President Uhuru Kenyatta has expressed satisfaction with the measures being taken by stakeholders in the hospitality sector to protect tourists from Covid-19.

He said Kenya is ready to receive tourists and, encouraged local and foreign travellers to take advantage of the prevailing low rates to visit the country's famous tourist sites.

"I want to take this opportunity to encourage every single Kenyan to take advantage and to travel...You can travel, you can move," the President said.

"And now as you know, we have also opened up our skies and flights are coming. We welcome all those who choose to come," he added.

President Kenyatta spoke today at State House, Nairobi during a virtual meeting with elite Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge.

Mr Kipchoge is Kenya's new goodwill ambassador for tourism and is in the Masai Mara Game Reserve with his family to witness this year's annual wildebeest migration.

The President urged Kenyans as well as visitors to continue observing the Covid-19 containment protocols saying safety is not a government responsibility but an individual choice.

"Safety is not really just a Government issue. It is an individual choice. To remain safe and by so doing, keep everybody else safe," he said

The Head of State thanked Mr Kipchoge for choosing to represent his country as a 'Magical Kenya' brand ambassador saying the marathoner's decision was an act of patriotism.

Mr Kipchoge said he was grateful to represent his country as a tourism goodwill ambassador and assured the President that he will do his best to promote the country as a top travel destination.

He encouraged Kenyans to visit the country's tourist destinations saying Covid-19 should not limit people from enjoying the country's tourist attractions.

The virtual meeting was convened by Tourism and Wildlife CS Najib Balala and attended by Narok Governor Samuel Tunai.

Also present were Tourism and Wildlife CAS Joseph Boinnet, Principal Secretaries Safina Kwekwe (Tourism) and Prof Fred Segor (Wildlife) as well as Athletics Kenya Chairman Jackson Tuwei.

CS Balala thanked the Head of State for the Covid-19 stimulus package earmarked for the tourism sector saying part of the money will be used to directly pay rangers in conservancies so as to ensure the country's conservation agenda remains on course.

The Cabinet Secretary said hotels in the Maasai Mara were fully booked for the current high season, mostly by local tourists, and encouraged Kenyans and foreign travellers to visit destinations across the country.

Governor Tunai said his County Government was providing free testing for Covid-19 to all service providers in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve so as to ensure the safety and wellbeing of visitors.

On his part Lt. Gen (Rtd) Jackson Tuwei said Athletics Kenya was working with the Ministry of Tourism and other stakeholders in the sector to promote sports tourism in the country.

Former Changamwe Mp and Assistant minister Ramadhan Kajembe was today laid to rest in Kwashee muslim cemetry, Mikindani under strict Covid-19 protocols.

Only a handful of mourners were allowed to attend the burial ceremony with health officials dressed in full PPE kits carrying out the burial.

Residents watched the body of the former legislator being taken to the cemetry from far with some watching from top of their houses.

The burial was also attended by several leaders including Nyali Mp Mohammed Ali, former Mombasa senator Hassan Omar, Jomvu Mp Badi Twalib, who is also Kajembe’s son-in-law and regional commissioner John Elungata delivered President Uhuru's condolence message to the family.

Kajembe who served as an Mp for 15 years and also served as the the Kenya Ferry Service (KFS) board chairman died on Friday at pandya hospital where he was undergoing treatment.

His death comes just two weeks after that of his first Aziza Kajembe , his second wife Zaharia also died four months ago.

http://ommydalla.co.ke/people/item/1659-kajembe-suffers-another-loss-loses-first-wife

Below are some photos from the burial.

Nigerian Finest songstress, Tiwa Savage lands in with another single, titled “Koroba” accompanied by a lyrical video.

The new single, ‘Koroba’ serves as a follow-up to her previously heard song ‘Dangerous Love‘ (Produced by Cracker Mallo and recorded in Tiwa’s  home city of Lagos, Nigeria) with remixes by South African Dj Ganyani & De Mogul and another version by De Mthuda.

In this latest Naija Afrobeat track, Savage talks about how she came into the world to enjoy life, and no matter what she does, people will definitely have their say.

This new record “Koroba” has a faster tempo and dance vibe than her previous release and this time around she teamed up with producer, London.

The song comes with a dance #KorobaChallenge which is ready trending and making the top list of Triller App.

Watch Koroba Video Here

The African Music Queen is preparing us for the release of her forthcoming album ‘CELIA‘. Scheduled for release later this year.  To whet our appetite and build anticipation ahead of the music project, Tiwa has more music to serve.

Savage has also been active in her philanthropic endeavours, supporting various youth engagement organizations and breast cancer screening projects across Nigeria and further afield.

Tiwa also is very active in #JusticeForUwa, loudly voicing her disgust at the rape of a young girl in a church in Nigeria and creating an Instagram page @WeAreTiredNg where rape victims can speak out.

The singer drops the song for her fans to enjoy this weekend…

Watch “Dangerous Love Here”

Kenyan musician Ayrosh releases his second tranquilizing music video for the year, Kirinyaga. 

The single is off his debut EP - Murasta that was released in 2019 in collaboration with Waithaka Entertainment. Kirinyaga is the native Kikuyu name for Mt. Kenya and is a significant symbol of deity, endurance, and longevity in the culture. 

The song which is a blend of Gikuyu and a little bit of English was produced by Ayrosh and Bengatronic’s DJ Mura K.E. It details Ayrosh’s acknowledgment that a higher being is the true source of solitude, peace and grace. The mid-tempo track starts with a strong percussive drum beat, breaks into a melodic guitar line before leading into a blend of Benga and Afro-house. 

Watch Kirinyaga Video: https://bit.ly/AyroshKirinyaga

The video which is directed by Johnson Kyalo mostly captures Ayrosh singing in a serene, elevated landscape gives a soothing effect while watching it. “

Kirinyaga for me is for those times you feel as if you are just drifting through life and need direction. It's the quest for something to hold onto or something to aspire to be,” says Ayrosh.

The singer further adds that fans should expect dope collabs with amazing producers both locally and internationally this year, “Nothing but fire jams coming from this side."

About Ayrosh:

Ayrosh is revolutionizing Múgithi music blending it with Pop, R&B, Reggae, and EDM. He has collaborated with Mutoriah, Kwame Rigii, Ythera, and Waithaka Ent. since his first single Wendo in 2016. He graced numerous stages in Nairobi including Múgithii Festival, Jamhuri Festival, Africa Nouveau Festival, and his own production, Folk Fusion giving eclectic performances. 

In June 2019, he released the Murasta EP with Waithaka Ent, which cleverly blends Afro-house beats with Gikuyu, English, and Swahili lyrics. Ayrosh earned two nominations in 2018 for Best Alternative Artist of the Year at Sondeka Awards and Folk Artist of the Year at Cafe Ngoma Awards. He recently collaborated with Muringi in Nuu which was released in March 2020.

African pop diva Yemi Alade soars to new heights, commanding positivity with “True Love”, A Vtek produced tribal dance anthem which serves as the second single for her forthcoming fifth studio album.

After the urban-influenced hit “Boyz”, Alade comes blazing with her towering vocals and a pulsating guitar-driven instrumentation singing; “… I can feel it in my bassline, feel in my soul, I can feel in my liver, from my head to my toes…” before returning to the triumphant chorus preaching happiness, joy and dancing in the rain of true love.

“True love” is a true African pop gem, and sets the throne for the successor of “Woman of Steal”

Global multi-platinum rapper, Nasty C, releases the high energy track and hot visual, “PALM TREES” the latest single from his forthcoming and highly anticipated album, “ZULU MAN WITH SOME POWER” to be released via Def Jam Recordings on August 28.  “ZULU MAN WITH SOME POWER” is now available to fans to pre-save with “PALM TREES” being an Instant Grat Track.

PRE-SAVE ALBUM NOW

Quoted by Billboard as “South Africa’s best bet for a mainstream crossover,” Nasty C has been delivering hit after hit with “PALM TREES” being the next single to take Nasty C global. 

With over 120M streams worldwide and 3M followers on social media, Nasty C is one of South Africa’s hottest exports. Nicknamed ‘The Coolest Kid In Africa’, he has already secured support and praise from some of the UK’s biggest tastemakers like Charlie Sloth, DJ Semtex and Tim Westwood, he is now on the verge of a global breakthrough. 

WATCH PALM TREES VISUAL

In July, Nasty C teamed up with DJ Whoo Kid to put together a mixtape for fans around the world. The musical masterpiece titled, “ZULU” features the hit track, “They Don’t” includes his first-ever collaboration with Tip “T.I.” Harris for “They Don’t,” a powerful track created by the rappers in the wake of global unrest over rampant police brutality and racial injustice. On June 23, Nasty C and T.I.  joined Late Night with Seth Meyers for a virtual performance of the protest anthem. Watch now.

 ABOUT NASTY C:

For nearly a decade, Nasty C (Nsikayesizwe David Junior Ngcobo) has had a singular focus: to push the boundaries of his own potential. 

He has been pursuing his hip-hop dreams since childhood when, legend has it, he began rapping and learning to lay down tracks at age nine under the tutelage of his older brother.  At just fifteen years of age, Nasty released his debut mixtape, One Kid, A Thousand Coffins (2012).

He shot to stardom in 2014, with his boundary-breaking second mixtape, Price City, and “Juice Back,” a continent-wide instant classic smash.  The “Juice Back” remix featured Nigerian muso, Davido and South African rapper Cassper Nyovest. This early success won Nasty C the Best Freshman prize at the highly competitive South African Hip-Hop Awards.

Nasty C’s popularity detonated with his 2016 debut album Bad Hair, which hit #1 on the iTunes local chart and was the country’s most-streamed album within 24 hours of release. 

Its re-release, Bad Hair Extensions featured French Montana.

The seminal album earned him Nasty C four Metro FM Music Awards, a South African Music Award and a BET Awards nomination.

The momentum surged with Strings And Bling in 2018, named one of South Africa’s greatest hip-hop albums by such influential local outlets as TimesLive and IOL. Nasty C was the only South African nominated for a BET Hip- Hop Award in the Best International Flow category in 2019 and was also nominated for an MTV Europe Music Award that year. Strings and Bling won him two South African Music Awards and two AFRIMMAs (All African Muzik Magazine Awards).

Contemporary Nigerian Afro-pop artist Jobaa has released a new single “Olla'', the first single off his upcoming debut EP, slated for release in 2021.

"Olla" is an infectious up-tempo rhythm on a catchy percussion-driven Afrobeat production by Jaypizzle and engineered by Mix Monsta (Selebobo). This is his official solo debut; following his collaboration with Buju on the smash hit single “Sweet Love”.

Stream OLLA: https://smarturl.it/Jobaa.Olla

OLLA audio on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0VzpF-IPho

Speaking on his stellar debut, Jobaa says, “In terms of the Afrobeat sound and the lyrical content, this is the first song defining my versatility as an artist.” 

This release also comes after Jobaa inked a lucrative deal with U.K based entertainment titan JustJoJo Entertainment Limited.

Jobaa says, “Signing with JustJoJo Entertainment is a dream come true! I had almost given up on music to focus on my masters, but then God had other plans and blessed me with the best team.” Indeed there are big plans underway for Jobaa. He’s currently planning to release two more hit singles in 2020.

With the signing of the new deal, the young star destined to leave a mark in the scene is ecstatic. He’s got a special message to his Kenyan fans, “It’s an honour to share my music with you and hope you love it and keep supporting, asante sana."

In a recent interview with Gates Mgenge on Gates Live online show, Masauti shared that he would be working with an anonymous artist on a song from his EP 001 and as word has it, the artist was recently spotted on a video shoot in Mombasa with songbird Tanasha Donna.

The video is directed by one of Tanzania’s best video directors Hanscana working together with Mombasa based production house, above the rim as the executive producer.

The new song is titled 'Liar'. The audio was recorded by Mombasa based music producer Shirko.

Tanasha who is  Diamond Platnumz's ex girlfriend and baby mama seems to be doing amazingly well in the industry as she celebrated her milestones with her Sawa music video which she released about a month ago and has well over 1.5Million views on YouTube.

Sawa from her Donna Tella EP  is a representation of Love Peace and Unity, both of self and to others.  And well the song has allowed more people to see Tanasha more as the amazing woman and artist that she is away from being just Dimaond's ex and baby mama.

“1.5M+ views in 1 month. That’s an achievement and a half for me. It’s not easy for a female in this industry doing it on her own…the sleepless  nights my team and I had, financing your own projects (songs and videos) being behind every single step or every creative process of any project, having to enter boardroom meetings and try convince some bosses (some who are team mafisi) to trust the art… having a son and family to take care of…being your own boss is tough I tell you, but  when you see the fruits of your hard work finally blossom and grow into something amazing you know you’re blessed and become grateful. And trust me am just getting started,” shared Tanasha on her social media page.

She also added that as much as Sawa was not in her genre of creativity, she had to drop a positive and catchy song to encourage people through the tough times.

“Thank you East Africa, our song trended not only in EA but also all over UAE, hit #1 in countries I never expected leave alone ever been to, Qatar, Dubai, Oman, Saudi and it’s all because of the amazing love East Africans and Africans have shown me even when most thought I wouldn’t make it far once on my own,” she added. 

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has commended community health workers for the frontline role they play in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

The First Lady pointed out that community education on health matters can save lives and it is critical especially at this time of the Coronavirus crisis.

“I applaud your selfless commitment to your work and your courage and compassion for people and for the community. I acknowledge the sacrifice you give of your time towards the demanding role of being community health workers,” the First Lady told community health volunteers.

The First Lady was speaking today when she presided over the virtual graduation of the first cohort of the 5100 community health volunteers who have completed a one-month training on COVID-19 response sponsored by the Beyond Zero initiative at a cost of Kshs 4.5 million.

The community health volunteers training curriculum developed by the Ministry of Health was delivered virtually by the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) through a digital learning platform called “Leap mhealth”.

The First Lady expressed optimism that the training the community health volunteers received will ramp up their contribution to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Through the COVID-19 curriculum and guide developed by the Ministry of Health, you are now empowered and equipped with knowledge, skills and competence to protect yourselves, your families and the community,” the First Lady told the community health workers. 

Congratulating the community health volunteers for successfully completing the training, the First Lady assured them of her support.

“The work you are doing is for all of us and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I just want to say how proud I am with each and every one of you. Please continue with this work because we need you,” she praised the community health volunteers.   

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, at the same time, spoke against the stigmatization of individuals and families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

She emphasized that those affected by the global pandemic should be offered compassion and comfort instead of discrimination.

“We are all affected and we will require all of us to support each other in any way we can to ease the disruption this pandemic has caused to our lives,” the First Lady said.

The First Lady noted that the support to families and communities has now become more urgent than ever before given the fact that jobs have been lost and household resources stretched beyond limits.

She encouraged all Kenyans to play their part in curbing the spread of the Coronavirus by strictly observing the Ministry of health guidelines that include washing hands with soap, wearing masks and social distancing.

“We have learnt that more effort will be required from all of us to eliminate the risks that make us more vulnerable, especially amongst the elderly and those facing other multiple health issues like heart disease, diabetes and cancer,” the First Lady said.

The First Lady also acknowledged the role and bravery of all frontline health workers in the fight against the pandemic.  

"You have been actively involved in contributing towards national efforts in tackling health issues facing communities. Your work keeps us safe especially during this pandemic,” the First Lady said.

Other speakers included Nairobi Metropolitan Services Director of Health Dr Josephine Kibaru and AMREF Enterprise CEO Caroline Mbindyo.

Dr Kibaru and Ms Mbindyo applauded the partnership between Beyond Zero, Nairobi Metropolitan Services and AMREF in training community health workers to help in the fight against the spread of Coronavirus.

What’s Good Networks and REVOLT TV, owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs have launched What’s Good Africa, an arts and entertainment magazine show that will highlight diverse creative talent while exploring all aspects of Hip Hop culture in Africa.

The brand new TV series is part of a content partnership between What’s Good Networks and its sister company East Africa’s award-winning content studio What’s Good Studios based in Nairobi, and REVOLT TV.

The show is slated to air on REVOLT TV (Check local listings via https://revolt.tv/listings) alongside NTV Kenya and NTV Uganda, starting mid-August.

The Making of What’s Good Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8YlxDYsunU&feature=youtu.be

This proves yet again that Hip Hop is truly a global phenomenon by connecting diverse cultures and young audiences everywhere. 

This series has been in discussion with Revolt TV since early 2019 and we are pleased to finally see the fruits of our collective efforts.”

What’s Good Africa’s first season is a half hour show themed the Kenya Edition.

This first season will be hosted by top Kenyan media personalities Remmy Majala and Nick Ndeda.

Remmy is a highly-regarded entertainment and news journalist, best known for hosting and producing K24’s popular entertainment program “Arena”, which featured Africa’s hottest talent and entertainment stories while Nick is a well-known TV and radio presenter (KISS FM), and an award-winning thespian, playwright, director and producer.

“We’re very excited to partner with What’s Good Networks and What’s Good Studios to spotlight the vibrant Hip Hop scene in Africa, which is full of the young, innovative artists, influencers, and entrepreneurs REVOLT has been championing since our launch,” says Vice President of Programming at REVOLT Jonathyn Pankratz.

At the same time, What’s Good Networks have entered into a content partnership with NTV in Kenya and Uganda (Nation Media Group (NMG), the largest media house in East & Central Africa flagship broadcasting stations), to showcase What’s Good Africa in East Africa.

The two entities will also collaborate on other programs for TV and podcasts.

"NTV has enjoyed many collaborations with some of Kenya’s best content creators and we look forward to being a part of showcasing some of Kenya’s most amazing creative talents to the world,” says Head of Broadcasting at NTV Monicah Ndung’u.

On his part Kenya Film Commission C.E.O Timothy Owase says,“ The celebration of the diverse Kenyan talent featured on this show for a worldwide audience is a clear indication that Kenya is indeed the preferred filming destination”.

What’s Good Africa aims to celebrate unique talent both in front of and behind the camera, with director, producer and crew staffed by Africa’s leading media professionals.

With a mission of spotlighting and documenting Africa’s ever-sprawling talent, artists and cultural catalysts; What’s Good Networks already have their eyes on producing upcoming seasons in other African countries.

Executive Producer and Director of Operations for What’s Good Studios, Josephat Keya says, "We feel it is vital for Africans to tell our own stories and this series allowed us the opportunity to put Kenya's vibrant and unique storytellers front and center so they can be recognized and celebrated the world over.”