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Kenyan-born journalist Polly Irungu becomes the first official photo editor for the office of US Vice President Kamala Harris.

Pool/Photo Courtesy 
  • Born in Nairobi, Ms Irungu has lived around the world, from Kansas to Oregon, Washington, D.C., Arkansas, and ultimately to Brooklyn, New York. 
  • She is also a 2022 IWMF Gwen Ifill Fellow, a programme designed to address the lack of diversity in leadership positions across newsrooms in the United States.  

Kenyan-born journalist, Polly Irungu, has landed the first official photo editor job at the White House, US.  She made the announcement on her Twitter account yesterday noting that she was the first person to hold the position in the Office of Vice-President Kamala Harris.

“I’m excited to announce that I’m the first official photo editor for the Office of the Vice-President to the Biden-Harris Administration. Honoured and grateful is an understatement,” she wrote and attached a photo of her standing outside the official residence of US President Joe Biden.

She joins fellow Kenyan Joy Ngugi at the White House. She works as a video producer and editor in the Office of Digital Strategy in Biden’s administration. 

Ms Ngugi also announced her new job on her Twitter handle in January last year.

Ms Irungu is the founder of Black Women Photographers, a global community and directory of over 1,000 black female photographers that advocates their recognition and right to jobs.

Achievements 

As a self-taught photographer and writer, she is a woman of many achievements with her work being published in numerous publications including the New York Times, Reuters, Global Citizen, BBC News, MEFeater, Refinery29, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed and CNN.

She most recently worked as a digital editor at New York Public Radio (WNYC). In 2017, she completed a degree in journalism at the University of Oregon. 

Born in Nairobi, Ms Irungu has lived around the world, from Kansas to Oregon, Washington, D.C., Arkansas, and ultimately to Brooklyn, New York. 

Currently, she is a part of Twitter and LinkedIn’s creator programmes and a teacher at the International Centre of Photography. 

She is also a 2022 IWMF Gwen Ifill Fellow, a programme designed to address the lack of diversity in leadership positions across newsrooms in the United States. 

In a LinkedIn post earlier this week, Ms Irungu celebrated her mother, Dr Jane Irungu, who also landed a new position as Utah State University's first vice-president of diversity, equity and inclusion.  By Silvia Muia, Daily Nation

 

DAR ES SALAAM, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities said Friday plans are underway to collar elephants to enable game rangers to track stray elephants that raid farm crops and residential areas.

"The collaring of elephants will enable game rangers to respond in real-time before the animals raid residential areas and wreak havoc on farm crops," said Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Mary Masanja.

Masanja announced the collaring of the elephants when she visited Goha, Kwalukonge and Kweisewa villages, all in Tanga region's Korogwe district, which have been victims of elephant raids.

The deputy minister said since the collaring of elephants is an expensive undertaking, it will only be done in hotspot areas where elephant raids occur regularly.

The collars include Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) tracking devices that are placed around an elephant's neck to monitor their movements and behavior as well as to assist with conservation actions.

On July 19, Tanzania's Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Pindi Chana said 19 centers will be built across the country for controlling straying wild animals that damage farm crops.

She said game rangers will be deployed to the centers to respond to raids by the wild animals on residential areas and farm crops.

In May, Chana said the wild animals, including elephants, lions and hippos, were reported to invade villages in at least the country's 53 districts out of 134 districts. - Xinhua

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, Thursday said the BBC and Trust Tv would be sanctioned for airing documentaries glorifying terrorism and banditry.

Addressing reporters in Abuja, he accused the BBC of airing an “unprofessional” documentary, Africa Eye, where interviews were granted to bandit warlords and terror gangs. 

He condemned the BBC for not upholding the same standards and tenets as they would have done in the UK.  He also alleged that Trust Tv, owned by Media Trust Ltd, used its platform to interview a bandit kingpin, Shehu Rekeb. 

He said the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) was looking at which part of the Broadcasting Code was violated by the BBC and Trust TV. 

“Media is the oxygen that terrorists and bandits use to breathe.

“When otherwise reputable platforms like BBC can give their platform to terrorists showing their faces as if they’re Nollywood stars, it’s unfortunate.

“I want to assure them that they’ll not get away with it, appropriate sanctions will be meted to both the BBC and the Trust Tv. 

 “Let me assure you that they’ll not get away with the naked glorification of terrorism and banditry in Nigeria.

“It’s because there’s a country called Nigeria that they’re operating here,’’ the minister said.  

The management of Media Trust Limited said it would not react to the story as the company was yet to get any official complaint on the documentary.  By Abdullateef Salau, Daily Trust

 

Africa is emerging for Islamic Finance and a new destination for Islamic Financial Institutions which will open new avenue for the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the region, it was stated by Muhammad Zubair Mughal, Chief Executive Officer of AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE) during the inaugural ceremony of African Islamic Banking and Takaful Summit was held in association with Centre for Islamic Finance, Compliance and Advice and sponsored by Imaan Finance, CRDB Bank Plc, PBZ Bank LTD, Craft Silicon, Technology Associates – Tanzania, Zanzibar Insurance Corporation, Invoice Mate, BSV-Blockchain, , Association of Tanzania Insurers (ATI) – Tanzania, National Insurance Authority, Somaliland, NBC, Imaan Newspaper, Imaan Radio, Imaan TV and IFING-MEDIA. He said that, Tanzanian Islamic Banking and Takaful market is very imminent and seems promising.

The summit was inaugurated by Mr. Muhammad Zubair, Chief Executive Officer, AlHuda CIBE FZ LLE, Dubai- U.A.E. He welcomed all the guests of honors, speakers and participants for attending this emerging phenomenon conference, one of new of its kind in the region. He said that Islamic banking and finance is the ultimate financial solution due to its viability and sustainability. This system has multi-fold benefits which concentrate on the balanced wealth distribution. He also threw light on the need of Islamic banking and financial services.

He further said that several new Islamic financial institutions are ready to start their operations in the market. Various Islamic window operations are also going to start their operations for the development of the economy to strengthen the growth of the market and to uplift the living standards of the public in the region. A few of the banks are also coming into the markets with stand-alone branches for Islamic banking operation. Insurance industry is also participating with zeal and zest and Takaful operations are also going to be operated in the insurance market.

The Guest of Honors includes H.E. Mohamed Himid Mbaye Former Deputy Governor, Bank of Tanzania, Immediate Past Chairman CIFCA, H.E. Prof. Florens D. A. M. Luoga Governor, Bank of Tanzania, H.E. Mrs. Khadija. I. Said Deputy Commissioner of Insurance, Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA), Tanzania, Dr. Ally Hussein Laay Chairman of the Board of Directors, CRDB Bank Plc, Tanzania, Mr. Khamis Suleiman Chairman, Association of Tanzania Insurers, Tanzania were with Mr. Muhammad Zubair at inaugural ceremony and appreciated AlHuda CIBE FZ LLE, Dubai- U.A.E. activities for the development of Islamic banking and finance in Africa and especially in Tanzania.—Zawya news,  Source: Pakistan Observer

 
 
 
Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka hands over a chatter to Julius Ntaiya, the chairman of the newly-elevated Kitengela Municipality.[Peterson Githaiga, Standard]

The elevation of Kitengela town in Kajiado County into a municipality has been received positively by locals.

They say the move to transform the town that has a population of 230,000 people is a milestone for a town believed to be the fastest-growing town in East Africa.

During the launching ceremony and unveiling of its board, Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku outlined some of the benefits that will come hand in hand with the municipality status of the town. 

"By successfully pursuing a charter for the municipality and unveiling its board, the first journey is over. The second one which entails how to use the municipality status to transform the lives of our people leaving here has kicked off," said the county boss who is seeking his second term in office.

Joseph Munyua, a resident of Kitengela, says the elevation was long overdue, expressing hope that the move will help the area grow in matters of development.

"Land is available here, many workers in Nairobi seek accommodation here, construction materials for building houses are not far. The Nairobi National Park is just next to us, Kajiado supplies Nairobi with 30 per cent of meat needs as it’s a livestock county. Therefore, the elevation of our town to a municipality will uplift the lives of the residents in a big way," said Munyua

Further, the governor said feeder roads leading to the new SGR station shall be upgraded to ease movement to the station and encourage the use of the transport hub as an alternative means of transport.

"Our county has seen the fruits of robust collaborations and partnerships with national and international donor agencies. The municipality will be enlisted immediately with relevant state departments, agencies such as the Kenya Urban Roads Authority, and initiatives such as the world bank -funded Kenya Urban Support Programme," said Lenku. 

Lenku promised to partner with the county's neighbours, such as Machakos, to design and implement a train-city road network between Athi River and Kitengela to encourage and facilitate more residents to commute to the capital city by rail.

"To enhance good governance, transparency and quick services delivery, all operations within Kitengela municipality such as financial transactions shall be fully automated. Our partners in service provisions including transport will be encouraged to adopt a similar strategy to compliment county efforts," stated the county boss.

He said the partnership will also be extended to cities around the world that share the same philosophy for exchange programmes. 

"I, therefore, welcome all investors, and national and international agencies to tap into the potential of this fast-growing town. I promise them I will offer the most competitive incentives to set shop here," said Lenku.  By Peterson Githaiga, The Standard 

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