Electron Native

Somalia and Kenya on Wednesday have agreed to work towards normalizing relations. This will happen without any implications on the maritime border dispute case. The agreement was reached after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called a tripartite meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Kenya and Somalia have been involved in a maritime border dispute for years. The disputed area is off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. This piece of beachfront covers about 100,000 square km and is rich in oil and other minerals. Kenya says the boundary should lie parallel to the line of latitude thus marking the land Kenyan territory. Somalia disagrees saying their border extends diagonally to the southeast. Presidents of Kenya, Egypt and Somalia on the sidelines of the UNGA Source : the-star.co.ke Kenya has warned that the decision of ICJ, which is binding on both sides, could offer little room for a win-win solution an...

Japan has announced nearly 860 million U.S. dollar in concessional loans and grants for construction in Kenya. This is to boost infrastructure in the port city of Mombasa and other projects to support an economic zone there. Japan’s ambassador to Kenya, Katsutoshi Komori told a news conference that a loan of about 450 million US dollar will go towards building a 1.3 km bridge linking Mombasa’s mainland to an island in the city. Another 350 million U.S. dollar loan and a 57 million U.S. dollars grant will go towards developing a port, road, electricity and water supply and drainage in the special economic zone known as Dongo Kundu in Mombasa. Japan is looking to boost its investment in Africa, much as its rival China has been doing for years. At a conference in Tokyo last month attended by a few dozen African leaders, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would expand its private-sector investment in Africa, which came to $20 billion U.S. doll...

The Information Communication and Technology (ICT) ministry will soon complete a new tax scheme. This   framework will be used to tax foreign online streaming media services such as YouTube and Netflix. The over-the-top services (OTT) will soon be required to declare the incomes they derive from Kenyan consumers. OTT services include all applications that offer voice, video and messaging services over the internet. Communications Authority director-general Francis Wangusi says online content providers exploit the Kenyan industry yet neither the government nor artistes benefit from them. Wangusi says and I quote, “Many countries especially developed ones have policies that guide these services, and that is where we are heading to as a country.” He adds that technologies that will facilitate taxation of OTT services are available.