From the enduring story of a small bakery to a caustic letter to the President

Dear reader,

The ultra-modern news nerve centre has been freezing with occasional disputes over whether the main entry, through which a merciless heat-sapping draught finds its way in, should remain closed or open.

But, today the sun’s smiling her valuable warmth down to all. A sunny Friday, let’s say.

News-wise, it was a hot week the biggest story being Treasury CS Ukur Yatani’s Sh3.6tr budget. The thrust of the story was not the Health, Education and Defence ministries getting some of the biggest allocations in the 2021/2 budget that was increased from Sh2.84 trillion in 2020/2021 to the jaw-dropping Sh3.6tr.

It was where the CS would raise the billions from. For this, read our superb budget reportage of the budget.

It was also a week with a fair share of the beautiful and the ugly which is how life regulates itself. So, Masinde Muliro University of Science Technology announced it had been registered as a TVET institution meaning it would offer diploma courses on top of bachelors, masters’ and Ph.D. degrees.

Kenyans, foot in the mouth, pretended not to understand the message. Inadvertently, they popularised the advert beyond the wildest dreams of the advertiser. It got talked about and more got to be known about the new courses.

Kenya’s founding president Jomo Kenyatta was just 14 years old when Fayaz Bakers Limited started its operations in Mombasa in 1911, three years before the First World War madness.

From a tiny shop in Mombasa, Fayaz has baked through two World Wars, Kenya’s independence into the Digital Age.

The bakery that was known as Mohamedan Bakery was started by brothers Musa Khamisa, Mohamed Khamisa and Ismail Khamisi, who arrived at the Coast in 1800s. Now you know why it was the most popular read of the week.

Still, on the uplifting side of life, we brought you the story of a bus conductor who deserves a place in the legion of the great.

The Executive Bus company conductor saved a teenage girl from a sex predator after she boarded a Mombasa-bound coach to meet a man she had made contact with on Facebook.  I’m sure by now the hair on your head is standing up.

We reported that the bus company accommodated the teenage girl at its Mombasa offices and returned her to Machakos before reporting the matter to the police.

The conductor had smelt a rat after the man, who was supposed to pay Sh1000 of the Sh1500 shared travel cost, for the girl started playing games on being asked to show up, pay up and pick up his visitor.

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Kenyans are very political animals which is why a day hardly passes without a political storm of some sort.

 So, as expected, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Kind words for his buddy Raila Odinga during his Madaraka speech elicited some grumbling.

But the biggest political storm was kicked by a caustic letter from one-time Chief Justice Willy Mutunga to the President whose unflattering contents will be talked about for years as will a KTN interview during which Dr Mutunga’s successor David Maraga asked Parliament to impeach the president for “violating the Constitution”.  Kudos! Anchor Sophia Wanuna.

Lastly, you will definitely enjoy reading about:

The man carrying the hopes of nation

Inside KRA’s plan to deny transnationals tax refunds

EU in push to rein in Google and

Why buyers are telling auctioneers to keep their expensive houses

Thank you for subscribing to the Weekly Note, an e-newsletter that summarises the big stories of the week that you may have missed. Just in case you have not shared your feedback or still have something more to tell us, you can submit feedback to Swambua@standardmedia.co.ke

Best Regards

Wambua Sammy

Standard Digital