East Africa

The Kenyan second largest bank, KCB Group, has sold its subsidiary National Bank of Kenya (NBK) to Nigeria’s Access Bank Group. Kenyan Commercial Bank Group (KCB Group) confirmed the purchase in a statement on Wednesday. KCB Chief Executive Paul Russo said the deal was struck at 1.25 times book value, …

Tanzania has agreed to let Sudanese football club Al Hilal compete in their premier league, while war continues to rage in Sudan. Al Hilal will compete in the Tanzania Mainland Premier League starting in August, under special conditions. The Sudanese club will not be able to win the league and …

At least 78 people had to be hospitalized and 9 others died in the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar after eating sea turtle meat. Eight of the deceased are children. Eating sea turtle flesh can cause chelonitoxism, a rare but potentially fatal food poisoning. No antidote is known to counter intoxication. …

Ugandan authorities have reportedly halted the recent ban on meat sales in the capital, Kampala, amid an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Health officials had last week imposed the ban and ordered the closure of all slaughter places to curb the spread of the outbreak. But Minister for Kampala City and …

Popular Tanzanian singer Zuchu has apologized after authorities in the Zanzibar archipelago suspended her. She was suspended from all artistic activities on the archipelago for six months over a performance they deemed inappropriate. Zuchu’s performance on Zanzibar’s Kendwa island last month featured sexually explicit language and gestures. The Zanzibar Arts, …

Somalia has become a full member of the East African Community (EAC) after completing all the steps required to gain complete membership of the regional bloc. The EAC secretariat on Monday shared on X, formerly Twitter, that Somalia had gained full membership “after depositing her Instrument of Ratification with the …

A 35-year-old woman in Bugweri District in Uganda has spent 15 years bedridden, battling a mysterious disease. Amat Naigaga, who can only speak, but can neither walk nor sit upright on her bed or feed herself, says her sickness started in 2005 when she was in Primary Five. “It started …

The East African Community (EAC) regional bloc has dismissed a post on X, formerly Twitter, which claimed that the bloc’s member countries have launched a common regional currency. The post had been shared on Sunday by a fake X account named “Government of East Africa” which said that the currency …

Nearly 50,000 victims of Ugandan militia commander Dominic Ongwen should get a total of over 52 million euros ($56 million) in compensation, International Criminal Court judges ruled on Wednesday, in a record reparations order. Judges said Ongwen, a former child-soldier who rose through the ranks to become one of the …

Tanzanian presidency has announced the death of former president Ali Hassan Mwinyi, famous with introducing the East African nation to a market economy, at the age of 98. Mwinyi succeeded Tanzania’s first post-independence president, Julius Nyerere, who left office in 1985 after 22 years in power. The presidency said the …