From Ohangla to snakes falling from the sky

Hi, 

It was the sort of a week that editors and media consumers remember for a long time… memories that remain.

But, it started on a sad note with the death of the gutsy former Kibwezi MP Kalembe Ndile. As a true measure of his popularity, the news of his death dominated cyberspace for two days.

Let’s start with the 58th Madaraka Day celebrations held at the Jomo Kenyatta International Stadium, Kisumu City. The choice of the venue was informed by an earlier directive by President Uhuru Kenyatta to hold the celebrations in a different county every year.

But there was a special side to the Kisumu jamboree. It was the actualization of the fruits of the rapprochement between the President and ODM leader Raila Odinga borne of the March 9, 2018 handshake. 

The former Western Province is grumbling that it’s been excluded from the development goodies basket and was the handshake a strictly Uhuru–Raila affair? Story for another day.  

And the president danced. Who wouldn’t have as a combined Ohangla tour de force got everybody off their seats to sway to the rhythms? One authority tells us Ohangla is “A traditional dance among the Luo community.”

 Its performance, we are further informed “consists of more than eight drums hit by a stick and a cylindrical shoulder-slung drum played normally to the accompaniment of flute, Nyatiti or kinanda.”

The dance over, it was Wednesday and back to the daily grind.

In a status conference with lawyers and parties to the appeal against a five–judge High Court bench that annulled the BBI referendum process three weeks ago, the newly–elected Court of Appeal President, Justice Daniel Musinga, announced that the matter would be heard from June 29 to July 2. He gave appellants seven days to file written submissions and empanelled a seven-judge bench to hear the matter.

The court declined to be dragged into the storm kicked up by the President’s sentiments in Kisumu where he said judges should temper justice with considerations of the greater good.

We headlined the story Battle Royale Starts and also walked readers through the high stakes involved.

Now to the lighter side of life: Elizabeth Nalem, who “wedded” the Holy Spirit a week ago, was prevented from entering Uganda where she planned to juggle her honeymoon and evangelical work.

It was a week during which certain parts of Kenya were on the verge of being overwhelmed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

We are talking of the Lake Basin, North Rift and Upper Eastern where 14 counties have inadequate testing kits and thus a low capacity for contact- tracing and surveillance, according to Dr Rosemary Obara Okeyo, the Lake Basin Economic Block health pillar lead.

Close to the weekend, the court saga featuring two headteachers, a murder, hitmen and an MPesa girl came to an end, at least for now.

Former Icaciri Girls’ High School principal Jane Muthoni was sentenced to 30 years in jail for the murder of her husband, Kiru Secondary School principal Solomon Mwangi.

Muthoni’s co-accused Isaac Ng’ang’a alias Gikuyu will also serve 30 years in prison for the murder.

But more was in store. What with the belief-stretching tale of a chap from Kitui County. A snake, we read, disentangled itself from an eagle’s talons high up in the sky, landed bang on the roof of David Musyoka’s car, slithered into the front seat and emptied its venom on the County Government driver.

But it’s not over the fat lady sings. Only that there was no singing when President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed 36 judges and left out six from a list of 41 that had been presented to him by the Judicial Service Commission. 

Justices Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Weldon Korir and Aggrey Muchelule, who had sought appellate court positions were among the six that were left out in the presidential appointments.

I’m sure you be delighted to read about

The billions changing hands in shadowy slum economy

Regulator probing bank mortgages, online shops

Energy regulator tampering with fuel pricing formula

SGR  four years on - hits and misses

Night of fun ended in a day of bullets for woman, nephew

An error of Sh323 too costly at Equity

How 12 banks collapsed in the 1990s

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Have a newsy day,

Sammy Wambua

Deputy Editor

Standard Digital