1. 6 Million Have Registered so Far – IEBC
Close to six million people have been registered as voters in two weeks according to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). A statement from the commission on Monday said the number represented 33 percent of the estimated Kenyan voting population. Nairobi County leads with the most number of those registered at 632, 145 out of an estimated voting population of about 1.5 million people followed by neighboring Kiambu County with 329, 340 people registered out of 756,773 estimated eligible voters.
2. Police Chiefs Want New Rules Put on Hold
Police chiefs have asked the Independent Policing Oversight Authority to give their units more time to study a raft of regulations it has proposed before enforcing them. The regulations are aimed at enhancing police accountability and improving police-community relations. Officers drawn from both Kenya Police and Administration Police said they needed time to study and understand the regulations. “If you rush it (the proposal), police will shy away from some duties,” warned deputy director of police reforms King’ori Mwangi, adding that about 80 per cent of police officers go out of their way to do extra jobs while on duty.
3. Watamu and Diani in Africa’s Top 3 Beaches
It’s 22 days to Christmas, a time when most prefer travelling ‘coastwards’. You perhaps would like to know how the destination beach of your choice competes internationally. According to CNN Travel Watamu beach is the second best beach to beach followed by Diani at third. Take note that we are talking about best beaches to beach across Africa. How about that? Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt comes first.
4. Court Orders Kenya Airways to Re-instate Sacked Employees
The Industrial Court in Nairobi has ordered Kenya Airways to reinstate more than 400 employees who had been sacked by today morning. Making the ruling yesterday, Industrial Court Judge James Rika termed the retrenchment exercise by Kenya Airways as ‘unlawful’ as regards the new Kenyan Constitution.
Kenya Airways embarked on a massive staff layoff in August sending home more that500 employees in a cost cutting measure at a time when the airline industry has been hit by high operation costs mainly due to fuel costs. The harsh operating environment marked by low passenger numbers and high costs of operations sent the airline to cut its staff numbers while rolling out an aggressive expansion plan.
Weight gain—especially increased abdominal fat—is a known risk factor of serious health conditions like diabetes and heart disease.
Artificial sweeteners like aspartame and saccharin are no better. They have been linked to a horde of health conditions, too, ranging from headaches to stroke. Soda, other sugar-sweetened beverages and sugar-dense foods are closely linked to the nation’s growing health problems.
6. Chinese Astronauts May Grow Vegetables on the Moon
Chinese astronauts may get fresh vegetables and oxygen supplies by gardening in extraterrestrial bases in the future, an official said after a just-concluded lab experiment in Beijing. Deng Yibing, deputy director of the Beijing-based Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Center, said that the experiment focused on a dynamic balanced mechanism of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water between people and plants in a closed system.
According to Deng, a cabin of 300 cubic meters was established to provide sustainable supplies of air, water and food for two participants during the experiment.
7. State in Bid to Raise KES 332B for Dams Project
The government faces the hard task of raising about KES 332 billion required to build eight dams across the country to boost agriculture and increase electricity generation. The project is designed to generate 930 megawatts of electricity, provide safe drinking water to 3.9 million people and help put some 127,557 hectares of land under irrigation, regional development authorities’ officials said.
8. Treasury Asked to Channel More Cash to the Economy
Economic experts are urging treasury to pump more money on construction of more roads and rail network as well as reduce the cost of house rent so as to spread the benefits of low inflation and spur economic growth.
The analysts say the cost of goods and services are up 23 percent now as compared to 18 months ago as a result of high costs of transport and rent. Last Friday, the Kenya Bureau of Statistics announced that inflation had fallen to 3.25 percent, up from 19.72 percent a year ago.