Good Morning,
Getting bombarded by promotion messages from Supermarkets is in my top three most annoying things.
Gladly, Safaricom announced the introduction of a new feature that will hide the identity of Lipa na Mpesa users. Only the first and last few digits will be displayed.
Kenyan-Run Essay writing Industry
The landing page to this website says it all “No more sleepless nights”.
An investigation by CBS that aired last week revealed how Kenyan graduates wrote academic papers for American students, (an illegal act across 17 states in the US)
The investigation termed the industry ‘Contact cheating’. The industry is highly dependent on Kenyan graduates. An interview by one of the Kenyan graduates revealed the following:
The American students pay about $20 -$50 a page for their services.
The online sites take a cut and the rest is paid to Kenyan writers.
The students give the writers access to their University’s accounts so that submission of assignments and exam papers is easier.
Some Kenyans have completed entire online undergraduate courses, masters programs and even PHD’s for some American students.
Online writing enables such Kenyans to meet financial needs.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
President’s 3- Day visit to the UK
Last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta visited London with the aim of strengthening development ties between the two countries. One of the major goals was to raise part of Sh 5.5 Trillion for investment in the education of millions of vulnerable children around the globe.
During the visit, a number of agreements were made:
Outcome of the visit
Signing of a new five-year Defence Cooperation Agreement between Kenya and the UK. This will see Kenya and UK militaries share expertise, experience and techniques, making both forces more effective.
The UK will make a sh 20 billion investment into Kenya’s Big 4 agenda.
The UK has Donated 817,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Kenya.
A Healthcare Agreement between the UK and Kenya was signed: The agreement will see unemployed Kenyan medical workers serve in the UK’s National Health Service before returning to work in Kenya.
LOCAL COMMUNITY
Heard of Kenya’s Shona Community ?
On Wednesday, The interior Cabinet Secretary granted the Shona community a certificate of citizenship. The Shona community was granted citizenship status by Kenya last year on 12 December.
Facts about the Shona Community
They originated from Zimbabwe and Zambia but came to Kenya in the 1950’s as subjects of the British.
They were unable to prove their citizenship in their countries of origin and hence have been Stateless.
Their descendants inherited this status because the (repealed constitution) lacked provisions for registering stateless people.
On December 12th last year, as Kenya marked its 57th independence anniversary, members of the Shona community in Kenya were recognized as citizens.
CAPITAL MARKETS
Treasury opens the sale of a sh 60 Billion Euro bond
Treasury announced the sale of a sh60 Billion Euro bond for this coming month of August.
The bond prospectus issued by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) revealed that the bond will be offered in three tranches,
Re-opening of 10- year paper issued in 2019
Re-opening of 20-year paper first issued in 2018.
An entirely new 20-year paper.
things to note
Treasury is looking to take advantage of the liquid money market. Last month’s bond, which also had an advertised target of Sh60 billion, raised bids worth Sh116.9 billion.
SUCCESSION LAW
Written will vs Video will
Last week, the Family court in Nairobi upheld the superiority of a written will over a video will. However, Lady Justice Lydia Achode proposed to have changes in law to accommodate electronic Wills.
Facts of the case
The deceased had written a will in 2015 appointing the sister and the wife as executors of the will.
In 2016, through a video recorded on a mobile phone, he ‘revoked’ the will and expressed his wish in a video recording where he disinherited the wife. He then died in 2018.
The wife challenged the video recording in court claiming that the information was inconsistent with prevailing facts.
The court upheld superiority of the written will over the video recording. why ?
Mini analysis of decision
- The video recording was treated as an oral will. The Succession act provides that for an oral will to be valid;
The testator (person writing the will) should die within 3 months of making the oral will.
Also, the act states that an oral will cannot revoke a written will.
- The presentation of the video recording as electronic evidence in court had to meet the following authentication requirement. (as per the evidence act)
It must be certified that the device was functioning normally at the time the video was recorded.
Must Know ConversationStarters
Are you a Youtube Content creator? - As from This month, Youtube implements a 24% withholding tax on Youtube ad incomes. . 😬😬
importing and exporting goods through the port ? - The Kenya Ports Authority announced the extension of free storage period for containers. The extension will run for 3 more months.(This is a relief to shippers who are yet to recover from the effects of Covid-19)
details: The free period for domestic import containers, has been extended to 5 days from 4 days. The waiver for domestic export cargo having is now at 15 days from 9 days.
Want to know about the inflation rate in Kenya? - Below is a graph representing rate of inflation (From the CBK).
Are you a Bolt Driver? - Good News. Bolt revealed a new feature allowing drivers to withdraw income “as and when they need it”. Before, they had to wait upto a week to access cash.
Cyber attacks? - as per Kaspersky, Cyber Attacks in Kenya increased by 59% in the second quarter of the year compared to the first. (Main targets are the banking and financial sectors).