Tag: GreatLakesNews
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Kenya Using 6% of Internet Capacity
Kenya’s total bandwidth consumption is only a small fraction of the country’s total internet capacity. This is according to Joseph Mucheru, Google SSA Ambassador and Kenya Country Lead, who sees public internet hotspots as a solution to the low uptake of internet.
Mucheru said Kenya is using 6 percent of the national Internet capacity of 8400G.
“Giving people access to the internet via Wazi Wi-fi will help improve penetration of the internet and utilization of the capacity we have, that is currently underused. The cost structure of the service helps break the cost barrier, which limits number of people using the internet.’
Wazi Wi-Fi is an initiative by Google, Wananchi Group Ltd, and other businesses which aims to provide affordable, on-the-go, internet to the public. Wazi WiFi is currently rolling out hundreds of wireless hotspots including mall, cafes, restaurants and bars.
The service allows users to access the high speed internet by paying a daily or monthly subscription using mobile payment platforms. A daily unlimited subscription costs Sh50 while for a month’s connection, costs from Sh500.
Wazi Wi-Fi has deployed over 400 Wi-Fi Access Points in 200 hotspot locations in Nairobi and Mombasa; Kenya’s largest cities. Wazi Wi-Fi is continuously seeking to partner with other wireless hotspot owners as well as general infrastructure players such as Mobile Service Operators, Internet Service Providers, Cable service providers and other firms, with the ultimate goal of having blanket coverage across the country and onwards onto the East African region.
Riyaz Bachani, Group CTO at Wananchi Group, now in charge of Wazi WiFi says Wi-Fi is the last mile connectivity technology that will lead to better usage of the internet capacity because of its reliability and easy connectivity.
“We have a good number of hotspots in Nairobi and we are looking to increase our reach to other towns to net in more customers and spread the benefit of internet.”
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Tanzanite Tycoon to Create More Jobs
The Global largest tanzanite buyer, Morris Gad, through his company, Diamonds International, intends to invest heavily in Tanzania’s gemstone industry to create employment for locals.
Mr. Gad, who buys nearly 70% of tanzanite to sell in his more than 140 locations in the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean, revealed this at the end his three-day business tour in Mererani and Arusha last week.
Gad said his venture in tanzanite precious stone in the country would involve an investment of multi-million-dollars.
The tycoon also would be sourcing the Tanzanite gemstone only in Tanzania and not any other country so that local people can get direct income.
His daughter, Sara Morris Gad who accompanied his father in Tanzania business trip said that she was eager to understand the story behind tanzanite gemstone so that she can be able to tell her customers.
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Uganda Accepts to Pay Back Stolen Donor Cash
Uganda has decided to pay back to the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) donor account, the money that was lost to fraudsters in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM).
Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi said it would be sourced elsewhere, but when convicted by the courts of law, the suspects would be punished and made to refund it.
He said the Police investigations into the fraud were ongoing and some people had already been interdicted.
Mbabazi was briefing the media on the actions that the Government was taking to restore confidence among development partners, following the loss of billions of shillings in the OPM.
The briefing was at his office on Friday.
It is reported that sh14b was diverted from the donor account of the PRDP to the Crisis Management and Recovery Account from where it was stolen.
Denmark, Ireland, Britain and Sweden contribute development aid to the PRDP account.
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Kenyan Police Officer Dies in Grenade Blast
An Administration Police officer succumbed to injuries following Sunday morning’s grenade attack at a church in Garissa.
“We have lost an officer who was also the chaplain at the church,” a police officer in the region said.
14 other people were still admitted to the Garissa Provincial General hospital.
Police said six of them were set to be airlifted to Nairobi for specialised treatment.
Police said the AP officer who succumbed to injuries was the chaplain at the Utawala Inter-denominational Church which was attacked at about 10 am.
The attack occurred when people believed to be Al Shabaab militants hurled a grenade at the church through the roof.
“Most of those injured are police officers because the church is inside an Administration Police camp,” another police officer said.
North Eastern Provincial Police Chief Philip Tuimur confirmed the incident
and said a massive security operation was underway in the town.“We have mobilised our officers to track down the attackers,” he said.
Police said witnesses had also reported hearing gunshots during the attack.
Police believe the attack is the work of Al Shabaab militants or their sympathizers who launched similar attacks in two churches on July 1, killing at least 18 people.
The attacks at the African Inland Church and the Roman Catholic occurred when masked gunmen shot hurled grenades at worshippers.
Two police officers deployed to guard the AIC were also gunned down during the attack.
Grenade attacks and other blasts have become common in Garissa and other border towns since Kenya sent its military to fight Al Shabaab militants in the neighbouring Somalia in October last year.
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7 Kenyans Injured in Church Grenade Blast
At least seven people have been injured in a grenade attack on a church in eastern Kenya, officials say.
The attack took place in the town of Garissa, near the border with Somalia.
Unconfirmed reports say that gunfire could still be heard at the scene of the explosion. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
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EU Gives $200M For Security in Somalia
The European Union has given Somalia 158 million euros ($200 million) to improve education, the legal system and security, its new envoy said on Saturday, as the Horn of Africa nation tries to recover from more than two decades of conflict.
The new aid programme follows the election in September of a new Somali president, the culmination of a regionally brokered, U.N.-backed effort to restore central government control and end fighting that has killed tens of thousands of people.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, elected in the first vote of its kind since Somalia slid into civil war in 1991, is grappling with corruption, an Islamist insurgency and piracy along the country’s strategic Indian Ocean shipping route.
“After 21 years, the government is finally rebuilding the systems of a functional state at local, regional and central levels,” Michele Cervone d’Urso, the EU’s special envoy to Somalia, told Reuters.
“The EU is more committed to work directly and in partnership with Somalis. We will ask the implementing agencies to work more closely with the government and civil society.”
A suicide bombing in the capital Mogadishu on Saturday highlighted the challenges faced by the new Somali leader .
The development aid package, the largest EU programme ever approved for Somalia, will go towards strengthening the judiciary, broken state institutions, the Somali police force and the country’s blighted education system.
Some funds will be used to bring home Somali professionals abroad to help improve education standards.
In the past, Western and regional states have pumped in millions of dollars of humanitarian aid to help Somalis affected by conflict and frequent natural disasters. African governments have sent troops to combat al Qaeda-affiliated militants.
Somalia’s residents have complained that most aid organisations have operated from neighbouring Kenya with little involvement on the ground, which has bred resentment.
President Mohamud called for more aid, and for assistance to be channelled directly through the new government.
“Although there is global economic crisis, our new government has been requesting the world to increase funds and change the ways Somalia has been getting funds in the last two decades,” Mohamud told a news conference in Mogadishu after the launch of the aid programme.
“We requested them to have direct a relationship with Somalia.”
Despite being on the back foot, al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants still control swathes of rural southern and central Somalia. Pirates and local militia groups are also fighting for control of chunks of territory. ($1 = 0.7785 euros) (Additional reporting Abdirahman Hussein; Editing by George Obulutsa and Rosalind Russell)
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Smoked Wild Meat Captured in DRC
The Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) Friday, November 2 incinerated over a thousand pieces of smoked meat in the territory of Monkoto in Equateur province.
ICCN Provincial director Didier Bolomba, explained that the goods have been incinerated to deter poaching and trade of meat from animals.
Containers of meat were captured by park wardens Sunday, October 28.
According to Bolomba, the meat was of various protected species, including antelopes, monkeys and elephants.
The head of the local NGO RAPAC and member of civil society Monkoto population were present during the incineration aimed at protecting the natural resources of Salonga National Park.
The alleged poacher managed to escape during interrogation leaving all his possessions.
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Obama Beats Romney In Kenyan Bull Fight
In Kenya, villagers from western Kenya town of Khayega held a bull fighting contest Saturday between a 410 kg black bull named Obama and a black and white 460kg bull named Mitt Romney.
Both cattle breeds are indigenous to Kenya.
Despite being smaller in size, Obama was the overwhelming favorite having won six of his last fights and he did not disappoint. After close to half an hour the bulls were separated and Obama was declared winner.
Happy villagers burst onto the streets in song and dance rejoicing the victory, some carrying placards reading “Obama top most!” while others reading “Romney Can’t!”
Most Kenyans consider Obama, the son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, as one of their own.
“Here at home it’s clear now that Romney can’t beat Obama. He has no experience of speaking at state house and to other heads of states but Obama has what is takes as he respects the people, he is kind and humble. Romney doesn’t stand a chance against Obama, “said Stephen Shikoli, 35, a spectator.
Bull fighting has been held in Khayega town for generations but attempts last year to bring the event to the national stage attracted the wrath of animal rights groups.
Paul Shiboko one of the event’s organizers said it is a great honor to be an owner of a winning bull, aside from the prize money.
Shiboko said bulls are usually bred to fight and sometimes named after both famous and infamous international newsmakers to create a frenzy among the spectators, like Saddam versus Bush.