NAIROBI (Reuters) -A fire killed 17 boys when it ripped through the dormitory in which they were sleeping at a boarding school in central Kenya in the early hours of Friday, police said. Citizen Television said the fire had burnt the victims beyond recognition. The blaze occurred at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri, a primary boarding school for young students about 150 km (93 miles) from the capital Nairobi. “We have lost 17 pupils […]
Tag: Kenya
Suspected Kenyan serial killer confesses to murdering and dismembering 42 women
By Rose TROUP BUCHANAN NAIROBI, July 16, 2024 (AFP) – A Kenyan court on Tuesday ordered a man who police said has confessed to murdering and dismembering 42 women to be detained for 30 days as they investigate the case. Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, 33, described by police as a “vampire, a psychopath”, was arrested in the early hours of Monday following the horrific discovery of mutilated bodies in a Nairobi garbage dump. He appeared in […]
Kenya police say eight bodies found in Nairobi dumpsite
By Tanya WILLMER NAIROBI, July 14, 2024 (AFP) – Eight female bodies have been recovered so far from a dumpsite in a Nairobi slum, Kenyan police said Sunday, adding that they were pursuing possible links to cults, serial killers or rogue medical practitioners. The gruesome discoveries of mutilated and dismembered bodies dumped in plastic bags in a rubbish tip in Mukuru in the south of the Kenyan capital have horrified and angered the nation. Kenya’s […]
‘The people have spoken’: Kenya’s Ruto pulls finance bill after protest deaths
By Dylan GAMBA NAIROBI, June 26, 2024 (AFP) – Kenyan President William Ruto said Wednesday that a bill containing contentious tax hikes would “be withdrawn”, dramatically reversing course after more than 20 people were killed in clashes with police and parliament was ransacked by protesters opposed to the legislation. The initially peaceful demonstrations were sparked last week by the 2024 finance bill — which politicians passed Tuesday afternoon — and took Ruto’s administration by surprise […]
Planes collide mid-air killing two in Kenya
NAIROBI, March 5, 2024 (AFP) – A student pilot and instructor died on Tuesday when their aircraft collided with a passenger plane over the Kenyan capital Nairobi, police said. The mid-air incident between local carrier Safarilink and the 99 Flying training school occurred Tuesday morning, Kenyan authorities said. Nairobi police Adamson Bungei confirmed the deaths to AFP via text message without providing further details. An earlier police report seen by AFP said the passenger plane […]
Three dead, 280 injured in huge Kenya blaze
By Dylan GAMBA, Ammu KANNAMPILLY NAIROBI, Feb 2, 2024 (AFP) – A truck laden with gas canisters exploded in a densely populated area of the Kenyan capital, setting off a huge blaze that killed three people and injured 280, the government said Friday. The blast ignited a huge ball of fire in a residential area in the southeast of Nairobi, ravaging many properties and vehicles and sending local residents running for their lives. Firefighters managed […]
Kenya cult leader faces mental health tests before murder charges
MALINDI, Kenya, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – A Kenyan court on Wednesday gave prosecutors two weeks to conduct mental health assessments of a cult leader and suspected accomplices before charging them with murder over the deaths of more than 400 followers. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death in order to “meet Jesus” in a case that shocked the world. Mackenzie was arrested last April after […]
70 perish in Kenya flood ’emergency’: Ruto
NAIROBI, Nov 25, 2023 (AFP) – Seventy people have perished in widespread flooding in Kenya that has also driven tens of thousands of people from their homes, President William Ruto said on Saturday, describing it as an “emergency situation”. Kenya and neighbouring Somalia and Ethiopia, countries that are only just emerging from the worst drought in four decades, are now experiencing devastating flooding caused by rains linked to the El Nino weather pattern. Ruto said […]
Heavy rain in Kenya affects tens of thousands, disrupts cargo
NAIROBI, Nov 19, 2023 (AFP) – Kenya on Sunday said tens of thousands of people across the country had been impacted by heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides that had also interrupted cargo services at Mombasa port. The Horn of Africa has experienced intense rainfall linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon in recent weeks that has claimed dozens of lives, including at least 46 in various parts of Kenya. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said at […]
King Charles visits Kenya as colonial past looms large
By Hillary ORINDE, Tanya WILLMER NAIROBI, Oct 31, 2023 (AFP) – King Charles III begins a state visit to Kenya on Tuesday, where he will be confronted by widespread calls for an apology over Britain’s bloody colonial past. Although the four-day trip by Charles and Queen Camilla has been billed as an opportunity to look to the future and build on the strong ties between London and Nairobi, the legacy of decades of British colonial […]
In Africa first, Uber launches electric motorcycles in Kenya
Uber has announced the launch of electric motorcyle taxis in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in what it says is a first for the company in Africa. The move by the US app-based taxi service comes as the Kenyan government prepares to roll out electric vehicles across the country as part of a green mobility scheme. Uber announced the introduction of the Electric Boda in Kenya on Thursday, with about 3,000 bikes planned initially, saying it […]
Relief and despair: repeal of logging ban divides Kenya
By Nick Perry But conservationists were dismayed at the announcement in July by President William Ruto, who had cast himself as a champion of the environment, and made planting 15 billion trees a centrepiece of his climate change agenda. The government defended lifting the ban, insisting that only mature trees in state-run plantations would be felled, and that Kenya’s most biodiverse and carbon-rich wild forests would remain untouched. The explanation did little to quash charges […]





