Author: David Indeje

Kenya on Saturday will launch an ambitious drive for inoculating over 3.4 million children against polio within five days. The second phase of the vaccination campaign targets 13 ‘risk counties’ according to the Ministry of Health.  https://twitter.com/MOH_Kenya/status/1415629788530814979?s=20 They include Garissa, Isiolo, Kajiado, Kiambu, Kilifi, Kitui, Lamu, Machakos, Mandera, Mombasa, Nairobi, Tana River and Wajir counties.  According to UNICEF, Kenya remains at risk of polio due to low immunisation coverage resulting from Covid-19 interruptions, porous borders with high-risk countries and high population movements.  “The 13 counties identified as high-risk had not had their three rounds of routine Polio vaccination, as part…

The Standard Bank of South Africa says it has made a proposal to acquire insurer Liberty Holdings. The leader currently has a 54 per cent stake in Liberty Holdings. In a statement, Standard Bank said that it has enjoyed a strategic relationship with Liberty, thanks to a “highly successful and valuable bancassurance arrangement”. It now wants to offer “an increasingly wide range of financial and associated services”. In the proposed transaction, Liberty shareholders are being offered R25.50 in cash per share, together with 0.5 Standard Bank shares per Liberty share held. Standard Bank Group CEO Sim Tshabalala said: “The integration…

Linkham Group a UK based insurance firm on Thursday, said it has completed the acquisition of Resolution Insurance. In February, Linkham Group increased its shareholding in Resolution Insurance after the purchase of 100 per cent of the equity holding in the Kenyan insurance company from private equity impact investment firm, Leapfrog Investments.  Linkham Group Chief Executive Officer Michael Cranfield said the acquisition is part of the Mauritius headquartered firm’s Africa expansion plans. “As part of the acquisition, we are committing to invest in the business and have consequently appointed Peter Nduati to spearhead management and business growth efforts with immediate…

Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) has issued a new Telecommunications Operator License to the Global Partnership for Ethiopia. GPE is a partnership between Vodacom Group, Vodafone Group, Sumitomo Corporation and CDC Group, led by Kenya’s Safaricom. According to ECA, the Telecommunications Operator License has been given to “The Global Partnership for Ethiopia” which has registered its local company with the name: Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC. “Hence, the ECA has granted a nationwide full-service Unified Telecommunications Service License to the Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC effective from 9 July 2021, valid for a term of fifteen (15) years from the Effective Date, and…

Kenya received only 305,635 international tourists in the period between January 2021 to June 2021,  a fifth of the two million it received in 2019, Tourism Minister Najib Balala. Speaking on Thursday while launching the Tourism Research Institute’s international tourism performance report, he said the industry is encouraged by the numbers though still low.  “We are encouraged by the numbers although we are not there yet,” he said adding that “We understand this is because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that ensued which affected the travel trends this year.” In 2019, the country’s tourism industry registered improved performance…

Fuel prices remain unchanged in all the major towns in Kenya over the next month to August 14, 2021, on Wednesday, according to the latest review from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). This is the fourth consecutive month that the Diesel and Kerosene prices have remained unchanged. This is attributable to the implementation of the government’s fuel price stabilization fund established in June by the National Treasury. The Ksh.1.4 billion fund is used to compensate oil marketers as payments for haircuts taken to cushion Kenyans from higher fuel prices. “In the period under review, the price of Super…