Mwakilishi News Bulletin - Evening Edition, Saturday 14 November 2026

Evening Edition for Saturday, 14 November 2026. Running time 8:29.

In this bulletin

Diaspora News

1. Australia has not closed its doors to Kenyans, envoy says
2. Israel offers undocumented Kenyans cash and free flights to leave

Kenya News

1. Abshir Abdi appears in court after Marsabit recovery
2. Kenya backs UN call for global halt to executions
3. Opposition leaders unite at Gachagua sister's Nyeri burial (see also: Sifuna, Kalonzo and Maraga Join Gachagua in Nyeri for Sister’s Funeral)
4. Clashes disrupt Maa Festival as President Ruto attends
5. Makueni and Kitui defend hundred billion shilling Thwake Dam
6. Three dead, eight missing in Nairobi wall collapse
7. Sifuna courts diaspora voters in US tour

Transcript

This is the news from Mwakilishi.com.

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

Coming up.

Three dead, eight missing after a perimeter wall collapses at a Nairobi construction site.

Lawyer Abshir Abdi appears in court a day after being found in Marsabit.

Clashes and a near-physical confrontation disrupt the Maa Festival attended by President Ruto.

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

In diaspora news tonight, Kenya's High Commissioner to Australia, Doctor Wilson Kipngetich Kogo, has cautioned that a university offer does not mean an automatic student visa. Citing a thirteenth of November report by The Australian, he said universities have been allocated one hundred and sixty-one thousand, seven hundred and twenty-five international student places for twenty twenty-seven, but enrolment slots remain separate from visa approvals. His warning follows social media rumors that Australia has shut its doors to foreign students and workers. Kogo dismissed the claims as false and urged Kenyans not to lose hope. He advised applicants to verify rules through the Department of Home Affairs and to submit genuine, complete applications.

Staying with the diaspora, Kenyans travelling to Israel for work, tourism, or religious visits face stricter entry scrutiny as Israel cracks down on illegal immigration. A voluntary departure scheme that took effect on the ninth of November offers undocumented African migrants free flights and up to four hundred and fifty-five thousand shillings, about three thousand four hundred and ninety-nine dollars, to leave the country. The offer closes on the thirty-first of December. According to Business Insider Africa, Israel widened eligibility after a drop in migrants accepting departure deals. It covers Africans without valid documents for over two years, some temporary permit holders, and visa overstayers. Kenyans working in Israel with valid permits are unaffected.

Turning to news from Kenya, lawyer Abshir Abdi has appeared at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, one day after he was found in Marsabit County. His whereabouts had been unknown for a period, and the case has sparked national outrage. According to the Daily Nation, the court heard details of his alleged abduction, reported under the headline, run for your life. It covered his disappearance through to his recovery in Marsabit. No individual or group has been named as being behind the alleged abduction. The Law Society of Kenya is pressing for an investigation into what it described as the lawyer's abduction ordeal. The case has trended across Kenya.

Staying with Kenya, the country has backed a United Nations resolution calling for a temporary global halt to executions, even though the death penalty remains part of its laws. The General Assembly's Third Committee passed the resolution on Friday, the thirteenth of November, with one hundred and thirty-three countries in favour, thirty-three against, and sixteen abstaining. Switzerland and Mexico sponsored the motion. Switzerland's Foreign Affairs Department welcomed the outcome, saying it sends a powerful message of hope at a time of rising executions. Locally, courts can still impose the death penalty for murder, treason, and robbery with violence. The United Kingdom, France and Germany supported it, while the United States, China and India opposed.

Also from Kenya, opposition leaders used Saturday's burial of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's elder sister in Nyeri to push for unity against President William Ruto, though no coalition or joint candidate has been agreed. Eunice Nyangari Gachagua, aged seventy-seven, was laid to rest in Kieni constituency before leaders including Kalonzo Musyoka, James Orengo, David Maraga, Edwin Sifuna and Eugene Wamalwa. Gachagua offered an olive branch to Mount Kenya politicians in rival camps, saying those who betrayed the community were forgiven. He compared next year's contest to the Mau Mau struggle, saying our gun is the ID and our bullet is a vote. The family called her a devoted Christian, farmer, tailor and businesswoman.

Meanwhile in Kenya, violent clashes and a tense on-stage confrontation have disrupted the final day of the Maa Cultural and Tourism Festival at the Sekenani Gate in the Maasai Mara. The chaos erupted as President William Ruto approached the venue, sparked by fighting between groups reportedly allied to Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo and Governor Patrick Ole Ntutu. At least ten people were injured before the governor and Senator Ledama Olekina intervened. Nominated Senator Hezena Lemaletian then challenged President Ruto, saying all three Maa counties remained loyal ODM strongholds after the death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Her remarks provoked Senator Olekina, the master of ceremonies, who moved toward her in a near-physical confrontation.

Elsewhere in the country, communities in Makueni and Kitui have called on opponents of the Thwake Multipurpose Dam to stop what they describe as attempts to derail the one hundred billion shilling project. According to Capital FM, the communities described the dam as a transformative regional development project and demanded an end to obstruction of its construction, without naming any opponent. The dam sits at the confluence of the Thwake and Athi rivers, the Athi being Kenya's second-longest river after the Tana. The multipurpose design combines large-scale water storage with domestic supply, irrigation and hydropower generation. National planning has linked the dam's water to fast-growing urban centres, among them the Konza Technopolis technology city.

Back in Nairobi, rescue teams are racing to find eight missing construction workers after a perimeter wall collapse at Riverside that left three people dead and eleven hospitalized with severe injuries. It happened at around half past eleven in the morning at Riverside Square. According to County Chief Officer for Disaster Management Bramwell Simiyu, thirty-nine workers were on the premises when the wall caved in. Eleven were pulled alive from the rubble and rushed to hospital, while another eleven were found safe at the scene. Authorities have cordoned off the area and urged motorists to avoid it. After the search, county planners and the National Construction Authority will audit the site's safety standards.

And finally from Kenya, Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has begun a two-week tour of the United States aimed at winning over Kenyan voters living abroad. The Daily Nation described the tour as a deliberate effort to woo the diaspora vote ahead of the twenty twenty-seven election. Sifuna, elected to the Senate in twenty twenty-two, is Secretary General of the Orange Democratic Movement, the party led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The United States hosts one of the largest Kenyan populations abroad, with communities organized around churches, professional associations and welfare groups. Under the twenty ten Constitution, Kenyans abroad can vote in presidential elections and referenda, but coverage remains limited to selected countries.

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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