Category: Business Daily

The fastest-growing firms today are not waiting for the future. They are already using artificial intelligence (AI) to make better decisions, move faster, cut costs, and find new openings. AI is helping teams work smarter, respond quickly to market changes, and improve how they serve clients.

This should make us ask a serious question: how are we preparing young learners, especially STEM students in high schools, to use AI before they enter the job market? If these learners are future engineers, scientists, health workers, data analysts, innovators, and business leaders, then AI readiness must become part of their training today.

Kenya has long supported the UN and AU goals of industrial growth through STEM. The country has also set a target of having 60 percent of learners in senior school go through the pathway. This aim is reflected in the Competency Based Education model, where STEM is one of the three specialised pathways, and the only one that every senior school is expected to offer.

This is a good and necessary goal. STEM careers will continue to shape many sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, health, energy, finance, education, and technology. However, the real test is not whether we have strong targets on paper. It is whether our learners are being prepared for a world of work that is changing fast.

Concerns around transition to CBE are already known. Many schools are still grappling with limited infrastructure, inadequate teacher training, and funding woes. These issues must be addressed. But beyond them, we must also ask whether our education system is keeping pace with rapid changes taking place in the workplace.

AI is no longer just a buzzword. It is quickly becoming a basic workplace skill. Many employers are now looking for people who can use AI tools to improve productivity, analyse information, solve problems, and support faster decision-making. It is no longer enough for a young person to say they can use a computer. Increasingly, they must show that they can use digital tools, including AI, in a practical way.

This is especially important for STEM students. A student interested in engineering should learn how AI can support design, testing, and problem-solving. A student interested in health sciences should understand how AI can help with research and data analysis. A leaner in agriculture should see how AI can support crop planning, weather prediction, and better use of resources. These are not distant ideas.

The biggest workplace gains will come from employees who can combine technical knowledge with AI tools. These are the people who will help organisations make quicker decisions, reduce delays, improve operations, and create better solutions. If our STEM students are not exposed to AI early, they may enter the job market with strong classroom knowledge but weak workplace skills. This is where our curriculum must go further.

Learners should not only be introduced to AI tools, but also taught how to use them well. They should learn how to ask clear questions, write good prompts, check the accuracy of AI responses, compare information from different sources, and protect confidential data.

Just as important, learners must understand that AI is not a replacement for thinking. It is a tool that supports it. Students must still learn the core principles of science, mathematics, technology, and engineering. They must be able to question AI-generated answers and use their own knowledge to judge whether the output makes sense.

Teachers also need to be supported. It is not enough to train teachers in basic ICT skills. They need practical training in AI use, data privacy, data management, critical thinking, and risk awareness. A teacher who understands AI is better placed to guide learners on both the benefits and dangers of using these tools.

By the time today’s high school learners enter the job market, AI skills may be as basic as word processing and spreadsheet skills are today. This means schools must begin preparing them now.

AI readiness

AI should not be treated as an optional extra or a skill reserved for university students. It should become part of how STEM learners are prepared for work, innovation, and problem-solving.

However, AI readiness should not be limited to technical skills. Our education system must also continue to build communication, teamwork, creativity, problem-solving, and ethical judgment. The future worker will not only need to know how to use AI. They will need to explain ideas clearly and work well with others.

They will also need to explain ideas clearly, work well with others, question results, and make responsible decisions.

Kenya’s STEM ambition is important. But ambition must be matched with delivery. If we want our young people to compete in a changing world, we must prepare them for the tools, skills, and expectations of the modern workplace.

The future job market will reward learners who can think, adapt, and use technology to solve real problems. STEM education gives Kenya a strong foundation. AI readiness can make that foundation even stronger. The time to prepare our learners is not tomorrow. It is now.

Betting firms that entice addicted punters who have sought to be barred from gambling risk having their licences revoked under new regulations aimed at curbing the country’s gambling craze.

The newly published regulations require betting firms to establish automated systems that reject deposits made by self-excluded punters throughout the exclusion period. The firms are also prohibited from sending promotional betting messages to gamblers who have opted for self-exclusion.

Under the Gambling Control (Conduct of Gambling Operations) Regulations, 2026, punters will be allowed to apply for self-exclusion for a minimum of six months. The exclusion period cannot be revoked or shortened before it expires.

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In many developed economies, self-exclusion is designed to protect gamblers from financial ruin and the addictive nature of betting. During the exclusion period, they are unable to deposit money into their accounts or place bets.

In Kenya, betting has been identified as a major financial risk, with many gamblers borrowing money to finance their habit or neglecting responsibilities such as meeting the daily needs of their dependants.

“A licensee who accepts a wager from a self-excluded person shall be liable to suspension or revocation of licence for repeated violations,” the regulations, gazetted on June 29, 2026, state.

In countries such as the United Kingdom, betting firms risk losing their licences if they fail to honour requests for self-exclusion or continue sending promotional material during the exclusion period.

Self-exclusion, also known as a “cooling-off period”, is intended to reduce or prevent the devastating effects of problem gambling, including financial losses, debt, bankruptcy and mental health crises.

Additionally, the Gaming Regulatory Authority of Kenya (GRAK) is expected to establish a centralised register by the end of the year containing details of all gamblers who have opted for self-exclusion.

All betting firms will have free, real-time access to the register, which will contain details such as the gamblers’ names and the duration of their self-exclusion.

“The Authority shall keep and maintain a secure register of persons excluded from gambling activities. The register shall contain the details of each excluded person, including…” the regulations state.

Gamblers listed in the self-exclusion register will not be allowed to place bets, open accounts or receive promotional gambling material from the relevant betting firm.

Kenya is introducing the new regulations in an effort to stem a gambling craze that has persisted despite increased taxation on both punters and betting firms.

The introduction of a 12.5 percent excise duty on betting stakes and a further 20 percent withholding tax on winnings has failed to deter gamblers.

Betting firms, meanwhile, pay a 15 percent tax on gross gaming revenue, a 30 percent corporation tax on profits and a 16 percent income tax.

Kenya has the highest proportion of gamblers in Africa, ahead of larger economies such as South Africa and Nigeria.

According to a 2024 survey by the Central Bank of Kenya, punters in urban areas spent an average of Sh2,125 a month on betting, compared with Sh1,481 among those in rural areas.

In many cases, the disease could have been detected years earlier through routine screening at a fraction of the cost.

According to a regional study on financing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in sub-Saharan Africa, this is largely due to the way the health system pays healthcare providers.

Although the Social Health Authority (SHA) introduced capitation for primary healthcare through the Primary Health Care Fund (PHCF), outpatient, specialist and hospital services in Kenya still rely heavily on fee-for-service reimbursement.

Under this system, providers are paid for every consultation, laboratory test, scan, admission and procedure that they carry out. The report argues that such payment systems reward the volume of services delivered rather than disease prevention or continuity of care provision.

‘This makes them poorly suited to chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes and hypertension, which require regular screening, long-term monitoring and continuous care,’ read the report.

The study specifically identifies Kenya and Botswana as countries where reliance on fee-for-service reimbursement has proved suboptimal for non-communicable disease (NCD) care, as it fails to incentivise preventive services or efficient service delivery.

“Shifting towards payment systems based on performance or outcomes could significantly improve the alignment between spending and health outcomes,” said the report.

Meanwhile, Rwanda has been named the region’s strongest performer when it comes to purchasing NCDs. This is thanks to its results-based financing model, whereby facilities are paid based on their performance rather than the volume of work they carry out. This model is combined with a community-based health insurance scheme, which covers over 90 per cent of the population.

Kenya’s Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) levies a contribution of 2.75 percent of gross earnings, but enrolment has outpaced payment. Of the approximately 29 million Kenyans registered with the SHA by early 2026, only around five million were actively paying, with most of the shortfall being accounted for by the informal sector. Where the money actually goes

Although the SHA’s Primary Health Care Fund is intended to strengthen preventive care through capitation payments to primary healthcare facilities, private healthcare providers argue that the amounts disbursed are too low to support comprehensive screening.

In practice, the annual allocation of Sh900 breaks down to just Sh75 per registered patient per month for outpatient primary care at Level 2 and 3 facilities.

Private networks note that this tight monthly capitation leaves virtually no room to absorb the operational costs of proactive, aggressive disease testing.

Compare this with cancer treatment, which the SHA covers up to Sh800,000 under the SHIF oncology package. Patients can also access an additional Sh400,000 for catastrophic care through the newly expanded Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund (ECCIF).

In other words, the financial design of the system allocates significant resources once a disease has progressed, while severely restricting entry points for primary care intended to detect diseases early.

He pointed out that, although screening is listed in the Primary Health Care Fund’s benefit package, it has not yet been implemented. Without publicly funded screening, many patients either pay for tests themselves or delay testing until they notice symptoms, by which point treatment is usually more complicated and expensive.

These findings come as Kenya continues to struggle to achieve its own targets on non-communicable diseases. The country’s first National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of NCDs, launched in 2015, aimed to reduce premature deaths from these diseases by 25 per cent by 2025, in line with the WHO’s global ’25 by 25′ goal. However, an evaluation of the strategy found that only 17.5 per cent of its planned activities were fully carried out. Another 68.8 per cent were only partly completed and 13.8 per cent had not even started by the time the strategy ended.

Kenya’s follow-up plan, the National NCD Strategic Plan for 2021/22-2025/26, maintained this target. However, there is no published evidence that Kenya met the original goal by the 2025 deadline.

The scale of the problem

These findings come against the backdrop of a rapidly increasing NCD burden across the continent. NCDs accounted for 37 per cent of all deaths in Africa in 2023, up from 33.7 per cent in 2015 and 27.6 per cent in 2005. Between 1990 and 2021, regional mortality linked to diabetes and kidney disease increased by 134 per cent, while deaths from neoplasms increased by 119 per cent over the same period – one of the fastest-growing categories of death on the continent.

In Kenya, NCDs now account for around 39 per cent of annual deaths, according to the Ministry of Health’s National NCD Strategic Plan, up from 27 per cent a decade ago. The four leading NCDs – cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease – together account for 57 per cent of the country’s NCD-related deaths.

Cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions now account for over half of hospital admissions and around 40 per cent of in-hospital deaths in Kenya. This puts an unfair strain on a healthcare financing system that is still mainly geared towards acute illnesses rather than chronic conditions.

A few years ago, I sat in a cross-functional review where everything looked ‘green’ on the dashboard. Timelines were intact. Service levels were respectable. And yet, something was off, a ‘too good to be true’ kind of feeling. So asked with a smile, ‘Team, What’s the bad news we’re not hearing?’

Interestingly, the room went quiet. After the meeting, a manager pulled me aside and said, ‘Doc, people have concerns… but they don’t think it’s safe to say them aloud.’ That moment reminded me of a hard truth: many organisations don’t suffer from a strategy problem. They suffer from a conversation problem.

As industries navigate 2026’s uncertainties ranging from cyber threats and climate disruptions to supply volatility and shifting workforce expectations, effective communication is the compass that guides teams to trust and triumph. Leaders today operate under intense pressure to deliver results, accelerate change, protect reputation, and keep people engaged, often at the same time.

Too often, however, well-intentioned priorities encounter resistance, stall in execution, or fail to take root. Typically, this is not because they were wrong, but because communication was weak, unclear, inconsistent or misaligned with lived reality.

Research is increasingly unequivocal: trust is not a ‘nice-to-have’; it is a performance multiplier. The CIPD’s 2024 evidence review positions trust and psychological safety as foundational to teamwork, coordination, collaboration and learning, especially in uncertain environments.

Psychological safety, as widely described in contemporary workplace research, is the climate where people can raise concerns, ask questions, and admit mistakes without fear of humiliation or retaliation. It is strongly associated with better performance and wellbeing outcomes.

Here is the practical implication for leaders: communication is how trust is built, or broken, every day. In my experience, trust grows when communication consistently delivers three things:

First, transparency with context. People don’t only need decisions; they need the why behind the decisions. When leaders explain trade-offs, constraints, and reasoning, they treat employees as partners rather than spectators. In volatile settings, clarity reduces rumour, anxiety and cynicism. These are the silent enemies of execution.

Second, listening that changes something. Listening is not a ceremonial Q and A at the end of a townhall. It is a discipline of making concerns visible early, especially inconvenient ones. Contemporary trust research continues to highlight that ‘listening’ is not merely a tone; it is a leadership act that anchors credibility and reduces grievance.

The uncomfortable truth is this: if leaders mostly hear good news, it may not be because everything is perfect, it may be because people have learned that speaking up is costly. The absence of dissent is rarely a sign of alignment; sometimes it is a sign of fear.

Third, feedback loops and follow-through. Trust collapses when leaders ask, people speak, and nothing changes. Psychological safety is strengthened not by endless reassurance, but by visible responsiveness: ‘We heard you; here is what we are doing; here is what we cannot do and why.’

From a culture professional’s lens, this is where many transformation efforts succeed or fail. Culture is not what we publish; culture is what people experience: in meetings, handovers, performance conversations, and decision-making forums. And as I’ve written elsewhere, the owner of meaning is the receiver. Communication is not complete when we speak; it is complete when others understand, believe, and act.

The cost of poor communication is always disproportionate. When communication breaks down, trust fractures quietly before it collapses publicly. This happens through disengagement, attrition, quality failures, labour tension, customer dissatisfaction, or reputational damage. Research continues to link psychologically safe environments to stronger collaboration and knowledge-sharing, while environments that suppress voice reduce learning and weaken performance.

This brings us to a leadership reality that deserves more attention: great cultures are built or broken in the middle. Gallup’s ongoing global insights consistently emphasise the outsized influence of managers on the employee experience.

And as commentary on Gallup’s findings has recently highlighted, declining manager engagement is a warning sign because managers are the ‘translators’ of strategy into daily meaning and motivation. If we want trusted teams, we must equip managers to run better conversations, not just better processes.

So, what should leaders practically do to build trust through communication in 2026 and beyond?

Start by building a communication system, not occasional communication events. This includes frequent check-ins, defined escalation paths, and visible leadership during uncertainty. It means investing in managers’ capability to hold high-quality one-on-ones, listen without defensiveness, and navigate conflict with maturity.

It means using digital tools to increase alignment and speed and never outsourcing empathy to technology. And it means celebrating progress honestly: not propaganda, but shared narratives of ‘what we learned, what we improved and how we will win together.’

Finally, remember that psychological safety is not comfort. It is the courage to tell the truth early, while there is still time to act. The goal is not a workplace where people are always agreeable; it is a workplace where people are truthful, accountable, and committed.

If we change the quality of conversation, we change the quality of culture. And if we change the culture, we change the game. In a world that rewards speed, resilience and learning, trusted teams are not just efficient; they are unstoppable. They confidently know that they are Winning Together! and Always Delighting the Customer! through their every move.

The upward pressure on interest rates is expected to ease after progress in peace negotiations between the US and Iran pulled oil prices to a four-month low, allaying fears of prolonged high inflation.

Analysts say that the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) now has a strong case to hold its rate unchanged in the next monetary policy meeting in August due to easing inflation, in the process capping the recent jump in short-term rates on government securities.

Since the war in Iran started on February 28, rates on the 91-day and 182-day Treasury bill have gone up by 1.4 and 1.2 percentage points to 8.83 percent and 8.96 percent respectively.

Bond buyers also demanded a return of 15.1 percent on a 25-year paper that was reopened last month, against its actual interest rate or coupon of 13.92 percent.

Investors demanded higher returns after inflation rose to 6.7 percent in May from 4.3 percent in February due to higher fuel prices. For investors in the government securities, higher inflation erodes the real returns from their assets, which come with a fixed annual interest rate.

The cost of living measure however dropped to 6.4 percent in June, with a further decline expected once fuel and food prices come down in the coming weeks.

Current spike in inflation

On Tuesday, Brent crude was trading at $72.78 a barrel, a price last seen on February 27. The price of oil had risen to highs of $120 a barrel at the peak of hostilities in Iran in March.

‘Overall, we project a lower inflation path in the near-term. Expectedly, earlier projected pressure on short-end interest rates is likely to be moderated by reduced inflationary pressures amid ample market liquidity,’ analysts at NCBA Investment Bank said in their latest weekly fixed income report.

In the last MPC meeting on June 10, the CBK kept the base rate unchanged at 8.75 percent, saying it needed to take stock of the evolving situation in Iran, in line with similar cautious stances by central banks in developed markets.

CBK Governor Kamau Thugge later said that the apex bank was optimistic that inflation would peak below the upper limit of its target range of five percent plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, due to an expectation of de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

By opting to keep its base rate unchanged, the CBK also considered the fact that the current spike in inflation is primarily driven by higher prices of imported fuel and consumer goods (imported inflation) rather than underlying demand pressures in the economy.

Global oil price relief

Analysts at Sterling Capital have backed the CBK’s view in their latest monthly fixed income report, projecting a hold in the base rate in the August MPC meeting.

‘We feel that the recent easing of headline inflation to 6.4 percent, alongside anticipated global oil price relief from the US-Iran agreement, reduces the pressure for monetary tightening in the August 2026 meeting,’ said the Sterling Capital analysts.

The first test of the expectations of lower pressure on yields will come in the July 2026 Treasury bond auction, which will take place on Wednesday.

In the sale, the CBK reopened three papers with periods to maturity of between 5.8 years and 29.9 years, allowing it to gauge investor sentiment across the full breadth of the government securities yield curve.

The reopened papers include a 10-year bond first sold in May 2022, which comes with a coupon of 13.49 percent. The CBK has also reopened a 20-year bond from July 2021, which pays annual interest of 13.44 percent, and a 30-year paper first sold in March 2026 at a coupon of 12.5 percent.

The three bonds are targeting Sh70 billion, marking the start of the government’s borrowing for the 2026/2027 fiscal year in which it is seeking a net of Sh1.03 trillion from the domestic market.

Pension schemes minted a record Sh16.6 billion in gains from disposal of government bonds and listed stocks in 2025, cashing in on the higher prices of the assets.

The gains are the highest in at least five years and came against the backdrop of higher prices of bonds in the secondary market and shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

Gains made from the disposal of quoted shares were backed by higher corporate earnings and improved macroeconomic conditions which supported the rise of stocks while gains from the sale of government securities were anchored on relatively lower interest rates.

The price of bonds in the secondary market usually has an inverse relationship with interest rates where prices soar as rates drop, allowing investors to realise profits from sale of bonds with higher coupons (interest rates). Gains on the disposal of government securities stood at Sh11.3 billion while profits from share sales by pension schemes were Sh5.3 billion, according to data from the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA).

Profits from the sale of government securities and quoted shares in 2024 were lower at Sh2.05 billion and Sh986.5 million respectively.

The gains from disposal of State securities and quoted shares in 2025 were enough to more than offset Sh456.9 million in losses from disposal of real estate properties in the year.

‘The increase was primarily driven by substantial gains from disposal of Kenya government securities and quoted shares, reflecting favourable movements in both the fixed-income and equity markets during the year,’ the RBA said.

‘However, the ‘other investments’ category recorded a net loss of Sh456.9 million, partially offsetting the overall gains realised in 2025. The category consists mostly of disposal in immovable property by schemes.’

The stock market offered investors the highest returns for a second year running in 2025, beating property, offshore investments and fixed income assets whose returns dipped due to falling interest rates.

The sustained growth was backed by low inflation, lower interest rates and a stable exchange rate, creating a favourable environment for growth in corporate earnings and participation by foreign investors.

NSE market capitalisation rose by 51.8 percent in the period as investor wealth rose by a record Sh1 trillion, doubling paper gains from 2024.

High-yielding Treasury bonds traded at a premium on the same bourse as interest rates on new and reopened securities declined to between 11.67 percent and 14.63 percent.

Tax-free infrastructure bonds offered the highest premium as investors raised their appetite for the existing high-yielding bonds with interest rates on new issuances in the primary market falling. Pension schemes doubled down on the same asset classes even as they made some disposal in a strategic portfolio rebalancing.

Investments in government securities by schemes rose to Sh1.38 trillion from Sh1.08 trillion in 2024 and made up 50.98 percent of the vehicles’ assets. Allocation to quoted securities rose to Sh277.4 billion from Sh189 billion to represent 10.2 percent of schemes’ assets.

Pension schemes, however, held more assets in guaranteed funds at Sh560.7 billion. Allocation to immovable property stood at Sh247.2 billion.

The schemes’ other major asset classes were fixed and time deposits, and offshore investments.

Schemes also invested in minor asset classes with allocations of under one percent to each category including cash and demand deposits, property unit trusts, unquoted equities, commercial and corporate bonds and private equity and venture capital.

‘Compared to 2024, most asset classes recorded growth, with notable increases in Kenya government securities, guaranteed funds, quoted equities, and offshore investments, largely driven by improved market performance, attractive returns, and continued portfolio diversification by retirement benefits schemes,’ RBA added.

Total assets under management by pension schemes rose by 26.84 percent to Sh2.82 trillion as of December 2025, driven by growth in contributions and investment income.

Total contributions by both employers and employees tallied to Sh309.26 billion while investment income stood at Sh274.81 billion.

Banks defending disputed payment claims must prove funds reached the intended recipient rather than rely on internal processing records, the High Court in Nairobi has ruled.

The court said maker-checker approvals and payment schedules do not establish payment of the money.

The ruling arose from a dispute between Consolidated Bank and Muteithia Kibira Advocates LLP over legal fees for defending the lender in an employment case lodged by its former internal quality auditor.

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The bank argued it had paid a Sh72,460 deposit requested by the law firm and that requiring it to pay the full fee note of Sh497,102 would amount to unjust enrichment. The advocates maintained they never received the deposit.

In determining the dispute, the court dismissed the bank’s appeal and upheld a Small Claims Court judgment that awarded the advocates the full amount claimed after finding the lender failed to prove the disputed payment had been made.

The court held that once the advocates denied receiving the money, the burden shifted to the bank to demonstrate the funds had actually been transmitted and received.

“The proof of payment of legal fees is the receipt of the fees, not in the preparation of payment. Through the Maker Checker process, what the appellant has demonstrated is the preparation for payment,” Justice Benard Murunga stated, reinforcing the importance of complete payment trails in commercial disputes.

The bank relied on an internally approved Deposit Request Note bearing maker-checker and finance approval stamps, together with an internal payment schedule listing the advocates among intended beneficiaries.

The court found those records merely documented internal approval processes rather than completed transactions.

“Both the Maker Checker and Payment Schedule are internal procedures. They do not necessarily demonstrate payment but only the approval process and an Internal Schedule. That is no proof,” the court ruled.

The court said the bank could have produced stronger evidence, including remittance advice, electronic transfer records or other documents confirming the funds reached the advocates.

“In the age of Real Time Gross Settlements and Electronic Fund Transfers … Remittance Advices are accepted,” the judgment said, adding that banks should provide signed and stamped proof of transfers just as they do for cash or cheque deposits.

The court also rejected the bank’s argument that paying the fee note would unjustly enrich the law firm. It said such a claim depended on first proving the disputed deposit had actually been received.

“To prove unjust enrichment, one therefore has to prove that the person received the payment and that being paid again would be double payment,” it said. “Proof cannot be through internal documentation.”

The court noted that the advocates had repeatedly demanded payment over several years. It said the bank never responded to those demands by producing evidence that the deposit had already been settled.

“That silence is inconsistent with the conduct of a debtor who has already discharged its payment obligation,” the court said.

Although the court acknowledged the bank had attempted to trace records of the 2017 transaction, it found those efforts ultimately failed to produce evidence proving the disputed payment had reached the law firm.

The High Court has blocked the Competition Authority of Kenya’s bid to conduct a sweeping search of Foam Mattress Ltd as part of a suspected price-fixing cartel investigation.

The court said the regulator must justify why less intrusive investigative measures are inadequate before seeking broad search warrants against businesses.

It also ruled that any court-approved dawn raid must be narrowly targeted to avoid infringing constitutional rights to privacy, property and data protection.

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“The orders were too wide and could have covered private phones or gadgets and not necessarily those belonging to the subject entity only. Anyone within the building, including employees and third parties would have been subject to the order,’ the court said, upholding a lower court’s decision to block the search exercise.

The ruling delivered at the High Court in Kisumu is expected to shape how the competition watchdog conducts future cartel investigations by requiring investigators to lay a clear factual basis before obtaining intrusive search warrants.

While affirming that CAK investigators are legally empowered to execute search warrants, the court noted that the regulator failed to demonstrate why it could not first seek information through less intrusive statutory procedures before asking to search and seize electronic devices.

The dispute arose after CAK sought permission from the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kisumu to enter Foam Mattress’s premises, search its offices and seize documents, computers, mobile phones, storage devices and other electronic records as part of investigations into alleged anti-competitive conduct.

The magistrate, in a ruling dated March 24, 2026, rejected the application, prompting the regulator to ask the High Court to revise that decision.

CAK argued that the Competition Act gives it independent authority to investigate suspected anti-competitive conduct and conduct searches through officers authorized by the regulator.

It also maintained that requesting documents first under Section 31(4) of the Act was not a mandatory prerequisite before seeking search warrants because advance notice could lead to destruction of evidence in cartel investigations.

The court agreed with the regulator on one key legal point. It held that search warrants are not reserved exclusively for officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), saying Section 118 of the Criminal Procedure Code permits warrants to be executed by “a person named in the search warrant.”

“The applicant is empowered to conduct investigations. The person authorized by the applicant in writing is to be named in the search warrant … and not necessarily an investigation officer from the DCI as held by the Court below,’ the court said.

However, the court found that CAK had failed to place sufficient evidence to justify bypassing the ordinary process of requesting information from the company before resorting to coercive search powers.

It noted that although the authority claimed evidence could be destroyed if notice was given, the supporting affidavit did not explain why such fears were justified.

The court described the powers under Section 32 of the Competition Act as exceptionally intrusive and warned that they should be exercised only where a clear factual basis has been established.

It said the powers “are very drastic,” adding that they “can paralyse or destroy a business depending on how they are exercised” and “are open to abuse.”

The court further observed that such orders could infringe constitutional rights to property and privacy as well as protections under the Data Protection Act if issued without adequate safeguards.

It also faulted the scope of the proposed warrants, saying they would have allowed investigators to seize virtually every electronic device found within the building without distinguishing between company property and personal devices belonging to employees or third parties.

‘The Data Protection Act and the right to privacy under the Constitution could have been breached

by such wide and sweeping orders. Nothing can be as intrusive as entering into one’s private phone! The trial court was right in declining them,’ said the court.

The judge concluded that the application amounted to “a fishing expedition,” saying the authority had sought permission to seize electronic gadgets first and then search through them for evidence.

Stating that the orders sought by CAK must be targeted clear and unambiguous, the court said CAK should have specified whose computers, whose electronic gadgets, whose phones that were to be subject to the court order.

It dismissed CAK’s revision application and upheld the magistrate’s earlier refusal to issue the warrants.

The ruling comes against the backdrop of CAK’s widening investigation into alleged cartel activity in Kenya’s mattress industry.

In March, the regulator carried out coordinated dawn raids on several mattress manufacturers after saying it suspected anti-competitive practices, including possible price-fixing and other conduct prohibited under the Competition Act.

The watchdog said the operation was intended to secure evidence that could otherwise be concealed or destroyed and stressed that the searches did not amount to findings of wrongdoing.

The High Court’s decision does not halt CAK’s investigation but establishes that future applications for search warrants must be supported by specific evidence, narrowly tailored and proportionate to the suspected infringement, balancing effective competition enforcement with constitutional protections for businesses and individuals.

Do leading-edge firms like Google or Tesla do traditional five-year plans? Then, label them with the buzzword ‘strategic’? Does agility matter more than predicting the future with precision? Is it better to consider ‘plans’ living documents, revised as conditions change, rather than fixed commitments?

What percentage of time do you think things go according to a plan? Not surprising that senior managers who sit on NSE boards, will say something like: ‘Well, maybe 5 to 10 percent of the time, that things go according to the plan.’

Companies like Google and Tesla do not manage the business through traditional, detailed five-year strategic plans in the way many more conventional businesses and development partners do. Instead, they combine having a vision, long-term direction with short planning cycles and constant experimentation.

Have a long-term ambition

Rather than a detailed five-year plan, trying to predict what will happen, global leaders have a vision that may extend 10-30 years. Consider these vision statements: “Organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” for Google. And, ‘Accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy’ for Tesla. These visions act as a strategic guiding ‘north star’.

Work backwards from the future

Instead of asking ‘What will we do over the next five years’ they ask ‘If we achieve our vision, what must be true’ This approach resembles the ‘working backwards’ philosophy popularised by Jeff Bezos at Amazon.

Strategy is treated as a portfolio of bets

Rather than producing one fixed strategic plan, market leaders continually allocate resources across initiatives with different time horizons. Constantly monitored, if an initiative isn’t working the approach is revised or it risks being cut. For instance, a simplified portfolio might look like: core business – 70 percent, emerging businesses – 20 percent, and radical innovations – 10 percent. This echoes the ’70-20-10′ innovation framework that has become associated with Google.

Planning happens continuously

Leading edge organisations still produce annual plans and multi-year financial projections for governance and investor communication, but the ‘nitty gritty’ operational strategy is revisited frequently. For market leaders, typical planning rhythms include: annual strategic themes, quarterly priorities, monthly business reviews, weekly management meetings and daily performance dashboards. Aim is to allow for rapid adjustment as markets, technology and customer needs constantly evolve, often unpredictably.

Objectives replace detailed plans

Many technology firms use frameworks likes Objectives and Key Results – OKR. Quite simply the objective is the what and the key results is the how it will be achieved. Key results need to be clear, do-able yet ambitious, measurable, with a timing. . Rather than specifying every activity years in advance, teams decide best path with a ‘test and learn’ approach.

Assume the strategy is incomplete

Traditional planning often assumes enough information exists to define the future. Somehow we fall prey to the seductive belief in the beauty of absolute certainty. However, leading innovators assume uncertainty taking into account, markets will change, competitors will surprise them, and technologies will evolve. And that, some of our assumptions will prove wrong. Strategy is treated more like an artist’s unfinished canvas, where insightful forecasting is more a process of testing assumptions.

Customer learning drives evolution

Customer sales and satisfaction power the business. Companies like Google and Tesla continuously gather signals from customer behavior including product usage, experiments, engineering progress, market data and AI-generated insights.

Resource allocation matters more than the written plan

Many top executives argue that strategy is best reflected most clearly where an organisation invests its people, time, and capital. Questions to are: Which products receive the top talent? Which markets receive investment? Which capabilities are built? Those decisions often reveal the real strategy far better than a planning document.

What would the business wizards say to this approach?

Guru of innovation, Clayton Christensen would stress — Build capabilities that prepare you for future disruption rather than optimizing only for today’s business. Steve Blank’s approach would be to — Treat strategy as a series of hypotheses that must be validated through customer discovery. Eric Ries would stress – Make small, measurable experiments part of everyday business execution.

In fast-changing markets like Kenya and East Africa — it might be better to move away from producing ‘hope for the best’ static plans, shifting towards creating more of an adaptive strategy system. Instead of delivering a document every five years, make sense to establish a cycle of continuous sensing, experimentation, quarterly OKRs, rapid learning and smart resource allocation. Now, that’s a strategy.

There was a time when the most trusted keeper of secrets was the local priest. People confessed their fears, failures and deepest regrets, confident that whatever was shared in confidence would remain protected. Doctors, lawyers and journalists later earned similar trust through professional ethics that placed confidentiality above all else.

Today, our most intimate confessions are no longer whispered across a wooden booth. They are typed into search engines, shared with AI assistants, stored in banking apps, recorded by fitness trackers and submitted through government portals. The modern-day priest is no longer a person but the digital systems we rely on every day.

Artificial intelligence has accelerated this transformation. Millions now seek career advice from AI, discuss health concerns with chatbots, manage finances through mobile apps and entrust smart devices with details of their daily routines.

These technologies know where we travel, what we buy, how we sleep, whom we communicate with and, increasingly, what we think. In many cases, they know more about us than our closest friends and family.

Kenya is no exception. From mobile banking and digital lending to eCitizen services, online learning and AI-powered customer support, digital platforms have become part of everyday life. Every convenience requires users to surrender another layer of personal information, creating an expanding network of trust.

Yet many digital products were built around a simple principle: collect as much data as possible, then decide later how to use or protect it. In the AI era, that approach is becoming increasingly difficult to defend. The real question is no longer whether organisations can collect personal data, but whether they should.

While laws such as Kenya’s Data Protection Act provide an essential legal framework, compliance alone does not inspire confidence. Trust is earned through responsible choices made long before an audit or regulatory inspection. That is why Privacy by Design is emerging as a strategic business advantage.

Organisations that collect only necessary data, build security into products from the outset and remain transparent about data use are more likely to earn lasting customer confidence.

As AI becomes our adviser, assistant and confidant, society must expect more than innovation. We must demand stewardship.

The organisations that will lead in the AI era will not simply be those with the smartest technology, but those that prove themselves worthy of safeguarding the trust people once reserved for their most trusted confidants.