Kibra News Network

Kenya's public universities have a signed collective bargaining agreement. The Standard asks why it is still being treated as a suggestion. Background Collective bargaining is a constitutional right in Kenya. Article 41 of the 2010 constitution guarantees every worker fair labour practices and gives every trade union the right to engage in collective bargaining with employers.

Under the Labour Relations Act of 2007, a collective bargaining agreement must be filed with the Employment and Labour Relations Court. Once the court registers it, its terms become part of the individual contract of employment of every worker it covers, and it can be enforced through the court.

Staff at Kenya's public universities are represented by three unions: the Universities Academic Staff Union for teaching staff, and the Kenya Universities Staff Union and KUDHEIHA Workers for non-teaching staff. Pay talks are handled on the employers' side through the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum,...

The Speaker says State House should not be pursued without first demonstrating leadership at other levels of government. In remarks that appeared directed at Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, who has stepped up political mobilisation in Western Kenya as he positions himself for the 2027 presidential race, Wetang'ula said State House should not be pursued without first demonstrating leadership at other levels of government.

Who's who Moses Wetang'ula is the leader of the Ford-Kenya party and was elected Speaker of the National Assembly in September 2022. He has previously served as Kenya's foreign affairs minister and as senator for Bungoma County.

Edwin Sifuna is the secretary-general of the Orange Democratic Movement and was elected senator for Nairobi County at the 2022 general election. Kenya holds general elections every five years. The next one is due in August 2027.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged South African men to take a leading role in ending gender-based violence. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on men to join the fight against gender-based violence, according to allAfrica's roundup of South African news briefs.

Background Cyril Ramaphosa has been president of South Africa since February 2018 and leads the African National Congress. He was returned to office by the National Assembly in June 2024 at the head of a coalition government.

South Africa records some of the world's highest levels of violence against women. The government adopted a National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide in 2020, and in January 2022 the president signed three laws tightening bail and sentencing rules and expanding the national register of sex offenders.

South Africa's Gender-Based Violence Command Centre operates a free 24-hour helpline on 0800 428 428.

A new agricultural training centre at Kaimosi is intended to spread modern farming methods among Kenyan smallholders. A new agricultural training centre at Kaimosi is expected to promote modern farming methods in Kenya, Sacco Review reported.

Background Kaimosi lies in Vihiga County in western Kenya, one of the most densely populated counties in the country, where average landholdings are small and most food is grown by smallholder farmers. Agriculture remains the backbone of Kenya's economy, accounting for roughly a fifth of gross domestic product and the bulk of rural employment.

The Ministry of Agriculture runs a network of agricultural training centres that deliver short courses to farmers and to extension officers.

Playwright Amy Jephta's new work explores race, class, land and the pressures of fitting in. Playwright Amy Jephta's new play explores race, class, land and the pressures of fitting in, GroundUp reports. Background Amy Jephta is a Cape Town-based playwright, screenwriter and director whose work has been staged in South Africa and abroad.

Land, housing and spatial inequality remain among the most contested issues in South Africa more than three decades after the end of apartheid, with informal settlements often sitting alongside wealthy, walled estates in the same city.

GroundUp is a non-profit news agency based in Cape Town whose reporting is republished by other South African outlets.

Aliko Dangote says construction of his proposed oil refinery at Lamu on Kenya's north coast will begin in October. Nairobi - Construction of the proposed Dangote oil refinery in Lamu is set to begin in October, Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote has said.

Background Aliko Dangote is a Nigerian industrialist whose Dangote Group built the refinery at Lekki, near Lagos, one of the largest single-train refineries in the world. It began shipping its first products in 2023. Lamu, on Kenya's north coast, is the site of Lamu Port, the anchor project of the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport corridor, known as LAPSSET.

Its first berths were commissioned in 2021. Kenya has had no operating crude oil refinery since the state-owned Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited plant in Mombasa stopped processing crude in 2013, leaving the country dependent on imported refined fuel.

A Sh52 million project will upgrade learning facilities at Nyaribo Primary School in Nyeri County. Nyeri - Nyaribo Primary School in Nyeri County is set for a major facelift following the groundbreaking of a Sh52 million modernisation project aimed at transforming learning facilities and expanding access to science, technology and digital education.

Background Nyeri County lies in central Kenya, about 150km north of Nairobi, and is one of the counties with the highest primary school enrolment rates in the country. Kenya's competency-based curriculum, phased in from 2017, places greater weight on science, technology and practical subjects than the system it replaced.

Junior school, covering grades seven to nine, was domiciled in primary schools from 2023, and many schools have needed extra classrooms, laboratories and digital equipment to cope.

MPs have questioned why Kenya's shift from paper land registries to digital records is running behind schedule. Nairobi - The Public Accounts Committee has raised concern over the slow implementation of land records digitisation in the country.

Background The Public Accounts Committee is the National Assembly watchdog that scrutinises the Auditor-General's reports on how public money has been spent, and it can summon accounting officers to explain delays or unexplained expenditure.

Kenya's land registries have historically been paper-based, a system long blamed for lost files, duplicate titles and fraudulent transfers. The Ministry of Lands has been migrating records onto the Ardhisasa digital platform, which was launched for Nairobi County in 2021 and has since been extended to further counties.

Kalonzo Musyoka says he would be willing to serve a single term if elected president. Kalonzo Musyoka has said he would have no problem handing over power after one term if elected president, on a platform of rescuing and rebuilding Kenya, The Eastleigh Voice reported.

Background Kalonzo Musyoka leads the Wiper Democratic Movement. He served as Kenya's vice-president from 2008 to 2013 in the coalition government formed after the disputed 2007 election, ran for president in 2007, and was Raila Odinga's running mate in the 2013 and 2017 elections.

Kenya's constitution limits the president to two five-year terms. The next general election is due in August 2027.

Kenya took the top two places in the 1500m at the World Athletics U20 Championships through Chepkwech and Sekento. Chepkwech and Sekento delivered Kenya a one-two finish in the 1500m at the World Athletics U20 Championships, The Kenyan Diaspora Media reported.

Background The World Athletics U20 Championships is the global track and field championship for athletes aged under 20, staged every two years since 1986. Kenya is one of the most successful nations in the competition's history, and its middle- and long-distance runners have repeatedly filled the podium in the 1500m, 3000m steeplechase and 5000m.

Heavy rain is forecast across eastern and central China as authorities move about a million people from their homes. Heavy rain was forecast on Monday for the provinces of Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the city of Shanghai.

Background China's main flood season runs from June to August, when the East Asian monsoon and the tail ends of Pacific typhoons bring sustained downpours to the Yangtze and Yellow River basins. The national meteorological service issues colour-coded warnings, running from blue through yellow and orange to red, the most severe.

Large pre-emptive evacuations are a standard part of China's disaster response and are ordered before, rather than after, flooding begins. Shanghai, on the coast at the mouth of the Yangtze, is China's largest city, with a population of more than 24 million.