Category: Business Daily

Motorists will have the option of declining to pay instant traffic fines and instead challenge the penalties in court under revised guidelines issued by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), marking a major shift in the rollout of the controversial automated traffic enforcement system.

The revised framework follows criticism from civil society groups, lawyers and motorists who argued that the digital penalties regime violated constitutional protections on fair hearing, criminal justice and data privacy.

Under the new framework, motorists accused of minor traffic offences will no longer be compelled to immediately settle penalties generated by the automated system. Instead, they may either admit liability and pay the prescribed fine or dispute the offence before a court of law.

The changes were announced by NTSA Director-General Nashon Kondiwa, who said the transport regulator had reviewed the implementation framework with stakeholders including the police, the Judiciary, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and other enforcement agencies.

Camera clamp

The instant fines system relies heavily on smart traffic cameras and digital monitoring infrastructure to automatically detect traffic violations such as speeding, failure to wear seat belts and disobeying police instructions.

Once an offence is detected, the system generates a notification to motorists through SMS, email or digital traffic enforcement platforms. The notice contains details of the offence, including the date, time and location, the prescribed penalty and payment timelines.

‘Upon receiving a notice, motorists have two options: they may admit liability and pay the prescribed fine within the stipulated period, or they may dispute the allegation in court,’ said Mr Kondiwa.

He added that motorists who opt to settle the fine would avoid appearing in court, although courts would retain powers to reduce or refund penalties depending on mitigating circumstances.

The regulator also warned that motorists who fail to respond, pay fines or appear in court when required could face harsher penalties imposed through the judicial process.

Court battle

The revised framework follows a temporary suspension of the system by the High Court after a petition filed by civil society organisation Sheria Mtaani and advocate Shadrack Wambui.

The petitioners argued that the automated penalties scheme fundamentally alters how traffic offences are detected, prosecuted and punished in Kenya.

‘The impugned notice purports to introduce a nationwide enforcement regime that fundamentally alters the manner in which criminal liability for traffic offences is determined, enforced and penalised in Kenya,’ the petition states.

The court barred NTSA and other state agencies from issuing or enforcing instant penalties generated through algorithmic or automated decision-making systems pending the hearing of the case.

Another Nairobi motorist, Kennedy Maingi Mutwiri, also moved to court seeking to stop the implementation of the system, arguing that it punishes motorists without giving them an opportunity to defend themselves before a court of law.

Revenue drive

The automated fines regime forms part of a broader Sh42 billion smart driving licence and traffic management project being implemented through a public-private partnership (PPP).

The project is backed by KCB Group and Pesa Print, a local technology firm partly owned by businessman David Njane together with politically connected investors Jabir Abdul Nassir Abdalla Al-Kindy and Faryd Abdulrazak Sheikh.

The consortium plans to recoup its investment over a 21-year concession period through revenues generated from instant traffic fines, smart driving licence fees and other user charges.

NTSA documents show that motorists will pay Sh3,000 for the new smart driving licences, while traffic offenders will face penalties ranging from Sh500 for failure to wear seat belts to Sh10,000 for offences such as speeding and driving vehicles without valid inspection certificates.

The project also includes the installation of more than 1,000 smart traffic cameras across major highways and accident-prone roads.

About 700 fixed cameras will be mounted along strategic highways and urban centres, while 300 mobile units will target speeding hotspots and high-risk corridors.

The government argues that the system will improve road safety and help reduce accidents caused by speeding and reckless driving.

Kenya has increasingly turned to PPP arrangements to finance major infrastructure projects amid mounting fiscal pressure and shrinking public revenues.

Treasury data shows the government collected an average of Sh1.7 billion annually from traffic fines between July 2020 and June 2024. However, officials expect collections to rise sharply once the automated fines system is fully implemented.

The smart licence project was initially launched in 2017 under a Sh2.03 billion contract awarded to a consortium led by the then National Bank of Kenya. The arrangement was later converted into a PPP model after the government accumulated pending bills owed to Pesa Print.

Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has previously flagged delays in the implementation of the project, noting that it is several years behind schedule.

Absa Bank Kenya reported a 13.8 percent decline in net profit in the first quarter ended March as falling interest rates and reduced lending to customers resulted in reduced interest income.

The bank’s net income in the review period stood at Sh5.3 billion, down from Sh6.1 billion the year before.

Total interest income fell 10.1 percent to Sh13.5 billion. The lender also slashed interest paid on deposits by 17 percent to Sh3.1 billion, helping to mitigate the impact of lower interest income on its lending margins.

‘While market conditions remained dynamic, we delivered a profit after tax of Sh5.3 billion and a return on equity of 20.3 percent,’ Absa said in a statement.

‘Revenue [Total operating income] closed at Sh14.7 billion, reflecting the impact of the lower-rate environment, partly offset by improved cost-of-funds management.’

Absa becomes the second major listed lender to report lower earnings after Standard Chartered Bank Kenya’s net income declined 26.3 percent in the same period to Sh3.5 billion on lower interest income.

StanChart’s net interest income fell by 24.4 percent to Sh6.2 billion as revenues from lending fell faster than interest expenses, cutting its lending margins.

Read: StanChart bucks trend with 26pc profit fall in first quarter

Other rival banks including Equity Group, NCBA Group and Co-operative Bank of Kenya have recorded higher earnings on a mix of deeper cuts in interest expenses and higher income from lending and transactions.

Absa’s non-interest income shrank by Sh233.9 million to Sh4.2 billion while operating expenses increased by Sh169.8 million to Sh7.1 billion, contributing to the weaker earnings. The bank paid out Sh717 million to 82 of its employees who took voluntary early retirement in January this year, pushing up its staff costs for the first quarter.

The lender cut its loan loss provision by only Sh8 million to Sh1.4 billion despite the stock of bad loans falling by Sh5.9 billion to Sh38.1 billion, indicating increased cautionary outlook on credit performance in the near future.

Absa cut its loan book by Sh4.5 billion to Sh303.8 billion and increased its investments in the safer government debt securities by Sh22.5 billion to Sh128.4 billion.

‘Looking ahead, the bard remains confident in Absa Bank Kenya’s ability to navigate the evolving market dynamics

while continuing to deliver sustainable value,’ the lender said.

‘Our focus remains on disciplined execution, customer-centric innovation, prudent risk management, and long-term shareholder returns.’

The US and Israel war on Iran has resulted in a sharp jump in the price of commodities led by oil, leading to rising inflation that is set to reduce households’ disposable incomes and hurt profitability of businesses.

The fallout from a surge in inflation will be larger if the war persists for longer. Most sectors of the economy have been impacted by the commodities price rally including agriculture, transport, manufacturing, trade and energy.

The Kenyan government’s intention to comply with its international climate commitments, including the Global Methane Pledge, has inevitably put the pastoralists in the spotlight.

Greenhouse gas emissions from the Global South are a very small contribution to human-made climate change. Yet emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that represents 25 percent of total global warming, are attributed a much higher weight in low-income countries, precisely because of the relative economic importance of grazing livestock. Pastoralism is hence targeted as a primary objective for emission reductions-but is such attribution fair?

Pastoralism in Kenya exists primarily within arid and semi-arid lands, which make up nearly 80 percent of Kenya. Within these landscapes, communities such as the Maasai, Samburu, Turkana, Borana, Rendille, and others have practised mobile livestock production for generations.

These systems are built on seasonal movement, communal rangeland governance, indigenous ecological knowledge, and livestock breeds adapted to harsh and variable environments. In radical contrast with industrialised livestock systems, they operate with minimal external inputs and depend largely on natural grazing systems.

The naturalness of such practices is the key to their success: livestock integrates into savanna ecosystems the same way as wild migratory herbivores do, following green pastures across seasons.

Such integration into natural ecosystems is, unfortunately, one of the reasons for pastoralism being attributed a high climate burden. In the Global North, where industrial agriculture facilitates the provision of grain and concentrates, methane emissions per animal are much lower.

But attributing a Samburu cow with high emissions is not fair. That cow spent its life on natural pastures where all kinds of antelopes had grazed for thousands and millions of years, migrating in search of greener pasture as the wild herbivores used to do.

The methane that cows emit is no different from that emitted by wild migrating herbivores, as recent research shows. The problem humanity has with changing the climate is due to the amount of gases that we are artificially adding.

But there is a natural amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that protects life, warming the planet by 33°C. Our Samburu cow feeding on natural rangelands is not putting any single additional methane molecule into the system.

In many other African countries, livestock also has a very important social role as a reserve of capital, but unfortunately this is the other reason for the large climatic blame to Kenyan pastoralism. The global scientific community measures emission intensity on a per product base.

Imagine the case of a Samburu father who, to pay for his daughter’s school fees, sells his 8-year-old cow. Every kilogram of meat is attributed with all the gas that the cow produced while grazing natural rangelands during all that time. Yet a calf from the industrial facility mentioned above in the Global North will be slaughtered in few months, every kilogram of meat being attributed with methane emissions during a much more reduced timespan.

But attributing the Samburu cow with such high emissions is not fair. That cow spent its life on natural pastures where all kinds of antelopes had grazed for thousands and millions of years, migrating on the search for greener pasture as the wild herbivores used to do.

The methane that cow emitted is not different from the one wild migrating herbivores emit, as recent research shows. The problem humanity has with changing the climate is due to the amount of gases that we are artificially adding. But there is a natural amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that protects life, by warming the planet by 33°C.

Our Samburu cow feeding on natural rangelands is not putting any single additional methane molecule to the system. Ironically, the industrial livestock systems of the Global North that are being showcased as a paradigm of climate efficiency rely on the production of grain, concentrates and fertilized fodder which needs fossil fuel energy.

The use of oil and natural gas to move tractors and produce mineral fertilizer means that industrial food production systems are adding net greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

Thereby they dope local rangelands with way more animals than what is natural, just like a runner on steroids, increasing methane emissions well above natural levels. Just as any other fossil-fuel-based activity, they contribute to the very dangerous 2°C artificial warming above natural greenhouse effect levels that humanity is fearing.

The Kenyan Government and society can make an opportunity out of this challenge. Instead of assuming a narrative that ignores local realities, it can organize African countries with large pastoralist herds to make the case in the international climate negotiations.

Abandoning pastoralism will not only be ineffective, due to wild animals or wildfires taking over the same emissions. It will be counterproductive, because of the need to compensate with increased industrial production for the food and services no longer delivered by pastoralism.

In term of climate adaptation, mobile pastoralism has repeatedly proven to be a very effective livelihood, with a cultural and social structure designed to make the best of climate variability.

The cultural significance for Kenyans is patent in the country’s flag and coat of arms, in spite of the deterioration that fragmentation, scarcity of services and other problems have brought. We have to revert it. We cannot miss this chance, for the best time to act was yesterday, but the second best is now.

Kenya has been ranked the world’s eleventh best country to outsource business processes to, beating advanced economies like the United Kingdom and the United States, due to its affordable labour costs and English proficiency of workers.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the practice of hiring a third-party company to handle back-office functions like customer care, telemarketing, data entry, content moderation, and IT support, among others.

A global ranking of 193 countries by American outsourcing consultancy Ataraxis places Kenya 11th globally, and third in Africa, behind South Africa and Nigeria, highlighting its competitiveness in the international industry.

Kenya’s competitiveness is primarily due to labour affordability and an English-proficient workforce, bolstered by good digital infrastructure, ready availability of talent, and business stability, according to Ataraxis.

Nairobi’s performance in the BPO market beats that of the US and UK, which are homes to some of the world’s largest outsourcing firms, including Samasource and Teleperformance, which already have major operations in Kenya.

‘The advantage that Kenya has is that labour costs are very competitive, almost close to the global minimum, without sacrificing on English proficiency,’ said George Atuahene, Ataraxis CEO.

‘While infrastructure and talent scale are still developing compared to more mature hubs, its rapid digital transformation makes it an ideal spot for companies looking for high-quality, cost-effective technical and support talent.’

Globally, the Philippines tops the world BPO market, due to its developed digital infrastructure, added to English fluency and a readily available and affordable workforce.

Other top performers ranking above Kenya are Malaysia, India, Chile, Peru, Indonesia, Argentina, and Romania, which have business-level English proficiency and a huge and affordable labour force.

The UK and US rank 29th and 86th, respectively, globally, largely due to expensive labour costs, which are among the highest in the world. The US, for instance, performs exceptionally in English fluency, digital infrastructure, and availability of labour, but its costs are the fifth highest in the world, after Monaco, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.

‘The United States has a perfect score in digital infrastructure and a very high score in business stability, making it one the world’s most reliable locations for critical business operations,’ said Mr Atuahene.

‘Without the labour cost variable, the United States would rank among the strongest global talent markets. A US-company can often hire several offshore staff for the cost of one domestic employee.’

Currently, most of the roles outsourced to Kenya are in data entry and analysis, AI-training, content moderation, telemarketing and digital marketing, graphic design, and copywriting.

However, experts project that Kenya’s edge and market share in the industry will improve after the US considers new rules to ensure customer care outsourcing by US firms goes to English-proficient countries or stays within the country.

In a move to promote consumer welfare, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it is considering limiting the use of foreign call centres in the country, and requiring foreign-based customer service workers to be proficient in American-standard English. FCC estimates that 70 percent of US companies outsource at least one department, including customer service and call centre operations to foreign countries, with India currently leading.

Brendan Carr, FCC chair, said ‘too many Americans have struggled to resolve an issue with a representative due to cultural and language barriers,’ necessitating the restriction of call centres to English-proficient countries.

‘I think this will really tip the scales in favour of countries like Kenya, where labour is already cheap, and the workforce is generally fluent in English, as opposed to other countries where labour is cheap, but workers struggle to speak good English,’ reckons Mr Atuahene.

Kenya’s cheaply available labour has, however, been a cause of concern for many activists, who argue that it has led to the exploitation of Kenyans to do mentally draining tasks for poor pay.

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) collections have deteriorated following wider missed targets amid pressure to cut taxes on key income heads like pay-as-you-earn (PAYE), which could worsen revenue performance.

Ordinary revenues collected through nine months of the fiscal year to March 2026 missed the mark by Sh161.9 billion, extending the deficit in tax collection from Sh110.6 billion at the end of December 2025.

The missed revenue targets come amid the government’s grant of tax concessions to contain the vagaries of the US-Israel war on Iran, including the halving of value-added tax (VAT) on petroleum products.

The National Treasury still faces public pressure to offer further tax incentives, including reducing payroll taxes for low-income earners.

The KRA will likely record wider missed targets if the tax concessions are adopted without a reduced revenue outlook for the taxman.

‘Ordinary revenue collection was Sh1.81 trillion against a target of Sh1.98 trillion by the end of March 2026,’ the National Treasury said in its latest quarterly economic and budget review report.

‘All ordinary revenue categories recorded below target performance during the period under review, except import duty, which surpassed its target by Sh8.6 billion, and other revenue categories, which surpassed their target by Sh4.1 billion.’

Corporation tax recorded the largest miss among major tax heads at Sh60.3 billion, ahead of PAYE at Sh50.1 billion.

The VAT collections were off the mark by Sh42.8 billion, while misses on excise duty and investment revenue were posted at Sh19.2 billion and Sh43 million, respectively.

The taxman has persistently missed its collection targets amid difficulties, including a softer economy and revenue base expansion bottlenecks.

This has forced the Treasury to plug the created deficit from domestic revenue underperformance through additional internal borrowing.

Read: KRA blocks manual VAT export entries, tightens refund claims

Ordinary revenue collected through the nine months was, however, higher than the same time last year when receipts totalled to just Sh1.58 trillion.

KRA faces a sterner test to meet revenue targets as the government is forced to give up some taxes to contain the effects of the new raging Middle East War.

The halving of VAT is estimated to cost the exchequer a revenue loss of about Sh12.9 billion over a three-month period to mid-June 2026.

The National Treasury has further warned that Sh35 billion could be lost annually if it offers income tax cuts.

The exchequer had proposed to raise the limit of untaxed income from Sh24,000 to Sh30,000 while the rate of tax for incomes between Sh30,001 and Sh50,000 would be set at 25 percent.

The consideration was made before the start of the new Middle East war at the end of February.

The National Treasury has mulled pulling the plug on the concession but says that it could see the proposal through even as the move presents a blow to State coffers.

‘When I talked on this matter previously, I said there are implications because it’s going to leave us with a budget hole. We must now make a decision and that’s now for me upwards,’ said John Mbadi, the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary.

‘The decision is mine to take, and I will take that decision.’

Lobbyists including the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) have proposed a five-percent uniform cut in Paye for all salaried workers.

The relief is estimated to release Sh28.1 billion into the economy every year and generate close to Sh42 billion in immediate gross domestic product (GDP) output.

KRA has a target to raise Sh2.784 trillion in ordinary revenues in the fiscal year closing on June 30 from Sh2.42 trillion previously.

The target moves higher for the financial year starting July 1 to Sh2.985 trillion.

Only days after conclusion of the landmark Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, one message emerged with unmistakable clarity – Africa can no longer sit on the side-lines of its own economic transformation.

Across conversations on trade, capital flows, industrialisation, innovation, climate finance, and intergenerational prosperity, the conference reinforced the fact that Africa’s future will ultimately be shaped not only by global partnerships, but by the confidence of its capital.

As governments, policymakers, development institutions, and global investors intensify discussions around Africa’s economic rise, its high-net-worth individuals face a choice that will define their legacy – will they be spectators of Africa’s rise, or its architects? Indeed, African wealth matters because the continent cannot sustainably industrialise, innovate, or create resilient prosperity if a significant portion of its wealth remains permanently externalised.

And herein lies the opportunity. For decades, global narratives framed Africa largely through the lens of aid dependency, commodity extraction, and risk, all overshadowed by capital flight in the form of repatriated profits.

Africa represents one of the world’s most compelling long-term investment frontiers. Today, rapid urbanisation, demographic expansion, digital innovation, and the continent-wide market being unlocked by the AfCFTA are creating the conditions for a generational wealth-building moment. But conditions alone do not build anything if the people with a long-term stake do not seize the moment.

These conversations underscore the urgency of mobilising African capital toward productive sectors capable of driving sustainable growth and resilience.

From energy and logistics to agribusiness, healthcare, technology, manufacturing, and financial services, the continent is producing scalable opportunities with increasingly sophisticated investment structures.

Nairobi continues to emerge as a strategic financial gateway for East and Central Africa, combining entrepreneurial dynamism, deepening capital markets, regulatory evolution, and growing investor confidence.

Importantly, African investors themselves are becoming more globally aware, strategic, and intentional about long-term wealth preservation and legacy creation. For years, affluent African families understandably prioritised offshore wealth preservation strategies driven by concerns around governance, political uncertainty, currency volatility, and market fragmentation.

While diversification remains prudent and necessary, Africa needs to move from dependency toward ownership of capital, innovation, infrastructure, and the economy. No region in the world built lasting prosperity through primary reliance on external investors, but by domestic wealth, betting on domestic opportunity.

There is immense value in proximity investing, where one understands the culture, consumer realities, demographics, policy environment, and market behaviour.

African entrepreneurs and wealth creators possess this contextual advantage naturally. What the continent requires now is patient, strategic, and values-driven capital toward multigenerational transformation.

That is the spirit embodied by the theme Lasting Legacy in an Evolving World, for the upcoming second edition of the Nairobi Private Wealth Conference in June 2026 and which is designed as an opportunity for African wealthy to speak among themselves about Africa’s future with conviction. There are rare moments when timing and purpose align. This is one of them.

As global investors reposition toward Africa’s long-term growth sectors, continent’s investors should not arrive late to their own party.

Globally, families are increasingly asking questions such as what survives beyond the founder? How can wealth preserve values across generations? What role should private capital play in nation-building? How can wealth become both protective and transformative? This conversation is especially urgent in Africa, where first-generation wealth creation is accelerating at historic speed.

For example, Kenya currently ranks as the fourth wealthiest country in Africa, with at least 7,200-dollar millionaires, with the number of dollar millionaires in Africa projected to grow by 65 percent over the next decade. This reflects the growing importance of structured wealth planning and global investment strategies. The challenge now is ensuring that this wealth outlives economic cycles, leadership transitions, and generational fragmentation.

With Africa’s population expected to double by 2050 to approximately 2.5 billion people, with an estimated 850 million youth demographic, the continent presents a unique opportunity for economic growth. With it comes wealth creation and preservation. Realising this potential will require strategic investments in education, job creation and skills development.

The continent’s next chapter therefore requires African wealth holders to morph from being global portfolio participants to structural wealth ecosystem builders for intergenerational returns.

Stanbic Bank Kenya has been tapped to process payments to coffee farmers, joining Co-operative Bank of Kenya, which had been the sole Direct Settlement System Provider (DSS) for the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) since August 2023.

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday approved the appointment of Stanbic as the second DSS provider, putting it in a strong position to benefit from increased deposits, higher payment volumes and improved customer relationships in a sector that has long been a major foreign exchange earner for Kenya.

The CMA also granted two additional coffee broker licences to Ahadi Coffee Limited and Cafforra Coffee Company Limited in a move aimed at increasing competition and efficiency in the coffee trading sector.

‘The Capital Markets Authority has granted two more Coffee Broker licences and approved the appointment of Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited as a Direct Settlement System Provider (DSS) for the Nairobi Coffee Exchange,’ said the CMA in a statement.

‘Stanbic Bank is the second DSS provider coming after Cooperative Bank, which has been the sole DSS service provider since August 2023.’

The DSS system facilitates the clearing and settlement of coffee proceeds at the auction, ensuring that funds remitted by coffee buyers are settled to service providers and ultimately to coffee growers in a timely and transparent manner.

Banks offering DSS services earn money primarily through transaction charges, float income from deposits held temporarily in the settlement accounts and broader banking relationships created with coffee cooperatives, millers and farmers.

The system also gives banks access to low-cost deposits from cooperative societies and farmers’ savings, strengthening liquidity and opening opportunities for cross-selling loans, insurance and mobile banking products.

Stanbic’s entry comes at a time when Co-operative Bank had been granted an extension to continue processing payments to coffee farmers through the DSS platform following the postponement of the transition to direct payments into individual farmers’ accounts.

The government had initially planned to migrate from the DSS model beginning July 1, 2025, with proceeds being remitted directly to farmers. However, the transition was suspended after resistance from coffee unions and co-operative societies.

The planned shift had sparked mixed reactions across the sector, with unions pushing for at least a one-year postponement to allow consultations and the resolution of operational concerns surrounding the new payment framework.

The onboarding of Stanbic now signals that the government could retain the DSS arrangement for longer than initially planned.

The NCE has historically served as the central marketplace where Kenya’s coffee is traded through weekly auctions involving licensed brokers, millers, dealers and exporters.

Coffee trading at the exchange dates back decades and was designed to promote price discovery, transparency and competitive bidding for Kenya’s premium coffee.

Under the auction system, coffee farmers deliver cherries to factories and cooperatives before the beans are processed by millers and presented for sale at the exchange, where international buyers bid for the produce.

The coffee sector remains one of Kenya’s key foreign exchange earners despite years of declining production and governance disputes over farmer payments and marketing reforms.

As the public debate over Finance Bill 2026 rages, the loudest arguments are predictably about numbers – whether a 25 percent excise duty is too high, or whether a particular VAT reclassification is justified. But the real crisis facing Kenya’s economy is not the mathematics. It is the volatility of the tax code itself.

The greatest single factor responsible for scarcity of foreign investment in Kenya is the insensate instability of its tax laws and incentive regimes. The central question every investor asks is this: if I start a business on the strength of the tax incentives proposed in this year’s budget, can I be confident that the framework on which I built my investment will still be the law when production begins

In defending the proposed 25 percent excise tax on mobile devices, the National Treasury argues it is simply simplifying the code – collapsing a 55 percent cumulative stack of import fees, levies, and VAT into a single, clean tariff triggered at device activation. On paper, it sounds elegant. In practice, it operates as an asymmetric shock to the very domestic industries the state spent the last three years trying to build.

When local assembly plants such as M-KOPA and East Africa Device Assembly Kenya (EADAK) were established under the Finance Act 2022, they were granted zero-rated VAT status. That policy signal was an invitation: invest millions in capital, hire thousands of Kenyan youth, build local supply chains, and the state will allow you to reclaim input costs to keep smartphones affordable for the low-income consumer.

Finance Bill 2026 effectively tears up that contract. There is no difference between a tax-evading citizen and a promise-evading government.

By shifting locally assembled phones to ‘VAT-exempt,’ assemblers can no longer reclaim those input costs.

Instead of a tax break, local factories must absorb embedded costs on electricity, components, and assembly, while simultaneously facing a significant liquidity drain through the mandatory reversal of previously claimed VAT on existing inventory.

The damage runs deeper than broken promises. The Bill introduces a structural imbalance that defies the logic of industrialisation: imported finished smartphones are granted exemptions from the Import Declaration Fee and the Railway Development Levy, while the raw components imported by local factories to assemble those same phones are not.

When the law treats a fully built import more favourably than a raw component destined for domestic manufacturing, something has gone fundamentally wrong. It creates an environment where formal, compliant sector players are penalised for their visibility, while the informal grey market and smuggled devices thrive in the shadows.

For a consumer purchasing an entry-level smartphone on a financing model, an unannounced 25 percent excise duty combined with trapped VAT is not a minor policy adjustment. It is the difference between accessing mobile banking and being locked entirely out of the formal economy.

There is an old adage in economics: the best tax is an old tax. It is not a defence of outdated systems, but a recognition of a psychological truth – businesses can adapt to almost any rate, provided that rate holds still long enough to build a factory around.

When policy becomes a moving target, businesses stop investing in long-term infrastructure, hiring permanent staff, or funding local research and development. Instead, they price a ‘policy risk premium’ into everything they do – or worse, they relocate to jurisdictions where a promise made in 2023 still holds weight in 2026.

A predictable tax environment is not merely good economics; it is a cornerstone of fairness. When rules change annually, the state signals to investors – domestic and foreign alike – that their capital is hostage to the shifting pressures of the exchequer’s cash flow.

If Parliament wishes to protect the long-term health of the economy, it must anchor tax policy in stability, not seasonal experimentation. Wielding the tax code like a thermostat – cranking it up and down to meet immediate revenue targets – ultimately breaks the dial.

We cannot tax our way into a digital economy if we keep changing the rules of the road every four or five years. The proposed changes targeting the local mobile phone assembly industry are a textbook example of how policy unpredictability destroys economic gains faster than any market downturn.

A stable, predictable tax code that holds constant for a decade will always generate more revenue and more progress than a higher, volatile rate that collapses the very industry it seeks to tax. Fairness is not just about what the State collects. It is about giving those who invest the courtesy of a stable horizon

Three painters, disgruntled by the bureaucratic eccentricities of the traditional art scene, joined brushes together to form a collective pact that would come to be known as Brush Tu, loosely translated ‘just keep on painting.’

Through Brush Tu, they set out to develop and nurture young artists not only on the craft but in the business of art, ensuring that creativity could also become a sustainable livelihood.

At the Circle Art Gallery this week, the exhibition Handle With Care brings together the three founders of Brush Tu: Boniface Maina, David Thuku and Michael Musyoka. While style, technique and skill are fundamentally at play as would be expected of veteran painters, what audiences will relish is the sheer diversity of works on display. Experience, here, feels entirely at home.

Boniface admits that Brush Tu wasn’t formed with the aim of becoming a collective. It started as a common studio shared by painters eager to put their mark in the art scene in the region. But with time, more young artists who were hungry and eager for a platform to learn and show their work joined.

‘Formed in 2013, it was not until 2016 that we realised our numbers had grown and that we were slowly morphing into what could be considered a collective, which wasn’t what we had envisioned in the first place. It became a place where we could also focus on the business side of art, something that has long been ignored in traditional art spaces for practising artists,’ he says.

Before Brush Tu came into place, the founding artists all had their individual practices ongoing. Michael was a specialist in commissioned murals for households and public spaces, David was doing stage designs and backdrops for drama festivals across the country while Boniface was a painter.

Through collaborative projects, they identified and brought on board talented young artists whose skills enriched the collective’s growing network.

In the show, Boniface’s work of oil on canvas distinctively stands out not because of the medium used but because of his unique style of layering oil mosaics to create distinctive human figures.

His grotesque subjects have a distinct beauty to them but besides the precise layering of oil patterns, it is his application of shade, colour and transparency.

In Handle With Care, Boniface’s contribution is a compelling exploration of both colour and figuration. Viewed collectively, the works feel like a signature style reaching maturity – a body of work beginning to outlive its maker.

His recurring motif of glass, visible throughout many of his paintings, captures softness and vulnerability while simultaneously lending his subjects clarity, resilience and sharp focus.

‘Over time, my work has changed from commenting on society in general to exploring human personality from an individual perspective. My current works are a departure from political commentary. Human figures remain central to my expression, but they have taken on a different appearance. Since 2016, my focus has been on deconstructing the human figure into a more transparent, basic and disfigured form. What you see now is the result of a 10-year journey focused on deconstructing the human body from the inside out.’

He adds: ‘I have a fascination with human anatomy especially when it comes to the muscle structure, so I started making my figures to resemble this as a form of expression.’

Michael’s work on the other hand moves inward, to the psychological and moral realm. The image of the clown transcends his body of work which is said to confront the contradictions between inner truth and outward behaviour.

His work exposes the porous boundary between virtue and vice, sincerity and performance, suggesting that identity itself can become a role shaped by the expectations of others.

Here, survival is entangled with compromise, and the cost of belonging is measured against the erosion of self. His works carry with them the poignancy of looking at images sketched on an old paperback and by nature of their appearance and outlook, divine and infinite. There is a timelessness to his murals that is soft and gentle but also carefully abrasive.

David uses paper as both medium and metaphor, constructing intricate, layered subjects mirroring the complexity of human experience. His fragmented figures inhabit spaces that feel both comforting and strange, where ease is temporary and belonging is never fixed.

Working primarily through papercut techniques, his practice is a display of remarkable dexterity. It isn’t just about the stories he is telling but the delicate nature in which he is able to have different trajectories narrow down on a theme with ease. The exhibition ends on May 29.

The death of at least 16 students after a fire ripped through a dormitory at the Utumishi Girls Senior School has renewed concern about fire safety in Kenyan schools, with insurers raising alarm over the prevalent risks.

The fire broke out just after midnight at the girls’ boarding school in Gilgil, Nakuru and burned for more than two hours, said Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos.

Authorities said the cause of the fire had not been established by on Thursday, though some students suspected of arson were detained by police. At least 97 other students were injured in the fire, which was contained by 3am.

The safety breaches including absence of valuation of assets like dormitories and budget constraints, have seen schools struggle to tap insurance against fire.

In a recent industry assessment, AKI also identified improper financial documentation as a barrier to coverage, making it difficult for insurers to design suitable covers.

The findings have exposed the growing difficulty schools face in securing comprehensive fire insurance despite recurrent dormitory blazes that lead to deaths, injuries and massive property losses.

‘Many schools lack basic safety infrastructure such as fire extinguishers, perimeter fencing, and accessible emergency exits. In addition, some fail to maintain updated asset registers, staff lists, and other critical records,’ noted AKI.

‘This inadequate documentation complicates underwriting, pricing, and claim processing, and increases insurers’ exposure.’

The government-owned Utumishi Girls Senior School is managed and sponsored by the Kenya Police Service. Many of the students are the daughters of police officers.

The victims had not yet been identified at the time of going to press, a source of anger and frustration for some of the parents who gathered at the scene.

Dozens were still waiting to confirm their children were not among the victims of the fire.

Fires at schools have been a cause of concern for education officials, with classrooms and dormitories often crowded and no firefighting equipment in place. Officials sometimes cite poor electrical connections as sparking blazes.

The failure to follow safety guidelines, such as keeping exits clear and windows unlocked, has frequently been blamed for the high number of casualties and has emerged as a concern for insurers.

The latest deadly blaze came after a string of other fires at Kenya’s boarding schools.

In 2024, 21 children died when a fire ripped through the dormitory of Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri, housing over 300 students.

In 2017, 10 students died in a fire at Moi Girls’ School in Nairobi.

Kenya’s deadliest such blaze occurred in 2001, when students set fire to Kyanguli Secondary School in Machakos, killing 67 of their colleagues, according to a 2016 report by a government-appointed investigation team.

The recurring incidents have triggered public outrage and legal battles over accountability and compensation.

Insurers say that underwriting assessments for schools focus on key risk factors that include the age and design of buildings, dormitory occupancy capacity, fire escape routes, proximity to emergency response services, as well as general housekeeping and safety management practices.

Schools failing in such inspections either attract significantly higher premiums or struggle to secure adequate fire protection cover from insurers wary of mounting claims exposure.

‘Before insurance cover can be extended, insurers typically require schools to demonstrate compliance with essential fire safety and risk mitigation measures,’ Lenard Chirchir, the Britam General Insurance chief operating officer, told the Business Daily.

‘Schools with strong risk management frameworks and proven safety standards generally attract more favourable insurance terms and pricing.’

For an institution that fully complies with the required safety standards, Britam says the risk profile would be standard, with premiums ranging from 0.15 percent to 0.375 percent of the building value.

‘However, insurance pricing will still vary depending on factors such as the replacement value of the building, geographical location, occupancy levels, construction materials used, and the scope of cover required,’ said Mr Chirchir.

Insurers rely on professional valuation reports to determine the replacement cost of buildings and property, but many schools either lack updated records or use outdated estimates prepared years earlier.

This has given rise to underinsurance, which occurs when the declared value of insured assets falls below the real market replacement cost, exposing institutions to major financial shortfalls after catastrophic losses.

Industry data shows many schools also struggle to meet annual insurance premiums due to shrinking capitation allocations, delayed fee payments by parents and rising operational expenses.

This has pushed some institutions to either take partial coverage, delay renewals or avoid comprehensive fire insurance altogether, leaving critical infrastructure exposed to catastrophic losses.

The government has in recent years issued multiple directives requiring schools to improve dormitory spacing and emergency exits, as well as firefighting equipment, following previous fatal fire incidents.

Enforcement has, however, remained inconsistent, with many institutions struggling to finance costly infrastructure upgrades amid growing pressure on education budgets.

The insurance industry notes that many schools still approach fire insurance as a compliance requirement rather than a risk management tool tied to infrastructure and student safety.