First Lady Margaret Kenyatta was today morning joined by journalists drawn from local and international media houses for a training session as she gears up for the 4th edition of the Beyond Zero Half Marathon slated for March 10.

The training session which started at 6.30 a.m with a warm up session was led by athletics  trainer and former marathon world champion Douglas Wakiihuri and included an over 10km jog around State House Nairobi grounds. 

Briefing the press after the training session, Wakiihuri said the First Lady has been training consistently for the last three weeks and, is fit and ready for the marathon. 

While urging more people to sign up for the forthcoming run, Wakiihuri said that in order to run the half marathon with ease, one has to be disciplined and observe a strict training regime. 

He said that First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has maintained as strict training regime over the years which she has accelerated in recent weeks ahead of the March 10 Beyond Zero marathon. 

“You have to do endurance, speed, strength and at the same time take care of the wear and tear of your body,” Mr Wakiihuri said.

“All this, combined with proper nutrition, puts one in a good stead and fit enough to run the half marathon, ” he added. 

Peter Gacheru, the CEO of IMG Kenya who are the event managers for the  2019 Beyond Zero Half Marathon, said that besides the traditional 21km, 10km, 5km categories, a special 2km walk for pregnant women has been included so as to raise awareness on maternal health. 

The organisers have also incorporated paralympics to take care of athletes living with disabilities. 

“We have also incorporated Paralympic games this year. We will have a wheelchair and tricycle 21km race. And for the first time in any of the road races in Kenya, we shall have three categories of the visually impaired – T11, T12 and T13 – participating in the 21km marathon,” Gacheru said.

In addition, Gacheru said there will be a 10km special run for the Beyond Zero sponsors and corporate teams.

He said 25,000 participants are expected to take part in this year’s Beyond Zero marathon.

Beyond Zero coordinator Angella Langat said that the Beyond Zero Half Marathon is the anchor fundraising and resource mobilization platform for the First Lady's child and maternal health interventions. 

She said that the resources raised through the marathon will be used to expand the coverage of Beyond Zero's health interventions to cover more Kenyans in need especially those in hard to reach parts of the country. 

When a guest comes to town surely you show them only the great and the glistening and glamorous in your city, right? ,especially if he is one of Nigeria’s hottest hip-hop stars and an Afrobeat legend and has come all the way from Lagos to see you.

But sometimes people get better insight into who you are if you show them where you have come from. And that was exactly the approach of Kenyan rapper Khaligraph Jones  when Nigerian artist Rudeboy came to town: “We needed a good introduction to each other.” And that introduction was his hood. 

For those who don’t know, hook master King Rudy a.k.a Rudeboy was once part of P-Square, the group that put urban Nigerian sounds on the worldwide map and laid the foundations for the global force that is now Afrobeat.

Kayole is far, far away from the red carpet swag of the music scene (He won Best Rap Act at the AFRIMMA’s in Dallas, Texas, USA last year) and it was there that respected rapper Khaligraph Jones not only visited his old school and former place of employment as a Chapati seller.

A key visit was Big Beats Studio, a tiny studio in a small shipping container gave Rudeboy an unexpected flashback.

“This takes me waaaay back to my struggle and hustle and makes me think of where I am today,” he explains. Nodding his head and playing out his very first track Khaligraph Jones says: “This place is very special to me as it’s where I laid my foundations as a musician.”

As they joined youth in the streets bumping his tracks and chanting the chorus of Khaligraph’s latest hit, it was hard for Rudeboy to believe that a mere four years ago this was where his new Kenyan friend lived.

“I saw where he used to stay, you can tell this guy went through a lot!” said Rudeboy

As the two stars climbed onto the roof of the building and the sun set over the hood, the great energy and inspiration of their day out sunk into their heads, and the melodies, street slang and topics that will make up their Coke Studio Africa track started to come…

Next Sunday 24^th Feb 2019, catch rising Kenyan star Nadia Mukami make her debut on the Big Break segment, alongside King Saha (Uganda) Yared (Ethiopia) , Shellsy Baronet (Mozambique) and Jux (Tanzania). Watch all episodes via www.youtube.com/cokestudioafrica

Check out some photos below

Tanzanian music star Harmonize is expected to release his new EP 'Afro Bongo' .

The artist has been sharing details about the release of his social media pages.

UTACHAGUA MWENYEWE KAMA 1 UTAIWEKA KIBINDONI NYENGINE UIFUNGIE NA MBELEKO MGONGONI 1 UIPAKATE MIGUUNI ILA MIE NAACHIA MAWE MA (4) KWA PAMOJA ..!!!!! 1#Harmonize x Burnaboy × Simba
2 #Harmonize x @mreazi 
3 #Harmonize x @yemialade 
4 #Harmonize x @sarah__tz 
YOOOO....!!! AFRICA THIS IS FOR YOU...!! #AFROBONGO ????? ?✔ HEBU NIPE MUDA WENYE KISMATI CHA NGOMA KUGUFUMUKA DUNIA NZIMA JAMANI....!!!! ? SANGAPI ⏰ ....?????

Among those featured in the EP includes Diamond Platnumz, Mr Eazi, Yemi Alade, Burna Boy and his girlfriend Sarah.

The EP will be dropped end of  this week.

French President Emmanuel Macron will make a two-day State visit to Kenya mid next month.

French Ambassador Aline Kuster-Menager, today confirmed that the French President will visit the country when she paid a courtesy call on President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, Nairobi.

President Kenyatta said he looked forward to hosting the French President, saying he expects the visit to break new ground in the bilateral relations between Kenya and France.

“Traditionally, Kenya and France enjoy strong bilateral ties and I am pleased that we've continued to deepen the relations. I look forward to the visit by President Macron,” President Kenyatta said.

During President Macron's visit, Kenya and France are expected to sign several agreements and MoUs covering various subjects of mutual interest between the two countries. 

The proposed rapid transit train service between Nairobi Central Business District and the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is among projects expected to feature prominently when President Kenyatta hosts the French leader in Nairobi. 

The Mombasa County Government has today launched the electronic parking(E-parking) system.

This will see car owners pay for their parking through their mobile phones by just dialing *282*  and register for the service. Upon registration the county receives all the data of the motorist including the name of the motorist and car number plate.

You will only be required to register once and ready to use the system each time you  park your vehicle at the parking lots in the city.

The attendants will be able to know if one has paid or not through a special gadget that they will be using and in case if you have not paid you will receive a message on your phone  to tell you that you have been clamped , you will then be issued with a sticker and the clamp message which means that the next day you will not be able to pay until you clear your arrears.

It is estimated that there are a total of 6,000 vehicles that use the parking lots in the city, with 30 parking attendants in service.

According to the County Deputy Governor Dr William Kingi , this system will not only make it easy for car owners to pay their parking fees but also ensure the integrity of the payment system. 

"It will no longer depend on the faithfulness of the parking attendant to ensure safe transmission of payment to the County Government" said Kingi.

He called on the residents to embrace the system stating " The recent improvements in service delivery in Mombasa rely on the acceptance and cooperation of the users" 

The DG further revealed that the digitization of revenue streams in the County has seen the County Government increase the share of local revenue from 2.4 Billion in the year 2015 to about 3.2 Billion in 2018.

"This increase has come against a backdrop of depressed economic activity and reflects efficiency in revenue collection" said the DG.

On his part the County Secretary Francis Thoya noted that the County Government is looking forward to ensuring that all its services especially on revenue allocation are digitised and available on electronic platform.

Multi-talented indie pop musician and performing artiste Idd Aziz, has released the audio of his new song Pole Pole currently available on all digital platforms.  Written and performed by Idd Aziz, Pole Pole is produced by Jesse Bukindu and mastered by Dillie.

Pole Pole is a Swahili word which is loosely translated to slowly slowly in English. The track is an authentic Kenyan sound which is aimed at encouraging the youths to take it slow in life despite the harsh circumstances and realities that surrounds them.

Speaking on the new release, Idd said, “My fans have been asking for more music, this is just but the beginning of an eventful year full of good music from me, they should expect more from me – I am sure they will definitely enjoy this one!” 

The multi-talented singer and producer is currently working on several Afro-House songs due for  release in the coming months.

Its official!, Singer Dela is currently in a relationship with Dr Reign, a qualified physician who also doubles up as a rapper.

The two have just released their collabo,a love song titled 'Good Bad Boy'.

In an interview with Ommy Dallah, Dela confirmed that they are dating revealing that their new song was inspired by him (Reign).

Below is the interview, listen

Akothee a.k.a Madam Boss has come out  to deny the rumour that has been doing rounds that she is eyeing a political seat in 2022.

Through her social media pages, the controversial artist refuted claims that she held a meeting with some Luo elders at a hotel in Mombasa to the chat way forward over what was termed as her political ambition.

"my uncle just sent me this ? ?if you want to give me a seat in parliament, then let me run this country for you? women rep is a very small seat for the president of single mothers , the last time I was in white sands is when I was launching the new route @silverstoneairservices Wilson-- mombasa ,???????(POLITICS )!!!forget!! I will not drop my lifestyle for the public, bikini kwenda mbele, please give that seat to those with morals and stable in marriage ,leave me alone ? politics is meant for people who can lie and get away with it, you want me to join politics so you can get a chance to insult & manipulate me ? ? ? ? ? ? ? forget it then come and burn my innocent homes , saying Uhuru gave me billions to hide ballot boxes ?????, wake up in the morning and I have 500 people waiting infront of my gate ????, waaa then I get random calls " Mamaaaa umebaki,sasa tuma pesa ninunulie hawa chaii, ukipita bila kuwaona " Wewe umebaki saa kumi asubuhi.. in the cock Gwen" she posted 

Talented afro- pop singer Dela has just dropped her first project as an independent artist.

In the song titled 'Good Bad Boy' Delas has partnered with Mombasa born artist Reign, currently residing in Russia.

Reign studied medicine in Russia and is a qualified pediatrician.

He is also a former TV host of ‘My Doctor’ on Ebru TV. Last year he released a banger called “Nu Baba” with KForce and Steph Kapela. 

The two are said to be lovers though not yet officially confirmed.

"Couldn't have chosen a better group of people to do this with. Grateful beyond" says Dela about the song 

Watch the video below