Category: Business Daily

Fifteen years later, he occupies the sixth-floor corner office at KPC headquarters in Nairobi’s Industrial Area, serving as acting Managing Director-a role he says fulfils a long-held ambition, whether permanent or not.

‘When the history books are written, I will have made my contribution and left my legacy. Nobody can take that away from me, even if it was just five months.’

Mwendwa attributes his rise to a willingness to think beyond the traditional boundaries of his profession. ‘If I were not dreaming, I wouldn’t be where I am,’ he says. ‘It’s probably why there are more accountants becoming CEOs than before.’

With a Master of Commerce from Strathmore University and a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Mwendwa also holds a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya (CPA-K) and is a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK).

Fear, he argues, is often the biggest obstacle to leadership.

‘If I fear, I will not progress. Even if they called me today to be the President of Kenya, I wouldn’t fear. Chapa kazi.’

The corner office, however, comes at a cost. ‘You can’t plan your day because anything can come up. If you’re not careful, you can easily lose your social life,’ he says.

When you got this job, who was the first person you called and what did they tell you?

I hadn’t applied for it. It just happened in a flash, over the Easter holiday. I was at Machakos Golf Club with my wife, playing a round when the chair of the board called me.

Given the requirements of the Capital Markets Authority, a press release was to be written the same day. All the balls I was teeing off were hitting the bush [chuckles].

Have the type of phone calls that you receive changed?

Immediately after the press release, I was called by many people-former colleagues, former KPC directors, very senior people. Every other time I receive calls from policymakers, the Cabinet Secretary (CS), PS and CEOs.

What does a big office do to a man like you?

It humbles you [chuckles]. For me, the big office is not really the space you’re occupying; it’s the responsibility that you’re taking. Especially one like this, which drives the economy of the country and the region.

I now have to look at life very differently. I have to reorganise my time. Here, you can’t plan your day because anything can come up, like urgent meetings with the CS. If you’re not careful, you can easily lose your social life.

Growing up, what kind of dreams did you have?

My desire was actually to be a journalist. I was very good at languages. I even went for voice tests at some point [chuckles]. I did accountancy and never looked back, but I always dreamt of leading an organisation, even though I didn’t know which type.

I was just sure I was not going to do finance for the rest of my life. When you get to the apex of finance, the general manager finance, or Group Finance Director, the next level is a CEO.

What aspects of journalism do you bring into your career?

I believe journalism is about telling the story. And one of the things that I find very relevant in my career, and especially in this position, is to try to tell the story of the organisation, the different aspects of life, and the transformation that one can make. When it’s not told, it’s not known.

Do accountants daydream-and what do those dreams look like?

[Chuckles] A lot! You might see accountants engrossed in numbers, but they dream. In my daydreaming, I look at myself, picture where I want to be, and start working toward that dream. If I were not dreaming, I wouldn’t be where I am. It’s probably why more accountants are becoming CEOs than before.

If someone were to interview the people who knew you at 16 years old, what would they say they saw in you that today’s headlines have not?

Calmness and managing my emotions. I am analytical. I like looking at situations before I make a judgment.

What was your relationship with money growing up?

Very strict [chuckles]. I was doing my personal finances even before I started accounting. I’ve tried as much as possible to spend within my resources and my needs.

I look at money from the perspective of what value it generates. You have to convince me that if I’m spending that shilling, I will get value. Even my family knows that when I go shopping, I’d rather buy one nice pair of shoes a year than 10 pairs in a year. I stopped buying mitumba for this reason.

It’s a common belief, or perhaps a misconception, that accountants are there to stifle expenditure rather than to maximise its creation. Is this true?

It is a perception, not the reality. Numbers don’t lie. Accountants are stewards, and what a steward does is take care of what has been placed on them.

This is unlike marketers who just want to spend whether it is generating or not. Accountants look at the value to be generated, and I think that is where the misconception comes in, because we’ll always ask a lot of questions. When you see people praising an accountant all the time, know that’s not a very good accountant.

In what area of your life has money been your master?

Investments. I have several insurance policies. Once I invest, I also plow back the investments into other ventures that generate income, because I believe that you cannot generate income when your money is not multiplying.

What are your current money beliefs?

Ideally, money should work for you. And if you put that in mind, you’ll not spend money recklessly. Of course I still want to go on holidays, buy good things and dine with my family, but that money has to work for me.

What is a business cliché or something that everyone repeats that you now know to be dangerous or wrong?

I don’t believe in luck like charity sweepstakes or betting. I’ve never believed that there’s luck in getting money and creating wealth. You have to go through the long route. I can almost guarantee you those who make money through betting never get anywhere.

You grew up without wealth and have considerably built some for yourself. How are you keeping your children hungry, seeing as lack is not their motivator?

Every afternoon we sit down and share experiences. I have a boy in fourth year, and a girl in first year. I encourage them to know that my work is to empower them to generate their own income when they grow up, through a culture of hard work and self-reliance. I’ve also made them understand that what I have belongs to me and their mother, it doesn’t belong to them.

They have to find their own wealth. I’ve also told them that whatever I’m generating is also to ensure that when they are grown-ups, I don’t become a burden to them.

How do you remain a father at home seeing that this job is a jealous mistress that can demand most of your time, and often gets it?

Luckily, my two children are now grown-ups. I was very deliberate about spending weekends with my family, and on weekdays I don’t stay out late unless I have to.

I am here by 7am and leave at 6pm, and I eat my lunch here at the office. I’ll do my exercise at home in the evening, and I usually sleep quite early. My wife and son play golf, so you’ll find us doing a round together as we bond. My son is actually the best golfer in the family, although once in a while I win.

What do you wish your children knew about you that they don’t?

I put up a very strong face even when things are not going the way they should. I can share with my wife, but I understand that children are very fragile. Also, they look at their father as a strong person, a leader, and when you seem like you are lost and have fear, they will also get lost and be fearful.

Do you ever worry that by protecting your children from your vulnerability, you may also be teaching them that strength means suffering in silence?

I would say yes and no because one of the things that I usually tell them is to share when they have troubles. But you need to know who you are sharing with-there are people you can share your troubles with and they break. I share mine with my wife and close confidants, but I try to spare my children, so I don’t disorganise them.

Have you changed as a husband over the years?

I don’t think so. Some say I am very predictable. I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing [chuckles]. Not much has changed, but I try as much as possible to be a mentor and have a positive impact on my wife.

My wife calls me her role model, and that tells you I have impacted her life. If your wife loves you, she will not let you leave the house looking shabby. She has moulded me in that way, and I listen to her a lot.

Has marriage made you a better leader, or has leadership made you a better husband?

[Chuckles] Marriage has made me a better leader by virtue of the fact that leadership starts at home. If you can’t lead at home, you can’t lead an organisation. Similarly, if you cannot navigate family issues and provide the right leadership, which translates to you having peace and good family relations, that will impact how you lead at work. The first test of leadership is your family.

Businesses reinvent themselves to stay relevant. Marriages have to do something similar. Life keeps asking both of you to become different people-parents, empty nesters, perhaps grandparents. How have you learned to keep rediscovering one another instead of clinging to who you used to be?

You have to marry a friend. Marriages require transitions, but if you are friends, you will be building each other because life presents different phases, and it is easier to adjust when you are friends. That is the critical element. Friendship.

Since you are still acting MD, are you ever worried that you are not the man they eventually pick for the job?

I’m not worried, because whichever way it goes, I have been in this company for 15 years, and nobody can take away the contribution I have made. And even if I were not to be confirmed for the position for the period that I will have served, I am certainly sure I will have made my contribution, and left my legacy, even if it was just five months.

I started acting at a very delicate period when the company went through a transition from a State corporation to a publicly listed company, and when history books are written, they will remember me as the person who navigated that. If I were to be told to go back to the position that I was in, I would happily go back and continue.

What has success not fixed?

The fact that I am human. I am still vulnerable and exposed to the hassles of this world, and I have to navigate to ensure that I manage any vulnerabilities that come with success.

When you are successful, you get to understand why they say success has many mothers and fathers. Everybody will be on your case everywhere you go. People want to identify with you, and they come with a lot of demands and expectations beyond what you are able to.

Did getting this job feel as good as you thought it would?

It did, because my initial target was to get to be a CEO in my mid-40s. I am now in my early 50s. There’s no wrong time, and there are many people who may never get to the head of finance, which I became at 45, so it’s step by step. These things are all relative. Some will say 50 is still young, and they may be right because the average age of CEOs is 50, and I am happy with that [chuckles].

What has become much more important to you now in your 50s as compared to your 30s?

The legacy. You start planning more for your retirement. You look at how many people you have mentored, and focus more on the impact of your life.

50 years in, what experience has significantly shaped your life?

I try very much to identify with the Bible. I have served in my church since I was young, and one thing that has given me the impetus to continue is humility-just to be able to associate with and respect everyone, and to do the right thing. Integrity comes first, and without it you cannot rise. Joshua 1:9 tells you to be courageous. It is actually a command.

When I was given this responsibility in the midst of turmoil, I asked myself, will I manage? I said fear is my worst enemy, and if I fear, I will not progress. That’s my advice: Do not fear even if they call you to be the President of Kenya today. Don’t fear. Chapa kazi.

British multinational Diageo is set to pocket a dividend of Sh4.47 billion from EABL as the proposed sale of its stake in the Kenyan firm to Japan’s Asahi Holdings remains held up by court cases.

EABL announced a final dividend of Sh8.70 per share for the year ended June 2026, to be paid on October 31, 2026, to shareholders on its books as at October 19, 2026.

In April, the brewer paid an interim dividend of Sh4 per share, meaning that its full-year distribution has risen to Sh12.70 per share, from Sh8 in the year to June 2025.

British multinational Diageo is set to pocket a dividend of Sh4.47 billion from EABL as the proposed sale of its stake in the Kenyan firm to Japan’s Asahi Holdings remains held up by court cases.

EABL announced a final dividend of Sh8.70 per share for the year ended June 2026, to be paid on October 31, 2026, to shareholders on its books as at October 19, 2026.

In April, the brewer paid an interim dividend of Sh4 per share, meaning that its full-year distribution has risen to Sh12.70 per share, from Sh8 in the year to June 2025.

‘We thought it was going to be faster, but it has been difficult. When it comes to regulatory approval, that should be pretty simple,’ said Ms Karuku.

An additional hurdle was thrown up by multiple, successive court cases challenging the sale-some of which have been dismissed by the High Court- leading to a protest by the company that parallel litigation has created the risk of conflicting rulings.

The dismissed petitions include a bid by beer distributor Bia Tosha to stop the transaction pending the conclusion of a distributorship row with EABL, and a separate petition by Kenyan construction firm JILK Construction Company that has long-running commercial disputes with EABL.

The court ruled that the litigation and disputes could still be determined even if the transaction proceeded.

However, in June 2026, the High Court suspended the transaction pending hearing of a petition by Christine Irungu, who argued that minority shareholders were denied material information when Diageo increased its stake in the brewer from 50.03 percent to 65 percent in 2023 before pursuing the sale to Asahi.

She further argued that Diageo’s acquisition of the additional shares was presented as a long-term investment demonstrating its confidence in East Africa’s growth prospects.

The petitioner contended that the subsequent decision to sell the enlarged stake would raise questions about whether investors received full disclosure of material information when the tender offer was undertaken.

The hiccups in the Diageo transaction are in contrast to the disposal by the government of a 15 percent stake or six billion shares of Safaricom to South Africa’s Vodafone Group, which was done in time for the buyer to enjoy the company’s final dividend for the year ending March 2026.

The Sh204.3 billion deal has seen Vodacom’s stake in Safaricom rise to 55 percent from 40 percent, while that of the State drops to 20 percent from 35 percent. The Vodacom purchase was also announced in December 2025-two weeks before the Diageo transaction was announced- and was concluded on June 30, 2026.

Safaricom announced a final dividend of Sh1.15 per share, resulting in a full-year payout of Sh2 per share when added to the interim dividend of Sh0.85 per share distributed earlier in April.

The book closure date for the final dividend was August 4, meaning that Vodacom will be the one banking the Sh6.9 billion payout accruing to the 15 percent stake it bought from the government.

In the year to March 2025, Safaricom had paid a dividend of Sh1.20 per share or Sh48.08 in total, out of which the Treasury earned Sh16.83 billion from its 35 percent stake at the time.

More than 50 containers of pharmaceutical raw materials are stranded at Mombasa and the Nairobi inland depot, and manufacturers are bleeding roughly Sh1 million a day in demurrage.

The cause is not a missing law but a missing signature: until the Ministry of Health issues its approval and the new tax framework in the Finance Act 2026 is gazetted, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) keeps charging the standard 16 percent VAT on these imports.

Worse, under the framework that took effect on July 1, inputs for local manufacturing are now “exempt” rather than “zero-rated” – a distinction that sounds bureaucratic but determines whether a factory can claim back the VAT it pays, or must simply eat it.

That distinction is the whole argument. A zero-rated manufacturer charges no VAT on its output but reclaims every shilling of VAT paid on inputs – raw materials, packaging, electricity, lab services, repairs. An exempt manufacturer also charges no VAT on output, but forfeits the right to claim anything back. Every shilling of input VAT becomes a sunk cost, baked into the price of the tablet or the vial.

In an industry already running below efficient scale, that is not a marginal nudge upward. It compounds against firms already carrying high fixed costs over low output, and it lands, ultimately, in the pocket of a sick citizen buying medicine.

This is where the real policy question sits: when the exchequer’s arithmetic collides with the price of a child’s antibiotic, which one gives way? It should not be a hard question. But having swallowed the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) blanket prescription of “tax expenditures,” Kenya’s policymakers have talked themselves into treating cheap medicine and Treasury revenue as a zero-sum trade-off. It is a false choice, and the rest of the world figured that out three decades ago.

During the Uruguay Round of GATT, concluded in 1994, the world’s largest pharmaceutical producers – the US, the EU, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Norway – signed the “zero-for-zero initiative,” eliminating tariffs on medicines and the chemical intermediates used to make them, and committing not to replace those tariffs with other barriers.

The resulting Pharmaceutical Tariff Elimination Agreement, in force since January 1995, has grown from 22 countries to cover thousands of products across 34 signatories.

That was not sentimentality. It was a hard-nosed decision by the world’s most fiscally sophisticated economies that medicine is not a normal traded good to be milked for customs revenue – that health access trumps fiscal opportunism, even for governments perfectly capable of taxing trade if they chose to.

Kenya never signed that agreement – it was negotiated among producers seeking reciprocal market access – but the principle behind it has since surfaced in World Health Organisation guidance, in World Trade Organisation TRIPS (The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) flexibilities, and in the tax codes of most functioning health systems: essential medicines are merit goods, not revenue lines.

Governments that tax them anyway do so quietly, and pay for it later in worse health outcomes and higher out-of-pocket spending.

It is as if Kenyan tax policy has forgotten Covid-19 entirely. When global supply chains seized in 2020, the countries that suffered most were those with no domestic capacity to make even basic health commodities.

Kenya imports over 70 percent of the pharmaceuticals it consumes and more than 95 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients, almost all from India and China. The obvious response should have been to build local capacity deliberately, through the tax code as much as industrial policy.

Instead, Kenya’s tax trajectory has run the other way – even as the government proclaims a 2023 presidential directive to produce 50 percent of essential medicines locally, and a 2026-2030 strategy to lift capacity utilisation to 70 percent.

A tax code working against those targets while industrial policy claims to chase them is not an oversight; it is incoherence dressed up as fiscal discipline. None of this makes the Treasury’s position baseless.

The fiscal deficit is real, and zero-rating regimes are, by Treasury’s own reckoning, costly and prone to abuse through fraudulent refund claims – a case the IMF and tax administrators make consistently.

A narrower toolkit of direct subsidies, tariff protection on APIs, or capital allowances might achieve the same industrial goal with less leakage.

These are legitimate technical debates.

What cannot be debated is the objective: a tax system that makes medicine costlier and local production less viable is moving in exactly the wrong direction, and every day of the delays the local pharmaceutical manufacturing industry is currently experiencing at the at the Mombasa port, is proof of it.

Not many invitations warrant clearing your calendar, but the chance to taste black truffles right here in Kenya is perhaps one that does.

These ‘diamonds of the kitchen,’ as they are sometimes called, are known to be among the world’s rarest and most expensive ingredients, capable of elevating even the simplest dish. So when Mandhari restaurant at Nairobi Serena Hotel extended an invitation to experience them firsthand, I was more than happy to accept.

Our dinner party was small and intimate, but anticipation hung thick in the air until the restaurant’s executive chef, Eshton Muthama, emerged carrying a plate on which rested a jet-black, knobbly sphere that was no bigger than a golf ball. It reminded me of a black-skinned avocado, only this was smaller.

Its aroma reminded me of an early morning walk through Karura Forest, when it is quiet and the dew still clings to the earth.

I had some questions. Where do truffles come from? How do they grow? And how do they get to Nairobi?

Flown in from Manjimup in Western Australia, the black truffle is a fungus that grows in a mutually beneficial relationship with the roots of oak and hazelnut trees. Black truffles can also be cultivated. But unlike typical mushrooms, truffles develop hidden beneath the soil and are available for only a short season each year. In Manjimup, that season is in July.

Once ripe, they are unearthed with the help of specially trained dogs, which sniff them out from above ground.

According to the dinner’s benefactor, who was generous with everything but his identity, the dogs are trained much like those used to detect drugs or explosives at airports. The black truffles we would be enjoying that evening, he added, were sniffed out by a golden Labrador named Millie.

Valuable as the truffles are (a kilo fetches about AUD 2,500 or Sh230,00), the dogs are never allowed to get too close to them, lest they devour thousands of dollars’ worth in a single bite. So once Millie had located the truffles, she was enticed away with a treat while the farmer lay flat on the ground and, using a small hand tool, carefully loosened the soil until the prized fungi emerged.

The entrée, which came in a rimmed soup plate, looked deceptively simple.

Dark greyish-brown in colour, the cream of woodland truffle soup presented demurely, topped with a paper-thin shaving of black truffle and an elegant drizzle of smoked truffle oil that caught the light. Accompanying it was a crisp crostini with ricotta and truffle lightly toasted onto its surface. I could smell its warm, earthy aroma even before the spoon reached my lips.

The first mouthful was rich, creamy, and beautifully balanced, layering the savoury flavours of woodland mushrooms with the truffle’s intoxicating perfume in a way that felt both luxurious and comforting.

By the time I looked up, my bowl had been scraped clean. I hadn’t even paused to taste the accompanying Chardonnay, whose rich, oaky notes, the sommelier explained, were chosen to complement the earthy depth of the truffles.

After such a strong opening, the second course had a lot to live up to, and it didn’t disappoint. Before us sat ribbons of tagliatelle crowned with delicate shavings of black truffle and a scattering of microgreens.

Chef Eshton offered us the option of a cheese sauce, which I gladly accepted, and thankfully so. It amplified the truffle without competing or overpowering it, allowing the ingredient we’d come to celebrate to remain firmly in the spotlight. This time, at least, I remembered to sip the Shiraz wine whose fruity and spicy notes proved an equally fitting partner for the dish.

Grilled lamb rack

The third course of the evening was a feast for the eyes before it was anything else. Colourful and artfully plated, the grilled lamb rack, served alongside a vibrant green garden pea purée, grilled portobello mushrooms, and a side of vegetables, was easily my highlight of the evening.

The lamb was tender and succulent, yielding effortlessly to the knife before melting in the mouth. The pea purée and grilled mushrooms more than held their own, but what tied the whole dish together was the chef’s generous drizzle of truffle jus, whose earthy richness elevated every element on the plate.

And after learning that so many commercially available truffle products rely on artificial flavourings, there was something especially satisfying about tasting a sauce that was made with the real thing.

The pan-seared salmon steak came next, resting in a bright yellow pool of truffle beurre blanc with charred fennel fondue and black olive crumb.

Another artistic presentation, it was almost a shame to dig into this dish, but any hesitation disappeared after the first bite. The moist, flaky salmon, drenched in the buttery sauce and enjoyed alongside the charred fennel, made for a deeply satisfying meal with a delicate balance of savoury richness and gentle sweetness.

But our generous benefactor still had an ace up his sleeve. As the sommelier emerged carrying the final wine pairing, the two exchanged a mischievous smile that immediately piqued our curiosity.

It was a sweet red blend of Grenache and Merlot, chosen to accompany the dessert. And while it did that well, it wasn’t the pairing that caught our attention. It was the name on the bottle: Sugar Daddy. The table erupted in laughter, making it a light-hearted ending to an evening defined by remarkable food and equally good company.

With Nairobi Serena Hotel preparing to unveil its Mediterranean restaurant, the black truffle dinner felt like more than a one-off experience. It felt like a preview of a kitchen eager to expand its culinary horizons.

Fresh data from the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) show that contributions to medical funds under Post-Retirement Medical Funds (PRMFs) rose by 646.9 percent to Sh1.86 billion in 2025, up from Sh249.1 million a year earlier.

‘Contributions to the Post-Retirement Medical Fund (PRMF) increased by 647 percent between 2024 and 2025, rising from Sh249.15 million in 2024 to Sh1.86 billion in 2025 as more schemes continued to set up PRMF funds,’ RBA said.

PRMFs are schemes that allow individuals to save specifically for their healthcare costs after retiring. Under the arrangement, workers have the option of saving through a medical fund without being required to be members of the sponsoring medical scheme.

The sharp growth in savings at PRMFs comes at a time when medical bills have become a major pain point for both employers and households amid rising healthcare costs. This has forced many to save for a future cushion as they go into retirement.

A recent World Bank study estimated that about 1 million to 1.1 million Kenyans fall into poverty each year because of costs related to health care, which mainly hurt households from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. Many households access healthcare through out-of-pocket(OOP) expenditure.

The elderly and people affected by chronic conditions are the worst hit by the OOP expenditure that has continued to rise over the years despite increased budgets by the State for healthcare.

‘This is a concerning trend, as paying at the point of care for services or drugs creates financial barriers and exposes households to catastrophic health spending,’ the World Bank said following its study.

The growth in savings in PRMFs also points to an increasing number of such schemes by employers seeking to strengthen employee welfare and long-term financial security.

The Treasury had in 2024 directed all pension schemes to amend their rules to allow members to contribute to PRMFs, in a move aimed at helping workers prepare for healthcare costs in old age.

The savings are used to finance medical cover after retirement, either by purchasing health insurance or generating annuity income to pay insurance premiums.

Contributions are typically set at a minimum of one percent of a member’s pensionable salary, helping retirees spread healthcare costs over their working lives, instead of relying solely on their pension benefits.

RBA data further shows that total pension contributions rose 29 percent to Sh309.3 billion in 2025, reflecting higher contributions from both employers and employees.

‘Between 2021 and 2025, total contributions grew from Sh135.51 billion to Sh309.26 billion, a 29 percent growth,’ added RBA.

Employer normal contributions increased 14.7 percent to Sh156.8 billion, accounting for just over half of all pension inflows.

Mandatory contributions from employers rose 17.8 percent to Sh137.6 billion, while their additional voluntary contributions grew 30.9 percent to Sh11.5 billion.

Through the adoption of global sustainability reporting standards, strong ESG governance, impactful community partnerships and award-winning corporate governance practices, Sanlam Allianz Holdings (Kenya) PLC is demonstrating how insurance can be a powerful force for sustainable development and economic resilience. With the insurance penetration rate in Kenya being less than 3%, there is need for insurers to leverage on the growing need of providing sustainable insurance in terms of products and services, customized to the need of Kenyans.

According to Dr. Nyamemba Patrick Tumbo, Group Chief Executive Officer, Sanlam Allianz Holdings (Kenya) Plc, sustainability is fundamental to the company’s purpose and long-term value creation. With the growing regulatory expectations in Kenya on how organizations embed Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), Sanlam Allianz (Holdings) Kenya Plc has aligned its Sustainability Reports for every year from 2022 to 2025 progressively, in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) and IFRS S1 S2 sustainability reporting standards from the 2025 Annual Sustainability report.

In Kenya, the insurance sector plays a critical role in how it integrates Sustainability into its Governance framework in areas like underwriting, investments, operations and stakeholder engagement not only for managing emerging risks but also for maintaining competitiveness and building resilience in an increasingly complex world.

Jacqueline Karasha, Chief Executive Officer, Sanlam Allianz Life Insurance (Kenya) Limited‚ confirms that ESG integration begins at the Governance level and the business has committed to implementing sustainable business practices in the product offering, transformation of processes, innovation and continuous improvement. Sanlam Allianz Life Insurance (Kenya) Limited will continue to embrace sustainable partnerships through shared value creation as we help to create a better future as strategic and sustainable partnerships play a pivotal role in advancing sustainability initiatives that contribute positively to our Environment, our communities and our stakeholders through shared values and a common purpose.

By embracing sustainability, insurance can remain resilient and future proof by not only looking at profits but also taking into consideration its impact to the environment, society and contribution to the economy in addition to its Governance considerations.

Margaret Kariuki, Regional Head of Sustainability in East Africa at SanlamAllianz states that as an insurer, our role extends beyond providing risk protection. We have a responsibility to support sustainable economic growth, strengthen community resilience and create shared value for our stakeholders. Through strong governance, responsible business practices and sustainability-led innovation, we are building a future where more people can live with confidence.

Sanlam Allianz Holdings (Kenya) Plc remains committed to continuous improvement while upholding the highest standards of ethical business conduct in our sustainability journey.

There is something deeply suspicious about grown African men throwing birthday parties. It sits in the same uncomfortable corner as telling another man, “Goodnight”. I learned that lesson the hard way one chilly evening after a long phone call with comedian Eddie Butita.

“Uniambiaje mwanaume mwenzako goodnight? We acha hizo bana, umeangusha gangster points.” (How do you tell another man goodnight? Come on, you’ve just lost your gangster points.)

That was the exact feeling that crept down my spine when John Christopher invited me to celebrate his 40th birthday at Red Ginger.

Red Ginger is Nairobi’s newest dining hotspot, the kind of place where every socialite seems duty-bound to take a hundred photos before ordering a drink, only to flood Instagram with its picture-perfect aesthetics.

I must admit, their posts had infected me with a serious case of FOMO [fear of missing out]. I had already promised myself that one day I’d take my woman there to find out whether Red Ginger truly deserved all the hype. From what I’d seen, the place was stunning. What I never imagined was that JC, as he proudly calls himself, would be the reason I’d finally walk through its doors.

I’ve known this brother for years, and I cannot remember the last time he booked 30 tables just to break bread with family and close friends. Certainly not at 40. At that age, I figured a man should be growing wiser, not louder.

I expected him to summon ‘the boys’ to his palatial home for marathon chess matches, glasses of his beloved Tennessee whiskey and enough laughter to keep the neighbourhood awake until dawn. JC has never struggled with volume. If anything, silence has always struggled with JC.

But here he was, inviting us to Red Ginger, ladies and gentlemen, for dinner, drinks and a birthday celebration. None of it made sense. Neither to me nor to several of the ‘brothers’.

Then someone reminded us of the world’s oldest cliché – love. JC had found someone new. He was smitten. And she wanted him happy.

“As African men, we don’t celebrate birthdays like this, unless it’s because of the Caucasian,” one of the boys muttered. “She is lovely though.”

John had sworn to us countless times that love had permanently been crossed off his life’s agenda. His new mission, he’d often declared, was to make more money, enjoy life and travel the world alone or with his sons. And we believed every word.

After watching him survive enough heartbreaks at the hands of Nairobi beauties who seemed more interested in his wallet than his heart, we had no reason to doubt him. Yet here he was.

Beer mug in hand, with a T-shirt struggling to maneuver his steadily expanding belly as he ushered every guest with an enthusiastic “Karibu! Karibu!” while constantly stealing shy glances at his Caucasian beau.

“I’m no longer convinced the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” another of the boys whispered, perhaps just as bewildered as I was.

Was this really the same man?

Still, bro code leaves very little room for public interrogation.

So we did what brothers do.

We grabbed our drinks, took our seats, and watched JC’s telenovela script develop.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court has upheld a decision by Safaricom Plc to dismiss its former Head of Regional Expansion, Brian Njoroge Wamatu, over allegations that he improperly accessed and shared confidential company and customer information.

The court ruled that Safaricom had both a valid reason and followed a fair disciplinary process before dismissing the employee in June 2019 in a dispute arising from allegations of unauthorised access to confidential subscriber information.

The court dismissed Mr Wamatu’s entire claim, including allegations of unfair termination, defamation and loss of employee share benefits.

The dispute arose after Mr Wamatu was arrested in June 2019 following investigations into allegations that Safaricom employees had conspired to illegally access, compile, share and sell confidential subscriber information.

He said six men accosted him while he was having dinner at a Nairobi eatery on June 7, 2019, assaulted him, forced him into a waiting car and took him to CID headquarters for interrogation without explaining the reason for his arrest.

He said he was later held at two other police stations until June 10, 2019, when he was arraigned on charges of computer fraud and demanding Sh300 million with menaces, before the charges were later amended to conspiracy to commit a felony.

Mr Wamatu maintained that the company orchestrated his arrest to make him a scapegoat for data losses and claimed the disciplinary process had been predetermined.

Safaricom denied the allegations, saying it merely reported suspected criminal conduct to investigators. The company denied that the report to the police was actuated by an ulterior motive.

It contended that after the police carried out investigations, they found the complaint justifiable and caused the claimant’s arrest and arraignment in court.

Other court proceedings also arose from the same alleged data breach, including civil proceedings by Safaricom seeking to restrain disclosure of confidential customer information.

The telco argued that its internal investigation linked Mr Wamatu to the unauthorized acquisition and proposed sale of confidential subscriber and internal corporate information, prompting both police reports and disciplinary action.

Court records showed Mr Wamatu joined Safaricom in November 2008 as a VAS Product Manager before rising to Head of Regional Expansion. His monthly salary had increased from Sh170,000 to Sh1.2 million by the time his employment ended.

Breach of confidentiality

Safaricom told the court its internal investigation concluded that Mr Wamatu had colluded with colleagues to obtain confidential subscriber data, internal security information and remuneration details of senior managers without authority.

The company argued the conduct breached confidentiality obligations under his employment contract and company policies.

The court accepted that position, saying the employer was entitled to rely on findings available during the disciplinary process.

‘In the court’s view, the Investigation Report provided sufficient material upon which the Disciplinary Committee and the respondent (Safaricom) were reasonably entitled, at the time, to entertain a genuine belief that the claimant had committed the infractions in question,’ the court said.

The court also rejected Mr Wamatu’s argument that he had been denied a fair hearing because he was attending a Directorate of Criminal Investigations meeting on the day scheduled for the disciplinary session.

It found evidence presented by Safaricom showed the DCI meeting ended around midday, leaving sufficient time for Mr Wamatu to attend the 4 p.m. disciplinary hearing.

“The claimant had no plausible explanation to account for his failure to turn up for the disciplinary hearing. As such, he cannot blame the respondent for having proceeded with the case against him in his absence,’ the court said.

The court further held that Safaricom had complied with its disciplinary procedures by issuing a show-cause letter, considering Mr Wamatu’s written responses, supplying him with investigation material and hearing his subsequent appeal before dismissing it.

The court said employment law does not require an employer to prove misconduct beyond reasonable doubt before dismissing an employee, provided the decision is based on a genuine belief supported by available evidence.

Mr Wamatu had also sought damages for defamation, arguing publicity surrounding his arrest damaged his reputation. The court dismissed that claim after finding it was filed outside the one-year statutory limitation period and was unsupported by independent evidence proving reputational harm.

“Defamation is deemed to have occurred only if it is demonstrated that the defamatory material was published to a third party,” the court said.

It also rejected his claim for employee share ownership plan (ESOP) shares, finding he had failed to produce sufficient evidence supporting the claim.

Nairobi-based budget carrier Jambojet has won a contract to maintain and repair the fleet of Ghanaian carrier Passion Air, its first client after venturing into the maintenance business as a new revenue stream.

The first aircraft under the contract is expected to arrive by Friday for a C-check-a comprehensive inspection carried out at intervals determined by an aircraft’s maintenance programme, typically every 18 to 24 months or after a specified number of flight hours and cycles.

The deal marks a major milestone in Jambojet’s bid to expand into the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) segment, which is dominated by established carriers like Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines.

The International Air Transport Association estimates that the global MRO market is valued at nearly $97 billion-where service providers, OEMs, and airlines capture high-margin revenue.

Jambojet began developing its in-house maintenance capability several years ago, expanded into heavy maintenance in 2024, and is now commercialising the business after securing Ghana’s Passion Air as its first third-party MRO customer.

‘The aircraft is flying in on Thursday evening. For now, we will only be servicing the Dash 8 Q400, as it is what we are certified for,’ said a Jambojet spokesperson.

Passion Air is Ghana’s largest domestic carrier and has a fleet of 4 Bombardier DHC 8-300 and DHC 8-400s. It operates direct flights between Ghana’s capital, Accra, and inland cities of Kumasi, Tamale, Takoradi, Wa and Sunyani.

Previously, its maintenance and repairs were done by Nigerian airline Aero Contractors, which operates out of Lagos. It is not yet clear why it opted for Jambojet, which is much further from its base than Lagos.

In Africa, other than Aero Contractors and Jambojet, Ethiopian Airlines is the only other MRO operator certified by the Canadian original equipment manufacturer De Havilland, which makes the Bambadier Dash-8s (DHC-Q-300 and DHC-Q-400) to conduct overhauls and checks on its aircraft on the continent.

Growth and expansion

Heavy maintenance on Dash 8 aircraft requires approval from De Havilland and the relevant aviation regulators, limiting the number of facilities that can undertake the work.

With a fleet of 11 Bombardier DHC-Q-400s, Jambojet operates the second largest fleet of Dash-8s on the continent after Ethiopian Airlines, which currently has 30 of them for domestic and regional operations.

Jambojet is banking on the expansion of its MRO operations and expanded fleet to grow its route network and improve its revenue. Its parent firm, KQ, is also expanding its MRO operations and is already servicing jets owned by carriers like Air Tanzania and Precision Air.

Last year, the carrier saw a 5 percent growth in revenues to Sh14.4 billion from Sh13.6 billion in 2024, while passenger numbers stagnated at 1.2 million due to the prolonged grounding of one of its planes.

Aircraft maintenance generates relatively stable, dollar-denominated income that is less exposed to seasonal passenger demand, allowing airlines to better utilise engineering staff and hangar capacity.

The blockade of Strait of Hormuz has redrawn Kenya’s fuel supply map after Saudi Arabia overtook the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the country’s largest source of petroleum imports with the help of pipelines bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Arabia unlike the UAE has managed to ship huge volumes of oil using pipelines without crossing the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran shut following the war.

Kenya imported Sh99.78 billion worth of goods from Saudi Arabia between March and May, more than double the Sh42.10 billion shipped from the UAE during the same period, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data shows.

In the same period last year, the UAE was top with shipments worth Sh96.1 billion compared with Saudi Arabia’s Sh11.17 billion, reflecting the shift that rode on the back of bypassing the Strait of Hormuz via pipelines.

Saudi Arabia diverted a sizeable portion of the 20 million-plus barrels a day of crude that previously transited Hormuz by maxing out existing pipelines after Iran blocked the vital artery that carries a fifth of global oil.

The diversion made Saudi Arabia’s state-backed oil company, Aramco, the top supplier of fuel to Kenya in the middle of the Iran war, which started on February 28.

KNBS data shows Saudi imports jumped a staggering 793.4 percent from Sh11.17 billion in the March-May period, with fuel being the bulk of the cargo.

Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline to the Red Sea was built in the early 1980s and has become crucial since the start of the Iran war and the resulting halt to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The pipeline, built during the Iran-Iraq War, can transport up to seven million barrels daily, giving Saudi Arabia a major advantage with the closure of Hormuz.

Kenya imports nearly all of its fuel products from the Middle East via government-to-government (G-to-G) deals with Gulf suppliers, including Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC, and Emirates National ?Oil Company (ENOC).

The UAE, the only other Gulf state with meaningful Hormuz-bypass capacity, has completed half of a new West-East pipeline that will double crude capacity to Fujairah when it becomes operational next year. Its existing Abu Dhabi pipeline carries up ?to 1.8 million bpd.

Saudi Aramco said its ability to rely on the pipeline, storage facilities and export terminals allowed it to maintain business continuity despite unprecedented disruption through the strategic waterway.

Saudi Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser said the company’s decades-long investment in strategic infrastructure enabled it to continue serving customers despite the disruption affecting commercial shipping in the region.

‘We continued to demonstrate our ability to maintain business continuity by capitalising on our diverse asset base and multi-decade planning, including strategic infrastructure such as the East-West Pipeline, storage capacity, and export terminals,’ Mr Nasser was quoted as saying by Gulf media outlets on Tuesday.

He made the remarks after the Saudi state-owned oil giant reported a 33 percent rise in second-quarter adjusted net income to $33.4 billion (about Sh4.32 trillion), explaining that higher energy prices during the conflict have lifted earnings while its infrastructure cushioned export disruptions.

The infrastructure advantage turned Saudi Aramco into the biggest beneficiary of Kenya’s G-to-G fuel import programme after the war, shifting the balance away from ADNOC and ENOC.

Before the conflict, the UAE’s ADNOC and ENOC had been major suppliers to Kenya under the G-to-G arrangement, with fuel deliveries largely sourced through Gulf export terminals.

The agreement, signed in March 2023, allows Kenya to import petrol, diesel and jet fuel from Saudi Aramco, ADNOC and ENOC on 180-day credit terms.

Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline provided a direct advantage by allowing Aramco to continue supplying international customers while reducing dependence on the vulnerable shipping corridor.

The UAE’s smaller pipeline that carries fuel to the Port of Fujairah outside Hormuz has curtailed its ability to match Saudi Arabia’s export flexibility during periods of disruption.

This is largely because Saudi Arabia has direct coastlines on both the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, giving it a physical overland bridge that the UAE lacks on a similar scale. The biggest portion of the UAE’s shipping infrastructure, trade networks, and export terminals rely on routes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Kenya’s import data shows how quickly the shift occurred, with the UAE maintaining a firm lead over Saudi Arabia before the war.

Kenya imported Sh22.99 billion worth of goods from the Emirates in January and Sh30.75 billion in February, compared with Sh13.50 billion and Sh11.35 billion from Saudi Arabia.

The trend reversed after the conflict began, with Saudi Arabia overtaking the UAE in March and widening the gap each month through May.

Saudi exports to Kenya rose to Sh24.60 billion in March, Sh31.50 billion in April and Sh43.69 billion in May, according to KNBS figures.

Meanwhile, UAE exports fell from Sh19.15 billion in March to Sh15.97 billion in April before dropping steeply to Sh6.98 billion in May.

The three-month reversal transformed the rankings, after Kenya imported Sh124.63 billion worth of goods from Saudi Arabia compared with Sh95.83 billion from the UAE by May.

KNBS data shows Saudi imports jumped a staggering 793.4 percent from Sh11.17 billion in the March-May period last year to Sh99.78 billion this year.

Over the same period, imports from the UAE declined 56.2 percent from Sh96.12 billion to Sh42.10 billion, highlighting the scale of the supply chain shift.

This means Saudi Arabia supplied more than twice the value of imports shipped from the UAE during the conflict, overturning a long-established trade pattern in which the Emirates overwhelmingly dominated Kenya’s petroleum supplies.

Petroleum products account for more than three-quarters of Kenya’s imports from Saudi Arabia, with fertilisers and plastics making up much of the remainder.

Kenya’s imports from the UAE are also dominated by refined fuels, alongside industrial goods such as plastics, copper and aluminium.

Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi said the G-to-G agreement does not restrict where the three companies source petroleum products, provided they meet Kenya’s standards.

‘There is nothing in the agreement that we signed as a country and the three international oil companies from sourcing oil products from any part of the world,’ Mr Wandayi said.

The shift in supply coincided with a sharp rise in Kenya’s fuel bill. Spending on fuel and lubricants increased 46.02 percent to Sh334.24 billion in the first five months, according to the KNBS data.

Petroleum imports alone reached a record Sh122.35 billion in May, overtaking industrial supplies as Kenya’s largest monthly import category for the first time in recent history, going back many years.

The increase came as Kenya’s petroleum sector faced renewed scrutiny following the resignation of three senior energy officials over allegations involving fuel stock data and procurement.

Principal Secretary for Petroleum Mohamed Liban, Kenya Pipeline Company Managing Director Joe Sang and Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority Director-General Daniel Kiptoo Bargoria stepped down after being implicated in investigations into the management of petroleum supplies.