Loud on climate change, Kenyan president contradicts himself by sanctioning paved road construction through forest
The Kenyan government wants to build a 32-mile tarmac road through what has been suggested as a UNESCO World Heritage Site to connect two counties, and the country’s environmental agency, the National Environment Management Authority, issued an environmental impact assessment licence for the project last month. The project would cut through 15 miles of closed canopy forest and likely increase vehicle traffic into animal paths.
Eritrean troops accused of abducting farmers and stealing livestock in Ethiopia’s Tigray
In one incident, on January 22, eight herders were abducted with their donkeys and camels. In another, on December 6, six people were abducted along with 56 livestock. In a third, on December 5, Eritrean soldiers stole 100 animals.
World music revolution: How and why Africa had fastest-growing recorded music revenues in 2022
There is also Afrobeat – different from Afrobeats – a blend of jazz, funk and traditional West African rhythms popularised by Nigerian musical icon and political agitator Fela Kuti in the 1970s. Then there’s Afropop, a rich variety of contemporary styles. The traditional soukous dance music out of Congo and other parts of Central Africa. The rhythmical and heavily vocal shaabi and chaabi heard on the streets of North Africa. Kenya’s benga and Tanzania’s bongo flava reverberate across dance floors in East Africa, just as fuji and highlife do in West Africa.
Kenya’s president blames corruptionfor huge fireball that killed 4, injured hundreds in Nairobi
The National Environment Management Authority board said in a statement it had suspended four officials, including the director of environmental compliance. The chairman of the board, Emilio Mugo, asked police to investigate the four.
Iran-made Shahed-136 is the ‘loitering munition’ of choice Houthis use to attack merchant ships
The Shahed-136 , which has been extensively used by Russian forces in Ukraine, can be fired from truck-mounted containers at a slightly upward angle. A small rocket booster helps propel the drone into the air before being jettisoned. Its main piston engine then takes over to power the flight.
Executive blitz on Kenyan judiciary poses threats to wobbly economy as fears mount it’ll hurt further foreign capital inflows
The ruling irritated the executive, with Ruto and Gachagua launching tirades – without proof – against the judiciary. Justice Majanja and Justice Esther Maina have come under unsavoury attacks, raising suspicions that the president is creating an excuse to staff the judiciary – particularly the commercial and taxes court – with his henchmen.
Death toll in gas truck explosion at cylinder depot in Nairobi rises to 24 and 280 injured
At the scene after daybreak, several houses and shops were burned out. The roof of a four-story residential building about 200 meters (yards) from the scene of the explosion was broken by another flying gas cylinder. Electric wires lay on the ground.
Have Ugandans resigned to being sitting ducks, surrendered sovereignty and resolved to belong nowhere?
Have Ugandans as a totality agreed to belong nowhere in the 21st century? Already, Ugandans have been dispossessed and displaced from their ancestral lands by people who originally belonged to arid and semi-arid areas and who are attached more to grass and cow than the land.
Banditry: Age-old complex cultural and economic lifestyle Kenya’s tough-talking minister fights with lips
Kenya is facing an uphill battle against the spread of illicit arms. During the last five-year cycle of illegal firearm destruction operations, from 2016-2021, Kenya destroyed around 23,000 guns. This represents a paltry 3.6 per cent recovery and destruction rate of the total estimates of illicit firearms in circulation.
‘Upsurge in terror attacks in Somalia and war in DRC makes East African Standby Force urgent’
The meeting themed, ‘A Capability of Choice for Peace, Security and Integration in the Eastern Africa Region,’ brought ministers of Defence and Security from EASF member states and their representatives from Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda together.
