Mwakilishi News Bulletin - Evening Edition, Monday 02 November 2026

Evening Edition for Monday, 02 November 2026. Running time 8:05.

In this bulletin

Diaspora News

1. Kenya pushes for direct Nairobi-Perth flights to grow diaspora investment
2. Kenyan students promote tea, coffee and tourism in South Korea
3. Kenyan man arrested in US over fraud worth 142.7 million shillings

Kenya News

1. Sakaja joins ODM, sparking 2027 Nairobi ticket battle (see also: Sakaja Joins ODM, Faces Babu Owino in Battle for 2027 Nairobi Ticket)
2. Regina Re and three relatives held ten days over mother's murder
3. Over 300 jobseekers repatriated as Saudi Ebola entry curbs bite
4. KNCHR warns 92 press freedom violations threaten democracy
5. Muturi rejects Kalonzo-Gachagua alliance as opposition tensions rise
6. Malala dismisses DCP rift reports, defends Methu's role
7. Gachagua vows to relocate to US if Ruto wins 2027
8. Waititu spared extra jail time after road tender sentencing
9. Linda Mwananchi takes campaign to Kwale, eyes all 47 counties

Transcript

This is the news from Mwakilishi.com.

Good evening. It's 6 o'clock this evening on Monday, the second of November, and here is your evening edition.

Coming up.

Nairobi Governor Sakaja defects to ODM, setting up a fierce twenty twenty-seven nomination battle.

Over three hundred Kenyan jobseekers flown home as Saudi Arabia maintains Ebola entry curbs.

Former Governor Waititu spared extra jail despite thirteen-year sentence and twenty-one million shilling fine.

Those stories, and more, in the next few minutes.

In diaspora news, Kenya is pushing to establish direct flights between Nairobi and Perth as it works to draw investment from thousands of Kenyans living in Australia. The proposal has gone to Kenya Airways. Government official Isaiya Kabira, Secretary for Diaspora Investments, Skills and Entrepreneurship, renewed the call at a photo exhibition in Nairobi. Australia sent home sixty-two point six billion shillings in the year to May twenty twenty-five, six point seven per cent of all inflows.

Also from the diaspora, Kenyan students in South Korea have turned a university religious anniversary into a marketing drive for their country. At Chongshin University's commemoration of the five hundred and ninth anniversary of the Reformation, they served authentic Kenyan tea and coffee to visitors and faculty. The embassy in Seoul supported the effort. An embassy statement says the booth drew steady crowds throughout the event. Officials say several visitors expressed a desire to travel to Kenya after meeting the students.

Staying with the diaspora, a fifty-four-year-old Kenyan man has been arrested in the United States over an alleged fraud worth one hundred and forty-two point seven million shillings. Shaakir Mohamud Ibrahim of Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, was held on September the thirtieth, a day after a federal grand jury indicted him. Prosecutors say the scheme falsely claimed thousands of daily meals for children under a federal nutrition programme. He had spent nearly ten months as a fugitive in Kenya. It is part of the Feeding Our Future investigation.

Turning to Kenya, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has defected from the ruling United Democratic Alliance to the Orange Democratic Movement. He was received on Monday at Chungwa House by officials led by Deputy Party Leader Simba Arati. Sakaja says the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga advised the move, which he calls part of the broad-based government. His arrival sets up a nomination battle with MP Babu Owino and Makadara MP George Aladwa. Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai questioned whether the party should accommodate him.

Staying with Kenya, a Nairobi court has ordered former television presenter Regina Wambui Gitau and three relatives to be detained for ten days over the murder of her eighty-six-year-old mother in Loresho. Principal Magistrate Barbara Akinyi reduced a fifteen-day request by detectives. The four will be held at Gigiri Police Station. Police say the killing followed a domestic dispute, after the victim was found with a deep cut wound on her neck on October the thirtieth.

Also from Kenya, more than three hundred Kenyan jobseekers have been repatriated from Saudi Arabia after the kingdom blocked their entry over Ebola concerns. The Standard newspaper reports the returnees suffered financial losses and face uncertainty over jobs they had secured. Many had completed recruitment and travel preparations, only to be denied entry on health grounds. Kenya is pressing the Saudis diplomatically to lift the curbs. Forty-six people under quarantine will be released on Tuesday, and five patients await second tests.

Back in Kenya, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has raised alarm over attacks on journalists, recording ninety-two press freedom violations. The commission warned in Nairobi that violence and intimidation against media practitioners threaten the public's right to information and undermine democratic accountability. It framed the safety of journalists as a human rights question with consequences well beyond the newsroom. The body is Kenya's principal statutory human rights institution, mandated under Article fifty-nine of the Constitution.

Still in Kenya, tensions have erupted in the opposition after Democratic Party leader Justin Muturi rejected the emerging alliance between Wiper's Kalonzo Musyoka and former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. Muturi warned that bullying, individual interests and ultimatums are undermining efforts to build a united front against President William Ruto. He said a tripartite arrangement is not a magic formula for State House. His remarks follow talks between Kalonzo and Gachagua at Wamunyoro in Nyeri, where they agreed to name a single flagbearer early next year.

Staying with Kenya's opposition, Democracy for the Citizens Party deputy leader Cleophas Malala has dismissed reports of a rift, calling questions over his standing evidence of an inferior mind. He was speaking on Citizen TV after Gachagua clarified that Malala does not speak for the party. Malala said Nyandarua Senator John Methu was simply tasked to keep the mountain warm during Gachagua's United States trip, and executed the role well. He described himself as a founding member of the outfit.

More from Kenya now, Rigathi Gachagua is facing criticism from opposition colleagues after declaring he will relocate to the United States if President Ruto wins in twenty twenty-seven. He made the remark on Inooro TV on Sunday, warning that opposition leaders would face political prosecution if Ruto retains power. Jubilee leader Fred Matiang'i accused him of arrogance and warned that such rhetoric threatens to split the opposition. He said Kenya's leadership cannot be decided on ethnic balkanisation.

In Kenya's courts, former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu will not serve extra prison time despite a thirteen-year sentence and a twenty-one million shilling fine over a road tender worth five hundred and eighty-eight point seven million shillings. Chief Magistrate Harrison Barasa ruled the new terms run concurrently with an existing twelve-year sentence. He received five years on one count and four years each on two others. His wife Susan Wangari Ndung'u was fined twenty-two million shillings.

Elsewhere in Kenya, the Linda Mwananchi movement has taken its campaign to the coast, holding a rally in Samburu, Kwale County, as it courts support ahead of the twenty twenty-seven election. The movement is associated with Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, who leads it and also serves as ODM Secretary General. According to the Daily Nation, it is targeting a presence in all forty-seven counties. The name translates from Swahili as protect the citizen.

And that is your evening edition. The next bulletin is at midday tomorrow. You can read every one of these stories in full, and much more besides, at Mwakilishi.com.

Have a good evening.

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