Category: Business Daily

Real estate firm Sameer Africa has attributed the delayed completion of the sale of a 3.75-acre parcel of land, first earmarked for disposal four years ago, to financial challenges facing the buyer.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm put the land, valued at Sh919 million, up for sale in 2022 after disclosing that it had secured a buyer. However, the company has continued to classify the transaction as ongoing in subsequent annual reports, setting multiple completion timelines that have lapsed without the deal being finalised.

The company has now set the end of this month as the completion date, marking the fourth self-imposed deadline. The firm’s tyre manufacturing and distribution business collapsed, leaving real estate as its main source of revenue.

Sameer disclosed that it is charging interest on the outstanding balance owed by the buyer. The delay has also denied the company foreign exchange gains associated with the dollar-denominated transaction.

‘The agreement for sale was mutually extended with appropriate compensation through interest to be levied on the balance of the consideration,’ said John Mugo, Sameer Africa’s chief executive.

Buyer challenges

The company has received cumulative deposits of Sh461 million from the buyer, indicating that it has already received about half of the expected proceeds from the transaction.

Sameer said it denominated the transaction in US dollars because a majority of its revenues are earned in the currency. However, the strengthening and stabilisation of the shilling against the dollar has reduced the value of the land in local currency terms.

The transaction, valued at $7.12 million, was worth Sh1.1 billion in 2023 when the shilling weakened to Sh157.4 against the dollar. That valuation was Sh181 million higher than the current value.

Sameer had earmarked the land sale to repay loans and reduce financing costs. Its finance costs fell to Sh3.2 million in 2025 from Sh130.3 million in 2024 after it repaid loans worth Sh540.6 million using proceeds from the land sale deposit.

Forex impact

Sameer had initially attributed the delay in completing the transaction to administrative bottlenecks at the government land registry arising from the migration of title documents to the digitised National Land Information Management System (Ardhisasa).

The company sits on substantial land holdings acquired decades ago that have appreciated significantly in value over time. Despite this, it has generally been reluctant to dispose of the assets. The ongoing transaction will be its first major land sale in recent years.

The company does not disclose the size of its freehold land holdings. However, sources have previously estimated that it owns about 85 acres in Nairobi’s Embakasi area, with its properties carried at a fair value of Sh8.9 billion.

The value of the properties is more than double the company’s market capitalisation of Sh4.08 billion at the close of trading on Thursday, when its share price settled at Sh14.65. The stock has more than quadrupled in value over the past year.

Government-owned Consolidated Bank of Kenya returned to profitability last year in the middle of a boardroom spat that triggered the ouster of the CEO and some directors.

The Business Daily sat down with the bank’s acting CEO, Dr Dominic Murage, on his entry in the C-suite from academia, the turnaround of the State-owned lender and the push to join politics.

What challenges have you experienced shifting from academia to the C-Suite?

I can see I have fitted in very well. I’m not feeling out of place. Maybe if I were doing something not finance-related, then I would struggle a bit, like if you put me in an engineering firm.

At this level, what you require is leadership skills more than anything else. In every unit, in every department, there are technical people to execute operational requirements.

So, as much as you must be able to appreciate the technical bit, what is more critical is your leadership skills. How are you able to tap the knowledge of the technical persons in each department and motivate them toward the organisation’s goal? So long as the team is strong, you can achieve.

You don’t have any banking experience. What gives you confidence that you are the right person to lead the bank?

I am a very aggressive person, and I will give an example. For many years, our shareholder, the government, has been promising to inject additional capital into the bank, but it hasn’t.

When I came in, I went to the Treasury and showed them why they needed to invest in the bank. If we make profits, we will pay them dividends, so it is like they are extending a loan for a short while.

I can also assure you that since the staff heard that the government is injecting additional capital, it has changed the attitude in the workplace, so there is more hunger to grow the business.

That aggressiveness and hunger to perform are crucial.

Other than just lecturing, I’ve been an accountant for many years. I started as an administrator in the university before actually taking a pay cut so as to shift and go into lecturing, where I started as a tutorial fellow.

I am also a tax practitioner with an audit firm. So I am not just a financial scholar but a financial practitioner, and I had consulted on banking even before joining, so I knew the ropes.

Consolidated Bank has been operating with capital below the minimum regulatory levels. What confidence does the public have when depositing money with you?

We are the only fully government-owned bank in Kenya, so you can take confidence in the fact that your money is safe because we are giving it to the government. You buy government securities on the faith that the government cannot default – that surety is the same here.

There’s no difference. The person backing the Treasury bond and the person backing this bank is the same person.

And if you look at the history of this bank, it was formed to salvage nine private banks that were collapsing in 1989.

They stepped in when they were not the owners and paid the depositors because they saw the impact a collapse would have. Today, they are the owners, so why should somebody be scared?

You and a large number of your colleagues in the C-suite are serving in an acting capacity. How does this affect your operations?

Yes, that’s true, and I’m pushing to reverse that situation in the case of my colleagues. We have started putting them in substantive positions, like the head of finance and risk, who have been confirmed.

If you have a staff member who is not sure whether they’ll be confirmed or not, and they have been in that position for a long time, then they are not happy. So together with the board, we are doing what is necessary to confirm them.

And when you have been acting for a long time, you have already grown into the job, and to be sincere, we have good, qualified staff who are up to the task.

For me, the issue is not being confirmed, but to create an impact – I was called to step in when the bank did not have a captain. My confirmation is not a call for me to make.

There are those who will say you are a political appointee, given that you had expressed political ambitions before you came here. Are you comfortable with this position?

I see myself as a professional, as a scholar, more than a politician. If you look at my life, I’m a leader. If you look at my journey all along, I have been a leader right from primary school.

When people identify your leadership, they seek you out, and that is the case in politics and in corporations.

You got a letter from the Treasury asking government institutions to bank with you. Do you need a government memo to grow business?

Even before we got the letter, we were already knocking on doors looking for business, not just deposits. And we are going with value propositions, so even before we say we have the Treasury backing, we have shown you the value of banking with us.

I believe that being a government bank is our competitive advantage – that is, the one thing we have that other banks don’t have.

There is no harm in playing to our advantage, so we won’t shy away from it because the government is a good customer.

Consolidated Bank turned profitable last year after a decade of loss-making. How do you intend to keep on the profitability path?

When you look at our fundamentals in terms of key performance indicators like deposit and loans uptake, they are all looking up, so we expect to exceed last year’s performance.

In the three months to March, we posted a profit of Sh92 million compared to last year when we had a loss in the first quarter before closing the year profitable.

We expect the trend to continue and record growth.

The government has moved to the Court of Appeal seeking to lift orders that froze the sale of a 15 percent stake in Safaricom Plc to the parent firm, Vodacom Group Limited, warning that the delay threatens a multi-billion-shilling transaction and could undermine investor confidence.

Attorney General reckons that the orders have effectively stalled a live, time-sensitive and market-facing transaction, preventing the government from closing the deal the sale.

Vodacom had readied to wire the billions of shillings to Kenya in anticipation that the High Court on May 18 would lift a freeze on the deal.

The deal has dragged on, putting the State in line to receive a Sh16 billion dividend from the 15 percent stake if Kenya remains with full ownership of 35 percent into August.

The application to lift the orders is scheduled for hearing on June 29, the same day the main suit is set to be heard before the High Court.

In court papers filed through principal State counsel Christopher Marwa, the Attorney-General argues that the intended appeal is arguable and has a high chance of success.

‘The intended appeal is arguable. Among other grounds, the applicants contend that the High Court misapplied the threshold for conservatory relief and fell into internal inconsistency by finding that the transaction had not been completed, that no contract had been executed, and that the substratum remained intact and capable of preservation, yet still holding that the petition would be rendered nugatory absent a conservatory restraint,’ the Attorney-General states.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi supported the application, warning that the continued suspension of the transaction could have far-reaching economic consequences.

The High Court on May 18 suspended the proposed sale of the Treasury’s stake to Safaricom’s parent company, Vodacom Group Limited, pending the hearing and determination of a petition filed by activist Tony Gachoka and three others.

A joint parliamentary committee had approved the sale, paving the way for the conclusion of the transaction before the litigants struck.

Under the deal, the National Treasury is to receive Sh204.3 billion for the 15 percent stake, representing a price of Sh34 per share. The Exchequer is also to receive a Sh40.2 billion dividend top-up, representing a loan backed by what will be Kenya’s remaining 20 percent stake in Safaricom.

The delayed sale, which had been expected to close before March 2026, will see the Treasury collect Sh16.1 billion, representing its share of final dividends from its current 35 percent stake when book closure happens on August 4, if the transaction remains on pause. Vodacom has insisted that the completion of the stake purchase fully rests in the court decision.

Concurrent to the purchase of the 15 percent stake from the government, Vodacom is also buying a five percent stake in Safaricom that is held by its parent firm, Vodafone Group, at the same price of Sh34 per share. Once the twin deals are sealed, Vodacom will raise its ownership in the telco to 55 percent, attaining majority control.

Mr Mbadi says the orders have disrupted fiscal planning, created uncertainty around a market-sensitive transaction involving a listed company, interfered with regulatory processes and risk eroding investor confidence.

According to the Treasury CS, the funds were earmarked for the National Infrastructure Fund, budgetary support, fiscal-stability programmes and long-term national savings. He further argues that the anticipated foreign investment inflow would boost external liquidity and support the country’s foreign exchange position.

‘There is further a real commercial risk that prolonged restraint may cause the proposed purchaser to reconsider, re-price or abandon the transaction altogether,’ Mr Mbadi says.

He argues that the court order has frozen not just a commercial deal but a broader revenue-generation and asset-reallocation programme intended to finance roads, energy projects, digital infrastructure and other key development initiatives.

Mr Mbadi warns that prolonged uncertainty of this magnitude could prompt the investor to walk away or demand revised terms, consequences he says would not be easily remedied even if the government ultimately succeeds on appeal.

‘The resulting prejudice extends to fiscal planning, debt-management options, capital-market confidence, regulatory sequencing and the wider economy,” he says.

Mr Gachoka, however, has opposed the application, insisting that the government has failed to demonstrate any specific harm that cannot be addressed once the constitutional petition is heard and determined.

‘The public interest favours the preservation of the status quo pending determination of serious constitutional and public-law questions concerning the intended disposal of a significant public asset,” he says.

Businesses in Kenya shed jobs in May for the first time in 15 months as weakening customer demand and rising operating costs forced firms to lay off workers, signalling fresh strains within the private sector.

Stanbic Bank Kenya’s monthly purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the private sector shows that companies scaled back staffing after a prolonged hiring streak, a shift in labour market trends that had remained resilient through much of the past year.

The slowdown points to growing caution among employers as sales weaken, while operating expenses rise sharply, raising concerns that businesses may increasingly prioritise cost controls over workforce expansion in the coming months.

‘Private sector businesses in Kenya signalled a renewed decline in staff numbers during May, ending 15 months of continuous job creation. Panelists reported that the fall often reflected reductions in temporary contract staff,’ the survey noted.

The employment decline came as overall business conditions deteriorated further, with the headline PMI remaining below the 50-point growth threshold for a third consecutive month, reflecting a continued contraction in private sector activity.

The index stood at 46.6 in May, having dipped from the 49.4 recorded in April. New orders placed with firms in Kenya fell for the third month running, and at the sharpest pace since July last year as firms confronted softer customer demand amid tighter household budgets.

Output levels also declined for a third straight month, highlighting the extent to which weaker demand is filtering through to actual production and service delivery across large sections of the economy.

The latest findings suggest businesses are increasingly facing a difficult combination of slower sales growth and rising expenses, a dynamic that typically weighs on hiring decisions and investment plans.

Many firms reported that higher costs continued to erode purchasing power among consumers, reducing spending on goods and services and contributing to a more cautious business environment.

Overall business costs accelerated for a third consecutive month and reached their highest level in two-and-a-half years, intensifying pressure on company profit margins.

The survey showed purchase price inflation rose to its highest level since November 2023, with businesses citing increases in food, fuel and transportation costs among the key drivers of inflation.

‘Consumer resistance to spend, alongside rising costs, contributed to contractions in new orders and output. These declines may stem from the week-long disruption to business activity because of nationwide protests by transportation sector players that constrained movement,’ said Christopher Legilisho, economist at Standard Bank.

‘Inflationary pressures have intensified, constraining demand conditions, with input prices, purchase costs and output prices driven up by higher fuel and transportation costs.’

Kenya’s annual inflation rate rose sharply to 6.7 percent in May, up from 5.6 percent in April.

This marked the highest inflation level recorded since January 2024, mainly driven by surging transportation costs, increased food prices, and higher utility and fuel expenses. Respondents also linked part of the cost pressure to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which has heightened concerns about global energy markets and international supply chains.

The cost increases were broad-based, affecting all major sectors covered by the survey, with construction firms recording the strongest inflationary pressures followed by wholesale and retail businesses.

Despite rising operating expenses, wage costs remained largely stable, indicating many firms chose to limit salary adjustments even as broader inflationary pressures intensified.

The survey showed that 99 percent of participating businesses reported no change in staff costs during May, underscoring employer caution amid deteriorating trading conditions.

The slowdown in demand has also created spare operating capacity across parts of the private sector economy, with firms reporting a further reduction in outstanding workloads during the month.

Falling backlogs often signal that companies are processing existing work faster than they are receiving new orders, a trend that could eventually translate into slower recruitment or further workforce reductions.

Even with the difficult operating environment, businesses remained optimistic about the future, with confidence levels rising to their highest point since February 2023.

Companies expressed expectations of stronger activity over the coming year, supported by planned investments in advertising, market expansion, product diversification and digital sales channels.

A well-placed source recently told me that the government is at an advanced stage of considering plans to launch gold monetisation. Under the proposal, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) would buy locally mined gold using Kenya shillings and convert it into part of the country’s official reserves.

Kenya has healthy foreign exchange reserves, estimated at $14 billion – approximately six months of import cover and well above the statutory limit. Projections indicate that after the Safaricom partial privatisation, Kenya’s reserve position will hit $15 billion.

That CBK has maintained a robust foreign exchange reserve position sitting alongside an incredibly tight, highly strained domestic fiscal space; characterised by compressed revenue mobilisation, rigid debt-servicing schedules and high expenditure demands. It remains the biggest paradox in Kenya’s macroeconomic landscape.

While our government scrambles to accumulate foreign exchange reserves – borrowing dollars, courting remittances and praying that commodity prices behave – gold is being mined in Migori, Kakamega, West Pokot and Siaya, refined abroad and added to someone else’s national balance sheet.

Kenya’s foreign reserves are held almost entirely in dollars and other currencies. On the surface, this seems sensible. Dollars are universally accepted and reserves denominated in them offer liquidity. But this logic has a hidden cost that our policymakers have been too polite to name.

Every shilling the CBK spends to buy dollars eventually leaves the country through import payments and external debt service. We accumulate reserves by earning or borrowing foreign currency, a process that keeps us dependent on conditions we cannot control.

When the US Federal Reserve raises interest rates, our cost of borrowing rises. When the dollar strengthens, our shilling weakens and our import bill swells. When global risk appetite falls, capital leaves. We have built our monetary sovereignty on a foundation we do not own.

Kenya, unlike many countries, has a solution. The US holds over 8,000 tonnes of gold, more than any nation on earth. China has been accumulating gold reserves for a decade. Russia shifted to gold after Western sanctions threatened its dollar holdings.

Turkiye increased its reserves by more than 500 tonnes in five years. Germany, Italy and France each hold thousands of tonnes. Most recently, Ghana launched a domestic gold purchase programme to build reserves without drawing on scarce foreign exchange.

These governments have done the arithmetic on reserve diversification and concluded that gold – which cannot be sanctioned – cannot be inflated away by a foreign central bank, and is accepted everywhere on earth.

What makes Kenya’s situation compelling is that we do not need to buy gold from abroad. Gold-bearing geology runs through several counties. Kenya’s artisanal and small-scale mining sector is estimated to produce hundreds of kilos annually. Most of this is exported informally, often below market value, and none appears on the national balance sheet.

Miners extract wealth from Kenyan ground. That wealth is exported and refined in Dubai, Antwerp or London then traded on global markets. The value chain from Kenyan earth to international vaults passes almost entirely outside Kenya’s economy.

A CBK gold purchase would change this. Kenyan miners would have a guaranteed buyer: the CBK itself, purchasing at transparent, market-linked prices using shillings.

The shillings would remain in Kenya – paid to miners and circulating through the domestic economy – while the gold sits on our national balance sheet as a reserve asset.

Artisanal gold mining operates largely outside formal systems. Miners lack access to credit, face unsafe conditions, get unfair prices and contribute little to the tax base. A CBK purchase, with traceability and certification requirements, would create the infrastructure to formalise the sector. It would establish assaying centres, licensed buying agents, strengthen cooperatives and eventually a refinery that processes Kenyan gold on Kenyan soil.

The global monetary order is, gradually but unmistakably, diversifying from exclusive dollar dependence. Kenya can either position itself to gain from the shift or remain on the wrong side of it.

A court has sided with a former junior customs officer who was dismissed by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) over a botched car auction, despite internal evidence placing responsibility on a senior manager.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court found that KRA unfairly dismissed Collins Bosire over the auction of an uninspected motor vehicle, even though he was not responsible for the error.

The dispute dates back to the auction of a Volkswagen Passat at the Kilindini Customs Warehouse in Mombasa in June 2016.

The vehicle was sold to a bidder for Sh1.1 million during a public auction. However, the buyer later discovered that it could not be registered because it had not been inspected and cleared by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) before the sale.

The buyer subsequently lodged complaints and pursued legal action against KRA after Kebs declined to issue a certificate of roadworthiness.

Blame game

Investigations by KRA’s Intelligence and Strategic Operations Department eventually focused on Mr Bosire, who at the time served as a warehouse keeper.

The agency accused him of negligently including the vehicle in an auction list without obtaining the mandatory Kebs clearance. He was later dismissed in July 2021 for negligence and gross misconduct.

However, evidence presented in court painted a different picture of how the auction process worked and who was responsible for approving vehicles for sale.

Mr Bosire told the court that his role was limited to preparing an initial list of vehicles that had overstayed in the customs warehouse.

He said the final auction list was prepared and reviewed by the warehouse manager together with appointed auctioneers before vehicles could be offered for sale.

Court records show that KRA’s own witnesses largely supported that position.

The agency’s human resources witness admitted that Mr Bosire’s decisions were not final and that responsibility for the auction list rested with the warehouse manager.

The witness also confirmed that Pamela Ahogo, then acting Commissioner for Customs and Border Control, had formally recommended that disciplinary proceedings against Mr Bosire be dropped.

In an internal memorandum dated November 13, 2020, Ms Ahogo stated that warehouse procedures required the final auction list to be reviewed by the warehouse manager to ensure vehicles had been cleared by Kebs before auction.

‘We therefore recommend that disciplinary action against Mr Collins Bosire be dropped, given that the accuracy of the auction list prior to offer is the responsibility of the Warehouse Manager,’ she wrote.

Court findings

Another KRA witness, investigator Dominic Mwebia, acknowledged that statements obtained during investigations pointed to the warehouse manager as the officer responsible for reviewing the final auction list.

The court heard that Paul Boiyo, who headed the customs warehouse, told investigators that reviews and approvals were not the responsibility of the warehouse keeper.

Despite those findings, KRA proceeded with disciplinary action against Mr Bosire.

The warehouse manager identified in the proceedings was never subjected to disciplinary action and later retired from the organisation.

The court found that KRA had failed to explain why it ignored recommendations from the senior official directly responsible for customs operations.

‘The Commissioner was not a peripheral actor in the respondent’s disciplinary architecture,’ the judge said.

‘Her considered recommendation that the disciplinary process against the claimant be discontinued, on the clear basis that the matters complained of did not fall within his mandate or responsibility, was therefore a material and weighty matter that could not lawfully or reasonably be brushed aside.’

The court further found that KRA failed to demonstrate that its disciplinary panel properly considered Mr Bosire’s defence before dismissing him.

A key factor in the ruling was KRA’s failure to produce minutes of the disciplinary proceedings.

Without the minutes, the court said, there was no objective evidence showing that the panel considered Mr Bosire’s explanations, the customs commissioner’s recommendation or other exculpatory material.

‘The respondent’s conduct, in my view, betrayed an apparent determination to sanction the claimant irrespective of the operational realities placed before it by its senior officers,’ the court said.

‘To proceed with disciplinary action in complete disregard of that recommendation, and without demonstrating any rational basis for departing from it, rendered the process arbitrary, predetermined, and manifestly unfair.’

The court concluded that the dismissal was both procedurally and substantively unfair.

Mr Bosire sought Sh153 million from KRA, including Sh148.2 million in projected future earnings, arguing that the dismissal had destroyed his prospects of advancing to senior positions within the tax agency.

However, the court dismissed his claims for discrimination and future earnings, finding that he had not provided sufficient evidence to support them. Instead, the judge awarded him Sh3 million, equivalent to 12 months’ gross salary, together with costs of the suit and interest.

Agricultural firm Sasini has terminated the planned sale of its coffee estate in Kiambu County for Sh7.9 billion after the buyer failed to meet its contractual obligations.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm says the sale of Gulmarg Division in Mweiga Estates Limited has been cancelled and the asset has ceased to be classified as one held for sale in the company’s financial statements.

‘We also wish to notify all stakeholders that the sale transaction in respect of Gulmarg Estate, previously classified as an asset held for sale, has been formally terminated,’ the company said in a statement accompanying its results for the half year ended March.

‘The termination arose because of the purchaser’s failure to fulfil key contractual obligations by the stipulated due dates. The Gulmarg Estate will accordingly revert to operational use and will no longer be classified as an asset held for sale in the company’s financial statements.’

On September 17, 2025 Sasini agreed to sell the Gulmarg Division in Mweiga Estates Ltd, which has a carrying value of Sh3.7 billion, and classified the asset as ‘current assets held for sale.’

The transaction would have resulted in substantial profit in the form of capital gains. Sasini has over the years disposed of divisions and non-core properties, including its former building on Nairobi’s Loita Street, which it sold for more than Sh600 million in 2015.

In the same year (2015) it sold 513.7 acres of its leasehold land in Nyeri for Sh1 billion. The land housed its two coffee estates in Nyeri, which it said had been running losses for years.

Gulmarg Division had a net profit of Sh10.6 million in the year ended September 2025 helped by growth in the value of its plantations. The division had posted a net loss of Sh6.3 million the year before.

While the value of the land held by Sasini continues to grow the company keeps swinging from profit to losses in line with cycles in the commodities they grow and sell including coffee, tea and macadamia.

In the six months to March, higher costs saw the firm report a larger net loss of Sh170.8 million, compared to a net loss of Sh113 million a year earlier.

Sales rose to Sh3.01 billion from Sh2.96 billion. The loss was attributed to a complex operating landscape characterised by adverse weather, geopolitical tensions and rising logistics costs caused by the Middle East conflict, which pressured production volumes and export efficiency.

‘While our coffee segment remained a standout performer with resilient pricing, the tea industry faced significant headwinds, including depressed prices at the Mombasa Auction due to global oversupply,’ the company says.

‘Although the Kenyan shilling remained stable, bolstered by tourism and diaspora inflows, inflation and logistics hurdles continue to strain the export outlook.’

Sasini disclosed in March this year that the company is scouting for new markets for its avocados and macadamia nuts in China and India, as its fruit exports to the traditional markets in Europe and the US face headwinds while the Middle East crisis escalates.

The firm said moving produce through Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz has proved difficult because of the volatile security situation, while navigating around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa is longer and twice as expensive, making its exports uncompetitive in their final destinations – Europe and the US.

The company mainly exports coffee, tea, avocados and macadamia to markets across Africa, Asia (Japan and Korea), Europe, and North America (Canada and the US).

However, the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, which began on February 28, have adversely impacted the security situation in the Middle East, which plays a critical role in the global transportation ecosystem.

At 87, Geraldine Robarts is perhaps the oldest living visual artist in Kenya. But her paintbrush isn’t drying up any time soon.

This weekend, some of her works will be showcased at the African Design Collective pop-up exhibition at 34 Ngara Road Nairobi, the continuation of an artistic journey that is a decade shy of a century.

She comes from a strong lineage of artists and has painted since she was two years old.

Art was embedded in Geraldine’s DNA from an early age. Surrounded by paints and colour, she grew up seeing creativity not merely as a practice but as a language of self-expression. Today, she believes visual artists owe it to themselves and their craft to tell their own stories.

‘Art is my way of expressing myself, and that is the whole point. Only I can tell my story. As an old artist, I get very worried when I see people taking photographs on their phones and copying the pictures on canvas.

‘Skill is very important, but it is not art. Many young people today have very good eye-hand coordination, but a lot of them copy everything from their phones. In art, self-expression is more important than the skill itself.

‘As artists, we tell our own stories, so the story must be unique. Art is similar to singing, writing or dancing. It has to come from the soul. Art is a language and a passion, and the courage to create something new is what matters.’

The trainer

Her journey begins in Uganda in 1964 where she had come because of her Bahai faith. Her work involved moving to the villages teaching women groups how to do tie and dye, make candles and bake bread, arts which she had taught herself. She did this across Kenya and Uganda until 2016, driven by her love for the women she worked with.

‘In the early 70s when I came to Kenya, I knew of about five artists. Three of them owned the Watatu Gallery in Nairobi. The late Margaretta wa Gacheru came in 1974 and she started highlighting the stories of artists.

‘By then I was teaching at Kenyatta University and being paid Sh15,000 most of which went into buying painting materials for my students because the university had such a miserable budget for the arts department. I think I have taught over 10,000 students who are scattered all over the world.’

Geraldine’s longevity in the craft is largely driven by a spirit that does not frazzle from creating.

‘It never gets tiring. I am always happy to be in my studio even after 45 years of teaching. To be alone in my studio is just heaven, I don’t get tired in heaven because I love what I do. Inside each of us is something different and it doesn’t matter how one paints it. What is important is sharing one’s unique story.’

Matter of the soul

At 87, Geraldine did not expect to have any more shows until she was approached by organisers of the African Design Pop Up Art show who picked some paintings from her collection (which has about 3,000 paintings) some dating back to 20 years ago and others as recent as this year.

Her more recent paintings are outlooks of her garden from her studio. They are expressive vistas of bright shades of colour with just the right balance of stroke work. They bear the playful dalliance of an experienced artist who takes the work as play and vividly, one gets the feeling of staring at a master expressionist at play.

‘Possibly we might be on the brink of a third world war which means that death and destruction are not so far off, but it also means we are nearing rebirth, renewal and a new beginning. Things are changing so fast, for the better. The destruction will also be a cleanup of people’s hearts and minds, which will hopefully help all of us establish better values.’

So, what makes a good artist?

‘Tell your own story. I have taught students who have come from places like Mathare and Kibera to showcase in the Venice Biennale. They are scattered all over the world because they focused on telling their own stories.

‘My studio is what church is for other people. It is my prayer room. Through painting, the world comes together for me. I love it when people discover something about themselves through my paintings. If I had something to tell every visual artist, I would tell them art is a matter of the soul and that each one of them has a really beautiful story to tell.’

The High Court has temporarily blocked Absa Bank Kenya from auctioning a set of commercial properties tied to a Sh80 million loan due in 2039 after the borrower missed a single payment instalment.

The dispute pits a borrower’s expectation that a long-term credit facility should continue running against a bank’s contractual right to demand immediate repayment after a monthly default.

John Maina Kinyua has sued Absa after the lender initiated the sale of two properties in Sigona, Kiambu County, charged as security for the long-term advance.

The rental properties, Sigona/1294 and Sigona/2103, were charged to the bank in September 2024 to secure a Sh80 million loan repayable through 180 monthly instalments.

Under the agreement, the facility was due to mature in July 2039. But the relationship soured after Mr Kinyua allegedly missed a monthly instalment of Sh180,000 in April 2025, prompting Absa to demand immediate repayment of the entire Sh79.9 million outstanding amount. He questions the bank’s move to recall the loan because of a single default.

The borrower argues that despite the relatively small default compared to the outstanding Sh80 million facility, Absa moved to recall the entire loan and initiate recovery proceedings.

Absa issued a 90-day statutory notice on May 12, 2025. The notice demanded immediate payment of the entire loan balance of Sh79.9 million.

The bank later issued a 40-day notice to sell on September 3, 2025, demanding Sh79.8 million and paving the way for a public auction.

Mr Kinyua challenged the move, arguing that the bank had unlawfully accelerated the facility and sought to recover the entire loan despite the facility having about 14 years left before maturity. He told the court that the lender had collapsed a 15-year facility barely a year after it was advanced.

The borrower argued that the charge document required a specific event of default to be declared and a prior demand for arrears issued before the entire loan could be recalled.

He further maintained that he had cleared the arrears within the statutory notice period and that the loan account had been regularised.

According to court filings, bank statements produced by Absa showed that by September 24, 2025, the arrears had been reduced to zero.

‘The applicant had fully regularised the account, reducing the arrears to zero,’ the court noted after reviewing the statements.

Mr Kinyua argued that the intended sale was therefore ‘malicious, premature, and an abuse of the statutory power of sale.’

Absa opposed the application, insisting that the borrower had defaulted on his repayment obligations for several months, including February and April 2025.

The lender argued that the charge instrument gave it the right to recall the entire outstanding balance immediately upon default.

The bank maintained that because Mr Kinyua failed to pay the recalled principal sum within the statutory timelines, it was entitled to proceed with the realisation of the charged properties.

Absa urged the court not to interfere with what it described as a commercial contract voluntarily entered into by both parties.

But the court found that the borrower had raised serious questions about the legality of the recovery process.

The judge said the bank’s own records showed that the arrears had been cleared.

‘The respondent cannot disown its own entries,’ the court said. It added that seeking to sell property worth millions after the underlying arrears had been fully cured raised ‘a monumental triable issue.’

‘A premature, accelerated foreclosure on a performing, fully regularised loan presents a formidable prima facie case with a high probability of success,’ the judge ruled.

The court also accepted the borrower’s argument that the properties were income-generating assets whose sale could trigger loss of tenants and disrupt rental income used to service the facility.

It stopped the planned sale and barred the bank from interfering with the properties pending determination of the suit.

The parties were directed to complete pre-trial procedures within 14 days to pave the way for an expedited hearing of the dispute.

The Finance Bill 2026 has ignited intense public debate, reflecting the growing tension between the revenue needs of the government and the economic realities of citizens and businesses.

Coming at a time families are grappling with high living costs, joblessness and reduced purchasing power, the Bill has attracted support and criticism.

While the government views the proposals as necessary for strengthening fiscal stability, many Kenyans perceive them as an additional burden on a strained economy.

The central issue of the controversy is the government’s drive to increase domestic revenue streams. The budget is under stress due to public debts, infrastructure projects and recurrent expenditure. The goal of the Finance Bill, 2026 is to improve tax compliance, broaden the tax base and boost revenue. These goals are consistent with overall fiscal consolidation aims to shrink budget deficits and bolster macro-economic stability.

Proponents of the Bill say they need more money to cut external borrowing. Better resource-generating capabilities will help the government to allocate funds to key sectors like health, education, infrastructure and social protection.

Better tax administration will boost efficiency of the revenue system, reduce tax evasion and increase accountability in public financial management. Improved revenue performance can help build investor confidence and promote long-term fiscal sustainability.

Critics say many of the proposed measures risk increasing the cost of living and doing business. More taxes or levies on goods, services and productive sectors may lead to rising consumer prices and further reduce household incomes.

Kenya’s economy is dominated by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that could experience higher operating costs due to reduced profits. Such outcomes could hit job-creation and economic growth.

Another problem is the wrong perception of the efficiency of public expenditure, as compared to taxation. Many Kenyans say the government should focus on curbing wastage, corruption and the efficiency of public spending before taking any steps to introduce new revenue measures.

In addition to the tax burden, resistance to public taxation is informed by a concern about whether public services and development are providing taxpayers with value for money.

Beyond taxation concerns, the Finance Bill, 2026 has reignited debate over the relationship between fiscal policy and economic competitiveness. Critics say excessive tax burdens may discourage private sector investment, particularly in industries that drive employment and innovation.

Conversely, proponents maintain that a broader revenue base is necessary to finance public infrastructure and institutional reforms that ultimately enhance productivity, strengthen economic resilience and support long-term development objectives.

The Finance Bill also poses general questions on economic justice. Taxation supports government services and functions, but the distributional effects of proposed tax changes need to be carefully considered. Any tax policy which has an unequal impact on lower and middle income groups has the potential to increase income disparities and reduce the demand of consumers, which is a factor of economic growth.

If the Bill is passed in its current or near-current form, the country is likely to experience a mixed economic outcome. In the short term, the revenues of the government could increase, which would help to achieve fiscal consolidation targets and lower the level of borrowing.

That may improve Kenya’s creditworthiness and investor and development partner confidence. However, higher taxes may simultaneously suppress household consumption and business investment, potentially slowing economic expansion.

Ultimately, the success of the Finance Bill, 2026 will depend not only on its ability to raise revenue but also on how effectively the government manages public resources.

Sustainable development requires a careful balance between fiscal responsibility, economic growth and social welfare.

As Kenya moves forward, policymakers must ensure revenue measures are accompanied by transparency, accountability and policies that support inclusive growth.

Only then can fiscal reforms achieve economic stability and public acceptance.