Category: Business Daily

The recently concluded Prosperity Summit 2026 brought together professionals, business leaders, governance experts, financial strategists and transformational thought leaders around one central message: the world is changing rapidly, and professionals can no longer afford to approach their careers through siloed, tunnel-vision thinking. This message was strongly presented by Francis Okomo Okello, a distinguished governance leader and keynote speaker at the summit.

Drawing from his thought leadership and reflections from his book, The Concert of Life: From the Lecture to the Boardroom, Okello challenged professionals to embrace the call to become polymaths.

A polymath is not trapped in one lane of thinking. A polymath thinks across disciplines, connects ideas, learns continuously, adapts quickly and responds meaningfully to emerging societal challenges.

Okello encouraged professionals to cultivate curiosity and develop an ongoing learning culture. In a world where problems are increasingly interconnected, professionals who remain confined to narrow specialisation may find themselves unable to respond effectively to complexity.

Those who expand their perspective, however, are better positioned to create impact across sectors, institutions, and communities.

As the convener of The Prosperity Summit and founder and CEO of Profit Acumen, one of the key ideas I raised during the summit was the need for professionals to move away from merely fronting qualifications and instead position themselves around the value they bring.

The future increasingly belongs to professionals who are willing to move beyond narrow job descriptions and begin seeing themselves not merely as qualification holders, but as solution holders.

Whether one is serving an employer, a client, a customer or a community, the question is no longer simply, ‘What qualification do I hold?’ The more important question is, ‘What problem am I equipped to solve?’

This requires deep introspection. Professionals must take time to examine the value embedded in their E-Power – their education, experience and expertise. When properly activated, E-Power becomes a powerful tool for value creation, influence, income expansion and meaningful contribution.

However, activating E-Power requires both depth and breadth. Depth allows professionals to develop mastery, credibility and specialised insight. Breadth allows them to connect ideas across disciplines, understand broader human and societal needs, and apply their expertise in more creative and solution-oriented ways.

When professionals combine depth with breadth, they begin to approach their careers multidimensionally. They stop seeing themselves only through a job title and begin seeing the many ways their knowledge, experience and insight can solve problems, create value, and expand their earning potential.

Risper Ohaga, the incoming CEO of APA Apollo Group, brought these ideas to life through her own professional journey. A seasoned business leader, strategist, and finance professional, she reflected on a career that has been shaped by openness, courage, adaptability and solution-oriented leadership.

Her journey demonstrated that professional growth is rarely linear. It is often built through taking up challenges, stretching into unfamiliar spaces, learning continuously and applying one’s expertise across different contexts.

What stood out strongly from her reflections was the importance of remaining open – open to growth, open to responsibility, open to reinvention, and open to solving problems beyond one’s original technical training.

Geoffrey Odundo, the Nation Media Group CEO, brought another critical dimension to the conversation: the creation of an ideal wealth portfolio.

His message was profound in its simplicity. Investment, he reminded participants, is not merely about products or investment vehicles. Investment begins with a life plan.

Professionals must first clarify the life they desire, the goals they want to achieve, and the timelines within which they wish to achieve them. Only then should their investment choices follow. In other words, investment should respond to the life plan – not the other way around.

He also challenged professionals not to approach investments with fear, speculation, emotional decision-making, or guesswork, but with knowledge, structure, and professional guidance. He encouraged investors to invest in things they clearly understand.

Dr Patricia Murugami, a global leadership catalyst known for helping professionals break barriers and rise into their next best selves, brought the conversation back to self-leadership.

She reminded participants that the world is shifting, and that prosperity belongs to those who can adapt, lead, and create meaningful impact.

The question professionals must now ask is not only, ‘What do I know?’ It is, ‘What can I solve with what I know?’ That is where true earning power begins.

Geoffrey further encouraged professionals not to fear seeking or paying for professional advice when it comes to investments and financial planning. He emphasised that seeking expert guidance is not a weakness; it is wisdom. Money performs better when it is guided by clarity, discipline, structure, and a plan aligned to one’s broader life goals.

Her message was anchored on a powerful leadership truth: awareness is power, choice is freedom, and discipline is transformation.

She challenged professionals to become aware of what leads them, to take responsibility for their choices, and to cultivate the discipline required to transform their lives. She also encouraged participants to ‘know their numbers’ and to build a personal board of directors – a circle of visionaries, strategists, and accountability partners who can help them grow with clarity, courage, and direction.

Her contribution reinforced an important idea: before professionals can effectively lead teams, institutions, businesses, or wealth portfolios, they must first learn to lead themselves.

What became increasingly clear throughout the summit is that career success, financial wellbeing, leadership, and wealth creation are no longer separate conversations. They are deeply interconnected.

Today’s professional must therefore become multidimensional – capable of combining technical competence with strategic thinking, financial literacy, adaptability, emotional intelligence, leadership, and solution-oriented value creation.

The future will not reward professionals who merely accumulate qualifications. It will reward those who convert knowledge into solutions, experience into wisdom, expertise into value, and income into sustainable wealth.

The question professionals must now ask is not only, ‘What do I know?’

It is, ‘What can I solve with what I know?’

That is where true earning power begins.

We have read and seen many recent reports of increased violent crimes including muggings and stabbings in our cities. Nairobi can drastically reduce its crime rate by shifting from a reactive policing model to a visible, proactive posture modeled after Kigali.

Returning to Kenya after attending the 2nd Nuclear Energy Innovation Summit for Africa (NEISA) in Rwanda, the contrast in public safety between our two capitals remains impossible to ignore. While my primary mission at NEISA centered on regional energy integration, the trip offered profound insights into urban security administration.

Just as a nation cannot industrialise without a stable, baseline electrical supply, a city cannot prosper without a reliable foundation of public safety.

The power of proactive deterrence

A secure city is the baseline requirement for any meaningful socio-economic or technological advancement.

In nuclear engineering, we rely heavily on the principle of defense-in-depth, which means layering multiple redundant safety systems to prevent an incident long before it can escalate.

In Kigali, the physical strategy for reducing urban crime follows this exact logic of preemptive deterrence, serving as the operational synonym for the classic adage that prevention is better than cure.

Kigali achieves this safety framework by ensuring police officers maintain a constant visual presence on virtually every street corner, acting like base-load power that continuously stabilises the grid. Furthermore, law enforcement personnel are consistently courteous, helpful, and highly responsive to public needs.

This continuous, approachable presence creates an environment where residents and visitors can walk the streets at any hour of the day or night completely free from the fear of muggings or assault.

Structural efficiency and resource allocation

The stark difference in security outcomes between the two capitals is heavily reflected in independent global safety indexes.

According to Numbeo, Kigali registers a remarkably low crime index of approximately 26.4, making it the safest capital on the continent. Conversely, Nairobi’s crime index regularly hovers much higher at 56.5 percent, burdened by persistent reports of petty theft, muggings, and violent robberies.

This operational gap comes down to how personnel are deployed, revealing a critical lesson in resource distribution.

In electrical engineering, drawing too much power away from the main grid to feed a few highly isolated, heavy-consumption nodes causes a voltage drop that plunges the rest of the city into darkness.

Similarly, when we bottleneck our security forces by assigning massive, personalised police escorts to individual VIPs, we starve the public of vital protection.

In Rwanda, top government officials, including Cabinet Ministers, do not travel with large, personalized police chase cars or dedicated security escorts. This institutional choice keeps the power in the main grid, freeing up thousands of trained officers and returning necessary personnel directly to public policing duties.

Actionable steps for Kenya’s security command

To replicate these successes, Kenya’s Inspector General of Police should consider to initiate a formal benchmarking mission to Rwanda to study their urban command and control structures. Security planners must prioritise two immediate operational shifts in Nairobi to stabilize the city’s baseline.

First, transitioning police patrols to open-pickup vehicles allows officers to maintain total visual situational awareness.

Much like a responsive, fast-acting peaking power plant that ramps up instantly during a surge, these open patrols make officers significantly more responsive to unfolding incidents than enclosed sedans.

Second, the command must rationalise VIP escorts by reducing the volume of personalised security details assigned to senior Kenyan state officers to immediately boost the number of active boots on the ground.

By transitioning from a force that merely investigates crimes after they occur to one that actively deters them through visibility, Nairobi can foster the stable, high-voltage environment required to anchor Kenya’s industrial and economic future.

Since the US and Israel launched their war with Iran, the narrow Strait of Hormuz has effectively been shut to shipping traffic. That has disrupted the flow of oil, gas and other essentials from the Gulf States, which normally export about a fifth of the world’s oil.

If you love history and read a bit, try understanding the oil shocks that happened in the 1970s, specifically 1973 and 1979.

This will make you get a grasp of the current situation in Hormuz, disrupting the global oil supply chain. In 1973, Arab oil producers placed an embargo on a group of countries led by the US over their support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War.

That policy came alongside a coordinated cut to oil production. The result was a near quadrupling of oil prices within a few months. This led to fuel rationing in major oil-consuming countries. It triggered a ‘global economic and financial crisis’ with lasting implications. High oil prices fuelled inflation across the board, prompting businesses to cut back further and unemployment to soar.

This had massive knock-on effects, damaging the social fabric of many countries, with widespread strikes, unrest, and rising poverty as many households struggled to make ends meet. A second oil shock came in 1979, with the Iranian Revolution yielding similar effects as the former shock.

The current situation is nothing strange from the 70s experience. So the oil shortages we’ve been seeing are only going to get worse, even if magically the Strait of Hormuz were to reopen tomorrow.

But while the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is disruptive to global supplies, it is important to note that the world today is more resilient.

The oil market is more diverse than it was in the 1970s. Also worth noting is that the overall amount being used relative to the size of the global economy has also dropped significantly. While current prices are high, today’s crisis might not be as severe.

Given the volumetric disruptions we are seeing are significant-arguably among the largest in recent history-the market is far more resilient than in the 1970s. It is more diversified, less oil-intensive, and better equipped with buffers and emergency response mechanisms.

The best-case scenario is to end this conflict as quickly as possible and restore some semblance of stability. The world is also challenged to actively pursue alternative (renewable) energy sources to offer options during such a crisis.

Reserves and efficiency offer some buffer which the episodes in the 1970s lacked, but the raw scale of lost supply makes this impact heavily, with no fast fix in sight.

We will face massive energy costs, not just while this crisis goes on but also for sometime after it’s over, reeling from the shocks.

This means for example embracing E-mobility for transport, clean cooking technologies for households. This will go a long way in ensuring Energy security.

The High Court has rejected attempts to remove the Official Receiver of Cytonn High Yield Solutions (CHYS) LLP as the firm’s liquidator over allegations of favouring secured lenders, mismanaging assets, operating without transparency, and mishandling the proposed sale of a Sh1 billion stake in Superior Homes Kenya.

The court dismissed claims by an unsecured creditor-Pastor Ephrahim Karangi-that the Official Receiver breached fiduciary duties and concealed financial dealings.

It had also been claimed that the official receiver unlawfully channelled rental income from Cytton’s The Alma estate to SBM Bank, handpicked creditors’ committees, and failed to protect unsecured investors in the collapsed Sh11 billion investment scheme.

The court, however, said the applicants had failed to provide evidence proving misconduct, corruption, conflict of interest, bias, or breach of statutory duty by the Official Receiver.

It held that dissatisfaction with commercial decisions or delays in the liquidation process was insufficient to justify the removal of a court-appointed liquidator.

At the same time, the court ordered the Official Receiver to file detailed accounts within 45 days on collections and payments made at The Alma residential estate in Ruaka, payments to consultants and service providers engaged during the liquidation, and all funds received from SBM Bank Kenya.

‘The Official Receiver shall furnish a comprehensive account of the total collections and payments made toward essential services, any outstanding obligations, and all related financial records relating to The Alma for the period between February 4, 2025, and June 4, 2025, within 45 days,’ the court ordered.

The ruling touches on the fight for control of Cytonn’s assets, investor recoveries, estate management, and the legal priority enjoyed by secured lenders in insolvency proceedings.

Cytonn High Yield Solutions (CHYS) and related Cytonn Project Notes entities were placed under liquidation in January 2023 after defaulting on billions owed to thousands of investors who had pumped money into high-yield real estate-backed investment products.

The unsecured creditor (Pastor Karangi) had asked the court to remove the Official Receiver and replace him with private insolvency practitioner Tom Ouma Mungai, accusing the office of conflict of interest, secrecy, corruption, wastage, and breach of fiduciary duty.

In the application dated July 2025, Pastor Karangi claimed the Official Receiver unlawfully favoured SBM Bank through a consent signed on August 1, 2023, allowing rental income from The Alma project to service the bank’s debt estimated at more than Sh750 million.

The applicants argued that the arrangement unfairly disadvantaged unsecured creditors and investors whose recoveries remained uncertain as interest on the SBM debt continued accumulating. Also sought was the full disclosure of the transactional dealings between the Official Receiver and Superior Homes Kenya Limited.

This included the alleged sale of a 12.5 per cent shareholding of Cytton in Superior Homes Kenya at Sh250 million, any deposits or consideration received, and an explanation as to why the shares were allegedly sold at what he described as a gross undervalue compared to their approximate market value of Sh1 billion.

The court rejected those arguments, saying SBM Bank’s position as a secured creditor was protected by law.

‘By virtue of a valid charge, secured creditors rank above unsecured creditors, and that priority is a statutory consequence rather than a creation of the Official Receiver,’ the court ruled.

It added that the consent agreement protected unsecured investors because any surplus remaining after settlement of SBM Bank’s debt would revert to the Official Receiver for distribution to creditors.

The Official Receiver, through a replying affidavit sworn by Mark Gakuru, also denied the allegations of secrecy surrounding the proposed disposal of Cytonn’s 12.5 per cent stake in Superior Homes Kenya, saying creditors had been updated during meetings held on July 18, 2025.

The office told the court that Deloitte had been engaged after firms including KPMG, PwC, Ernst and Young and Baker Tilly were invited to submit quotations for an independent valuation of the shares before any sale.

The court also dismissed allegations that the Official Receiver had concealed information from investors or handpicked members of creditors’ committees.

The court said records showed creditors’ meetings had been convened on March 7, 2023, September 26, 2024, and July 18, 2025, where investors received updates on claims, liquidation progress, asset disposals, and the status of Cytonn special purpose vehicles.

‘The Insolvency Act is deliberately structured around the convening of creditors’ meetings,’ the judge said.

‘These meetings serve as the statutory mechanism through which creditors can interrogate the conduct of the liquidation, demand accountability, and influence its direction by passing resolutions.’

The court found that the composition of creditors’ committees had been determined through voting by creditors and not through manipulation by the Official Receiver as alleged.

Also rejected were accusations of bribery, corruption, and fabricated meeting minutes, saying no evidence had been produced to support those claims.

‘The insinuation that the minutes of the creditors’ meeting were fabricated is a grave allegation, yet it has been advanced without a shred of supporting evidence,’ the court ruled.

The court further held that the removal of a liquidator is an exceptional remedy requiring proof of misconduct, incapacity, conflict of interest, or breach of statutory duty.

‘Mere dissatisfaction with the manner in which the liquidator has exercised discretion, or disagreement with commercial decisions taken in good faith, does not suffice,’ the judge said.

While dismissing the bid to remove the Official Receiver, the court partly allowed applications demanding financial accountability over the management of The Alma estate.

The dispute arose after the Official Receiver took over management of the Ruaka property and appointed Muigai Commercial Agencies to run the estate between February and June 2025.

Residents and homeowners complained that rent and service charge collections were not properly accounted for and essential services such as electricity and water remained unpaid.

The court ordered the Official Receiver to file a comprehensive account of all collections, payments, and outstanding obligations relating to The Alma within 45 days.

In addition, the court directed the Official Receiver to disclose procurement records and payments made to Deloitte, Muigai Commercial Agencies, EK Security Services, and other firms engaged during the liquidation.

A separate report detailing all funds received from SBM Bank must also be filed in court and shared with creditors.

At the same time, the court reaffirmed that once preservation and vesting orders were issued over The Alma, the Official Receiver became the sole lawful custodian of the property.

‘Any directive purporting to reassign management powers to a homeowners’ committee or other entity is ultra vires, unlawful, and void ab initio,’ the judge ruled.

The court said the reports ordered would be shared with creditors for deliberation during the next creditors’ meeting as the battle over the recovery of billions tied to the collapsed Cytonn empire continues.

Supermarket chain Carrefour has splurged Sh239 billion on locally made goods in 10 years of operations and invested close to Sh15 billion to grow its footprint in Kenya, amid a stiff fight with rivals for the local market.

The retailer said that the money has been paid to its over 690 local suppliers, including farmers, manufacturers and small and medium enterprises, adding that this has created more than 3,000 direct jobs.

The local Carrefour franchise, which is operated by the Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim, entered Kenya in 2016 and is racing against Quickmart and Naivas for a share of the local market that was left wide-open following the collapse of Nakumatt Holdings, Tuskys and Uchumi.

The three are battling for a market characterised by a fast-growing middle class and increased preference by people to buy a range of consumer products from supermarkets.

High expenditure by the retailers in sourcing goods locally has been instrumental in boosting the government’s efforts to grow the economy.

‘Reaching this 10-year milestone reflects the strength of our partnership with the Kenyan market. Our focus has been on building a resilient retail ecosystem, working closely with local suppliers, empowering our people and continuously enhancing the customer experience,’ Christophe Orcet, a regional executive at Majid Al Futtaim Retail, said in a statement.

Majid Al Futtaim is seeking to succeed in an economy where other foreign-owned retailers, notably Choppies, Massmart and Shoprite, struggled for years before exiting.

Carrefour has grown its footprint to 34 stores across the country as it targets a bigger share of the market.

The retailer is targeting an additional eight stores by December this year. Naivas is the leading retailer with over 100 outlets in Kenya, followed by Quickmart with more than 60 stores.

Carrefour is banking its growth prospects in Kenya on a combination of hyperstores and the normal retail outlets, a path that its rivals are also relying on.

Kenya is the fifth biggest market by sales for Majid Al Futtaim and accounted for three percent (AED 1.01 billion) of the AED 33.95 billion (Sh1.198 trillion) that the retailer made in 2024 in the 16 countries where it has a presence.

Egypt and Uganda are the other African economies where Majid Al Futtaim has a presence. In Egypt, the retailer has 115 stores and seven in Uganda.

Returns on Treasury bills and bonds have started increasing as investors seek higher compensation to cover rising inflation, setting the stage for higher borrowing costs for the government.

Interest on the 91-day has increased to 8.3865 percent from 7.4261 percent at the end of March, while returns on the 10-year bond are up to 9.5 percent from 8.85 percent on April 21.

The rising returns on government papers are prompting investors to start shifting assets from the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), which has seen three-quarters of counters at the bourse record a drop in share prices.

The volatile environment has been marked by shocks from the Iran war, which has seen investors cut demand for equities in favour of assets viewed as less risky, like bonds and fixed deposits.

This has upended the market, with the equities market losing its two-year status as the top-performing asset class.

Overall, the Nairobi bourse has posted a drop of 1.3 percent in the month, in contrast to the double-digit gains it made in 2024 and last year. Average bank deposit rates were quoted at 6.86 percent.

The market shifts could derail the Treasury bid to borrow cheaply amid investors demanding higher returns as it prepares to tap nearly Sh1 trillion in net domestic borrowing from banks.

The weighted average rate for accepted yields in the most recent bond auctions has edged higher beyond the expectations of analysts, while investors have begun opting for the shorter-dated 91-day Treasury bill to avoid locking their money for long periods as interest rates move up.

Traded yields on bonds at the NSE are also going up, while prices have begun moving lower in tandem with the interest rates’ expectations.

The expectation for higher interest rates on government securities stems from a spike in inflation, a fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran and the resultant spike in global fuel prices.

‘All indications are that interest rates may have bottomed out and could gradually trend upwards, amid heightened geopolitical uncertainties surrounding the US-Israel-Iran tensions and the resulting pressure on global energy prices,’ said analysts at Sterling Capital, a local investment bank.

‘Recent T-bill auctions support this view with the bulk of investors bidding for the 91-day Treasury bill, and accepted rates have been higher than in previous auctions.’

Higher returns

Interest rates on Treasury bills have moved higher since last month, with the yield on the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day Treasury bills rising to 8.3865, 8.2113 and 8.5881 percent, respectively, in the latest auction from 7.4261, 7.8292 and 8.2815 percent at the end of March.

Yields on the 91-day Treasury bill have risen the quickest in the period as investors aggressively bid for higher returns on the shortest-dated instrument to avoid locking in funds at lower rates.

Investor bids on the 91-day paper climbed to Sh15.8 billion last week from Sh7.3 billion previously, mirroring the perceived duration risks, while bids on the longer 182 and 364-day papers were lower at Sh8.3 billion and Sh5.7 billion, respectively.

This month’s switch bond results also signal the underlying interest rate reversal as the market-weighted average rate for accepted bids at 13.4116 surpassed analysts’ expectations, even as the return remained below the destination bond’s coupon rate of 13.444 percent.

‘The CBK’s weighted average rate of accepted bids for FXD1/2021/20 was seven basis points above our predicted range averages. The auction outcome suggests heightened investor expectations of rising interest rates, prompting aggressive bidding,’ added Sterling Capital analysts.

Results from the reopened 15 and 20-year bonds also illustrate an uptick in yields as the papers sold only for a slight premium despite carrying notable accrued interest.

The re-opened 15-year paper posted a weighted average rate of 12.97 against a 12.34 percent coupon, while the price was only a slight premium at Sh101.1 despite carrying an accrued interest of Sh4.2715.

The 20-year reopened bond fetched a return of 13.74 percent against a 13.44 percent coupon and had a slight Sh101.9 premium price despite carrying accrued interest at Sh3.8781.

This shows that the implied premium price from the accrued interest was greatly reduced at the bonds’ sale.

Traded bond yields at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) also reveal a turn in interest rates as the returns rise while prices drop.

The traded yield on FXD1/2016/10-year paper has grown to 9.5 percent as of May 21 from 8.85 percent on April 21, while the premium on IFB1/2024/8.5-year has been greatly reduced as the traded yield rises to 12.35 percent from 11.975 percent previously.

Churchill Ogutu, Head of Research at Capital A Investment Bank, says investors will likely cool off on secondary bond trades as prices retreat to offset the rising traded yields.

Bond yields usually have an inverse relationship with prices, where rising interest rates result in lower prices as investors shift their demand to future issuances, which would carry a higher return.

‘The concern among investors is the expectation that interest rates begin to move higher. From a mark-to-market perspective, investors wouldn’t want to have their portfolio underwater,’ he said.

Kenya Power has been forced to ration electricity in the wake of supply shortcomings from wind and solar plants, triggering business disruptions and costly use of diesel generators.

Joseph Siror, the managing director of Kenya Power, said that the rationing is more pronounced when wind power generation drops to near zero, creating a deficit that cannot be offset by the other plants, notably during peak evening hours.

Three wind plants, including the 310 megawatt (MW) Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, and five solar plants account for nearly a fifth of the electricity supplied to Kenya Power.

The wind and solar plants currently lack battery storage to tap electricity generated during their peak production, when wind speeds and solar radiation are highest, triggering rationing during high consumption hours between 6 pm and 10 pm.

The drops in wind and solar generation have put pressure on local geothermal and hydro plants as well as electricity imports from Uganda and Ethiopia, prompting Kenya Power to cut off some areas to shield the grid from collapse and avoid countrywide blackouts.

The forced rationing turns the spotlight on the government to speed up the push to compel all wind and solar plants to install battery storage for excess power and when demand surges in the evening.

‘I can confirm that there are many instances when we have been forced to load-shed the country when the wind generation is low and this is because when you sum up all the other generation sources without wind, they cannot serve the peak demand,’ Dr Siror said.

‘For wind, the total is meant to be 435 megawatts (MW), but by virtue of it being intermittent, there are instances when the total wind generation is near zero.’

Rationing forces businesses to seek alternative power sources or scale down operations, underscoring its adverse impact on the economy.

Kenya Power rations electricity to avoid a trip of the network or blackouts triggered by an imbalance in supply and demand.

Wind is the third-biggest source of power to the national grid, accounting for 13 percent or 1,013.43 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of the 7,807.07GWh supplied to Kenya Power between July and December 2025.

Lake Turkana Wind Power Project is the biggest wind generator and supplied 10 percent or 773.40GWh between July and December last year, followed by Kipeto Wind Farm with 213.72GWh or 2.75 percent.

Alten Kenya Solar, Malindi Solar, Selenkei Solar Farm, Garissa Solar and Cedate supplied a combined 227.64GWh (2.94 percent) in the review period.

‘When you look at our grid, 435MW comes from wind and 210MW from solar, but when it comes to the peak hours, all solar plants are out in the evening when the demand is up and we need them,’ Dr Siror said.

He added that the State must adopt the required legal and policy changes that will compel all wind and solar power plants to have battery storage.

In 2023, the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum revealed a plan compelling all new wind and solar plants to include battery storage in their project to be considered for any power purchase agreement (PPA) with Kenya Power.

Globeleq, the British firm that owns Malindi Solar, announced plans to spend about Sh4.6 billion to set up a battery storage for its 52MW-hour plant in the Coast region.

KenGen is also planning to set up a battery storage of about 500MW-hour for its plants by 2030.

Battery storage will ensure that Kenya Power can tap the electricity generated when the wind speeds and insolation were at optimum, helping avoid the current scenario of forced rationing.

Inability to tap wind and solar plants during the peak demand hours has since forced Kenya Power to ramp up electricity imports from Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania to ensure near-normal supplies.

Official data shows that between July and December last year, Kenya Power imported 766.48GWh from Ethiopia, accounting for 9.88 percent of the total supplies, followed by Uganda at 2.11 percent (163.67GWh).

The imports have been critical in averting increased use of the expensive and dirty thermal plants during peak demand. Consumers have in the past been hit with high power bills due to increased usage of thermal electricity.

But the imports have since 2023 helped to significantly reduce the share of thermal power in the national grid, keeping a lid on power bills and ensuring that Kenya does not plunge into blackouts due to a supply deficit.

Urban living has changed the way we experience the sun. We spend long hours indoors, follow white-collar routines and commute in cars, all of which limit our direct exposure to sunlight. While much emphasis and discussion has focused on vitamin D deficiency in children, experts say that adults are at risk too, often without realising it.

“The problem is even worse in low-income urban settlements, where poor planning limits access to open spaces and sunlight, despite these being abundant in many African countries,” explains Jackson Mudengeya, a public health advocate and nutritionist.

Vitamin D helps the body to absorb calcium and maintain strong bones. ‘The vitamin is involved in several important bodily processes, including bone metabolism and maintaining the balance of calcium and phosphorus in the body,’ he says.

Research has also linked vitamin D deficiency to various health conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune conditions, obesity, infections, and cognitive decline. Studies have also shown an association between low vitamin D levels and upper respiratory tract infections, including those caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

One of the biggest challenges, he says, is that deficiency often develops slowly and quietly. Many adults may dismiss symptoms such as muscle weakness, continuous fatigue, bone pain, frequent viral infections such as flu and colds, slow recovery from illness, poor concentration and frequent mood changes.

In severe cases, vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteomalacia, a condition in which the bones become soft due to poor mineralisation.

This can eventually result in bowing of the legs.

‘Most people remain asymptomatic, so vitamin D deficiency is effectively a ‘silent epidemic’,’ Mr Mudengeya explains.

Older adults, people who work indoors for long hours, children who spend most of their time inside and individuals with chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease are at greater risk of vitamin D deficiency because they have limited exposure to sunlight, which is needed to maintain healthy levels of vitamin D in the body.

Individuals with fat malabsorption conditions may also struggle because vitamin D is fat-soluble, meaning the body requires fat to absorb it effectively. Obesity has also been associated with poor vitamin D utilisation. So how much sunlight does the body actually need?

Mr Mudengeya says that this varies depending on factors such as skin tone, geographical location and season. Near the equator, exposure at midday may be sufficient.

Read: Why Vitamin D deficiency is becoming common in sunny Nairobi

“For individuals dressed modestly, estimates are about three minutes for those with a fair skin tone and around 15 minutes for those with higher melanin levels,” he explains.

However, he cautions people to be mindful of harsh ultraviolet rays during the hottest part of the day. One common misconception is that sunlight through windows is sufficient.

According to Mr Mudengeya, however, sitting near a sunny home or office window, or driving in a brightly lit car, does not provide the same benefit. He believes that workplaces and institutions can play a major role in addressing the problem.

‘Simple changes such as encouraging outdoor breaks, walking meetings, open office spaces and outdoor seating areas may help people reconnect with natural sunlight during the day,’ he says.

He adds that diet alone is rarely enough to maintain healthy vitamin D levels. “Sun exposure remains the most readily available and affordable way to improve and maintain vitamin D levels.”

Nevertheless, he acknowledges that supplements may be necessary in certain cases, particularly for individuals with limited sun exposure or at high risk of deficiency. However, supplementation should not be taken lightly.

“In cases of mild deficiency, doctors may first recommend dietary adjustments and increased sun exposure. However, severe deficiency may require supplements under medical supervision to avoid toxicity,’ he says. ‘Dosage recommendations usually depend on blood test results measuring serum vitamin D levels.’

He adds that emerging research has also shown links between vitamin D deficiency and women’s reproductive health conditions, including hormonal imbalances and pregnancy complications. ‘Some studies suggest that supplementation may improve outcomes in certain cases.’

A foreign firm selling shares in a Kenyan entity abroad will be compelled to pay 15 percent capital gains tax (CGT) under changes proposed in the Finance Bill 2026, in a move that tax experts fear could hurt Kenya’s attractiveness to foreign investors.

The Bill seeks to expand the scope of CGT by taxing gains arising from indirect transfers of Kenyan assets by non-resident firms, even where the transaction takes place offshore.

The Bill proposes to amend Paragraph 2 of the Eighth Schedule of the Income Tax Act, which defines the transactions and gains subject to Capital Gains Tax, by introducing a new sub-paragraph (d) immediately after subparagraph (c).

‘Gains derived from the alienation of shares by a non-resident person where the shares derive their value from Kenya or the alienation results in a change of the group membership of a company resident in Kenya or of ownership of, title in, or interest in property located in Kenya,’ reads part of the amendment contained in the Finance Bill tabled in the National Assembly by the National Treasury.

The CGT is normally paid on the profit or gains made by investors when they sell, transfer, or dispose of an asset such as unquoted shares or property, including homes, land, and buildings. Sellers pay 15 percent of the gain, a rate that was increased from five percent in January 2023.

However, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has struggled to collect CGT in transactions executed offshore. Through the Finance Bill, the Treasury now seeks to cure this problem by expressly requiring foreign entities to pay the tax.

‘So, if a non-resident person sells a company in Kenya through an offshore intermediary, there has been debate on whether the gain realised from such a sale is taxable in Kenya,’ said Robert Waruiru, Managing Partner and Head of Tax at Ichiban Tax and Business Advisory.

‘With this new proposal, such gains will be captured to the extent that the sale or alienation drives the value of the shares sold or results in a change of ownership of a Kenyan company or a change in ownership of property in Kenya.’

Some of the assets being targeted in offshore share transactions include land, infrastructure, and real estate held by Kenyan subsidiaries, according to Steve Okoth, Tax Advisory Director and Regional Head of Tax at BDO East Africa.

Mr Okoth, however, expressed concern over the wording of the second part of the amendment, warning that it ‘may catch legitimate internal restructurings where there is no real sale of the Kenyan economic value’.

‘Any offshore transaction involving a Kenyan company or Kenyan assets now needs Kenyan CGT analysis before signing.’

The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya, in its submission to the National Assembly, said: ‘As drafted, the provision may create Kenyan CGT exposure for offshore investor exits, capital raising transactions, group restructurings and internal reorganisations undertaken at holding company level.’

The proposed changes appear closely linked to recent disputes involving the sale of Kenyan assets through offshore holding companies, including the transfer of Tullow Oil’s interests in the Lokichar oil project in Turkana.

Tullow Oil Plc sold its Kenyan subsidiary, Tullow Kenya BV, to Gulf Energy in a deal announced in 2024.

Although the transaction involved Kenyan petroleum assets, the sale was structured through offshore entities, prompting the KRA to issue a tax demand estimated at Sh21 billion because the transferred shares derived their value from Kenyan oil resources.

Tax experts say the proposed amendment is intended to eliminate ambiguity in such transactions by expressly allowing Kenya to tax gains arising from offshore transfers where the underlying value is tied to local assets.

The Sh21 billion tax demand mirrors a similar dispute in neighbouring Uganda, where Tullow was forced to increase the amount it paid as CGT before Uganda cleared the sale of its Lake Albert oil project to Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation more than 12 years ago.

Tullow Kenya BV sold the Turkana oil fields to Gulf Energy last year. Gulf has paid two instalments of $40 million (Sh5.16 billion) each, while the final payment is due before June 2033.

Analysts say the proposed changes were also inspired partly by the difficulties the KRA faced in seeking taxes from the sale of Java House by US private equity firm Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) to Dubai-based Abraaj Group in 2017 through an offshore transaction.

The Tax Appeals Tribunal allowed the taxman to slap ECP Kenya with a tax bill of Sh773.8 million after the company failed to convince the tribunal that the income earned from the sale of Java House was an offshore disposal whose proceeds should not be subjected to tax in Kenya.

The same argument, the government reckons, applies to CGT.

A similar precedent was set in Uganda when Heritage Oil sold its exploration licences to Tullow Oil Uganda Limited for $1.45 billion before exiting the country.

The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) demanded 30 percent of the proceeds as capital gains tax.

Heritage Oil objected to the assessment, arguing that the transaction did not occur in Uganda and that the company was incorporated in Mauritius.

The company further argued that the Production Sharing Agreement did not provide for CGT and that Uganda’s Tax Appeals Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.

The URA, however, maintained that the assets sold were located in Uganda and that the transaction had been approved by the Ugandan government, making it subject to Ugandan law. The tribunal ruled in favour of URA, upholding the tax assessment against Heritage Oil.

Kenya’s water sector has made significant institutional progress over the last two decades, particularly following the reforms introduced under the Water Act 2002 and later strengthened through the Water Act 2016. Yet despite these reforms, many water service providers struggle with persistent operational, financial, and governance challenges.

As urban populations grow, climate variability intensifies, and public expectations increase, the issue of water utility performance can no longer be treated as a purely technical matter. It has become a central governance and development concern.

One of the most important reforms in the sector has been the introduction of utility performance monitoring and benchmarking systems under the oversight of the Water Services Regulatory Board.

Through annual performance reports and comparative utility rankings, Kenya has gradually developed one of the more structured utility performance assessment systems in the region. Indicators such as non-revenue water, water coverage, continuity of supply, staff productivity, metering ratios, and revenue collection efficiency now play an increasingly important role in shaping sector conversations.

The logic behind performance benchmarking is simple but powerful: utilities improve when performance becomes measurable, visible, and comparable. Benchmarking creates institutional pressure for improvement while simultaneously providing managers, regulators, counties, and citizens with a clearer understanding of service delivery realities.

However, the experience of the Kenyan water sector also demonstrates that performance measurement alone does not automatically produce better outcomes. Some utilities continue to perform poorly despite years of reporting and regulatory oversight. This suggests that the deeper challenges affecting utility performance are often institutional rather than purely technical.

In many counties, water utilities operate within politically sensitive environments characterised by financial constraints, ageing infrastructure, weak maintenance cultures, governance instability, and rapid urban expansion.

In some cases, utility managers face competing pressures between commercial sustainability and political expectations for low tariffs or informal service provision. Consequently, sustainable performance improvement requires more than technical efficiency metrics.

It requires stronger governance systems, professional management, realistic investment planning, and clearer accountability frameworks.

There is also growing recognition that climate change is beginning to reshape the operational realities of water utilities. Droughts, erratic rainfall patterns, and increasing water stress are likely to place even greater pressure on already constrained systems.

Future utility performance frameworks must, therefore, integrate resilience, sustainability, and adaptive capacity more explicitly.

Kenya has already laid an important foundation for utility performance regulation. The next phase of reform should focus on deepening institutional accountability, strengthening governance capacity, and ensuring that performance systems translate into meaningful improvements in service delivery for citizens.