invo.nyarango.me

Category: News

  • Mwai Kibaki’s Son Unfairly Targeted

    {Photo courtesy of Sean Andrew – Twitter}

     

    By Janet Wambua

     

    Mwai Kibaki’s grandson, Sean Andrew, defends Jomo Kenyatta amid unlicensed firearms allegations

    Sean Andrew, the grandson of former President Mwai Kibaki, has come forward to defend John Jomo Kenyatta, the son of former head of state Uhuru Kenyatta. Sean asserted that he was unjustly singled out in relation to allegations surrounding the possession of unlicensed firearms.

    “Jomo is someone i know personally and i think he was unfairly targeted. I’m not going to pick sides politically or anything but i think Jomo is innocent and so is Mama Ngina,” he stated.

    During an interview, Sean Andrew emphasized that the focus should not have been on targeting Jomo, irrespective of any disagreements they may have had. He expressed that it would have been more appropriate to engage in a dialogue and refrain from involving him in the matters of the protest or any related issues.

    “They should not have targeted anyone unrelated to what their disagreements are. I think these are grown men and they should talk it out. they should not involve us in protests or anything. We have real issues as human beings as people of Kenya we have real issues. I think it’s quite unfair that they’ve gathered young people to gang up and die and protest and fight the police and fight the power whatever.”

    The well known personality further remarked that, being grown men, their responsibility was to engage in open discussions to address their political differences. He expressed his view that it was unjust to neglect the purpose of electing leaders, which is to serve the people. However, he made it clear that he personally did not identify as a politician and had no desire to entangle himself in such matters.

    “I think it’s quite unfair because they’re grown men, they can discuss these issues. Why did we elect them? We elected them to serve us. That’s what Kenyan people have forgotten. But anyway i’m not a politician and i don’t want to get in that mess.” he stated.

    When probed about his potential political aspirations, he firmly asserted that he would never entertain the idea of entering politics. He underscored the belief that political involvement was not a prerequisite for serving the public effectively. According to him, it was entirely possible to make a positive difference in people’s lives without engaging in politics. Thus, he stated that he could continue to contribute to society privately as an ordinary citizen.

    “Never, never. I don’t think in Kenya you need to be a politician to serve people publicly. I think you can help a great number of people without being a politician, and that’s the way it should be. Politics is an ugly business and i’m not interested in that. I can serve people in my only way privately as a private citizen.” he said

    On Friday, 21st July, a police raid was conducted at Jomo’s residence in Karen, Nairobi, in search of firearms. According to the former head of State, the officers involved in the operation utilized vehicles bearing Sudanese number plates and appeared to be intent on thoroughly searching the premises.

     

  • WORLDCOIN: The new cryptocurrency

    {Photo courtesy of Techweez}

     

    By Sophie Kinya.

     

    A new fascination has risen in Kenyans with the launching of a cryptocurrency called Worldcoin. The digital currency initiative was introduced by Sam Altman the CEO of OpenAI earlier this week on July 24th.

    Worldcoin is a project to create a digital network in which everyone can be able to participate and join the digital economy. A person’s iris pattern is scanned by Worldcoin employees using a tool called the “Orb,” which they use to collect biometric information and assist the user to obtain a World ID using the World app. This software allows scanned users to transact with their World ID when it is possible and even collect Worldcoin [WLD], at regular intervals. According to Sam Altman’s Twitter account, the development of eye-scanning technology is essential for a day when it will be harder to tell humans from robots due to the development of AI.

    This project has been launched in over 30 countries worldwide among them being Kenya where 13 stations have been established. Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Mexico City, Dubai, Madrid, London, Paris and Lisbon are among the other cities.

    Kenyans joined the almost 200 million users who have signed up so far worldwide.  Most of them have embraced this new development with open arms. This could be seen in the way they were queuing in supermarkets and malls around Nairobi city to have their irises scanned.

    Their motivation is believed to be the token that they have been assured to receive after they complete the process. When someone signs up and is verified, they receive 26 WLD, which is equivalent to around 7000 Kenyan Shillings. In addition to that, Worldcoin is offering 1 WLD weekly in a program called Worldcoin grants.

    The Worldcoin project may seem to have come as an answered prayer to some Kenyans especially light of the country’s declining economy and consequent lack of finances. However a section of Kenyans do not agree with the Worldcoin cryptocurrency. Here are some comments to what Kenyans had to say on Twitter;

    “Anything to deal with giving away your data should be approached with caution. Data is the new oil and am not ready to sell it at 7k” MaxwelMogambi1.

    “I am human,,why would I need to verify that,,kwani we got extra terrestrials” Fred Murithi.

    “Hii ndio 666? Asking for my SDA brethren” Bayoz7.

    The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) said in a statement on Friday that it was aware that Worldcoin has been introduced in the country and that it was handling sensitive personal data in a way that required a showing of appropriate protections in accordance with the Data Protection Act of 2019.

    ‘Kenyans are reminded to make sure they have the right information before submitting any personal or sensitive data,’ the statement continues, ‘as the ODPC evaluates Worldcoin’s operations to guarantee compliance with the law, people are urged to fully research how their data will be handled’.

    To sign up, users must first download the Worldcoin app and create an account, after which they must visit a Worldcoin Orb station and scan their irises for identity verification. To withdraw your worldcoins to M-Pesa, first convert your crypto currency to dollars, then navigate to the dollars area of your wallet, and then click the withdraw option. After that, pick the option to withdraw to M-Pesa and enter the amount you want to withdraw in dollars. Finally, select an M-Pesa agent and complete the withdrawal process.

  • COUP ATTEMPT IN NIGER

    {Photo courtesy of Financial Times}

     

    By Samuel Owino

     

    Troops from the presidential guard of Niger have declared a coup on Wednesday 26 July 2023 after holding the president and key ministries hostage.

    Col Maj Amadou Abdramane and nine others soldiers from the presidential guard, declared on national television that they have put an end to the government regime.

    “We, the defence and security forces… have decided to put an end to the regime you know.” Maj Amadou said.

    “This follows the continuing deterioration of the security situation, and poor economic and social governance.” He continued.

    He also said that said that the soldiers were acting for the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP)

    The African Union and the western bloc, ECOWAS have commented, rebuking these actions to seize power by force.

    The attempted coup in Niger marks the seventh coup in West and Central Africa since 2020, making the efforts to promote stability by the western forces in the Sahel region much harder.

    The country has remained largely peaceful since the coup announcement. On Thursday however, supporters of the coup set fire to the ruling party’s headquarters in the country’s capital, Niamey, after the army command declared its backing for the coup.

    The country’s last coup occurred in 2010, overturning then President, Mamadou Tandja.

  • ICT MINISTER, ELIUD OWALO CONFIRMS CYBER ATTACKS

    {Photo courtesy of Techweez}

     

    By Samuel Owino

     

    The ICT and Digital Economy CS has confirmed cyber attacks on government services platforms on 27 July 2023.

    CS Eliud Owalo on Thursday, confirmed that there was a cyber attacks on the government’s e-citizen platform. The CS however insisted that there was no data lost.

    “They tried jamming the system by making more than ordinary requests into the system… no data has been accessed, no data has been lost.” Owalo said.

    Kenyan citizens have been complaining for the past four days of their inability to access government services through the portal.

    The CS speaking on SpiceFM, assured Kenyans that there is no need to panic as they had been anticipating such attacks and the government has adequate capacity to address cyber insecurity. He also said that the portal should be back to normal by the end of the day.

    On social media, a hacktivist group that goes by the name Anonymous Sudan took credit for the cyber attacks on the government platforms.

    The group is not only responsible for the government websites attack, it has also hit banks, hospitals, Kenya’s telecom company, Safaricom, and universities such as The University of Nairobi.

    The group said it attacked Kenya because Kenya released statements “doubting the sovereignty of Sudan.”

  • POLICE DISRUPT PROTESTERS HOLDING VIGIL

    {Photo courtesy of COTAA}

     

    By Samuel Owino

     

    Police in Mombasa disrupted a vigil held at Uhuru Gardens on 26 July 2023.

    The protesters lit candles in honor of their fallen colleagues, a directive by the opposition leader, Raila Odinga. The police came and interrupted the meeting and sent them away. The national government had put police in various areas in fears that citizens may hold protests.

    There were also marches at Jacaranda gardens where they also held a vigil. They marched as they sang songs.

    “Sisi ni wageni, hapa Nairobi, wanaua watu wetu, hapa Nairobi” that translates to “we are visitors, here in Nairobi , they kill our people, here in Nairobi”

    The opposition leader, Raila Odinga visited patients at Mama Lucy Hospital during the vigils. The patients were victims of police brutality during last weeks protests.

    The nation remains confused as the political tensions rise and the citizens issues that seems to be snubbed by the national government.

  • Elon Musk reveals rebranding of Twitter as X

    {Photo courtesy of Indian Times}

     

    Hilda Kavai

    {hildahnkavai@gmail.com}

    The new white X on a black background has replaced the blue bird.

    “Tweets” will also be replaced, according to Twitter’s owner Elon Musk, and posts will be called “x’s”.

    Elon Musk has long expressed a desire to launch “X, the everything app,” which appears to be inspired by China’s WeChat. The ongoing rebranding marks the most significant change to Twitter since the world’s richest man purchased the platform last October.

    Musk escalated the transition over the weekend, saying that “X.com” would now lead to Twitter and predicting that “soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.”

    As of 0530 GMT Monday, the updates were not visible on the website.

    Musk had already named Twitter’s parent business as the X Corporation, and had previously stated that his acquisition of the social media behemoth would be “an accelerant to creating X, the everything app” — a reference to the X.com company he created in 1999, a later version of which went on to become payments giant PayPal.

    Such an app may still serve as a social media platform while also offering texting and mobile payments.

    “Powered by AI, X will connect us in ways we’re just beginning to imagine,” Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino tweeted on Sunday.

    Yaccarino, an NBCUniversal advertising sales executive who Musk hired as Twitter’s CEO last month, said the social media company was on the verge of expanding its reach.

    “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” Yaccarino wrote on Twitter.

    Since Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion last October, the platform’s advertising business has partially collapsed as marketers became dissatisfied with Musk’s management style and the company’s mass firings, which weakened content control.

    In response, SpaceX’s billionaire CEO has moved toward offering payments and commerce through the network in order to generate fresh money.

    The network is estimated to have 200 million daily active users, but it has seen numerous technological breakdowns since Musk fired much of its team.

    Many users and advertisers have been outraged by Twitter’s increased fees for formerly free services, changes to content control, and the reinstatement of previously banned right-wing accounts.

  • Babu Owino: I was denied food and water for three days

    {Photo courtesy of Babu Owino – Instagram}

     

    By Janet Wambua

     

    “I was denied food and water for three days,” Babu Owino recounts of his three-day detention.

     

    Embakasi East Member of Parliament Paul Ongili, alias Babu Owino, claims that he was denied access to food, water, and communication with his family and legal counsel while being held in solitary confinement for three days.

    “I was arrested on Tuesday on the 18th of July at Jomo Kenyatta International airport, around 9pm,handcuffed blindfolded and thrown in a boot of a Subaru car, driven in the middle of nowhere and put in a solitary confinement for 3 days, I went without food no access to my family, no access to my lawyer, to my legal representation I did not take a bath, I did not take water.”

    In a post on Instagram, he described being handcuffed and blindfolded, highlighting how cruel and inhumane it was for him to be handled that way as a member of Parliament. He also raised concerns about how ordinary Kenyans would be treated in such a situation.

    “And that was a very in human treatment accorded to me. If a member of parliament can be treated in a very harsh way, what is happening to normal Kenyans. I want to take this opportunity to condemn such acts. The only mistake I made was to fight for Kenyans. And as a leader an elected member of Parliament, I’m a voice of the voiceless, I’m a messenger. You can kill the messenger, but you will never kill the message.”

    The member of parliament declared that because he was the voice of the people of Kenya, he would keep fighting for their rights. Additionally, he stated that even if it meant risking his life, he would carry out his responsibility and keep fighting for those who were living in poverty.

    “You can harass the messenger, but you will never destroy the message that is delivered. And if fighting for Kenyans is what will cost me my life, so be it. I’m an elected Member of Parliament whose role is to fight for Kenyans, to fight for the people who are suffering in poverty, it’s to ensure that I deliver the best to them.”

    However, he mentions the difficult living conditions in Kenya and how life is intolerable, arguing that both the expense of living and the prices of most items, such as unga, must decrease.

    “ As you can see there are very harsh conditions in this life. Life is unbearable, the cost of living must come down. The price of fuel must come down. The price of unga must come down. The price of other commodities must come down. A good leader is one who ensures that his people do not suffer. Subjecting people to these harsh conditions to suffering means that you’re fighting for a personal interest,” he declared.

    In the same breath, he added and stressed that Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party leader Raila Odinga, was not at all to be blame since he had not given orders for the police to use brute force. Furthermore, he asserted that since Raila Odinga was not in government, he cannot be held responsible for the skyrocketing prices of commodities.

    “On a daily basis you blame Raila, to be the cause of the deaths of the people. Raila did not give instructions to the police to use brute force, stop using extra judicial means to gag people from fighting for their inherent and alienable interest not only spiritedly but also religiously. Never blame Raila on this because Raila is not in government. Raila did not take the price of unga to the ceiling. Raila has not raised the cost of living,” stated Babu Owino.

    He added that people were lacking in many areas of life as a result of the high expense of living, thus the idea of constructing homes for them would be of little use. Instead, he claimed that food was the biggest problem facing the populace, and that President William Ruto should reduce the expense of living, failure which it will be compelled to come down.

    “Because of the high cost of living, people lack a lot in life, you’re rushing to build for people house, people don’t need houses. People just need food; people need school fees and as a leader I know what it is to lack food. And that’s why we fight for them because I lacked food at some point. You’re rushing to build for people houses which is not the main challenge, but people’s main challenge is the food. Just let the cost of living come down. If it doesn’t come down, it must be forced to come down,” he said.

     

    On Friday, July 21st, Babu Owino was released on a sh100,000 bond in connection with the anti-government protests.

  • UHURU MAD AFTER SON’S ALLEGED HOME RAID.

    [Photo courtesy of The Star]

     

    By Samuel Owino

     

    The former and fourth president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta is mad after he got the news that personnel claiming to be the police wanted access to his son’s home on 21 July, 2023 at around 2000 hrs.

    Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta was off the chains when he got the information that people claiming to be the DCI wanted to talk to his son, Jomo Kenyatta. The security informed him of these people in a car with foreign number plates and this seemed to concern the former president such that he came to his son’s place in Karen himself.

    During the press conference, he said that he has been quiet for some time and he thinks that he may have made the wrong move as the current government has been coming for him. His association with the opposition leader, Mr. Raila Odinga seems to be causing him a lot of trouble as there are rumors that he is behind the Azimio la Umoja protests and that he is funding it.

    “Maybe silence sometimes is not right. But I have ignored it because I ask myself, how, how… have you seen me in any of those events? Have you seen me talk about any of those events? Now you say because of my association with Raila, am I not supposed to talk to my friends? Is that a crime in Kenya today?” he agitatedly asked.

    The retired president also added that there is no need to intimidate a 90-year-old woman, referring to his mother, Mama Ngina Kenyatta, and his children. He says that if they want him they should just come for him. He ended the press conference by urging the journalists to guard their freedom and their democracy as that is their right.

    Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta hinted that the raid may have been due to possession of firearms. “If it’s a question of illegal weapons, tell the world… But if they are licensed weapons, how many people in Kenya have licensed weapons? Even foreigners. Si we followed the procedure. Si you withdrew their security so they are not supposed to defend themselves? What more do you want now?” he asked.

    The Interior CS, Mr. Kithure Kindiki has since made a statement stating that 23 guns were found in an operation from three homes in Karen on Friday, 21 July. He did not, however, mention the former president’s son’s house being raided.

    The operation, according to the CS, will continue to seize all firearms from anyone suspected of giving them to violent protesters and other people for various illegal objectives.

  • BABU OWINO’S WIFE PLEADS FOR THE RELEASE OF HER HUSBAND

    [Photo courtesy of Fridah Anjili Instagram]

     

    By Samuel Owino

     

    Fridah Ongili, Babu Owino’s wife, pleads for the release of her husband who had been arrested by the DCI after his arrival from Mombasa at the airport on 19 July 2023.

    The wife, in a video she posted on her Instagram, explained the occurrence of the night since her husband called her from the airport at around 11 pm saying he had been arrested. The wife went to the DCI headquarters and did not find him. She went around the city police stations trying to find him with no hope.

    She later got word that her husband might be at Wanguru Police Station in Mwea. She says she believes that he might be there due to the heavy police presence. They have denied her a chance to see her husband even though she claims to only want to give him food and medicine.

    ‘there was a lady who took me aside, I went to the gate and was begging them that all I want is to give my husband food and medicine because he wasn’t feeling well on Monday when he left for the trip.”

    She also pleads to the Azimio La Umoja team to help her free her husband whom he is affiliated. She says the husband has done nothing wrong that warrants his arrest.

  • Daystar University Vice Chancellor, Appointed as International Representative to the Correctional Education Association Board, USA.

    [Photo courtesy of Prof. Laban Ayiro Facebook]

     

    By Sophie Kinya.

     

    Our Vice Chancellor, Professor Laban Ayiro has been appointed as an international representative for the Correctional Education Association (CEA) Board, USA. This is a great milestone for both him and Daystar University.

    The Correctional Education Association (CEA) is an organization for professionals who work in adult and juvenile correctional facilities worldwide. They offer their members crucial training, cutting-edge research, and beneficial networking opportunities so they may deliver effective and transformative instructions to their students. The CEA assists its members in keeping up with the most recent advancements in both educational and correctional services.

    The global organization has been around since 1930. It has served discipline educators and organizational change education programs all across the world over the years by offering leadership, direction, and service. In addition to that, the Correctional Education Association has emerged as the only expert advocacy group in the United States for adult discipline education and juvenile justice.

    As an international representative for the CEA, the Professor’s duties will include serving as a liaison between the CEA and other international organizations, agencies, or institutions that are involved in correctional education or associated fields outside of the United States. He will also make it easier for the global organization and its international partners to communicate, work together and exchange information.

    The VC will also be required to represent association at international conferences and meetings where he will be expected to share knowledge, pick others’ brains, and speak on behalf of CEA’s members.

    Prof. Ayiro’s appointment to this position demonstrates his dedication and leadership. It is an honor for us, Daystar students, to be able to experience and learn from our very own Vice Chancellor. This appointment is proof of what hard work, commitment, and prayer can accomplish, and we at the Involvement Newspaper congratulate our VC, Prof. Laban Ayiro.