Kenya Newspapers Review, December 2: Boy, 1-Year-Old Sister Killed After Their House Catches Fire

On Saturday, December 2, the local dailies widely reported on the political steps taken by Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party leader Raila Odinga as he revamps his ODM party.

The dailies also reported on the sentence handed to Good News International Church leader Paul Mackenzie, who was found guilty of producing video content without authorisation from the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB).

1. The Star

The publication reported the police are investigating a fire incident that killed two minors in Rumuruti, Laikipia County.

The police said a two-roomed timber house caught fire, killing a three-year-old boy and his one-year-old sister.

Police said locals had reported hearing a loud explosion from the area before the fire broke out.

It later emerged the explosion was caused by a gas cylinder, which led to the tragic fire.

Cases where gas cylinders have exploded have been on the rise amid calls to address their safety in general.

The scene was processed, and both the bodies of the deceased were moved to Nyahururu Hospital mortuary awaiting autopsy.

2. The Saturday Standard

The daily reported the police had rescued a 17-year-old girl abducted by suspected kidnappers.

Faith Agatha, who sat her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination this year, was abducted from her parents' home in Bidii area in Kwanza Sub-County, Trans Nzoia. The girl was held hostage as kidnappers demanded a ransom.

A team of officers combed the booster area, where they tracked the girl's phone and managed to trace the house where she was being held hostage. The officers arrested a suspect believed to be the mastermind of the abduction.

But as the officers made more efforts to trace Agatha, the suspect, while in police custody, reached out to his accomplice using his phone and directed him to relocate the girl from a house they were holding her.

The second suspect managed to escape using a motorcycle, leaving their victim in a rental room before the officers arrived.

"We could have arrested the second suspect were it not that his accomplice who was in the cells, managed to alert him. We don't know how he was let into the cell with his phone," an officer who participated in the operation told the paper.

The girl was rescued and taken to Kitale County Referral Hospital for medical examinations.

Daniel Wesonga said his daughter was abducted as she was going to buy an item from a nearby shop.

He said he received a call from the suspected kidnappers who demanded money before they could release her daughter.

3. Taifa Leo

The Swahili publication reported a human rights advocacy group has defended 1,786 individuals identified by the Homa Bay County government as ghost workers and suspended from their jobs in August of this year.

The activists urged Governor Gladys Wanga's government to publicly release the audit report on the employee verification exercise, which discovered that the county was annually spending KSh 300 million to pay illegally hired staff.

Evance Oloo, the Interface Community Help Desk chairperson, stated that the public release of the report is crucial for the 1,786 affected individuals to understand the reasons behind their suspension.

The audit, conducted by PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PWC), revealed that the Homa Bay County government was paying salaries to employees who did not understand their roles, and some were unaware of their supervisors and colleagues at work.

4. Saturday Nation

According to the paper, the National Assembly has made a U-turn on the 16% Value-Added Tax (VAT) on fuel just five months after raising the tax, an action that triggered a KSh35 rise in the price of a litre of petrol since June.

This has been revealed in a report on the draft National Tax Policy (NTP) by the National Assembly’s Finance Committee in which the committee has backtracked on its earlier support to the National Treasury to raise VAT on fuel from 8%. It now requires that the policy provide a window for an alternative rate.

The committee, which endorsed punitive taxes detailed in the Finance Act, now acknowledged that some of the measures, like the 35% Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE), need to be reviewed to cushion individuals shouldering huge tax burden as runaway inflation continues to diminish their incomes.

The report, tabled in the House, observed that while the policy drafted by the Treasury provides for a single VAT rate, this would leave Kenyans at a disadvantage during times of global shocks affecting the prices of essential products.