Popular Tanzanian singer Aslay Isihaka alias Aslay has recorded a campaign song promoting Mvita MP AbdulSwamad Shariff Nassir’s bid for the Mombasa County Gubernatorial seat ahead of the 2022 General Election.

In the song dubbed “Tubebe Shariff  Nassir” recently released, the 26-years old artist has heaped praise of the legislator’s track record saying, he is the guy to beat in the hotly contested seat.

“He(Nassir) has been doing great things in Mombasa. We stay in Tanzania but we see the amazing work he has done. May the almighty bless him, to get this seat,” said Aslay in a short video seen by OmmyDallah.

He added: “His dad was a good man, and Nassir’s reputation precedes his dad’s”.

On Monday, Aslay met Nassir at his office in Mombasa where they discussed several issues among them promoting local talents.

With less than eight months to Kenya's general election, temperatures are rising and campaigns are in full gear as politicians use every means possible to gain popularity to wrap up numbers.

One of the popular undying campaign strategies is to have celebrated musicians compose a campaign song promoting a politician’s manifesto. 

Nassir laid bare his intention to vie for the Mombasa County top seat in the forthcoming polls slated for August 9, 2022.

The law-maker is firstly expected to jostle for the ODM ticket against his main rival Suleiman Shahbal and Mombasa Deputy Governor Dr. William Kingi.

Beyond party nominations, Nassir will face former Mombasa senator Omar Hassan Sarai who will contest the governor’s seat on a UDA ticket and Kisauni MP Ali Mbogo who will run on a Wiper Ticket.

Sensational  singer Willy Paul is the latest Kenyan celebrity to declare interest for a political seat in the 2022 general election.

The singer took to social media to announce his intentuion to vie for the Mathare parliamentary seat, in Nairobi county.

“Are you ready Mathare? Let’s bring that change,” he said.

Willy Paul will be seeking to oust MP Anthony Oluoch who was 2017 elected on an ODM ticket.

He joins a list of other celebrities joining the murky waters that is Kenyan politics.

Others are Gospel singer Rufftone who is eyeing the Nairobi Senator seat, Comedian Jalang’o (Felix Odiwour) who recently announced that he would run for Lang’ata MP, Comedian MC Jessy vying for South Imenti MP seat, Jamali Gaddafi vying for the Malindi Mp seat.

Davidson Ngibuini, aka DNG, has also shown interest in vying for the Woodley-Kenyatta Golf Course ward in the Nairobi county assembly.

Jomvu Member of Parliament Badi Twalib and his Mvita counterpart Abdulswamad Nassir  continued to rally support for ODM party leader Raila Odinga’s race to state house in the 2022 general elections.

Speaking on Sunday evening during the Annual Boat Racing Competition organized by the Jomvu NG-CDF office held at the Mkupe Creek, Twalib said that Raila was best fit to continue with president Uhuru’s development agenda in the country.

He said that the country needed a safe pair of hands after president Uhuru exits statehouse adding that it is in Raila’s hands that the country was going to be safe and prosperous.

Twalib further hailed the president and his ‘handshake brother’ for commissioning and accomplishing a number of road and infrastructure projects in Mombasa a majority of which he said were located and passed along his Jomvu constituency.

“We have a number of infrastructure projects being undertaken by president Uhuru Kenyatta’s government that are located here in Jomvu, all this is as a result of the peace and tranquility we enjoy in the country courtesy of the handshake between Raila and the president,” said Twalib.

He called on Raila to appoint Joho once he forms the next government given that Joho was not going for any elective post in the next general elections as he focuses all his efforts to campaign for his party leader.

“I want to be on record today as I appeal to you to vote for Raila and the ODM party next year so that we can continue with the development agenda in the country,” he said.

The legislature also used the opportunity to continue to rally support for his colleague Mvita Mp Abdulswamad Nassir who intends to succeed outgoing Mombasa governor Hassan Joho at the helm of the county.

Twalib further called on the residents to maintain peace during the campaigns warning them against being divided along tribal and religious lines.

His sentiments were backed by Nassir who called on all Member of county Assembly (MCA) aspirants to do peaceful campaigns as they popularize their candidature to the populace at the grassroot level.

“My call to all of the MCA’s and aspirants present here today, the people you see here are all our people, as you go to seek for their votes, do it peacefully by selling your agender to them but not inciting them to turn against each other,” said Nassir.

Nassir exuded confidence that he would clinch the Mombasa governor’s seat next year adding that his administration will collaborate with all the MP’s in the six Mombasa sub-counties to ensure that they deliver to the mwananchi.

He further promised to come up with a Ward development kitty to ensure that services are availed closer to the people adding that the move would stir growth and development from the ward level.

“I have faith that after 2022 we shall come back here with Badi as your MP and I as your governor, ours will be a collaborative government that will serve your interest. I further want to assure the MCA’s here that we shall set aside a budget for them that will be used for development programs at the ward level,” said Nassir.

Nassir also joined Twalib in appealing to Jomvu and Mombasa residents to vote for Odinga in the 2022 general elections.

“We cannot have the strength as governors, Mps and MCAs to bring more development if we don’t have Raila as our president, give us ‘baba’ at the top and see how we can transform the country,” he added.

Mombasa County has been marked as a hotspot after recording HIV prevalence of 6.2 percent against the National HIV prevalence which is at 4.4 percent.

According to a health report, the region has 1,700 new infections out of which 30 percent are young people aged 24 years and below.

In Mombasa, out of 61,000 people who are infected with the disease, 47,000 are actively using the Anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) and 90 percent of the population knows about their HIV status.

In mother to child transmission, the county has recorded 11.2 percent.

As of June 2021, Mombasa had recorded a total number of 2,818 adolescents who were pregnant and most of them exposed to the infection.

County health executive member Godfrey Nato said that there is alot which needs to be done in the region to control the high infection numbers.

“As a nation we are working towards bringing 0 percent stigma and 95 percent uptake of ARV drugs by the year 2030 therefore we need to take HIV testing as the first step in the fight against the disease,” he said.

Nato said that viral suppression is the key to reducing mortality and therefore general prevention is important to everyone.

He said that teenage pregnancy has become a serious case due to the high reported numbers, something which should be addressed with urgency because it also contributes to the spread of the infection.

“As a county we have worked with different stakeholders to ensure that there are vibrant awareness programs in the community, we have also developed youth friendly health facilities where young people can access treatment and counselling without fear of stigmatisation,” he said.

 “When you look at the reported age bracket, these are people who are in school. The responsibility lies in all of us, the young people should take the necessary precautions and invest in education and not relationships,” he said.

County public health chief officer Pauline Oginga said that the new infections among youths is an alarming figure and that teenage pregnancies have been reported among  girls as young  as 15 years and below.

Oginga said that there is the use of Postinor  two (P2)  where young people get them over the counter as a way of preventing the early pregnancies but that is not a lasting solution because it does not prevent someone from getting the diseases,”

“When you look at our data from 2017, there have been an increase of infections among girls which later decreased, the sex debut reduced to as low as 10 years old, there is also an increase of over the counter Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PREP) services among youths which help in prevention and high usage of self test kits but after some months, they test positive,” she said.

Use of drugs  was also pointed out as one of the main causes of high infections, Reach Out Centre Trust director Abdulrahman Taib said that this is a big challenge because  drug addicts are three times at risk of being infected.

“The use of drugs impacts directly on the increase of HIV therefore it is important for drug addicts to understand information on how to prevent themselves. That is why as an organization we are helping them in accessing testing services, treatment and doing home based care for them to come back to their normal way of living,” he said.

Risper Kengere, a member of coast sex workers alliance said that there is information about HIV but it has not been emphasized.

“Youths ignore alot of information being passed to them, more sensitization and awareness needs to be done, youths should take into consideration every information being passed to them to save their lives and lives of others,” she said.

Global music star TIWA SAVAGE, has released the striking visuals for “Tales By Moonlight” feat. AMAARAE.

The song is produced by Nigerian producer Cracker Mallo and is taken from her critically acclaimed fifth studio project “WATER & GARRI” released through Motown Records.

Watch the video HERE. Download/stream “Water & Garri” HERE. 

“Tales By Moonlight” sees Tiwa team up with Ghanaian-American singer-songwriter Amaarae. Highlighted as Beats 1 Breakout Star of 2020, Amaaarae adds her breathy soprano vocals over this soulful afro sound.

Directed by long-time collaborator Meji Alabi, the visual sees both Tiwa and Amaarae situated in a sultry and sexy hyperreal bar where nothing seems to quite as it appears.

Additional scenes include the women situated at a late night at a deserted neon gas station surrounded by men in a trance, mesmerised. 

Released just in time for the holidays, "Tales By Moonlight” references a children’s television program with the same title.

 The show was set in a village and featured an adult who would read old folk stories and fairytales to a group of young children. 

“On this song I remember (that) program I watched as a child and I’m basically saying that I want to experience the fairytales with the happy endings that were in those stories - this is the kind of love that I want to feel.” 

Tiwa comments. “Water & Garri” was released on August 20 and has earned more than 65M worldwide streams so far. The project debuted at #1 on Apple Music R&B album charts in Nigeria while receiving unprecedented worldwide critical acclaim.

The project has seen Tiwa receive several award nominations including Best African Act at the 2021 UK MOBO Awards. 

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday chaired the 18th extra-ordinary summit of the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit.

The virtual meeting was attended by Presidents Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda) and Samia Suluhu Hassan (Tanzania).

Presidents Évariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi and Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan were represented by Vice President Prosper Bazombaza and EAC Minister Deng Alor respectively.

In his opening statement, President Kenyatta, who is the current Chairperson of the Summit, underscored the importance of the EAC integration process saying the community provides a strong platform for regional socioeconomic transformation.

“…I re-affirm the commitment of the Summit to the EAC integration process. We are certainly sure that this is an effective vehicle for the economic development and prosperity of the people of East Africa,” President Kenyatta said.

Among other subjects, the summit discussed an application by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to join the EAC, and directed the council of ministers to expedite a verification mission to the country and report back to the 22nd summit scheduled for next year.

While expressing satisfaction at the progress made towards greater regional solidarity and shared prosperity, President Kenyatta urged all member states to continue prioritizing the EAC agenda.

“Indeed, it is notable that work is progressing well in the implementation of the four pillars of EAC integration; namely the customs union, the common market, the monetary union and ultimately the political federation,” President Kenyatta noted.

He said the interest by DRC to join the EAC is a testament of not only the success of the regional economic bloc but also the opportunities that remain untapped.

“This is also an affirmation of our efforts to deepen integration and widen cooperation as aptly captioned by the theme of this summit,” President Kenyatta said.

In their speeches, Presidents Museveni, Kagame and Suluhu Hassan thanked President Kenyatta for convening the virtual meeting, and welcomed DRC’s expression of interest to join EAC.

The Heads of State urged the EAC council of ministers to expedite the process of admitting DRC into the community.

Other speakers at the virtual summit included Kenya’s EAC and Regional Development CS Adan Mohamed and the community's Secretary General Dr Peter Mutuku Mathuki.

Kilifi Governor Amasaon Kingi has lashe out at Deputy President William Ruto over his campaign promises for the Coast region.

Speaking in Kilifi on Monday during his tour, Ruto regretted that people in Kilifi still die of hunger even after half a centruty after the country gain her indepence.

Ruto promised that his government will ensure farmers are given financial support to enable them to produce more and meet their needs.

"It is a pity that more than half a century after independence, people in some parts of our country such as Kilifi still die of hunger. From next year, the UDA administration will offer financial support to farmers to improve production," he tweet.

His sentiments did not go down well with governor Amason Kingi who accussed Ruto of being insincere.

Kingi who recently unveiled his own political party Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) took to twitter to responded to Ruto with a savage message.

"It's a pity that when you served as Agriculture Minister, You did absolutely nothing to help the poor Coast Farmers. You neglected and marginalised coast farmers when you had the power and resources to change their lives. Instead, you prioritized Rift Valley. Shame on you," Kingi responded.

Just few days ago, Kingi revealed that hi PAA party had initiated talks with Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party to become an equal partner noting that they had settled on Raila Odinga as its preferred presidential candidate in the 2022 general election.

“We should ask ourselves how we will benefit from a Raila's government because we shall give him our votes, but we have to know our stake as a region before elections,” he said.

Nigerian singer Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun popularly known as Wizkid is no doubt one of the most succesful musician from Africa, representing the continent in the global stage.

With several hits, awards and endorsements under his belt, Wizkid who rose to fame through his song “Holla at your boy” released in 2010, has managed to create a name for himslef in the music industry.

To celebrate his success, the singer decided to surprise his manager Sunday Are with a brand new Toyota Prado SUV.

Sunday who has been the manager of the 31-year-old afrobeat pop star since 2015, shared the news on his verified Instagram page.

He shared a video of the brand new SUV Toyota Prado he got from the music star, with some voices heard hailing him as he drove off.

"What a way to start the new week, another surprise from @wizkidayo himself, can’t thank you enough." he posted.