It was was a morning of of darkennes in Kenya darkness following a countrywide power outage. Among those affwcted was the international airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) .
In a statement, Kenya Power said the outage occurred at 5.34 a.m following a technical hitch.
“…a technical hitch led to the tripping of our main supply line- Olkaria Nairobi 220KV leading to a power outage in most parts of the country,” the statement read.
Kenya Power said it is yet to establish the exact cause of the outage and it is not clear when the problem will be resolved.
“There is no time frame. Our team is yet to establish the cause of the outage but we assure you it will be rectified,” the State Corporation posted on its Twitter account.
Power was restored in North Rift, Western, South Nyanza, Mt Kenya and Central Kenya at 10 a.m.
Kenya Power said it is working to restore supply in other regions
There were reports of flight delays at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) following the blackout.
A flight to Eldoret scheduled to depart at 6.30 a.m was delayed and left 7.20 a.m.
According to Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), generators meant to automatically provide power in case of a black out failed thus affecting its operations at JKIA.
“Our generators which are meant to automatically provide alternative power failed. We manually rectified the problem.
“Power is back at the airport and our teams are working on clearing the long queues being experienced. We are investigating to establish why the generators failed to automatically pick after this morning’s outage,” KAA said in a post on its Twitter account.
At around 12:25pm in Nairobi, things were brought to normalcy after the power supply was restored.
Nairobi Businesswoman Esther Passaris has been in the news lately for reasons aside from street-lighting, you might know her as the brains behind the now barely visible project Adopt-A-Light.
She is making accusations that a top banker (read Equity Bank’s CEO Dr. James Mwangi) single-handedly brought down her once thriving business.
Passaris who is also closely associated with Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party chief Raila Odinga – She has run for political seats via the party in the past elections – says that Mwangi once preyed on her for sex and when she turned down his advances, it became the end of a multi-million deal she had sealed with Equity Bank.
According to a Facebook post she put up, Esther Passaris claims the incident left her company with huge debts, and its subsequent early death.
Below is the Facebook post:
It’s been a while since I last posted on this page but I feel given the chatter on Twitter, its only fair that I set the record straight. Though I’ve received a lot of backlash, the support given me by many has inspired this post, and now more than ever, I believe the timing was right.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
This is the story of how Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi destroyed my business after #ISaidNo. In 2006, I met Mwangi through a mutual friend and he soon agreed to bring his organization on board the Adopt A Light project by sponsoring and running an advertising campaign for the bank on 400 streetlight poles as well as High Mast structures. In fact, this act of corporate social responsibility is captured in their company records.
The campaign was supposed to be rolled out on Thika Road and Outering Road among other locations. In anticipation of this business, Adopt A Light took a facility with Equity Bank and ordered the High Mast structures from our partners in South Africa. However, the whole project was thwarted before it could take off after Mwangi made several sexual advances towards me and I categorically turned him down. He was a friendly, listening and caring partner only as long as the chase was on. Later on through changes made to our contract after the fall-out, I realized he had all intentions not to honor our agreement in case I declined his advances.
THE AFTERMATH
It didn’t take long after Equity Bank breached our agreement for Adopt A Light to be left with a massive bill to pick up. Before the matter spilled into the courts, Equity Bank hired Neptune Credit, an unlicenced debt collector whose approach to debt collection was unprofessional and not what one would expect from a bank of Equity’s stature. This was also unlawful as banks need or seek court orders before contracting the services of a debt collector. Or if they appoint one, the collector must start with the courts before taking any action. The story of how Neptune Credit harassed me and my children is captured under OB 38 of 15/4/2009 at Parklands police station. But as is pretty much the norm in Kenya, the case was closed before it started.
Mwangi only went to court for alleged debt after I won the highly compromised award (after lots of applications to deny me justice) to try and stop the award. In spite of an IRAC report on the interest overcharge and the irregular debits, Mwangi adamantly refused to reverse the same. Even his managers realised his motives were personal and not professional because it is standard for banks to reverse proven irregular debits. This prompted me to go back and demand that the Bank pays in full what it owed my business and I have every intention of pursuing damages for destroying my company and the ensuing psychological distress.
WHY I CAME OUT
It took a lot of soul searching for me to share my experience after reaching my tipping point. It is true that Mwangi is a brilliant and talented banker, looking at what he’s achieved with the Equity brand. However, he was highly unprofessional with me.
At the time, I informed Chairman Peter Munga ( as well as other senior managers) of the happenings but he couldn’t defend me as his hands were tied. Wherever Munga is right now, he knows the truth and I hope one day he’ll stand up for me. But even if he doesn’t, I know someone will eventually vindicate me.
Make no mistake, this is not easy for me but I stand by my every word.
Former Chief Justice Dr. Willy Mutunga seems to be enjoying his new job as the Commonwealth special envoy to Maldives.
Dr. Mutunga is the island country in the Indian Ocean to aid in the process of constitutional and political transition.
His appointment when the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, the Rt. Hon. Patricia Scotland chose him as one of the envoys.
Dr. Mutunga has been sampling the country’s beautiful islands for the last few days and sharing pictures in his Twitter handle.
From speed boat rides to the views from his hotel, the former CJ seems to have found a perfect blend of work and leisure.He seems to enjoy his time in The Island.
Former CJ ,mutunga Having a meal with other delegates.
@@WMutunga Downtown Male from my hotel window.A beautiful view as seen by Dr. Mutunga
A glimpse of the blue waters of Male, the capital of the Maldives from my hotel widow below.
Another high profile celebrity has made Kenya his vacation destination!
Puerto Rican Musician Enrique Martin Morales, better known as Ricky Martin is currently on safari in East Africa.
The “Livin’ la Vida Loca” hitmaker posted pictures on his Instagram while at the Amboseli national park earlier this week.
On Thursday, he flew out to neighbouring Tanzania
The 44 year old singer who doubles up as an actor is seen in the photos in the company of his two sons, Valentino and Matteo, and his boyfriend Jwan Yosef.
Are you vying for President next year, here’s an idea that will win you lots of votes. Promise to forgive HELB loans.
In related news, a lobby group calling itself Conscious Jubilee, has written a letter titled Petition To The Government For A HELB Loans Bailout.
They want the Higher Education Loans Board to forgive defaulters and waive loans for deserving Kenyans. The lobby group argues that the government can afford to do that.
“It’s our view that this accumulating loan backlog is a major impediment to the accessibility and affordability of Higher Education and research funding in Kenya.”
“HELB needs capitation more than it needs the documentation of its loan defaulters. This recapitalization will enable HELB expand its horizons fully beyond Universities to other Tertiary level opportunities and also advance research funding to individuals and institutions,” the letter reads in part.
The group is urging the government to determine individuals who are in great need of the bailout and make it available to them.
Here’s the letter.
Most graduates remain jobless for long, and the communication on how to stop accumulation of penalty fees is vague. As a result, many are shocked when they finally see the amounts they supposedly owe HELB.
Apart from those who have finished paying up, I’m sure we would all love to be forgiven our loans. So, here’s the poll question.
If you were not planning to support candidate X, but he is the only one promising to forgive HELB loans once elected president, would that change your mind?
A guy by the name Michael Muraya has posted a video on Twitter, showing a near perfect impression of 3 Game of Thrones characters.
In the short clip, he shows his mastery by doing a Jorah Marmont, Lord Varys and Lord Walder Frey. You will especially love the last one. I’m still not sure whether that was the real character or an impression.
When China says it will build something, you better believe.
Remember that viral video on Facebook showing an elevated bus that glides above traffic, China has just built its first prototype.
Dubbed the Transit Elevated Bus (TEB), it took its first test drive this week.
The 22-meter-long, 7.8-meter-wide and 4.8-meter-high TEB-1 can carry up to 300 passengers over the top of cars and let traffic pass underneath it. It is expected that up to 4 of these will be joined to create a single bus that can ferry 1200 people.
The TEB has already attracted interest from governments in Brazil, France, India and Indonesia.
‘With a carrying capacity of 1,200 people at a time, the TEB has the same functions as the subway while its cost of construction is less than one fifth that of the subway,’ said Bai Zhiming, engineer in charge of the TEB project said in a YouTube video showing an interview with CCTV News.
‘Its construction can be finished in one year,’ he added.
The country is still in shock following the story of Jackline Mwende.
In one of the most atrocious cases of domestic violence, Mwende’s husband chopped off her hands with a panga for failure to conceive. This is despite doctors telling him that he was the impotent one.
Yesterday, Machakos First Lady Lillian Nganga visited the victim at her parent’s home in Kathama village.
She said Ms. Mwende will get free medical care including counselling until she is fully recovered.
Mwende will also be provided with a housekeeper paid for by the county government of Machakos for a period of one year.
“We are touched by her situation and condemn this beastly act,” Lilian said, adding that a monthly stipend of Ksh.30,000 will be given to the victim, also for a period of one year.
Besides, Jackline Mwende will be provided with prosthetic arms and any other medical requirement she might need.
“There will be an ambulance at her disposal available to take her to clinic or hospital for check ups for one year and we will also train her so that she is employable and able to sustain herself in future, ” said the first lady.
Machakos government promised to review her condition after a year and may extend support beyond.
The First Lady visited the victim in the company of County Women Representatives Hons. Dr. Susan Musyoka (Machakos), Mary Seneta (Kajiado), Joyce Wanjala Lay (Taita Taveta), Rose Museo (Makueni), Businesswoman Esther Passaris and Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Chairlady (Machakos) Fransisca Mutinda among others.
Another high profile celebrity has made Kenya his vacation destination!
