BRIAN KOMBO

☆Humanitarian&Development Enthusiast
☆International Relations Major
☆Emerging Leaders Foundation Fellow
☆PanAfricanist
☆PeaceAmbassador

[Mamadou Dian Balde @mamadou_dbalde]

Honored to join forces with AU, ECA & partners, to share and promote experiences for the socioeconomic inclusion of refugees in Africa. Inspiring exchanges between member states & Regional Economic Communities.
More to come, for the benefit of our sisters & brothers.

[Barham Salih @BarhamSalih]

Eid Mubarak. As conflict and displacement across the Middle East continue to scar lives, we must renew our shared commitment to peace, protection, and human dignity.

May this Eid be a moment of reflection—and a turning point toward peace, stability, and hope for all.

[Mamadou Dian Balde @mamadou_dbalde]

As #Sudan tragically enters its 4th year of war, 123 partners are urgently seeking support for Sudanese refugees & local communities in 7 countries. With millions of our sisters & brother enduring so much suffering, solidarity is desperately needed. https://t.co/t4IJO48F1b

[Futurist🇿🇼 @WaltJackman]

Broo i think its high time as Africa we start our own Olympics. Look at how fascinating this is 🔥

[Barham Salih @BarhamSalih]

I am honoured to have been elected as the incoming United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. As a former refugee, I know first-hand how protection and opportunity can change the course of a life. That experience will inform a leadership approach grounded in empathy, pragmatism, and a principled commitment to international law. My foremost responsibility will be to refugees and others forced to flee—upholding their rights and dignity and advancing durable solutions so that displacement remains a temporary situation, not a permanent fate.

At a time of record displacement and severe pressure on humanitarian resources, delivering on UNHCR’s mandate requires a renewed focus on impact, accountability, and efficiency. This is a shared responsibility. UNHCR will build on the important reforms undertaken in recent years to strengthen operational effectiveness and value for money. I will work with Member States and partners across the public, private, and philanthropic sectors to mobilize the capacity, resources, and collective will needed to reach those most in need.

I am grateful to the Secretary-General, António Guterres, and to the General Assembly for their confidence, and to High Commissioner Filippo Grandi for his principled and tireless leadership during a period of extraordinary global challenge.

I look forward to working closely with UNHCR’s dedicated staff, states, partners, host communities, and, most importantly, refugees themselves to advance protection and durable solutions fit for both the promise and the perils of the 21st century.

[University of Nairobi Faculty of Law @UoNLawFaculty]

Congratulations @UoNLawFaculty
Our team emerged 2nd Runners-Up Supreme Court Moot Competition; a national platform that tests legal reasoning, advocacy, and mastery of constitutional issues.
A well-deserved achievement!#weareUoN @uonbi @Kenyajudiciary #UoNstars

[Mamadou Dian Balde @mamadou_dbalde]

Honoré d’avoir été reçu par SE le Président du #Burundi. Nous avons échangé sur les mesures en cours pour autonomiser et inclure les réfugiés dans le système national. Et comment soutenir davantage le retour volontaire des sœurs et frères réfugiés burundais dans les pays voisins.

[UN News @UN_News_Centre]

Over 1.3 million Sudanese – 1 million displaced and 300,000 refugees – returned home amid pockets of safety, say @IOMSudan and @UNHCRinSudan
They face shattered infrastructure after years of war and the world’s largest displacement crisis

https://t.co/u1QNFNzC0l

[BRIAN KOMBO @BrianKombo]

@flyethiopian No flights have left today for Nairobi?

What happens if we miss our connecting flights. Please confirm the rescheduled one for tonight will take off.

[Chris Sambu @the_sambu]

Damn! This Must be the most Honest piece of talk from a man of cloth !

[Kipkalya Kones @MrKipkalya]

Billionaire Joe Wanjui is dead. When we were small kids, on hearing his name, we used to be told that he was the owner of the East African Industries (EAI), the forerunner to Unilever Kenya. Those guys used to manufacture nearly everything we saw at home; Kimbo, Vaseline, Closeup, Omo, Elianto....the works.

I'm often amazed by how great people in this country die quietly and their stories fade off like that. There are things people do not know about Wanjui. Apart from the fact that at some point, he was the Chairman of the DP Council of Elders, the moneyed Kikuyu businessmen who funded Mwai Kibaki and his party. But after the 2002 elections, when Kibaki's surrogates brought back tribalism by the truckloads and shut out the other communities, Wanjui was the powerful insider voice who constantly called Kibaki to order and demanded that the government be run in a way that sustained not only lasting peace, but an environment conducive for business and thrift. He also frowned on the contempt and hubris exhibited by the new Mount Kenya power brokers under Kibaki.

But I pay tribute to Joe Wanjui for two main reasons...

One, and especially in the current Kenyan circumstances, he was one of the last among a breed of Kenyan billionaires who actually MANUFACTURED SOMETHING to make money, a far cry from the modern Kenyan quick-fix billionaires who amass wealth through "ni God manze". This fact is important in determining the stark contrast between Kikuyu Entitlement and Kalenjin Incompetence. The Kikuyu old money networks built lasting money through industry. Even those alleged to have stolen money from government ran thriving private industrial concerns and left the government parastatals alive. Their Kalenjin counterparts under both Moi and Ruto would wake up and become billionaires overnight, leaving dust where previously a state enterprise stood.

Because people of Wanjui's ilk knew the value of wealth and its sustainability, they didn't go around carrying money in sacks at harambees, or tapping their feet like illiterate penguins, to illustrate the count by each million. Certainly, this group wouldn't don watches of 20m, because those who make money genuinely don't tie it to an asset around a wrist. Amidst the Gen Z protests, perhaps we need to take a step back and ask what the new Kalenjin power brokers around Ruto, and their fraudulent friends like @DidmusWaBarasa, have done to buy helicopters overnight. Because Joe Wanjui and his peers showed us that the credible way to create wealth was to first create a going concern, build it and employ people. But the Sudis of our time have turned this philosophy upside down.
The second and bigger reason I celebrate Joe Wanjui happened during interesting times. At the peak of the fallout in the Kibaki regime in 2005, when the LDP wing, and especially the Luo community, had all but bid farewell to the NARC-Rainbow coalition, the vacancy for Vice Chancellor at the University of Nairobi came up for filling. Part of the reforms brought by the Narc government was that unlike previous times, when the VC was appointed by the President, this was going to be the very first time a VC was being competitively interviewed. You should have seen the top scholars, foreigners from Europe, America, South Africa, Asia and the Middle East, who all wanted the job, arriving at JKIA for the interview. Joe Wanjui was then the Chancellor of the UoN, again the first time the President of the Republic wasn't the one. He would chair the interviews.
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[The Figen @TheFigen_]

South African Doctor Prof 'Mashudu Tshifularo' became the first Surgeon on Earth to successfully perform surgery to cure deafness.

Hats off, please! ❤️

[Julians Amboko @AmbokoJH]

Summary:

· Major proposals made around the clean up of the 1st & 2nd Schedules of the VAT Act (exemptions & zero rating, respectively)
· Major proposal around abandoning the VAT claims apportionment formula
· Roll out of the much awaited Treasury Single Account to start on July 1st with cash balances worth Kes 431.7 billion on GOK's radar
· GOK to roll out an iTax linked unified Human Resource Information System effective July 1st, 2024 eliminating multiple payroll systems
· It seems the proposed Kes 100,000 ceiling on Motor Vehicle Tax is being done away with. Does it now make it a wealth/property tax & what are the implications?
· Some slight tinkering with the headline figures from the last official projections with the deficit widening & the borrowing plan recalibrated to lean more to external financing
· June 30th is the sunset date for cash accounting filing across national & county governments. Effective July 1st, only accrual accounting applies

[Mamadou Dian Balde @mamadou_dbalde]

On #AfricaDay, let’s redouble efforts to educate the continent’s children and youth, including those who are forcibly displaced; and equip them with skills for today and tomorrow.

#AfricaDay #AUYearofEducation #Peace

[Julians Amboko @AmbokoJH]

Folks

After the long wait, Finance Bill 2024 is finally out!

A solid 135 pages long.

Stay tuned.

[BRIAN KOMBO @BrianKombo]

@FlyRwandAir Thanks well understood, we finally got a response later in the day and got a plane back. Thanks

[BRIAN KOMBO @BrianKombo]

@FlyRwandAir We've been waiting from morning since 7am. At first were asked to disembark due to technical challenges. We were told we would be boarding at 10:30am then 5:30pm later 7:30pm. Can someone please communicate with certainty

[Kenyatta University #ExperienceKU @KenyattaUni]

Our Heartfelt Condolences.

[Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK) @RCKKenya]

We dare to progress by promoting social transformation through #access to #Justice! Jointly with @unwomenkenya, we are happy to support the Kakuma Law Courts with a desktop to facilitate virtual #Case hearings. Great step towards addressing #sgbv by enhancing #Court efficiency.

[Julians Amboko @AmbokoJH]

Yesterday the Central Bank of Kenya increased its benchmark rate by 50.0bps to 13.0%, the highest point since September 2012.
Today, the Governor, Dr Kamau Thugge, held a briefing following the decision.
Here are some take outs that stood out for me.
A 🧵