• The stories making headlines in the Star this morning.
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Good morning,
DPP Noordin Haji’s order for the arrest and charging of Treasury CS Henry Rotich, PS Kamau Thugge and 26 other senior government officials marks the highest point in the renewed fight against corruption declared by President Uhuru Kenyatta a year ago.
The arrests and arraignment are also a sterling act of courage on the part of Haji in a country where there has been a serious concern the fight against corruption only targets small fish. There have been ceaseless calls for investigative agencies to go for the so-called big fish if they are to win the confidence of Kenyans.
Here are the other stories making headlines in the Star this morning.
Today's top stories in the Star. See Stories https://bit.ly/2GrejJZ
Cabinet reshuffle looms after high profile arrests
A mini-cabinet reshuffle is imminent following the arrest and prosecution of top government officials among them National Treasury CS Henry Rotich.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to name one of his most trusted cabinet secretaries to assume Rotich's office in an acting capacity.
Uhuru is also expected to appoint a National Treasury acting Principal Secretary to avoid any vacuum at the critical ministry after Kamau Thugge was also arrested yesterday.
Rotich exit follows script of jinxed Treasury office
The National Treasury, arguably the country's most influential ministerial docket, goes down in history as a hotbed of high yet disgraced turnover.
While over the years the ministry's sway across government has been whittled down especially after the enactment of the 2010 Constitution, the country's money office wields immense power.
On Monday, the fall of Henry Rotich from the helm of the National Treasury follows the same script of some of his predecessors whose tenures came down tumbling under clouds of allegations.
City Hall proposes new charges for pet owners and fire certificates
Nairobi residents will have to pay to keep pets and get fire inspection certificates.
These are part of the proposals the county government has made to finance its Sh35.2 billion recurrent and development expenditures in the 2019-20 financial year. Of the budget, the county targets Sh17.32 billion in revenue collection.
Those with cats and dogs will be required to pay a new health inspection fee of Sh1,000.
Slow payment by government slowing Kenya's economy - Moody’s
Global credit rating firm Moody’s has attributed the high rate of non-performing loans in Kenya to slow payment by the government.
In its latest report on the country’s economy titled Kenya faces rising, but manageable, liquidity pressures, the rating agency said the government’s arrears have started to weigh on business sentiment and has had an impact on domestic manufacturers.
Fish decline prompts Wasini to help restore coral reefs
In the early 1990s, Thureya Mohamed would smile all the way to her house in Wasini island, Kwale county. She was always assured of enough fish for her family. Those days, the coral reefs were healthy.
Then things changed. Mass bleaching occurred in 1998, 2010 and 2016. This occurs when corals are stressed by changes in conditions such as temperature, light or nutrients. They expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, causing them to turn completely white.