Author: David Indeje

The East African Community has accepted Somalia’s application to join the regional bloc. The Federal Republic of Somalia made its application to join the EAC in 2012. Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperations said in a statement that the adoption of the verification report is a noteworthy milestone and a testament that Somalia is ready and fully equipped to join the EAC. “Somalia expresses its gratitude and appreciation to the Heads of State and General Secretariat of the East African Community for the communiqué that was made public and reaffirms its determination and desire to engage in productive…

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) says rolling out a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the country is not a compelling priority. “The allure of the CBDC is fading,” the Central Bank of Kenya said in its Discussion Paper on Central Bank Digital Currency. “The bank will continue to monitor developments in CBDCs to inform future assessments.” The regulator invited views from the public on the potential introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in February 2020. The CBK received more than 100 comments, some from nine countries and including representatives from commercial banks and institutions. It further…

The High Court has ordered the liquidation of Tusker Mattresses, popularly referred to as Tuskys Supermarket. Tuskys Supermarket, once East Africa’s biggest family-owned retail chain, dominated the whole country. For instance, in 2019, it had 64 branches. Today, it is a shell of itself, with Tuskys Imara branch along Tom Mboya being the only remaining retailer’s outlet in the Central Business District with assets worth 6 billion shillings. However, Justice David Majanja, Judge of the High Court ruled that there was no hope of resurrecting the retailer which owes creditors more than 20 billion shillings. The liquidation petition was filed…

Inflation hit Kenyans hard in May, as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) index rose to 8 per cent compared to 7.9 per cent in April, data from the statistics office showed on Wednesday. On a monthly basis, May inflation was at 0.9% compared to 0.5% in April due to an increase in food and non-food alcoholic beverages (10.2 per cent), as well as housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels (97 per cent) and transport (10.1 per cent). “The rise in annual inflation was mainly due to an increase in prices of commodities under the following Classification of Individual Consumption…

Safaricom introduced a new feature called ‘Niokolee’ that allows customers to request airtime from their friends and family. The service works via a USSD code and both PrePay and PostPay subscribers are eligible. To send a Niokolee request Dial *444# Select “Niokolee”, then choose “Request Kredo” Enter the Safaricom number you would like to request credit from Select the amount of airtime from the options provided Wait for the other user to accept or decline your request To accept a Niokolee request You will get a prompt from 44444 asking you to “Accept” or “Decline” the request After accepting the…

Oppo launched its first foldable handset, the “Oppo Find N2 Flip,” in Kenya on Tuesday. The Oppo Find N2 Flip competes against the Galaxy Z4 Flip. The phone has a larger screen that folds flat, a 50MP main camera with a 1/1.56-inch image sensor, and a 4,300 mAh battery that charges faster at 44W. Once fully charged, the phone can last about 13–14 hours. The phone runs on the Android 13-based ColorOS 13 skin. There is Wi-Fi 6, 5G, and Bluetooth 5.2 support, and the device has 17 5G NR band support. In addition, the phone has a superior processor,…