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  • Israel strikes Lebanon, hitting Beirut suburbs and the north

    Israel strikes Lebanon, hitting Beirut suburbs and the north

    Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon on Saturday (October 5, 2024), hitting Beirut’s southern suburbs with 12 airstrikes and striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in northern Lebanon for the first time.

    The attack on the Beddawi refugee camp near the northern city of Tripoli killed an official with Hamas’s military wing, along with his wife and two young daughters, the Palesitnian militant group said in a statement. Tripoli is much farther north than the majority of Israel’s strikes, which have been concentrated in southern Lebanon and Beirut.

    The attack on the Beddawi refugee camp near the northern city of Tripoli killed an official with Hamas’s military wing, along with his wife and two young daughters, the Palesitnian militant group said in a statement. Tripoli is much farther north than the majority of Israel’s strikes, which have been concentrated in southern Lebanon and Beirut.

    Israel has killed several Hamas officials in Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war began in October last year, in addition to most of the top leadership of Hezbollah.

    At least six people were killed in more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday, according to National News Agency, Lebanon’s official news agency.

    The Israeli military said special forces were carrying out targeted ground raids against Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon, destroying missiles, launchpads, watchtowers and weapons storage facilities. The military said troops also dismantled tunnel shafts that Hezbollah used to approach the Israeli border.

    Some 1,400 Lebanese, including Hezbollah fighters and civilians, have been killed and some 1.2 million driven from their homes since Israel escalated its strikes in late September aiming to cripple Hezbollah and push it away from the countries’ shared border. On Tuesday, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon. Nine Israeli troops have been killed in close fighting in the area in the past few days, the military said.

    Nearly 375,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria fleeing Israeli strikes in less than two weeks, according to a Lebanese government committee. Associated Press journalists saw thousands of people continuing to cross the Masnaa Border Crossing on foot even after Israeli airstrikes left huge craters in the road leading up to it on Thursday.

    Also on Saturday, Palestinian medical officials say Israeli strikes in northern and central Gaza early Saturday have killed at least 9 people, including two children.

    One strike hit a group of people in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, killing at least five people, including two children, according to the Health Ministry’s Ambulance and Emergency service.

    Another strike hit a house in the northern part of the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least four people, the Awda hospital said. The strike also left a number of people wounded, it said.

    The Israeli military did not have any immediate comment on the strikes, but it has long accused Hamas of operating from within civilian areas.

    The Israeli military warned Palestinians to evacuate along the strategic Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, which was at the heart of obstacles to a ceasefire deal earlier this summer. The military told people in parts of the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps to evacuate to Muwasi, an area along Gaza’s shore the military has designated a humanitarian zone.

    It’s unclear how many Palestinians are currently living in the areas ordered evacuated, parts of which were evacuated previously.

    Almost 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the nearly year-long war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths.

  • Cook Political Report shifts Montana Senate race to GOP

    Cook Political Report shifts Montana Senate race to GOP

    The nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted Montana’s pivotal Senate race from “toss-up” to “lean Republican,” signifying the GOP is a favorite to win in the Treasure State.

    Sen. Jon Tester, Montana Democrat, and his Republican opponent, Tim Sheehy, are locked in a tight race that Republicans and Democrats see as the key to power in the upper chamber. 

    The change comes after Mr. Tester began this election cycle as the favorite. Mr. Sheehy’s ability to consolidate voters on the side of former President Donald Trump, who is wildly popular in the state, shows the political winds moving against the three-term incumbent. 

    The nonpartisan prognosticating group made the move with less than two months before Election Day, giving Republicans a shot in the arm in the process 

    “Today we are making a major shift — moving the Montana Senate race from Toss Up to Lean Republican,” the Cook Political Report’s Jessica Taylor wrote. “This means that Republicans are now an even heavier favorite to win back control of the Senate, regardless of the result at the top of the ticket.”

    Republicans need to flip only two seats in order to win back the majority that has eluded them for four years. The West Virginia seat currently occupied by retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) is a virtual certainty to go to the GOP, with Gov. Jim Justice (R) is in line to replace him. 

    That leaves Republicans needing one seat, with Montana serving as their best chance.

    According to a recent AARP poll, Sheehy leads the three-term incumbent by 6 percentage points. He also clears the all-important 50 percent threshold in the survey. 

    The Senate GOP campaign arm also told members at a luncheon earlier this week that internal polling shows Sheehy leading by 4 percentage points. 

    Senate Republicans are also hopeful Bernie Moreno will defeat incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) in Ohio, but that race is widely considered a jump ball. 

    The Cook Political Report rates both Ohio and Michigan — where Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) are running to replace Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) — as toss-up races. 

    Contests in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and Arizona are all rated “lean Democrat.”

  • Kampala University campus in Kenya up for sale over $15m debt

    Kampala University campus in Kenya up for sale over $15m debt

    An auctioneer has put up for sale an educational complex in Kajiado County belonging to Kampala International University (KIU) to recover a debt of $15 million owed to mortgage lender Housing Finance.

    Valley Auctioneers on Monday invited bids for the purchase of the complex that sits on a 61.3-acre parcel of land in Kisaju, approximately 1.5 kilometres off the Nairobi-Namanga Highway.

    The incomplete educational complex comprises a four-storey administration block, five five-storey tuition blocks comprising five interconnected blocks, a four-storey library, two kitchen and dining blocks, a five-storey housing block and a hostel block.

    The complex also has a five-storey guest house, a powerhouse, stores block, a security guard block, and a four-bedroom bungalow.

    “All interested purchasers are requested to view and verify the details as the financiers/charges or the auctioneers do not warrant these,” Valley Auctioneers said in a newspaper notice, adding that the sale would be conducted on September 19.

    KIU lost a bid to block the sale of the Kisaju property in April after the Supreme Court dismissed its second appeal in the loan dispute.

    The university borrowed the loan in 2014 to develop its Kitengela campus but defaulted.  Buoyed by the success of its existing campuses, the university sought to expand into the Kenyan market and acquired the land to construct the Kitengela Campus at an estimated cost of $15 million.

    The loan had a 9.5 percent compounded interest rate from January 2018—which means that KIU is required to repay an excess of $24million.

    KIU first approached Housing Finance for the loan in 2010 and the deal was inked in 2014. The land was charged to the mortgage lender as security for the loan.

    According to KIU, the bank disbursed a loan of $10 million in January 2014, but there was a delay in disbursing the balance of $5 million.

    The university then sued for damages, among other demands and Housing Finance filed a counterclaim, which was upheld by the arbitrator, who ruled in favour of the lender in 2019.

    A subsequent appeal to the High Court was dismissed by Justice Margaret Muigai, forcing KIU to head to the Court of Appeal, but suffered the same fate and, unsatisfied, the university escalated the matter to the Supreme Court.

    In April, a bench of five judges of the Supreme Court dismissed the second appeal, saying there was no constitutional interpretation in the matter to allow the apex court to invoke its jurisdiction and determine the case.

    “This court has consistently held that the mere claim by a party to the effect that its rights were violated by a superior court for whatever reason, does not bring the intended appeal within the purview of Article 163 (4) (a) of the Constitution,” the Supreme Court said.   

    The judges added that the appeal by KIU did not fall within any of the exceptions that would justify the court to assume jurisdiction and deal with the matter.

    “In fact, we are satisfied that, by declining to grant leave to appeal in the circumstances of this case, the Court of Appeal was correctly guided by our decisions,” Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu and Justices Mohammed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndung’u, and Isaac Lenaola said.

    About Kampala International University

    Kampala International University (KIU) is a private, not-for-profit institution based in Uganda. It was established in 2001 and assumed chattered status in 2009.

    In pursuit of the dream to raise the next generation of problem solvers for the East African region and indeed the whole of Africa, the University operates a multi-campus system which consists of two campuses in Uganda (The Main campus in Kampala and the Western Campus in Ishaka-Bushenyi); one other university in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

    The University which started as a typical degree-awarding institution has now grown into the number one Private University in Uganda and is currently ranked 2nd in Uganda and 4th in East Africa according to the latest 2024 Webometric Ranking. It is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Association of Africa Universities as well as the Inter University-Council of East Africa. The University offers a variety of programmes in Health Sciences, Science and Technology, Engineering, Business and Management, Law, Humanities and Education.

  • Mombasa port receives its first LNG-powered ship

    Mombasa port receives its first LNG-powered ship

    The first-ever tanker powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) to call on the Mombasa port berthed about two weeks ago, an itinerary revealed, boosting the gateway’s go-green emissions strategy in line with the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (Marpol Convention).

    Mv Arctic Tern, currently sailing under the flag of Singapore, delivered a consignment of palm oil from Malaysia to Mombasa. The vessel, which was commissioned on March 14, 2024, is 183 metres long and 32 metres wide.

    As emissions regulations become more stringent, many ship owners are turning to alternative fuels to power their vessels, with LNG emerging as a popular choice.

    LNG used to fuel ships is produced from natural gas extracted from underground reserves, including both onshore and offshore gas fields.

    The arrival of Mv Artic Tern is a boost for the Port of Mombasa as it joins other seaports around the world in implementing MARPOL, the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) main convention for the prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes.

    According to Julius Koech, Director of Maritime Safety at the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA), the use of alternative fuels is part of the maritime and shipping industry’s efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.

    “The levels of LNG emissions when burned are significantly low as compared to heavy fuels, which are being used, as it is also an advantage to the ship owner in terms of cost benefits in acquiring fuel,” he said.

    Under the Marpol regulations, all ships of 400 gross tonnage and above that are engaged in voyages to ports or offshore terminals under the jurisdiction of other parties must have an International Air Pollution Prevention Certificate, issued by the ship’s flag State.

    To obtain the certificate, ships must use low-sulphur fuel oil to meet IMO requirements, while refineries can blend high-sulphur (non-compliant) fuel oil with a low-sulphur fuel oil to produce a compliant one.

    Mr Koech said more LNG-powered vessels are expected to enter the market as more players comply with anti-pollution laws.

    “Moving forward we are going to see these kinds of ships plying the seas because the ambitious plan from the international arena is to decarbonise the shipping industry by 2050,” he said.

    Last year, the Port of Mombasa joined other ports around the world in implementing the new IMO Global Sulphur Cap 2020 rule, which came into force on January 1, 2020.

    The rule requires all seagoing vessels to use of low-sulphur fuel as part of a global effort to reduce air pollution by cutting sulphur oxide emissions.

    Mombasa-based Alba Petroleum and Alfoss Energy Ltd were contracted in December last year to refuel ships docking at the port with products containing 0.5 percent sulphur, compared to the previous limit of 3.5 percent.

    The law affects all ship operators, oil refiners, and bunker suppliers. The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships aims to reduce sulphur oxide emissions from ships by 77 percent or about 8.5 million tonnes a year.

  • Kenyan court halts proposed leasing of JKIA to Adani

    Kenyan court halts proposed leasing of JKIA to Adani

    Kenya’s High Court has temporarily suspended the proposed plans to lease the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to Indian conglomerate Adani Enterprises.

    In a case certified as urgent by the High Court, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) challenged the push to take over the running of JKIA by the Indian company for a period of 30 years.

    The two organisations argued that JKIA is a strategic and profitable national asset and the deal is, therefore, irrational and violates the principles of good governance, accountability, transparency, and prudent and responsible use of public money.

    In the deal, the Indian firm would upgrade the airport, including the construction of a second runway and a new passenger terminal under a 30-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract.

    https://twitter.com/Its_TheWatchman/status/1833454705466347583

    KHRC and LSK, however, argued that Kenya can independently raise the estimated $1.85 billion or Ksh238 billion needed to expand JKIA without leasing the airport for the stated period.Kenya’s High Court has temporarily suspended the proposed plans to lease the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to Indian conglomerate Adani Enterprises.

    In a case certified as urgent by the High Court, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) challenged the push to take over the running of JKIA by the Indian company for a period of 30 years.

    The two organisations argued that JKIA is a strategic and profitable national asset and the deal is, therefore, irrational and violates the principles of good governance, accountability, transparency, and prudent and responsible use of public money.

    In the deal, the Indian firm would upgrade the airport, including the construction of a second runway and a new passenger terminal under a 30-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract.

    KHRC and LSK, however, argued that Kenya can independently raise the estimated $1.85 billion or Ksh238 billion needed to expand JKIA without leasing the airport for the stated period.

    “Thus, the Adani proposal is unaffordable, threatens job losses, exposes the public, is diproportionate to fiscal risk, and offers no value for money to the taxpayer,” lawyer Dudley Ochiel said in the application. 

    High Court judge John Chigiti certified the case as urgent and granted temporary order, suspending the deal pending the determination of the case.

    The judge directed the case to be mentioned on October 8, to get a judgment date.

    Mr Ochiel submitted that the application will be rendered nugatory and moot if KAA and Adani are not stopped from signing the agreement and Adani goes ahead and acquires JKIA.

    The two organisations said they have written unsuccessfully to JKIA, seeking information under Article 35(1) and (3) of the Constitution of Kenya and section 4 of the Access to Information Act.

    It is LSK’s argument that Kenya would surrender the operational and profitable JKIA to Adani for 30 years in exchange for $1.85 billion. 

    “Thus, the proposal would deprive the public of, and transfer to Adani, all the current revenues, receipts, expenditures and other financial transactions over JKIA. Although the project is dubbed a Built Operate Transfer, KAA would be handing over an existing and operational airport to Adani,” Mr Ochiel said. 

    He added that in the end of the 30 years, Adani would, in perpetuity, retain an 18 percent equity stake in the aeronautical business at JKIA. 

    “Thus, after 30 years, Adani would be entitled to an 18 percent concession fee starting at Ksh6 billion and increasing by 10 percent every five years forever. In this way, the Adani proposal violates Article 201(c), demanding that the burden and benefits of using resources and public borrowing be shared equitably between present and future generations,” he said.

    He submitted that under the deal, Adani would acquire nearly 30 acres of unencumbered land next to JKIA for airport property investment and development business.

    Besides, the proposal entitles Adani to operate tax-free for ten years, import labour, and obtain free work visas, thus depriving Kenyan workers of their livelihood, contrary to Articles 26, 41, and 43 of the Constitution.

  • Somalia pins corporates over independent Somaliland label

    Somalia pins corporates over independent Somaliland label

    Somalia says it will make good its threat of punishing corporate bodies labelling or operating as though Somaliland is independent territory.

    Mogadishu had said all firms with operations in Somalia should, by September 1, have altered information on their network platforms to reflect that Somaliland was a part of Somalia.

    Somalia’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) referred to the country’s provisional constitution to order companies to slash the name of Somaliland, the self-declared independent territory, from their network information sites.

    Money transfer agencies such as Paysii, Dahabshil and Jubba Express were specifically named in that communique that was also meant to draw the attention of other remittance dealers and companies to stop using the name of Somaliland instead apply Somalia, giving deadline.

    Ethiopian Airlines which flies to Hargeisa and Mogadishu was also fingered after it had labelled the Somaliland destination as a separate country.

    “Use Somalia only in your systems as from 1st of September (this year),” Commerce and Industry Minister Jibril Abdirashid Haji Abdi had said on August 24.

    The Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) had also directed airlines using Somali airports to stop referring cities such as Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland territory, as different from Somalia.

    The matter though is reflective of the events since January 2 this year when Ethiopia and Somaliland inked an MoU that could grant Addis Ababa a coastal strip to build a naval base ostensibly in return for recognising Somaliland, which has fought for recognition since 1991 without success.

    That MoU irked Mogadishu, which has gone on to protest at every global forum, accusing Ethiopia of plotting to dismember Somalia.

    Somaliland, however, insists that Mogadishu has refused to recognise the real problem.

    Regionally, Somalia has often reacted fast when countries tried to deal with Somaliland as independent. Somalia cut diplomatic ties with Kenya in December 2020, accusing Nairobi of interfering with Mogadishu’s internal affairs after it hosted Somaliland leader in Nairobi. It resumed relations six months later.

    It had, in 2019, also cut ties with Guinea after it gave Somaliland leader Muse Bihi a red-carpet reception.

    While no sovereign state has formally recognised Somaliland, Shirwac said Somaliland continue to engage with the international community and “to form strategic partnerships.”

    “It is in the interest of the entire region for Somalia to recognize the sovereignty and independence of Somaliland.”

    Those partnerships may now face a test. Ethiopian Airlines and Flydubai were specifically warned their landing rights could be revoked if they didn’t change. Ethiopian Airlines came into controversy after it showed Hargeisa without the name of the country while Flydubai described it as located in Somaliland.

    Earlier this year, some airlines complained of receiving contradictory navigation instructions from air traffic controllers in Somalia and Somaliland, risking safety of passengers. Internationally, only one Somali airspace is recognised, however.

    Both airlines stopped referring Hargeisa and other landing sites in the region as Somaliland and applied Somalia as instructed.

    But it came after Ethiopian’s request for a longer timeline was refused.

    “Given the available technological capabilities, we believe the necessary corrections should not take more than two days,” SCAA said.

    Nonetheless, the issue raised strong reaction from leaders in Somaliland authority.

    Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi Irro, a politician seeking to unseat Bihi in the next elections labelled the Somali government’s order as a ‘blatant aggression.’

    “The government in Somalia has recently been orchestrating attack on the people, internally and externally, displaying hate and violence,” Irro said this week.

    Khadar Hussein Abdi, the Secretary General of opposition Wadani Party, argued the push by Somalia will galvanise Somaliland.

    “Somaliland did not emerge from expression of words and written papers, but from blood spilled,” he said, invoking Somaliland’s reasons to break away after the region was bombed by the Siad Barre regime in the late 1980s civil war.

    Somaliland has often depicted Somalia as a failed state and Bihi said the same last month when Egypt sent arms to Somalia to support local forces against al-Shabaab, but which irked Ethiopia.

    “President Hassan (Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud) who cannot even secure his own palace in Mogadishu without foreign troops, is issuing directives to force planes landing in our territory and banks from operating under our name to change,” stated Bihi at a public gathering in Hargeisa on August 26.

    “Somalia’s efforts to undermine Somaliland’s independence are ineffective. These directives will not change the reality on the ground and our status.”

    Somaliland, once known as British Somaliland Protectorate attained independence from UK on 26 June 1960 and voluntarily merged with Italian Somaliland to form the Somali Republic on 1st July 1960.

    Since the territory unilaterally reclaimed independence on 18th of May 1991, following the collapse of Siad Barre’s regime, it enjoyed a de facto self-rule with a functioning democracy, having own central bank and a separate currency.

    For now, corporates have weighed business gains or losses. Ethiopian, for instance, faced the grim reality of losing business in Somalia, including 6 fight destinations and two daily flights to Mogadishu.

    Money remittance companies and other entities cleared their issue via the Somali Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) which said it “stands for the advocacy on matters affecting investors, manufactures and traders.”

  • Is the Harris Honeymoon Over?

    Is the Harris Honeymoon Over?

    After weeks of glowing reviews and surging support, recent polls suggest that excitement surrounding Kamala Harris is beginning to plateau. A weekend NY Times/Siena College survey showed Donald Trump with a 1-point lead in the national polls, narrowing Harris’ 1.2-point lead in the RCP Average.

    The September NY Times poll is one of few surveys to show Trump with a national lead since Harris cemented herself atop the Democratic ticket over six weeks ago. Harris has enjoyed an unprecedented rise in popularity, with Democratic officials and voters alike rallying around her in a shocking show of unity for an oft-splintered party.

    Harris has gained nearly five points on Trump since her pedal-to-the-metal campaign began on July 21 but may be losing steam as the race heads into its final stretch. One issue voters have with Harris, surveys suggest, is that they simply do not know enough about the vice president.

    Three in ten (28%) Americans say they “feel like they need to learn more about” Harris, compared to just 9% of Americans who feel the same about Trump. Of those voters who said they need to learn more about Harris, 66% said they need to learn more about her policies and plans specifically.

    Harris has been criticized for her caginess – the Democratic candidate has only made herself available to the press once, in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, when her running mate Tim Walz was by her side. The vice president rarely addresses the country off-script, compared to her competitor, world-class spit-baller Donald Trump.

    In an effort to make her policy stances more explicit, the Harris campaign this weekend unveiled an “Issues” tab on KamalaHarris.com. The page lays out her economic agenda, her plan to secure reproductive rights, her foreign policy goals, and more. There are some concrete policy proposals – like voting rights acts and tax cuts – but much of the information builds on Harris’ history of painting in broad strokes.

    Four separate times, the page links to information about “Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda,” the conservative wish list for a second Trump term that continues to cause the former president a headache. The 900-page document proposes, among other things, disbanding the Departments of Commerce and Education, criminalizing pornography, and shredding LGBTQ+ protections. Three-quarters of likely voters said they had heard about Project 2025, and 63% said they oppose it, according to the NY Times poll.

    Besides proving she has a clear vision for the future, Harris also needs to prove she can offer the one thing voters most want: change. Virtually all voters (95%) said the next president should represent a change from Biden, and 61% of those respondents said it should be a “major change.”

    Most Americans (60%) believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, so it is natural voters are looking for a marked change in leadership. Harris faces an obvious hurdle here, however: only 25% of voters believe Harris represents that change, while 53% of voters feel that Trump would represent a major change from the Biden presidency.

    Harris is hoping to strike the right balance between key engineer of the Biden administration’s most popular achievements and distant relative of its most disappointing failures. Trump, meanwhile, is trying to paint Harris as deeply intertwined with Biden’s unpopular economic and border policies (or lack thereof).

    The Trump campaign has dubbed Harris the “border czar,” a problem for Harris in that immigration is among the top three most important issues to voters this November, following only the economy and abortion. Trump and his team are also blaming Harris for the cost-of-living crisis and high inflation. Working in Trump’s favor is the fact that voters trust him to handle the border (53%-43%) and the economy (55%-42%) over Harris. 

    Harris, on the other hand, has the advantage on issues such as abortion (54%-39%) and democracy (50%-45%), the second and fourth most frequently cited “important issues” for Americans. When one puts all the cross-tabs together, the NY Times poll may seem like just another snapshot showing how tight the race is. 

    Yet for Harris, the recent survey may be a darker herald. Democrats hoped that Harris would be their knight in shining armor, come to turn the race on its head and slay Trump once and for all. It seemed, at least for a moment, that the vice president might be able to coast to victory without any real obstacles. But now that the dust has settled on the rearranged battleground, polls suggest that Democrats might still have an uphill fight.

  • Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja Meets Azimio MCAs to Plan Budget

    Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja Meets Azimio MCAs to Plan Budget

    Nairobi Governor Sakaja Johnson on Monday, September, 9, met with Azimio Members of County Assembly(MCAs) at his campaign offices in Riverside, Nairobi amid calls for his impeachment from a section of the county legislators.

    The meeting with the Azimio MCAs both elected and nominated was to specifically to deliberate on development plans across all the 85 wards in Nairobi County for the current financial year.

    During the meeting, the Governor assured the ward representatives of his commitment to deliver services to city residents through set development plans. 

    The Governor also promised to serve the people of Nairobi without bias, maintaining that he will not consider their political affiliations when delivering on his mandate.

    Sakaja also reiterated that he was totally committed to delivering the promises he issued to the electorate during campaigns affirming that his plans must work for the Nairobi people.

    “I believe with the set development plan, we will be able to deliver on our promises to the people of Nairobi. My work is to serve all and build a team that serves our people, we made commitments, and we must deliver on them. I commit to offer my support to make Nairobi work, ” stated the Governor.

    “My administration will work for all people of Nairobi, regardless of political leaning,” he added.

    Sakaja also maintained that he was committed to reaching out to all the elected leaders of Nairobi, in the spirit of cooperation to achieve service delivery to the City residents. 

    Earlier in the month, Sakaja also held another meeting with Kenya Kwanza allied ward representatives. He stated that he had equally received help from UDA MCAs.

    These developments also comes in the wake of recent political developments, where the Governor dismissed the impeachment calls during a launch of a county initiative at Umoja Primary in Nairobi. He instead urged his executive to focus on service delivery.

    “We have a mandate, and we don’t have time for rumours. Our priority is to work for our people, not to engage in gossip,” Sakaja reiterated.

    Sakaja recently met Azimio leader Raila Odinga at his Opoda farm in Bondo. During the meeting, the two leaders shared pictures while taking a look at Odinga’s camels in the farm.