Donation Amount. Min £2

East Africa

The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) officials conducted an operation on Friday night at shisha joints in Kilimani, Nairobi, where 25 people were arrested for smoking Shisha.

The officers conducted the operation on Friday night led by NACADA CEO Antony Omerikwa. 

In the operation, 117 shisha bongs containing the names of customers at a popular shisha joint were confiscated.

The joint in question had previously been closed down for selling shisha, a drug that has been banned since 2017.

Those arrested were found in small groups in various rooms within the joint smoking shisha and chewing miraa.

“What I would like to tell operators is that the law is very clear. You know what is legal and what is illegal” the CEO warned. 

Most of those arrested smoking shisha were youthful men and women in pursuit of exciting nightlife with ongoing festivities.

“In 2017, the government implemented a ban on shisha affecting both its sell and use,” the CEO added.

Omerikwa added that a multi-agency team would continue with investigations on the case to make sure that the perpetrators are brought to book

Kenya placed a total ban on the consumption and use of shisha, a water-pipe tobacco, citing health hazards associated with it. 

The then Cabinet Secretary for Health, Cleopa Mailu in a statement in December 2017 banned the import, manufacture, sell, offer to sell, use, advertisement, promotion, or distribution of Shisha in Kenya.

The World Health Organization has indicated that the smoke inhaled in a typical one-hour shisha smoking session is equal to inhaling smoke from as many as 100 cigarettes. By Cedrick Khayeka, Kenyans.co.ke

People's emotional functioning suffers when their sleep is disrupted, study finds  

Peer-reviewed – Meta-analysis - People  

Losing sleep does more than just make us tired - it can undermine our emotional functioning, making us less positive and increasing our risk for anxiety symptoms, according to a new study.  

"Our society is frequently sleep deprived, so understanding the effects of this on our emotions is critical to promoting good psychological health," said lead author Dr Jo Bower of the University of East Anglia.   

"This study represents the most comprehensive analysis of experimental sleep and emotion research to date, and provides strong evidence that sleeping less, being awake for longer, and waking during the night can adversely influence human emotional functioning."   

The study was published in the journal Psychological Bulletin by the American Psychological Association and synthesised more than 50 years of research on sleep deprivation and mood.   

Dr Bower and her colleagues, including the other lead author, Dr Cara Palmer, of Montana State University, analysed data from 154 studies spanning five decades, with 5,715 total participants.  

In all those studies, researchers disrupted participants' sleep for one or more nights. In some experiments, participants were kept awake for an extended period. In others, they were allowed a shorter-than-typical amount of sleep, and in others they were periodically awakened throughout the night.  

Each study also measured at least one emotion-related variable after the sleep manipulation, such as participants' self-reported mood, their response to emotional stimuli, and measures of depression and anxiety symptoms.   

Overall, the researchers found that all three types of sleep loss resulted in fewer positive emotions such as joy, happiness and contentment among participants, as well as increased anxiety symptoms such as a rapid heart rate and increased worrying.    

"Even small amounts of sleep loss, like staying up for an extra hour or two had an impact on our emotional functioning," Dr Bower said.  "We also found that sleep loss increased anxiety symptoms, and reduced arousal in response to emotional stimuli."   

Findings for symptoms of depression were smaller and less consistent. The findings were also more mixed for negative emotions such as sadness, worry and stress.    

One limitation to the study is the majority of participants were young adults – the average age was 23.   

Future research should include a more diverse age sample to better understand how sleep deprivation affects people at different ages, according to the researchers.   

Dr Bower suggests "it would also be interesting to examine how emotional functioning recovers after sleep is restored".   

Other directions for future research could include examining the effects of multiple nights of sleep loss, looking at individual differences to find out why some people may be more vulnerable than others to the effects of sleep loss, and examining the effects of sleep loss across different cultures, as most of the research in the current study was conducted in the United States and Europe. 

  

Dr Bower said: "Recent, worldwide research has shown that only 15 per cent of adults get the recommended amount of sleep for at least five nights per week. This has considerable implications for individual and public health research, including in sectors prone to sleep loss."  

  

Sleep Loss and Emotion: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Over Fifty Years of Experimental Research, by Cara Alexis Palmer, PhD, Montana State University; Joanne L. Bower, PhD, University of East Anglia; Kit W. Cho, PhD, University of Houston Downtown; Michelle A. Clementi, PhD, University of Colorado - Anschutz Medical Campus; Simon Lau, PhD, and Candice A. Alfano, PhD, University of Houston; and Benjamin Oosterhoff, PhD, Meadows Mental Health Institute, is published in the Psychological Bulletin. 

 

Cabinet meeting© PA Wire

Ministers have rowed back on plans to hike the earning threshold Britons need to bring foreign family members to live in the UK to £38,700.

Instead, the Government has confirmed plans to increase the threshold to £29,000 in the spring.

Home Secretary James Cleverly had announced the increase from £18,600 to £38,700 as part of a package of measures to curb legal migration.

But the move attracted criticism as it threatened to tear families apart, with many having their future thrown into doubt as the Government considered the details of the policy. 

Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom confirmed the change of plans in answer to a written parliamentary question on Thursday.

The minister said that the current threshold of £18,600 allows 75% of the UK working population to bring their foreign family members into the country to live. 

He added that increasing the threshold to £38,700 would limit the same right to 30% of the working population.

Lord Sharpe said: “In spring 2024, we will raise the threshold to £29,000, that is the 25th percentile of earnings for jobs which are eligible for Skilled Worker visas, moving to the 40th percentile (currently £34,500) and finally the 50th percentile (currently £38,700 and the level at which the general skilled worker threshold is set) in the final stage of implementation.”

The minister said the threshold would be “increased in incremental stages to give predictability”.

However, no date for when the threshold would rise beyond £29,000 was given in Lord Sharpe’s answer, nor did one appear in a Home Office paper published on Thursday detailing the plans.

The Prime Minister previously told MPs the Government was looking at “transitional arrangements” for changes to the thresholds to make sure they are “fair”. 

The Liberal Democrats suggested the planned £38,700 threshold was “unworkable”.

The party’s home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael added: “This was yet another half-thought through idea to placate the hardliners on their own back benches.

“James Cleverly needs to put down the spade and stop digging. Decisions like this should be made by experts and politicians working together.

“He should also publish the advice from the Treasury and OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) about the impact that his package of changes will have on the economy.”  By David Lynch, Evening Standard

Former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta addresses a congregation at the St. Teresa's Catholic Church in Mpeketoni, Lamu County, on Saturday, February 4, 2023.

Former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta has moved to court to compel the Land Registrar to issue her with a title deed for 1,000 hectares of land based in Taita Taveta County.

In court documents filed at the Milimani High Court, obtained by Kenyans.co.ke, Mama Ngina together with former Taveta MP Basil Criticos contend that they are both co-owners of the land. 

The duo, who have listed Attorney General Justin Muturi as a respondent, added that they are yet to be issued the title deed despite being the actual owners of the land.

Additionally, the two indicated that only the Land Registrar can explain why they have been denied the title deed.

THE JUDICIARY

"In breach of his said statutory obligation or duty, the 1st Respondent has to date failed to issue to the applicants (former First Lady and the MP) the said Certificate of Title in relation to the said parcel of land L.R No. 10287/7 Taveta.

"The said breach or failure by the 1st respondent (the Chief Land Registrar) denies the applicants the statutory right to have or hold the said Certificate of Title as evidence of proprietorship of their said parcel of land," read the court documents in part. 

The duo wanted the matter certified as urgent.

Consequently, in orders issued by Justice John Chigiti, the matter was certified as urgent with Mama Ngina and the former MP expected to file a substantive motion within 14 days.

Muturi and the Land Registrar were also directed to file and serve their responses within 14 days after being served by the applicants.

"The Applicants shall thereafter file and serve their submissions within 14 days. The Respondents shall thereafter file and serve their submissions within 14 days of service. 

"The matter shall be mentioned on March 5, 2024, to report compliance," read the orders in part. By Washington Mito, Kenyans.co.ke

 

Health workers at Kotido General hospital have laid down their tools over salary unpaid salaries.

The hospital remained unattended on Wednesday as the medical staff decided to stop work, citing the prolonged delay in payment of their wages.

Speaking anonymously, the medics highlighted their financial strain, emphasizing that the lack of payment for the past three months has made it impossible to sustain their families and cover essential expenses. They attribute the situation to the failure of the district to fulfill its payment obligations. 

Kotido district speaker Emmanuel Lodio explained that salary delays stemmed from poor data capture by negligent officers. The strike significantly impacted health service delivery, leaving numerous patients unattended. Lodio disclosed that they formally requested the ministry of Local Government's assistance to use the funds designated for hiring secondary school teachers to clear the salary arrears. 

Kotido resident district commissioner Ambrose Onoria said after discussions they agreed to operate with a reduced staff to ensure essential services continue while the district actively works to resolve the problem. - URN/The Observer

About IEA Media Ltd

Informer East Africa is a UK based diaspora Newspaper. It is a unique platform connecting East Africans at home and abroad through news dissemination. It is a forum to learn together, grow together and get entertained at the same time.

To advertise events or products, get in touch by info [at] informereastafrica [dot] com or call +447957636854.
If you have an issue or a story, get in touch with the editor through editor[at] informereastafrica [dot] com or call +447886544135.

We also accept donations from our supporters. Please click on "donate". Your donations will go along way in supporting the newspaper.

Get in touch

Our Offices

London, UK
+44 7886 544135
editor (@) informereastafrica.com
Slough, UK
+44 7957 636854
info (@) informereastafrica.com

Latest News

Tanzanian authorities must investigate the arbitrary arrest, torture, incommunicado detention, and forcible deportation of human rights defenders Agather Atuhaire and Boniface Mwangi, Amnesty International said today.

Tanzanian authoritie...

Uganda Airlines inaugurated non-stop flights between Entebbe International Airport and London Gatwic...

Tanzania: Torture and forcible deportation of Kenyan and Ugandan activists must be urgently investigated

Tanzania: Torture an...

Tanzanian authorities must investigate the arbitrary arrest, torture, incommunicado detention, and f...

Tanzania’s New Foreign Policy Reaffirms Pan-African Leadership and Vision for Intra-African Cooperation

Tanzania’s New Forei...

To strengthen implementation, President Samia called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East Af...

Gen Z shift not about ditching work ethos

Gen Z shift not abou...

Gen z's during the Shujaaz Memorial concert held at Uhuru Park, Nairobi on 7th July 2024. [Denis Ki...

For Advertisement

Big Reach

Informer East Africa is one platform for all people. It is a platform where you find so many professionals under one umbrella serving the African communities together.

Very Flexible

We exist to inform you, hear from you and connect you with what is happening around you. We do this professionally and timely as we endeavour to capture all that you should never miss. Informer East Africa is simply news for right now and the future.

Quality News

We only bring to you news that is verified, checked and follows strict journalistic guidelines and standards. We believe in 1. Objective coverage, 2. Impartiality and 3. Fair play.

Banner & Video Ads

A banner & video advertisement from our sponsors will show up every once in a while. It keeps us and our writers coffee replenished.