Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Rift valley Regional Council has vowed to rally their support behind Wilson Sossion in the forthcoming KNUT national elections.

Addressing media in Nakuru on Sunday, the members led by chairman Maurice Barchok maintained lauded Sossion for the role he has continued to play in defending teachers in the country.

Barchok told off those opposed to Sosssion adding that they are individuals with an aim to kill KNUT.

“KNUT is here to stay. As the largest region we support Sossion for he has been firm in defending teachers’ welfare” said Barchok.

The Riftvalley KNUT official also warning the government against trying to interfere with Unions.

According to Barchok, Government cannot gain by trying to kill strong unions in the country such as KNUT.

“Government will not gain by killing strong unions in this country. We have been supporting the government of the day from history. The government should also listen to Sossion on behalf of the teachers” said Barchok.

Sentiments echoed by Aggrey Namisi from Western branch who called for unity of members in rallying support for KNUT and SG Sossion.

KNUT has been carrying on Branch elections with National elections also expected in April this year.

8,292 final year medical students studying in various disciplines including nursing, clinical medicine, pharmacy, laboratory medicine, orthopaedic technology, physiotherapy, medical imaging and oral health among others, have today received 500,000 medical grade surgical masks valued at Ksh 2.5 million from Equity Group Foundation and the Kenya COVID-19 Fund Board.

The surgical masks are to facilitate the students who are scheduled to sit for final year qualifying examinations this February across 71 KMTC training centres in Kenya.

The donation is part of Equity Group Foundation’s and the Kenya COVID-19 Fund Board’s sustained efforts to offer frontline healthcare workers PPEs and psychosocial support.

Speaking during the official handover event, Polycarp Igathe, Equity Group Chief Commercial Officer noted that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve with the world now reporting new variants of the diseases across various regions therefore calling for adaptability and agility in frontline response.

He reiterated Equity Group’s commitment to safeguard healthcare workers serving in the frontline and appreciated their efforts in containing the pandemic within the country.

“It is now almost a year since Kenya reported its first COVID-19 case. Although it may seem that things are normalising, the numbers have been steadily rising and many Kenyans have unfortunately lost their lives including our very own frontline heroes, serving Kenyans in our medical facilities. The market will in the next few weeks receive these medical students for internship and employment opportunities and as EGF and the COVID-19 Fund Board, we saw it fit to support these bright and dedicated students as they complete the final year of their academic journey and perform their noble duties. The surgical masks donated today will go a long in alleviating their mental worry and stress regarding risk of exposure.” said Polycarp.

The Kenya COVID-19 Fund Board and Equity Group Foundation has for the past eight months embarked on an initiative to support frontline health workers in public hospitals with PPEs as well as establish a vibrant psychosocial support and mental wellness programme.

Commenting on this, Principal Administrative Secretary Office of the President Kennedy Kihara who is the Secretary of the Kenya COVID-19 Fund Board said, “As a Fund, we have been tasked with the noble mandate to fundraise and effectively utilize the funds that Kenyans are giving us towards cushioning citizens and the country from the adverse effects of COVID-19. We are delighted to partner with Equity in the health response and in boosting the confidence of our healthcare workers by availing PPEs in a timely manner. We urge all the beneficiaries of these PPEs to make effective use of them and to be good stewards of the resources allocated to them.”

While receiving the surgical masks, KMTC CEO, Prof. Micheal Kiptoo, “We are extremely humbled that Equity Group Foundation and the Kenya COVID-19 Fund Board thought about our medical students and saw it fit to equip them with protective gear. We need all hands-on deck to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and our students are an important resource who are complementing the service of their senior colleagues in practice. This pandemic continues to affect all Kenyans irrespective of their background and we welcome other corporates to join in this worthy cause.”

KMTC, Clinical Medicine Students Representative Asher Otiende, lauded the efforts of the Kenya COVID-19 Fund Board and Equity Group Foundation noting, “Despite taking a long academic break, we are excited to finally enter the final part of our medical course. The surgical masks issued today will help us finish our clinical exams well and will offer the much-needed protection as we execute our duties. We sincerely appreciate Equity Group Foundation and the Kenya COVID-19 Fund Board for thinking about us and for prioritising our safety.”

The Kenya COVID- 19 Fund Board and Equity Group Foundation continue to support 56 Public Hospitals in all 47 counties together with finalist students in 11 medical and dental training institutions in their efforts to ensure that healthcare workers are safeguarded as they provide frontline care and work round the clock to mitigate the health effects of the pandemic.

A new customer survey conducted by Kenya Bankers’ Association (KBA) has ranked Equity Bank among the top three Tier I banks based on digital user experience analysis.

The Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey 2020 sampled a total of 13,774 respondents and ranked various banks based on the quality of their Digital Banking offering (Mobile and Internet Banking) as well as overall innovativeness in this realm.

The KBA survey targeted customers across all the banks where they filled out a structured questionnaire on services received.

According to the survey, most respondents indicated having had a good experience with Mobile Banking applications, singling out effective aesthetics.

73 per cent of the respondents that mentioned feature characteristics, cited convenience and e­fficiency as their main features of interest, with ease of usage and friendliness of user interfaces being the other critical factors.

The KBA report has been released at a time when the country is still facing the COVID-19 pandemic, which has ravaged the economy due to business slowdown, curfew and breakdown of the global supply chain.

In its release of the Q3 2020 results, Equity reported that its business model has migrated from being based on fixed cost channels to digital self-service and third-party variable cost channels.

The business is transforming from a ‘place you go’ to ‘what you do’ on devices, removing and compressing time and geography thus making its business 24-hours, whatever time, wherever you are.

For the first time, the digital bank overtook the legacy bank in both the number of transactions and value of transactions handled on a daily basis. Online banking products and services experienced the greatest growth with digital transaction values growing by 34%.

Customer engagement increased as reflected by the 45% growth in their deposits for the Q3 2020 period.

Digital banking adoption was heightened by the raft of measures put forward by Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in consultation with KBA, in facilitating the increased use of mobile money instead of physical cash.

CBK also advocated for digital banking as a way of decongesting bank branches to reduce COVID-19 spread while increasing its surveillance against fraud.

Equity’s Fintech Innovation and Digitisation has enabled at least 98% transactions to take place outside the bank with at least 83% taking place in Mobile and Internet Banking platforms.

In addition, 59% of Equity’s transaction value took place outside the branches with Mobile and Internet banking taking a 33% chunk of the total value.

The digitisation of the bank’s services has increased efficiency and cost optimization gains ensuring that customers can be able to enjoy their services from the comfort of their homes/workplaces.

Under the Eazzy Banking suite, Equity customers conveniently access banking through the mobile App, or online through their computers.

Customers with feature phones can still enjoy mobile banking services under Equity’s MVNO, Equitel or by dialling *247# on their mobile phone.

Moreover, the limited handling of physical cash has in turn reduced the risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus for digital banking customers.