Phode News Hub

In Kenya building a permanent house is controlled by the Physical and Land Use Planning Act 2019, Building Code 1968/2009, EMCA 1999 and County bylaws. You must get approvals before you break ground. Here are the legal steps: 1. Confirm Land Ownership & Suitability - Have original title deed, ID, KRA PIN - Do an official land search at Ministry of Lands (not older than 6 months) - Get beacon certificate from licensed surveyor. If land is leased, get consent from landlord / National Land Commission. Land must be free from disputes or riparian reserve (4m to 30m from river/lake) 2. Engage Registered Professionals Only By law, design and supervision must be done by registered professionals: - Physical Planner (if change of user needed) - Registered Architect - to draw architectural plans - Registered Structural / Civil Engineer - structural drawings - Quantity Surveyor, EIA Expert Using unregistered draftsmen leads to automatic rejection. 3. County Government Development Permission Th...

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has officially launched The Equitable Party (TEP) as his 2027 presidential vehicle. Key Details of the Launching Event TEP was officially launched in Nairobi at Sarova Hotel. Sifuna was declared Party Leader and Presidential Candidate for 2027 TEP Party was registered in March 2022, with Head Quarters at Mtito Andei Road off Lenana Road, Nairobi. and its brand colours are gold and emerald / green and yellow. Its symbol is a weighing scale for fairness/equality.  The Party's Slogan is "Tusawazishe" - let us make it equal / let us balance. How he got it: TEP Party Leader Gilbert Marava said they agreed to restructure to accommodate Sifuna and Linda Mwananchi Movement members. "Sifuna is going to run for president, and he will be the next leader of The Equitable Party" Bigger plan: TEP will be part of the Linda Mwananchi Movement (LMM) coalition. Just days ago, after a tribunal ruling, the Registrar of Political Parties approved reserva...

Aliko Dangote revolutionized Africa's oil industry by solving a 50-year paradox: Africa is the world's major crude producer, but almost all of it was exported to Europe to be refined and re-imported at full price. How Aliko Dangote Petroleum Refinery changed that model: 1. World's largest single-train refinery Built on 2,685 hectares of swamp near Lagos at a cost of about $20 billion, with 650,000-700,000 barrels per day capacity. It is Africa's largest privately funded industrial project. At peak, 70,000 workers, 320 cranes, 1,200 pieces of equipment and the world's largest stone quarry were deployed. 2. Ending import dependency Before 2023, Nigeria, which is Africa's biggest oil producer, exported crude and imported all refined petrol because state refineries were dead. Dangote said the significance is Nigeria will become self-sufficient and West/Central Africa will also be self-sufficient — "the crude oil will not now leave the continent". By April ...

President William Ruto renewed call for Africa inclusion in the permanent membership of the UN Security Council at the 81st UN General Assembly in New York — his second push in 3 days. Speaking on Wednesday, he argued the Security Council no longer reflects the modern world: Ruto stated: "Every nation in this hall has one vote. Every nation is sovereign and equal under the Charter. Yet on the gravest questions of war and peace, five nations possess a permanent power that the other 188 do not." "The equality proclaimed in this Assembly ends at the doors of the Security Council," Ruto further added. Key points made by President William Ruto 1. Africa's exclusion: Africa has 54 Member States, more than a quarter of the Assembly, "yet no permanent voice in the body entrusted with the primary responsibility for international peace and security". "We are frequently the subject of its decisions, permanently discussed but permanently excluded." 2. 1....

  Uhuru Kenyatta has stated that Raila Odinga, who died on October 2025, won the 2022 presidential election, contrary to the official results.  However, he has not publicly detailed a specific mechanism of how Odinga was allegedly “rigged out.” On 22 September 2026, during a Jubilee Party National Executive Council meeting in Nairobi, as he handed party leadership to Dr. Fred Matiang’i, Kenyatta said Jubilee had done everything possible to support Odinga’s bid after joining the Azimio campaign.  He stated, in Swahili, widely reported and translated: “We did everything possible to help Baba become President of Kenya. He received the votes, and to this day, I know that he won that election… We know how things went, and we do not want that to happen again.”  He also pointed to Azimio’s stronger performance in parliamentary, senatorial, and gubernatorial races as inconsistent with a presidential loss. Official 2022 results and legal outcome IEBC declared William Ruto the...

Googlebook is a premium laptop platform from Google which combines Android and ChromeOS ideas, with a major focus on desktop apps and tight Android phone integration. Googlebook laptops need high-end hardware like 16GB+ RAM, powerful AI chips, high-resolution touchscreens and long battery life, with several brands already showing models. Googlebook Operating System offers deep Gemini features, app and file syncing with Android phones and support for desktop apps, third-party apps and all Android apps from Google Play. The OS was introduced on May 2026 as a higher-end successor and alternative to Chromebooks.  It runs Googlebook OS (an Android-based desktop OS that also incorporates ChromeOS foundations) and is designed from the ground up around Gemini Intelligence. Main Points It is not a replacement for Chromebooks: Chromebooks continue for education and budget use. Googlebooks target the premium consumer and laptop market with tighter Android phone integration, on-device AI and h...