President Ruto lauded for tough stance on corruption
The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has applauded President William Ruto for the steps he has taken to combat corruption in the country.
The Alliance especially lauded the President's action on the corruption scandal at Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) and the recent sugar scam involving top officials at Kenya Bureau of Standards and Kenya Revenue Authority. "We thank the government and the Ministry of Trade Investments and Industry for their dedication towards addressing the value chains inefficiencies in the sugar industry sector in order to ensure we become self-sufficient and net exporters of the basic commodity," Kepsa Chief Executive Officer Carole Kariuki said in a statement on Monday."The sugar industry in Kenya possesses huge investment and job creation opportunities given the huge deficit between local production of 600 million metric tons against the shelve demand of 1.2 trillion metric tons that has encouraged annual importation to plug the deficit."
Former Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) Managing Director Bernard Njiru Njiraini and seven others were on Monday charged before Milimani law courts over the disappearance and illegal sale of the condemned sugar.
The sugar – 20,000 bags of sugar, each weighing 50 kilograms – had been imported into the country in 2018 and condemned by the KEB for lack of an expiry date. The agency then ordered them to be re-shipped or destroyed at the owner’s expense.
On Wednesday last week, Civil Service boss Felix Koskei announced the suspension of 27 officials from Kebs, KRA, National Police Service (NPS), DCI and Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) to pave way for investigations into the irregular release of the condemned sugar.
The suspended officials from Kebs include; Njiraini, Dr Geoffrey Muriira (Director of Quality Assurance and Inspection), Hilda Keror (Manager Inspection, Mombasa Port Office), Liston Lagat (Assistant Manager, ICDN Nairobi), Stephen Owuor (Principal Officer) and Peter Olima Joseph (Inspector, Mombasa).
Those affected in KRA include; Joseph Kaguru, Mwanja Masinde, Stephen Muiruri, Moses Okoth, Doris Mutembei, Chacha Hondo, Carol Nyagechi and Derick Kago.
The AFA officials were Oscar Kai and Patrick Magut.
Other officials from security agencies who were part of an inter-agency team that handled the sugar and were also suspended include George Mithamo and Joel Kirui from NPS and Benard Ngumbi and Raphael Mwaka from DCI, Joseph Maita Mweni (Port Health) and Isackop Bonai (Nema), Stephen Cheruiyot (Anti-Counterfeiting Authority), Daniel Ngugi (KEPHIS), Willy Koskei (EACC) and Edwin Ruto (KPA).
A journalist is your first point of contact with information that is either informative, educative and entertaining, regardless of the medium you choose to consume your news. But have you ever asked yourself if these journalists who put themselves on the front lines to deliver news and impactful stories are mentally okay? One in four Kenyans suffers from mental illness, but there is no substantive data and research on the mental health of journalists, a gap that is now becoming more evident in the wake of public mental health crises and appeals for help from journalists. In the spirit of ending mental health stigma and discrimination, NTV’s health and science reporter Brygettes Ngana took the lens to her colleagues who opened up about their mental health status behind the scenes.
September 1, 2024It is now thirty-four years since the death of then vocal ACK Bishop of Eldoret Diocese Alexander Muge that occurred through a tragic and suspicious road accident near Kipkaren river along Webuye -Eldoret highway.
At the time, the late Muge was a fierce government critic and was among prominent religious leaders who had joined forces with a section of politicians, academics, lawyers and other civil society groups, in agitating for a return to multiparty politics in the country. His death was largely seen as a political assassination as Kenya grappled with one of the darkest periods of its post-independence history. What were the circumstances surrounding his demise and how did the vocal man of the cloth meet his death? Duncan Khaemba speaks to a survivor who witnessed the late Bishop Muge breathe his last, his children who were teenagers at the time as well as a section of church leaders who knew him at a personal level. Bishop Alexander Kipsang Muge: Ultimate Price. August 18, 2024Last Thursday marked exactly 42 years since the failed coup attempt of 1st of August 1982 pulled by rebel airforce soldiers against president Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi's government. So much has been written about the coup, yet that was not all there was to it, there is a whole lot more that is unreported.
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