Kenya News

Ruto strips Eliud Owalo’s ICT Ministry of gov’t spokesperson office

Published

1 month ago

November 3, 2023

The Ministry of Information, Communication, and the Digital Economy no longer houses the Office of Government Spokesperson.

The Head of State stated that the Executive Office of the President will house the Office of the Government Spokesperson in his Executive Order Number 2 of 2023.

In a statement released on Thursday, November 2, State House Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei noted that the new Executive Order formalizes a number of modifications the President made to the government’s structure on October 4.

Ministerial portfolio reorganizations, adjustments to mandates, state appointments, and the reassignment of state officers holding top positions in the Executive and national security agencies were among the modifications.

“Executive Order No. 2 of 2023 also incorporates into the organization of Kenya’s governance structure changes occasioned by new laws enacted by Parliament,” Koskei said.

“Executive Order No. 2 of 2023 supersedes Executive Order No. 1 of 2023 issued on 6th of January, 2023.”

President Ruto appointed former nominee Senator Isaac Mwaura as Government Spokesperson as part of the reforms that were announced last month.

Additionally, Mwanaisha Chidzuga and Gabriel Muthuma were chosen by President Ruto to replace Mwaura. Under ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo, the three were to work together.

Mwaura succeeded Cyrus Oguna, who left in October 2022 to become the Chief of Staff for the government of Siaya County.

Additional officials employed by the Executive Office of the President include Chief of Staff Koskei, his deputy Josphat Nanok, Hussein Mohamed, the spokesperson for the Statehouse, and David Ndii, the head of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors.

Courts

Ex-cop Rashid’s murder trial to start on March 14

Published

2 hours ago

December 7, 2023

KSN Reporter

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

CS Machogu says no exam printing contract was cancelled in reply to Raila

Published

8 hours ago

December 7, 2023

KSN Reporter

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.

”We have not terminated anybody’s contract. Each and every year a contract is made,” he said.

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.

Kenya News

Ex-KCB top manager Leonard Mwithiga arrested in US trying to kill wife

Published

14 hours ago

December 7, 2023

KSN Reporter

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.