Category: Business Daily

The Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA) has revoked the accreditation of the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) and ordered the immediate closure of all its campuses, citing violations of training regulations and operations outside its legal mandate.

In a public notice on Monday, the regulator stated that KIM has continued to offer academic and professional programmes without proper accreditation, including the awarding of qualifications that fall outside its approved scope.

TVETA noted that the institution had been offering unapproved programmes and awarding academic qualifications in contravention of the guiding rules, raising concerns over the legitimacy of certificates issued to students.

The authority also flagged the KIM for engaging trainers without valid licences as required by the law, pointing to gaps in compliance with standards governing technical and vocational education in the country.

‘The public is hereby notified that KIM does not have the legal mandate to award qualifications. Consequently, any certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications obtained from the institution beyond 2018 are not recognised for purposes of employment, further education, or professional advancement,’ said the TVETA.

‘All KIM campuses have been closed with immediate effect,’ the notice stated, adding that enforcement action would be taken against institutions found to be operating in breach of regulatory requirements.

The institution states that it was established in 1954 as a nonprofit business school.

It offers seven diploma courses ranging from business management, human resources management, to purchasing and supplies for Sh126,000.

The college also offers eight certificate courses and 15 professional certifications.

The authority did not highlight the courses that are in breach.

KIM on Monday said it was engaging the regulator and would decide its actions later.

‘KAM is currently reviewing the contents of the notice and actively engaging the relevant regulatory authorities to address the issues raised and determine the appropriate course of action in line with the law,’ Dr Muriithi Ndegwa, KIM Chief Executive, said in a social media post.

The development effectively invalidates years of academic output from the institution, placing thousands of current and former students at risk of holding qualifications that may not be accepted in the labour market.

The closure highlights ongoing challenges in Kenya’s technical education sector, where the rapid expansion of private training institutions has at times outpaced regulatory oversight.

Over the past decade, the government has pushed for increased enrolment in technical and vocational education as part of efforts to equip young people with practical skills and reduce unemployment.

The State has identified technical training as a critical pillar in its development agenda, particularly under initiatives aimed at boosting manufacturing, construction and the informal sector. This has led to a proliferation of training centres, some of which have struggled to meet accreditation standards, raising concerns about the quality and credibility of qualifications issued.

A feature in the Business Daily’s March 24 edition captured something real. Young Kenyans are entering forex trading in large numbers, losing money, getting burned, and then-this is the part people avoid-coming back again.

The article calls that resilience. It isn’t. It’s the system doing exactly what it was built to do.

Between 7.6 million and 9.6 million Kenyans aged 18 to 45 have tried trading. That’s not a group of investors. That’s a market.

And inside that market, brokers, signal sellers, course creators, and lifestyle-driven influencers aren’t backing you. They’re running a process. Here’s the number buried beneath everything: up to 94 percent of retail traders lose money.

Most brokers are non-dealing. They earn from activity-spreads, commissions-not your outcome. The moment you open a trade, they get paid. Whether you win or lose doesn’t change their revenue.

You are not the customer. You are the flow. The idea that ‘you learn through pain’ sounds deep, but it’s sloppy thinking. Pain doesn’t make you a better trader. It conditions you to return. And the return is where the money is made.

Not your first deposit-your second, third, fourth. A trader who loses, rethinks, funds again, and repeats is more valuable than someone who tries once and walks away. Everything around you-communities, signals, mentors, content-is built to keep that loop alive.

What you actually learn is this: you were close. The idea worked. The execution just needs fixing. Next time will be different.

That feeling isn’t insight. That’s the hook. The influencer pipeline makes this even clearer.

Creators earn roughly $50-$300 per funded account. Then they earn a share of every trade that account makes-for as long as it trades.

Let that sink in. A creator who sends 500 traders who all lose quickly can earn more than one who sends 50 traders who actually perform well. The model doesn’t reward your success.

It rewards your participation. The cars, the travel, the ‘results’ – none of that proves profitable trading. It proves audience conversion.

They don’t need to understand the market. They need to understand how to pull you in.

The traders in that article are not failing because they’re lazy or undisciplined. They’re failing because they walked into a structure designed to extract capital from retail – repeatedly, gradually, and convincingly.

Small wins keep you engaged. Losses push you to adjust. Adjustments lead to re-entry.

The loop continues. Effort doesn’t break that structure. Understanding it does.

That’s the point behind The House Always Wins. Not to kill ambition. Not to claim nobody succeeds.

But to show – without noise, without hype – what the system actually is. Because once you see it clearly, continuing the same way stops being ignorance.

It becomes a decision. And from there, responsibility shifts to you.

The Treasury has cut the net amount it expects to borrow from external lenders in the current financial year by Sh61.6 billion to Sh225.8 billion, reflecting delays in accessing loans from multilateral lenders and falling interest rates that have made domestic borrowing cheaper.

The external target has been cut despite the budget deficit going up by Sh323.4 billion to Sh1.22 trillion in the Supplementary I 2025/2026 Budget that was passed last week. In response, the Treasury has raised the net domestic borrowing target by Sh385.1 billion to Sh998.6 billion in the mini budget.

In the June 2025 budget, Kenya had pencilled in an expected drawdown of Sh170.5 billion from the World Bank’s Development Policy Operation (DPO) funding framework, before revising the target down to about $750 million (Sh97 billion).

This amount is yet to materialise after the World Bank expressed concerns about delayed reforms in fiscal management, governance and tackling conflict of interest among public officials.

In a presentation to investors on the sidelines of last week’s World Bank and IMF Spring meetings, the Treasury indicated that the revised external target was still inclusive of the DPO loan, adding that it had made progress in implementing the required actions to unlock the funding.

At the same time, Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Kamau Thugge said that Kenya was pursuing a separate emergency funding package from the World Bank to cushion the economy from shocks related to the Iran war.

However, the exchequer warned that failure to unlock the World Bank funds could result in yet another upward revision of the domestic borrowing target.

‘The revision in the external target points to a financing issue, looking at the DPO reduction, and the fact that we have not seen progress on the $1 billion (Sh129 billion) second tranche of the UAE-backed loan,’ said Churchill Ogutu, an economist at Capital A Investment Bank.

‘The lower domestic interest rates and high liquidity in the market have been a good coincidence therefore for the government, allowing the domestic market to come in and plug the higher budget deficit.’

Domestic interest rates have been on a downward trend since August 2024, coinciding with the CBK cutting its base rate from 13 percent to 8.75 percent in the course of 10 consecutive monetary policy committee meetings.

The latest meeting on April 8, however saw the MPC hold the rate at the current level of 8.75 percent, citing concerns about possible inflationary pressure due to the war in Iran.

At the same time, the interest rates on government bonds have come down to a range of 11 percent to 13 percent, from highs of 18 percent in 2024, while Treasury bill rates are now ranging between 7.4 percent and 8.3 percent, down from 15 percent to 17 percent in mid-2024.

In the 2024/2025 fiscal year, the government also cut the external borrowing target while expanding domestic borrowing, following similar struggles to meet conditions set by multilateral lenders.

The budget statement of June 2024 had set the deficit at Sh597 billion, which was to be financed through domestic borrowing of Sh263.2 billion, and external funding worth Sh333.8 billion.

Three revisions through supplementary budgets followed, with the deficit expanding to Sh997.5 billion in the mini budget of June 2025 and net domestic borrowing set at Sh815.6 billion-three times the original projection.

The government ended up breaching this target in its final budget outcome where the total deficit settled at Sh1.034 trillion, financed through domestic borrowing of Sh854.5 billion and external borrowing of Sh179.7 billion.

Businessman Yagnesh Devani has moved to court seeking a status report on the affairs of Triton Petroleum Company, which was placed under receivership nearly 18 years ago.

In an urgent petition, Mr Devani says that the receivers and managers have failed to provide any updates or information to the company’s board of directors since it was placed under receivership in December 2008.

Mr Devani, the principal shareholder of the oil company, was on the run for more than 16 years until his extradition last year.

A criminal case against him and others collapsed last October after key witnesses failed to testify.

In his petition, the tycoon argues that the receiver managers have failed to comply with statutory obligations on behalf of the company.

Abdul Zahir Sheikh and Peter Kahii were appointed receiver and manager after the firm was placed under receivership by KCB Bank Kenya Ltd.

Other creditors included Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank Ltd.

‘Consequently, the company’s board of directors has been unable to file statutory compliances as necessary, and further, the company’s assets are now totally unaccounted for,’ he said in the application.

The High Court has directed that the case be mentioned on April 29 for further directions.

Mr Devani states that once the firm was placed under receivership, the receiver and manager took full control of the company and its assets, including warehouses, vehicles, stocks, offices, and even post office boxes.

Triton operated service stations in Nairobi, Kisumu, Eldoret, Nakuru, and Kampala, Uganda.

He says the receivers have failed to provide updated information on the company’s affairs to the board as required by law.

‘The equitable jurisdiction to compel an account is not displaced or dismissed by the passage of time where the trustee has remained in possession of trust assets and has deliberately withheld information,’ he said.

He added that shareholders have never been informed of the status of loan accounts, the composition of any loan balances, recoveries made, or the processes surrounding the disposal of company assets, including trust assets and outstanding securities.

Mr Devani now wants the court to allow him to file the case on behalf of the company so that he can seek full disclosure of all assets held at the time of receivership. These include books of accounts, recorded receivables, stocks, and all other assets, both direct and held in trust.

He is also seeking a report on all operations involving the company’s assets, including any turnover, transactions, or disposals since the firm was placed under receivership.

According to the tycoon, the receivers have never rendered full accounts to shareholders, disclosed how assets were disposed of or recoveries made, or provided transparency on expenses incurred during the receivership. He also claims there has been no meaningful regulatory intervention despite repeated complaints.

He is seeking court orders to compel a full forensic accounting of all assets, disposals, recoveries, and expenses over the 17 years, as well as an independent inquiry into losses and potential misconduct.

‘Notwithstanding the acknowledged continued receivership and management, neither the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd defendants has issued any report as to the status of the receivership and management and assets, or the status of the loan accounts to the company for 18 years,’ he said.

Mr Devani fled the country in 2008 after being accused of involvement in the theft of oil from the Kipevu Oil Storage facility in Mombasa.

He was arrested in London in 2011 and spent years fighting extradition to Kenya. His efforts failed in May 2020 when the Court of Appeal dismissed his case, paving the way for his return to face charges.

The Kenyan government secured his extradition on the strength of an international arrest warrant executed with the assistance of Interpol.

A forensic audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) following the scandal found that the Kenya Pipeline Company had irregularly released fuel in breach of the Collateral Financing Agreement governing such transactions.

Half of former university students who graduated over the past five years have defaulted on their Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) debts, reflecting the impact of the growing youth unemployment in Kenya.

Data from the Auditor-General shows that 281,459 former students who graduated after 2000 have defaulted on Sh39.63 billion or 44 percent of Helb’s Sh89.9 billion bad student loans.

The inability to recover the billions lent to the former students has weakened Helb’s ability to support university freshmen and continuing students, prompting the agency to cut students’ loan allocation.

This emerges in a period when corporate Kenya has struggled to create quality employment for thousands of graduates leaving universities and colleges annually.

The economy created 75,000 formal jobs in 2024, compared to 122,900 a year earlier, with the drop another low since the Covid-19 economic hardships, when 185,800 jobs were lost in 2020. Ninety percent of the 782,300 new jobs were in the informal sector.

Helb has found it increasingly difficult to track and recover outstanding student loans from graduates eking out a living in the informal sector, consultancy and self-employment.

This underlines the difficulty in securing work for the thousands of university graduates joining the job market annually.

About 191,766 former students who graduated between 2015 and 2020 have defaulted on student loans worth Sh33.43 billion.

This makes the decade to 2025 the worst for Helb loan recoveries and job seekers, with 88 percent of the students’ loan defaulters or 473,125 debtors.

The Auditor-General’s report on Helb said a review of documents and interviews with the fund’s management revealed critical challenges facing the revolving fund model, including the job crisis.

‘Loan repayment burden due to high unemployment and underemployment rates makes it challenging for graduates to repay their loans, increasing default rates and threatening the sustainability of the revolving fund,’ said the audit.

Helb is still owed Sh2.39 billion by former students who graduated over 30 years ago.

The majority of the defaulters have been reported to credit reference bureaus (CRBs) for delayed or late payments.

Low credit scores can prevent people from tapping fresh loans and push them into pricier, riskier debt for cars, emergency cash and other everyday needs.

Helb is modelled as a revolving fund where beneficiaries of its loans pay back to support a fresh group of students.

However, this has not been seamless as the growing number of loan defaulters has weakened the agency’s ability to support the university and college students.

More than 163,000 students in public universities and technical and vocational education training (TVET) colleges were locked out of State loans in the financial year ending June 2025 after the Helb ran out of cash, setting them up for challenges arising from alternative funds for tuition, accommodation and upkeep.

The increased enrolment in higher education institutions has raised pressure on Helb’s funding, which has not kept pace with the growing number of candidates making the minimum university admission grade of C+ and above.

The majority of those who apply for Helb loans come from low-income households and rely on the financial support to cover tuition, accommodation and upkeep.

‘In the circumstances, the high default rate may affect the sustainability of the students’ loans fund which may in turn limit loans availability to students in the future,’ warns the Auditor-General.

Data from the Commission for University Education shows 123,928 students graduated from universities in 2024, up from 99,829 a year earlier, way above the number of formal jobs that were created.

Informal employment

The number of job seekers surges when graduates from technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions are taken into account.

The shift towards informal employment complicates loan recovery efforts for Helb, which mainly relies on employer-based deductions to enforce repayments.

The check-off system works well in the formal sector where employers face penalties for not deducting Helb loans.

However, in informal employment, repayment depends on the goodwill of borrowers.

Helb reckons that as it expands its lending base, the risk of default becomes ‘more pronounced,’ especially among self-sponsored and informal-sector borrowers.

Helb loan repayment begins one year after completion of studies. The loan is repayable over a maximum of 10 years at an annual interest rate of four percent.

Beneficiaries are penalised up to Sh5,000 for each month that the loan remains unpaid after falling due and referred to the credit reference bureaus (CRBs).

Hardcore defaulters

The board said last year 83,571 hardcore defaulters were referred to the CRBs and are also being pursued by debt collectors. Helb says it closed June 2025 with a repayment rate of 68.6 percent, leaving it with a non-performing loans rate of 31.4 percent-more than twice the 15.4 percent default rate in Kenya’s banking industry at the end of March this year.

The performance has left Helb heavily dependent on the government.

Out of Sh40 billion revenue in the review period, Sh31.58 billion came from the Exchequer as Sh5.22 billion was received from loan recoveries and Sh605.5 million from external mobilisation.

‘Maintaining healthy liquidity levels is essential for the uninterrupted delivery of Helb’s mandate. In the context of constrained Exchequer support due to growing funding demands, liquidity risk is now a top-tier concern,’ said the board.

Helb said matured loans due for recovery stood at Sh110.62 billion from 993,888 beneficiaries at the end of June 2025. Loans yet to mature were Sh73.48 billion in the hands of 769,303 loanees, while cleared accounts were Sh31.43 billion from 253,743 loanees.

Recoveries during the year were Sh5.2 billion.

‘The financial year 2024/2025 operations were impacted by economic shocks such as inflation, high unemployment etc. [which] undermined recovery,’ said Helb.

Kenya’s e-GP portal was meant to clean up public procurement. Move everything online, reduce human discretion, and you close the usual loopholes. That was the promise. Today, most public tenders pass through the system from start to finish.

But there is a hard truth procuring entities have already run into, the portal does not meet the law it is supposed to implement.

Section 135 of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act is direct. A public contract only exists once a written agreement is signed, and that agreement must include specific documents – a tender form, a price schedule or bills of quantities submitted by the bidder, and other core instruments. Missing them is not a small defect; it is a breach that carries legal consequences.

Bidders key in prices on the portal. The system stores entries. What you do not get is a signed tender form or a signed price schedule attributable to the bidder. The system records data, but the Act requires executed documents. Those are not the same thing.

That gap is no longer theoretical. In 2025, the High Court in Kenya Power v Mungai rejected a contractor’s claim for payment where no section 135-compliant contract had been signed. Work had been done. Payment was refused.

The court upheld that refusal. In public procurement, a proper written contract is not optional. The portal also generates professional opinions in a format that does not conform to the Ninth Schedule prescribed form under the regulations.

The cracks show up earlier in the process as well. In January, the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board decided Al-Ahdi Insurance Brokers Limited v Kenya Animal Genetic Resources Centre. The tender ran entirely on the portal.

During evaluation, the system pulled an expired tax compliance certificate from the bidder’s supplier profile instead of the valid one submitted with the bid. The bidder was disqualified.

The notification that followed managed to describe the same bidder as ‘responsive’ while awarding the tender elsewhere, without giving any reasons.

The board set the award aside. It held that the evaluation relied on the wrong documents and that the notification failed the legal standard. It also made a remark that has stayed with many of us who work in this space, that is, issues arising from the e-GP system should be escalated to the agencies responsible for it.

Accounting officers carry personal liability for non-compliant contracts. Yet they are using a system that does not produce all the documents the law requires, without any formal direction on how to bridge the gap.

None of this calls for a rewrite of the law. It calls for direction and some system fixes. A circular from PPRA confirming acceptable interim steps would give accounting officers a measure of protection. Adjustments to the portal to generate the required documents and proper notifications would close most of the gap.

The portal was built to serve the law. It should not place those who use it at odds with that law.

The move to an electronic system was the right call. But when the system falls short of the statute, silence from the regulator leaves every procuring entity to figure things out on its own, with real legal exposure attached.

CIC Insurance’s stake in Takaful Insurance of Africa has dropped to 7.4 percent. This is after a Djibouti-based firm, Tamini Insurance SA, acquired a 65 percent holding in Takaful Insurance, diluting the holding of the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed insurer.

Tamini acquired the Sh500million controlling stake in Takaful in April 2025, diluting all other shareholders, including CIC, to a combined 35 percent shareholding.

CIC says the deal has seen it reclassify the investment in Takaful from an associate to an unquoted equity investment.

In accounting, a company is deemed an associate if another firm owns 20-50 percent of its equity, which is a level that gives the investing company significant influence but not control.

‘CIC Insurance Group’s shareholding was reduced from 22 percent to 7.4 percent after the investment. Without significant influence on the company, the investment is no longer an associate and has been reclassified and measured at fair value through other comprehensive income as unquoted equity instruments,’ said the insurer in the annual report.

Fresh valuation

The insurer valued the shares held in Takaful at Sh76.96 million at the end of December 2025. This was a drop from the Sh107.18 million it reported as the investment’s value when it held Takaful as an associate.

CIC explained that there was a fresh valuation of the company during the Tamini deal.

‘The shares held in Takaful Insurance of Africa Limited are due to the dilution of the previous shares held in the associate. The shares have been valued based on the company valuation that was conducted in 2025 at the time of the new capital injection by the new investor,’ said CIC.

Djibouti’s Tamini is associated with Salaam Investment Bank Kenya and Salaam Microfinance Bank Limited. The two entities are owned by Salaam African Bank of Djibouti.

Takaful Insurance was licensed in 2008 to offer Shariah-compliant insurance products in Kenya. It offers life and general insurance.

Regulatory clearance

Early March this year, the Djibouti firm officially launched in Uganda as Tamini General Insurance, becoming the country’s first Islamic insurance company in the market. The firm had received regulatory clearance last November.

Before Tamini’s deal, Kenya’s Takaful was owned by a group of shareholders, including CIC, Hass Petroleum, Allamagan Ventures, Omash Investments, Koromey Koccunications, Soliton Investment Company, and Luxor Trading Company.

CIC Insurance has seven subsidiaries, which include CIC Asset Management, CIC General, CIC Life, CIC Microinsurance, CIC Africa Insurance (South Sudan), CIC Africa Co-operative Insurance (Malawi), and CIC Africa (Uganda).

The seven subsidiaries are valued at Sh4.25 billion. CIC received dividend income of Sh1.9 billion from these units in the year ended December 2025, marking a rise from Sh385 million in the previous period.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected a wider fiscal deficit for Kenya, in the wake of war in the Middle East, signalling increased borrowing to plug the expanded budget hole.

The multilateral lender expects the deficit to deteriorate to 6.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2026 from an initial October 2025 estimate of 5.6 percent.

A rise in the price of petrol at the pump is just the beginning in the wake of Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz that has caused energy prices to surge.

Food production looks set to be damaged by fertiliser shortages which will lead to further inflation. The spike in the price of the commodities will see governments in emerging countries make interventions like subsidies, triggering fiscal distress.

Nations would find it hard to end subsidies on energy and food prices, warns the IMF as it cut Kenya’s growth forecast from 4.9 percent to 4.4 percent in the wake of the war.

This will slow revenue growth amid a rising in unexpected expenditures, prompting a wider deficit. The halving of value added tax (VAT) on fuel products is expected to take out about Sh13 billion from State coffers.

Government debt as a percentage of GDP is expected to also rise to 72.4 percent from 70.1 percent in its previous October 2025 estimate.

Additional data from the IMF suggests that Kenya will raise its domestic borrowing target to fund the wider deficit as external debt, as a percentage of GDP is set to fall to 29 percent from an earlier projection of 32.7 percent.

‘A new supply shock has hit the region. The war in the Middle East has pushed up oil and gas prices, tightening fuel availability in many countries, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Nigeria and Zimbabwe,’ the IMF said in its Sub-Saharan Africa Economic Outlook report.

‘In some economies, disruptions of fuel supply are affecting electricity generation, transport and mining. Higher fertiliser prices are adding risks to agricultural output and food inflation, while shipping disruptions have increased costs and impacted trade.’

Kenya was already facing fiscal pressures from underperforming domestic revenues and increased spending pressures which have resulted in the first supplementary budget for the fiscal year running to June 30.

Total revenue collected including taxes and ministerial appropriations in aid, as of the end of December 2025 amounted to Sh1.525 trillion against a target of Sh1.636 trillion, resulting in a new Sh111.6 billion hole. Ordinary revenue or taxes were off the mark by Sh110.6 billion while ministerial A-i-A was above target by Sh1 billion.

Collected taxes totaled Sh1.241 trillion against a target of Sh1.351 trillion.

‘Ordinary revenue targets recorded below target performance during the period under review, except investment revenue, import duty and import declaration fees (IDF) which surpassed target by Sh16.6 billion, Sh1 billion and Sh129 million respectively,’ the National Treasury said in its latest quarterly budget review and outlook paper.

The revenue shortfalls and new spending pressures culminated in the first supplementary budget which pushed up total spending to a projected Sh4.532 trillion from the Sh4.269 trillion approved in June last year.

The tax revenue target was trimmed from Sh2.627 trillion to Sh2.6 trillion for the fiscal year running to June 30 to factor the below target performance so far.

The 2026 budget policy statement projects the financing gap for the current fiscal year at Sh1.14 trillion from a lower Sh901 billion in the original budget.

Domestic borrowing is expected to plug the bulk of the funding requirement at Sh885.9 billion while net foreign financing is projected at Sh254.8 billion.

Kenya plans to allow businesses to rent space at its diplomatic missions in six African countries in a policy shift aimed at easing reliance on Exchequer funding.

This is part of a policy move whereby private investors will build, rehabilitate and maintain diplomatic properties in Cairo, Lusaka, Harare, Bujumbura, Juba and Kinshasa under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

The plans to fund the facelifts through the PPP model come barely a year after Kenya allocated Sh170 million and Sh120 million to renovate the diplomatic properties in Lusaka and Kinshasa. But the Treasury continues to struggle to free the cash for the revamp alongside other missions across the globe.

‘The project scope includes construction of purpose-built chanceries, consular halls, ambassadorial residences, staff housing units and in select locations integrated commercial components with trade/commercial spaces to enhance financial sustainability,’ the PPP Directorate said in a disclosure.

‘The expected outcome is a modern, secure and sustainable diplomatic infrastructure platform that strengthens Kenya’s diplomatic presence while improving long-term asset value and operational efficiency’ it said.

The upgrade works on Kenya’s diplomatic missions in the six countries will entail the construction of purpose-built chanceries, consular halls, ambassadorial residences and staff housing units.

The PPP unit says that the expected outcome is a ‘modern, secure and sustainable diplomatic infrastructure platform that strengthens Kenya’s diplomatic presence while improving long-term asset value and operational efficiency’.

Investors will design and finance the construction of the properties, then maintain them over a concession period to recoup their money before handing them back to the government of Kenya.

The six properties will mark the maiden PPP-funded construction or rehabilitation of Kenya’s diplomatic missions, helping the country to revamp aging properties without burdening the Exchequer.

Most of these missions continue to grapple with funding cuts from Exchequer, hurting efforts to give them a facelift. Workers in the missions have also faced delayed salary payments.

The upcoming works at the six diplomatic missions in Africa are the latest projects where Treasury has turned to the PPP model in a bid to deliver projects without burdening the Exchequer or incurring fresh debt.

The PPP model has delivered the Sh86.8 billion Nairobi Expressway, the 35Megawatt (MW) Sosian Menengai geothermal power Plant, the Galana-Kulalu (Nafaka) Food Security Project and roads across several counties.

Other PPP-funded projects currently underway are the 233-kilometre Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit Highway, two geothermal power plants each of 35MW, being developed by Quantum and OrPower 22 in Menengai, and 3,069 residential units for the Kenya Defence Forces.

The Treasury has taken over the financial and governance oversight roles at the Kenya Seed Company (KSC) and the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC), marking a major policy shift from the past where the two institutions were fully under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Treasury said that the changes are aimed at enhancing transparency and efficiency and optimising the operations of the two State -owned enterprises, with an overall objective of ensuring profitability and long-term sustainability.

‘The clear role delimitation enhances transparency, optimal performance of the entities and sustainability. It has been happening since November. There is no transfer, just a clear allocation of roles,’ Lawrence Kibet, the director-general for public investments and portfolio management at the Treasury, told the Business Daily.

Mr Kibet said the Treasury will play governance and financial oversight roles at KSC and AFC in line with the Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs) Act of 2025, while the Ministry of Agriculture will continue providing sectoral and policy oversight that includes originating requirements of public policy obligations when required.

‘The Treasury shall only be playing ownership oversight roles… The Ministry of Agriculture will continue providing sectoral and policy oversight. This includes originating requirements of public policy obligations when required,’ says Mr Kibet.

‘The law doesn’t envisage parent ministry for GOEs, we have the relevant ministry, which is the Agriculture ministry, then the National Treasury as the Shareholder in line with Cap 101,’ he added.

KSC, which is 52.88 percent owned by the government through the Agricultural Development Corporation, is mandated to carry out focused research, promote and facilitate production of high-yielding, better quality certified seed to farmers and stakeholders.

The company was incorporated in 1956 and plays a key role in enhancing Kenya’s food security through the production of seeds.

Read: Pressure piles on Treasury for Infrastructure Fund autonomy

Documents tabled before Parliament in 2023 showed the company has incorporated several subsidiaries, including Simlaw Seed Kenya, Simlaw Seed Uganda, Kibo Seed Company Ltd and Kenya Seed Rwanda, with plans to venture into the Democratic Republic of Congo.

AFC operates as a development finance institution mandated to provide long-term and affordable credit to farmers, co-operatives and agribusinesses underserved by commercial banks due to perceived risk.

The corporation lends at a fixed interest rate of 10 percent, making its facilities a key financing channel for small-scale and medium-scale agricultural producers.

The GOEs Bill, which was signed into law in November last year, seeks to transform state corporations into commercial, self-sustaining public limited companies by improving efficiency, accountability and shifting government roles from operators to active owners, overseeing more than 65 commercial entities.

The Act provides for the establishment, control, governance, performance, and ownership of GOEs. It reconstitutes existing GOEs into public limited liability companies under the Companies Act, Cap. 486, to ensure their commercial viability and enhance their corporate governance.

The Act applies to existing and future GOEs, which shall be public limited companies established under the Companies Act.

It requires the board of each GOE to adopt an annual business plan that shall form the basis of annual performance contracts signed between the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and the GOE.

The contracts will inform the annual performance targets set by the Cabinet Secretary for each GOE.

The performance contracts are expected to enhance the commercial performance of GOEs to safeguard their long-term sustainability.