A Kenyan shooter master Ibrahim Ndungu of Bamburi Rifle Club was declared second position in the master stock service pistol (SSP) category at the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) championship in Thailand.

The reigning Kenyan champion competing against the best in the world at the event held at 333 shooting range in Bangkok on Sunday proved that the standard of players in the country was world-class.

During the event that attracted 160 shooters from the military and civilians, Kenya, Japan, China, Philippines, and Thailand participated respectively.

Communicating to the media, Bamburi Rifle Club Chairman Abdulhakim Daud said the win was important for the nation and particularly for the club.

“We are delighted for him to show exemplary performance at the international level. This shows that our standards are high and Kenya can compete with top performers worldwide,”he said.

Daud added that Ndungu is a highly experienced shooter and he was in high spirits he left the country for the tournament.

At the local scene, during the master two-day tier one 2021 International Defence Pistol Association (IDPA) competition Ibrahim Ndung’u emerged as the overall winner in the SSP division.

Meanwhile, the Discipline Forces challenge competition will be held on Saturday at the Bamburi Rifle Club range in Mombasa with 217 round count stages.

The event at its third edition at the venue has attracted 172 competitors and preparation are in high gear.

 Daud said that BRC is proud to support and associate with our discipline forces who are at the forefront of taking care of our nation at different level to make Kenya a safe country internally and externally.

 He said the club will ensure that it organizes an event that will meet international standards and the club will host it for a long time.

Further, he said the 2023 sports shooting will be taken a notch higher with quality training and competition taking in mind a squad of Kenyans went to the ultimate International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) world shoot in Thailand.

In this 3^rd edition, the competitors will participate in the (IPSC) stages and team challenge.

The categories for individuals are production division (men), production division (ladies), standard division (men), standard division (ladies), PCC division (men), and PCC division (ladies). For the team, each team must have a lady shooter.

The Volunteers are taken through five weeks of Pre-Service Training built around experiential learning to empower and equip them with the skills and mindsets that they will need to be successful at their sites.

The Volunteers integrate into the communities they operate in and facilitate community meetings to identify and address changing and complex local needs in education, health, small business development, urban planning and infrastructure, agriculture, the environment, and more.

“This is the first cohort of Volunteers, and we look forward to having many more in the future. We believe that they will integrate into their communities, and by the time one-year elapses, the positive impact will be visible and measurable, on both the Volunteer and the communities at large,” said Dr. Patricia Kingori-Mugendi, the Founding Country Director of CorpsAfrica/Kenya.

CorpsAfrica’s vision is to be in all 54 African nations – with 250 Volunteers in each country each year – that’s 13,500 Volunteers a year across the continent by 2030.

Former Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala has travelled to his ancestral home in Yemen after 17 years.

Balala who was recently appointed as the Vice-President of a global wildlife conservation charity Fauna and Flora International (FFI)  tweeted about his visit to Seiyun - Republic of Yemen to visit his ancestral land to see family and friends.

Balala was received by the D.G of Security Brig. General Abdulla Salmeen Bin Habish, D.G Ministry of Tourism Ali Muhammad Al Saggaf, Seiyun International Airport and Airforce staff led by Brig. General Sadiq Bakhit and Clan Chief Sheikh Saleh Mabkhout Balala, community leaders, friends, and family. 

"Received by Under Secretary of the Governate of Hadhramouth Eng. Hisham Al Saeedi, "the tweet reads.

https://ommydalla.co.ke/people/item/3103-najib-balala-lands-new-job

Wine lovers had a rare experience to test and sample wine brands during the first ever East Africa Wine fair edition to be held in Mombasa.

As part of their effort to expand wine market scope, the importers are optimistic that Mombasa fair will open doors for more business, especially during the end of year festivities.

According to the event organisers led by Ian Gituku, the wine exhibition will provide an opportunity to vendors and wine consumers to get to understand more about wine brands.

"We bring exceptional experiences on them, there will be a lot of wines that you can't find in supermarkets. We really got to Mombasa vibes because it's part of our market target," said Gituku.

Those in attendance were also taken through a master class teaching where an in-depth analysis of wine is taught so that consumers can be able to identify the best quality and make wise decisions before purchasing wine products.

The event which took place at the English point Marina attracted all wine consumers, vendors and importers to share their experience. Some from as far as Nairobi and Rift Valley

"We chose Mombasa because we had receive a lot of requests from consumers and we felt it was necessary for us to do it so that the people of Mombasa can also have that experience." said Judy Ngene, one of wine importers and a member of the organisers.

She said in future the wine fair will turn to aa annual event bringing together diverse importers so that their consumers can have an opportunity to learn and get education about the wine trading.

"We have had a lot of these in Nairobi before and we felt that the Mombasa people have not been exposed to the quality wine we import in Nairobi. We expect people will be able to learn about wine etiquette, how to scout for a quality wine and how to drink wine as well," she added.

"We need more of this in Mombasa, we have alot of wine lovers here but they have been exposed to such events which are very insightful and helps us know the new wines and how they test" said Esther Macharia one of the wine lovers.

Different players from the East Africa region member states have called for full implementation of key policies in the quest to protect the rights of young girls and women from being violated.

Led by Kenya Alliance for Advancement of Children rights (KAACR) Director Timothy Wekesa, they emphasized on the need to implement the laws that protect the girl child from violation of their rights among them sexual exploitation.

Speaking during a regional workshop held in Mombasa while marking the 16 days of activism, the players drawn from Kenya Ethiopia, Uganda and other east Africa member states regretted that young women have continued to get abused despite laws being available.

“We have laws but implementation has been the impendent, and what we encourage is all players to push and ensure enough advocacy to girl child to ensure rights of children are fully adhered to,” said Wekesa.

KAACR is a national umbrella body for non-governmental organisations cooperation and exchange of information on children's rights in Kenya. They have a membership of over 189 child-focused agencies in Kenya.

The organization which promotes the rights of children and girl child rights said it is determined to suppress the violations mated against girl child in the east Africa region.

Kenya is among the countries implementing the ‘SHE LEADS’ program funded by the Netherlands sponsors that is targeting to create spaces for girl children to realize their lifetime dreams.

“We are working hard to eliminate the social norms that bar girl children from achieving their lifetime dreams and careers, this is something we want to do away with by ensuring that more girls get into leadership,” said Wekesa.

On her part Milka Moraa Ngare, a member of the Mombasa county assembly reiterated that the girl child needs to be protected with proper laws that protect their rights and empower them to move forward.

“We want to ensure we put policies that empower and protect the girl child rights in the East Africa region,” said Ngare.

Ugandan Mp and the Chairperson of the Parliament committee of gender labor and social development Kabahenda Rwahubiro emphasized on the need to advocate against sex exploitation for children.

"You know the girl child was one of the twelve critical areas of the Beijing platform for action and they were even involved in the crafting of the convention on the elimination of discrimination against Women and so we are here in the sixteen days of activism against gender based violence to protect the young girls and Women against exploitation." said 

Adding "  As Uganda we have a number of legislations and policy frameworks and as we are talking we are working on the legal aid bill to support the young girl to be able to get appropriate justice and also working on sexual offence bill to protect young girls against sexual exploitation."

On her part Ethiopian Mp and the Chairperson of Women Caucus in the Ethiopian parliament Kimia Jundi called on policy makers to be on the forefront in advocating for the rights of the girl child and Women.

"This is the only way our countries and region will prosper and also ensure that our girls are safe" said Jundi.

Kenyan strongress Nadia Mukami has revealed that she broke up with her boyfriend Arrow Bwoy.

Taking to social media, Mukami said they have not been together with his baby daddy for sometime now.

"Just to Clarify to the guys trying to book Arrow Bwoy and I. I have run out of of lies, we have not been together for a while, we broke up. Kindly contact individual management for bookings. One  Love,”  posted Mukami.

In March 2022 Arrow Bwoy proposed to Nadia Mukami during his album launch.

The two welcomed their first child in late March, a baby boy they named Haseeb Kai. 

Kenya’s President Dr William Ruto is the most influential African Leader on Twitter in 2022.

This is according to the 2022 World Leader Power Ranking report from BCW’s Twiplomacy, a digital diplomacy initiative by strategic communication agency, BCW Global.

Dr. Ruto, who ranks 13^th globally and 3^rd among the New World Leaders, is followed by South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni as the second and third most influential leaders on the social networking platform in the continent.

Globally, Ramaphosa and Museveni rank 18^th and 29^th respectively.

BCW’s Twiplomacy new ranking algorithm has been designed to identify what influence is on Twitter among a particular list of handles.

Analysing data from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022, Twiplomacy’s algorithm assigned a tailored weighting to variables including mentions, tweets, retweets, reach, impressions, follower changes, likes and follower count.

It then applied additional variables such as gender, age, length of time in office and others to further contextualise, compare and understand influence factors in the ranking.

At a time when new leadership at Twitter has made the future of digital diplomacy on the platform uncertain, one thing remains clear: You can’t take the social out of social media even for politicians.

The top three bring together big personalities, geopolitical clout, and a strong domestic following – all factors that determine a world leader’s influence on the platform.

What else determines a world leader’s success on Twitter? Authentic, human language; quick reaction times; and a sense of humour or flair attributes that depart from the formality of traditional diplomacy.

Top-ranked leaders in the report  from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (rising six places into the top 10) to Chilean President Gabriel Boric (breaking into the top 10 in his first year in office) have engaged audiences with shorter, more emotional content.

While President Zelenskyy’s rise is driven in part by widespread support for Ukraine in the wake of war, if this ranking had been released a year earlier, he’d still make the top 15, in part because of his distinctive, raw Twitter personality and skilful use of the platform.  

Globally, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was revealed as the most influential world leader, followed by U.S. President Joe Biden and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In terms of age, at an average of 58 years, Twiplomacy’s top 10 are two years younger than the average world leader.

The analysis found that younger leaders are more likely to communicate with followers using emojis, with the top five under 50 years old using more than the overall top five, including favourites  (strength), (sunglasses), (party) and (fire).

Jillian Stead Jones, Director & Digital Adviser for Twiplomacy said, “Our proprietary algorithm uncovered engagement metrics like retweets as the indicators contributing most to influence, which also power a leader’s reach."

Adding "This signals a shift from the popularity contest of the last decade to a more earned approach, powered by people – and to some extent, an updated algorithm that rewards active participation over passive consumption.”

BCW’s Twiplomacy has been tracking the changes in digital diplomacy, conducting international affairs through digital channels since 2012.

Digital diplomacy is now one of the most essential forums for international affairs and has revolutionised global communications, creating new, direct channels of dialogue between the biggest geopolitical entities and the people they serve.

To read the full Twiplomacy 2022 World Leaders Power Ranking and learn more about what world leaders are doing to stand out on Twitter, visit Twiplomacy.com or follow @Twiplomacy on Twitter.

The 7th edition of the Pwani International Fashion Week and Awards(PIFWA) 2022 is set to go down this coming weekend.

The event, one of the most anticipated Fashion moments on the East African fashion calendar is set to take place at the City mall rooftop.

Several nominees are battling out in different categories.

The event failed to take place in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The awards started in 2015 seeks to celebrate the fashion and lux world by providing an innovative platform for designers to showcase their collection.

Radio presenters Joan kimani and Solomon Zully will be the hosts.

Primary school head teachers have welcomed the government’s plan to employ 30,000 teachers by January next year ahead of the official roll out of junior secondary schools competence based curriculum (CBC) programs.

Kenya Primary school heads association (Kepsha), chairperson Johnson Nzioka, said even as the teacher’s service commission TSC races against time to train and employ teachers, the institutions have the capacity for the roll out.

“We thank TSC for indicating that it will employ 30,000 teachers, that has been our prayer and we are happy, because this will go a long way to alleviate the teachers shortage that the country has faced,” said Nzioka.

This is as all grade 6 learners who completed their grade 6 Kenya Primary schools Education Assessment (KPSEA) will transition to junior secondary schools domiciled in existing primary schools.

To enhance the capacity, President William Ruto has announced that the government will recruit more teachers by January, and asked the teachers commission TSC to ensure retooling of teachers who are compliant with CBC.

“We have the capacity to take care of our children from grade 7-9 in our primary schools; sometimes we are surprised when we talk about capacity, because when we talk about teachers, they have upgraded themselves by furthering education, right now we have more than 60 percent of teachers in primary as graduates,” said Nzioka.

Speaking in Mombasa ahead of the annual Primary school head teacher’s conference, Nzioka noted that there was no cause for alarm in terms of teacher preparedness, since most of the teachers have advanced their studies in compliance with CBC teachers.

“In terms of infrastructure, the children who are transiting to grade seven, they already have the rooms that have been vacated to those who have moved to standard eight, so we have the capacity,’Nzioka added.

The CBC task force appointed by the president has recommended that junior secondary learners be domiciled in existing primary schools.The report submitted to the President on Thursday further directed that the ministry adds additional classrooms and a laboratory.

“We have seen the interim report recommending the domiciling of the junior secondary in primary, this alone will save the government the agony of the 100 percent transition, so we are leaving the secondary to create the space,” he added.

Nzioka said they are not worried about private schools supplementing public schools because of the huge investment that they have put in place. He said the domiciling of junior secondary has saved the disability learners from the most disadvantaged they would have faced.

The conference that has so far attracted over 10,000 delegates, among them head teachers and exhibitors, seeks to come with plans of easing the burden of parents. This is as concerns emerged that some teachers had taken advantage of asking learners to bring chicken, only to be eaten by teachers after teaching sessions.

“These are the gaps that we are working towards bridging, because we are saying the designs have various options of tackling certain topics, so you don’t have a chicken in school, there are options which are given in the designs, in such a way that we can handle lessons with locally available materials in the schools,” he added.

On delocalization, KEPSA says there are no longer issues of delocalization because most of the teachers are happy with their new working stations. He says if there are concerns can be handled internally.

This year's conference theme of the conference is "managing transition of competence based Based curriculum for effective nurturing of each learner's potential'.The conference is expected to be opened by president william Ruto on Tuesday,and will run till Friday Dec 9,2022.