Category: Business Daily

Adipo Sidang’s In the Seashell Hum belongs firmly in the category of plays that are felt by the audience. The play, produced by Mudamba Mudamba, directed by Victor Gatonye and stage managed by Mercy Koi, is an emotionally bruising meditation on masculinity, trauma and the quiet violence of mental illness, staged with enough psychological intimacy to leave parts of its audience visibly shaken.

On its Nairobi debut, on a weekend run from May 16 to 17, the production submerged audiences into the fractured interior world of a man struggling to distinguish memory, grief and identity from delusion.

The result was less a conventional theatre experience and more an act of collective witnessing than simply presenting mental health as a social issue.

The title itself becomes the play’s first metaphorical invitation. A seashell hums when pressed against the ear; the sound is not the ocean, but the body interpreting echoes trapped within it.

In Sidang’s play, that hum becomes the noise inside the mind of Baraka, a man wrestling with schizoaffective disorder while carrying the inherited ghosts of trauma around him.

At the centre of the story is Athman (played by actor Gitura Kamau), a soldier presumed by Baraka’s (played by actor Nick Ndeda) love interest to be real and living, yet who in truth died a decade earlier.

Athman, who was Baraka’s cousin, is now an apparition, reconstructed by Baraka’s mind from fragments of memory and longing. Through him, the play explores post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers returning from Somalia, even as it simultaneously interrogates depression, suicide, postpartum depression and the invisible labour of caregiving.

Baraka’s girlfriend, Salma (played by actress Foi Wambui), and his sister Kendi (played by actress Angela Mwandanda) show how caregivers usually suffer emotional exhaustion or shock, depending on how much information they have when dealing with those who suffer from mental health.

Some of it can be pinned to not having required knowledge on the disease their loved one suffers from or simply being blindsided by the loved ones hiding what it is they are experiencing.

Sidang’s most ambitious achievement is perhaps this refusal to simplify mental illness into a single diagnosis or narrative. Instead, the play layers conditions and experiences into one another, suggesting not only the interconnectedness of mental suffering, but also the impossibility of neatly categorising human pain.

The playwright’s research is evident in the texture of the script. Sidang’ spent years reading clinical material, academic research and testimonies from soldiers struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after deployment in Somalia.

Some of the stories came anonymously through published accounts and university theses. Others emerged through conversations with caregivers, therapists and people working within psychosocial support systems.

The production’s greatest strength is not technical accuracy, but emotional sensitivity. Sidang approaches mental illness not as spectacle, but as lived experience. The language of the play avoids caricature and easy labels. Characters are never reduced to conditions. Instead, the production insists on placing the person before the diagnosis.

That restraint becomes especially significant in a cultural landscape where mental illness is still routinely discussed through stigma, mockery or silence.

For Sidang, the silence surrounding men’s mental health formed one of the production’s emotional anchors. Kenyan masculinity, as the play repeatedly suggests, is built around performance: the performance of strength, provision and emotional invulnerability.

Men are raised to believe vulnerability diminishes masculinity. To admit fear, despair or emotional collapse is to risk being perceived as weak.

The play understands how dangerous that performance can become.

Baraka’s psychological disintegration is, therefore, not simply medical; it is social. He inhabits a society that gives men little language for emotional suffering until that suffering erupts into crisis. The production repeatedly returns to this contradiction: men are expected to carry impossible burdens silently, then are condemned when they collapse beneath them.

What makes In the Seashell Hum particularly affecting is that it never abandons tenderness while dealing with these heavy themes. There are moments of humour scattered throughout the production-brief, necessary breaths amid the suffocation. Audience laughter arrives not from forced comic relief, but from recognisable human interactions that ground the story in emotional realism.

That realism is heightened by a cast clearly chosen for emotional intelligence as much as technical ability. Sidang’ stated he deliberately avoided performers who would treat the play like melodrama. Instead, the actors, including Ben Teke who plays Baraka’s doctor, approach their roles with unsettling sincerity, creating relationships that feel lived-in rather than performed.

The chemistry among the ensemble becomes one of the production’s defining qualities. No character exists in isolation; each performance deepens another. One leaves remembering not individual scenes, but emotional exchanges: glances, pauses, interruptions, moments where care and exhaustion coexist uneasily.

The play’s emotional weight extended beyond the audience into the rehearsal room itself. Cast members reportedly found certain scenes deeply triggering, many drawing personal connections to experiences of suicide, depression or caregiving in their own lives.

In response, the production partnered with mental health organisations,including Basic Needs Basic Rights Kenya and Mental360 to provide psychosocial support during rehearsals and performances.

That decision transformed the production from theatre into something closer to public intervention.

Therapists were available at the venue for audience members who became overwhelmed during performances. Some reportedly sought support immediately after the show. Such measures are rare within Kenyan theatre, but perhaps necessary for work engaging trauma this directly.

The production also staged mental health activations ahead of the play in spaces such as Creatives Garage and Mageuzi Hub, hosting conversations around alcoholism, suicide, postpartum depression and stigma. In doing so, In the Seashell Hum expanded itself beyond the stage and into civic conversation.

The ambition behind the production becomes even more remarkable considering its largely self-funded nature. Sidang’ financed much of the project himself, bragging that ‘there’s no one who can say Adipo owes me a thing from that production’, while partners provided technical, logistical and therapeutic support rather than direct funding.

That investment reveals itself in the production’s technical polish, particularly in its sound design. Under the direction of Eric Musyoka of Decimal Media, the play achieves one of the most immersive soundscapes recently seen in Kenyan theatre.

The production leaves behind not catharsis, but resonance.

Like the echo inside a seashell, it lingers long after the theatre empties.

Musyoka approaches the stage almost cinematically. Street sounds drift through scenes with uncanny realism. Cars honk faintly in the distance. Ambient noise folds into memory and hallucination until the audience itself begins inhabiting Baraka’s unstable mental terrain. The sound does not accompany the play; it becomes part of its psychology.

This sonic architecture is crucial because In the Seashell Hum depends heavily on atmosphere. Much of the production’s power lies not in what is explicitly said, but in what lingers underneath conversations: grief, paranoia, loneliness and suppressed terror.

One of the play’s most affecting dimensions is its portrayal of caregivers. Characters such as Salma and Kendi carry emotional burdens often overlooked in discussions around mental illness. The play quietly honours the exhaustion of loving someone whose suffering you cannot fully reach.

In this way, the production broadens the conversation beyond individual pathology toward communal responsibility. Mental illness affects families, relationships and entire support systems. Caregivers themselves become vulnerable to emotional collapse, isolation and burnout.

Audience responses suggest the play succeeded precisely because it refused emotional distance. Older viewers reportedly interpreted it through the lens of parenting and familial fear, while younger audiences recognised contemporary anxieties around depression, suicide and emotional isolation among youth.

The production’s post-show atmosphere reportedly resembled group processing more than applause and departure.

And perhaps that is where the play’s true achievement lies: not in providing answers, but in making silence impossible.

Sidang repeatedly describes the production less as a finished theatrical product and more as the beginning of a movement. The language surrounding the play – ‘from awareness to action’ – became central during post-performance discussions and audience engagement sessions.

Those discussions also exposed the structural limitations facing serious theatre in Kenya.

Despite ambitions to tour Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Kampala and Dar es Salaam, the production faces a sobering reality: Kenya possesses remarkably little theatre infrastructure outside Nairobi.

The Kenya National Theatre remains virtually the only public venue capable of hosting a production of this scale. Cities such as Kisumu lack fully equipped theatre spaces altogether, while others offer only small stages with limited technical capability.

That infrastructural absence becomes symbolic in itself. Kenyan theatre artistes are expected to tell increasingly urgent stories while operating within systems that provide minimal institutional support.

Yet In the Seashell Hum persists despite those constraints.

Its aspirations already extend toward film adaptation, and one senses the material could transition powerfully onto screen, particularly given its cinematic sound design and psychological intimacy. Still, there is something uniquely unsettling about encountering this story live, seated among strangers equally suspended between discomfort and empathy.

The play’s closing moments reportedly involved audiences lighting phone torches while repeating the phrase ‘from awareness to action.’ In lesser hands, such symbolism might have felt sentimental. Here, it appears to have landed differently – not as empty performance, but as collective acknowledgement.

Because In the Seashell Hum ultimately understands something many issue-based productions fail to grasp: awareness alone changes very little.

The play does not pretend theatre can solve mental health crises, dismantle stigma or repair broken systems. What it can do – and what Sidang’s production achieves with devastating clarity – is create temporary spaces where difficult truths become impossible to ignore.

It forces audiences to sit with psychological suffering without looking away. It asks men to reconsider the emotional prisons they inherit. It humanises people too often flattened into diagnosis or stereotype. And perhaps most importantly, it reminds caregivers that their exhaustion, too, deserves recognition.

For a first staging, In the Seashell Hum arrives remarkably assured in both artistic vision and emotional purpose. It is imperfect in the way ambitious theatre often is – occasionally overloaded by the sheer number of themes it attempts to hold – yet even that excess feels strangely appropriate for a story about minds overwhelmed by noise.

NCBA Group net profit for three months ended March 2026 rose by 8.8 percent to Sh5.96 billion, helped by a rise in net interest income as cost of funds fell.

The growth in net earnings was from Sh5.48 billion posted in the previous similar quarter and came on the back of net interest income growing by 22 percent to Sh12.16 billion from Sh9.97 billion.

The review period saw NCBA’s non-interest income rise by 6.3 percent to Sh7.83 billion, taking the operating income to Sh19.99 billion from Sh17.33 billion.

‘The group delivered strong topline momentum, with operating income increasing by 15 percent year-on-year, reflecting sustained business growth, improved revenue diversification and continued resilience across core operating segments,’ said John Gachora, managing director at NCBA.

During the review period, NCBA increased the provisioning for non-performing loans (NPLs) by 56.3 percent to Sh2.54 billion from Sh1.62 billion. The lender bucked the industry trend where its peers such as Co-operative Bank of Kenya, KCB Group and Equity Group have cut down the amount set aside for potential loan defaults.

The higher provisioning for NPLs, added to a 13.6 percent rise in staff costs to Sh4.19 billion and lifted NCBA’s operating expenses by 16.6 percent to Sh12.24 billion from Sh10.5 billion.

‘Increase in impairment charges to Sh2.5 billion was driven by a prudent approach to credit risk assessment given the heightened volatile operating environment,’ said Mr Gachora.

The group’s main subsidiary, NCBA Bank Kenya, was the key profitability driver, with pre-tax earnings rising 20.4 percent to Sh6.53 billion -equivalent to 87.9 percent of group net profit.

Regional operations in Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda delivered a combined pre-tax profit of Sh707 million while non-banking subsidiaries including NCBA Investment Bank, NCBA Leasing, and NCBA Bancassurance, accounted for Sh641 million gross earnings.

The lender has been growing its physical reach as well as digital channels to boost its business. In asset finance, the bank said its digital vehicle trading platform called CarDuka had onboarded close to seven million users by end of the quarter.

NCBA said it disbursed digital loans worth Sh391 billion in the first quarter of the year, maintaining its lead in digital credit, fueled by products such as Mshwari.

Commenting on the impending acquisition of a majority stake in NCBA by South Africa’s Nedbank Group, Mr Gachora said the transaction progresses according to plan.

‘The proposed transaction with Nedbank Group Limited continues to progress in line with plan, with key deal milestones currently on track and proceeding as anticipated, ‘ said Mr Gachora.

‘The group has not experienced any material impact arising from the evolving Middle East geopolitical situation to date; however, management continues to closely monitor developments and assess potential implications on markets, liquidity, inflation, and broader macroeconomic conditions.’

The summer concert season in the United States is underway, and Kenyan musicians are taking centre stage as they reconnect diaspora audiences with the sounds of home.

Leading the charge is the Jose Gatutura Band, whose Mugithi US Tour kicked off in March and will run through August 2026. The celebrated musician and his ensemble are set to perform across numerous American cities, bringing the high-energy rhythms, storytelling traditions and cultural richness of Mugithi music to Kenyan communities abroad.

Joining Gatutura on selected dates are acclaimed vocalist Kareh B and instrumentalist Marto Martz, adding depth and variety to a tour designed to showcase one of Kenya’s most enduring musical traditions.

Mugithi is a distinctive Kenyan genre that originated among the Kikuyu community in Central Kenya. The music has its roots in rural storytelling and guitar-based performance, merging folklore and musicology. Mugithi means ‘train’. This symbolises the continuous rhythm and flow of music. It is also exemplified in the nature of the dance style. The genre has been influenced by American country music styles that have shaped its melodic and narrative approach.

This music style is known for its expressive guitar work, call-and-response vocals, and vibrant cultural narratives. Quoted on X, Gatutura said: ‘The Mugithi US tour is going very well. We began in Spokane Washington, Portland, Los Angeles, Dallas and we perform in Atlanta this weekend.

We conclude the tour with a show in Seattle Washington on August 8. I have crisscrossed over 20 states since the start of the tour. Before the US, I have performed in Switzerland, UK and German.

My ambition is to make the Mugithi brand a staple genre of contemporary African music. This tour is a celebration of our heritage and our people. We’re excited to connect with the diaspora and introduce Mugithi to brand-new audiences across the US.’

Another key figure in promoting Kenyan music abroad is Simon Javan Okelo, a musician, entrepreneur and founder of the annual Madaraka Festival. Based in Seattle, Washington, Okelo has spent more than a decade creating a platform that connects East African artists with audiences across the US. He is a band leader and entrepreneur who runs the annual Madaraka Festival in numerous cities in the US where he invites Kenyan artists to perform in Seattle.

‘From 2014 to 2019, it was just a Seattle-based event. But in 2019, it happened in Kisumu, Kenya, and it brought over 4,500 people together. During the pandemic, it reached millions of people…We raised over $10,000 for women who are doing business in the informal settlements in Kisumu.’

‘Our goal has always been to bring respect to African culture and music while creating an ecosystem that allows East African artistes to access some of the best venues in the US…We have been fortunate to have the support of corporate sponsors including Amazon, Kenya, Airways, KEXP, Microsoft and Alaska Airlines.’

Meanwhile, award-winning singer Bien-Aimé Baraza continues to strengthen his international profile through regular performances across the US, frequently drawing sold-out crowds.

As summer unfolds, Kenyan musicians from across genres are using music not only to entertain but also to strengthen cultural ties, build community and expand Kenya’s artistic footprint abroad. For diaspora audiences, the season promises more than concerts. It offers a vibrant reminder of home.

Fresh from his appearance at the recently concluded Africa Forward Summit, where he headlined a major concert, Bien remains one of Kenya’s most visible musical exports. Diaspora fans are already anticipating further appearances as excitement builds around the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America.

Bien has previously been quoted by US media as saying he relied on Nigerian promoter Osita ‘Duke’ Ugeh because, unlike Kenyan promoters, Osita offers great brand value. Duke runs Duke Concept, an event production and promotion company based in New York specialising in live concerts, festivals, and tours. He has organised Davido’s ‘The 5ive Alive Tour’ and Kizz Daniel’s ‘Uncle K Tour.’

Of all the visual art forms exhibited in Nairobi, sculpture remains perhaps the hardest to encounter. In a city where gallery walls are dominated by oil and acrylic paintings, three-dimensional works are comparatively rare. That is what makes veteran sculptor Gakunju Kaigwa’s latest exhibition, Ancestral Grain, at Rooftop Gallery in Village Market feel like a welcome departure from the familiar.

‘If you get a room with 10 visual artists, you would be lucky to have two sculptors. There seems to be a perception out there that sculpting is difficult, but I tell painters to make an effort before complaining. Some of the best sculptors you will ever come across, like Cyrus Kabiru, Denis Muraguri and Kepha Mosoti, are painter friends who I convinced to try sculpting, and they never looked back’, he says.

Kaigwa’s journey into art began with drawing while in primary school. However, it was while he was in high school at Lenana School that his love for the arts solidified, largely because of the importance placed on the subject at the school.

At university, where he specialised in art, he was introduced to painting, graphics, ceramics and sculpture, which broadened his knowledge. Upon graduation, he continued painting for three years before fully getting into sculpting.

‘While painting was my major, sculpturing did things for me that painting was not. It was effortless and more expressive for me. When I was a painter, I would use a lot of outside stimulus, like pictures, to come up with my compositions, but with sculpting, I just imagine and create. Paintings would take me a month to complete, whereas it takes me a week to complete a carving’, he says.

Before he fully ventured into art, Kaigwa worked with the Voice of Kenya for two years as a graphic designer before quitting to focus on art full-time.

‘I had my first solo exhibition in October 1982 at the French Cultural Centre. Later on, I joined Gallery Watatu, which was the biggest art gallery in Nairobi at the time. I was one of the youngest in that generation with people like Jack Wanjau, Ancent Soi, Joel Oswago, and Timothy Brooke. Many of the artists I was with at the beginning of my journey are sadly no longer with us’, he says.

A turning point came in 1988 when he received a scholarship to study in Carrara, Italy, a city globally renowned for its marble quarries and sculptural heritage. For a young Kenyan sculptor, the experience was transformative.

‘I was 32 years old and suddenly immersed in an environment where art was a fully-fledged profession. Italy should be a mandatory pilgrimage for anyone pursuing the creative arts because there is inspiration everywhere. As a stone sculptor, standing before Michelangelo’s David takes your breath away. It also shows you what is possible.’

On returning, he diversified his practice from exclusively working with stone to working with metal and wood because he had found stone limiting. He would later on get another scholarship to Dundee in Scotland, where he pursued a Master’s programme in the arts before undertaking a residency programme in Trenton, New Jersey, in the US for four years, where he specialised in sculpting with metal. Learning for Kaigwa is a relentless experience.

Turning 68 on May 22, 2026, Kaigwa attributes his longevity in the craft to his passion for the arts and the support from the people in his corner, including the people who commission him for his works.

Some of the famous places his works lie include the fountain at Starehe Girls Centre and School, and a sculpture of a girl reading a book on a bench at the International School of Kenya.

‘You do it because you love it; it is what makes you stay around for that long. I always tell people that I don’t work when I step into my studio, I play. You need to have your inner child with you at all times because you are exploring having fun and playing. This is what keeps me young. I don’t know what will happen at any time when I step into my studio, except for the excitement of the next piece. I haven’t made my best piece yet.

I also have a very supportive family, my wife and my children, who are both creatives, and have been fundamental. My mum, who is 95 and lives with me, is a big part of who I am. It is very difficult to do art around people who don’t see what you are doing because it is easy to get discouraged,’ he says.

Kaigwa made his first wood carving in 1999 when he came back from Italy. He had never worked with wood before. His decision to flirt with wood was driven by his desire to make not only art that would decorate places, but functional art.

‘I wanted to create pieces that were not only beautiful but functional,’ he says. ‘I was interested in furniture that could be used as a table, chair or stool while still being appreciated as fine art.’

This exploration led him into a longstanding debate within artistic circles: where exactly does fine art end and craft begin? His inspiration came from the humble three-legged stool once found in many Kenyan homes.

“Those stools gradually disappeared, and I wanted to bring them back. They inspired some of my earliest wooden works before I expanded into other forms. Some collectors buy my pieces and refuse to sit on them because they see them purely as artworks.”

For Kaigwa, wood possesses qualities that other materials cannot replicate.

‘Wood has a warmth missing in other materials. There is a spirit within it that draws people probably because it was once a living thing. I source my wood from trees which have been brought down through no fault of their own. My works gives these trees a new life, and remembers that they once lived, he says.

For carving, he picks wood depending on the type of grain that they have and the ability to withstand his hands and tools and take shape without breaking and being resistant to attack by insects.

There are four that I mainly use: eucalyptus, jacaranda, cypress and, more recently, mango wood, which I absolutely love because it is a medium-hard wood. If you get the right piece, it has amazing colours and grain patterns. Podo is also a very beautiful wood, but it is a bit harder to find, so I haven’t worked with it much. However, I am always looking for it.

Ancestral Grain pays homage to the ancient nature of the wood art craft. It gives fallen trees a second life, one that honors their long memory and the unseen energy they still hold.

In Ancestral Grain, Kaigwa poses as the muse that listens to what the wood remembers. Each curve, hollow, and surface is a still conversation between artist and ancestor, his chairs, stools, and tables are carved with impeccable fluidity almost as if the wood itself is reminiscing movement.

Investors in the Talanta bond that was used to build Raila Odinga stadium will receive Sh6.5 billion from July 7 on the back of Sh24.8 billion gambling taxes.

The government last year raised Sh44.79 billion through a 15-year bond whose returns are paid from betting taxes, which are housed under the Sports Fund.

This will be the first full year payment for the investors who received their first paycheck on January 7, of an estimated Sh3.25 billion.

Proceeds from gambling taxes under the Sports Fund are expected to increase 35.3 percent to Sh24.8 billion, up from Sh18.3 billion in the last financial year, making it easier for the State to settle the bondholders.

The Sports Fund is mainly funded by taxes and levies raised from the betting industry, with the fund targeting Sh2.07 billion per month, indicating the large spending by Kenyans in gambling.

‘This reflects the projected increase in appropriation in aid collections to the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund (SASDF). The ministry of sports projects to collect Sh2.07 billion per month,’ said National Treasury Director of Budget Albert Mwenda.

‘This includes the amount to be set aside for the settlement of the loan linked to the Talanta Stadium loan.’

The investors will on July 7, receive Sh3.25 billion being the first coupon payment of the financial year, before the second payment on January 7 of Sh3.25 billion.

The money from gamblers is received daily by a fund manager who invests it before making the scheduled coupon payments. The payout to investors includes interest and investment income earned by the fund manager.

The securitisation managers, Liaison Capital, did not disclose the exact amount paid out to investors of the bond in January, as the amount will differ in each coupon payment based on the investment income.

The bond has a 15.04 percent rate of return, which will earn investors Sh57.6 billion in interest over the life of the bond.

The interest income from the bond is tax-exempt, giving it the same status as the government-issued infrastructure bonds.

As per the information memorandum, the government has an extra three-day window to make payments before it is considered to be in default, meaning it has an effective deadline of July 10 to make the payment.

The issuer of the bond, Liaison Group, through a special vehicle, Linzi FinCo 003 Trust, has arranged a standby letter of credit with KCB Bank to be used in case of delayed disbursements from Treasury.

Proceeds of the bond were directed to the completion of the 60,000-seater stadium, which has since been renamed Raila Odinga International Stadium.

As of last week, the stadium was 91 percent complete, as per a statement by the Ministry of Sports after a site tour.

As of April last year, the stadium was 37 percent complete, with the government having paid only five percent of the construction costs.

The contractor, China Roads and Bridge Corporation, had agreed to continue being active at the site as the government sought funds. The Ministry of Defence was given supervisory powers over the project owing to the army’s reputation for prompt execution.

However, monies used by the Ministry of Defence are difficult to audit due to the sensitivity of the docket.

The Raila Odinga Stadium is earmarked as one of the grounds to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

The National Treasury has also set aside an additional Sh1.5 billion for preparations towards the Pamoja Afcon games, which Kenya will host alongside Uganda and Tanzania.

The budget includes Sh828 million as wages for temporary employees, underscoring the magnitude of the games and the manpower needed to execute.

Printing, advertising and information supplies have been allocated Sh200 million, while insurance costs have a Sh200 million budget.

An insurance contract, worth Sh42 million for the CHAN Pamoja games hosted by the three East African countries last year, is at the centre of corruption allegations against the top hierarchy of the Football Kenya Federation.

The Treasury has earmarked Sh271 million for other operating expenses relating to the games scheduled to take place between June 17 and July 19 next year.

The Raila Odinga Stadium will serve as a main venue for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as matches of the Afcon games.

Notably, the Sports Fund’s 10-year tenure lapses in August 2028, a year after the games, clouding the payouts of the 15-year bond, with the government yet to issue guarantees of its renewal.

The Talanta bond did not have a government guarantee, with investors relying on the Public Finance Management Act, which establishes the Sports Fund, declaring the Treasury’s obligation to take up the liabilities of the fund if it is dissolved.

Pension funds sponsored by public entities belong to contributors and are not public funds subject to State procurement laws, the Supreme Court has ruled.

In a landmark victory for the retirement benefits industry and pensioners, the apex court ruled that pension savings managed under public entity-sponsored schemes are private trust funds owned by employees and cannot be treated as public money under the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (PPADA).

‘Based on what we have stated so far, we entertain no doubt that a pension fund sponsored by a public entity was not contemplated in the enactment of Article 227 of the Constitution to be an entity that was intended to undertake public procurement and thereby to be bound by the provisions of the PPADA,’ the court said.

The country’s top court overturned earlier decisions by both the High Court and Court of Appeal, which had held that pension schemes linked to public institutions qualified as public entities because of their public function and State oversight.

The Supreme Court instead found that Section 2(o) of the PPADA unconstitutionally expanded the meaning of a public entity beyond what was envisaged under Article 227 of the Constitution.

‘Ultimately, we find merit in the appeal and accordingly allow it. We set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal dated April 28, 2022, and in terms of Article 2(4) of the Constitution, declare Section 2(o) of the PPADA inconsistent with Article 227(1) of the Constitution and therefore void to the extent that it subjects pension funds for a public entity to the application of public procurement systems,’ the judges ruled.

The case was filed by the Association of Retirement Benefits Schemes, representing pension schemes, employers and service providers in Kenya’s retirement benefits industry.

The association challenged the constitutionality of Section 2(o) of the PPADA after pension funds sponsored by public entities were required to comply with public procurement laws in the disposal and acquisition of assets.

The association argued that pension schemes are established as irrevocable trusts under the Retirement Benefits Act and are fundamentally private arrangements between employees and trustees.

According to the association, employers merely remit contributions as part of contractual obligations, while the funds remain autonomous entities separate from sponsoring public institutions.

The association told the court that subjecting such schemes to procurement laws imposed ‘onerous responsibilities’ with severe financial implications for retirees and beneficiaries.

They also argued that the law discriminated against pension funds linked to public entities, because private sector pension schemes were exempt from the same requirements despite operating under the same legal framework.

According to the association, the additional compliance burden increased administrative costs and ultimately reduced members’ retirement benefits, infringing on constitutional protections for property rights and equality.

The Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA), which had initially supported the petition before the High Court and the Court of Appeal, later changed its position before the Supreme Court, stating the constitutionality of the challenged section.

The Authority argued that procurement oversight was necessary to prevent corruption and mismanagement of pension savings.

RBA maintained that pension schemes sponsored by public bodies served a public interest because they involved contributions from public employees and employers. It also argued that procurement safeguards promoted transparency, accountability and good governance.

However, the Supreme Court criticised the Authority’s shift in position and rejected the argument that State regulation automatically transforms pension funds into public entities.

The judges held that pension schemes, whether public or private, are savings vehicles managed independently by trustees solely for the benefit of employees.

‘It was therefore in error for the two courts below, to conclude that pension funds perform duties of a public nature and are public bodies,’ the court stated.

The judges emphasised that once pension contributions are remitted into a scheme, they cease to be public property and instead become private trust funds belonging to employees.

‘This legal structure effects a fundamental transformation. Once the contributions are made into an employee’s account in the scheme, it ceases to be public property. They become part of a private trust fund, held and managed by trustees for the exclusive benefit of the members,’ the court said.

The court further noted that trustees and administrators of pension funds do not perform government functions and are not paid from the Consolidated Fund or through parliamentary appropriations.

The court warned against equating pension savings with public funds merely because the employer is a public institution.

‘With this autonomy, it matters not that the sponsor is a public entity. Pension, just as a salary, is a benefit to the employee,’ the court observed.

‘Extrapolating the findings of the courts below would be absurd, as that would be tantamount to asserting that merely because an employee earns a salary from a public entity, then the employee’s expenditure should equally be regulated as part of public funds.’

The court distinguished between regulatory oversight and direct State control, saying the Retirement Benefits Authority’s supervisory role did not make pension schemes instruments of government.

‘The test requires more than mere regulatory oversight; it requires such a degree of control that the entity can be seen as an instrumentality of the State. The retirement benefit schemes lack this character,’ the judges ruled.

The Supreme Court also found that Article 227 of the Constitution was intended to govern public procurement involving taxpayer-funded entities and State organs, not private pension savings.

‘There was never any intention by the makers of the Constitution to include private enterprises and private pension funds, and in particular a segment of the funds sponsored by public entities, as part of the public finance and funds,’ the court stated.

Cable Experts Limited (CEL) has offered to acquire a 68.37 percent stake in beleaguered East African Cables, saying it will clear the firm’s bank loans that pushed it into administration.

CEL has offered to buy the stake held by Cable Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of TransCentury Limited, the parent company of East African Cables (EA Cables), which is also under receivership.

The investor, which says it has experience in the cable business, plans to revive EA Cables and repay the Sh1.94 billion debt owed to Equity Bank Kenya that led to the company being placed under administration and its shares suspended from trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

‘Cable Experts Limited (CEL), a company incorporated in Kenya, has on May 19, 2026 entered into a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of the entire 68.37 percent stake in East African Cables Plc (under administration) held by Cable Holdings Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of TransCentury Plc (in receivership),’ CEL said in a public notice.

‘The acquisition constitutes a rescue acquisition that enables East African Cables to continue as a going concern, including through the retirement of its existing secured bank indebtedness,’ the company added.

EA Cables was placed under receivership in June last year by Equity Bank Kenya after defaulting on a loan and failing to honour a demand notice issued in June 2023.

Its shares were suspended from trading on the NSE immediately after the lender took control.

CEL, which is seeking exemption from making a mandatory offer for the remaining 31.63 percent stake, said it would pursue the resumption of trading in the company’s shares.

‘CEL has sought CMA’s direction under Regulation 28 of the Take-over Regulations confirming the continuation of the suspension and has proposed an agreed pathway for the orderly resumption of trading following completion,’ the company said.

The transaction requires approval from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and the Competition Authority of Kenya.

At the time trading was suspended, East African Cables shares were trading at Sh1.71, valuing the company at Sh432.8 million. At that price, the 68.37 percent stake, which is equivalent to 173,071,149 shares, is worth about Sh295.9 million.

CEL said it does not own any shares in East African Cables and is not acting in concert with any shareholder in the company.

The appointment of Adan Mohamed as Commissioner General of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) marks more than just a leadership transition at Times Tower. It signals recognition that KRA’s challenges today are increasingly about the economy and no longer purely about tax administration.

Kenya’s tax environment has changed dramatically over the last few years. First, going by what we witnessed two years ago with the Gen Z led protests and even as recent as this week’s matatu strike, revenue collection has become very politically sensitive.

In addition, businesses are under pressure from high operating costs, and taxpayers are increasingly vocal about compliance burdens and aggressive enforcement.

On the other hand, government financing needs continue to rise sharply, with Treasury relying heavily on KRA collections to finance an expanding national budget and debt obligations.

In this environment, the traditional profile of a tax administrator is no longer sufficient. A KRA Commissioner General must understand how businesses make decisions, how investors react to policy uncertainty, how financial systems work and how economic activity ultimately drives sustainable tax revenues.

That is why Mohamed’s appointment stands out. His background combines something rarely found in public institutions: deep private-sector financial experience alongside a long record of public-sector reform and economic management.

Before entering government, Mohamed built one of the most successful executive careers in Kenya’s banking sector. He became the youngest managing director of a multinational bank in Kenya when he took over Barclays Kenya at the age of 38.

Running banking operations across multiple African markets meant dealing directly with regulators, investors, compliance systems, monetary policy environments and cross-border business realities. That experience becomes highly relevant for KRA at a time when investor confidence and tax policy are becoming increasingly intertwined.

Today, KRA is no longer simply collecting customs duties and corporate taxes. It is dealing with digital transactions, fintech platforms, cross-border commerce, betting taxes, virtual assets, data-driven enforcement systems and increasingly complex compliance frameworks. The authority is becoming more technology-driven and more economically consequential.

That requires leadership capable of understanding the broader economy, not just tax procedures.

Mohamed’s record in government also explains why the board may have viewed him as uniquely suited for the role. During his years overseeing trade, industrialisation and regional integration, Kenya undertook some of the most ambitious business and regulatory reforms in its recent history.

The country improved from position 136 to 56 in the World Bank Doing Business rankings within five years, becoming one of the world’s most improved reformers during that period.

His tenure also coincided with major reforms in business registration, insolvency laws, trade facilitation, special economic zones and digitisation of government services. These reforms were not merely bureaucratic exercises. They were aimed at making Kenya more investment-friendly, improving enterprise growth and supporting formal economic activity.

Mohamed’s background in industrialisation and SME development may also prove relevant as KRA attempts to widen the tax base. Under programmes initiated during his tenure, SME financing expanded, export-oriented manufacturing grew, industrial parks were developed and investment mobilisation accelerated across several sectors.

This matters because Kenya’s future revenue growth will ultimately depend less on squeezing existing taxpayers harder and more on growing formal economic activity itself.

KRA is also entering a period of major internal transformation. Systems such as eTIMS, automation of compliance functions and expanded use of data analytics are changing how the institution operates.

While digitisation is necessary for reducing leakages and improving efficiency, it has also increased complexity for many SMEs and smaller taxpayers.

Managing that transition will require not only technical understanding, but also organisational leadership and change-management capability.

Ultimately, the Board’s decision reflects an understanding that KRA’s future success depends on more than enforcement targets. Its next leader therefore needed to be someone capable of operating comfortably in the intersection of economic growth, public trust, and the overall business environment. This is where Adan Mohamed’s career has largely been built around.

Tether, the largest company in the digital asset industry and issuer of USD?, the world’s most widely used stablecoin, today announced an investment in LemFi, a financial platform serving millions of people who live and work across borders.

This investment aims to promote financial inclusion and expand access to efficient, borderless financial systems, while accelerating the use of stablecoin-powered solutions in emerging markets.

LemFi is one of the most trusted financial platforms, connecting communities across the UK, US, Canada, and Europe with family and loved ones in Africa and Asia.

For millions of people living and working across borders, LemFi has become the financial home that traditional banks never provided. Its mission is to make financial services fair, simple, and accessible, which requires infrastructure built to go where traditional rails cannot. Stablecoins are central to making that possible.

Tether’s investment aims to support LemFi’s integration of USD? as a settlement layer across its key corridors, replacing multi-day SWIFT chains with near-instant, low-cost settlement across Africa and Asia.

Tether will also help accelerate LemFi’s stablecoin infrastructure, which will progressively extend across its broader product suite, delivering more stable, transparent, and accessible financial services to customers on both sides of each corridor.

This investment aligns with Tether’s broader mission to bridge the gap between traditional finance and digital assets by offering a stable, liquid digital payment solution powered by blockchain technology.

Through collaborations with platforms like LemFi that address real-world financial challenges, Tether continues to advance the global use of stablecoins, making them more practical and accessible.

‘At Tether, our goal is to promote financial inclusion, and we are committed to working with platforms building scalable financial solutions that address the real needs of our 585 million users globally,” Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether.

“Our investment in LemFi reflects our shared vision on how money moves across borders, prioritising speed, cost, and transparency. By supporting LemFi’s growth and innovation roadmap, we are helping bring the benefits of a stable digital asset to more people who rely on remittances in their daily lives.”

“Tether’s investment is a significant milestone for us at LemFi, but more importantly, it is a validation of the direction we are heading. We have always believed that the financial system should work equally well for everyone, regardless of where they live or where they are sending money. Integrating USD? into our infrastructure brings us closer to that reality, enabling faster, cheaper, and more reliable financial services for the millions of people who depend on us every day,” said Ridwan Olalere, LemFi’s CEO and Co-founder.

By combining Tether’s deep liquidity with LemFi’s established presence in emerging markets, the two companies are setting a new standard for faster, more inclusive remittances designed for today’s interconnected world.

About Tether and USD?

Tether is a pioneer in the field of stablecoin technology, driven by an aim to revolutionise the global financial landscape and provide accessible, secure, and efficient financial, communication, and energy infrastructure.

Tether enables greater financial inclusion and communication resilience, fosters economic growth, and empowers individuals and businesses.

As the creator of the largest, most transparent, and liquid stablecoin in the industry, Tether is dedicated to building sustainable and resilient infrastructure for the benefit of underserved communities. By leveraging cutting-edge blockchain and peer-to-peer technology, it is committed to bridging the gap between traditional financial systems and the potential of decentralised finance.

About LemFi

LemFi is the leading financial platform on a mission to make everyday financial services fair, simple, and accessible to traditionally underserved communities globally.

The tea in your cup today began its journey in someone else’s hands. Hands whose work most of us never think about.

Almost certainly, those hands belonged to a smallholder farmer tending a plot, plucking leaves under long mornings of mist and rain. Two leaves and a bud. Thousands of times. Smallholders account for about 60 percent of global tea supply.

The industry built on their labour is worth $19.5 billion a year and supports the economies of some of the world’s poorest countries. Yet the conditions that sustain that work – ecological, economic and climatic – are under growing pressure.

Tea is the most popular drink on earth after water. Global production reached 7.3 million tonnes last year, and per capita consumption continues to rise steadily. From outside, the sector appears healthy. Yet the millions of smallholder farming families driving that growth in China, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Malawi, Rwanda and beyond need stronger support if the sector’s momentum is to endure.

The geography of tea production is also one of economic necessity, linked to patterns of dependence and rural livelihoods. Kenya is the world’s largest tea exporter. Sri Lanka, Uganda, Malawi and Rwanda rank among the global top 10.

In these economies, revenues from tea exports help finance food imports and sustain rural livelihoods across entire regions. The sector remains a major source of employment and income for millions of poor families worldwide.

That income is more fragile than the industry’s headline numbers suggest. International tea prices, adjusted for inflation, have been declining for four decades. The sector’s nominal value has expanded, while the real purchasing power of many producers has stagnated.

FAO has documented what this means at the household level: when farmgate prices fall, smallholder families reduce spending on food, education and healthcare.

Small producers also face limited market access, inadequate extension services, weak access to credit and technology, and persistent asymmetries in how value is distributed across the supply chain.

As production costs rise and price increases transmit unevenly through markets, many farming families struggle to generate sufficient returns to reinvest in farm renewal, climate adaptation or productivity improvements. These pressures heighten income volatility and make long-term planning increasingly difficult.

Tea production and processing are major sources of employment and income for women across East Africa and South Asia. When smallholder tea farming families prosper, women’s economic participation will determine whether that prosperity and stability hold.

Programmes that support women directly through training, market access and financial resources consistently produce stronger outcomes for both households and communities. In many tea-growing regions, women sustain not only household economies, but also the continuity of the knowledge and labour on which the crop depends.

For a smallholder farmer without savings or insurance, a lost harvest is not a temporary setback. It immediately affects household spending on food, medicine and schooling.

More efficient, inclusive and sustainable value chains, including greater local value addition and stronger producer participation in markets, are essential if the benefits of the growing tea economy are to reach both the people and the environments that sustain it.

Per capita tea consumption in many producing countries remains relatively low, meaning the sector’s growth potential is still substantial.

Ensuring the sector’s viability, however, requires more than rising consumption levels.

Smallholder producers need better access to finance, markets, technology, and climate adaptation support calibrated to their realities.

More transparent and balanced value chains, targeted investment that reaches women directly, and stronger incentives for reinvestment at farm level will determine whether the industry’s future growth will remain economically and socially sustainable.

The farmer who grew your tea will get up again tomorrow morning before sunrise. The future of the sector depends on ensuring this remains a viable livelihood option.