Good morning,
It is a bright Monday morning. We hope you have been counted. The long-awaited census exercise kicked off on Saturday with politicians sharing pictures of themselves being counted on social media. We don’t know if they were asked the same questions like the rest of us; some of the which seem unwarranted. How do you ask someone if they are an albino?
Unfortunately, some criminals capitalised on the enumeration exercise to cause havoc. An enumerator is currently admitted in hospital after being gang-raped by a gang in Maseno. We hope the culprits will be brought to book.
Another sad story is that at least five people have succumbed to Malaria in Tiaty Constituency, Baringo County. It is heartbreaking that we are reporting about Malaria related deaths in 2019. You can get these and more interesting stories on Opera News.
Here are the stories making headlines today:
Why ODM ruled out direct nominations in Kibra
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has ruled out issuing a direct nomination for the Kibra Parliamentary seat by-election. The seat fell vacant after Ken Okoth’s death.
Party leader Raila Odinga announced on Sunday that the primaries would be free and fair a move seen as a strategy to avoid revolt from the voters.
“You will peacefully walk to the ballot and vote in whoever you want. If the people are done with the voting, it is counted and then the results are announced there and then,” he said.
Panic as Students Fail to Apply for HELB
The Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) is concerned after half of the applicants who applied for the loans last year failed to apply for the second allocation. According to Helb CEO Charles Ringera, only half of the 43,000 who applied for loans last year have requested for a second allocation, raising concern as to whether students are dropping out of University.
“We do not know where the other students are because we allocated them money previously and they are slow at making applications for subsequent years and this is a major challenge for us,” Ringera stated.
Raila: Referendum will crash Ruto’s friends
ODM party leader Raila Odinga has warned Deputy President William Ruto’s camp that they risk being swept by a political storm should they oppose the Building the Bridges Initiative (BBI) recommendations.
According to the ODM chief, the BBI team is currently writing its report which will be made public in the next few months and a referendum will follow.
“There are very good views from Kenyans and once the report is out, we will publish it for Kenyans to give their views then go for a referendum. I have seen a storm, there are signs that it will rain. There’s is a storm that will take all the Tanga Tanga people to the ocean,” he said.
Reggae DJ Kriss Darlin shocked the country when he knelt before Raila in a political rally in Kibra. Kriss is one of the aspirants in the Kibra by-elections and some people have interpreted the kneeling as a way to persuade Raila to give him the ODM ticket. Do you think the move was exaggerated?