Kenya - The African Mirror

Jul

2020

Solar keeps lights, phones on

KAGONDU NJAGI WHEN Lucyline Wanja Silas installed a 12-volt solar power unit at her home to help her children study at night, little did she know it would become essential to her and her neighbours in Gakunga village, central Kenya, during the coronavirus pandemic. Wanja, a 48-year-old farmworker, said she had not made any money since the country's lockdown started in March, but the solar photovoltaic (PV) unit she purchased in January means she no longer needs to buy kerosene for lamplight. And she can also help others in her area who are without electricity, either because of faults on power…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenya arrests two police officers after ‘shooting incident’

NEWS

KENYA's national police service has arrested two police officers and opened an investigation after "a shooting incident" in the eastern county of Garissa, the police service said on Sunday. The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), a body set up to investigate cases of police brutality, has also sent its investigators to Garissa, it said late on Saturday. The national police service said two officers had been arrested "over a shooting incident at Soko Ng'ombe market within Garissa Township" and that the inspector general had ordered an investigation. "The inspector general has equally directed the directorate of criminal investigations to carry…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenyan recycling firm mixes kitchen waste to boost urban farming

ENVIRONMENT

EDWIN WAITA KENYAN urban farmer Francis Wachira credits a soil recycling company with keeping him afloat financially during the coronavirus crisis: it helped him to start producing herbs and vegetables on his tiny Nairobi plot. The locally-owned company, Sprout Organic, mixes animal bone meal, seeds, foliage, dry leaves, twigs and kitchen waste like banana peels, to concoct a composite that is then sold to urban farmers like Wachira to grow food in small spaces. Wachira, 71, used to make a living by renting out tiny tin shacks he built, but the coronavirus pandemic meant his tenants could no longer pay…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenya COVID-19 hospital gears up for surge in new infections

COVID-19

BAZ RATNER AT the Machakos COVID-19 field hospital about an hour's drive from the Kenyan capital, workers struggle to put a giant metal tent frame in place to serve as a new ward. Machakos county, which has 92 active cases of the virus, has already met the required minimum of 300 beds per county for COVID-19 patients, set by the national government. But as national figures surge, Machakos is preparing for more infections. Positive cases in Kenya have nearly doubled in the last two weeks to 15,601, mirroring a continental surge. Africa topped 750,000 cases on Wednesday. "When you see…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Land rights battle inches Kenyan rice farmers closer to title deeds

HUMAN RIGHTS

KAGONDU NJAGI WHEN Wilson Kariuki's three younger children finish high school, the Kenyan rice farmer will not have to worry about paying to send them to a university far from home, as he did with his two eldest. Instead, they can attend a new university being built in their home village of Ngurubani, central Kenya, on 100 acres (40 hectares) that the farmers on the Mwea Irrigation Scheme now own after winning a case against the county government in April. The rice farmers' victory is a sign of the rising awareness of land rights that is driving small-scale farmers around…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenya’s flower industry rebounds as lockdowns ease

BUSINESS

OMAR MOHAMMED DEMAND for Kenya's flowers has recovered to around 85% of pre-coronavirus levels as European markets open up after lockdowns, an industry body said, spurring hope that the industry could see a full rebound by next year. Kenyan farmers were forced to throw away millions of roses in March as Europe sealed borders and residents put weddings and funerals on hold. But demand is coming back as restrictions ease and growers are hoping it will recover fully by next year, said Clement Tulezi, chief executive of the Kenya Flower Council. "We are better than we were two months ago,…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenyan emerges as one of early WTO frontrunners

BUSINESS

EMMA FARGE KENYA's candidate to the World Trade Organization's (WTO) top post said she is seeking Washington's backing and expressed some sympathy with its criticism of the global body as she emerges as one of two reform-minded African female frontrunners. Amina Mohamed told Reuters a closed-door vetting session last week went "really well" as she outlined her platform to steer the body out of crises from global trade tensions and rising protectionism to a COVID-induced dive in business. Delegates say Mohamed, a 58-year-old minister and former WTO chair, is one of the favourites alongside Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to replace Brazil's…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Caught flouting curfew in bar, Kenyan official quits COVID committee

NEWS

THE chairman of Kenya's senate committee overseeing the government's response to the coronavirus crisis has quit the post after police said he flouted an overnight curfew to enjoy drinks with others in a Nairobi bar. "I will bear responsibility ... I apologise to Kenyans and I will face the full consequences of the law," Johnson Sakaja, who represents Nairobi county and is a close ally of President Uhuru Kenyatta, told reporters. Police said Sakaja was caught in the early hours of Saturday morning drinking with about 10 others, long after a 9 p.m.-4 a.m. curfew had set in. He is…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenya fishermen say they are squeezed by Ethiopian mega-dam

ENVIRONMENT

BAZ RATNER FISHERMEN on the shores of Kenya's Lake Turkana, the world's biggest desert lake, have no doubt about what is to blame for their dwindling fish stocks: a giant hydroelectric dam built by Ethiopia on the River Omo, which feeds the lake. "We are now seeing Nile perch stocks drastically reduce," said fisherman Fitbo Lalukol. He says boats must sail much further out into the lake to get a good catch. Officials at Ethiopia's ministry of water, irrigation and energy did not respond immediately to a Reuters request for comment on the fishermen's claims. Complaints about the Omo dam…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenya police arrest prison warden over rape of patient in COVID-19 quarantine

NEWS

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 overtreatment 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…