Kenya has qualified for the CHAN quarterfinals for the first time under the head-to-head rule, having beaten both DR Congo and Morocco. Harambee Stars only need a win against Zambia on Sunday to finish top of group A, where most likely they will play Mauritania at Kasarani. If they finish second in the group, they will play their quarterfinal match against Tanzania in Dar-es-salam. CAF slams Kenya over CHAN chaos, threatens match relocation
Author: Mbugua Ng’ang’a
Ah! By coming weekend, the African Nations Championship (CHAN) — a tournament that brings together Africa-based national team players — will get underway in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. What a magical moment we all expect it to be! And the joy of hearing that first whistle blow! This is a showpiece that should get all Kenyans excited, and for once, force politics and politicians to take a back burner as we all cheer on our national squad even though we secured the berth on account of being co-hosts. That notwithstanding, this is a team that represents hope and renewal and…
A man has been sentenced to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of violently killing a boda boda operator at Malaba town on August 17, 2023. Malaba Principal Magistrate Ocharo Momanyi found Geoffrey Wafula Malunda guilty after the prosecutor presented evidence which matched a description of the accused. According to the evidence before the court, on the material day, at Upland Estate in Malaba, Teso North Sub-County, and jointly with others not before the court, Wafula robbed Jeremiah Otwane Papa of his motorcycle taxi and mobile phone before inflicting multiple injuries on him, thus causing his death. Wafula was…
It came as a surprise when police arrested activist Boniface Mwangi and went ahead to slap terrorism charges against him. Even more perplexing was that the office of the Director of Public Prosecution allowed such an outrageous charge to stand in the first place and only substituted it after a public outcry. The reaction of security agencies to the youth protests has, to say the least, been very curious, if not disturbing. It started with extra-legal abductions, then shooting of protesters and innocent bystanders to now accusing them of terrorism. In my view, the actions of the police have been…
Teachers’ unions are at it again. They have warned that unless their employer, the Teachers Service Commission joins them at the negotiating table to hammer out a deal on their 2025-29 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) cycle, they will be calling a strike by end month. Whereas such threats have become all too common in recent years, it is important to remind unions that a strike should be a tool of last resort, not a weapon to be brandished in the faces of education managers every time there is a disagreement. First, they ought to acknowledge that TSC has already requested…
The decision by High Court judges Roseline Aburili, John Chigiti and Bahati Mwamuye, which has paved the way for President William to Gazette the appointment of electoral commissioners and their chairman is one of the most important to have come from the corridors of justice this year. Since the exit of former chairman Wafula Chebukati in January 2023, the resignation of three others and firing of one in 2022 and the retirement of two others in 2023, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has been in a dangerous limbo. For one, there are several byelections that need to be…
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the face mask was a symbol of protection and safety. Indeed, it was part of a range of life-saving paraphernalia known as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In recent months, however, the mask has been weaponised by rogue police officers and goons alike to conceal their identities when committing crimes against public interest, especially during protests. The result is that a simple invention, whose original aim was to save lives, has become a weapon to hide against the long arm of the law. If anything, it has been refashioned into an unwitting accomplice in the commission of…
Kenya is blessed with a large — and growing — youthful population, with data indicating that close to 14 million people are aged between 18 and 35 years. That is about one if every three Kenyans. However, as is with all blessings, the flip side of the demographic dividend is that it also carries within it the risk of being a curse if not well harnessed. Many of these youths feel disenfranchised largely because they do not have opportunities for sustainable livelihoods although the government has been shipping them out to the Middle East by the plane loads. However, the…
According to French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, the world operates on the basis of a duality of opposites — the good and the bad, the fresh and the stale — or what he called in his book, the raw and the cooked. Politicians and police honchos appeared to be applying this duality last week when they mobilised goons and motorcycle taxi operators to counter the protests organised by Gen Z over the killing of teacher and blogger Albert Ojwang. It was, to say the least, the height of contradiction, to see the goons and law enforcement officers “policing” the streets of Nairobi like…
Strange as it may sound, it is confounding that the pea-sized Israel has been firing missiles over a distance of more 1,700 kilometres to hit targets in the giant-sized Iran, which is three borders away. The cause of the conflict sounds complex, but its effects will be felt across the globe. In Kenya, many citizens work in both countries, and their fortunes will be hit hard by the conflict, which had claimed over 80 lives by Monday. The problem with war is that it has no formula and once it starts, there is no telling when it will end and…
