Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster was looking for an explanation.

"The owner has not complied at all with municipal property standards, with bylaws and with provincial law, and enforcement has been impossible. We've had many communications with bylaw and we're told that because it's a diplomatic residence there's very little that can be done," said Crain.

"The chronic non-compliance has really interfered with our enjoyment of our home."

Enforcement 'complicated,' say heritage staff

The diplomatic residence had heritage protection, as do all homes in the Rockcliffe Park Heritage Conservation District. It was a Grade 2 property, which is considered less significant.

Lesley Collins, program manager for the city's heritage planning branch, said it can be challenging to deal with properties owned by foreign states. There are currently six diplomatic or foreign-owned properties on the city's heritage watch list of at-risk properties, including another building owned by the Uganda High Commission.

"The challenge with those is more about how complicated it can be to do enforcement and do work when we have to liaise through Global Affairs," Collins said.

"It's not that it's impossible, it's not that we can't work with people. It's just that there's additional steps that we need to take."

Neighbours seek conditions

Crain asked the built heritage committee to at least place conditions on any permit to build the proposed mansion on the site. She asked for a wider setback to push the new home back, toward where the high commission wants a pool, and for real brick on the exterior in place of the planned veneer.

She also urged more frequent inspection to make sure the high commission complies.

"Nobody would be happier than us if they built a high-quality, beautiful project that contributed to the heritage of our neighbourhood," she said. "But we have no trust that they will do that."

The committee voted for the application, but tacked on an amendment to push back the home. King and Troster also plan to bring forward more conditions before final approval.

"We're going to continue to work on that, to strengthen what is going to be brought to council," said King. CBC/Yahoo News

Kevin Kang’ethe Kinyanjui who escaped from the Muthaiga police station about a week ago was arrested on Tuesday night in Ngong. According to police, he was found hiding at a house at around 11:45 pm on Tuesday by detectives from Nairobi Area’s Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau.

“He is now in our hands,” said a senior police chief officer familiar with the manhunt told The Standard. His arrest came a day after police arrested his brother Brian Kang’ethe who is said to have aided him in escaping from custody. 

He was also arrested in the same area. Kinyanjui was being  held at the station awaiting the verdict in his extradition case to the US where he is wanted for murder.He is accused of killing his girlfriend Margaret Mbitu by stabbing her multiple times on October 31, 2023, and stashing her body in the boot of a car that was parked at a Boston airport where he boarded a flight to Kenya. 

The body was locked in a Toyota Venza which had remained in the parking since the evening of October 31, 2023. On Friday, police arrested four more people bringing the total number of people arrested in connection with aiding Kinyanjui’s escape to eight. 

Some of those arrested were his cousin and close associates. The four were picked by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers after it emerged, they were in constant communication with Kinyanjui. Some of the arrested people had also visited him in police cells following his arrest at a club in Westlands. 

“We want to know what they know. We have noted the frequent calls,” a senior investigator told The Standard at the time.

Kinyanjui broke out of Muthaiga police station last Wednesday under unclear circumstances.

So serious was the incident that Nairobi police Chief Adamson Bungei personally visited the Muthaiga police station.

According to police the fugitive who was to be extradited to the US to face first-degree murder charges managed to jump onto a waiting matatu after escaping from custody.

“He was talking to his lawyer at the station and within a few minutes, managed to escape by boarding a matatu that had parked at the stage meters away from the police station,” a police report on the incident said.

A further statement said that when police on duty noted that he was missing, they looked for him in the area but did not find him. This led to another search along Thika Road where he is said to have boarded a vehicle and disappeared. After touring the station, Bungei directed the arrest of five police officers who were on duty when he escaped.

Police also arrested a man said to be the lawyer who had visited him in the cells when he escaped. The fugitive had been in hiding in the country since he left the US after Mbitu’s death.

A week ago, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga filed extradition proceedings against Kinyanjui. State prosecutor Vincent Monda told Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina the DPP had received a request to have Kinyanjui extradited to the US.

He said the request letter to have Kinyanjui extradited to the US had been signed by the US Secretary of State. “We will be filing an affidavit. We will also be filing an affidavit to oppose bond or bail against the suspect,” said Monda.

Kinyanjui, the court ruled, would be remanded at Muthaiga Police Station in Nairobi after the police were granted 30 days to hold him. Investigating officer Patrick Wachira, from the DCI headquarters homicide investigations unit, said the suspect was arrested on January 30, 2023, within Parklands in Westlands, Nairobi, and booked at Gigiri Police Station in connection with the alleged crime.

In the application, the police indicated that the suspect is being investigated for the offence of first-degree murder in violation of Massachusetts General Law.

Police said after he entered Kenya, through JKIA, Kinyanjui went into hiding. He is to have maintained constant communication using various telephone numbers with his friends in the US and a few relatives and friends in Kenya. By Kamore Maina and Fred Kagonye, The Standard

Kenya's electricity imports from Uganda increased 18.4 percent in January, fuelled by a bigger demand. Data from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) shows that Kenya last month imported 20.29 million units of power from the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited.

This is a significant increase from 17.12 million units that Kenya imported from her neighbour in December.

Read: Power imports nearly triple on biting drought

Kenya and Uganda have a power exchange programme during which either country supplies the other with power during periods of deficit.

At the close of the financial year, the country that will have exported more electricity to the other invoices its counterpart. 

In January for instance, Kenya exported 3.41 million units to Uganda, and in December, it exported four million units to its neighbour, meaning that Uganda continues to enjoy a positive trade balance in this exchange.

Besides Uganda, Kenya also imports power from Ethiopia, which has been key in stabilising local supply over the past year.

In January, output from hydro went down by 6.9 percent, which Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has attributed to the management of the country’s water resources to maximise output.

According to Epra data, hydro output declined to 253.4 million units from 272.36 million units in December.  

KenGen says water levels in the country’s major dams have increased this month, which will enable the company to increase output from the source.

“When we hit maximum (water levels) is when we started stepping up hydro generation. Even now we have not hit maximum output as part of a long-term water management programme,” it said.

Power generation

Overall, power generation increased by 5.4 percent in January, signalling increased demand from customers.

Epra data shows that the country’s more than a dozen power producers generated 1.165 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity last month.

Read: Power imports triple on low hydro output

This is a significant increase from 1.105 billion kWh that was generated in December last year.

“Total units generated and purchased (G) including hydro, excluding exports in January 2024 was 1,165,321,330kWh,” said Epra director-general Daniel Kiptoo. By Brian Ambani, Business Daily