Members of the National Assembly have backed the nomination of new National Police Service Commissioners (NPSC), emphasizing the urgent need for comprehensive reforms in the police service amid escalating public outrage over alleged brutality and a worsening relationship between law enforcement and citizens.
Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma urged legislators to approve the nominees, stressing that the appointments come at a critical time when the balance between enforcing the law and safeguarding civil liberties is under serious threat.
“Honourable Speaker, we face a pressing challenge—one that demands deep reflection on how we can uphold our fundamental freedoms while recognizing that these freedoms have reasonable limits,” Kaluma said.
He cautioned against condoning misconduct within the police service, asserting that rogue officers must be held accountable.
“Those officers who act outside the law must be held to account— let us empower our police officers to carry out their duties professionally while also ensuring that all Kenyans can enjoy their rights and freedoms without fear or intimidation,” the Homa Bay Town MP added.
Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo echoed Kaluma’s sentiments, raising concern over low morale among officers.
“To speak plainly and without prejudice, the relationship between the police and the public is perhaps at its lowest point,” he said.
Oundo attributed the breakdown to systemic issues within the police service, including poor working conditions, inadequate pay, and a lack of essential operational resources.
“It is disheartening, Mr. Speaker, that in this day and age, many officers still lack transportation. Even where vehicles are available, some stations don’t have the fuel needed to operate them,” he noted.
Oundo also underscored the growing mental health challenges within the force, warning that poor conditions are pushing officers to the brink and weakening service delivery.
“It is completely unacceptable for any officer to brutalize another human being. This Parliament must support reforms that shift the police from being seen as a brutal force to a people-centered service—one that is not weaponized to serve political interests,” said the Funyula MP.
Kajiado North MP Onesmus Ngogoyo also lent his voice to the debate, calling for a fresh, transformative vision within the Commission.
“We need new minds and new ideas—people who won’t simply replicate the actions of their predecessors but will instead lead meaningful change,” he stated.
Ngogoyo criticized a recent incident in which a hawker was shot dead by police in town, saying such actions deeply erode public trust.
“This young man was unarmed. He didn’t resist arrest. He didn’t flee. It’s deeply troubling that someone so defenseless was met with such excessive force,” he lamented.
He further criticized the Kenya Kwanza administration, accusing it of failing to fulfill promises made to the police service.
“We made solemn pledges to improve the working conditions of our officers. The truth is, many of those promises remain unfulfilled,” Ngogoyo said. By Irene Mwangi, Capital News
Hon. Kimani Kuria - Chairperson, Parliamentary Committee on Finance and National Planning speaking during a public dialogue on the Post-Tax Amendment Laws Analysis Forum in Nairobi. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]
Lawmakers have backed proposals by the National Assembly Committee on Finance to amend contentious clauses in the Finance Bill, 2025.
One of the targeted changes is the Kenya Revenue Authority’s proposal to have unfettered access to private data and trade secrets in a bid to increase revenue collection.
The proposal seeks to empower KRA to compel institutions such as banks, digital platforms and mobile service providers to disclose sensitive personal and commercial data, including financial records and trade secrets, without notifying the taxpayer.
Yesterday, MPs lauded the Bill as progressive as it did not increase taxes like the previous ones. But the House agreed on the need to do away with the proposal to grant KRA sweeping access to taxpayers’ data, terming it an overreach.
Committee Chairman, Kimani Kuria, explained that Clause 52 of the Bill fails to meet the constitutional standard set under Article 31 (c) and (d) of the Constitution, which guarantee the right to privacy.
“The committee also noted that the Data Protection Act of 2019, Section 51 sets out clear and limited grounds under which access to personal data may be exempted from certain protections. Furthermore, Section 60 of the Tax Procedures Act already provides the commissioner or an authorised officer with sufficient powers to obtain necessary information for tax administration subject to court issued warrants. This safeguard strikes a balance between tax enforcement and protection of individuals,” he said.
Kuria stated that unlike previous Finance Bills, this year’s was not merely a revenue-raising tool but a policy-making instrument.
“Its central focus is to enhance tax revenue collection through strategic administrative reforms and improve tax payer compliance. Rather than introducing new taxes, the Bill proposes the simplification of existing tax laws to make them clearer, more predictable and accessible to all tax payers,” he argued.
“The Finance Act of 2022 had a projected revenue of Sh22 billion, the Finance Act of 2023 had Sh211 billion, the Finance Bill of 2024 had intention to raise Sh244 billion, the Tax Laws Amendment Act Sh449 billion but the Finance Bill of 2025 only Sh25 billion.”
The committee further sought to assure Kenyans that the reforms introduced in the current Bill are aimed at curbing tax evasion, expanding the tax base and ensuring that all eligible tax payers contribute their fair share.
“These policies aim to ensure predictability and sustainability within the tax system, thereby fostering more environment for business… The Finance Bill embodies the government’s commitment to modernizing tax administration and fostering a culture of trust and corporation between the Kenya Revenue Authority and the citizens.”
Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu called for a predictable tax regime.
“If we want to get this journey right, we must broaden the tax base. We must also seek the tax leaks and have a predictable tax regime in this country so that in 10 years I know what the tax regime will look like,” he said. By Josphat Thiong’o and Irene Githinji, The Standard
In a moving tribute that underscored his pan-African leadership and the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) deepening development footprint across the continent, Tanzania has named a key national infrastructure, the 112-kilometre Dodoma Outer Ring Road, after the immediate past President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina.
The announcement was made recently during the inauguration ceremony attended by President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Adesina, who was on a two-day working visit to Tanzania.
The Tanzanian leader described Adesina as “a visionary leader, a tireless son of Africa who has dedicated his life to transform the narrative of the continent.”
In a statement, President Suluhu declared: “I have accepted a recommendation by the Ministry of Works to rename the Dodoma Outer Ring Road as the Dr. Akinwumi Adesina Road.”
The newly named dual carriageway forms part of the Cape to Cairo continental corridor and is a strategic infrastructure project intended to ease congestion in Tanzania’s rapidly expanding administrative capital while enhancing regional trade and connectivity.
The road project was financed by the AfDB with $138 million, in addition to $42 million from the Africa Growing Together Fund, and $34.69 million from the Government of Tanzania.
Speaking at the commissioning, President Suluhu Hassan praised Adesina for the transformative support Tanzania has received under his leadership.
“Your visionary leadership has brought significant socio-economic change to Tanzania and across Africa,” she said, highlighting the role of the AfDB in major infrastructure developments including the ring road, the Msalato International Airport, and the Standard Gauge Railway connecting Tanzania to Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“These projects address the realities of Dodoma’s fast-rising population and the increasing demand for efficient transport,” she added.
Since beginning operations in Tanzania in 1971, the AfDB has invested over $9 billion in the country, with $4.73 billion or 53 per cent disbursed in just the last decade under Adesina’s leadership.
Recognising this contribution, Suluhu said: “On behalf of the people of Tanzania, I express our gratitude to the African Development Bank for being a dependable partner of our country’s development journey.” By Nume Ekeghe, ThisDay
The new refinery is expected to become a regional processing hub for gold from Mali and neighbouring countries. Credit: Alexey_Rezvykh/Shutterstock.
Mali has initiated construction of a new gold refinery backed by Russia, marking a step towards the country’s goal of asserting greater control over its natural resources, according to a Reutersreport.
The facility, with a 200 tonne (t) capacity and a controlling stake held by Mali, is a joint venture (JV) with Russia’s Yadran Group and a Swiss investment firm.
The new refinery is expected to become a regional processing hub for gold, not only from Mali but also from neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso.
Despite West Africa’s status as a major gold producer, the region has lacked a functional and globally certified gold refinery.
This has been a long-standing gap in the market despite previous attempts to establish such a facility, including by Ghana, the continent’s leading gold producer.
Mali’s interim president Colonel Assimi Goita has emphasised the refinery’s role in improving the tracking of gold production and exports.
He pointed out that, like many African nations, Mali suffers significant financial losses due to gold smuggling, exacerbated by the lack of certified refineries and traceability programmes.
The construction of the refinery is part of broader mining reforms under Mali’s military leader, who assumed power in 2021.
These reforms have included a revised mining code that aligns with changes in neighbouring countries such as Guinea, Niger and Burkina Faso, causing unease among investors.
Tensions have been evident in Mali’s mining sector, as seen with the recent court decision to place the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex operated by Canadian mining company Barrick under temporary state control amidst a tax dispute. Mining Technology
Baktash Akasha (L) and his brother Ibrahim Akasha when they appeared in a Mombasa court for their extradition case on January 2, 2017. [File Courtesy, Standard]
Briton Muhammad Asif Hafeez, jailed recently by the US for orchestrating an international drug trafficking empire, had close links with the notorious Akasha brothers in Mombasa.
The New York court convicted Hafeez, aka Sultan, of conspiring to import heroin and hashish into the U.S. He was arrested in the UK on August 25, 2017, and extradited to the US in 2023.
Described by the US prosecution as a ‘puppet master’ of a global criminal enterprise that stretched across several continents, Hafeez presented himself as a reputable business mogul and had pleaded guilty to the offence.
However, the drug empire of Hafeez, whose prison time is set to lapse in 2033, having been in jail since 2017, started to crumble in 2014 after the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) launched a sting operation in Mombasa.
According to the video clips played in the US court, DEA agents taped a meeting between him and the Akasha brothers selling 99 kilos of heroin and 2 kilos of meth to a Colombian drug dealer.
Evidence filed in a US court revealed that Hafeez was at the centre of trafficking huge consignments of drugs offloaded and loaded on small fishing boats from Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique.
In a New York court, the prosecution showed a clip showing that Hafeez inspired both reverence and fear in the underground drug world. His associates called him “the Sultan” (ruler), and he was the supplier of unnamed Colombian drug dealers.
Ibrahim Akasha, the young son of the late Kenyan Akasha Ibrahim Abdalla, untangles nylon paper, pours a white substance onto foil paper, and burns it to demonstrate the heroin’s purity.
Authorities nabbed Ibrahim and his brother Baktash Akasha in the same sting operation. They extradited them to the U.S. in January to face narcotics charges following a New York court indictment on October 28, 2015.
The two, alongside Indian drug felon Vijayghiri Goswami and Pakistani Gulam Hussein, were snatched away by the US and Kenyan police, who raided Baktash’s seaside home in the high-end estate of Nyali.
According to the indictments, Hafeez conspired with Baktash, Ibrahim, Goswami, and Gulam Hussein to import heroin into the U.S. Baktash was the leader of the “Akasha Organisation”.
Baktash was responsible for the production and distribution of tonnes of narcotics within Kenya and throughout Africa and maintained a network used to distribute narcotics for importation into the U.S.
“Hafeez supplied the Akasha Organisation’s primary narcotics suppliers, including the late Akasha, who led the Akasha Organisation before his murder in the Netherlands in 2000,” the U.S. stated. Attorney Damian Williams told the court.
However, the DEA and the Kenya police set a dragnet to monitor the trafficking of the drugs that led to the arrest of Hafeez and the two Akasha brothers, Goswami and Gulam.
In October 2014, Ibrahim delivered a kilo of heroin sample, on behalf of Hafeez and the Akasha Organisation, to confidential sources acting at the direction of the DEA in Nairobi.
According to Mr Williams, in early November 2014, Ibrahim delivered 98 additional kilograms of heroin to the confidential sources. During this investigation, Baktash boasted in a recorded meeting that Hafeez had distributed “tonnes” of narcotics with his father and the Akasha Organisation.
It’s unclear whether Baktash and Ibrahim knew Hafeez before their father’s murder. It is clear from court records that Hafeez, Goswami, and the late Akasha patriarch worked together in Mozambique.
Significantly, after an assassin’s bullet felled Mzee Akasha in the red streets of Amsterdam, Netherlands, sibling rivalry almost brought the patriarch’s empire to its knees.
Barely two years after his death, on March 28, 2002, his son, Kamaldin, was shot dead outside his petrol station in Makupa, Mombasa, in a case of fratricide.
The violent feud within the polygamous Akasha clan exposed the Akasha sons’ pursuit to inherit from their father. After Kamaldin was killed and Habab quit the illicit trade, Baktash took over the reins.
However, sources said that Goswami's arrival in Mombasa on November 22, 2012, appeared to have opened a new door for the Akasha sons to rebuild their late father’s empire.
Goswami entered Kenya on a forged Indian passport on November 22, 2012, after serving a 17-year drug conviction in the United Arab Emirates, according to security sources.
Sources in the security sector assert that Goswami revived the links with the “Akasha Organisation” led by Baktash.
Like Hafeez, Goswami employed a game of deception, presenting himself as an accomplished businessperson or investor across Africa. In Mombasa, Goswami enjoyed police protection.
In Mombasa, he lived with a gorgeous Bollywood actress, Mamta Kulkarni, as his mistress at the affluent Nyali estate. He was close to a former principal secretary and an MP who guaranteed him protection.
During an interview with this reporter in 2017 at Mombasa Port Police cells, he got permission to hire armed bodyguards because his life was under threat and he needed to be protected.
He also claimed that he was a marked man by the Indian government, which piled pressure on Kenya to extradite him to India for trial. He did not state what offence he had committed in India.
The media-shy Goswami admitted that he was jailed in the UAE after his conviction for drug trafficking and manufacturing, although he alleged that he was framed.
In a startling revelation, Goswami told us then that he entered Kenya via JKIA in 2014 as an investor and had even travelled to Rwanda and India. We could not independently confirm the claim.
“They (immigration officers at JKIA) knew my record,” said Goswami in an admission that his conviction in India was a matter of public notoriety that Kenyan officials knew.
Sources in the security circles, however, insist that Goswami entered Kenya on a forged Indian passport on November 22, 2012, after serving a 17-year drug conviction in the United Arab Emirates.
Why did he come to Kenya?
In an interview, Goswami claimed he had known the late Akasha for 26 years when he lived in Zambia. Goswami said he and the late Akasha invested in a mining business in the southern African nation.
Goswami claimed he came to Kenya in 1994 after Zambia deported him, but did not state why. He added that in the 1980s, he passed through Kenya but did not explain from where or to where.
Other reports indicated that Goswami fled Zambia and South Africa, where authorities investigated him for murder, drugs, and racketeering, before he ended up in Dubai, where a court convicted him.
Although the late Akasha reportedly introduced the narcotics trade to his arsenal of businesses in the 1970s and 1980s, he embodied a contradiction of the good and the bad.
Other reports indicate that Goswami's and Hafeez’s arrival in Mombasa sparked wars among competing drug cartels, allowing the DEA and Kenyan detectives to infiltrate them.
For instance, according to court records, in December 2016, Baktash and Ibrahim fought with a prominent businessman in a Nyali club; someone drew and fired guns.
The businessman reportedly walked into the club and confronted the Akasha brother and Goswami, who were having drinks with his friends, including the PS, MP, and an elegant woman, before the fight broke out.
The U.S. detectives claimed that the PS and MP received money from Goswami, the Akasha brother, and Hafeez in early January 2017 for protection.
During these wars, a DEA sting operation in Mombasa netted Goswami, Baktash, Ibrahim, and Gulam. By Bernard Sanga, The Standard
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