Celebrated Ugandan singer Spice Diana has team up with rapper Fik Fameika in a new song titled 'Ready'.

Fik Fameika brings his enegry to the song produced by Daddy Andre.

The video was shot by  Zyga Phix 

Watch the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaTAUTRo69Q

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has said community health workers play a crucial role in the health sector as they reach out to those who are unable to access health facilities.

She said it is in recognition of their pivotal role that her Beyond Zero organization decided to finance the training of over 5,000 community health volunteers to assist in the National fight against Covid-19.

“In recognition of the pivotal role community health volunteers play in fighting the pandemic, and to complement Government's response to protect health workers against COVID 19, Beyond Zero financed the training of 5,154 community health volunteers,” the First Lady said.

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta spoke Friday evening at the 25th Ordinary General Assembly of the Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) steering committee meeting which was held virtually.

At the meeting running under the theme ‘‘Showing resilience in the face of COVID19 by building on past gains and learning from the challenges of the present’’, member states gave an account of the measures they are taking to assist the marginalised groups in the fight against COVID-19.

To complement Government recovery program, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta said Beyond Zero will continue to support socioeconomic initiatives, especially those benefiting the elderly, orphans and other vulnerable members of the society.

She expressed optimism that through collaboration and partnerships, African nations are overcoming challenges brought about by COVID-19.

“We are optimistic that through resilience, our continued collaboration and partnerships, together, we as a nation and as continent we shall live the promise of a better year in 2021,” the First Lady said.

She outlined various initiatives taken by Beyond Zero to cushion the most vulnerable groups from negative impacts of COVID-19  saying she will continue to pursue objectives which will ensure that the most vulnerable segments of society have access to basic services.

“Beyond Zero’s Strategic Framework 2018 to 2022 focuses on among other interventions, improving access to comprehensive health care and social protection for targeted vulnerable groups.

“The welfare of mothers and children and the elderly remain a priority to our work, and in 2020 we supported 20,000 households from vulnerable families by providing medical and food supplies,” the First Lady said.

She said that in partnership with stakeholders, her organization will this year, offer screening for cervical and prostrate cancer and scale up advocacy work to sensitize communities on preventive healthcare access through the Beyond Zero Medical Safaris.

“We shall also enhance efforts to fast-track Kenya’s commitment to reduce the cases of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and Syphilis to 50 per 100,000 live births.

“We will continue to advocate for accelerated policy uptake supporting eMTCT business plans to help galvanize resources for the implementation of programs,” said the First Lady.

Other speakers included the First Lady of the  Republic of Congo who is also the President of OAFLAD, Antoinette Sassou N’guesso  and African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs Amira ElFadil Mohammed Elfadil.

Nigerian award winning singer and songwriter Joeboy has released a new single "Focus" off his latest studio album- Something Between Beauty and Magic. 

Watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8NGfvelGy4&feature=youtu.be 

Focus has been doing well in East Africa since its release and is currently topping charts number 16 on Top 100 in Kenya, 2 on Top 100 in Nigeria, 5 on Top 100 Ghana and 11 on Top 100 Zibambwe. 

Focus is about unreciprocated love that we all go through at some point in our lives. It encourages one to accept its totally okay to love someone who doesn't love you back.

The audio has been produced under Banku Music/Empawa Africa by MOG - John Kwesi Dosunmu-Mensah. Video was directed by Dammy Twitch of Polar Films. 

This release comes hot on the heels of Joeboy's first studio album - Something Between Beauty and Magic this was released early this month and has been receiving great reviews as a body of work to behold 

Speaking about the album, Joeboy says "It has always been my resolve to spread good vibes through music and put a smile on people's faces. Happiness in my opinion is looking into your lovers eyes, a child's smile, laughter, memory of the first kiss, marriage to the one you love or ruining with the family members."

Adding “This album is all about love a perfect blend between beauty and magic, I hope anyone who  gets to listen to it will experience the vibes and share it with others,

The album has 14 tracks and a bonus documentary and is a collaboration of various producers on each song. 

Joeboy is the first successful artiste to participate in Empawa Africa, the talent incubator and mentorship program founded by afropop superstar Mr. Eazi.

With over 500 million streams across major platforms and a success story to boot, Joeboy has been featured on International media platforms-Rolling Stone, CNN, Complex, Pitchfork and Billboard among others. 

Tanzanian singer Mimi Mars makes a glorious return with "Wenge" her first solo record of 2021.

The song has been produced by S2kizzy.

Listen to the song here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZxN_EFSoy8

Latino themed evenings hosted by Circolo.life are back at Mawimbi. 

#Baila seeks to bring together salsa enthusiasts at a show that showcases the best of Latin America.
                                       
The show which is hosted every Wednesday from 4.00pm is the brainchild of Colombian Artist Alvaro Daza who seeks to create an experience that combines live music, food, drinks and a master class climaxing in a journey through the history of music, its relation to culture and its influence in Latin America.

Every week, enthusiasts will enjoy a fused jam session courtesy of Dan the Dj from Industry Veteran Denasi Entertainment, showcasing the differences between Merengue, Salsa, Bachata  full of vibrant flavors, magical realism, , music, creativity and innovation. 

Alvaro Daza is a Colombian entrepreneur, musician, dancer, visual artist, writer, architect, chef and traveler. For the past 2 years, Alvaro has travelled to 71 countries, bringing to audiences and people from all over the world shows in different formats. 

He is also the Founder of Circolo.life a social enterprise that operates worldwide.

The Kenya Ports Authority(KPA) has taken over SGR operations at Port Reitz yard previously undertaken by Kenya Railways and reorganized all railtainer operational process with logistics partners, increasing end-to-end efficiency in port operations.

According to a statement from the Authority, this is among a raft of strategic operational changes meant to improve productivity at the Port of Mombasa.

"Dangerous cargo loading which previously experienced delays due to a single dedicated loading zone at CT1, has now been improved following an addition of loading point at Portreitz yard." reads the statement.

Adding "This has significantly reduced the transfer distance from CT2 to CT1, lowering evacuation time of DG Containers."

Similarly, centralization of the cargo handling processes and the recently introduced double deck wagons on the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) have notably increased deliveries to the Inland Container Depot.

KPA Acting Managing Director Eng. Rashid Salim said a total of 10,072 TEUs have so far been evacuated in the past two weeks compared to 9,774 in the first two weeks of the year.

"These initiatives have so far contributed to the reduction of cargo dwell time from an average of 5.6 days in December 2020 to 4.6 days in January 2021." said Salim.

The statement further states that, as at Tuesday this week, the port only had one container ship waiting and four bulk carriers (Wheat) on the queue with the numbers expected to drop in the coming week.

Umra Omar is an award-winning social entrepreneur, community leader, and the founder of Safari Doctors, a mobile medical clinic serving underprivileged communities in Kenya.

Omar and the Safari Doctors travel by boat, road and air to bring medical care to people living along a remote area of islands, the Lamu Archipelago, near the Kenyan-Somali border.

She spoke to CNN International’s African Voices Changemakers programme about how the organisation has grown from humble beginnings.

“When we first started it was mainly about getting immunisations out to rural areas and making sure that a woman who wanted access to family planning could get it. " she said.

Adding "So just providing that primary care of your cough syrups, your pain medication, and then advancing from going to about a hundred people a month to now up to like 2,500 people every month.”

Their work has been internationally recognised, with Omar winning the UN-Kenya Person of the Year Award in 2017, and also being named a Top 10 CNN Hero in 2016. She describes how the company went from serving one village to an award-winning mission covering twenty-four villages.

 “It started as a 'by the way' and it ended up being a full-time and full-blown entity. We ended with a CNN Heroes Award which kind of put that strong stamp of accreditation on the work that we're doing. And kept us going financially, network wise, and really amplifying the voices of change coming from the ground going up,” she recalled.

Having started with the distribution of vaccines and other medical services using dhows and motorbikes, the Safari Doctors initiative has expanded to a network currently using its own speed boat and medical vehicle and offering improved facilities including veterinary services. Omar talks about their future expansion.

“The idea now is expanding to preventative health. So, we train a cohort of community health workers, especially the youth, to address issues around population health, environmental awareness, and getting it into that model of mobile primary and preventative healthcare that comes to the last mile doorsteps of the communities in need.” she revealed.

Omar is full of praise for the Safari Doctors team and she explains how young people form the centre of this group, “We cover the whole of Lamu County with a team that is out of this world, absolutely mind-blowing, young, energetic. Actually, out of a staff of 12, I'm the second oldest staff member. I look around and I'm like, Safari Doctors is run by people under 35 and a lot of them actually under 20.”

This network has also been instrumental in disseminating information on COVID-19 and tracking possible causes in the communities they serve.

Omar details their work during the pandemic, “What the pandemic did, it really solidified our outreaches. It was us really putting a face to the pandemic when we went out to the community, from issues around social distancing, handwashing and getting the communities to see that, okay, this is not something that's just happening in the city. These are the precautions that we need to take on the ground as well.”

Omar and her team remain passionate about helping their communities.

She sums up the Safari Doctors’ goal, “It's a peaceful change opportunity and tapping into I would say an underrated resource which is human power. It's a beautiful feeling to work at home with my people especially the younger people and play our part in transforming our own communities and actually feeling like you're making a difference.”

After 19 years in the newsroom, The Star newspaper Coast bureau Chief Maureen Mudi has decided to call it quits.

Mudi will be joining the Media council of Kenya (MCK) as the Coast regional coordinator, a newly created office.

MCK has opened up four regional offices , Mombasa, Meru, Nakuru and Kisumu. The Coast/Mombasa office will be at Sauti House (KBC and Pwani fm offices).

She is currently serving notice until end of February. Radio Africa group advertised for the position internally last week with the deadline expected to be Friday (Feb 19).

Maureen begun her career in 2002 at Baraka Fm after completing her internship at the People Daily newspaper, she then went to Standard newspaper up to 2006. She later joined Amwik exchange program in Uganda and Ethiopia for a year before getting back to the Standard media group where she worked up to 2008 when she joined Radio Africa Group (The Star Newspaper) as a correspondent, she was promoted to a Chief Correspondent/Regional Editor in 2012 a position she held up to now.

In 2013 she was in the US for a professional fellows program and attached to Minnesota Public Radio.

Mudi is also a media viability consultant for DW Akademie.

Speaking to Ommy Dallah on her experience from the newsroom Mudi stated "I can say it's been interesting. Had it's ups and downs but it has shaped me into the person I want to become. RAG has been my home for so many years and the shift is a major milestone in my career progression as I transit from active newsroom work/journalism, to doing regulatory work. I thank God for all the answered prayers."

Singer Tanasha Donna has finally cleared a debt of kshs 15,000 she owed a local make up artist.

This comes just days after Tv presenter and video vixen Dana De Grazia called her out for not paying the make up artist two months down the line.

In a statement released online, Tanasha stated "I usually don’t like addressing things online or justifying myself when I know my truth, but this is getting out of hand.Let me make one thing clear: It just came to my attention recently that one of the make up artists for my previous video’s payment wasn’t made, as I never personally handle anything to do with finance for my projects myself."

Adding"I have a team for that, however, I understand that my name is the one that will be jeopardized & obviously not the person handling my finances. Had I known this earlier, this would’ve been long sorted. I would to state that THE PAYMENT HAS BEEN MADE!I apologize on behalf of myself & my team for any inconveniences caused, this was not done deliberately, our schedules have been extremely hectic recently, however it is no excuse.” 

She further went ahead to disclose that her lawyers are working on some  false information about her brand going around in public.

"I would also like to state that there is a lot of false information going round but my lawyers are currently handling it & this time I will not let it slide. I have worked extremely hard to build my brand to where it is today to just sit back & let some things slide.” she stated.

Dana De Grazia also took to social media to confirm that Tanasha has indeed cleared the debt and posted the screenshot of the payment made.

"I am tagging media outlets As a gesture of goodwill to spread this good news. I am happy to confirm that after over two months and mounting public pressure @tanashadonna Has fulfilled on her word. I would like to re-state (I said it in my video) That this was never about attacking who she is as a person, it was about supporting my friend and I believe this message proves that our efforts worked." posted Grazia.

Adding "I cannot speak to the reason Tanasha or her “team” was unable to pay in a more timely manner but I am happy that at the end of the day, after the time and effort put in, promises were fulfilled.”

Zanzibar’s first vice President and ACT Wazalendo’s Chairman Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad has died at the age of 77.

This comes just days after his party (ACT Wazalendo) announced that the leader, his wife and aides had tested positive for the coronavirus.

“It is true I am at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital where I am being treated of Covid-19 and my wife has been isolated at home,” "Maalim Seif told Journalists.

Zanzibar President Hussein Mwinyi made the announcement on Wednesday, further declaring seven days of national mourning. The cause of death was not made clear.

Maalim Seif was on January 31, 2021 hospitalized at the Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Zanzibar after he reportedly contracted the coronavirus.

He was on February 9, 2021 admitted at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), in Dar es Salaam.

Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli has since sent his message of condolences to the people of Zanzibar following the death.

“I have received with profound shock the news of the death of Hon. Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad, the First Vice President of Zanzibar. I send my condolences to the President of Zanzibar Hon. Dr. Mwinyi, Family, Zanzibaris, ACT-Wazalendo members and all Tanzanians. May his soul Rest in Peace,” Magufuli wrote on Twitter.