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The Kenyan government will dispatch a fact-finding mission to the Lebanese capital to look into  reports of mistreatment at the country's consulate , according to a government official. Kenya's embassy in Kuwait, which oversees the country's consulate in Lebanon, will send officials to Beirut during the first week of August, Chief Information Officer at Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jane Kariuki told CNN. Earlier this week, CNN reported allegations of abuse at the Kenyan consulate in Beirut, which is tasked with protecting upwards of 1,000 expats in the country. Multiple women told CNN they were exploited, verbally abused or physically assaulted by Kenya's Honorary Consul in Lebanon, Sayed Chalouhi, and his assistant, Kassem Jaber, both Lebanese nationals. Four women also said they witnessed Chalouhi suggesting that Kenyan women seek sex work in order to cover their consular expenses. All of the witnesses said Chalouhi and Jaber regularly overcharg...

Tanzania is not among the initial list of 11 countries allowed to fly into Kenya. In a communiqué announced by Transport CS James Macharia, China,  South Korea, Japan, Canada, Uganda, France, Namibia,  Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Switzerland  and  Morocco who have mild and limited community transmission will be allowed. The CS said the list will be reviewed on a regular basis depending on the circumstances on the ground and after a comprehensive global mapping of the intensity of the disease. According to the communiqué, all the passengers arriving in the country will be required to produce a PCR based Covid-19 certificate whose test should have been done 96 hours before travel. “Let it be clear that those who will have a certificate of tests done before the stipulated 96 hrs will not be allowed to board in the first place. On arrival the passengers’ temperature should not exceed 37.5 degrees and not display any Covid-19 related signs,” Macharia said. He ...

Kenya extended a night curfew and banned alcohol sales in eateries after Covid-19 cases in the East African nation more than doubled in the three weeks since the government lifted restrictions on movement and religious gatherings. Cases jumped to 17,603 by Sunday from 8,067 on July 6, partly as a result of increased testing. The rate of recovery has also accelerated and more than tripled in the last three weeks to 7,743 people. About 280 people have died of the disease, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Monday in a televised address from the capital, Nairobi. “Truth be told, there will be more,” Kenyatta said of deaths. “The question is whether we’ll emerge with low number of deaths, or we’ll suffer a catastrophe.” Earlier this month Kenyatta reopened the skies to domestic flights and said international ones would resume on Aug. 1. The state has also allowed religious congregations of less than 100 people, although younger children and the elderly aren’t permitted to join. Scho...

The death toll from coronavirus in Kenya is nearing 300, according to statistics released by the government Tuesday.  Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe announced 14 more people succumbed to the virus overnight bringing the national death tally to 299. Coronavirus caseload in the country reached 18,581 after the Health minister announced 606 additional cases. Of the new patients, 583 were Kenyans and 23 foreigners, 409 were male and 197 female. The youngest patient is four-months-old and the oldest 85.

A plane carrying Kenyan envoys to the funeral of former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa turned back to Nairobi because of bad weather, officials in Dar-es-Salaam said Tuesday. Tanzanian Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation minister Prof Palamagamba Kabudi announced during the farewell ceremony of the former leader at Uhuru Stadium that Kenyan officials could not attend the event. “We were expecting a special envoy representing President Uhuru Kenyatta, including Senator Samuel Poghisio, the Majority Leader of the Kenyan Senate, but we have received information that their plane was forced to turn back mid air,” Prof Kabudi told mourners gathered at the Uhuru Stadium in Dar-es-Salaam. But Kenyan officials said the plane “developed mechanical challenges”, forcing it to turn back over Arusha. Jane Kariuki, the head of public communication at the Foreign Affairs ministry, told the  Nation  that the Kenyan government was fully represented by the Keny...

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has extended a nightly curfew and banned alcohol sales in restaurants as part of a bid to halt a steep rise in coronavirus cases. In a stern televised address to the nation on Monday, Kenyatta said a countrywide curfew from 9pm to 4am will remain in place for another 30 days and that "there shall be no sale of alcoholic beverages or drinks in eateries and restaurants" over the same period. Restaurants are to close by 7pm, the president said, while bars are to remain shut. The new restrictions came a day after health authorities in Kenya reported the highest single-day jump in infections, logging 960 new confirmed cases on Sunday. The total number of infections in the country has tripled in the past month, rising to 17,975, while the death toll from COVID-19 stands at 285. In his speech, Kenyatta blamed the rise in cases on "reckless" behaviour and said there was notably an "aggressive surge" among young peop...

The Ogiek and Sengwer ethnic groups in Kenya say authorities have forcefully evicted them from the Mau and Embobut forests, burning hundreds of homes and leaving families homeless in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Kenyan government began the evictions last year, saying communities living in the forests were damaging the environment. Rights groups say the ethnic groups were protecting the forests from illegal logging and poaching. In a media briefing held over Zoom Thursday, Kenya’s indigenous communities complain of harassment and constant evictions from forests they have called home for centuries.    Milka Chepkorir represents the Sengwer community. She says the COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped Kenyan authorities from evicting her people. “This is one of the evictions that have really hit us differently because it’s an eviction during COVID times. It’s evictions when children are not in school and from nowhere they are just being rendered homeless and it’s during t...

Kenya has recorded the highest number new Covid-19 infections in 24 hours at 796. This brings the country’s total number of coronavirus cases to 15, 601. A total of 6,745 samples were tested in the 24-hour period. Making the announcement during the daily briefing on Thursday, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangangi also revealed that another 378 patients have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 7,135. In the same period, three more people died from Covid-19 bringing the total number of deaths in Kenya to 263. Dr Mwangangi revealed that 89 per cent of the recorded cases in Kenya are asymptomatic. Source: @DailyNations

Kenya on Wednesday recorded 637 new cases of Covid-19, raising the country's total  to 14,805. The new positives were drawn from the 4,275 people whose samples were tested within 24 hours, out of which all except 14 were Kenyans. Health CAS Rashid Aman  said in terms of gender, 361 were males and 276 were females. Age wise, the youngest was a one year old, while the oldest was 88 years. On a positive note, 499 patients have recovered from the disease, bringing  the total number of recoveries in the country so far to 6,757. Out of this, 406 patients were from home based programme and 93 from various medical facilities. However, 10 more patients succumbed to the virus, raising fatalities in the country to 260. According to the Ministry of Health, hypertension and diabetes are the leading underlying causes that lead to the death of Covid-19 patients in Kenya. Acting Director General of Health Patrick Amoth said this category of people combined lead with a 33 per cent of the ...

Kenya is seeking developers for 423-acre (172-hectare) swathe of land in the capital, Nairobi, as part of plans to boost the city’s stature and attract more investment. Dubbed Nairobi Railway City, the project will have mixed-used commercial developments, housing and intermodal transport facilities, according to the request for expressions of interest published Wednesday in the Daily Nation newspaper. “Owing to its strategic location, the Nairobi Station Area will be developed into an iconic nerve center for the Nairobi multimodal transport system with a world class central new station,” it said. The project will be the largest and most ambitious development in the Nairobi metropolitan area since independence, according to the State Department for Housing and Urban Development. Bidders have until Aug. 20 to submit expressions of interest, it said.

The UAE's leaders on Monday said the Mars probe blast-off was a historic achievement that the country could be proud of. The Arab world's first homegrown space mission launched right on time, sending the Hope probe soaring towards Earth's outer orbit. "We watched the successful launch of the Hope probe to Mars with pride and joy, as we embark on a new chapter in space, led by our exceptional youth," Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, said on Monday. "Congratulations to the UAE for this historic achievement." Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said the probe was on its way to the Red Planet as planned. "We have started the 493-million km journey to the Red Planet. May God facilitate our journey," he said. In the next 200 days, Hope will travel at speeds of up to 120,000kph on its incredible 495-million-kilometre journey to Mars.

NAIROBI - Kenya's Wildlife Service (KWS) is coming under fire after it began implanting contraceptives in lionesses to protect endangered species. KWS says fewer lion births means fewer predators hunting wildlife at risk of extinction. But conservationists point out that lions themselves are dwindling in number and say there are better ways to protect endangered animals. Kenya’s wildlife managing authority KWS is defending the use of contraceptives on six lionesses in Lewa Conservancy in northwest Laikipia County.  The service’s director of biodiversity research and planning, Patrick Omondi, says they had to use an implant to curb the breeding of lions to save the rhinos.   “We have less than 1,000 black rhinos in Kenya, and if you lose in a year four of them because of lions, again is a delicate balance and all this we do we take the interest of the species at heart as wildlife management authority,” said Omondi.    The hormone contraceptive will work fo...

Kenya’s total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases rose to 12,062 on Friday with 389 more positive test results. Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe said 385 of the new patients are Kenyans and four foreigners. These cases were found following the testing of 3,545 samples, which raised the total number of samples Kenya has tested so far to 233,641. As of July 17, Nairobi County had 6,761 infections, the highest number for a single county, and was followed by Mombasa with 1,794 and Kiambu with 666. DEATH TOLL Kenya's first case of the coronavirus was confirmed on March 13 and by July 17, the country's death toll was 222. In his briefing on Friday, the minister said five more patients had died and that four of them had underlying conditions including diabetes and hypertension. Kenya crossed the 10,000 mark of coronavirus cases five days ago, about four months since the first case was reported.  While noting yet another jump in infections, CS Kagwe asked the p...

Kenyan police arrested a prison warden accused of raping a female patient in a COVID-19 isolation facility he was meant to be guarding, a police report said on Friday. It was the latest in a string of incidents highlighting substandard conditions at some government-run coronavirus treatment centre in the East African country. The attack may add to fears over treatment in government facilities that health experts have warned may deter Kenyans from coming forward to be tested for the new coronavirus. Earlier this year there were several breakouts from quarantine centre amid bitter complaints about inadequate food, water and hygiene from those kept inside. In March, authorities said they were investigating a reported suicide at a quarantine facility. The latest incident occurred at a centre in the western border town of Busia that was guarded by both police and prison officers, according to the police report seen by Reuters. It said a colleague had noticed the prison officer talking to a ...

The Health ministry announced 497 new Covid-19 cases, the biggest daily rise so far, taking the nationwide tally to 10,791. Speaking in Nairobi Tuesday during the daily briefing on the Covid-19 situation in Kenya, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangangi also announced that five more people succumbed to the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities in Kenya to 202. At the same time, the number of recoveries rose to 3,017 after 71 more patients were discharged. In Tuesday's new cases tally, Nairobi reported 292 cases, Kiambu (62), Kajiado (51), Machakos (30) and Mombasa (28). Busia had 10, Uasin Gishu eight, Nakuru five while Narok, Nyeri and Meru each had two cases. A case each was reported in Kakamega, Kericho, Kilifi, Laikipia and Nandi. Meanwhile, the number of healthcare workers who have contracted Covid-19 has grown by 264 over the last 14 days. Out of the confirmed Covid-19 cases among healthcare workers, 41 are from Pumwani Maternity Ho...

A Kenya Army helicopter on a training flight crashed on Monday at Kithyoko in Machakos County, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) has reported. KDF said via Twitter that two pilots were evacuated from the site following the crash of the aircraft, Hughes 500MD. The army did not give details about the victims but Machakos Sub-county Commander Karanja Muiruri said two KDF officers died. “I received information from the public … my officers responded on time,” said Mr Karanja. He praised the army for its quick response, saying its officers arrived in about 20 minutes. A statement from Kithyoko Police Station stated that the aircraft crashed in a farm about 15km away from the station. It said the two people on board, senior military officers of the rank of major, died and that Masinga police bosses visited the scene. The incident took place at around 11.30am at Kanyonga. The chopper was one of six acquired from the United States in January, through the US Foreign Military Sales ...

Authorities in Zimbabwe requested Kenya to extradite Jonathan Moyo, who was a former Minister for Higher Education in Robert Mugabe’s administration following allegations that he was organizing mass demonstrations against the current government. Moyo fled Zimbabwe in 2017 following the ouster which saw Mugabe removed from office and Emmerson Mnangagwa take over as head of state. Authorities in Kenya have previously denied harbouring Moyo. Moyo is suspected to be a leading figure behind a scheme which intended to have former First Lady Grace Mugabe succeed her husband at the expense of Mnangagwa, who at the time was vice-president. The scheme was hatched by the G40, a faction within the ruling ZANU-PF party. ZANU-PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu, a prominent personality within the ruling party, said the party wants Moyo handed over to have him stopped against plotting against Mnangagwa’s administration. “We take note and welcome the prosecutor general’s efforts fo...

As Zuleika Yusuf Daffala walks across Kibera, one of the big informal settlements in Kenya's capital, she greets dozens of kids on the streets. Some are jumping rope, others chasing each other through the alley and another group is trying to make a tiny cooking pan out of an aluminum can. Daffala, a 37-year-old community activist, broke the news this week to many of the neighborhood kids that the Kenyan government had decided that the country's more than 12 million grade school students would not be going back to classrooms until January 2021. Not only that, but the government considers the 2020 school year "lost," so all kids will remain in the same grade for another year. "They are still not believing it," she says. "When you go to school, you have a target. So they have their plans already. They are not taking it easy." She says her son, a junior in high school, is resigned. Like most Kenyans, he doesn't have a tablet or a laptop...

Dr Doreen Adisa Lugaliki is the first doctor to succumb to COVID-19 Kenya recorded the first death of a medical doctor to coronavirus on Friday, raising concerns on the safety of healthcare workers in the country. The death of Dr Doreen Adisa Lugaliki was announced by Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe who asked for a minute of silence during his daily briefing on the virus update. “I am saddened to announce that today, we have lost the first doctor to COVID-19,” Kagwe said, sending condolences to her family, “I have spoken to the family; her two sisters.” He said the Doctor, who worked as an Obstetrician and Gynecologist at The Nairobi South Hospital, was admitted to hospital on Monday and succumbed on Thursday. “It is always painful when a life is lost and even more painful when it is a frontline worker and more so when it comes on the line of duty. On behalf of the government I want to say sorry to all healthcare workers under my ministry and those at the county governments,” sai...

Kenya has launched online marriage services in a bid to eliminate human traffic at Sheria House and curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. State Law Office Chief Administrative Secretary Winnie Guchu said couples intending to get married will have to do the entire registration process on the eCitizen portal. “There will be no more manual services at the registrar of marriage at Sheria House as all services will be available online. “We do not want any couple coming for services at Sheria House unless it is of utmost importance,” she said. Marriage services at the government office were initially been suspended in May after an influx of clients at the registrar of marriage brought a dilemma on enforcing Covid-19 measures while keeping services running. Before the Covid-19 outbreak, Sheria House used to attend to about 400 clients during low season and 600 clients during the high season months of August and December. The closure in May resulted to the suspensio...

The return of flights to Dubai’s airports is an important step in supporting the aviation sector and reinforcing the UAE, and especially Dubai, as one of the world’s leading aviation centers, Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director-General of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, GDRFA, said on Monday, state news agency WAM reported. On Tuesday, tourists were welcomed back to Dubai after authorities decided to suspend all passenger and transit flights to and from the country on March 23 to slow the spread of coronavirus. Tourism activities in Dubai were earlier cancelled on March 16, and Dubai’s Expo 2020, which was set to begin in October, was postponed for a year. General Al Marri said that tourists will be welcomed back to Dubai under the slogan “Welcome again in your second home.” Dubai’s airports have implemented precautionary measures, and Emirates airline, Dubai’s largest airline, released guidelines for tourists on traveling t...

The Kenyan government urged citizens to remain vigilant and follow the laid-out prevention measures as the lifting of an order of cessation of movement into and out of certain areas in the country came into effect. On Monday, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that the order affecting the Nairobi Metropolitan Area and the counties of Mombasa and Mandera will end on Tuesday at 4am. He, however, extended the 9pm-5am curfew in place for an additional 30 days. Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe warned Kenyans not to think that the government had declared that the pandemic was under control. Instead, he said that, the government decision placed greater emphasis on Kenyans to police themselves knowing the tragedy that would befall them if they did not. “With the easing of restrictions, we can no longer look up to the police to enforce adherence of containment measures. Any slight imagination of this is a recipe for disaster because it is not realistically possible to deploy a ...

Kenyan police fired tear gas and detained protesters in the capital Nairobi demanding an end to police brutality. About 100 people took part in demonstrations across Nairobi on Tuesday. Many Kenyans have been angered by a fresh wave of alleged police abuses carried out while enforcing coronavirus-related restrictions.  "We are not armed, and we just wanted to take our petition very peacefully, but as you can see they are very armed, they have arrested some of us, and they have injured some of us," protester David Oluoch said. Nairobi-area police boss Philip Ndolo said nearly 30 people were arrested and that protesters had not been "observing distance" for the coronavirus pandemic. "It's dangerous to hold such meetings now," he said. A protest organiser said 56 people were arrested. Human rights activists said at least 22 people, including a 13-year-old boy, have been killed by officers enforcing the virus restrictions. But activists said th...

Turkey’s state development aid agency on Sunday made a donation of equipment to the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) to boost food security in western Kenya. The donations are part of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency’s (TIKA) Sustainable Organic Livelihoods Enhancement Program (SOLEP), which aims to end hunger by achieving food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable goals in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on agriculture and zero hunger. KALRO received four modern Turkish hatchery development machines, each with a 4,800-capacity egg setter. KALRO also received incubators, vacuum pumps, air conditioning systems, lab equipment, chicken feed machines with a 1 ton per hour capacity, incineration and disposal furnaces, and other apparatuses. Dovicus Okutoyi, KALRO deputy institute director, told Anadolu Agency that “for a long time we have not had any lab analysis because of the lack of equipme...