The Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) has urged newsrooms to take a harder look at government borrowing and complex financing deals, warning that poor disclosure is leaving the public with little sense of the risks tied to public money. The guild took up the issue in Nairobi on Thursday during a peer-to-peer engagement focused on the information gaps surrounding public debt and government financing. KEG president Zubeida Kananu said journalists should not simply repeat official explanations but should press institutions for details about the commitments being made on behalf of taxpayers. “Our responsibility as editors and journalists is not simply to…
Author: Samuel Njihia
Seven people, including six foreign nationals, have been confirmed dead after a helicopter crashed on Wednesday morning near Mount Ololokwe in Samburu County. The Eurocopter EC130 B4, registration 5Y-GYM, was flying from Loisaba to Ewasonyiro when it crashed at about 9.13am, according to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA). The crash occurred near Kirish, close to Mount Ololokwe, with witnesses reporting thick smoke and flames rising from the crash site shortly after the aircraft went down. A preliminary police report indicated that seven people, including six tourists and the pilot, were aboard the helicopter. The victims included four Americans, two…
The US sanctions on senior International Criminal Court (ICC) officials mark the latest escalation in President Donald Trump’s campaign to dismantle the court “brick by brick”. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday announced sanctions against ICC President Tomoko Akane and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, accusing them of pursuing cases against officials whose governments have not accepted the court’s jurisdiction. Pressure on the ICC has been building, with the Trump administration already sanctioning at least 11 court officials, including nine judges and the chief prosecutor. The measures include asset freezes, travel bans and restrictions on services from US…
The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has summoned former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over remarks it alleges he made at public events in different parts of the country, escalating scrutiny of his political messaging. In a letter dated August 18, 2026, the commission ordered Mr Gachagua to appear at its Britam Towers offices in Upper Hill, Nairobi, on August 27 at 2pm to assist with investigations into alleged utterances that it says fall under Sections 27, 29 and 63C as read with Section 63E of the National Cohesion and Integration Act. The summons covers several incidents, pointing to remarks…
Kenyan banks have won temporary freedom to adjust loan rates without seeking the Treasury’s consent, reopening a long-running dispute over who has the final say on the cost of credit. The High Court on Thursday, August 13, suspended enforcement of Section 44 of the Banking Act, which requires financial institutions to obtain prior approval from the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury before increasing banking rates or charges. The conservatory order, secured following a challenge by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), allows lenders to raise or lower loan rates without Treasury approval while the legal battle continues. The reprieve is,…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo could become the deadliest in history, with the virus spreading faster than efforts to contain it. More than 2,000 people have died from over 4,300 reported cases in the outbreak, which was officially declared on May 15. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that the outbreak was progressing at a worrying pace. “At its current pace, it’s on track to eclipse the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016,” Dr Tedros told reporters. The West African outbreak killed at least…
President William Ruto has launched the process of drawing up Kenya’s next long-term development blueprint, which will replace Vision 2030 with a plan stretching to 2060. According to the president, the new blueprint will take into account changes that have emerged since Vision 2030 was launched in 2008, including rapid advances in technology and artificial intelligence, as well as the growing impact of climate change. “We are having this conversation now because, number one, Vision 2030 will come to an end. Number two, the world has changed, with technology, AI and climate change reshaping our reality,” Dr Ruto said in…
Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga has warned politicians that their status will not protect them from prosecution if they fuel violence, hate speech or disorder ahead of the 2027 General Election. Speaking in Mombasa at the close of the National Council on the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) meeting, Mr Ingonga said the justice sector had started preparations for the polls by improving coordination among institutions tasked with safeguarding a peaceful and credible electoral process. He warned that politicians who make inflammatory remarks or unleash political hooliganism at public gatherings will be prosecuted regardless of the positions they hold. “We…
Rally driver Maxine Wahome has walked free from the High Court after a judge ruled that the prosecution had failed, comprehensively, to prove she killed her boyfriend Assad Khan. The case had trailed Wahome for months, casting a shadow over a promising motorsport career and thrusting her into the kind of public scrutiny few young sportswomen in Kenya ever face. On Tuesday, that chapter closed — not with a compromise or a technicality, but with an outright finding that the Directorate of Public Prosecutions never had the evidence to begin with. The court said the material presented fell short of…
Kenya’s digital lending industry faces a fresh legal challenge after a Nairobi court ruled that fintech lenders without Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) approval may not have the standing to pursue borrowers through the courts. The decision places regulatory compliance at the centre of debt recovery disputes, with lenders now facing the possibility that loans issued before licensing could become difficult to enforce. Resident Magistrate Gladys Kiama delivered the rulings after rejecting recovery claims by Tri-State Capital Limited and Mombo iCapital Limited, not because the borrowers’ alleged defaults had been disproved, but because the lenders had not shown that they…
