Kenya
Deadline Issued to Select KCPE, KCSE Candidates
KNEC acting CEO Mercy Karogo send a circular to sub-county directors of education directing students to identify schools and notify the council a month before the commencement of the examinations.
“The council wishes to inform you that candidates from such schools should be hosted in public schools or institutions with sub-county.
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“Information on the closed examination centres and identified school/institution should reach KNEC by February 15,” read part of the circular.
The sub-county directors of education were further directed to take charge of the administration of exams during the period.
The circular also noted that KCPE and KCSE centres that have less than 15 candidates should move to certified examination centres that KNEC shall approve as the council will not allocate a supervisor to these centres.
According to the school calendar released by the Education Ministry, KCPE is scheduled to begin on March 22 and end on March 24 while KCSE will commence on March 26 and end on April 24.
Most of the schools affected are private institutions that struggled to stay afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic as they folded and converted the premises to various businesses.
Kenya Private Schools Association (KPSA) CEO Peter Ndoro earlier announced that close to 339 private schools across the country had shut down owing to the economic adversities of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, in December, instructed school heads of primary and secondary schools to admit students from private institutions in January 2021.
“All pupils who cannot return to their private schools will be admitted in public schools.
“KCPE and KCSE candidates will learn in public schools, but they will return to the private schools during examination time to enable them sit the exams,” he noted.
Since the start of the pandemic, 1,167,409 samples have been tested for the virus across the country. From the positive cases, 115 are Kenyans while 15 are foreigners.
88 are males while 42 are females.
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The youngest of the cases is a 4-month-old infant while the oldest is aged 88 years.
66 patients have been discharged after recovering from the virus. 24 are from various health facilities across the country while 42 are from the Home-Based Isolation and Care programme.
The total recoveries now stand at 83,691.
Unfortunately, 1 patients succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours bringing the total fatalities in the country to 1,744.
Currently, 489 patients are admitted in various health facilities countrywide, while 1,353 are on Home Based Isolation and Care. 28 patients are in the Intensive Care Unit ( ICU ), 14 of whom are on ventilatory support and 13 on supplemental oxygen. 1 patient is under observation.
Another 17 patients are separately on supplementary oxygen with 12 of them in the general wards and 5 in the High Dependancy Unit.
In Counties, the cases have been distributed as follows; Nairobi 66 , Taita Taveta 18 , Mombasa 9 , Nakuru 6 , Narok 6 , Siaya 4 , Uasin Gishu 4 , Kiambu 4 , Kisii 4 , Kilifi 2 , Kisumu 1 , Bungoma 1 , Busia 1 , Kajiado 1 ,
Kakamega 1 , Nyamira 1 and Nyandarua 1 .
Odinga’s convoy successfully snaked through Roysambu, Githurai 45 market, and right into the roundabout that is famous for political gatherings before the chaos began. A crowd of youth chanted Deputy President William Ruto’s name, disrupting the rally.
The group of irate youth shouted down the former Prime Minister as he prepared to address the residents.
It took the intervention of local politicians and police officers to calm the group to calm the youths and allow the rally to proceed as planned.
A video recording taken at the scene shows youths hurling stones towards the direction of Raila’s convoy prompting the deployment of police officers who successfully repelled the rowdy crowd.
Many businesses around the roundabout remained closed as the chaos escalated.
Odinga told the residents that President Uhuru Kenyatta had ordered for the expansion of the market as well as the construction of a bridge to link the two sections of the market which are separated by the Nairobi Commuter Rail.
Speaking on the chaos, Odinga stated that the irate youth were like croaking frogs which would not prevent cows from drinking water.
Politicians who had accompanied Odinga accused their rivals of funding the youth to disrupt the meeting.
Odinga took the opportunity to convince Githurai residents to support the Building Bridges Constitution amendment push.
He also took a swipe at DP Ruto whom he accused of making false promises and providing simplistic solutions to unemployed Kenyans such as offering them wheelbarrows.
Chaos In Githurai:
Supporters of ODM leader Raila and DP Ruto clash.
ODM leader held campaigns to drum up support for BBIRaila urges Kenyans to fully support the BBI referendum.
IEBC cleared BBI Bill 2020 after verifying 1.14 million signatures #CitizenBriefs pic.twitter.com/dZwLaaDRrJ— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) January 27, 2021
The government seeks to have 5 percent of all registered vehicles in Kenya being electric vehicles, by 2025. As of 2019, there were only 300 electric vehicles in the country.
Kenyan taxi driver Charles Kaloki said that he opted for the electric car as it only took 30 minutes to charge besides saving on fuel.
The taxi driver’s conversion was facilitated by Finland’s electric taxi service, Nopea Ride, based in Nairobi. Nopea was launched in the county in 2018 and has charging stations at TRM along Thika Road, The Hub in Karen and Two Rivers Mall.
Some of the cars can be charged at home once a motorist installs a charging point.
“You can make better money out of this than paying for fuel in every corner in town that you visit,” he told Voice of America (VOA).
Nopea already has 30 rented electric taxis in the city and plans to extend the cars to 100 by December 2021. Opibus, a Kenyan startup based in Industrial Area, Nairobi, also converts fuel automobiles to EVs.
The firm offers battery packs built with prismatic Lithium Iron Phosphate cells in three battery pack sizes. These are the 30 kWh, 50 kWh, and 70 kWh packs with ranges of up to 140 km, 245 km, and 350 km (87, 152, and 217 miles) respectively depending on the weight of the vehicle, terrain, and driving style.
Batteries can last for 100 km up to 450 km depending on the terrain and type of car.
When converting a vehicle, the engineers get to remove the engine, fuel tanks and gearbox, and replace them with their drive trains, which comprises an electric motor, battery packs, power electronics and auxiliary systems such as driver touch screen interface, and type 2 charging port.
After disassembling the fuel car, the new electric motor is mounted as well as batteries and power electronics. Functionalities such as power steering, 4WD and driving in shallow water are retained within the same total weight.
EVs came in three types. Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) combine the benefits of gasoline engines and electric motors. Plug-in hybrids use a petrol or diesel engine alongside the electric motor and 100% EVs use batteries which need to be charged.
These EV’s are superior to the combustion engine when it comes to torque and power. One can achieve peak torque from stationary with a continuous powerful acceleration.
They also have clean power (no emissions), increased performance, lower running costs and silent operation (no rumbling noise). To power the vehicles, mechanics offer a complete solution stretching from energy production to energy storage and charging.
