Devastating Third Wave Forces Govt To Expand COVID-19 Vaccine Priority List

The Ministry of Health has expanded the priority list for the first phase of the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive to include persons aged 58 years and above.

COVID Vaccine Taskforce Chairman Dr.Willis Akhwale in a statement Thursday cited the surging third wave of coronavirus infections in the country.

Dr Akhwale noted that persons aged above 58 are at a high risk of severe infection and account for 60% of the COVID-19 related deaths that have been recorded in the country so far.

“The country is now experiencing the 3rd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with increasing number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. In view of this surge of the pandemic, and in order to protect and save lives, the Ministry of Health has decided to immediately prioritize vaccinations of persons aged 58 years and above,” Akhwale stated.

“According to our data, these are at most risk of severe disease and account for 60% of our recorded deaths. This group of persons will now be a priority target group under the ongoing Phase 1 vaccination exercise. This prioritization is also aligned to the WHO and National Taskforce on Vaccine Deployment recommendations.”

The First Phase of vaccination was launched on March 8, 2021, targeting 1.25 million frontline workers at high risk of infection. By Thursday, over 64,100 people had been vaccinated.

source http://nairobiwire.com/2021/03/devastating-third-wave-forces-govt-to-expand-covid-19-vaccine-priority-list.html

Ruto: I Don’t Have a Problem With Raila, Open To Work With Him

Deputy President William Ruto says he is open to working with anyone, including his perceived political rival Raila Odinga.

Speaking during an interview on Radio Citizen on Thursday morning, DP Ruto hinted at a possible reunion with the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader ahead of the 2022 General Elections as long as they share a similar goal of stabilizing the Kenyan economy.

Ruto indicated that he does not have a problem with Raila, saying their differences are only political.

“Some people think I have problems with Raila. I do not. These differences are political. And there are things I agree with Raila. He is agreed on the need to form national parties and he is facing similar issues (in the opposition) I am facing of regional chieftains. And I want to say this: If anybody wants to partner with us to bring up the hustler, we have no problem. We support, we will work together,” said Ruto.

“Anybody who wants to join us to fight poverty and other things that ail the country is welcome. I will work with everyone who shares an approach to stabilizing the economy through the bottom-up model. If Raila is that person, what stops me from working with him?” he posed.

At the same time, DP Ruto censured Raila’s coalition partners Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC) and Moses Wetang’ula (Ford Kenya) for pushing for regional parties.

“The former Prime Minister and I read from the same script on the need to have political parties that have a national outlook. Unlike other leaders who believe in ethnic-based political parties, Raila and I are pushing for a few political outfits which can be embraced nationally. We have seen many leaders go back to their tribesmen, from political parties to bargain a pre-or post-election alliance. We need political parties that transcend the borders of ethnicity,” said Ruto.

Adding: “If you go to Wiper, it belongs to Ukambani people. ANC is a Western party just like Ford-Kenya. Kanu, which was formerly a national party, is now confined in Baringo. And now the Coast leaders are pushing for their own party.”

source http://nairobiwire.com/2021/03/ruto-i-dont-have-a-problem-with-raila-open-to-work-with-him.html

The Trending Memes and Tweets This Last March Weekend

As the month comes to an end, this is what’s trending on twitter.

source http://nairobiwire.com/2021/03/the-trending-memes-and-tweets-this-last-march-weekend.html

NMS To Convert Machakos Country Bus Station Into Underground Car Park

The Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) has earmarked the Machakos Country Bus station for demolition and conversion into a modern car park.

NMS Director-General Mohammed Badi said they are planning to put up an underground multi-storey parking bay that will be operated digitally and charged hourly.

The plan is part of a bigger project that will also see the NMS convert other parking areas in the capital into underground parking bays, drastically reducing congestion in the city.

“NMS has already initiated the process of developing underground parking at Sunken Park which will also happen at Machakos Bus Park. And all these underground parking areas will be digitally controlled,” said Major General Badi.

“It will be affordable and once the motorists reach the parking lot, you will pay through mobile money, leave your car there and it will be parked for you in whichever floor of that building,” Badi added.

The parking bay will mirror the four-storey car park at the Holy Family Basilica which Chinese contractor China Zhongxing Construction Company constructed. The parking bay that used to accommodate 120 cars now boasts 536 parking slots.

“We have seen it is affordable and we are now going to ensure that there’s enough underground parking for Nairobi residents,” said Badi.

As part of the plans to automate parking facilities in Nairobi, city motorists will from July start paying hourly parking fees within the Central Business District.

source http://nairobiwire.com/2021/03/nms-to-convert-machakos-country-bus-station-into-underground-car-park.html

City Woman Sucks Blood From One Of Three Men She Stabbed

Residents of Saa Mbaya area in Kahawa West, Nairobi were Thursday treated to a bizarre and horrific spectacle after a woman stabbed three men, killing one of them and leaving the others critically injured.

According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations(DCI), the three men had engaged each other in a fistfight over the woman identified as Margaret Wambui Wangari.

During the fisticuffs, the woman drew a sharp object and drove it deep into the ear of one of the men, killing him on the spot.

Ms Wambui attacked the other two as well, with witnesses claiming that she started sucking blood that was oozing from one of the men.

Outraged members of the public had reportedly started stoning the suspect before police officers deployed to nearby schools to monitor the ongoing KCPE exams rushed to her rescue.

The wounded men were rushed to the Kenyatta University Hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU). One of the victims sustained a serious cut on the forehead.

The body of the deceased was moved to Chiromo mortuary as detectives opened a probe into the bizarre incident.

source http://nairobiwire.com/2021/03/city-woman-sucks-blood-from-one-of-three-men-she-stabbed.html

DP Ruto Tells Off Rivals Plotting His Removal From Jubilee

Deputy President William Ruto is confident that a plan to remove him from the ruling Jubilee party will not succeed.

The DP on Thursday maintained that he is a Jubilee member and told off the party members want him out. Ruto likened them to Sanballat and Tobiah in the Bible who opposed and criticised Nehemiah for building the wall of Jerusalem.

“We have gossipers who are not using most of their time to think on things that will help the country to develop…even in the Bible when Nehemiah was constructing the wall of Jerusalem, there was a man called Tobiah who criticised their work, saying that the wall being constructed can’t sustain the weighed of a small fox,” Ruto said.

Adding: “We have Tobiahs in this politics as well, who are just saying stop doing this, chase this one, do this…let us kick this one out first.”

Ruto said the rivals who are pushing for his ouster don’t have the interests of Kenyans at heart.

“Most of the people who are making noises in Jubilee Party are the people who have never sought votes from the people, they have not appeared anywhere where we were planning on how to deliver our promises to Kenyans. Their main aim is just to create division,” he said.

At the same time, Ruto said he is prepared to exit the ruling Jubilee Party for the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).

“If it gets to a point where they do not want us to be there in Jubilee, then we must have a different plan. You cannot wait to hit a wall. Going forward, if there is no agreement, then we will plan ourselves with UDA. We have built UDA in partnership with Jubilee. It is not us starting afresh. We are just going on with what we already have,” he said.

“UDA and Jubilee are one. We have a coalition agreement with them and we have been working together.  If they break Jubilee, trying to make it a tribal party, we will build UDA as the national party we had hoped Jubilee will be,” he said.

source http://nairobiwire.com/2021/03/dp-ruto-tells-off-rivals-plotting-his-removal-from-jubilee.html

Man In Court For Impersonating Dead Father To Access Bank Account

A man was Wednesday arraigned at a Nairobi court for impersonating his dead father in an attempt to access his bank account that reportedly holds millions of shillings.

The prosecution told the court that Francis Mahenia Waweru alias James Waweru Ndegwa presented himself to the National Bank of Kenya on Harambee Avenue in Nairobi on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, pretending to be his dead father.

He reportedly handed over to the bank staff a digital form for application for mobile banking using his late father’s bank account.

Bank staff discovered the attempted fraud and had him seized for interrogation. It was then that Ndegwa revealed the deceased holder of the bank account was his father.

The accused told authorities that one of his friends told him that he had a contact at the bank who could help him access his late father’s money.

His friend picked him from Roysambu and took him to the National Bank headquarters, where he filed the form and gave the documents to customer care.

Ndegwa said he showed the bank his father’s and mother’s death certificates but the officers refused to authenticate the documents.

He said he was also in possession of his brother’s national ID card as the family desperately needed to access the funds.

The man’s father died in 2018 but his children have not been able to access the funds since then. The deceased is said to have had properties in posh parts of Nairobi, including Lavington and its environs, with income from those properties channeled to the National Bank account.

Ndegwa, who is a mitumba dealer, was charged with one count of personation. He denied the charges before Nairobi Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku and was released on a cash bail of Sh50,000.

source http://nairobiwire.com/2021/03/man-in-court-for-impersonating-dead-father-to-access-bank-account.html