Donation Amount. Min £2

East Africa

Mr Achilles Brunnel Byaruhanga, the Executive Director NatureUganda, receives an award from William, the Prince of Wales. Photo | Courtesy

What you need to know:

  • Prince William took to the stage to honour the extraordinary men and women dedicated to the protection of Africa's natural heritage and presented this year's award winners with their trophies.

The Executive Director NatureUganda, Mr Achilles Brunnel Byaruhanga has won the Tusk Conservation Award. The annual award which honours Africa’s conservation leaders in partnership with Ninety-One, not only celebrated the unsung conservation heroes of Africa, but also marked the 10th year of the awards. 

The prestigious event was attended by the charity's Royal Patron, the Prince of Wales, who launched the inaugural awards in 2013. Prince William took to the stage to honour the extraordinary men and women dedicated to the protection of Africa's natural heritage and presented this year's award winners with their trophies. 

Other award winners include; Ian Craig (Kenya), Miguel Gonçalves (Mozambique) and Neddy Mulimo (Zambia) and each of the four winners received a trophy specially crafted by Patrick Mavros, and all finalists received grants totalling £345,000 to continue their vital work.

“As Sir David Attenborough reminded us at this ceremony five years ago, Africa’s wildlife is truly special. What the Awards alumni, their dedicated teams and local communities are protecting is ‘one of the great natural treasures of the world’. And yet, we also know that it is just a fragment of what they once were. That is why it is vital that we do everything in our power to halt the frightening decline in species that our planet has witnessed over the last 50 years,” Prince William remarked.

Mr Byaruhanga said: “Conservation is not an event. It’s a process that takes a long time and communities are crucial. We are connected with people. We see the overall power is with the people.”

The awards’ 10th year comes at a critical time for conservation. Major upcoming global biodiversity summits - including the CITES conference in Panama in November and the UN Biodiversity Conference in Canada in December - will see the future of Africa’s wildlife and protected species take centre stage. 

The very real threat to African conservation continues as at-risk wildlife and communities face increasing pressure from climate change, human-wildlife conflict and the ongoing legacy of Covid-19. Through the recognition of and support given to award recipients, Tusk aims to raise the profile of African leaders to advance conservation and their significant impact in the field across Africa.

Tusk is uniquely positioned to bring together African conservation leaders with the influence, passion and expertise to implement the plans forged at these summits. The Tusk Awards celebrates these individuals and their potential to tackle the greatest threats to the continent’s biodiversity. By Beatrice Nakibuuka, Daily Monitor

President William Ruto Image: PCS

President William Ruto has revealed a list of 51 Principal secretaries selected to serve in the Public service.

The list is from over 500 individuals who were interviewed for the 51 slots.

They include;  

1. Julius Korir - State Department for Cabinet Affairs

2. Teresia Mbaika Malokwe - State Department for Devolution

3. Esther Ngero - State Department for Performance and Delivery Management

4. Aurelia Rono - State Department for Parliamentary Affairs

5. Raymond Omollo - State Department for Interior and National Administration

6. Caroline Nyawira Murage - State Department for Correctional Services

7. Amb. Julius Bitok - State Department for Citizen Services

8. Dr. Chris Kiptoo - The National Treasury

9. James Muhati - State Department for Economic Planning

10. Patrick Mariro - Defence

11. Korir Sing'oei - State Department for Foreign Affairs

12. Roseline Njogu - State Department for Diaspora Affiars

13. Amos Gathecha - State Department for Public Service

14. Veronica Mueni Nduva - State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action

15. Joseph Mungai Mbugua - State Department for Roads

16. Mohamed Dhagar - State Department for Transport

17. Nixon Korir - State Department for Lands and Physical Planning

18. Charles Hinga - State Department for Housing and Urban Development

19. Joel Arumonyang - State Department for Public Works

20. Prof. Edward Kisiangani - State Department for Broadcasting and Telecommunications

21. Eng. John Kipchumba Tanui - ICT and Digital Economy

22. Eng. Peter Tum - State Department for Medical Services

23. Dr. Joseph Mburu - State Department for Health Standards and Professional Management

24. Dr. Belio Kipsang - State Department for Basic Education 

25. Esther Thaara Muhoria - State Department for TVET

26. Beatrice Inyangala - State Departments for Higher Education and Research

27. Phillip Kello Harsama - State Department for Crop Development

28. Harry Kimutai - State Department for Livestock Development

29. Alfred K'Ombundo - State Department for Trade

30. Abubakar Hassan - State Department for Investment Promotion

31. Juma Mukhwana - State Department for Industry

32. Patrick Kiburi Kilemi - State Department for Cooperatives

33. Susan Mangeni - State Department for MSMEs Development

34. Ismail Madey - State Department for Youth Affairs

35. Jonathan Mueke - State Department for Sports and The Arts

36. Festus Ngeno - State Department for Environment

37. Ephantus Kimotho - State Department for Forestry

38. John Ololtuaa - State Department for Tourism

39. Sylvia Naseya Muhoro - State Department for Wildlife

40. Ummy Mohammed Bashir - State Department for Culture and Heritage

41. Dr. Paul Ronoh - State Department for Water and Sanitation

42. Gitonga Mugambi - State Department for Irrigation

43. Alex Wachira - State Department for Energy

44. Mohamed Liban - State Department for Petroleum

45. Geoffrey Kaituko - State Department for Labour and Skills Development

46. Joseph Mugosi Mutavi - State Department for Social Protection and Senior Citizen Affairs

47. Abdi Dubart - State Department for East African Community Development

48. Idris Dogota - State Department for The ASALs and Regional Development

49. Elijah Mwangi - State Department for Mining

50. Betsy Muthoni Njagi - State Department for Blue Economy and Fisheries

51. Shadrack Mwadime - State Department for Shipping and Maritime Affairs, By Brian Oruta, The Star 

 

NCBA Bank managing director John Gachora. PHOTO | NMG/Photo Courtesy 

Risky borrowers will pay more to access M-Shwari loans as Safaricom and NCBA Group plan a new lending model with different charges based on the credit profile of customers.

NCBA chief executive John Gachora said the bank will roll out a risk rating model for M-Shwari akin to that of commercial banks.

Banks use a base rate which is normally the cost of funds, plus a margin and a risk premium, to determine how much they charge a particular customer.

For M-Shwari, it will mark a departure from the current model where it charges a flat rate of 9.0 percent—loans fees of 7.5 percent and excise duty of 1.5 percent—for all customers.

NCBA will rely on an algorithm that builds a financial profile of customers based on their previous borrowing on the platform, M-Pesa transactions and airtime purchases.

“Now that we have collected enough data about our customers, we can actually ‘risk-base price’ them a bit better than we have done. So it’s to try to offer differentiated pricing,” Mr Gachora told the Business Daily in an interview. 

“Today M-Shwari pricing is the same for everybody. The regime we want to go into is different prices for different people depending on credit performance.”

It will punish defaulters and borrowers who take more than the set 30 days to clear their M-Shwari loans.

NCBA has reaped huge rewards from pioneering mobile phone-based lending in Kenya after teaming up with telecoms operator Safaricom in 2012 to launch the dominant service, M-Shwari.

Read: Inside meteoric rise of NCBA to a tier one lender

It was a step-up from M-Pesa, which was launched in 2007.

M-Shwari disbursed Sh42 billion in the six months to June compared to Sh44.8 billion worth of loans in the same period in 2021, representing a six percent drop.

Borrowings on the Fuliza overdraft service via NCBA rose 30.7 percent to Sh288 billion in the six months to June from Sh288 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The risk-based lending model for M-Shwari comes days after President William Ruto pushed for cheaper mobile loans and Safaricom cut Fuliza charges.

On a loan with a month’s term, this equates to an annualised interest rate of 108 percent. The average bank lending rate stood at 12.38 percent.

Mr Gachora said the risk-based lending policy under M-Shwari will address the borrower’s behaviour and not match the banking rates. 

“M-Shwari pricing will continue to be in line with the behaviour, costs and risks associated with mobile loans. These are not necessarily comparable with regular bank loans which are processed slowly, with a lot of information and analysis,” he added.

“Now that the product (M-Shwari) has come of age, access has been established. Our thinking now is we can talk about pricing, hence the changes we have made on Fuliza pricing and also the changes that we want to make on M-Shwari prices.”

NCBA is also planning to spin out its financial technology (fintech) business, which includes M-Shwari, into a standalone company in the race to create more personalised and feature-rich digital banking services for its customers.

Read: NCBA plans new M-Shwari company from banking unit

Mr Gachora has said the bank is in the process of forming a separate fintech company to host its digital loan platforms in Kenya and others in five countries where the bank operates.

The subsidiary, which will operate under the parent group, will be led by a CEO and have a separate board.

This comes in a period when banks are increasingly turning to imaginative combinations of software, hardware and data to create and deliver both new and traditional financial products and services.

NCBA’ revelations come weeks after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) started regulating digital lenders, a move that will give the banking regulator powers to rein in lenders who violate consumer privacy and overcharge consumers.

Users of mobile phone-based micro-lenders, which include the Silicon Valley-backed Tala, surged to two million in 2019, from 200,000 in 2016, the central bank says.

Before last month, dozens of lenders were not covered by any of the existing laws. But the digital products of banks like NCBA and KCB were regulated.

The new law requires the lenders to seek approval of the central bank for the pricing of their loans and products, subjecting them to the same rules as commercial banks.

It also grants the banking regulator powers to revoke the permits of digital lenders who breach the confidentiality of personal information to pursue defaulting borrowers.

It aims to stop a trend where some lenders resort to “debt shaming” tactics to recover loans.  Source: Business Daily 

  • An undated photo of a casket being lowered into the ground. TWITTER 
  • Confusion ensued at the Court of Appeal in Nakuru after a man who was involved in a murder case and, later on, reported dead resurfaced after the ruling.

    In the case, the person was reported dead in December 2020, prompting the court to drop the case. 

    "I saw the case that was in the Court of Appeal that stated I, the only survivor, was dead while the case was ongoing," the man lamented. 

    His family, however, refuted the claims that the man was once reported dead.

    f
    Ksh347 million Nakuru Law Courts FILE

    They called upon the court to investigate and hold accountable those who spread the fake news. 

    His kin further argued that claims were derogatory and could put his life in danger

    "Days ago we saw the Court of Appeal ruled that the attempted murder case should be dropped because my brother, the only survivor, died while the case was ongoing," his brother stated.

    "We have never buried my father unless there is someone else who bears the same name," added the victim's son.

    The court ruling was made without the victim's family knowledge, and they only learned about it when it went viral online.

    Notably, the shooting incident occurred along Kisumu - Nakuru highway on December 2010 where gunmen in a motorcycle shot at a vehicle killing two people and seriously injuring the third passenger.

    The seven suspects denied all two charges against them, and the court rule the evidence produced was insufficient to hold them hostage hence were acquitted. 

    However, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) proceeded to charge the accused with attempted murder. 

    If the suspects are to be charged again, they will face the prior charges before being acquitted.

    a
    Nakuru Law Courts in Nakuru County FILE   By Maureen Njeri, Kenyans.co.ke
     

 

JUBA – The former deputy minister of interior and member of the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly Gen. Salva Mathok Gengdit has said that he has burnt down a church in Gogrial East County of Warrap State, claiming that it was “destroying our way of life.”

Speaking during a funeral service in Gogrial East on Sunday, Mathok accused the Seventh Day Adventist of promoting immorality and burning traditional shrines that the people of Warrap state have lived for since their inception.

“There is a church called Seven Day; what they are doing here! I chased them last time, and now they are back, destroying traditional shrines and shrines from our ancestors. That’s our way of life. This morning, I burnt down of these churches,” Mathok is quoted by Hot in Juba, a local alternative media, as saying.

“During the day, the congregation will be praying, and at night, you will see girls in a mosquito net with a man, and they say it’s a word of God,” Mathok added. - Sudans Post

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

British Ambassador Visits Garowe to Strengthen Somalia-UK Ties

British Ambassador V...

Garowe, Puntland – British Ambassador to Somalia, Charles King, made his first visit to Garowe, the...

Judges call for a review of violent robbery sentence

Judges call for a re...

Justice John Mativo during a Virtual hearing of an election petition by former Nairobi Governor Mik...

Transaid hosts second motorcycle helmet safety ET SAFETY SUMMIT IN NAIROBI

Transaid hosts secon...

Transaid, in partnership with the FIA Foundation, hosted the second Safe African Helmets Initiative...

Church Leaders Urge Politicians To Rise Above Individual Interests

Church Leaders Urge...

The Most Rev Dr. Justin Badi Arama, the Chair of the South Sudan Council of Churches and the Primate...

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.