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A curfew that was meant to stop the spread of coronavirus in Kenya has turned into a nightmare. The police have taken advantage of the situation to terrorize anybody found outside their home between 7pm and 5pm. In Mombasa for example, the police started beating up people as early as 5pm. This brutality has … Continue reading “Kenya’s Dusk to Dawn Curfew: Crowd Control Should be Within the Law”
The Novel Coronavirus keeps spreading across the world. People suddenly have to deal with curfews and shutdowns. Kenya is not spared. In the wake of this devastating virus all parts of the society are affected: the work force, manufacturing, businesses, and production industry. Every aspect of the economy had to slow down or grind … Continue reading “Economic Impact of Covid-19 Worsens Despite Government Interventions”
Nairobi has recently been thrown into confusion. Governor Mike Sonko, under corruption charges agreed to hand over the County’s functions to the national government, basically surrendering responsibility to the national executive arm. The national government took over these functions on March 17. On 26th March, the Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua formally deployed … Continue reading “Beyond Legal Jargon: How Nairobi Should be Governed”
There are many resources currently available for journalists reporting on Cavid-19 popularly known as coronavirus. If you are reporting about Kenya then Ministry of Health website has the information that you need. However, if you want a global perspective then the primary global source is World Health Organization . On this site, you will … Continue reading “Real-Time Information on Coronavirus”
The coronavirus pandemic has killed thousands of people across the globe while others are still getting infected. The government of Kenya has laid down measures to stop the spread of the virus in Kenya but some citizens are still unshaken. President Uhuru Kenyatta, on his national address on Wednesday, 25th March, 2020 announced a … Continue reading “Kenyans Still Reluctant to Protect Themselves from Coronavirus”
Kenyan government has introduced measures to stop the spread of Coronavirus but the numbers increase everyday. A total of 25 confirmed cases were announced within 19 days. The directive to self-quarantine has also been abused and now mandatory quarantine and at an individual’s cost has been introduced.Is it too little too late? Should … Continue reading “Strict Measures Introduced in Kenya to Curb the Spread of Coronavirus”
It is almost seven months since Mr Edward Ouko’s term as the Auditor General expired yet the critical position is yet to be filled. Even worse is the fact that the process of replacing him might take longer than expected. The process is marred by controversies after the selection panel failed to get … Continue reading “Vacancy at the Auditor General’s Office Creating Crisis”
February 28 2020 was the deadline for submission of the County Fiscal Strategy Paper (CFSP) to County Assemblies across the country as required by law. The County Assemblies have until March 15 to consider and approve the document once public participation has been concluded. RoGGKenya has compiled this article to help you report comprehensively … Continue reading “Time to Analyze the Draft County Fiscal Strategy Papers”
Mr. Adrian Sakwa, is not happy with the way public buildings are not accessible in Bungoma County. The chairman of Western Kenya Disability Network, a non-governmental organization that brings together People Living with Disabilities (PLWD) within the former Western Province says he has been forced to follow proceedings of meetings within many counties from … Continue reading “Access and Safety in Public Buildings Remain a Challenge for The Disabled in Kenya”
In September 2019 Jared Ouma received a text that he describes as ‘abnormal’. The message read “Hello Jared, naomba kukujulisha nitang’ang’ania kiti cha MP wa Kibra katika uchaguzi mdogo ujao. Naomba kura yako. Nakutakia wikendi njema.” This loosely translates to “Hello Jared, I would like to inform you that I’ll be vying for the Member … Continue reading “Data Protection Act Only Enacted On Paper”
On October 9th 2019 RoGGKenya reported about eight students who died and 69 who were injured when a building at Precious Talent Academy collapsed. As usual, Kenyan leaders came out to condemn it and promised to take action. One of the actions taken was to identify schools that have not met the safety requirement … Continue reading “Continuous Flouting of Safety Measures Expose Students to Danger”
Medical care for first time mothers and their babies is in a deplorable state which requires an urgent action. The rate of death among mothers during pregnancy, delivery and after childbirth has remained a steady high at 488 deaths per 1000 births in Kenya, according to Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014. The survey is … Continue reading “Poor Diagnosis, Negligence Leading Cause of Child and Maternal Deaths in Kenya”
The desert locusts that were reported in Kenya in December 2019 , have defied control measures that have been placed by Eastern and Horn of Africa governments, the United Nation agencies and regional bodies .They continue to move to other countries, destroying crops and vegetation. This is the worst desert locust situation in 70 years … Continue reading “Desert Locusts Spread Despite Efforts by Government and UN”
Leadership as a function of gender biases and elitism is one that elicits debates from time to time. Many progressing and progressed nations, businesses and systems have by and large attempted to craft their own means and ways of striking a balance to achieve the best performing mix for their tastes. A gender balancing … Continue reading “Leadership , Education and Gender Balance in Kenya”
Almost three years after the ban on plastic bags, they are still available and in use. One would expect that they would be completely gone from the face of Kenya yet a spot check by RoGGKenya around the country indicates that they are being used in public. When the government of Kenya banned plastic bags … Continue reading “Plastic Bags Still Available Years After The Ban”
On the first week of December, a group of legal officials from Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan were gathered in Mombasa to discuss an age-old problem: unmarked borders between them. The problem at hand is that there may not be tranquility if the countries don’t act fast. A spokesperson for Kenya’s Attorney-General Kihara … Continue reading “Kenya’s possible border clash points with neighbours jolts officials”
Petrol stations operators across Kenya seem to disregard their regulator’s demand to adhere to the laid down safety and quality standards in running their fuel businesses. This is despite the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) in February 2017 announcing that 500 petrol stations of the then 1,731 licensed fuel pumps risked closure for … Continue reading “Petrol Stations Flouting The Regulator’s Operational Rules”
The Kenya Natinal Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has released the population census 2019 results and as usual the figures have been politicized. Some political leaders have disputed the results because the figures are less than they expected, or the number of the residents in their regions have reduced like in the case of Ikolomani. Other … Continue reading “Kenyan Population Census 2019-The Figures and Implications”
The 2010 Constitution which is citizen- centered in governance requires all state institutions both at the national and county government level to ensure that citizens are involved in decision-making through public participation. However, full implementation of this constitutional provision remains a challenge since the process is either hijacked by politicians and public officials dictating or … Continue reading “What The Constitution Says About Public Participation Amid Referenda Push”
Eugene Wamalwa, CS, Ministry of Devolution and ASALs appeared on Citizen TV to discuss how prepared Kenya is to deal with climate change. His response during the interview was however not satisfactory going by Kenyans reactions on social media .Many of them accused him of being insincere . He could not explain why despite the … Continue reading “President Kenyatta Yet to Chair National Climate Change Council 3 Years Later”
The nomination of Mwende Mwinzi, a dual citizenship holder, as Kenya’s ambassador to Seoul, South Korea continues to elicit mixed reactions on her legitimacy for the job. The defiant Mwinzi is fighting for her posting since she has to renounce her American citizenship before taking up the job. She was nominated with other 18 … Continue reading “Should Politics or the Law Prevail in Mwende Mwinzi’s Nomination?”
The recent death of eight pupils and 69 injured at Precious Talent School has not only saddened the entire country but also exposed how several schools in Kenya don’t meet the safety requirements. In the same breath it has yet again uncovered in-depth corruption, impunity and disregard for procedure that engulfs our regulators. Why … Continue reading “How Safe are Kenyan schools?-Rules and Regulations”
Quality healthcare is essential to every Kenyan as enshrined in the Constitution of Kenya 2010. However, this has remained a mirage in the face of many Kenyans who, in several occasions, have been deprived of their rights to prompt and quality medical services. Poor Kenyans have experienced the wrath of failure to pay for health … Continue reading “Detention Of Patients for Unpaid Bills Illegal”
If you live in Nairobi and you have running nose you better invest in a handkerchief worth Ksh 20 or else you might end up paying a fine of Ksh 2,000 or three months imprisonment. The law requires one to blow their nose in a cloth material or a tissue paper.It is also illegal to … Continue reading “The Strange Nairobi City County Bylaws”
Did you know that public entities are required to disclose information without the need for the applicant to give reasons for inquiring the requested information? Yes, that is what the Right to Information Act ,2016 states. It further states that private entities are only required to do so if the information is needed to protect … Continue reading “The Access to Information Act , 2016 Simplified For You”
It is said that ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ and Kenyans know this very well since cases take too long in court. A court cases can be expensive considering that lawyers usually charge fees based on among other things, the number of appearances made in the court on behalf of their clients. The involved parties … Continue reading “Kenyan Courts Record 84 % Reduction in Case Backlog”
Some government officials have been accused of dishing out bursaries to their relatives, friends and close associates who do not deserve it.This goes against the reasons as to why Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Bursary was created . Read more HERE In September 2018, two Nairobi ward representatives were also accused of colluding with rogue county … Continue reading “Corruption in CDF Bursary Allocation”
There are even more Auditor General Reports on the Counties online by now. After the reports on the county governments those on the county assemblies have been added to the Kenao.go.ke-Website (see link below). For their interpretation: the reports of the Kenyan Auditor General mostly contain quite technical language that should be known by those … Continue reading “New Auditor General Reports – and how to interpret them”
On 18th July 2019, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) confirmed that they had verified the signatures submitted by the Thirdway Alliance Kenya Party for the proposed Punguza Mizigo ‘referendum. The signatures were delivered to the Commission together with a draft Constitutional Amendment Bill and details of supporters of the draft Bill both in soft … Continue reading “ELOG Query IEBC Over Punguza Mizigo Signatures”
If you love history and would like to understand things that happened even before Kenya got independence then this site will excite you. Kenya Gazette has Kenya Gazette Notices from 1895 to 2012 that you can easily refer to and even download if necessary. Below are some notices that you might not known about Liquor … Continue reading “Kenya Gazette Notices from 1895 to 2012”
The media has been flooded by news of medical negligence, overcrowding in hospitals and in some instances, successful procedures that bring hope to Kenyans. Some hospital managers have however complained that they are overwhelmed because people do not go to the right facilities near them for the services they require, instead they go to referral … Continue reading “Kenya’s Health Structure and The Six Levels of Hospitals– an Overview”
In August 2018, Cabinet Secretary for Water and Sanitation, Simon Chelugui, suspended water abstractions from the Mt. Kenya and Aberdare regions for two weeks illegally without following the procedure set out in law for revocation of permits. Though the Cabinet Secretary cited the provision of illegal licences and farmers farming inside the forest … Continue reading “Water Permits and Regulation; The case of The Mt. Kenya Controversial Abstractions”
According to the IMF World Economic Outlook database, October 2018, the percentage of public debt to GDP in Kenya from 2012 is 43.88 while 2018 is 56.101. To be precise the country owes more than half the value of its economic output (GDP).The level of government debt has continued to increase from the early 2000. … Continue reading “Kenya Overburdened by Debt”
Parliament and the County assemblies are required under Section 39 of the Public Audit Act to make public within seven days all Auditor General’s Reports after they are tabled in national and county assemblies respectively. The Auditor General (OAG) has to comply with part 2 and 3 of section 39 of Public Audit Act by … Continue reading “Access to Information Laws not obeyed by Parliament and Auditor General”
There is a lot of talk and news reports around the Auditor General Reports about the Counties for the Financial Year 2017 / 2018. But all this focuses just on a few points that politicians have brought up. As media, we should not get carried away by the political discussions. Let us set the agenda … Continue reading “Auditor General Reports: Read the Originals!”
You enjoyed a nice Easter Break? That’s good! Now is the time to be updated during your work days. Subscribe to our newsletter. Recommend it to others if you already receive it yourself – especially if your friends work in Kenyan media, the target group of RoGGKenya.org. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed. Each … Continue reading “Subscribe to our Newsletter to keep up-to-date”
Very importants, but usually underreported: The supplementary budgets for the financial year 2019 /2020, where the parliament and the county assemblies shift money around between different programmes – but not always to the benefit of the citizen. We have added an extensive page about this to the budget section in our toolbox. Click here. The … Continue reading “Now is the time for Budget-related Media Reports”
The owners of their stations are considered by many radio journalists to be the main cause for their unsafety on the job and being considered to be politically partial. This was the outcome of a recent meeting with journalists from seven Kenyan radio stations when the participants took the initiative to bring their safety and … Continue reading “Media Owners as main Threat to Press Freedom”
On the eve of International Labour Day, we at RoGGKenya have consulted the website of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to find out about the status of labour and labour rights in Kenya. The result a big disappointment: On the ILO country page for Kenya, the latest statistics were ten years old – and older. … Continue reading “Where is the Labour Data for Kenya?”
An assessment worth reporting on is to be found in the latest term-end report of the IPOA: While the Independent Policing Oversight Authority claims that it diligently investigates suspected cases of Police misbehaviour, its investigations stops where the Police does not cooperate. On page 93 of the report the IPOA writes: Non-cooperation by the National … Continue reading “What’s wrong with Police Investigations?”
Migori County Government has illegally been collecting revenue without a finance act in place for the financial year 2018/2019. This is against the law and any citizen could move to court to and have county stopped from levying any taxes until the crucial law is passed. But the County Government is not aware of any … Continue reading “Migori County keeps operating illegally without Finance Bill”
Several County Assemblies in Kenya are once again on an illegal path with the budget making process. Already several critical documents that inform the budget making process have delayed in terms of submission, processing and approval in the County Assembly. Media in the Counties are yet to report on the budgeting delays which are illegal, … Continue reading “Delay of County Budget Budget Papers may cause Trouble”
Counties have been spending millions of shillings annually to finance employees and Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) to participate in sports activities that are ordinarily supposed to be a private affair. Each participating county spends approximately Sh 20 milliom annually to finance the games for both MCAs and executives. This will translate to Sh … Continue reading “Counties spent Millions to finance Sports Activities, illegally it seems”
See our latest toolbox page, if you are a journalist wanting to expand your market and are looking for alternative outlets who will pay for your valuable work! Click here.
Did you know that on womens’ equality Kenya is trailing far behind most other nations? According to the UN, Kenya is on rank 135 only in the Gender Inequality Index. Now how can that be true, even though the Kenyan Constitution states in article 27 (3) that “Women and men have the right to equal … Continue reading “Devastatingly negative Data for Kenyan Women by UN Report”
The Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has provided no convincing answers to the questions arising from the high concentration of multiple IDs in the 2017 voter register in only two Homa Bay constituencies. Follow-up questions by RoGGKenya.org editors as to what the reasons were for the accumulation in Homa Bay, and how the IEBC … Continue reading “Multiple Voters on one ID Number – but no convincing Answers by the IEBC”
As the Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officially concludes the 2017 elections cycle today, February 12, 2019, by releasing an evaluation report, a serious constitutional question about the 2017 elections is unanswered: Has the commission properly gazetted the complete results of the Genearal Elections in all six positions, as the law requires it? … Continue reading “Has the IEBC gazetted Election Results as required by Law?”
People like to hear and read about conflict. It’s always about one person against another: husband against wife, president against opposition leader, tenant against landlord, revenue authority versus taxpayer, neighbour against neighbour, employee versus employer, gang A against gang B, police against suspect, etc. There are a myriad causes and characteristics of conflict, and many … Continue reading “Why Court Sessions make News”
The latest Report of the Controller of Budget on the Budget Implementation in the counties in the financial year 2017/2018 reveals interesting data about sitting allowances of MCAs. They vary considerably – and, at least on first sight, unexplainably. A good opportunity for county media to follow-up on. The extremes: The Turkana MCAs received only … Continue reading “Kakamega MCAs cost 12 Times as much as Turkana MCAs – why?”
The international free speech organization Article 19 has today published a report saying that the the murder of journalist John Kituyi in Eldoret in April 2015 remained unpunished. A suspect, a soldier, was acquitted by the court earlier in 2018, whereof the family of Kituyi was not notified, Article 19 reported. The case file is … Continue reading “Murder of Journalist John Kituyi remained unpunished, Article 19 reports”
An analysis of the Register of Voters for the 2017 Elections reveals that the occurence of duplicate voter records was heavily concentrating in just two constituencies in Homa Bay. The two, Rangwe and Karachuonyo have more than six percent of the registered voters as illegal duplicates. Moreover, the duplicates were concentrating in a few wards … Continue reading “Duplicate Voter Records concentrated in two Homa Bay Constituencies”
Most of the Audit Reports that the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has uploaded to its web page in the last few years are not machine-readable for your computer without special software. You don’t care? Read here why it matters. And, because it matters, we have made the reports computer-readable and uploaded more than … Continue reading “We made the Auditor General Reports computer-readable”
The Budget Implementation report by the Controller of Budget (CoB) for the financial year 2017/2018 reveals massive differences and massive under-expenditure in sitting allowances for Members of County Assemblies. Both raise serious questions on what informs the inclusion of the huge amounts in the budgets and where the differences stem from. The media can follow … Continue reading “Analysed: The huge Gaps in MCA Sitting Allowances”
The killing of Rongo-University student Sharon Otieno has raised a lot of public interest. Beyond the public outcry for the perpetrators to be charged and punished, there are legal questions on the process of investigations and arrests. On November 16, Governor Obado of Migori was released again after repeyted police custody. And earlier, a key … Continue reading “When can a Person be held in Police Custody for over 24 Hours?”
The arrest and ongoing detainment of the eight Ambira Boys High School students is most probably illegal, a legal analysis made for RoGGKenya has found. In addition, the harsh reaction of the state agencies against the minor school boys is in sharp contrast with a leniency we can observe when famous politicians are involved. This … Continue reading “Detention of eight School Boys probably illegal”
The enforcement of the so called Michuki rules for Public Service Vehicles (PSV) may be unlawful, according a new legal analysis made for RoGGKenya. While the rules themselves are valid, it is the abrupt implementation of the rules that can be challenged by the matatu businesses, the analysis by constitutional lawyer Steve Ogolla says. The … Continue reading “Michuki Rules Enforcement may be unlawful according to Constitution”
14 of the new 47 County Integrated Development Plans for 2018 to 2022 are still missing on our download page, because we did not find them on the county websites. As a journo, look at our page, find out if your county is alread represented and ask the follow-up questions. What is the planning stage … Continue reading “Still missing: 14 new County plans for 2018 – 2022”
The fiasco that occurred in Parliament during the passage of the President Uhuru Kenyatta’s memorandum on the Finance Bill, 2018 has left many wondering whether MPs acted within the law. The National Assembly passed the Bill that contains a raft of punitive taxation measures, including the introduction of an eight per cent Value Added Tax … Continue reading “The Finance Bill 2018 and the Legal Rules”
Well, this might not be the most important story about good governance, but anyway: It seems to be fashionable especially for elders to threaten to “curse” someone who misbehaves according to them. If you have time and would like to do a fairly unsusual story about those who threaten: Look at the Kenyan Witchcraft Act … Continue reading “Curses are common but illegal according to a 91 Year old Kenyan Law”
Many counties seem to be very late with formulating and publishing the new plans for the new election period running from 2018 to 2022, according to a web search conducted by RoGGKenya.org. As of today, Aug 21, 2018, RoGGKenya.org has found only 24 County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs) on the web pages of the county … Continue reading “Many Counties are late with their new Five-Year Plans”
