Category: Business Daily

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept; it is now embedded in the everyday mechanics of work. From recruitment and performance management to decision-making and productivity tracking, AI is reshaping how organisations operate and how employees experience the workplace.

At the fourth Human Resource Management forum hosted earlier this month by Liaison Group, HR leaders from across the country examined the evolving workplace and its demands on both employers and employees. At the heart of the discussions was a key question: is AI making the workplace better?

Hiring has traditionally been one of the most human-centric functions in any organisation. Yet today, many companies are relying on AI tools to screen CVs, rank candidates and even conduct initial interviews.

According to Joan Wainaina, Group Head of People and Culture at Liaison Group, this does not necessarily erode the human element.

‘I wouldn’t describe it as dehumanising the recruitment process. If anything, AI helps streamline the initial screening stage, which can significantly shorten hiring timelines and reduce uncertainty for candidates,’ she says.

‘It acts as a filtering tool to identify individuals who meet the core requirements. The more nuanced stages of interviews, such as assessments and onboarding, remain human-led, ensuring that the personal element of recruitment is preserved.’

Still, the reliance on algorithms raises concerns about whether organisations might be missing out on unconventional talent. Ms Wainaina acknowledges this risk but insists that the outcome largely depends on how AI is used.

‘Overall, the quality of hires remains strong. AI is only as effective as the criteria and data it is given, so organisations play a key role in defining what ‘good’ looks like. When configured thoughtfully, it can enhance consistency and efficiency. However, it is important to continuously review and refine these inputs to ensure that strong, non-traditional candidates are not inadvertently overlooked.’

Consequently, one of the most debated aspects of AI in recruitment is whether efficiency comes at the cost of fairness and candidate experience. Algorithms can process thousands of applications in seconds, but they can also replicate existing biases kept in historical data.

‘Ideally, there shouldn’t be significant trade-offs if AI is implemented responsibly. Fairness, bias mitigation, and candidate experience should remain guided by human oversight,’ Ms Wainaina says.

Even with AI streamlining recruitment, finding the right talent is a persistent challenge.

‘One of the key challenges is finding individuals with the right mindset, particularly adaptability, a willingness to learn, and the ability to translate theory into practical application. In today’s fast-evolving environment, continuous upskilling is critical. Younger talent also places high value on purpose, flexibility, and growth opportunities, which organisations must actively address to remain competitive,’ Ms Wainaina notes.

Additionally, the recruitment challenges are not just an HR issue, they have direct implications for business performance.

‘These challenges have a tangible impact on business performance. Hiring processes can be time-sensitive, especially for experienced roles where notice periods, buyouts, and competitive compensation come into play. Additionally, when key employees leave, there can be a temporary disruption in client relationships and service delivery, which may lead to short-term productivity gaps and increased operational strain,’ Ms Wainaina explains.

She points to a recent example within her industry: ‘Earlier this year, we experienced significant movement within the industry, with several highly skilled service managers leaving due to competitive salary pressures. Replacing this level of talent took close to three months, and during this time teams had to collaborate closely to maintain service standards. While the business remained resilient, it required deliberate effort and agility to manage the transition effectively.’

A generational reset

If AI is changing how work is done, generational shifts are changing why and where it is done.

Paul Kasimu, CEO of C-Suites Impact Consulting, argues that the workplace is undergoing a transformation rooted in context.

‘The first thing is the context, and it is everything. We are in the fifth industrial revolution. We have just come from the digital era, to the hyper-personalisation,’ he says.

This new era is defined by what he calls the ‘WWW of the workplace.’

‘Work has changed and the workplace is no longer the same. If you look at the five generations in the workplace, the baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, and now the Gen Z’s and Alpha is coming in. Different styles of how they are perceiving work. You can’t handle a millennial the same way you handle a Gen Z,’ Mr Kasimu says.

Leadership, too, is evolving. ‘The leader of today is a coach. You sell, you don’t tell. If you don’t connect, you are left.’

This shift is closely tied to how organisations currently define roles. ‘It’s the way organisations approach how they define work. The job descriptions move away from just describing jobs to outcomes. Which is why we are seeing more flexible working. People are saying, I’m at my best at 3am, so don’t force me to come to the office at 8 to 5.’

Another visible changes in today’s workplace is the declining employee loyalty. Shorter tenures, frequent job changes and rising attrition rates are becoming the norm. Mr Kasimu sees this as both a challenge and a warning. ‘One of the key measures of a stable organisation is attrition. Attrition, the way you keep up with talent. In fact, it’s how you attract, retain a highly performing workforce,’ he says.

‘For every talent that leaves, the cost of replacement, the cost of downtime, sometimes comes to two times of the annual cost of that particular position. If you have a top talent who you can’t keep, when they leave, they emotionally take away others in the organisation,’ he adds.

AI as collaborator, not competitor

Despite fears of job displacement, most experts agree that AI is more likely to augment human work than replace it.

‘AI the bigger point is where you remove the repetitive work. AI cannot replace the human aspect of work, but it also removes the operational, sometimes manual pieces of work. What the computer did 20 years ago, is now the next level of providing machine to work with man,’ Mr Kasimu says.

‘AI is a tool that helps people work better. But remove the machine part of people, and then you’ll have AI, but you’ll still have the soul of the organisation.’

At the same time, AI is rapidly advancing. ‘AI is also learning; it has not reached a point of sophistication where it can replace human beings. We need human beings to help AI to become even better. By 2030, the number one skill that needs to be in the workforce, across, irrespective of the domain expertise, is AI,’ He says.

Another of AI’s most powerful contributions to the workplace is its ability to turn data into insight.

‘If you look at data and analytics, we are moving away from descriptive. Descriptive data are like when leave is high, overtime is high, or there’s sickness. You go to diagnostic, the why. Then predictive, if you go on like this, this is going to happen. The fourth one is prescriptive, which is the so what,’ Mr Kasimu says

AI accelerates this entire process. ‘AI will help in that iteration where it can truncate the what into the why, into the so what predictive, and therefore do this.’

The generational AI challenge

While much of the conversation around AI focuses on technology, Wycliffe Osoro, Head of HR at Swissport, argues that the real challenge is human.

‘AI is not a technology problem, it’s a generational experience problem.When organisations are introducing AI, they are not introducing one change. They’re introducing four changes at the same time because all these generations are going to interact differently with AI,’ he says.

This complexity requires what he calls ‘generational intelligence.’

‘If you go and introduce this change and not have the generational intelligence to recognise the differences between the different age groups or different generations, then you’re going to lose it,’ he warns.

Mr Osoro says that Different groups respond differently: Gen Zs prefer digital learning journeys, millennials value rapid feedback, Gen X seeks structured autonomy, while older workers bring experience and mentorship.

‘Organisations tend to have one goal, and then that goal needs to be achieved by everyone. But when there’s standardisation, it bounces off. But if you want to personalise that, then you’re going to have the refraction, and it goes into the different pathways that are there.’ Mr Osoro says.

AI also promises efficiency, but its impact on productivity is not always straightforward.

Mr Osoro introduces the concept of ‘AI anxiety pivot’ the fear among employees that they may be replaced. This fear is already shaping behaviour. ‘Nearly half of the Gen Z workers and the millennials who use AI, they use it as shadow AI,’ he says.

Yet when used openly, the gains are significant. ‘The saving of that time is what has supported to save about an average of seven and a half hours per week. That’s almost a whole working day. And that then translates to about $18,000 per employee per year in recovered productivity.’

Mr Osoro believes that the winners of AI’s success will not be those who manage people better, but those who rethink work itself.

‘They’re not going to replace humans because there’s certain things that the AI agents will not be able to do. They’ll not be able to design things like a human being would do.’ Mr Osoro says

‘When you’re using technology, it takes away that bias of knowing who is going to get that favouritism,’ he adds.

The High Court has quashed a decision by the State’s Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) to cancel a pharmaceutical company’s licenses for the manufacture and distribution of 40 lifesaving medicines on claims of counterfeiting, warning that the move risked disrupting access to essential medicines in Kenya.

The court faulted the regulator for acting unlawfully and procedurally unfairly in cancelling the permits of a Kenyan firm, Galaxy Pharmaceuticals, which is locked in a Sh1.4 billion dispute with a former partner from India, India’s Prism Life Sciences Limited, over the sale of pharmaceutical products used in the treatment of various chronic illnesses, including heart diseases, atherosclerosis, and diabetes mellitus.

The court found that PPB went beyond its mandate by intervening in a commercial and trademark dispute while failing to follow due process.

‘The decision to cancel the registration of the products was marred with irregularity because the respondent ventured into the realm of the commercial courts in determining the trademarks dispute, which issue was substantially still in contention for determination at the commercial courts,’ the court said.

The ruling lifts a regulatory cloud that had effectively blocked Galaxy from trading in the affected medicines, even after laboratory tests confirmed the products met required standards.

The legal dispute started after Prism Life Sciences lodged a commercial suit seeking damages of $11. 5 million (Sh1.4 billion) from Galaxy and the PPB as compensation for profits and sales of two years covering 2023 and 2024. Galaxy filed a judicial review case against PPB.

It denied any liability and wanted damages, if any, to be apportioned to the board over alleged failure to discharge its duty as the market watchdog.

The case of Prism related to alleged breach of trust and conspiracy between Galaxy and PPB to deprive it of the ownership of its pharmaceutical products and brands.

The board quarantined the drugs following the brand infringement complaints but later cleared them for compliance, only to proceed with cancellation without giving adequate reasons or a fair hearing.

‘The respondent’s conduct was procedurally unfair, irrational and unlawful,’ the court said while ruling on the judicial review case, adding that the regulator failed to accord the company a proper opportunity to be heard before taking action.

The court further observed that the board relied on shifting and contradictory grounds to justify the cancellation, undermining the integrity of the decision-making process.

At the heart of the dispute is a long-running commercial fallout between Galaxy and Prism over rights to manufacture and distribute dozens of pharmaceutical products used to treat chronic conditions.

The row, already before the Commercial Court, involves claims of trademark ownership, alleged counterfeiting, and breach of distribution agreements.

Despite the parallel proceedings, the board moved to cancel Galaxy’s licences, citing alleged misrepresentation in the registration process.

However, the High Court ruled that such issues fell within the jurisdiction of commercial courts and not a regulatory agency.

The judge warned that the board’s actions created a ‘regulatory stalemate’ by barring Galaxy from importing its own products while allowing third parties to deal in the same medicines.

This, the court said, posed a real risk to the supply chain of essential drugs, with potential consequences for patients relying on the medicines.

Court filings show that the affected products are used to manage conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses, making continuity of supply critical.

Galaxy had argued that the cancellation threatened its operations, jobs, and ability to meet financial obligations, while also disrupting supply to hospitals and pharmacies.

The company told the court that orders had been cancelled and patients risked missing critical medication due to the regulatory impasse.

The Board, on its part, defended its decision, saying it acted within the law and after allowing the company to respond.

It maintained that the registrations were obtained through misrepresentation and that cancellation was necessary to protect public health.

Prism also backed the regulator, alleging that Galaxy had fraudulently acquired rights to the products and distributed substandard drugs.

But the court declined to delve into the merits of those claims, stressing that judicial review is limited to assessing the legality and fairness of administrative actions.

‘The role of this court is not to determine ownership disputes but to examine the decision-making process,’ the judge stated.

She stressed that the constitutional requirement for fair administrative action includes the right to clear reasons and a hearing before adverse decisions are taken.

Banks and digital lenders will have to reassess borrowers’ financial capacity before increasing their loan limits under draft rules aimed at curbing predatory lending.

Financial regulators, including the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Sacco regulator, say lenders must evaluate borrowers’ income, expenses and assets afresh before upgrading loan limits.

Currently, banks and digital lenders increase borrowers’ limits based on repayment of previous loans, without assessing their ability to service new facilities.

Regulators say this practice has saddled both banked and unbanked borrowers with costly, mounting debt.

Tighter rules

‘A Financial Service Provider (FSP) shall not provide a credit product, or an increase in an existing loan or credit limit, to a retail consumer unless they have first undertaken a reasonable assessment to confirm – the retail consumer’s ability to repay the credit without financial hardship and that the credit is likely to be suitable in meeting the retail consumer’s needs and objectives in relation to credit,’ say the draft consumer regulations.

‘An FSP shall take reasonable steps to obtain appropriately reliable information about the retail consumer’s financial capability, including, without limitation, the consumer’s income, expenses, assets and other financial liabilities and commitments,’ the regulations add.

Banks have stepped up the supply of digital loans, with customers able to access up to Sh3 million via mobile applications, often in less than five minutes.

By offering quick, collateral-free credit to largely unbanked populations, digital lenders have expanded access to finance for needs ranging from medical bills and school fees to business capital.

Credit boom

Economists have hailed this growth for boosting financial inclusion in a country where only about 40 percent of people have a bank account. However, customers and digital rights groups have accused some lenders of using unethical practices to profit from vulnerable borrowers.

With mobile penetration rising, a wave of fintech start-ups has emerged to tap demand for credit among low-income Kenyans who lack formal employment, collateral or guarantors.

Hundreds of digital lenders operate in Kenya – some backed by Silicon Valley and Chinese investors – and are available on platforms such as the App Store and Google Play.

Using machine learning algorithms, these apps assess borrowers’ creditworthiness by scanning personal data on their phones, including contacts, mobile money transactions, social media activity and web history.

Easy credit

This approach has enabled lenders to raise borrowers’ limits without conducting fresh assessments of their financial health.

Within minutes, loans – ranging from Sh500 to Sh500,000 – are disbursed directly to mobile money accounts.

Demand for such loans has surged.

NCBA Group, which hosts Fuliza and M-Shwari in partnership with Safaricom, disbursed Sh1.34 trillion through the two platforms last year.

KCB Group reported a 30 percent increase in digital loans to Sh544 billion, while Equity Group said 88.4 percent of its credit was issued through digital channels, underscoring the shift away from branch-based lending.

Debt risks

‘The rapid expansion of digital credit has raised concerns about over-indebtedness and consumer protection, as many borrowers take on multiple short-term loans for consumption without adequate safeguards,’ said CBK.

Digital lenders remain popular due to ease of access and speed of disbursement.

Many do not conduct background checks with credit reference bureaus, creating a back door for borrowers blacklisted by banks, Saccos and microfinance institutions.

Digital credit providers (DCPs) do not require collateral but rely on mobile money usage patterns to determine loan limits, which are then increased based on repayment history.

CBK data shows that 16.6 percent of borrowers as of September last year were over-indebted, meaning they had more debt than they could repay.

The regulator aims to cut over-indebtedness by 30 percent over the next three years through the proposed rules.

Relief measures

Under the draft regulations, lenders will also be required to support distressed borrowers, including offering repayment holidays and restructuring loans before resorting to asset recovery or guarantor enforcement.

‘FSPs shall act promptly to offer reasonable assistance to retail consumers showing signs of difficulty in making their repayments, to help prevent their situation from deteriorating where this is possible,’ the draft states.

‘Before taking any enforcement action, FSPs shall consider and propose potential assistance appropriate to the consumer’s circumstances.’

The banking sector’s default rate stood at 15.6 percent in March, improving from 17.6 percent at the end of June. Saccos recorded 10.6 percent non-performing loans as of end-2024, above the global benchmark of five percent.

Digital credit providers had the highest default rate at 40 percent, according to CBK, signalling gaps in assessing borrowers’ ability to repay.

A businessman has been ordered by a court to surrender his luxury car, which he used to transport illegal elephant tusks in Laikipia County, handing the State a partial victory in an asset recovery case tied to wildlife crimes.

The High Court ruled that the Mercedes-Benz vehicle linked to Jackson Mbugua Burugu was an instrument of crime after it was seized while transporting four elephant tusks weighing 69.2 kilogrammes.

‘The motor vehicle was arrested while being used to commit an offence, and as such, I find no difficulty in holding that it was an instrumentality of crime and therefore liable to forfeiture,’ the court said, ordering its forfeiture to the government.

The court directed the Director General of the National Transport and Safety Authority to transfer and vest motor vehicle registration number KBE 416Y to the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), on behalf of the government.

The case was filed by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), which sought to seize the vehicle and two plots in Mathare North, Nairobi, arguing they were proceeds of illegal wildlife trade.

ARA Investigators told the court that Burugu was arrested in October 2021 at Enasoit in Olgoji Conservancy, Laikipia, while transporting the tusks.

He had also faced earlier criminal charges at the magistrate courts in Nyahururu and Nanyuki in 2017 and 2021 related to illegal dealings in endangered wildlife.

ARA argued that proceeds from the illicit trade were laundered through bank accounts and used to acquire assets, including land and a vehicle.

Burugu denied the claims and any link to the alleged illegal activity, saying he runs a hardware business and that his assets were bought from legitimate income.

Although he did not expressly deny having been arrested and charged for illegal poaching, the respondent swore that the charges were malicious and false.

However, the court distinguished the car and the land, exposing the evidentiary threshold in civil forfeiture proceedings.

The court found direct evidence linking the vehicle to the crime, noting it was recovered during the poaching incident and that the respondent did not dispute the circumstances of its seizure.

‘It cannot be a coincidence that the respondent was arrested in Laikipia County on both occasions, trading in endangered species and their trophies. The respondent has not denied that the vehicle was impounded while carrying the elephant tusks,’ the judge said, pointing to repeated arrests involving wildlife trophies.

However, the State’s attempt to seize the two Mathare plots failed, highlighting limits in asset tracing where timelines and ownership chains are unclear.

The court found the land was purchased in 2014, years before the alleged criminal activity in 2017, and later sold to a third party who demonstrated a legitimate source of funds.

‘The applicant has failed to establish that the landed properties are proceeds of crime,’ the court ruled.

The buyer, identified in court as John Wambugu Maina, convinced the court he was an innocent purchaser for value without notice.

He showed he financed the Sh21 million purchase through the sale of land in Murang’a for Sh48.5 million, with the transaction handled through advocates and without any encumbrances.

The court warned that forfeiting the plots would unfairly punish the buyer while leaving the seller to retain the proceeds.

‘The person who will be punished in that scenario would be the interested party who will lose the landed properties despite his money being clean and accounted for,’ it said in the split judgment, disrupting criminal enterprises and protecting legitimate property rights.

The court also questioned gaps in ARA’s investigations, noting the agency had not shown any link between Burugu’s finances and the 2014 land purchase.

It further observed inconsistencies around the plots’ documentation, including doubts raised by Nairobi County over their records.

The decision comes amid sustained efforts to curb poaching networks, where vehicles are often used to move trophies across regions.

Global bank Citi expects renewed pressure on the Kenyan shilling as higher fuel prices create a wider current account deficit in the wake of the Iran war.

The global lender sees the new Middle East crisis as a test for the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) which is tasked with minimizing extreme volatility on the exchange rate system as part of its policy.

Citi has suggested that the apex bank could allow the shilling to weaken as a shock absorber to the Iran crisis, a move which could cushion Kenyan exports by making local goods cheaper in international markets at a time when demand could be weakened as global growth slumps.

The Kenya shilling has remained stable despite heightened geopolitical risks with the CBK attributing the continued strength of the local unit to diversified foreign exchange inflows, increased coincidence in the economy and adequate foreign exchange reserves.

‘Theoretically, when 25 percent of your import bill is oil, your current account is going to widen, and you are going to have to see some pressure on your currency. This is going to be a big test,’ said David Cowan, Citi’s Chief African Economist.

Kenya’s current account balance which measures a country’s net trade in goods, services and earnings in addition to net transfer payments with the rest of the world worsened through February on account of a wider trade deficit where imports had grown faster than exports.

CBK has projected a wider current account deficit in 2026 at three percent of GDP in contrast to an estimate of 2.4 percent due to the impact of the conflict in the Middle East. A slower growth in remittance flows especially from Gulf Countries has also been blamed for the expected deterioration of the current account balance.

‘The projected wider current account deficit in 2026 reflects the direct impact of the US-Israel-Iran war on the goods balance via commodity prices, supply chain disruptions and reduced global demand and a higher oil import bill due to higher oil prices,’ CBK said.

CBK quoted the Kenya shilling at Sh129.04 against the US dollar at the close of trading last week as the exchange rate kept within the long-established narrow-bound trading range of Sh129 to Sh130.

Citi Bank says the local unit appears to have found its level as the economy demonstrates the wide availability of hard currency, reversing an FX crunch seen in 2023 and early 2024 but argues it’s difficult to establish whether the developments represent an economic equilibrium.

‘I think it’s quite difficult to understand where the Kenya shilling lies, but the reality is that on the ground in Nairobi, at this point, there are no FX shortages and there is ample liquidity in the FX market,’ added Mr. Cowan.

‘I however don’t think there are many gains to an African government allowing a large currency appreciation. I understand that there is a sentiment logic that you might want to shock the market somehow and show that an African currency is not a permanent depreciation bet, but I still wouldn’t have allowed it (the Kenya shilling) to come back to 130.’

The Kenya shilling hit a low Sh160.75 against the US dollar at the height of the FX crunch on January 30, 2024, when investor jitters on a potential sovereign default were at their peak.

The shilling would rally from mid-February 2024 after the CBK undertook an early buyback of Sh258 billion ($2 billion) Eurobond notes whose maturity in June of the same year had caused investor concerns.

On an evening flight to Addis, I chanced on a Kenyan embassy staff working there. He introduced himself with a warm smile, as we settled down upon boarding. Noticing me at lost luggage counter on arrival, he walked over with concern. I forgot my reading glasses on my seat, I explained, to him and the airport staff.

No worries, he said. Let us ask the airline, to bring them to the lost and found desk. Our staff will pick them up when they come to the airport tomorrow, he said reassuringly, as he offered me a ride to the hotel. A day later, his colleague stopped by our delegation as we met our hosts, and dropped the glasses off. Absolutely amazing!

This incredible Kenyan spirit thrives on in spite of constant threat by naysayers, who seek to dreg the worst in us, with talk of imaginary enemies.

A mountaineer on the fifth floor, I find it a ridiculous but dangerous circus, that politicians can label other Kenyans as enemies, while trying to fuel discontent through ‘alternative’ facts.

For instance, upgrading of the 740-kilometre Isiolo-Wajir-Mandera road to bitumen standard is fully funded and under implementation. But Kenyans, ever skeptical, and fed a constant diet of misrepresentation, are taking this information with a grain of salt.

Some youthful lawyers chewed my ear off a few weeks ago. How do you know that it is a ‘true story’ (sic), they asked me, disbelief in their voices. KRA, I explained, whose board I chair, is putting up four trade facilitation facilities (truck stops) along the road and two, one-stop-border-posts (OSBPs) at Rhamu and Suftu, in Mandera County. They seemed impressed.

Why are you guys in government not communicating then, one pressed. We are, I said, but in this post-truth world, detractors are inventing their own facts. And unfortunately, I added, a lie goes around the world twice, before the truth has a chance to put on her shoes.

My reading glasses mishap was on a flight to join other technocrats, two principal secretaries and the Mandera County Governor, as we engaged with our Ethiopian counterparts, part of our joint on-going work, developing the vital corridor.

The Horn of Africa Gateway Development Project (HoAGDP) as the project is called, is a massive effort to enhance connectivity of the Northern Kenya counties, Ethiopia and Somalia.

Investments on the Kenyan side of the corridor include the road, two cross-border bridges on River Dawa complete with one-stop-border posts, four trade facilitation stops along the route, nearly 1,300 kilometres of fibre optic cable, schools, water points and health facilities. It will cost over 200 billion shillings.

Dawa River is the boundary (160 kilometres) between Kenya and Ethiopia. The bridges will improve human movement and boost trade.

The project is financed with loans from World Bank, Africa Development Bank, and a consortium of Arab banks.

At Sh169 billion, the World Bank has provided the most. This includes recent additional financing for the fibre optic infrastructure. African Development Bank (AfDB) has contributed about Sh27.5 billion, focused on the 142 kilometre El Wak-Rhamu section.

The additional World Bank funding package is Sh71.5 billion. Of this, Sh37.7 billion is additional financing for the original HoAGDP to cover rising costs and expanded scope.

Another Sh33.8 billion is for the Second Horn of Africa Gateway Development Project, specifically targeting connectivity and trade facilitation.

Scheduled for completion by June 2028, the project is part of the broader Horn of Africa Initiative (HoAI), which has mobilised over $12.9 billion for more than 250 regional projects as of January 2026.

I learnt a couple of things in Addis. Ethiopians drive on the right, while we drive on the left side of the road, requiring a change-over point at the OSBPs.

Second, the axles on their trucks are configured differently from ours. As a result, we are yet to get full use of Lappset Corridor and Lamu port from our neighbors.

Kenyan axle load regulations, based on the Traffic Act and EAC Vehicle Load Control regulations, govern weight distribution to protect road infrastructure. The maximum permissible loads are 8t for single steering (2 tyres), 10t for single axle (4 tyres), 16t for tandem (8 tyres), and 24t for triple axle groups (12 tyres), with a five percent tolerance allowed.

If the two countries harmonise our axle configurations, trucks will operate across the region, thereby boosting trade.

Last year, the Lenana School alumni association, aka Laibon Society, launched the Lenana School Endowment Fund, an ambitious initiative aimed at securing the institution’s financial future while enhancing its academic and extracurricular offerings for generations to come.

The broader goal of the Endowment Fund is to safeguard the school’s proud legacy and enable it to thrive independent of external financial pressures.

To mark the launch, the Laibons organised a veterans rugby match against their arch-rivals, the alumni of Nairobi School (the Old Cambrians), on Saturday, July 5, 2025, at Impala Club in Nairobi. Fittingly, Lenana School emerged victorious.

The event evoked a strong spirit of competition and camaraderie, rekindling one of Kenya’s oldest school rivalries.

More than 600 advance tickets were sold, and matchday attendance exceeded 1,000. Proceeds from the event were contributed to the endowment funds of both schools.

This year, the veterans’ rugby match is scheduled for Saturday, 4 July, with the organising committee planning a grander event and aiming to involve additional alumni societies.

Beyond the excitement of reconnecting with former schoolmates, reliving storied rivalries, and indulging in nostalgic banter, it is important to remain focused on the core objective; supporting our former schools.

Public institutions rely primarily on funding from the Ministry of Education to support their operations and maintain their facilities.

These allocations place limits on the extent to which infrastructure can be upgraded, with priority given to academic needs.

Lenana School boasts an impressive range of sports facilities. The campus includes five rugby pitches, three football fields, two hockey pitches, a dedicated track and field area, two tennis courts, two basketball courts, a squash court, a swimming pool, and a nine-hole golf range.

These extensive sporting amenities complement the school’s strong academic infrastructure, which includes six streams per class and nine science laboratories.

Government funding often falls short of adequately sustaining sports facilities. Over the years, the Laibon Society has stepped in to bridge this gap through targeted fundraising drives.

A decade ago, the alumni funded the renovation of the school’s swimming pool, and in 2025, in collaboration with the government, completed restoration of the nine-hole golf course.

These facilities offer a strong return on investment. After a dip in prominence in the 2010s, Lenana School’s rugby programme has successfully restored the school’s regular participation in the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association’s National 15s tournament.

While ad hoc fundraising efforts are a good start, building robust alumni societies is essential.

Their effectiveness depends on clear decision-making structures, robust fundraising mechanisms, and transparent, democratic governance processes. The success of alumni societies also depends on maintaining strong relationships with school principals.

The principal bears responsibility for the school, and there are no formal provisions governing alumni engagement.

These relationships are built on goodwill and a shared vision for the institution’s prosperity.

Ultimately, the most important ingredient is school pride. Earlier this year, Alliance High School generated buzz on social media with its cheeky invitations to fellow alumni societies, welcoming them to celebrate the school’s centenary on 1 March.

Shortly after, President William Ruto joined fellow alumni from Kapsabet Boys High School to commemorate their former school’s centenary. Both events were marked with prominent old boys making sizeable donations to improve the schools’ facilities.

Kenyan high schools are rich sources of heritage and pride, yet with our growing young population, it is unlikely that the Ministry of Education can fully fund both academic and co-curricular facilities across all public schools.

If you’re ever considering where to direct your disposable income, beyond tithes, offerings, or supporting family, your former high school is one of the most impactful and meaningful places to start.

Multinational companies holding major stakes in Nairobi bourse-listed firms are repatriating Sh42.2 billion to parent companies, reflecting the importance of the Kenyan units to conglomerates’ bottom lines.

Safaricom, BAT Kenya, and EABL and banks such as Absa Bank Kenya, Standard Chartered and Equity Group are among the companies that have raised their interim and final payouts this year.

Their parent firms will start receiving the billions of shillings from Tuesday, a boost to the multinationals who have also seen their shares gain at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

The 11.7 percent rise in the dividend payouts to the foreign firms follows higher profits posted by their Kenyan units last year.

These improved returns have underlined the importance of these Kenyan subsidiaries to the bottom line of global giants such as Vodafone Plc, Standard Bank of South Africa, BAT Plc and Diageo Plc.

The multinational subsidiaries at the NSE have in recent years been among the most consistent dividend-paying firms, backed by strong fundamentals and mature business operations.

‘The higher dividend payouts are attributable to strong bottom-line performance as well as quality organic growth experienced in the year, save for select banks such as Stanbic and Standard Chartered Kenya, though they managed to utilise their reserves to pay dividends,’ said Melodie Ndanu, an analyst at Standard Investment Bank.

‘Most also had healthy cash balances, enabling them to increase payout ratios without straining working capital or near term capex plans.’

The companies with large foreign ownership have emerged as some of the biggest dollar buyers during their dividend season for onward payment to their external shareholders.

This has previously stoked dollar shortages and rationing due to increased demand.

The market is currently enjoying ample dollar liquidity, meaning that its purchases for repatriation are unlikely to hurt the shilling by draining dollar availability in the market.

A stable exchange rate over the past year also means that the multinationals will not experience exchange-related gains or losses when sending dividends to the offshore owners.

For a foreign investor, a weakening shilling means that they get fewer dollars when converting their cash for repatriating dividends or the proceeds of a share sale out of the country. On the other hand, a stronger shilling yields more dollars upon conversion, resulting in an exchange gain on dividends.

Safaricom, whose financial year closes at the end of March, made an interim dividend payment of Sh0.85 per share on March 31. The company raised the interim payout by 55 percent from Sh0.55 per share in 2025.

Vodacom Group and Vodafone, which own a combined 40 percent stake or 16 billion shares in the company, earned Sh13.6 billion from the 2026 interim distribution, compared to Sh8.8 billion a year earlier.

Safaricom has been splitting its annual dividend into two payments since 2021, partly to reduce its impact on the forex market when buying dollars to pay foreign investors due to its large payout amount. It usually makes its interim payout in March and a final distribution at the end of August.

The dividend paid by Equity Group to investment fund Arise BV, which holds a 12.76 percent stake in the lender (481.58 million shares), is expected to jump to Sh2.77 billion from Sh2.05 billion.

The bank enhanced its full-year dividend to Sh5.75 per share from Sh4.25 previously when it released its 2025 financial results last month. The payment date is subject to approval, with its books closing on May 22 for the dividend.

BAT Kenya, which is 60 percent majority-owned by UK multinational British American Tobacco Plc, increased its final dividend per share to Sh60 in 2025 from Sh45 a year earlier, raising its distribution to the parent by a third to Sh3.6 billion, from Sh2.7 billion. The dividend will be paid out on June 12.

Diageo is also set to bank an enhanced payout of Sh2.06 billion on April 30 from its 65 percent stake in EABL, which in January announced an interim dividend of Sh4 per share for the half year to December 2025.

In the corresponding period last year, the British firm earned a dividend of Sh1.29 billion, after EABL set an interim dividend of Sh2.50 per share for the half year to December 2024.

Diageo is in the process of offloading its entire EABL stake and a 53.68 percent holding in spirits producer and importer UDV Kenya to Japanese beverage maker Asahi Holdings for a total consideration of $3 billion (Sh387 billion).

Absa Bank Kenya raised its final dividend per share for the year ended December 2025 to Sh1.85 from Sh1.55 in 2024, resulting in a rise in its payout to its South African parent Absa Group (68.5 percent stake) from Sh5.77 billion to Sh6.88 billion. The bank will be making the final dividend payment on May 19.

UK lender Standard Chartered Plc, which holds a 73.89 percent stake in the Kenyan subsidiary, is earning Sh6.42 billion in final dividend next month, which, however, represents a decline from Sh10.33 billion last year after it cut the final payout to Sh27 per share from Sh37 previously.

StanChart had earlier paid an unchanged interim dividend of Sh8 per share in August 2025 for the half year to June 2025.

South Africa’s Standard Bank, the majority owner of Stanbic Kenya with a 74.9 percent stake, will bank a lower final dividend of Sh5.49 billion, compared to Sh5.6 billion in the corresponding period last year. The payment date for the dividend is yet to be approved by shareholders.

Stanbic set its final dividend at Sh18.55 per share, adding to the interim dividend of Sh3.80 per share in September 2025 that took the total distribution for 2025 to Sh22.35 a share.

In 2024, the bank paid shareholders Sh20.74 per share, comprising a final dividend of Sh18.90 and an interim payout of Sh1.84 per share.

Kenya is still reeling from a contested 60,000 metric tons of petrol that were imported outside the government-to-government (G-to-G) deal last month. The consignment was one of the two cargoes brought in to avert a shortage of petrol.

A directive by Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi for recalling of the product deepened the saga, with oil marketers saying the product is already mixed with previous stocks in the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) system, making it impossible to retrieve it.

Below is a step-by-step breakdown of how Kenya imports fuel and how it ends up at the retail outlets across the country.

Where does Kenya source fuel?

Kenya imports all grades of refined fuel (diesel, petrol and dual-purpose kerosene).

Much of the fuel has traditionally been sourced from ports in the Gulf and Red Sea regions and by major oil companies in the region such as Saudi Aramco.

But India, the ports of Antwerp in Belgium and the port of Amsterdam in the Netherlands have emerged as new loading zones in the wake of the Middle East war. The conflict, pitting US-Israel against Iran started in February this year and has since disrupted the movement of ships due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, where nearly a quarter of the global fuel passes.

Saudi Aramco, Emirates National Oil Company and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company are currently supplying Kenya with fuel on a credit period of 180 days. The deal, that started in March 2023 replaced the Open Tender System (OTS).

Under the G-to-G deal, the three Gulf oil majors handpicked a number of Kenya oil marketers including Gulf Energy, Oryx Energies and BE Energy to import the fuel. This is a contrast to the OTS where local oil companies competitively bid to import fuel, with the tender awarded to the firm that quoted the lowest prices.

How long does a ship take to deliver fuel at the port of Mombasa?

Ships that are loaded at ports like Jebel Ali in the Gulf region or Yanbu along the Red Sea take between 10-15 days to arrive at the port of Mombasa.

Ships from the Persian Gulf cross into the Arabian Sa via the Strait of Hormuz and continue along the East African coast to port of Mombasa. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted vessel movement along this route, forcing ships to turn to other routes.

Vessels loading at the port of Sikka in India take between 15-20 days to get to the Port of Mombasa. This is because the maritime route between the port of Sikka to Mombasa is longer than from the Persian Gulf to Mombasa.

What happens when a vessel carrying fuel arrives at the port of Mombasa?

The fuel is subjected to tests to establish whether it meets the specifications for the Kenyan market. If the fuel is compliant, then it is discharged into tanks that separately hold petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel.

Fuel consignment which is off-spec but can be corrected is separately discharged into holding tanks from where it is corrected before being mixed with the rest.

However, if the consignment is completely off-spec and cannot be corrected, then it is rejected and ordered outside Kenya. The importing company found guilty is penalised, including suspension from importing fuel.

How is fuel transferred from vessels upon arrival at the port of Mombasa?

When a vessel docks the port of Mombasa, the product is primarily received through the Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) II jetty and then discharged into bulk tanks at Kipevu Oil Storage Facilities, Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL) or terminals that are privately owned.

Vitol Tank Terminals Limited and One Petroleum own private terminals with capacities of 111,057 cubic metres and 36,000 cubic metres respectively.

How does the discharge happen?

Fuel is separately pumped from vessels to the separate storage tanks based on the grade (petrol, diesel and dual-purpose kerosene).

However, dual-purpose kerosene meant for the aviation sector is separately stored from the one meant for cooking or lighting by homes.

How is fuel pumped from the port of Mombasa?

KPC has a single pipeline to pump fuel from the storage facilities at the port of Mombasa to the depot spread across the country.

The fuel is pumped in a sequence with diesel going in first followed by dual-purpose kerosene and then petrol. Dual-purpose kerosene acts as a cleaning agent to avoid contamination of petrol in the pipeline.

However, this sequence can be altered depending on which fuel grade needs urgent replenishing.

How do OMCs get fuel to their private depots?

A few OMCs have private depots where they store fuel for their retail outlets. The OMCs can either truck fuel from the port of Mombasa to these depots or rely on the pipeline to get the product to these tanks and ultimately to their retail outlets.

For example, Vivo Energy has bulk storage facilities in Nairobi, Mombasa and Nanyuki. It has tanks at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Wilson Airport, Mombasa International Airport and Malindi Airport to store dual-purpose kerosene (aviation fuel).

Truck loading happens at KPC’s terminals and depots at Moi International Airport, Embakasi, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu and KPRL.

How big is the KPC network?

KPC’s unidirectional pipeline spans 1,342 kilometres pumping of fuel from the receiving tanks at the port of Mombasa to depots in Mombasa, Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu and private bulk storage facilities.

Additionally, there are 11 pump stations from Mombasa through Konza to Nairobi to bolster pressure and ensure seamless pumping of fuel.

KPC’s active storage owned/managed tanks have a capacity of 1,138,324 cubic metres (1.138 billion litres).

How many depots does KPC have and what is their capacity?

KPC’s depots have a combined capacity of 884,000 cubic metres (884 million litres) ensuring sufficient storage of fuel for the local and regional (transit markets).

These are the KPRL, Moi International Airport, KOSF (all in Mombasa), Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and PS10 (both in Nairobi), Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu.

The biggest depot is the KOSF terminal which has a capacity of 326 million litres.

The Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA) is perhaps being mistakenly overzealous and narrow-minded in pursuit of its mandate.

Its recent decision to revoke the accreditation of the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) and declare the papers the college issued since 2018 invalid is overly excessive. The regulator appears to be using a sledge hammer to kill a mosquito.

To begin with, KIM has been training and offering qualifications since 1954. The college was set up as a membership-based professional body to promote excellence in management, to professionalise management, and to build capacity in management.

This mandate is very closely linked to training. Obviously, you cannot train and fail to assess and issue certificates, which KIM did from 1954 to 2018.

It is unbelievable that an institution could award credible qualifications for 72 years, only for certifications issued under the same mandate and method to be invalidated just because a bureaucratic body has been set up and wants to charge regulation fees to approve the same training.

KIM was not the only professional body in Kenya training and issuing certificates and other qualifications. Similar professional bodies included Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) and International Centre for Public Speaking.

The difference between KIM, ICPAK and others is that KIM forgot to protect itself by lobbying for a new law to approve its existing legal work unless one argues that it was operating illegally all these years.

By the time TVETA came into being, the accountants, public secretaries, and others had already moved to get themselves established by their respective statutes. Even our own PR profession has sought its own protective law.

Perhaps out of ignorance or mistaken believe that its long history protected it from the wiles and whimsies of a radicalised new-fangled regulator, KIM missed the boat on this one and did not seek a statute to protect it.

Perhaps KIM thought it was covered by its move to start a university or became too engrossed in the affairs of running the university to protect its middle-level and professional training programmes.

But what is the difference between a professional body that was previously training and offering qualifications when it becomes enveloped by a new statute and one that is not? Does quality of training differ just because a law has been made establishing an institution?

What is the role of tradition and convention in training? Are traditions and convention automatically invalidated when statutes become a fad? Are we, therefore, to expect the invalidation of all prior Bukusu initiation training if and when a circumcision statute is enacted?

Clearly, Oscar Wilde was right when he wrote that bureaucracy expands in order to meet the needs of expanding bureaucracy.

Nothing illustrates Wilde’s quip better than the reasons given by TVETA for the revocation KIM’s accreditation.

According to the regulator, KIM had expanded beyond its mandate by offering its own “internal” academic and professional programs without specific authorisation.

The institution was accused of running courses that had not been vetted or approved by the regulator, which the regulator says is a violation of Section 17(3) of the TVET Act.

Finally, KIM was accused of hiring Unlicensed Trainers, meaning instructors who did not possess valid training licenses from TVETA. Here, the operative word is ‘unlicensed,’ which means that although the trainers might hold higher qualifications, including experience as managers, it all counts for nothing. Only a TVETA license matters.

Which raises the question: If a someone returns from Uganda with a management qualification that was not awarded with the participation of TVETA-licensed trainers, would that person be deemed to be qualified for purposes of practicing as a manager in this Kenya?

This narrowness of mind, the idea that only qualifications attained under the supervision of people trained and certified in Kenya, is a great impediment to the development of this country.

And there appears to be people who specialise in this useless gatekeeping, or turf protection, perhaps because of an inferiority complex.

The simple thing would have been to advice KIM to seek its own statute for the regulation of the Management profession, including training, like the accountants, secretaries, lawyers, journalists, and others have done, and to set a legal sunset clause by when the statute should be made.

A ministry like that of Public Service or even the State Law Office could draft the bill if KIM has no capacity to do so, which is doubtful. The idea is for the whole of government to be facilitative, not obstructionist.

In the British tradition, from which we have borrowed heavily and which inspired the establishment of the KIM, professions were always given the leeway to train and award their own qualifications.

That is how institutions such as Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Management Institute (CMI), Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX), Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), survived.

Even when the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (called Ofqual), the qualification authority was set up, the professional training organisations were not disbanded or frustrated. They were allowed to co-exist alongside universities and colleges and to continue with their training, with the new regulator advising and nudging them to adopt self-regulated standardisation.

The confusion in Kenya is more expansive considering the following. The status of specialised government training institutes in Kenya often creates confusion because many of them operate under their own specific Acts of Parliament rather than the general TVET Act of 2013.

While most are “recognised” within the national education framework, their primary regulator is often a sector-specific ministry or board rather than TVETA.

TVET-level institutions such as KMTC, Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KESRA), CBK’s Institute of Monetary Studies (IMS), formerly the Kenya Institute of Monetary Studies; The NYS Engineering Institute and the KIMC, etc., are autonomous institutions that TVETA cannot wag its finger at.

The situation obtaining is not unlike what is happening in geopolitics. Unable to attack fellow superpowers, an aggrieved or aggressive superpower picks on small a state to demonstrate its military biceps.

TVETA, which has to be seen to be working, is partly attacking KIM because it cannot attack KMTC.