Category: Business Daily

Dutch brewer Heineken has moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge the inclusion of interest in a Sh1.47 billion compensation award to tycoon Ngugi Kiuna arising from the termination of a distributorship contract in 2016.

The beer maker argues that interest on the damages due to Mr Kiuna’s firm, Maxam Ltd, should not be factored into the final payout, claiming the extra Sh230 million payment was not part of the court proceedings and was only introduced after judgment.

Few Kenyans have been as politically fortunate as Adan Mohamed, the latest pick for the position of Commissioner-General of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

He served for nearly a decade as a Cabinet Secretary in the Jubilee administration and survived the political fallout between former President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto.

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The value of gold held by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) jumped the fastest in over a decade to Sh309.71 million at the end of December last year, amid a rally in the global price of the precious metal.

The CBK’s latest disclosures show that gold holdings rose 63.9 percent from Sh188.9 million

Last weekend, hundreds of runners gathered in Kitui for the inaugural Kitui Green Run, Kenya’s first climate-conscious half-marathon built around a simple but powerful idea: turning every kilometre run into support for water resilience in dryland communities.

At first glance, it may have appeared like another sporting event on Kenya’s athletics calendar, but the marathon reflected something much deeper about Kenya’s climate future, particularly for arid and semi-arid lands (Asals), which cover more than 80 percent of the country’s landmass and support nearly 40 percent of the population. Kitui sits firmly within this fragile ecological zone.

The implementation of sustainability by organisations is often likened to a journey. This analogy is apt for many reasons, chief among them being the deliberate phasing of implementation based on priority and material areas that impact value creation over time.

Therefore, compliance should go beyond box-ticking and focus on delivering tangible value for the organisation. Making the shift beyond compliance requires the organisation to deliver a highly effective sustainability compliance programme. Some of the areas organisations should consider to achieve high, effective sustainability compliance are as follows.

An sustainability compliance should go beyond laws and regulations. It should be aligned with the organisation’s strategic objectives and priorities. Organisations should tailor their sustainability compliance to their business case for sustainability and how compliance delivers sustainable business growth for the organisation.

Organisations should leverage technology to achieve highly effective sustainability compliance. Having a technology-enabled compliance programme ensures the organisation can build efficiencies and design processes that enable a business-as-usual environment that embeds sustainability compliance.

Technology is important in the sustainability compliance agenda, spanning baselining, data management, processes, policies, and reporting.

Another aspect to consider is ensuring that sustainability compliance enhances the customer experience and fosters proactive stakeholder engagement.

Some organisations have data gaps for their sustainability compliance that need to be sourced from customers or partners across their value chain.

While organisations would need to engage their customer and partners to address these data gaps, an opportunity to enhance the customer experience and deepen relationships with partners and stakeholders.

Therefore, sustainability compliance aimed at solving data gaps are an opportunity to enhance customer experience and stakeholder engagement. Sustainability compliance needs to be predictive, preventative, proactive and detective.

The ability to move from a detective-only approach to an approach that provides organisations with insights and enables better decision-making beyond regulatory compliance. For example, sustainability risk management needs to evolve from risk monitoring and reporting to a predictive approach that supports better decision-making and anticipates risks.

Finally, organisations must invest in developing their human capital. Having the right talent equation to drive sustainability compliance is crucial to achieving an effective outcome for an organisation.

A chaebol is a large, family-owned business conglomerate in South Korea, typically made up of many affiliated companies across different industries. The word comes from the Korean terms chae (wealth) and bol (clan), reflecting the idea of a wealthy family group controlling diverse enterprises.

South Korea’s chaebol families, specifically Samsung, LG, SK Group, and Hyundai, have built global empires that dominate electronics, automobiles, telecoms, energy, semiconductors, and heavy industry.

A parliamentary committee has backed the creation of a Sh5 billion public participation fund to finance projects proposed by citizens during budget hearings, opening a new spending vote even as the government implements austerity measures.

The allocation, included in the National Treasury’s 2026/27 budget estimates, will finance projects and policy interventions raised during parliamentary public participation forums, including stalled development projects, teacher recruitment and medical staffing.

The new spending vote, dubbed Strategic Response to Public Initiatives/Public Participation, has been approved by the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning after its review of the Treasury’s budget estimates.

Treasury officials say the programme is intended to ensure proposals made by citizens during annual budget consultations are not ignored once public hearings conclude.

‘This relates to projects identified through public participation through the parliamentary process. This list is normally approved by Parliament,’ Albert Mwenda, director-general for Budget, Fiscal and Economic Affairs at the National Treasury, told the Business Daily.

Citizen proposals

Each year, Parliament’s Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) compiles recommendations collected during public hearings held across the country while reviewing budget estimates.

The submissions typically include fiscal proposals, policy directives and development priorities raised by citizens, lobby groups, professionals and community organisations.

In previous budget cycles, many of the proposals adopted by Parliament remained unimplemented because of funding constraints despite being incorporated into committee reports.

In its report on the current 2025/26 budget, for instance, the BAC directed the Treasury to conduct a comprehensive audit of stalled and slow-moving projects by March 2026 to determine whether they should be terminated, consolidated or fast-tracked.

The committee also backed funding for the Teachers’ Service Commission to transition intern teachers to permanent and pensionable terms to address staffing shortages in junior secondary schools. The proposal was not implemented after the Treasury cited a lack of funds.

Read: Paradox of teacher shortage despite record recruitment

Similarly, the Ministry of Health had been directed to prioritise the deployment and funding of medical interns and confirm more than 8,500 Universal Health Coverage workers employed on contract terms.

Spending scrutiny

‘The committee recommends an allocation of Sh5 billion under Strategic Response to Public Initiatives/Public Participation,’ the Finance and Planning Committee, chaired by Molo MP Kuria Kimani, said in its report.

The proposal now awaits debate and approval by the National Assembly as part of the 2026/27 budget estimates.

If passed, attention will shift to how the Treasury operationalises the fund, including project selection criteria, accountability structures and oversight mechanisms governing expenditure.

The allocation has, however, drawn scrutiny over the Treasury’s spending priorities at a time when ministries and State agencies are facing deep cuts in travel, training, hospitality and office operations as part of efforts to contain expenditure amid below-target tax receipts and rising debt-servicing costs.

The Finance and Planning Committee has consequently reduced the Treasury’s training budget from Sh250 million to Sh9 million, while expenditure on office supplies has been cut from Sh485 million to Sh12 million.

Hospitality spending was similarly reduced from Sh232 million to Sh12 million as lawmakers intensified pressure on ministries to curb recurrent expenditure and redirect resources towards development priorities.

You reached for your third coffee in the morning before drinking a single glass of water. It has been nearly four hours since your last bathroom break. A mild headache is creeping in, but you are blaming it on Monday meetings. Sound familiar?

If you work in an office, spend hours in traffic or sit most of the day in an air-conditioned building, there is a good chance you are not drinking enough water and may not even realise it.

A snap poll of urban workers showed just how widespread the problem is. Asked how many glasses of water they drink on a typical workday, 48 percent said between zero and five glasses, while 22 percent said they simply do not keep track.

Plain water ranked only third among drinks consumed during working hours. Some 38 percent reported drinking a mix of beverages, 27 percent relied mainly on tea or coffee, and 14 percent on soda or juice. Only 21 percent said plain water was their primary drink at work.

Similarly, only 44 percent said they always keep water at their workstation. A combined 41 percent said they rarely or never do so.

More than half of respondents also reported feeling fatigued or lacking energy during the workday. Some 47 percent experienced frequent headaches, while 43 percent reported brain fog or poor concentration, often attributing it to heavy workloads or long weeks.

Silent habit

‘That is exactly the problem,’ says Dr Peris Koge, a nephrologist at The Nairobi Hospital.

‘When your body gets used to not drinking enough water, your counter-regulatory mechanisms adjust. You stop feeling thirsty, and you lose the signal. So you don’t drink, and you don’t even realise you’re not drinking.’

The poll also asked workers why they fail to drink enough water during the day. The most common reasons were being too busy, forgetting and attending back-to-back meetings.

Some respondents admitted deliberately limiting water intake to avoid bathroom breaks during long commutes or busy schedules.

Dr Koge says the consequences of this habit can be significant.

‘When you are not taking in enough fluids, your kidneys respond accordingly. They produce less urine, and the urine produced is highly concentrated and full of waste products such as uric acid, calcium and phosphate. When you don’t have enough urine to pass, those substances begin to form stones.’

Kidney stones are not the only risk.

‘When you don’t pass urine regularly, it sits in the bladder for too long, creating an environment in which bacteria can grow and thrive,’ she says. ‘So recurrent urinary tract infections are another possible outcome.’

The longer-term concern, she says, is the effect of chronic low-level dehydration on kidney function.

‘Think of it like a wound. You get a cut; it heals, but it leaves a scar. When you’re dehydrated, the kidneys experience what we call acute kidney injury. Eventually, you drink, and it recovers, but it recovers with scarring. This process happens repeatedly. In the long run, you end up with chronic kidney disease.’

Coffee culture

The poll found that 31 percent of respondents never use infused water, while only 18 percent do so regularly. The findings suggest many urban workers depend heavily on caffeinated and flavoured drinks as their primary source of fluids.

‘You need at least 1.5 litres of plain water. Tea and coffee don’t count as your water when you add them on top of that to reach two to three litres a day. They are extra,’ says Dr Koge.

She adds that the sugary and caffeinated drinks many office workers rely on come with additional health costs, including excess calorie intake and poor weight management and the high salt content of fast food eaten between meetings.

Desk-bound lifestyles also contribute to inactivity.

‘Inactivity carries the same risks as smoking,’ she says. ‘The same diseases, such as hypertension and heart disease, can result from sitting all day as from smoking.’

Brain pays the price too

The effects are not limited to physical health.

Dr Koge says persistent dehydration can affect concentration, memory and mood.

‘Some of these workers are persistently fatigued. They have mood issues and memory problems. The body’s mechanism for coping with reduced fluid intake is also affected, including the brain’s role in managing blood volume. When you are chronically low on water, these things have a real impact.’

Constipation is another often overlooked consequence.

‘If you’re not active, not drinking enough fluids and eating food with no fibre, you get constipated. This can lead to problems such as haemorrhoids and fissures.’

Hydration also affects appearance.

‘Your skin reflects your level of hydration. You can lose moisture and elasticity, develop deep wrinkles and prematurely age.’

Sparkling, infused, hot or cold water?

The poll showed that 36 percent of respondents occasionally drink infused water. Dr Koge, however, advises consumers to pay attention to what is actually being infused.

‘You have to look at what is actually infused. Some are carbonated, and some have added flavours with sugar. Carbonation can cause bloating, reflux and acidity, and some of those drinks have a pH level that can irritate your stomach lining.’

On the debate over hot versus cold water, she says there is little evidence to support either side.

‘There are no studies to confirm one is better than the other. Water is water. If cold water works for you, that’s fine. If you prefer hot water, that is also fine.’

When asked whether their workplace actively encouraged hydration, about 54 percent of respondents said no or were unsure.

Dr Koge says the solution begins with building simple habits rather than waiting for thirst to signal a problem.

‘Be intentional. Carry your own water bottle so you know how much you have drunk. Take it with you to every meeting. Keep one in your car. If you haven’t had a bathroom break in three to four hours, that’s a sign that you need to drink.’

She recommends at least 1.5 litres of plain water spread throughout the day as a baseline.

‘Your smartwatch can alert you when you’ve been sitting for too long. Set a reminder. Take the stairs. Do at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week. Go for a wellness check to find out your blood pressure, blood sugar and BMI.’

She says the reason many urban workers are dehydrated is not that water is unavailable, but that it is absent from their daily routines.

‘You can’t leave the room to go to the bathroom, but you can carry water with you into the room. That is where it starts.’

Kenya has overtaken Nigeria to become the continent’s third-largest recipient of funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB), highlighting the country’s growing reliance on multilateral loans amid economic pressures.

New disclosures by the continental lender show that it disbursed Sh43.7 billion to Kenya last year, up from Sh33 billion in 2024, dwarfing Nigeria’s Sh41.9 billion after Abuja more than halved its drawdowns from the bank.

Nairobi accessed two additional loans from AfDB’s non-concessional arm, bringing the total to 23, with an outstanding balance of Sh366 billion. It also secured three more loans from the African Development Fund (ADF) – the lender’s concessional arm – raising the total to 74, also valued at a total of Sh366 billion.

The increase in Kenya’s borrowing from the continental lender came amid burgeoning public debt and higher debt-servicing costs on commercial loans, prompting greater reliance on multilateral financing.

Development funding

Kenya has traditionally tapped AfDB loans to finance development projects and ease pressure on the Exchequer. Last year, the largest loan approved for Kenya was worth Sh10.7 billion and was earmarked for the modernisation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) infrastructure in public universities.

In addition to this project, the lender disbursed funds for several other programmes, many of which were approved in earlier years and remain under implementation.

‘The bank also supported clean cooking through standalone operations in Kenya and Uganda… these interventions advanced the Bank Group’s energy priorities as a key delivery channel for climate action,’ AfDB said in its annual report.

With Sh43.7 billion received, Kenya ranked behind only South Africa and Morocco in AfDB disbursements last year. Both countries have traditionally been among the lender’s largest recipients and shareholders on the continent.

South Africa received Sh151 billion, up from Sh77 billion, while Morocco received Sh87.5 billion, compared with Sh70.6 billion in 2024.

Regional ranking

Nigeria, which was the largest recipient of AfDB funds in 2024, saw its disbursements from the bank more than halve in 2025, from Sh87 billion a year earlier, signalling a sharp slowdown in uptake of the lender’s financing.

For Kenya, the increase came as its financing relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) entered a period of uncertainty following the expiry of its programme.

Data from the National Treasury shows that Kenya is increasingly turning to concessional multilateral debt for external borrowing. Loans from development finance institutions such as AfDB now account for 56 percent of all external debt, up from 50 percent at the end of 2023.

AfDB is Kenya’s second-largest multilateral lender after the World Bank.

Generally, Kenya is more indebted to AfDB than many of its continental peers. As of the end of 2025, Kenya’s unpaid loans to the bank’s non-concessional arm accounted for 5.42 percent of all outstanding balances, ranking behind only Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia and Nigeria.

Its outstanding loans from the concessional arm accounted for 11.19 percent of total balances, second only to Tanzania.

Express Kenya plans to raise additional capital from existing investors by selling 50 million new shares at a price the company says will be disclosed at a later date.

The pricing of the shares will determine how much the company will be raising. Express Kenya’s share price closed at Sh7.18 on Friday, implying a value of Sh359 million for the rights issue shares.

The company may, however, opt to price the rights issue at a discount to the market price to entice uptake of the offer by shareholders.

Express Kenya, a struggling logistics firm that is venturing into real estate development, has relied heavily on loans from some of its directors including Hector Diniz, amid years of losses.

‘On 28 May 2026 the directors of Express Kenya Limited resolved to offer up to 50,000,000 new ordinary shares … in proportion of one new ordinary share for every share held,’ the company said in a cautionary notice to the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

‘Additional information and terms and conditions of the transaction will be provided by the company in an information memorandum to be published with the approval of the Capital Markets Authority.’

The cash call could see Mr Diniz further raise his ownership in Express Kenya after previously failing to buy out minority shareholders and delist the company.

The top shareholder made an offer of Sh5.50 per share to buy out small shareholders in 2018 when he held 61.6 percent equity in the company.

He received acceptances that would have raised his stake to 71.4 percent, falling short of his minimum 75 percent target.

Property pivot

If successful, the rights issue will double the company’s issued shares to 95.42 million from the current 47.71 million.

The cash call comes shortly after the company raised Sh300 million from the sale of three acres of land in Nairobi’s Industrial Area, signalling increased efforts to boost its war chest as it enters the capital-intensive property development business.

Express Kenya posted a larger net loss of Sh125 million last year, up from Sh107.9 million in 2024. The company’s sales fell to Sh21.2 million from Sh26.3 million, highlighting the extent to which revenue remains insufficient to cover operating costs.

Direct costs alone, for instance, increased to Sh100.1 million from Sh97.8 million. Express Kenya closed 2025 with a book value of Sh472.1 million, largely comprising investment property, including land. The company is valued at Sh342.5 million on the NSE.

The company has posted losses in the last decade after taking a blow from losing its key customer East African Breweries Limited (EABL) in 2011. Its rival DHL took over the EABL contract at the time.