Hello and welcome to the Evening Brief Newsletter where we are trying to cool down after a tornado of pressers.
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In The Red
Keysian Auctioneers on Monday announced that it was auctioning several properties including those registered under Zingo Investments Limited.
In its notice, the auctioneers invited bids for properties located along Eastern Bypass as well as its branch along Lunga Lunga Road, both in Nairobi County.
The first property, which has a leasehold for a term of 946 years, has 8 godown blocks, six of which are used for storage.
Intricate Details: Developed on the property are eight terraced godown blocks with front elevations of the first two godown blocks having offices at the front elevations, two storage buildings and single-storey staff quarters.
In Lunga Lunga, the company has a godown block, a double-storey office block, an ablution block, and a temporary shed.
The Bid: Buyers are advised to deposit Ksh1 million ahead of the sale event scheduled for June 26.
Expanded Activity: Separately, Phillips International Auctioneers placed the entire 8-storey Marafique Arcade in Thika Town.
The building, which has a monthly rental value of Ksh2 million, was originally built as a hotel but was soon remade into a residential property. The sale date is slated for July 5.
Catch Up Quick: Yesterday, we reported that due to tough economic times, north of 5 companies were gazetted for liquidation. They are Xplico Insurance, Nest Group Africa, Kenya Motors and Equipment Limited, Ali Harbours Restaurant, and Latchford Land Holdings Limited.
The insolvency petitions come as business owners increasingly become anxious over the Finance Bill 2024 expected to roll out a new raft of taxes.
In late May, Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) Chief Executive Anthony Mwangi expressed fears that more foreign investors were likely to flee the country should the Finance Bill pass through Parliament as is.
He argued that the bill would pile more strain on an already struggling economy.
Uhuru Fires a Shot
For two years, President Uhuru Kenyatta considered himself the bigger person but no longer.
Today afternoon, his director of communications, Kanze Dena, laid bare the frustrations the former Head of State was being subjected to from the administration of his successor, William Ruto.
Dena rubbished State House claims that Uhuru had been given new cars replete with a fueling card and a functioning office.
What Kanze Said: "With no response from State House and a lack of commitment to finalise the issue of the office space, the former President identified a suitable office space and went ahead to fully furnish and equip it from his pocket."
"On the issue of vehicles. The former President is using vehicles given to him on a transitional basis. The office would like this to go on record that after the transition, a conversation on the purchase of vehicles as required by the Act commenced between the two offices. The conversation notes that the identification of vehicles was done down to the colour and then the conversation froze. To date, no discussions have been revived. We don't know if the cars were purchased or not," she added.
Core Issues: In Dena's press briefing, six core issues emerged including the purchase of motor vehicles, harassment of staff members as well as withdrawal of Mama Ngina Kenyatta's security. Here are the core Issues;
- Office Space. After Uhuru was appointed a peace facilitator, his office claims that it reached to State House for office space but received no confirmation forcing Uhuru to identify one, fully furnish it, and equip it from his pocket.
- Vehicles. Kanze reiterated that the State House Spokesperson's claiming of purchasing new cars for Uhuru cannot be further from the truth. Instead, Uhuru continues to use cars given to him on a transitional basis, the ones he rode in while exiting the handover ceremony.
- International Trips. Kanze noted that since taking over the peacekeeper role, only two trips Uhuru took, to Ethiopia and Burundi, were honoured. His request for the facilitation of trips remains unanswered.
- Retired President Budget. Described as the core issue, the Uhuru Office insists that it was allocated Ksh655 million in the Financial Year 2022/2023 but only got Ksh28 million. The following year, which ends this June, the office was allocated Ksh503 million but it is yet to access the funds. That puts the total at Ksh1 billion.
- Sneaky Behaviour. Kanze accused the State House of choosing verbal communication and avoiding office correspondence making it hard for the office to track communications. Affected services include fuel maintenance, office operations and facilitation, pending renewal of contracts and budget returns.
- Mama Ngina Security: Uhuru's Office denied claims by the State House that security withdrawn from Mama Ngina was restored and vehicles she uses were allocated to her by the Mwai Kibaki regime. "We would like to clarify that on the 18th of July 2023 at 7PM, all her drivers and security detail allocated to her were withdrawn from their residences via phone. The claims in the media that personnel were reinstated are false. To cap it on, fuel cards for her vehicles were also blocked since March 2023 to date and vehicle maintenance denied."
Catch Up Quick: On Sunday, May 19, State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohammed assured the public that the state had continuously remitted allocations to Uhuru's office.
He said that the office allocated to Mwai Kibaki in Nyari had been furnished for Uhuru to occupy and that channels had been made to give the former Head of State access to Ksh 1 billion.
The Constitution: In Kenya’s law, a retired President is entitled to an office and permanent staff, who shall be public officers remunerated on the terms dictated by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), a retirement package and insurance costs, among other benefits.
Ruto's Dropping Grades
Despite winning favor worldwide (US State Visit), President William Ruto is struggling to maintain a good score with Kenyans as examiners.
Ruto, alongside his deputy Rigathi Gachagua, scored a D in a performance ranking released today by research firm Infotrak.
Per the report, Ruto had dropped from a ranking of C of 52 per cent in March to a D of 46 per cent in May.
Sole Reason: This decline was attributed to poor communication with Kenyans and poor handling of key issues affecting the population. He also scored lowly in improving how things are done at his office and struggling to deliver on his mandate.
Gachagua, on the other hand, maintained the same score compared to the previous ranking. In March, he had a D of 48 per cent while in May he had a D of 42 per cent.
Gachagua's Poor Performers: The DP scored lower than his boss because of his poor communication skills on his mandate, poor in his ability to deliver on the assigned tasks, poor in addressing issues and poor in improving how things were being done at his office.
Yes, But: Some Cabinet secretaries stood out including overal best performer Interior CS Kithure Kindiki scoring a B of 60 per cent and Sports CS Ababu Namwamba with a C of 51 per cent. Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi featured in the last position with an E of 38 per cent.
In Comparison: The Judiciary dropped from a B of 67 per cent to a D of 46 per cent.
The bicameral Parliament, both the National Assembly and Senate, also dropped from a C of 53 per cent to a D of 42 per cent while the opposition dropped from a B of 62 per cent to a D of 47 per cent.
Here are five other stories we have prepared for you today;
- UDA Comms explains that the government slapped VAT on bread and milk to reduce the recurrent expenditure within the national budget.
- A police officer was today run over by a colleague while he was on duty in Bungoma.
- The government launched a plan to purchase diplomatic properties in some of the countries where its Kenyan embassies are situated.
- CS Nakhumicha reveals that the government has a testing tool to track the income and wealth of self-employed Kenyans.
- Health PS Mary Muthoni reveals that NHIF cards will run concurrently with SHIF in the initial stages of its rollout.
Read the full Kanze Dena speech here.
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This newsletter was written by Derrick Kubasu and edited by Brian Muuo.
Washington Mito contributed to the content.
Graphics prepared by Adongo Kyalo.
