Studying for free: The real cost they won’t reveal

As Kenya goes to the polls, Jubilee and NASA are both promising to offer completely free secondary education. We totted up the numbers on what this entails.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

We can’t meet SGR obligations, say policy experts

The joke doing the rounds after the launch of the multi-billion-shilling Standard Gauge Railway on June 1 was that the beach is now only four hours away from Syokimau, on the outskirts of Nairobi.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Duale, Muturi and Ethuro in bitter fight for control of PSC billions

It is none of your business! National Assembly Speaker and Majority Leader tell off Senate boss over proposed changes at the Parliamentary Service Commission

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Hits, misses of Jubilee promises as Uhuru seeks re-election

Jubilee promised to deal with corruption, shore up the economy, create jobs. Here is a review five years later.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Uhuru’s path to power: Intrigues, godfathers, deep pockets and ICC

From Kanu to Jubilee, the President has passed through people’s sacrifices to finally make it to State House.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Tough times as Sh140b debt due amid costly campaigns

As Jubilee struggles with current food crisis, economists predict tough times ahead of election because of campaign billions, rise in oil prices, army worms and Kenya’s Sh4 trillion debt.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

New bid to give diplomatic passports to MPs, spouses

Final battle looms between Senate and National Assembly over new PSC Bill as vicious battle rages within parliamentary bureaucracy over money and power

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Budget office rejects Rotich's plan to control tenders

Minister is seeking to pick appointees to two crucial boards that have final say on government procurement disputes.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Long odds await independents who become MPs, governors

They only matter when parties are desperate for votes. But, the risk is they have to beg the big parties to appoint them to House committees or even get foreign trips. If they win as governors, they are hostages of MCAs allied to big parties.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

MPs who defected could be kicked out

At least 20 MPs are staring at job losses following their defection from parties that sponsored them to Parliament. The MPs defected to vie as independent candidates or to join parties popular in their constituencies.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Third-time lucky? Gender Bill heads back to House

Speaker mulls last-ditch legal shortcut to pave way for Parliament to pass law on two-thirds gender principle.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Why gender target has been so near yet so far since 2010

But after nearly seven years of missed deadlines, failed amendments and legislative dithering, it appears that implementing Article 81(b) of the Constitution to ensure that “not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender” is harder than anticipated, especially for the National Assembly and the Senate.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Ongoro, the Iron Lady of Orange party

The first time she hit the headlines in a notorious manner was when news filtered one morning five years ago that an assistantminister had beaten up her husband.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Why explosive NYS report may never see 'light of the' House

After captivating the country with eye-popping details about how a colossal Sh1.4 billion was stolen from the National YouthService (NYS) and part of the loot carted away in gunny bags, MPs do not have the time to debate the explosive report of the Public Accounts Committee!

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

MPs: Come clean on ‘omitted’ Sh155bn debt in Budget

The Parliamentary Budget Office – the experts in economics and finance who advise lawmakers on the national budget—has exposed the National Treasury for failing to declare a Sh155 billion rise in debt interest and repayments.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Budget Office asks Rotich to raid cash-rich betting industry

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich will on Thursday, March 30 read Kenya’s national budget amid dim warnings of an economic slowdown in an election year.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Budget Office asks CS Rotich to raid cash-rich betting industry

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich will on Thursday, March 30 read Kenya’s national budget amid dim warnings of an economic slowdown in an election year.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

US spy agency named Kibaki, JM Kariuki as potential Jomo Kenyatta successors

At least six years before Jomo Kenyatta died, America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had prepared a thorough assessment of the political succession in Kenya, complete with possible successors, their chances and competence, and how they would affect the country’s relations with the United States.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Rogue lawyers, greedy telcos in MPs’ last agenda

These legal amendments are contained in the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendment) Bill – usually called the Omnibus Bill as it carries with it changes to dozens of laws.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Banks in fresh trouble as new Bill proposes ban on deposits of public funds

In a new Bill headed to the Government Printer for publication, the MPs have proposed tough new rules to guide the Government on where State agencies will bank, for how long, and the threshold of interest to warrant banking with commercial banks.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

MPs rush to allocate themselves more money ahead of elections

As the National Assembly resumes on Tuesday, one of its first agenda is an amendment of the Constitution to entrench the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) into the country’s supreme law.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Game of numbers drives UhuRuto and Raila to villages in vote hunt

Ahead of the next General Election, the President and his deputy have moved out of their offices, and using all State power, are camping in their strongholds begging their supporters to enroll as voters.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Chic slogans as aspirants for city women rep take politics to another level

Whether in tight jeans, knee-high boots or in figure-hugging dresses or with shiny lip-gloss, colourful lipstick and heavy make-up, or perhaps long weaves on their heads, the campaign for Nairobi County woman representative’s seat is turning into a contest about beauty, politics and policies.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Donald Trump shock for Kenya

Kenya is worried over a possible withdrawal of US support for its campaign in Somalia, following a series of questions sent by incoming President Donald Trump’s team to the State Department.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Why 2017 will mark end of the Kenyatta, Oginga rivalry

The biggest news in Kenya‘s New Year agenda is the August 8, 2017 General Election. It is a political watershed moment that will bring the curtains down on a 50-year political rivalry involving sons of Kenya‘s independence-era politicians.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

The good, the bad and the ugly of Uhuru’s self-proclaimed errand boy Duale

In a secluded corner on the First Floor of Kenya’s Parliament Buildings, there’s a four-roomed office that serves as the Office of the Majority Leader.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Speaker Justin Muturi blames State for rights abuses

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has blamed radicalisation of youth in Kenya on impunity and corruption in government.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Reprieve for Ijara residents in row over forest once inhabited by militia

Parliament is piling pressure on the government to surrender an expansive swathe of forest land to the Somali community in Ijara, Garissa County.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Ghosts of CDF losses haunt Raila and eight ex-ministers

Eight former MPs including Opposition chief Raila Odinga are on the spot after the Auditor General’s report exposed fraud during their tenures.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Millions wasted as MPs abandon crucial CDF projects

Key projects in many constituencies were abandoned when former MPs lost their seats even after millions had been pumped into them.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

From boda boda sheds to fences, the crazy things MPs spent our money on

In what could turn out to be classic cases of outright theft of millions of public funds, the Auditor General has exposed hundreds of ways Kenyans lose money to non-existent or abandoned projects at the constituency level.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

National security budget shoots up as war on terror intensifies

Kenya’s annual budget for military and spy operations has doubled in the five years the military has been fighting Al Shaabab militants in Somalia.

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Capture of Kismayu port was the brainchild of Karangi

Hidden in the 306 pages of the Kenya Defence Forces’ official account of Operation Linda Nchi is what the military authors call the “Ugali strategy.”

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Wetang’ula: Bring boys back home, Linda Nchi mission is over

Kenya’s former Foreign Affairs minister, Moses Wetang’ula, who is today an opposition senator has asked President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration to end the military incursion in Somalia and “bring the boys back home.”

By Alphonce Shiundu 8 years ago

Retired judges to get over Sh65m in benefits

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, his deputy Kalpana Rawal, and judge Philip Tunoi are assured of good financial packages as they exit the Judiciary.

By Alphonce Shiundu 9 years ago

Poll: 72pc of Kenyans want IEBC bosses replaced

A new poll shows seven out of 10 Kenyans believe replacing top bosses would increase confidence in the electoral agency.

By Alphonce Shiundu 9 years ago

IEBC to brush up its poll results system with Sh4.5b

The electoral commission has embarked on a Sh4.5 billion upgrade programme for all its election technology.

By Alphonce Shiundu 9 years ago

DP Ruto loses bid to probe ICC officials

The International Criminal Court has rejected a call by Deputy President William Ruto to have a special prosecutor investigate officers working for Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda regarding their handling of the crimes against humanity cases in Kenya.

By Alphonce Shiundu 9 years ago

Shame of dilapidated Kenyan missions

Kenyan diplomats abroad are forced to pretend that they are not Kenyans so as not to bring shame to the country, a parliamentary committee was told.

By Alphonce Shiundu 9 years ago

MPs want 5,000 teachers hired and 31,000 promoted

National Assembly’s Education Committee Vice Chairman Julius Melly (Tinderet) said the country had a total shortage of 80,000 teachers.

By Alphonce Shiundu 9 years ago