Nairobi:

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 pursue their investigations.

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 a court in the Kenyan capital where the magistrate approved a police request for him to be held for 30 days to enable them to complete their probe.

Since Friday, 10 butchered female bodies trussed up in plastic bags have been hauled from the site of an abandoned quarry in the Nairobi slum of Mukuru, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

The head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Mohamed Amin, said Monday that Kalusha had confessed to murdering 42 women over a two-year period from 2022, and that his wife had been his first victim.

The DCI said in a statement Tuesday that investigators were holding another two “persons of interest”, one of whom was allegedly found with the phone of one of the victims.

Caught ‘luring another victim’

Kalusha was detained in the early hours of Monday near a bar where he had been watching the Euro 2024 football match, after officers analysed the phone of one of his alleged victims.

As officers swooped in, “he was in the process of luring another victim”, Amin told reporters.

“We are dealing with a vampire, a psychopath,” Amin said.

The grisly discoveries were made just 100 metres (yards) from a police station and the officers there have been transferred to ensure an unbiased investigation, acting national police chief Douglas Kanja said on Monday.

The area — including Kalusha’s home, also about 100 metres from where the bodies were found — will remain “active crime scenes”, Amin said.

The dumped bodies have thrown a spotlight on Kenyan police and added more pressure on President William Ruto, who is already confronting a crisis over protests that saw dozens of demonstrators killed and officers accused of using excessive force.

The state-funded KNCHR said it was carrying out its own investigations into the Mukuru case because “there is a need to rule out any possibility of extrajudicial killings”.

Amnesty International said it had been directly involved in the retrieval of some of the bodies and had sent independent pathologists to attend postmortems of the victims.

“While it is the case that a multiple homicide crime has taken place, only completing these autopsies will confirm the ongoing investigation into the perpetrator of these murders,” Irungu Houghton, executive director of Amnesty’s Kenya branch, told AFP.

Kenya’s police watchdog, the Independent Police Oversight Authority, had also said Friday it was looking into whether there was any police involvement or a “failure to act to prevent” the killings.

Tensions had run high at the crime scene over the weekend, as volunteers combed through the vast piles of rubbish in search of more victims with officers briefly firing tear gas to disperse the crowds.

Kenyan police are often accused by rights groups of carrying out unlawful killings or running hit squads, but few have faced justice.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kenya’s President William Ruto. The ballooning debt in East Africa’s economic hub of Kenya is expected to grow even more after deadly protests forced the rejection of a finance bill that President William Ruto said was needed to raise revenue.
| Photo Credit: AP

The ballooning debt in East Africa’s economic hub of Kenya is expected to grow even more after deadly protests forced the rejection of a finance bill that President William Ruto said was needed to raise revenue. He now warns “it will have huge consequences.”

Facing public calls to resign, Mr. Ruto has said the government will turn to slashing a $2.7 billion budget deficit by half and borrowing the rest, without saying from where.

After anger over the bloated bureaucracy and luxurious lives of senior officials helped to fuel the protests, Mr. Ruto also has promised funding cuts in his own office and said the funding would stop for the offices of the first lady, the “second lady” — the wife of the Vice President — and the wife of the prime Cabinet secretary. Almost four dozen state enterprises with overlapping roles will be closed.

Mr. Ruto has become deeply unpopular in his two years in office over his quest to introduce taxes meant to enable Kenya to repay its $80 billion public debt to lenders including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and China.

The public debt makes up about 70% of Kenya’s gross domestic product, the highest in 20 years.

How Mr. Ruto’s administration will find the money to pay off debt without further angering millions of Kenyans barely getting by, and without slowing down the economy, is the key question. The economy grew 5.6% in 2023.

Economist Mbui Wagacha, a former adviser to previous President Uhuru Kenyatta, said Kenya needs a professional budget and management body like the Office of Management and Budget in the U.S. Currently, Kenya’s treasury makes budget estimates and forwards them to the parliamentary finance committee, which creates the finance bills.

“Parliament has abdicated its mandate on the public finances in the Constitution and it’s looking after its own interests,” Mr. Wagacha said in an interview.

He said further borrowing by Kenya could be “disastrous” and proposed a strategy of using diplomacy to attract investment and restructuring the debt in an attempt to get creditors to write off some of it.

Another economist, Ken Gichinga, agreed that government borrowing will slow down Kenya’s economy. Businesses still haven’t recovered from the effects of the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine, he said.

“When the government borrows more, interest rates go up. And when interest rates go up, businesses slow down, the economy slows down, due to the high cost of repayment,” Gichinga said.

Kenya’s President has advocated self-sustainability, saying the country should raise more revenue instead of borrowing. “If we are a serious state, we must be able to enhance our taxes,” he said in May.

But Kenyans have rejected attempts to raise taxes as they struggle with rising prices on basic goods, even storming parliament during the recent protests.

Last week, days after announcing he would not sign the finance bill he once championed, Mr. Ruto said he had worked hard “to pull Kenya out of a debt trap” and that huge consequences lie ahead.

Mr. Wagacha said economic growth must come before the government increases revenue targets and tax collection.

“You create an expanded economy with employment and with investment, and people have money in their pockets. It’s much easier for them to hear about your request for taxes,” he said.

He suggested making access to low-interest credit easier for businesses in key sectors like tourism and agriculture, saying small businesses hold the key to Kenya’s economic growth as they tend to absorb many employees. That could help address high youth unemployment.

The government should incentivize businesses to create jobs with low taxation and lower interest rates, Mr. Gichinga said: “At the end of the day, we need a jobs-centred economic policy. That’s what we’ve been lacking.”

The IMF, which had suggested some of the controversial tax changes, has been a target of Kenya’s public dissatisfaction. Some protesters had posters with messages such as “IMF stop colonialism.”

In a statement late last month, the IMF said it was monitoring the situation in Kenya, adding that its main goal was to help it “overcome the difficult economic challenges it faces and improve its economic prospects and the well-being of its people.”

The IMF needs to do more for Kenya beyond focusing on debt sustainability and be a “strong development partner,” Mr. Gichinga said.

Crowds in Kenya’s capital Nairobi lobbed rocks and looted businesses as police officers fired tear gas in scattered violence during fresh anti-government protests on Tuesday following last month’s deadly demonstrations.

Activists have continued to agitate online against President William Ruto, despite his decision last week to withdraw a controversial bill that triggered what he has branded “treasonous” protests by Gen-Z Kenyans.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) on Monday said that 39 people had been killed and 361 injured during two weeks of protests — with the worst violence occurring in Nairobi last Tuesday — and condemned the use of force against demonstrators as “excessive and disproportionate”.

It is the most serious crisis to confront Ruto since he took office in September 2022 in a nation often considered a beacon of stability in a turbulent region. 

After last week’s bloody chaos, young Kenyans, whose protest movement has no official leaders, called for a new day of peaceful action on Tuesday, with leaflets posted online using the hashtag “RutoMustGo”.

But Nairobi’s central business district — the focus of previous rallies — saw sporadic confrontations on Tuesday afternoon. Police fired tear gas and used water cannon against groups of stone-throwing men, some of whom lit bonfires on deserted roads.

“Goons have infiltrated,” prominent Gen-Z protester Hanifa Adan posted on X.

AFP journalists reported seeing a number of arrests and injuries, although there are no official figures.

Several coffins, some covered with the national flag, were placed on roads by protesters, images on Kenyan television showed, before they were removed by officers.

Local politician John Kwenya told AFP that business owners shuttering their shops were “scared” of the “goons”.

“This is economic sabotage,” said Kwenya, a member of the Nairobi city county assembly.

Elsewhere in the country, local television broadcast images of larger marches in the coastal opposition stronghold of Mombasa, where a number of cars were torched, and Kenyan media shared video of at least one shop being vandalised.

Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki denounced what he described as an “orgy of violence”, warning that the government would take action against anyone engaging in “anarchic chaos and cruel plunder”. 

“This reign of terror against the people of Kenya and the impunity of dangerous criminal gangs must end at whatever cost,” he said.

On Tuesday last week, largely peaceful anti-tax rallies descended into deadly chaos when lawmakers passed the finance bill — a deeply unpopular move among Kenyans already suffering from a cost of living crisis.

After the announcement of the vote, crowds ransacked the partly ablaze parliament complex in central Nairobi as police fired live bullets at protesters.

Although Ruto scrapped the legislation and appealed for dialogue with young Kenyans, his actions appear not to have appeased his critics.

In a television interview on Sunday he defended his decision to call in the military to tackle unrest and insisted he did not have “blood on my hands”. 

In the Rift Valley town of Nakuru on Tuesday, protesters marched peacefully, with some carrying pictures of three people killed in last week’s demonstrations.

“We want justice for innocent Kenyans killed by police during the protests that were peaceful,” Mary Lynn Wangui told AFP.

“Ruto has not offered an apology,” said the 24-year-old, as she waved a placard declaring: “RutoMustGo”.

At a peaceful march in the lakeside city of Kisumu in western Kenya, demonstrator Allan Odhiambo, 26, told AFP he had lost hope in Ruto.

“We promised a peaceful protest and that is what we have done, but Ruto must go,” he said.

The state-funded KNCHR on Monday said that in the previous protests there had been 32 cases of “enforced or involuntary disappearances” and 627 arrests of protesters. 

Kenya’s cash-strapped government said previously that the tax increases were necessary to fill its coffers and service a huge public debt of some 10 trillion shillings ($78 billion), or about 70 percent of GDP.

In Sunday’s interview, Ruto warned that the government would have to borrow another $7.7 billion because of the decision to drop the finance bill.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Nairobi:

At least 39 people have lost their lives in recent anti-government protests in Kenya against the new tax hike, reported Al Jazeera, citing the national rights watchdog.

The activists have geared up for a new round of protests this week in Kenya.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) announced the toll on Monday, which is almost double the figure previously disclosed by the government for those killed while demonstrating against a raft of unpopular tax increases that have now been withdrawn.

KNCHR records further indicated that 39 people have died and 361 have been injured “in relation to the protests countrywide”, the state-funded body said in a statement, adding that the figures covered the period from June 18 to July 1, reported Al Jazeera.

It further stated that there had been 32 cases of “enforced or involuntary disappearances” and 627 arrests of protesters.

Moreover, largely peaceful anti-tax rallies, led by mostly young Gen-Z protesters, descended into shocking scenes of deadly violence last Tuesday when lawmakers passed the contentious legislation.
Later, following the announcement of the vote, crowds ransacked the parliament complex in central Nairobi and it was partly set ablaze as police fired live bullets at protesters, as reported by Al Jazeera.

Notably, it is the most serious crisis to be confronted by the government of President William Ruto since he took office in September 2022 following a deeply divisive election in a nation often considered a beacon of stability in a turbulent region.

Ruto, in a televised interview on Sunday, said that 19 people had died in the protests, but insisted that he did not have “blood on my hands” and pledged an investigation into the deaths.
The KNCHR “continues to condemn in the strongest terms possible the unwarranted violence and force that was inflicted on protesters, medical personnel, lawyers, journalists and on safe spaces such as churches, medical emergency centres and ambulances,” the rights body said.

“We maintain that the force used against the protesters was excessive and disproportionate,” it added.

The watchdog also said that it “strongly condemns the violent and shocking acts of lawlessness that were exhibited by some of the protesters” including the parliament and other government buildings.

Moreover, fresh protests have been called by activists beginning Tuesday despite last week, when Ruto announced that he would not sign into law the bill containing the tax hikes.

Additionally, leaflets have been posted on social media with the hashtags “Occupy Everywhere”, “Ruto must go” and “Reject Budgeted Corruption”.

India has also issued an advisory for its nationals in Kenya, as protests against a tax hike turned violent, causing a rampage in the African nation.

The Indian Embassy in Kenya earlier advised the Indian nationals there to “exercise utmost caution, restrict non-essential movement and avoid the areas affected by the protests and violence till the situation clears up.”

“In view of the prevailing tense situation, all Indians in Kenya are advised to exercise utmost caution, restrict non-essential movement and avoid the areas affected by the protests and violence till the situation clears up,” the Embassy stated.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Protesters run from tear gas at a planned demonstration called after a nationwide deadly protest against a controversial now-withdrawn tax bill in downtown Nairobi, on June 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

At least 30 people died in protests in Kenya this week sparked by a government drive to substantially raise taxes in the East African country, Human Rights Watch said on June 29.

“Kenyan security forces shot directly into crowds of protesters on (Tuesday) June 25, 2024, including protesters who were fleeing,” the NGO said in a statement.

“Although there is no confirmation on the exact number of people killed in Nairobi and other towns, Human Rights Watch found that at least 30 people had been killed on that day based on witness accounts, publicly available information, hospital and mortuary records in Nairobi as well as witness accounts,” the statement said.

“Shooting directly into crowds without justification, including as protesters try to flee, is completely unacceptable under Kenyan and international law,” said Otsieno Namwaya, associate Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

“The Kenyan authorities need to make clear to their forces that they should be protecting peaceful protesters and that impunity for police violence can no longer be tolerated,” Mr. Namwaya added.

The largely peaceful rallies turned violent on Tuesday when lawmakers passed the deeply unpopular tax increases following pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

After the announcement of the vote, crowds stormed the parliament complex and a fire broke out in clashes unprecedented in the history of the country since its independence from Britain in 1963.

President William Ruto’s administration ultimately withdrew the bill.

IMF pressure

The state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said it had recorded 22 deaths and 300 injured victims, adding it would open an investigation.

“Eight military officers came out and just opened fire on people. They killed several people, including those who were not part of the protests,” HRW quoted a rights activist in Nairobi as saying.

“Kenya’s international partners should continue to actively monitor the situation… and further urge Kenyan authorities to speedily but credibly and transparently investigate abuses by the security forces,” the rights watchdog said.

Mr. Ruto had already rolled back some tax measures after the protests began, prompting the treasury to warn of a gaping budget shortfall of 200 billion shillings ($1.6 billion).

The cash-strapped government had said previously that the increases were necessary to service Kenya’s massive debt of some 10 trillion shillings ($78 billion), equal to roughly 70% of GDP.

The Washington-based IMF has urged the country to implement fiscal reforms in order to access crucial funding from the international lender.

“The bill was expected to raise an additional $2.3 billion in the next fiscal year, in part to meet IMF requirements to increase revenues,” HRW said.

“Widespread outrage should be a wake-up call to the Kenyan government and the IMF that they cannot sacrifice rights in the name of economic recovery,” Mr. Namwaya said.

“Economic sustainability can only be achieved by building a new social contract that raises revenues fairly, manages them responsibly, and funds services and programs that protect everyone’s rights.”

Washington:

Kenyan activist Auma Obama, the half-sister of former US President Barack Obama, was among protesters tear-gassed on Tuesday during demonstrations outside the parliament building in Nairobi, a CNN interview showed.

Police opened fire on demonstrators trying to storm Kenya’s legislature on Tuesday, with at least five protesters killed, dozens wounded and sections of the parliament building set ablaze as lawmakers inside passed legislation to raise taxes.

Auma Obama was taken aside by a CNN reporter and asked why she was there.

“I’m here because – look at what’s happening. Young Kenyans are demonstrating for their rights. They’re demonstrating with flags and banners. I can’t even see anymore,” she said, beginning to cough and shield her eyes from the spreading smoke.

“We are being tear-gassed.”

A man behind her carried a sign reading, “Colonialism never ended in Kenya,” while another yelled, “This is our country. This is our nation.”

Auma Obama earlier posted photos of herself on Twitter at the protest.

The office of former President Obama did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the incident involving his sister or the violence in Kenya.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The world’s deadliest cave Kitum, located in Mount Elgon National Park in Kenya, could cause the next pandemic, as per a report in Science Times. The cave turned out to be home to some of the deadliest viruses in human history. Ebola virus and Marburg virus were reported to have started there. Now, experts worry that it may be home to the next pandemic- the Marburg virus, The World Health Organisation issued a warning, stating that the Marburg virus was “epidemic prone.”

According to the report, Marburg is a “highly virulent disease that causes hemorrhagic fever.” The illness lowers the body’s functional capacity and harms the cardiovascular system. With a mortality rate of up to 88 per cent, the virus is related to the virus that causes Ebola. Fruit bats, which are widespread throughout central Africa, can also spread the virus from person to person by contact with an infected person’s body fluids. Additionally, the disease can be transmitted to other people by touching towels or other objects that have come into contact with an infected individual.

Notably, the virus takes at least three weeks to “incubate” before a patient starts showing symptoms. However, the warning signs mostly resemble those of malaria and Ebola. Several people infected with the virus develop deep-set eyes and expressionless faces. It can also cause bleeding from the vagina, eyes, nose, and gums, in later stages. Unfortunately, no vaccines are available for the virus and doctors treat symptoms by medications and fluids.

Meanwhile, in 1980, while investigating Kitum Cave, a French engineer employed at a nearby sugar mill came into touch with the body-melting Marburg virus. He soon died at a Nairobi hospital. The man’s fast decline from viral hemorrhagic or blood-letting fever was described in a book about the case as “as if the face is detaching itself from the skull,” with his face seeming to hang from the underlying bone as the connective tissue dissolved. Years later, a Danish boy on vacation with his family became the victim of the deadly caves. He also died from a similar hemorrhagic virus called Ravn.

The important salty minerals discovered in the cave have drawn not just elephants but also buffaloes, antelope, leopards, and hyenas from western Kenya, making Kitum a breeding ground for zoonotic infections, the researchers said. The 600-foot-deep cave has been continuously dug and expanded by elephants, only to have disease-carrying bats make it their home, the Science Times report added.

Authorities exhuming bodies at the mass-grave site in Shakahola, Kenya. 
| Photo Credit: AFP

A year after school teacher Francis Wanje lost eight family members to a Kenyan doomsday cult, he is still reckoning with the horror and haunted by unanswered questions.

His daughter was one of 429 people whose bodies were exhumed last year from shallow graves in a sun-scorched forest near the Indian Ocean town of Malindi. “It has been a very tough journey,” Mr. Wanje said after he received the remains of four relatives last month, including his daughter and grandson. “We are still hoping that perhaps in the near future, we are going to get the other four,” Mr. Wanje said.

The victims were lured by former taxi driver turned evangelical pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie into the Shakahola forest which he promoted as a refuge from the impending end of the world. Mackenzie, a preacher who had run afoul of the law on numerous occasions, is accused of inducing them to starve to death to ascend to heaven. While many people died of starvation, government pathologists have said that others, including children, died of asphyxiation and strangulation.

The case first came to public attention a year ago this week after Mr. Wanje set out on a private rescue mission following a tip-off from a former member of Mackenzie’s Good News International Church.

“The senseless murders could have been avoided if everyone (had) moved with urgency.”

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said in a report released last month that the police ignored multiple warnings about the cult.

Nairobi:

Kenya’s defence chief and nine other top brass died on Thursday in a military helicopter crash in a remote area of the country, President William Ruto said.

“Today at 2:20 pm, our nation suffered a tragic air accident… I am deeply saddened to announce the passing of General Francis Omondi Ogolla, the Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces (CDF),” Ruto told reporters.

The president, who had convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Council after news of the accident emerged, said nine other “gallant military personnel” on board were also killed while two survived.

Ogolla, 61, a trained fighter pilot, had only been in the post for a year but was shortly due to mark 40 years of military service.

Ruto said the Kenya Air Force had dispatched an investigation team to establish the cause of the crash, which took place in Elgeyo Marakwet county, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi.

Ogolla’s helicopter went down shortly after takeoff from the village of Chesegon, where he and his entourage had been visiting a school after making stops in other areas to see Kenyan troops and other sites.

– ‘Distinguished four-star general’ –

Ruto announced three days of mourning from Friday, with official flags to fly at half-mast, while messages of condolence were sent from across the region.

“A distinguished four-star general has fallen in the course of duty and service of the country,” Ruto said.

“Our motherland has lost one of her most valiant generals, gallant officers, service men and women.”

The bodies of the victims, draped in Kenyan flags, were returned to Nairobi on an air force plane late Thursday, according to images shared by the presidency.

Kenyan media reports said this was the fifth military chopper crash in 12 months, with claims the aircraft were old and poorly maintained.

In June 2021, at least 10 soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed during a training exercise south of Nairobi.

Ruto said Ogolla had left Nairobi on Thursday morning on a “Huey” helicopter to visit troops in the North Rift area deployed as part of Operation Maliza Uhalifu (Operation End Crime in Swahili).

Kenyan authorities have long battled insecurity in the North Rift region, which is marred by armed bandits and cattle rustlers.

The Bell UH-1B helicopter, nicknamed the “Huey”, was developed in the 1950s and widely used by the US military during the Vietnam War.

– ‘Significant loss to the nation’ –

Ogolla, a married father of two, was appointed Chief of the Defence Forces by Ruto in April last year, a position that also serves as the top military adviser to the president.

Under Kenyan military regulations, the defence chief normally retires at 62 or after four years in the post, whichever comes first.

Ruto told journalists last May that he appointed Ogolla despite him being among those who tried to overturn his narrow election win against opposition leader Raila Odinga in 2022.

“When I looked at his CV, he was the best person to be (a) general,” Ruto said.

Ogolla joined the KDF in April 1984, rising through the ranks to command the Kenyan Air Force in 2018, a post he held for three years before becoming vice chief of the defence forces in 2021.

Ruto’s predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta said Ogolla’s death was a “significant loss to the nation”.

“The CDF was not only an accomplished military leader, but also a devoted patriot who dedicated his life to serving and protecting our beloved country.”

Messages of condolence were also sent by, among others, the African Union, regional grouping IGAD and the US, British and EU embassies in Kenya.

“This loss is not only felt by Kenya but also by the entire region,” IGAD secretary general Workneh Gebeyehu said on X.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Image for representational purposes only.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Revenue from tourism in Kenya jumped nearly a third in 2023 over the previous year beating the pre-pandemic numbers, according to the Tourism Ministry.

Kenya has been a major tourist destination in East Africa, traditionally attracting visitors from across the world to its wildlife parks and Indian Ocean beaches.

A ministry report seen by AFP on March 31 said revenue rose 31.5% last year to hit 352.5 billion shillings (nearly $2.7 billion). But per capita spending in dollar terms by the 1.95 million visitors fell.

“Despite the increase in the number of visitors in 2023 as compared to 2022, the average per capita expenditure in U.S. dollars decreased significantly,” the report said. “This is partly attributed to the sustained depreciation of the Kenya shilling against the major currencies.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism brought in about $2.24 billion in 2019 from two million visitors or about 10% of GDP. Americans accounted for the largest number of 2023 arrivals at 2,65,310, followed by Ugandans (2,01,623), Tanzanians (1,57,818) and 1,56,700 from the United Kingdom.

The ministry hopes to welcome 2.4 million tourists this year.

In January, Kenya’s immigration services said the first batch of foreign tourists had arrived under a simplified “visa-free” entry system it hoped would encourage more visitors.