Police have denied reports that they are involved in leaking Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination papers.

Kenya Police spokesman Charles Owino on Monday evening said it was not only immoral but unethical to be involved in leaking exams.

“Exams determine the quality of our education standards and must be taken seriously. This is a serious allegation that must not be handled casually,” he said.

Police have asked the senior politician behind the allegations to furnish the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) with all the evidence linking police to the leakage.

The allegations have been circulating on the social media and local radio stations.

“We demand that the concerned politician provides her evidence to EACC for investigations,” he said in a statement to newsrooms.

SENSATIONAL CLAIM

On Friday, the chairman of the National Assembly’s Education Committee, Ms Sabina Chege (Murang’a woman rep, TNA), sensationally claimed that rogue police officers were opening the exam papers and photocopying them using smartphones.

She claimed school principals and invigilators were part of the exam leakage since they refused to report the cases.

Mr Owino said police had for the last 50 years been involved in escorting and storing examination papers in police station armouries during exam periods.

“The examination is usually collected from KNEC stores in Nairobi and escorted to all regional stores in the country, where they remain under police guard,” he said.

He added that the papers were later escorted to police station armouries for temporary storage and easy delivery to schools.

“The exams are always in examination bags and securely sealed. At the examination centres, the seals are confirmed by the students and invigilators,” he said.

Mr Owino said police had not received any complaints that the seals on examination bags or envelopes had been tampered with in their armouries.

A senior female officer left an unconscious girl in a police ambulance for six hours to attend to her husband at a city hospital.

Ms Regina Mutindi Mbithi, a Superintendent of Police in charge of the Highway Patrol Unit was also accused of colluding with her husband to interfere with a criminal case in which he was accused of defiling the victim.

Ms Mbithi was dismissed from the service on October 15.

Her husband, Mr Wilfred Mbithi who was dismissed in June last, had been accused of defiling a girl and frustrated the victim’s parents using his position and money.

Last year, Mr Mbithi was in company of the girl in his car when they were involved in an accident at Salama, along the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway, under unclear circumstances.

Ms Mbithi went to the scene in a police ambulance and brought the two to Nairobi Hospital where the girl was left waiting for about six hours.

Ms Mbithi later took her to the Kenyatta National Hospital where she remained for weeks.

Though she knew the parents, she did not inform them about their daughter’s admission and instead left for Mombasa the following day with her husband after he was discharged.

During her vetting, MS Mbithi she said she could not remember the junior officers she was with.

Police are looking for a gang operating from Dandora that shot dead a former CID officer in Langata on Monday morning.

The AK47-wielding gang of five attacked Mr Moses Muchangi at around 11.39 a.m and shot him on the right hip and cheek.

The deceased was a director at Rasasi Investment, a matatu company that runs a fleet of matatus christened ‘Rasasi” that operate along Langata Road.

The investigations have been taken over by a team of detectives headed by the Nairobi County Criminal Investigations Officer (CCIO) Nicholas Kamwende.

Detectives have taken four rounds of 7.62mm cartridges collected at the scene for ballistic examination.

Mr Muchangi, 40, is a licenced firearm holder but at the time of the attack he had left his firearm in his car.

CARRYING SH2 MILLION

Eye witnesses told the police that the deceased was first confronted by an unarmed man who tried to grab the Sh2million he was carrying from Queens Mall, Otiende shopping centre.

He hit the man on the face and the man fell down, prompting his colleagues who had remained in the car t0 shot Mr Muchangi two times.

Police said the attackers fired at least four rounds.

He was rushed to Karen Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The deceased joined the police service in 1997 and worked at the Police Dog Unit. He was later transferred to the Banking Fraud Investigations Department (BFID) as a driver.

It was not immediately established why the wealthy officer resigned from the service

Detectives have also reviewed a CCTV footage captured by one of the cameras in the building.

The getaway car is captured as a Toyota registration number KBW 907H, silver in colour.

It was bound to happen but we never thought it would be so embarrassing.

A Kenyan man has become an overnight villain after a screenshot of his toe-curling, sexually explicit message, which he had sent to a wrong WhatsApp group, went viral.

The man, now known as “Bro Ocholla”, is part of a group called ‘Embakasi Prayercell’.

The screenshot shows two people sending congratulatory messages to a couple on the group called “the Onyangos” on their wedding anniversary.

Another man, mistakenly, then sends a flirtatious message to the group.

It reads: “You seem to love my voice. This voice will whisper asking how you are feeling when you will be having your orgasms at cloud nine.”

Shocked, members of the group try to intervene. “Ops! (sp) Bro Ocholla?” quips a member identified as Ezra. The sender then says, “Wrong message. Sorry. Poleni.”

Another member named Ben reacts: “Yawa!!!”

Kenyans on Twitter have been trolling the sender.

Leslie Noodman said: “Bro Ocholla would have been the realest villain of all time if he left the group instead of saying sorry LMAO.”

Cyprian Nyakundi wrote: “Having a Bad day? Remember Bro Ocholla.”

But not everyone was judging ‘Bro Ocholla’. Twitter user Felista Wangari said: “Instead of praying for Bro Ocholla, the Embakasi Prayer Cell saw it fit to ‘expose’ him. Christianity much!”

City Hall paid Sh30 million as legal fee to a private lawyer despite the county government having a legal office.

The payment was made to Prof Ojienda & Company Advocates after representing City Hall in a case that was filed by 26 matatu owners over adjustment of parking fees.

The firm has represented Governor Evans Kidero in various law suits including the ongoing defamation case against Kakamega County Senator Bonny Khalwale.

The Nairobi City County Chief legal officer Karisa Iha on Monday told the County Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that they had given the case to the law firm owing to its experience with constitutional cases compared to the legal team at the city Hall.

“The case was too complicated for us. We are constitutionally allowed to get advocates who have skills on various cases,”said Mr Iha.

OVERWHELMED

The committee was told that the legal department had only nine lawyers who are often overwhelmed by the volume of work and hence the need to hire private law firms.

The Auditor General has previously questioned how Prof Ojienda & Company Advocates had billed City Hall a fee of Sh92 million which was later watered down to sh30 million.

Mr Iha however defended the payment, saying that the adjustment from sh92 million to sh30 million was justifiable as it was the product of mutual negotiations between the two parties.

The law firm represented City Hall in the case in which matatu owners opposed increment of parking fees that contained in the Nairobi City County Finance Act 2013.

The Act proposed a parking fee increment from sh200 per day to sh400 per day for Public Service Vehicles and an increment from sh140 to sh 300 per day for private cars.

Mr Iha told the committee that the case was crucial to the county which anticipated to collect sh1.9 billion in revenue for the financial year 2013/2014 in parking fees.

BILLIONS SAVED

“Had the matatu owners succeeded, the county government would have risked to suffer in five years a total of sh.9.5 billion. But through our robust representation the petition was dismissed,”said Mr Iha.

When asked by the Chairperson the PAC committee Mr Robert Mbatia on the number of cases still pending in court, he reluctantly refused to answer and only joked that City Hall had won many cases and also lost so many cases.

The PAC committee also queried the legality of the newly created County Attorney position, saying that the assembly had not been indulged on the creation of the office and had also not vetted the holder of the office.

“We even have a County Attorney which is an illegality. We as the assembly were not informed of such an office and neither was it gazetted,”said Mr.Mbatia.

Education Cabinet Secretary has finally acknowledged the widespread circulation of leaked Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination papers and revealed that police have arrested students, teachers and one parent found with the papers.

In total, 14 teachers have been “arrested and arraigned in court” over leakage of exam papers, while 79 students have also faced a similar fate, Education Secretary Prof Jacob Kaimenyi told Parliament’s Education Committee on Tuesday.

One parent has also been arrested for sending his son what is reported to be leaked exams.

POLICE INVOLVED

Prof Kaimenyi said he is “not sure” whether police were involved in leaking the exam papers, but said it was “a pity” if the allegations can be ascertained.

The Cabinet Secretary said the real extent of cheating will be known once the exams are marked. He added that the entire exam process will be audited once the exercise is over.

The committee chairperson, Murang’a county Women Representative Sabina Wanjiru Chege, wondered how exams were being leaked through social media yet those who involved are yet to be named and shamed.

“Have we sought help from the cyber crime unit since the exam is spreading through Whatsapp and Facebook? I think we are not taking this issue seriously,” said Ms Chege.

MORE TO FOLLOW:

Former Nairobi mayor George Aladwa has moved to the High Court seeking to stop incitement charges against him.

The High Court on Tuesday allowed him to file a petition to challenge his prosecution, even as the police said they have not completed their investigations in the case.

Judge Joseph Onguto ordered the police not to arrest Mr Aladwa and extended the Sh20,000 bond he was granted last Friday after his arrest.

The Judge directed the Nairobi ODM chairman not to interfere with witnesses in the case and to cooperate with police in the investigations.

He also directed the politician’s lawyers to file the petition seeking to stop the criminal case within seven days.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, The Inspector-General of Police and the Director of Criminal Investigations were directed to file their response to the petition within 14 days.

Whenever you dial a Safaricom number that is switched off, what you hear on the other end is: “Samahani, mteja wa nambari uliyopiga hapatikani kwa sasa (Sorry, the mobile subscriber cannot be reached).”

That is Ms Maggie Wazome’s voice, recorded months before the mobile service provider opened its doors in October 2000.

The word “mteja” as used in Ms Wazome’s message has long become part of everyday Kenyans’ conversations and is a widely accepted colloquial term for being offline.

INGRAINED

So ingrained has the word been in the national language that we traced it in Parliament’s official record, the Hansard, where it was used on the floor of the House on July 10, 2007 by then Khwisero MP Julius Odenyo Arungah.

We also spotted the word in three court judgments. It also features in lyrics of at least two mainstream songs.

Ms Maggie Wazome at her work station. PHOTO | GERALD ANDERSON

Never had the former student of the Blanes Secretarial College dreamt that her voice would be the one to clothe a message that resonates with so many Kenyans.

Ms Wazome, currently a support analyst at Safaricom’s customer care department, does not recall exactly when she hit the studio to voice those lines, but she knows that she beat tens of other ladies who had read the same message.

She was called to read the lines by one Andrew Crawford, who ran a recording studio and who was then in charge of producing commercials at the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC).

At that time she was not an employee of Safaricom.

Crawford, she says, never told them what the lines they were recording were intended for.

“I read a few lines that had varied content; and one of them was ‘mteja wa nambari uliyopiga’ I had no idea what they were about,” she said, adding that she did not read the English version of the message.

Little did she know that she had read a line that would earn her the nickname “mteja”.

“At that point I was so young I was just thinking money. I was just thinking, ‘Let me make some little pocket money for myself.’ Little did I know it was going to turn out really in a nice way. So, I did the lines and they told me, ‘Okay, there is a client who is looking for a particular voice; so we will call you back and let you know.’”

She was later called to read the lines once more.

“They told me, ‘You know, there are several of you who are doing these lines. So, the client is going to pick the voice he is happy with.’ Then this particular time I was called and they said, ‘Maggie, there are 16 of you. So, if you’re lucky, the client is going to listen to all of those 16 nice voices and will get back to you.’”

NO IDEA

She won.

“The next call I got, they were like, ‘Okay, Maggie you are the lucky one at the end of the day.’ Up to that time, by the way, I had no idea it was Safaricom. I had no clue whatsoever,” she said.

She would later learn that it was Safaricom that paid for her voice when one of her friends told her that there was a familiar voice on the other end of the line.

Her voice also features in some other automated Safaricom responses.

“If you dial a number and you probably leave out a digit, I am the one behind the Kiswahili prompt that lets you know what to do. There are one or two more I think, which are used at the appropriate time. I recorded all those lines on that same day,” she said.

It is Crawford’s agency that paid her for the recording.

Officials at the Ministry Devolution and Planning on Tuesday said they could not point to any specific project on which they spent nearly Sh45 billion from the Eurobond.

The department of planning was allocated the second largest share of money after infrastructure.

On Tuesday, a top official at the Devolution Ministry, who asked not to be named because he has no authority to comment, said that it was impossible to identify any project on which the money was used.

“The ministry gets a lumpsum amount from the Exchequer at the beginning of every financial year to support its recurrent and development expenditure. It is not possible to pinpoint which projects were funded by the various sources of government revenue, whether from the locally generated revenue or from the Direct Foreign Investment,” the official said.

At the time the bond was floated, the Government said the money was to pay off an expensive commercial loan and finance big infrastructure projects in railways and energy.

The Devolution Ministry, headed by Ms Anne Waiguru, has become the poster child of corruption and waste after it was discovered that Sh791 million meant for the National Youth Service had been stolen.

On Sunday, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich circulated a statement to the media giving a breakdown of how the Sh250 billion Eurobond money was distributed among ministries to fund various projects.

Read the full story here.

SOURCE: Daily Nation

A woman accused of conspiring to kill her husband over property worth millions of shillings was on Tuesday detained by police for 10 days.

Ms Rose Adhiambo and her house help, Ms Doris Akinyi, allegedly hired hitmen to kill Mr Polycarp Okumu alias Kamili at Beach Road estate in Mombasa.

Police Constable Dominic Kiptum told a Mombasa court that the two suspects and their accomplices conspired to kill Mr Ouma on diverse dates between October 20 and 26.

PAY ASSASSINS

In a sworn affidavit, he claimed that Ms Adhiambo was found by her husband at Kenya Commercial Bank, Naivas branch in Nyali while withdrawing Sh1.2 million, which was to be used to pay the assassins.

Ms Rose Adhiambo wipes her brow in court. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA

“Sources said the woman had hired people from Kisumu, who had arrived in Mombasa for the alleged mission,” he said.

Mr Kiptum said Ms Adhiambo was arrested at the bank while trying to contact the alleged killers to pick the money.

“It is also alleged that the woman had previously tried to poison her husband, but he miraculously survived,” he said.

Mr Kiptum claimed that the attempted murder must have resulted from the suspects’ efforts to inherit her husband’s property worth millions of shillings.

“Due to the gravity of the offence, I was unable to charge the suspects with the conspiracy to murder until further investigations are done,” said Mr Kiptum.

DETAINED

Resident Magistrate Viola Yator allowed an application for the two accused to be detained at Bamburi Police Station.

The two suspects, however, did not object to the application to enable police to complete their investigations.

The magistrate ordered that Mr Adhiambo and Ms Akinyi be detained at Bamburi Police Station until November 9, when the case will be mentioned.

Imperial Bank’s former managing director Abdulmalek Janmohamed ran an elaborate fraud scheme that robbed the lender of Sh34 billion over a period of 13 years, forcing the central bank to shut it down earlier this month.

Mr Janmohammed used a network of 20 companies and individuals to execute and cover up the mega fraud that shook Kenya’s financial services sector to the core after the regulators shut it down two weeks ago, citing risks to depositors’ funds.

Details of the fraudulent scheme have emerged from the courts where Imperial Bank directors have sued 20 companies and individuals related to Mr Janmohamed seeking to recover the colossal amount.

FRAUDULENT SCHEME

Imperial Bank on Tuesday filed two suits at Nairobi’s Milimani Courts revealing the anatomy of Mr Janmohammed’s fraudulent scheme, which he kept secret by falsifying the lender’s books of accounts.

Proceeds of the fraud were mainly invested in real estate properties, offering fresh insights into the role that corruption and crime plays in driving Kenya’s housing market boom.

Mr Janmohamed, who died last month, left a vast estate, including prime real estate properties, shareholding in blue chip companies and loads of cash in various banks, according to documents Imperial Bank has filed in court.

The bank on Tuesday sought and got an order freezing all the assets belonging to individuals and companies named as having participated in the fraudulent scheme.

High Court judge Fred Ochieng issued the conservatory orders freezing the assets until Thursday when the defendants are expected to tell the court why the caveat should not be retained until the matter is heard and determined.

SIPHONED BILLIONS

Court documents show that Mr Janmohamed siphoned out billions of shillings from Imperial Bank and manipulated its software systems to hide it. All the irregular transactions were kept off the bank’s books and were known to a small clique of senior managers.

Imperial Bank argues in the suit filed under a certificate of urgency that a speedy determination of the case is necessary because “the receiver’s decision to reopen the bank or liquidate it will ultimately depend on whether the bank will manage to trace and recover the amounts that have been illegally and fraudulently obtained from the bank by the deceased and his associates”.

The court papers further reveal that Imperial Bank’s liability to depositors and buyers of the corporate bond it sold to local investors last month stands at a whopping Sh87 billion — nearly Sh20 billion more than the Sh58 billion that was said to have been at risk.

Imperial Bank, which is associated with the wealthy Popat family, became the second commercial bank to go into receivership since Patrick Njoroge took charge as CBK governor coming after the August closure of Dubai Bank.

Read the full story here.

SOURCE: Business Daily

Ochieng Ochola, the Nairobi man who became an overnight sensation after his sexually explicit message went viral, has come out to defend himself.

Speaking to Kiss 100 breakfast show on Wednesday, he explained that the flirtatious message was meant for his wife but had unintentionally been sent to his WhatsApp prayer group.

The man, now popularly known as Bro Ocholla, is part of a prayer group called ‘Embakasi Prayercell’. A screenshot of the message has been widely circulated on social media.

“I was sending the message to my wife,” he told the radio show’s host Kalekye Mumo.

“I think there is someone malicious in our prayer group. Why would someone post it on the internet” he posed.

He continued to explain that “I immediately apologised to the group, but still someone did what they did.”

Mr Ochola’s wife, who was also interviewed in the show, confirmed that she was the intended recipient of the message.

“Yes he was sending the message to me,” she told Kalekye Mumo.

She also said that the message was sent out last week.

“This happened last week. Why is the media trying to break up a family?” she posed.

Former Ruaraka OCS accused of torturing a suspect to death has pleaded not guilty of the charges.

Chief Inspector Nahashon Mutua, who currently serves at Machakos, was charged with the offense of murdering Mr Martin Koome before High Court judge Jessi Lesiit. His application to be released on bond will be heard Thursday.

Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko approved the charge against Mr Mutua following investigations by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa).

SERIOUS INJURIES

Investigators found out that Mr Martin Koome was beaten at Ruaraka Police Station, sustaining serious injuries that led to his death.

According to Ipoa findings, Koome was hit several times with a rod and his head immersed in water at Ruaraka Police Station after which he was locked up in the cells overnight despite his injuries.

The report further says that Mr Manyara was taken to Kenyatta National Hospital the following day where he died.

The High Court on Wednesday allowed the prosecution of two governors and a senior official in the ministry of environment over alleged encroachment into riparian lands around Lake Victoria.

This was after Kisumu land and environment judge Anthony Kaniaru rejected an application that sought to block their prosecution over what the defendants said was an improper case.

Kisumu governor Jack Ranguma, his Nairobi counterpart Evans Kidero and Dr Alice Kaudia, the environment secretary in the ministry have been sued by activist Michael Nyaguti.

The plaintiff sought a court order barring the three from building houses on parcels of land which stretches into Lake Victoria saying such works would endanger the lake’s wetland.

The activist said that Mr Ranguma owns two parcels of land in Kisumu’s Korando region while Dr Kidero owns seven in the region while Dr Kaudia owns two parcels of land at Kogony.

In the case, Mr Nyanguti, who filed the case as a pauper, wants the court to permanently stop the three public officials from building on the said plots, saying it will be detrimental to the area.

ENCROACHMENT OF WETLAND

He told the court that the officials have fenced off plots beyond their demarcated boundaries, which has in the process resulted in encroachment into the riparian Lake Victoria wetlands.

“If residential houses are built on the plots, the community members, domestic and wild animals will be denied a chance to enjoy the wetland resources,” he said in his submission to the court.

Human wastes are also likely to be disposed into the lake, which may expose the local community to possible consumption of polluted water, he added.

But in a preliminary objection Dr Kaudia said that it was improper for Mr Nyaguti to file the case at the High Court as a pauper.

Filing a suit as a pauper means that the state clears suit bills arising from the court proceedings. Dr Kaudia also argued that the activist should have brought the case by way of plaint or a petition and not a land matter.

Judge Kaniaru, whose judgment was read by new judge Stephen Kibunja, however overruled Dr Kaudia’s argument that Mr Nyanguti could not file the suit as a pauper.

Kilimani Member of the County Assembly Moses Ogote expressed fear for his life after he received phone calls threatening to behead him and throw the head at Dandora dumping site.

The MCA who is a member of the Public Accounts Committee received the calls after the committee has been probing the irregular hiring of 24 personal security to the Nairobi Governor.

The queries on the irregular hiring had been raised by the Auditor General Edward Ouko stating that the recruitment had been done unprocedurally.

“I received a call yesterday (Tuesday) and the caller asked me why I wanted the security officers out of their job. Then he said that if I don’t stop I would find my head in Dandora,”said Ogote.

Mr Ogote said that he was not against the hiring of the security officers but had been asking for their confirmation since they were on probation for over a year.

“If for instance the governor is removed from his seat, will these men go home since they don’t have appointment letters?”Ogote had asked the County Secretary during a PAC committee.

Ogeto had further asked the CS to read out the names loudly for the committee and confirm if majority had come from one ethnic group.

The PAC chairman Robert Mbatia confirmed that indeed his members of the committee had received threats with demands for him to stop the probing.

PROCUREMENT ISSUES

The committee has over the past week probed on the irregularities on procurement and awarding of tenders to different companies which they have linked with Governor Evans Kidero.

The procurement issues raised include the single sourcing on the repairing of the City Hall Annex lifts, E-payment system, garbage collection tenders among others.

The MCA’s fear for his life raised a heated debate at the assembly with the members claiming that City Hall inspectorate had done little to ensure the members were safe.

The Majority leader Alias Okumu said that the members had received several threats from the executive and little was being done.

The Nairobi City Assembly Speaker Alex Ole Magelo, while giving a ruling, said that the Executive had withdrawn his security when he assumed office.

“I am not ashamed to say that Mr Francis Munyamu, who is the head of security, only works for Dr Kidero. We no longer have faith in him and we rely on the National Security Officers,”said Ole Magelo.

Ole Magelo said that several members have reported threats made to them but the City Hall has ignored these complaints.

He asked the Executive to stop threatening the members since they had not originated with the report they were investigating.

The motorist who knocked down a pedestrian who later died three weeks ago will be charged after investigations are concluded and a postmortem report availed to the police.

Police Spokesman Charles Owino said that investigations into the case, in which Mr Alex Madaga was seriously injured before he died at Kenyatta National Hospital, having waited in an ambulance for 18 hours, cannot be concluded until the postmortem report is received.

He said that the postmortem was conducted at City Mortuary and the officers investigating the matter have compiled their findings including vehicle inspection report.

“The chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor is yet to give us a copy of the report stating the cause of Madaga’s death,” said Mr Owino, adding that relatives of the deceased must also record statements with the police.

POSTMORTEM REPORT

He added that the postmortem report must be included in the file before it is taken to the office of Director of Public Prosecutions for directions.

“The suspect will be arraigned in court after police receive instructions from the DPP,” said Mr Owino, adding that the suspect’s bond was also extended as traffic police officers wait for the report.

Mr Madaga was hit by a speeding car along Waiyaki Way while crossing the road and was rushed to Kikuyu Hospital from where he was transferred to KNH after three private hospitals declined to admit him.

But the patient, who suffered injuries on the head and the abdomen, was made to wait for 18 hours before being admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital where all the 21 ICU beds were occupied at the time, according to the hospital’s administration.

Mr Madaga died two days later and was buried in Vihiga County last Saturday.

A middle aged man was on Wednesday charged in a Nairobi court with trespassing the State House. Mr Khalid Juma Walter allegedly committed the offence on October 27, this year at around 10pm.

The accused, who pleaded guilty to the charges before Chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo, told the court that he spends his nights at a field near State House and on that material day he had taken shelter at the compound because it was raining.

He also told the court that he is a friend of President Uhuru Kenyatta and was on his way to see him, a statement that contradicted the shelter story.

MENTAL STATUS

During the hearing, though, the accused seemed confused and unsure of what he was saying as he kept smiling and laughing while addressing the court.

He also told the court that it was not the first time for him to enter State House adding that he had noticed part of the State House’s perimeter wall is not in good condition, which he he used as his entry point.

Chief Magistrate Ogembo ordered that the accused be taken for a mental checkup at Kenyatta National Hospital to enable the court determine his mental status. The hearing will be on  November 4, this year.

Residents of Nairobi should brace themselves for increased water bills starting next week following the expiry of a one-month notice by the service provider.

The Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company will charge a fixed rate of Sh 204 for households consuming less than six cubic metres per month.

Those consuming from seven cubic metres to 60 will pay Sh 53 per cubic metre while establishments consuming over 60 cubic metres will pay Sh 64 per cubic metre.

The increased charges will also affect those paying water deposits as they will be required to part with Sh2,500.

Monthly metre rents will also be increased with the least charge for the half inch metre being Sh50, three-quarters inches Sh 100, Sh 250 for one to two inches and Sh 450 for three inches.

NEW RATES

The new rates were gazzeted by the water provider on October 2 with a one-month notice issued to consumers before they are effected.

Water kiosks will also be required to resell water at a rate of one shilling per 20 litre container as the provider will have supplied to them at Sh 30 per cubic metre.

Those purchasing from water vending machines will be required to pay 50 cents for a 20 litre container.

“Resale tariff to be displayed prominently next to the kiosks and ATM water dispenser for consumer awareness,” the gazette notice read.

New water connection charges for metres of half and one inch will be Sh 2,500, those connecting metres of up to three inches will be required to pay Sh 7,500 while metres above three inches will pay Sh 15,000.

Illegal connections by establishments will attract a Sh 100,000 fine along with the estimated consumption bill while households that engage in illegal connection will be fined Sh 30,000 along with the estimated bill.

It will now be costly to preside over weddings under the Marriage Act after the court dismissed a bid by the clergy to block increased fees and new licences.

Consequently, a government directive on marriages stands and the controversial law takes effect immediately.

According to a gazette notice by the Attorney-General that spelt out changes in the Marriage Act, all ministers of faith are required to apply for renewal of licences, file returns of all marriages celebrated to date, return all marriage certificate books and submit church records of all marriages to be celebrated.

Bishop Mark Kariuki, who is the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK) chairman, together with the East African Centre for Law and Justice had sued the government, claiming that since failure to comply with the set requirements would result in the cancellation of church licences, it would be impossible for thousands of Kenyans to celebrate and legalise their marriages.

Even though High Court judge George Odunga had suspended that section of the Marriage Act which the Attorney-General had directed to take effect by November 1, 2014, Lady Justice Mumbi Ngugi ruled that the directive through a gazette notice did not discriminate against Christians.

However Justice Ngugi said church ministers were asked to return the marriage books and obtain new ones consequently, dismissing the clergy’s allegations.

“I have not been able to find any violation of Christian faith. The Marriage Act requires that all marriages and ministers should be registered, hence there is no omission with a likelihood to cause discrimination,” the Justice Ngugi ruled.