PMI: Kenya’s private sector activity shrinks in June as a result of cost-of-living crisis, protests
The Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 47.2 in June from 51.8 in May. Readings below 50.0 signal contraction.
Kenya mourns a giant whose death coincides with a youth revolution with bearing on African politics
As Kamukunji MP, Maina Wanjigi helped small-scale and petty traders start the Gikomba Market and the Shauri Moyo craftspeople yards that have evolved into key subsectors of the national economy as they have been replicated in other major towns.
Tax protests in Kenya switch from teargas, burning tyres and gunshots to president ‘Ruto Must Go’ calls
Outside the capital, hundreds of protesters marched through Mombasa, Kenya’s second largest city, on the Indian Ocean coast. They carried palm fronds, blew on plastic horns and beat on drums, chanting “Ruto must go!”
Trigger-happy Kenya police resort to teargas to disperse protesting youth in capital Nairobi, major towns
Members of the protest movement, which has no official leaders and largely organises via social media, have rejected appeals from President William Ruto for dialogue, even after he abandoned proposed tax rises that triggered the demonstrations.
Haitian PM Garry Conille travels to US as Kenyan police officers patrol capital Port-au-Prince
As armed khaki-clad Kenyan police in bullet-proof jackets and helmets patrolled the city in black armoured vans, Port-au-Prince residents said they hoped the force could stop the indiscriminate killings and allow business to restart.
Kenya’s youth revolution: How affinity for lies, arrogance and opulence of jet-setting Ruto stoked anger against him
The U-turn has exposed the gulf between the image of President William Ruto as the jet-setting global voice not just of Kenya but the wider continent, and the grinding realities his nation faces – weighed down by debt, corruption and security threats.
Who has authority in Haiti? Kenya police history of human rights abuses looms over Haiti mission
Ahead of the deployment, the International Committee of the Red Cross started reaching out to the PNH and the Kenyan police to convey its humanitarian concerns to the stakeholders. According to Marisela Silva Chau, head of the ICRC in Haiti, the PNH has been taking part in some meetings held by the HCT and a liaison cell created several months ago by the UN’s emergency aid coordination body, OCHA.
Kenya police peacekeepers land in Haiti finally amid concerns about how they will restore order as ‘nothing clearly established’
The roots of Haiti’s problems date back to colonial times. Although the Caribbean nation became the world’s first Black republic in 1804, it was forced to pay billions to France in order to secure its freedom. That debt crippled Haiti economically and – combined with decades of dictatorships, natural disasters, political and environmental mismanagement, a long US military occupation, and a debilitating US trade embargo – contributed to its recent turmoil.
Palpable tension in Nairobi, police clash with protesters in Kenya as military patrols streets
The leaderless movement began online with young people demanding that legislators reject the proposed tax hikes. It later morphed into calls for the president’s resignation after the bill was passed. On Tuesday, thousands of protesters stormed Kenya’s parliament, burning parts of the building and sending lawmakers fleeing. Police opened fire and at least 23 people were reportedly killed in the chaos.
Hope and fear hang in the air as newly arrived Kenyan police force prepares to face Haitian gangs
Expectations are high: Haitians are scared and tired of gangs that have pillaged their way through the capital of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, killing, raping and kidnapping thousands of people in recent years and leaving hundreds of thousands of others homeless and unemployed, which in turn has deepened poverty.
