters (CHP) kits.
A number of MCAs have asked that Gachagua apologize to Sakaja because they believe the Deputy President showed disrespect by ignoring the Governor.
“We demand that Gachagua respects Nairobi leaders. He cannot just snub Governor Sakaja at an event in Nairobi where the governor is supposed to be the host. Gachagua should know that he came to Nairobi from the village and Nairobi has elected leaders who deserve respect,” Korogocho MCA Absalom Odhiambo Matach said after the event.
Matach urged the county assembly’s minority leadership to postpone discussion of the Deputy President’s behavior.
Talks have been sparked by a video showing Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua not shaking hands.
Gachagua did not extend his hand to meet Sakaja when he arrived at Uhuru Park in the controversial footage that has sparked debate among Kenyans.
The governor of Nairobi was one of the dignitaries awaiting to greet the DP and then the president. Gachagua then exited his gas-guzzler and greeted other dignitaries, including Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, Council of Governors Chairperson Anne Waiguru, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa, and Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha. Sakaja put his hand on Rigathi’s shoulder as she returned from greeting the dignitaries hands behind his back and snubbed the DP in return.
The MCAs believe that Gachagua and Sakaja are at odds since the governor was able to bring together the MCAs of Kenya Kwanza and Azimio la Umoja in Nairobi despite the fact that he was elected on a UDA platform.
According to MCA’s, Gachagua has been promoting divisive politics and feels threatened by Sakaja’s capacity to work with political leaders from opposite sides of the political spectrum. If Sakaja is elected to a second term as Nairobi Governor, he may endanger Gachagua’s hopes of becoming president in 2032.
Gachagua and Sakaja began arguing earlier this year over the intention to move long-distance public transportation vehicles to the new Green Park endpoint. Gachagua has continued to accuse Sakaja of bribery, prompting inquiries by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation.
On March 14, 2024, the murder trial hearing for former Eastleigh police officer Ahmed Rashid will begin.
This comes after the state finished providing the defense side with a partial disclosure of witness statements and documentary evidence on Thursday.
Rashid was accused in April of killing Mohammed Dhair Kheri and Jamal Mohammed, two adolescents, on March 31, 2017, in Amal Plaza in Eastleigh, Nairobi.
After denying the two murder charges in front of Justice Diana Kavedza, he was freed on a Sh200,000 bond.
Prosecution attorney Alla Mulama informed Justice Kavedza at pre-trial on Thursday at the High Court in Kibera that the state will call 25 witnesses to testify during the trial, 12 of whom were prepared to do so.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has denied assertions made by Raila Odinga, head of Azimio La Umoja One Kenya, that anomalies in the recently revealed results are due to the termination of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) tests printing tender to a UK firm.
During his appearance before the Parliamentary Education Committee, Machogu stated that tenders for publishing national tests are sent out every year.
He insisted that Kenya, like any other nation, is capable of producing exam papers domestically.
The Education CS said that his ministry did not violate any laws and that the examinations printing tender was awarded using due process.
However, Machogu recognized that applicants’ difficulties receiving their results were caused by the company’s noncompliance with KNEC guidelines regarding the management of the QR code used for transmitting and accessing the KCPE results.
“As a CS I have learnt lessons because basically you can see as a ministry everything was right. Somebody we can call an outsider was given the contract but did not really conform and do to the required standard. Moving forward when we release the KCSE examinations we will not be able to make use of the same service provider,” he added.
Odinga had on Wednesday alleged that the government illegally revoked the printing tender from a UK based firm to a printer based in Mombasa road and later to India.
”We have established that early this year, the Kenya Kwanza administration suddenly and abruptly stopped this contact because the UK firm refused to give kickbacks. Without following any legal procurement processes, due diligence procedures and attention to examination timelines, the Kenya Kwanza administration awarded the KCPE and KCSE exam printing contract to a politically correct printing company based in Mombasa road,” Odinga said.
A Kenyan man is being charged in the US with murder-for-hire after authorities thwarted his plan to have a woman, with whom he has a long-running legal dispute, assassinated.
The 52-year-old former top banking executive Leonard Thuo Mwithiga was charged in Putnam, Connecticut, after he instructed a friend to find a hitman for him so that he could “finish that woman” or “inject something into her food or water to kill her slowly like cancer.”
In order to avoid being connected to the woman’s death, Mwithiga allegedly intended to have her killed between January 28 and February 3 of the following year while he would be in Kenya. He assured the hitman he would give him $4000 (Sh609,000).
Mwithiga, the prosecutor claims, found a would-be killer, whom he gave $300 (Sh46,000) “in good faith”, not knowing he was dealing with an undercover police officer. He had also given the associate $100 (Sh15,238).
Both the associate, an Uber driver, who turned informant for the police, and the woman who was supposed to be the victim have not been identified.
According to local media sites, the informant informed a state police officer, who then went up to Mwithiga and pretended to be the hitman-for-hire he required.
According to investigation files submitted to the court, the undercover police officer “spoke with Mwithiga for more than an hour on Monday night, finalising the details of” the scheme while wearing audio and video monitoring, according to CT Insider, a Connecticut-based news site.
The Kenyan man was apprehended right away by the officer after they met at a motel in Putnam, the capital of Connecticut.
Ex-cop Rashid’s murder trial to start on March 14
CS Machogu says no exam printing contract was cancelled in reply to Raila
Ex-KCB top manager Leonard Mwithiga arrested in US trying to kill wife
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