Here is what you need to know to get up to speed with today’s happenings.

Reactions to Ruto’s recycling of old guards

In a move that seems to reward former loyalists in the disbanded cabinet, President William Ruto on Friday, August 23, 2024, regurgitated more of his loyalists to plum state positions.

Ruto appointed Owalo, the former Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication & Digital Economy, as the Deputy Chief of Staff, Performance and Delivery Management.

Koskei described this role as ministerial-level, with responsibilities including the effective and efficient implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of priority projects and initiatives of the 5th administration, in line with the BETA Plan.

Also, Moses Kuria, the former Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Performance, and Delivery Management, was appointed Senior Advisor in the Council of Economic Advisors.

The Friday move also saw Dennis Itumbi, who previously served as a Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Ministry of ICT & Digital Economy, being appointed as the head of Creative Economy and Special Projects in the President’s Executive Office.

Reactions to these appointments are likely to continue today.

Oparanya’s grand Home-coming in Kakamega

After his appointment to President Ruto’s cabinet, former ODM deputy party leader Wycliffe Oparanya has organised a grand home-coming party in his backyard in Butere set to be headlined by the president and opposition chief Raila Odinga today.

Political leaders from the larger Western region have been gifting Oparanya with bulls which will be slaughtered during the event.

So far, 30 bulls have been confirmed to be slaughtered in the event which will see Oparanya host the two former political nemesis in his hometown.

Saturday power outage

Kenya Power has informed its customers that the planned electricity interruptions will only affect one county on Saturday, August 24, 2024.

In a notice, the power transmitting company listed Kiambu County as the area that would be affected by the planned maintenance of its system around the county.

Kenya Power disclosed to its customers in the county that the electricity supply would be unavailable from 8:30 am to 5 pm.

According to the notice, the outage will mainly hit the Referral Hospital and adjacent customers.

Following the planned system maintenance, various activities will be disrupted throughout the day for over 8 hours. Businesses that depend on electricity in the area will be disrupted and normal activities in the referral hospital.

However, the utility firm has apologised for the inconvenience that the maintenance exercise would cause.