Tanzanian singer Snura has announced she is quitting music for religious reasons.

Addressing the media in Daresalaam, Snura said she has decided to devote her life to her Islamic religion.

" This is a day that I have been eagerly waiting for this day. I'm officially announcing today that I have quit all music related activities, I'm going back to practising my Islamic faith" said Snura.

Adding "This is a decision that I made two years ago and I was thinking of doing it silently but i have finally decided to make it public. "

Snura pleaded with the media to stop playing her music going forward.

"My humble plea to all radio stations and other media houses, please stop playing my music, I know there are fans out there who love my music but i plead with you too, do not play my music, respect my decision."

Snura also had a word for other singers especially female singers "Incase you hear about my death today you are free to come for funeral but please come to my funeral when well dressed and not half naked. Also avoid posting my past photos when I die "

The United States government, through USAID’s Economic Recovery and Reform Activity (USAID-ERRA) program, implemented by TradeMark Africa (TMA) and funded by Feed the Future, has signed a grant agreement worth US$199,988, with the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA).

This collaboration will facilitate 160 Kenyan Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), particularly those owned by women and youth, to leverage opportunities in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by linking buyers and sellers across the continent.

The AfCFTA provides a single continental market, promoting the free movement of goods and services and economic integration.

This initiative is designed to enhance the agricultural export capabilities of these SMEs by addressing critical challenges, such as export readiness and trade barriers, enabling them to effectively compete and thrive in this expansive market.

The project will scale up e-commerce capabilities by providing training to prepare SMEs for export; collaborate with trade facilitation agencies to tackle trade barriers; develop and implement market access strategies tailored to high-value agricultural sectors such as tea, coffee, rice, and vegetables and raise awareness of trade opportunities presented by the AfCFTA, such as the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) and the e-tariff book through increased sensitization and communication efforts.

A critical feature of this project is the Training of Trainers (ToT), which will build long-term capacity within KEPSA to support SMEs beyond the project’s lifespan, ensuring long-term sustainability. Empowering Kenyan SMEs with the tools to access alternative markets will not only increase their export competitiveness and resilience but also stimulate economic growth through increased export volumes.

The grant is part of the five-year US$75 million USAID-ERRA program. USAID-ERRA drives investment reforms, facilitates trade, and deepens regional integration by strengthening the capacity of national and regional bodies under the frameworks of the AfCFTA and regional economic communities.

Eunice Ambiyo, Deputy Chief of Party, USAID-ERRA, commented on the partnership’s potential, “This partnership is poised to improve the export competitiveness of Kenyan SMEs, empowering them with the tools to access new markets. This will not only help them withstand local economic challenges but also contribute to broader regional economic prosperity through increased intra-African trade and investment in export-oriented value chains.”

KEPSA CEO Carole Kariuki stated, “As Africa begins the journey toward the full implementation of a common market under the AfCFTA, it is imperative that the requisite competencies and capacity for local industrial activities by both large and small enterprises are built to enable all countries to benefit from the single market arrangements.”

This partnership underscores KEPSA’s commitment to realizing an enabling business environment that delivers Kenya’s global competitiveness.

KEPSA is positioning SMEs, who constitute 98% of all businesses in Kenya, to leverage the opportunities presented by the AfCFTA while also strengthening their integration in the value chains of large enterprises within the priority sectors identified by member states. These include accessing financing as a means to engage and thrive within regional value chains and strengthening the regional capacity of women and youth to mitigate the impacts of economic shocks, contributing to a flourishing and integrated African economy.

President Willaim Ruto has been hailed for launching several development projects in the Coast region.

Ruto who began his Coastal development tour last Thursday in Mombasa has so far visited several counties in the region launching his flagship projects.

On Friday, the President issued Ksh1.7 billion grants to 612 fishing groups drawn from Mombasa, Tana River, Kwale, Lamu, and Kilifi Counties which will benefit 19,000 residents.

Speaking in Mombasa, the President announced that the government has handed over five fish landing sites in five counties at the coast.

He added that the government is going to spend Ksh.1.2B to construct the fish landing sites in Kidongo, Kilifi, Kipini, Mkowe and Mwaepe.

According to Mombasa youth leader Evans Momanyi, the gesture by the President should not been taken lightly arguing that the President has decided to do things differently unlike before when the region complained of being sidelined.

"We have to people who appreciate, whatever the President has done will have alot of impact in terms of development not only for us but also generations to come." said Momanyi.

"As the Coastal people, we have always complained of being sidelined when it comes to development projects by the government, we now have a chance to also feel how other regions have been feeling and benefiting."

The President also launched the construction of a modern market in Kilifi and Kwale. In Kwale he also launched the construction an industrial park. On Monday president Ruto officially launched the Pwani School for the Mentally Challenged Tuition Block and laid the Foundation Stone for Nyali Technical and Vocational Education and Training Centre (TVET).

The Youth leader also called on political leaders especially from Mombasa to unite and avoid being divided based on political parties.

Momanyi argued "We have all seen what our president has done, Hassan Joho who is the ODM Deputy party leader has now been nominated to the cabinet, we need to see this trickle down to unity between ODM and UDA party members here in our county. We are now one, lets follow the president's footsteps." 

Momanyi further challenged Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir to also consider having members of the UDA party in his government.

"You are a member of ODM and as you can see the UDA government is now working with your Deputy party leader who will soon be a CS, I challenge you to now also pick some of UDA members to serve in your government even if it means appointing them as Executive members or Chief officers"

Nyali Mp Mohammed Ali has challenged the newly nominated Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs Cabinet Secretary to focus on serving all Kenyans once cleared by the National Assembly.

Speaking during the official opening of the Pwani School for the Mentally Challenged Tuition Block by President William Ruto, a visible angry Ali told Joho to shift his mindset and focus on delivering for Kenyans as a CS.

"To our brother Hassan Joho we will come him to the government and let him know that flag is for the people of Kenya not only Mombasa, let him stop the circus." said Ali.

Ali also called on UDA supporters in the country to remain steadfast saying the recent events will not affect the popularity of the party in the county.

He further welcomed the move by President William Ruto to appoint a new cabinet which also includes members of the ODM party.

The ODM leaders in the new cabinet includes John Mbadi, Hassan Joho, Opiyo Wandayi and Wycliffe Oparanya.

On Sunday evening during a townhall meeting in Mombasa, President Rutoclarified that his administration had not formed a coalition with the Opposition, instead referring to it as a "broad-based government."

Telecommunications and data centre providers around the world, and especially in Africa, face increasing challenges in meeting the demands driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and the rapidly changing technology landscape, which is impacting their infrastructure and services.

This is according to Jon Abbott, sales director for strategic telecom clients in EMEA at Vertiv, a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, who recently addressed Kenyan leaders in the local telco, tower, and colocation arena in Nairobi. Abbott shared insights into the operational and technology changes that are set to reshape the entire communications networks landscape by 2030.

According to the 2023 Digital Quality of Life Index, a study on digital wellbeing across 92 percent of the world’s population, Kenya, which is ranked 76^th overall of 121 countries globally and 3^rd of 25 African countries across pillars that impact a population's digital quality of life, drops to 82^nd overall in terms of its AI readiness.

“The challenge for Kenya is that AI adoption is already transforming the IT stack and our IT infrastructures. This means that accelerated architectures are needed to meet the requirements of AI workloads,” Abbott said.

He pointed out that the tangible network developments required will include adjustments on the operational side that consumers don’t see. This is likely to include changes in network ownership and increased costs of service largely driven by ever increasing demands for energy consumption as intelligent connectivity rises.

“This will place a greater emphasis on efficiency, while more attention will also have to be paid to sustainability and emission reduction,” Abbott explained.

At the same time, significant technology changes are expected to take place, including a greater move to the edge of the network, which will drive big tech collaboration and increased standardisation across the physical and logical infrastructure – a complex undertaking. We can also anticipate more open-source groups and commoditised hardware; data processing capability integrated into the network fabric; and new ecosystems with more private networks.

“Then there’s the Internet of Things (IoT), which has the potential to unlock insights and efficiencies across all sectors. The way this will evolve will be to propagate the landscape with processing capability, breaking the facility down into smaller and smaller localised facilities,” he continued.

What will this mean for data centres?

According to Abbott, the data centre as we see it today will not disappear. Rather, they will continue to grow, but in parallel, more and smaller “edge” data centres will populate the landscape, each with the same fundamental physical requirements as their larger counterparts – always on, never getting too hot, which will place cooling systems under strain, and operating as efficiently and securely as possible.

“The challenges all this poses in terms of energy provision, particularly in the face of energy transition and sustainability requirements to meet the 2030 global emissions reduction goals, will be considerable,” he said.

Other hurdles to be overcome range from meeting the likely exponential growth in rack density and constraints on skills availability, to trade-offs between new builds and retrofits, power grid constraints, and an increasing need for short turn-around times as well as repeatable, quick-to-deploy designs.

“The bottom line is that AI will be a major challenge for network providers with data consumption and creation accelerating across all sectors, and data processing saturating the facility landscape. While this could be daunting for providers, having the right partner at your side – one that can assist with power and thermal management, and integrated rack solutions - every step of the way will help to smooth your deployment journey. Vertiv is well placed to be such a partner,” Abbott concluded.

Global AfroPop artist Yemi Alade has today released ‘Rebel Queen’, her tenth body of work - out via Effyzzie Music. The album title is a testament to Yemi’s reign as Africa’s Queen of AfroPop and unapologetic love for her originality, heritage and love for the African continent.

She explains, “To be a Rebel is to travel the path less traveled. To Rebel is to continuously be true to oneself even when one's personal choices are not regarded as popular opinion.”

The second single off the new album, “Peace & Love” featuring 8x GRAMMY-winning Jamaican musician Ziggy Marley, is a powerful reggae-infused duet imagining a borderless Africa in a utopia where war, disease and injustice would not exist but peace and love.

This release follows “Tomorrow” - the first single off ‘Rebel Queen’ that has already amassed over 7.5 Million YouTube Views in just a month since release.

The timeless piece honors the aspirations of the future and the ongoing pursuit of turning them into achievements. 

The 16-track album also features collaborations with Konshens & Femi One in “Baddie Remix”, Angelique Kidjo in “African Woman” and Innoss'B in “Lipeka”.

From AfroPop, Dancehall, Amapiano, Lingala, Afrobeats to Reggae and R&B, ‘Rebel Queen’ is a cocktail of different genres with multiple flavours that will appeal to every single music lover from any corner in the world. Yemi Alade says, “I was inspired by the core African music of Highlife and different genres that got us excited as Africans. I created this album with the sole purpose of creating music I grew up loving and the variety I have grown to love now.”

Rebel Queen’ also speaks of Yemi Alade’s bold spirit and global domination to a great degree. She says, “I am a true rebel in words and in action. I have always charted my own course and walked the path less traveled.

A lot of albums tend to have monotony in genre and style and it bores me easily most times. This album has something new, old and borrowed. Every song is unique and a capsule of my thoughts, melodies and truck load of nostalgia,” adding, “All the collaborations excite me! I couldn’t wait to share, especially because I am a fan of these artists.”

Yemi started the year 2024 on a big note - performing at the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) opening ceremony. ‘Rebel Queen’ adds to Yemi’s global domination.

She has already joined her fans and industry stakeholders in celebrating the album at release parties across the globe in the cities of Paris, London, New York and Lagos.

She will this year embark on her ‘Rebel Queen Tour’, following a successful ‘African Baddie’ world tour alongside her African Train Band that stopped in 22 countries through Africa, America and Europe in 2023.

Yemi Alade sums up, “Growing up, African pop music was a mixture of music that carried messages and helped us through different situations in life. This album is a blend of what my playlist consists of right now e.g. the new and old pop music that cuts across generations and boundaries.”

A report on sexual harassment has revealed that 60 per cent of people (especially women) working in the media space have experienced sexual harassment.

The report titled Sexual Harassment in the Kenyan Media Landscape 2024 was commissioned by the Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK).

The study involved 240 participants, 20 Key Informant Interviews, and had as its aims including assessing the prevalence of sexual harassment, evaluating the existing legal framework and uncovering the underlying challenges to curbing such harassment.

The study findings revealed a disturbingly high prevalence of sexual harassment in Kenyan newsrooms.

"A staggering 60% of the respondents reported experiencing sexual harassment during their careers. These incidents ranged from unwelcome advances and requests for sexual favours, to offensive behaviour, and the use of sexually explicit language,” stated the report.

The study is a continuation of the WAN-IFRA research conducted between 2020 and 2021, which identified Kenya as having the highest prevalence of sexual harassment of female journalists in the region, with 79 per cent of them experiencing verbal sexual harassment.

It aimed to address the critical need for additional data that can be used to design effective interventions against sexual harassment in Kenya.

According to the report, most of the females who experienced sexual harassment were between the ages of 18 to 35, and 54 percent of journalists aged between 25 to 35 have experienced sexual harassment

It revealed that 40 percent of female interns have experienced sexual harassment which underscores the vulnerability of entry-level professionals in Kenyan newsrooms.

Interns, according to the report, are often eager to gain experience and establish themselves in the industry, making them susceptible to exploitation and harassment by their senior colleagues.

“This finding raises concerns about the lack of protection and mentorship available to young female journalists who are starting their careers,” said the report

According to the report, in the context of Kenya’s media landscape, sexual harassment can be linked to misogyny as 61 per cent of respondents indicated that they felt the issue of men who feel entitled resulted in a high prevalence of sexual harassment.

Over 50 percent of male respondents believed that women behaving inappropriately is a reason for sexual harassment, in contrast to 37 percent of women who share this opinion.

“This pervasive misogyny is what contributes to media capture. The fact that most victims of sexual harassment have not been able to attain justice, as male perpetrators continue to work in the newsroom, suggests there is an extensive form of media capture by patriarchal interests,” the report said.

The report showed that 64 per cent of the respondents said that current policies are insufficient in curbing sexual harassment with most women respondents stating that existing policies favour male journalists and protect them against sexual harassment compared to females.

Respondents also noted that there is a significant awareness gap regarding who can help combat sexual harassment, with 53 per cent noting the lack of guiding policies for journalists.

This, according to the report, leads to speculation and creates gaps exacerbated by issues such as the abused or harassed bearing the burden of proof, which tends to favour male harassers and discourages female journalists from reporting sexual harassment cases.

The report revealed that 71 percent of the respondents indicated knowledge of the perpetrators of sexual harassment, who have neither been prosecuted nor held accountable for their crimes.

However, approximately 46 percent of the respondents indicated a lack of knowledge regarding safe reporting mechanisms.

"This points to an inadequacy in reporting mechanisms and limited protection for victims. This situation amounts to media capture, as male journalists continue to enjoy privileges and favouritism due to lax policies intended to address sexual harassment,” the report said.

A significant 39.8 percent of participants indicated that a fundamentalist and conservative culture is responsible for the pervasive issue of sexual harassment

Coast civil society groups have vowed to block the reappointment of six cabinet secretaries the cabinet by president William Ruto.

Haki Africa and human rights Ageda (Huria)and a host of coast human rights groups say Ruto acted in total disregard of demands by the Gen-Z,demands who wanted a complete overhaul of the cabinet.

Speaking in Mombasa on Sunday, they have declared to explore all opportunities, including going to court to block the reappointment of incompetent cabinet secretaries.

"We want to strongly oppose,the reappointment of any individual who was in the previous cabinet ,if they were declared incompetent, why then did the president change his mind overnight to reappoint them, we automatically reject them. We are considering the other new faces before we make our stand," posed Hussein Khalid,Haki Africa CEO.

President Ruto reappointed to his cabinet, Alice Wahome (Lands), Davis Chirchir(Transport),Kithure Kindiki( Interior) ,Soipan Tuya(Environment)Aden Duale (Defense)and Rabbeca Miano (AG).They served in previous cabinet that was disbanded by the president.

On his part Huria chief executive Yusuf Lule termed the re-appointment of the six Cs as a betrayal to the voice of Kenyans who protested poor leadership and incompetent of the cabinet.

"We are not mad as Kenyans, when Kenyans went to the streets they had a reason to do so, the reappointment of these individuals who previously served in the government is a betrayal to the voice of the Kenyan youth who came out to demonstrate," Said Lule.

Khalid further slammed the government for attacking civil society groups in the pretext of funding anti-government protest. He said non governmental organizations will remain undeterred and will not succumb to any form of state intimidation.

"We want to state that peaceful protests are a constitutional guarantee and people should not be intimidated ,the narrative that CSOs are funding protests is baseless, people come out by themselves,. The Gen Z revolution is organic, they have not been funded by anyone contrary to what politicians want people to believe" said Khaid.

Khalid further asked the opposition to play the role of keeping checks and balances instead of going to bed with the Kenya Kwanza administration. This deals a blow to some of ODM politicians warming up to take up cabinet slots in the Kenya Kwanza administration.

"For democracy to thrive, there must be opposition, so we are asking those in opposition to continue oversight and not in anyway join the government, by joining the government, they will betray the Gen Z revolution," said Khalid

Pride Inn Group of hotels has announced it's plan to expand its footprint in every county in Kenya.

The company announced that so far three game restaurants have already been built as part of the expansion plan.

Speaking during the launch of the Sayari All Day dining restaurant in Westlands, on Friday evening, the Managing Director PrideInn Hotels, Resorts & Camps, Hasnain Noorani said the plan is aimed at creating employment opportunities among the youth and the local communities.

The chain currently has eight hotels spread across Mombasa, Maasai Mara and Nairobi.

Noorani noted "In a span of 13 years, PrideInn has grown from one hotel with 28 rooms and 18 staff members to 8 hotels with 950 rooms, and over 1500 staff members.” 

Adding "“Sayari Restaurant has already made a significant impact by creating employment opportunities that have impacted over 100 households, underscoring the company’s commitment to improving and enriching the livelihoods of Kenyans.”

The launch is also  part of the hotel chain’s growth strategy after rebranding last November.

The Sayari restaurant, which means ‘planet’ and is located at the PrideInn Westlands outlet, also plays into the firm’s long-term energy efficiency strategy.

Noorani revealed that PrideInn is creating open spaces to replace air conditioners, which will significantly reduce the chain’s energy consumption.

"We want to be a company that cares for our environment" he said.