Category: Business Daily

Business leaders and industry experts on Monday renewed calls for a more conducive policy and environment in Africa, arguing it is the critical first step to attract investment in infrastructure, energy and money markets.

Speaking during a business forum segment of the first day of the Africa Forward Summit, Gbenga Oyebode, chairman of the Africa Legal Network (ALN) and co-founder of Aluko and Oyebode, said geopolitics is changing and African partnerships are becoming more important, hence the need for a clear strategy on how to approach them.

The session was co-chaired by President William Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron, who are also co-hosts of the Summit.

‘The French are showing that they are committed to the continent, especially at a time when there is no foreign funding coming in. What we need is to create a conducive environment for investment,’ said Mr Oyebode.

The Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, is hosting hundreds of global leaders, including heads of state, business executives, investors and policymakers.

Mauritius Commercial Bank CEO Thierry Hebraud said Africa cannot continue to be an exporter of raw materials and importer of finished products, stressing the need to create an environment that can attract business: ‘It has been said that there are 600 million Africans who have no access to electricity. This energy crisis cripples healthcare, education and economic opportunity, leaving millions in the dark-literally and figuratively.”

‘Therefore there is a critical need for tailored solutions instead of blanket policies designed for wealthier nations,’ said Mr Hebraud.

By investing in local processing industries, Africa could maximise its share of the mineral value chain and significantly increase its gross doemstic product, eventually securing a leading role in the global shift towards sustainability,’ he said.

Ahmed El Alfi, founder and chairman of Sawari Ventures, said Africa must shift from an extractive economy to a creative one to prevent the loss of its best talent.

‘By fostering brain circulation through strategic partnerships with Europe, African entrepreneurs can gain the knowledge and capital necessary to build world-class companies at home,’ he said.

James Mwangi, managing director and Group CEO of Equity Bank, said he was inspired by the sustainable model of the Champagne region, which Kenya can learn from in value addition.

‘This project demonstrates how value addition can be demystified and unlocked by leveraging unique local heritage to create globally competitive products,’ said Dr Mwangi.

Dr James Mworia, CEO and managing director of Centum Investment Company Plc, emphasised the urgent need for Africa to transition from a continent of untapped potential to a global leader through industrialisation, digital job creation and green manufacturing.

By building integrated platforms and fostering strategic partnerships between the private sector and government, he said, Africa can reduce fragmentation and drive sustainable economic growth.

Arnaud Lagesse of IBL and Sophie Sidos of the French Trade Advisors emphasised the importance of cross-border partnerships between African and European businesses to drive regional growth and infrastructure development.

‘By fostering collaboration, leveraging shared values and focusing on sustainable practices such as decarbonisation, they aim to create long-term value for all stakeholders,’ he said.

In 2024, the country welcomed 2.4 million international visitors, surpassing pre-pandemic levels and reclaiming its status as East Africa’s leading tourism destination. Tourism earnings soared to Sh452.2 billion, while the wider travel and tourism sector contributed an estimated Sh1.2 trillion to the economy and supported 1.7 million jobs.

These figures represent more than recovery. They reaffirm Kenya’s global standing as one of the world’s premier wildlife and nature destinations.

Yet beneath this impressive resurgence lies a dangerous contradiction. The wildlife that powers Kenya’s tourism success is increasingly under threat.

Northern Kenya’s vast network of community conservancies has been one of Africa’s most celebrated conservation achievements.

Across the northern rangelands of Samburu, Isiolo, Marsabit, Garissa, and neighboring counties, local communities have protected fragile ecosystems, dramatically reduced poaching, restored wildlife migration corridors, and safeguarded iconic species, including elephants, rhinos, and reticulated giraffes.

This model did more than preserve biodiversity. It became central to Kenya’s tourism identity.

Wildlife remains the backbone of Kenya’s tourism appeal, with nearly 80 percent of international visitors drawn to conservation-driven destinations such as Maasai Mara, Amboseli, Tsavo, and related ecosystems.

Kenya’s tourism future increasingly depends on eco-tourism, Northern Keny is poised to provide unique conservation experiences, and authentic natural heritage.

But that foundation is beginning to weaken. A disturbing rise in giraffe poaching across northern Kenya is exposing a broader collapse in conservation systems. In counties such as Samburu, Isiolo, Marsabit, and Garissa, carcasses of reticulated giraffes, stripped of meat and left as little more than skin and bone, are being discovered with growing frequency.

Giraffes in the Northern Rangelands are now under serious threat from poaching for bushmeat, a shift that reflects a changing illegal wildlife trade once dominated by elephants and rhinos hunted for ivory and horn.

While global attention and enforcement efforts have significantly reduced large-scale ivory and rhino horn trafficking, this pressure has in some areas displaced illegal hunting toward less protected species such as giraffes.

Their meat is now traded in local and regional markets as far as Somalia, often overlooked in conservation enforcement frameworks that have historically prioritised iconic megafauna.

This emerging trend underscores how poaching patterns are evolving rather than disappearing, shifting conservation risks to species that have not traditionally been the focus of high-profile protection campaigns.

We have learnt that giraffe meat is processed into suqaar, making it easier to handle and less detectable during cross-border transportation.

The reticulated giraffes, largely concentrated in northern Kenya and parts of Ethiopia and Somalia, are officially classified as Endangered, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They are in a vulnerable position, and we as conservationists consider them a high-priority species.

Yet these killings are not isolated incidents. They signal deepening institutional failure.

Leadership disputes, lack of community cohesion, donor withdrawals, governance breakdowns, and the collapse of key support structures have left many conservancies struggling to function. Rangers have gone unpaid for months, surveillance systems have deteriorated, and communities that once actively protected wildlife are losing both capacity and motivation.

As these systems unravel, bushmeat poaching is resurging. The consequences stretch far beyond conservation. Kenya’s tourism economy depends on thriving ecosystems.

According to the Tourism Research Institute’s 2024 Annual Tourism Sector Performance Report, wildlife parks and conservation areas remain among the country’s strongest tourism assets, with destinations such as Nairobi National Park, Maasai Mara, and other protected areas driving substantial visitor traffic.

If northern Kenya’s giraffes continue to be slaughtered at the current rate, Kenya risks undermining one of its most valuable competitive advantages in an increasingly sustainability-conscious global tourism market.

And giraffes are not the only victims. Smaller ruminants and other wildlife species are also being slaughtered on a large scale for the bushmeat trade.

This comes at a particularly critical moment. Kenya’s National Tourism Strategy for 2025 to 2030 aims to double international arrivals to five million, expand domestic tourism beyond ten million bed nights, and generate Sh1.2 trillion in tourism revenue.

Such ambitions may prove impossible if the ecological systems underpinning Kenya’s tourism brand are allowed to erode.

Conservation, therefore, is no longer simply an environmental issue. It is economic policy.

A collapse in northern conservancies could damage investor confidence, reduce tourism competitiveness, threaten rural livelihoods, weaken donor support, and tarnish Kenya’s international image as a conservation leader.

For a country increasingly marketing itself as a sustainable tourism destination, visible conservation decline presents a significant economic risk.

Kenya now faces a critical choice.

The government must move urgently to stabilise community conservancies, restore ranger funding, rebuild governance credibility, and ensure conservation remains deeply integrated into local economies.

Kenya cannot continue promoting itself as a world-class wildlife destination while the systems protecting that wildlife quietly collapse.

Northern Kenya’s giraffes are more than victims of poaching. They are indicators of a broader national challenge.

The future of Kenya’s tourism economy, worth billions and supporting millions, depends not only on attracting visitors, but on protecting the ecosystems those visitors come to experience.

Safeguarding wildlife is no longer just about saving species.

It is about protecting one of Kenya’s most valuable economic engines and preserving the natural heritage that defines its place on the global stage.

On any given afternoon at Kamakis Corner, smoke curls out of busy nyama choma joints, waiters hurry between wooden tables, balancing trays of roast meat and beer. A few metres away, trucks loaded with construction materials squeeze past shoppers and boda bodas before disappearing into new gated estates where workers put finishing touches on new maisonettes.

Just behind one of the modern homes, however, pigs roll in the mud beside a small kitchen garden, and chickens cluck in a nearby coop.

Welcome to Kamakis, a rapidly growing settlement along the Eastern Bypass in Ruiru, which has become one of Nairobi’s hottest property markets, attracting developers, middle-class families, and investors chasing space outside the city.

Yet unlike many satellite towns that have completely shed their rural past, Kamakis still lives in two worlds. Here, multimillion-shilling homes rise beside chicken coops. Glass balconies overlook lush maize gardens. Residents drive top-of-the-range cars through neighbourhoods where livestock still roam behind perimeter walls.

For some of the area’s earliest settlers, the transformation from a muddy farmland to a development hotspot has been almost unbelievable.

Bishop Samuel Mbugua says when he first moved to Kamakis in 1998, the place looked nothing like it does today.

‘There was almost nothing here,’ he recalls. ‘No proper roads, no piped water, no development.’ Life, he says, revolved around farming, land ownership and survival with hardly any public infrastructure and amenities.

Back then, residents fetched water from River Ruiru, while heavy rains often cut off sections of the area completely. Most people grew crops or kept livestock, partly for survival, and partly to protect their land from grabbers.

‘There was a lot of land grabbing at the time,’ Samuel says. ‘If you bought land and left it idle, somebody else could come and claim it. So people farmed it or built small structures to show ownership.’ ‘We focused on farming. My wife and I used to grow maize, beans and sweet potatoes. We made it our home.’

From Sh18,000 to Sh60 million

The land had originally been subdivided by the Githunguri Ranching Company and allocated to shareholders. In 1986, Samuel bought his share for Sh18,000. At the time, he says, it felt like a remote gamble.

Today, that same land sits in one of Nairobi’s fastest-appreciating real estate corridors. Samuel says a one-and-a-quarter-acre roadside share can now fetch as much as Sh60 million.

‘A 50-by-100 plot along the road can go for about Sh45 million,’ he says.

The numbers still surprise even longtime residents.

Samuel Mwai, another early settler, remembers when buyers could still acquire plots for about Sh60,000 in the early 2000s.

Then came the Eastern Bypass.

The road project, which began around 2009, transformed Kamakis from an overlooked farming settlement into a strategic investment zone almost overnight. Suddenly, the area was connected to Nairobi, Thika Road and key transport corridors. Developers arrived. Investors followed. Land prices surged.

‘As you can imagine, it has grown a lot,’ says Mwai.

That growth is now impossible to miss. Along the main roads, hardware stores, liquor outlets, butcheries, mini shopping centres and restaurants compete for space. Construction trucks move constantly through the area, feeding what feels like a permanent building site.

Behind the busy roadside businesses lie rows of gated communities filled with modern homes designed for a growing class of Nairobians searching for what the city increasingly struggles to offer: space.

Many of the houses feature rooftop terraces, paved driveways, high perimeter walls and flat-roofed contemporary designs that sharply contrast with the semi-rural environment that still lingers around them.

Attractive compromise

For many middle-class families, Kamakis offers a compromise between urban convenience and suburban calm. Mwai, popularly known as ‘Mwai wa Tours’ because of his travel company, arrived in Kamakis in 2006.

‘When I came here, there were very few people,’ he says. ‘Most residents were farmers or people keeping livestock.’

Security was also a concern. ‘Livestock theft was common,’ he recalls.

Mwai bought four 50-by-100 plots for Sh600,000, an investment that would later multiply in value many times over. Like several early settlers, he became involved in pushing for development in the area.

‘We were among the first people advocating for electricity and piped water,’ he says.

Today, he watches as estates continue spreading deeper into what was once open farmland.

‘There have been a lot of developments, especially gated homes. Investors are coming in every day.’

Nyama choma identity

Yet housing is only part of the Kamakis story. The area’s nyama choma culture has also become central to its identity.

On weekends especially, hundreds of Nairobi residents stream into Kamakis looking for roasted meat, open-air entertainment and a break from the congestion of the city. ‘People love Kamakis because it feels peaceful,’ says Mwai.

That leisure economy has created another layer of commercial growth.

Anthony Kariuki, a hospitality investor, saw the opportunity early. ‘I started this business in 2020 after retiring,’ he says.

He strategically bought a roadside plot in Kamakis in 2014 for Sh6.2 million.

‘At the time, this place was mostly farmland,’ he says.

Today, his property sits in one of the busiest commercial stretches in the area.

‘Kamakis has really expanded. Hardware stores are doing very well because people are constantly building.’

But despite the rapid urbanisation, farming has not disappeared.

Inside some compounds, residents still rear pigs and chickens even after building expensive modern homes. Small vegetable gardens survive behind electric fences and cabro-paved driveways.

Poor planning

Still, beneath the booming property market lies a growing frustration. Residents say infrastructure has failed to keep pace with development.

‘The bypass opened up the area, but internally we still have very poor roads,’ says Samuel.

During the rainy season, some feeder roads become muddy and difficult to navigate. ‘When it rains, school buses sometimes cannot even access homes,’ says Samuel.

Poor drainage has also become a growing concern as more land is covered with concrete and paving.

Fuel tax cuts following the Iran war and fear of Sh35 billion revenue hole forced the Treasury to backtrack on the pledge to include income tax cuts for salaried workers earning below Sh50,000 in the Finance Bill.

The National Treasury says it has been forced to pause the payslip relief after it cut value-added tax on petroleum products to eight percent from 13 percent for three months to cushion consumers from a surge in fuel prices following the Middle East conflict.

It reckons that the cuts on VAT and the Sh35 billion personal income tax relief posed risks to Kenya’s public finances.

The State promised that salaried workers earning Sh50,000 and below would enjoy income tax cuts of between Sh731 and Sh2,127 under proposed changes to Pay-As -You- Earn (PAYE) tax brackets aimed at cushioning low-income earners from inflation.

The Treasury shelved a special Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill 2026 that would have facilitated the tax cuts and signalled the reliefs would be included in the Finance Bill 2026.

The proposal to cut payroll taxes for low-income earners had been mulled before the start of a new Middle East war at the end of February 2026.

‘We are looking at the impact of the war and are unclear on how long that lasts. Already, we have reduced VAT on petroleum products,” Mr John Mbadi, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary, said on Monday.

‘The first simulation was that we are going to lose revenue of about Sh35 billion per year (from the Paye reduction). We are looking at the economic situation as it is.’

The promise to include income tax cuts for low-income salaried workers is missing from the Finance Bill, 2026 despite both Mr Mbadi and President William Ruto popularising the intervention recently.

The freezing of the PAYE revision has dealt a blow to more than one million employees who expected the measure to be adopted as a cushion to the rising cost of living.

The halving of VAT on petroleum products, which is expected to be in effect for at least three months from April 15, has presented another headache for the Exchequer which is under pressure to improve domestic revenue mobilisation and cut its dependency on debt to plug the fiscal deficit.

The halving of VAT on fuel is expected to deliver a revenue loss of about Sh12.9 billion in the next three months. The emergency measure was in response to a public outcry that followed the sharp jump in pump prices in the April 14 pricing review.

VAT on petroleum products account for about one third of annual value added tax collections or Sh100 billion. Without the VAT cut, the State would have risked a fall in collections due to reduced consumption of fuel on account of higher pump prices.

The National Treasury says it is still keen on having both the cut on fuel VAT and Paye cuts to ease consumers burden.

‘We are looking at records from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on the impact of personal income tax reforms realised in March, April and May to assess the final impact,’ added Mr Mbadi.

‘The consideration is being made to include the (Paye) adjustment in this (Finance) Bill. We have agreed with the Head of State (President Ruto) that this is an amendment we may carry regardless of the impact it will have on our revenues because we feel it is important for the economy.’

Payroll taxes were the largest revenue head for the Exchequer in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, netting Sh560.5 billion for State coffers from Sh488.1 billion previously, underlining the impact of personal income taxes on Kenya’s public finances.

The Iran conflict has left Kenya scrambling to ?stave off shortages of essential commodities like fuel, and the war’s ripple effects are ?expected to spur inflationary pressures that could dampen Kenya’s growth prospects.

The National Treasury has revised its growth projection for 2026 from 5.3 percent to five percent and expects output to be much lower if the conflict persists.

Mr Mbadi, in February, said that his ministry had prepared a Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill that would raise the threshold of untaxed income from Sh24,000 to Sh30,000, while income falling between Sh30,000 and Sh50,000 would be taxed at 25 percent. Under the promised changes, workers earning Sh30,000 would have seen a Sh731.25 increase in their monthly net pay to Sh26,925-after statutory and PAYE deductions.

Those earning Sh35,000 per month would see a Sh1,500 jump in net pay to Sh31,059.38, with their PAYE falling to Sh353.13 from Sh1,853.13.

According to the now delayed plans by the Treasury, the net pay for those on a gross salary of Sh50,000 would have risen by Sh2,127.10 to Sh41,156.25 per month.

The government has recently come under intense pressure to review the recent statutory deductions, specifically the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), and the Affordable Housing Levy (AHL).

The Kenya Bankers Association proposed a uniform 5.0 percent reduction in PAYE rates across all existing tax bands.

Last year, real wages, which have been adjusted for inflation, rose marginally to Sh56,566 from Sh55,450 in 2024. The earnings are, however, still lower than in 2020, when they stood at Sh62,256.

The National Treasury has allocated Sh1.125 billion to shore up capital for Consolidated Bank of Kenya, offering a boost to the State-owned lender that is currently in breach of regulatory capital requirements.

The 2026-27 draft programme-based budget shows the Treasury has earmarked the allocation to the lender in which it owns 93.5 percent stake.

The money, added to Consolidated’s plan to dispose of non-core assets, including select buildings, will boost the lender’s race to raise over Sh3.54 billion required to comply with revised capital law.

‘Amount of funds injected to shore up capital for Consolidated Bank of Kenya Limited,’ Treasury disclosed under the planned allocation to the State Department for Public Investments and Assets Management.

The lender is awaiting fresh State injection by the end of June and has also been cleared to dispose of some assets.

The bank is among those yet to comply with the requirement to boost minimum core capital to Sh3 billion effective January 1, 2026. It closed December 2025 with core capital at negative Sh546.07 million, leaving it requiring at least Sh3.54 billion in order to comply with the minimum required core capital of Sh3 billion.

Consolidated was already struggling to comply with the old minimum core capital requirement of Sh1 billion and the enhancement introduced through the Business Laws (Amendment) Act 2024 piled more pressure on the lender.

Under the Business Laws (Amendment) Act 2024, banks were required to increase the minimum core capital in the banking sector to Sh3 billion from Sh1 billion by the end of December 2025.

The law requires banks to boost their minimum core capital further to Sh5 billion by the close of 2026, Sh6 billion by the end of 2027, Sh8 billion in 2028 and Sh10 billion by the close of 2029, pointing to the fundraising roadmap facing banks such as Consolidated.

In March, Consolidated said that part of its core capital boost will come from internally generated revenue. However, this will require that it posts sustained profits to erase accumulated losses of Sh4.22 billion.

In the financial year ended December 2025, the lender posted a net profit of Sh198.18 million, marking an improvement from Sh155.22 million net loss in a similar period in 2024. The latest profit is the first one in 11 years, with the previous net profit coming in 2014 at Sh44.42 million.

The net profit came in the period net interest income grew 38.4 percent to Sh1.3 billion and non-interest income rose 28.1 percent to Sh1.93 billion. The increased income more than covered the 4.3 percent rise in operating expenses to Sh1.74 billion.

‘This performance demonstrates the impact of the strategic efficiency measures we implemented across the business, which have enabled significant cost savings. Maintaining these efficiency levels will remain a priority going forward,’ said Dominic Murage, the acting CEO at Consolidated Bank.

Apartment prices in Nairobi’s high-end areas and satellite towns have declined in the past three years in the wake of increased supply and a shift in buyers’ preference for stand-alone units.

The price of a top three-bedroom apartment in Eastlands and towns like Mavoko and Kiambu was Sh18 million as at the end of 2025, down from Sh21 million three years earlier, according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

Apartments in high-end areas such as Lavington, Riverside and Karen reflected a similar pattern with a typical three-bedroom flat selling at Sh18.9 million down from Sh20 million three years earlier.

Prices of typical standalone houses across the different areas were higher, with the trend signalling a shift from apartments in favour of private units.

‘Apartments exhibit sustained downward pressure, which may be partly due to subdued market performance, weaker demand, possible oversupply in some urban segments and shifting buyer preferences,’ said KNBS.

Notably, a stand-alone house serving the same income classes rose over the same period. A three-bedroom house in upper Nairobi was selling at Sh23.5 million at the end of 2025, up from Sh20.25 million, while those in mid-income areas rose to Sh8.25 million from Sh8 million.

‘This increase reflects strong demand for standalone homes in suburban and peri-urban areas, supported by strong buyer preference and limited supply in some urban segments,’ added KNBS.

Analysts reckon the index does not indicate a change in price for developments that were already in the market, but lower entry prices for new projects in the middle of increased supply and lower demand, as the profile of residents in the areas changes.

‘Over time, we have had a price correction driven by oversupply in some segments. Land prices on the upper end have been high, so the only way to recoup has been through densification, resulting in the oversupply,’ said Johnson Ndenge, a real estate consultant.

‘Uptake of the upper end for investments has slowed down with fewer expatriates taking residency, and the locals buying in that segment prefer residing rather than renting,’ added Mr Ndenge.

As Kenya convenes global innovators, investors and partners at this week’s Africa Forward Summit, one issue should frame the conversation: how Africa builds health manufacturing capacity.

Africa carries roughly 25 percent of the global disease burden, yet accounts for only about 3 percent of global pharmaceutical production.

African countries still import most of the health products they rely on, including up to 95 percent of diagnostics and 99 percent of vaccines. This is a significant gap that represents both a vulnerability and an opportunity. This dependence is not just a supply chain issue, but an economic and governance choice we can change.

Fortunately, Kenya has made a start. At the very heart of this shift is the government’s imminent strategy on local manufacturing of health products and technologies. It is our first, and it links health sovereignty, industrial growth, and investment opportunity.

If Kenya gets it right, we will not only produce medicines, vaccines, medical devices, and diagnostics, but also create jobs, build skills, and strengthen economic resilience.

There is, however, a danger of getting stuck in a cycle of ambition and rhetoric that leads to either no new capability or to policy frameworks that miss the ‘hard edge.’

Other sectors like mobile money, fintech and broader digital infrastructure have shown what is possible when policy, innovation and investment are aligned.

Kenya is well-positioned to serve as a manufacturing hub for East Africa. It is currently the largest producer of pharmaceuticals in the Comesa region, with more than 40 local manufacturing companies supplying an estimated 50 percent of the regional market. Kenya’s pharmaceutical market is valued at over $1 billion and continues to grow.

The nation stands to lose this advantage if we fail to confront an important truth: our local factories will not thrive without the right incentives, reliable markets, and credible regulation.

Today, Kenya’s pharmaceutical sector faces several key constraints. Production costs remain high, demand is unpredictable and fragmented across public and private sectors, and imported medicines continue to dominate the market.

This includes those that can easily be manufactured locally. Therefore, the strategy must address three underlying, interconnected structural issues.

First, market demand must be driven by government policy and procurement decisions.

Second, Kenya must anchor its strategy in regional integration, coordination and harmonisation and third, Kenya should be pragmatic about where to compete.

As Kenya steps onto the global stage at the Africa Forward Summit, it has an opportunity to do more than signal intent. If done right, its local manufacturing strategy can position her as a credible destination for investment in health manufacturing.

Rather than attempting to replicate the entire pharmaceutical value chain, there is a strong case for focusing on specific categories of diagnostics where production barriers are lower and demand is growing, such as rapid diagnostic test kits. This offers a practical entry point for local manufacturers, enabling faster scale-up, job creation, and more rapid gains in health security.

Kenya can differentiate itself by streamlining regulatory pathways, providing predictable procurement commitments, and offering targeted incentives for manufacturers. These are the signals that turn ambition into investment decisions. Progress depends on aligning policy, regulation, financing, and market demand.

The Treasury has set aside Sh1.1 billion to fast-track the rollout of AI-powered traffic lights and surveillance cameras to cut reliance on police officers at busy junctions in Nairobi, promising relief to motorists frustrated by chronic gridlocks and long commuting hours.

Budget documents tabled in the National Assembly show the State plans to spend Sh1.18 billion in next financial year on the Nairobi Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Phase III, a nearly tenfold jump from the current Sh116.1 million allocation.

The cash will help install intersections with cameras and sensors to make sense of traffic patterns in real time and ease congestion.

With the help of artificial intelligence, the system will count the number of cars and passengers and capture vehicles’ direction and movements, such as turns and violations, and relay live data to a central command centre at City Cabanas on Mombasa Road.

The system, being implemented by the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura), is designed to work like smart traffic management networks used in cities in developed economies such as Singapore and London, where cameras, sensors and AI-controlled traffic signals are used to ease congestion and improve traffic flow.

Under the project, Nairobi will deploy intelligent traffic lights capable of adjusting signal timings in real time depending on congestion levels at specific junctions.

The Treasury plans to use a portion of $185 million (Sh23.9 billion) concessional loan that Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi signed with Export-Import Bank of China in November 2025 to finance the broader smart traffic management programme.

The budget documents show that the bulk of the funds, about Sh1.1 billion, will come from external sources, with the exchequer shouldering a measly Sh75 million of the planned spending in the next financial year.

‘The third phase of ITS marks the full integration of Nairobi’s traffic ecosystem,’ Kura said in project documents. ‘It will encompass 125 intersections, linking them to the central control system at Cabanas.’

The increased funding is expected to support expansion of the ITS network as the government targets 20 percent completion in the 2026/27 financial year, which starts in July, rising to 50 percent in 2027/28 before full completion in 2028/29.

Treasury projections show the State plans to spend at least Sh5.3 billion on the project over the next three financial years, underlining a growing shift towards technology-driven traffic management instead of relying solely on road expansion.

The project is also expected to gradually replace roundabouts with synchronised traffic signals and intelligent monitoring systems along major roads in the capital.

Among the intersections targeted are Moi Avenue/Kenyatta Avenue, Koinange Street/Kenyatta Avenue, Raila Odinga Way/Lang’ata Road and Limuru Road/Muthaiga Road – junctions notorious for severe rush-hour congestion.

The technology uses smart cameras and road sensors to continuously analyse vehicle movement and congestion patterns across the city.

Using artificial intelligence, the system automatically changes signal timings to ease traffic build-up at overloaded junctions without requiring officers to manually direct vehicles.

‘You don’t have to walk into a junction to adjust signal timings any more,’ Kura wrote. ‘Everything happens from the control room.’

The rollout could significantly reduce the presence of traffic police officers at intersections as automation takes over traffic coordination during peak hours. Every smart junction will be equipped with cameras capable of detecting vehicles and recognising automated number plates.

The system will also identify red-light violations, speeding offences and helmet compliance among boda boda riders. It will further determine the number of passengers inside vehicles and automatically transmit detected offences for enforcement, paving the way for digital traffic policing.

Cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms will be required to report their identity and transactions of their clients to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) if MPs back proposals in the Finance Bill that seek to make it harder for investors in the digital assets to hide their gains from the taxman.

Through amendments contained in the Finance Bill 2026, virtual asset service providers will be required to disclose full transaction records for Kenyan customers via annual filings to the KRA.

The records include how much they paid, how much they sold their assets for, and any profits made, as well as those making payments for goods using cryptocurrencies.

Local traders are increasingly using crypto to pay for imports and Kenyans in the diaspora use the digital assets to wire cash to family.

Multinationals are also tapping stablecoins to repatriate billions of shillings, bypassing local commercial banks.

The KRA will seek to nail cheats exploiting the anonymity offered by crypto exchanges to evade the taxman’s net.

The Finance Bill 2026, which has been tabled in the National Assembly, proposes amendments to the Tax Procedures Act through the introduction of Sections 6C and 6D, effectively pulling Kenya’s crypto economy into the formal tax net.

It will compel digital asset trading platforms to annually disclose users and their transactions to the KRA, while also paving the way for automatic exchange of virtual asset information with foreign governments.

‘Each virtual asset service provider shall file an information return with the Commissioner in respect of all the virtual-asset users with which it maintains a relationship in every calendar year and that are identified as reportable users or as having controlling persons that are reportable persons,’ reads the proposed Section 6C.

Information sharing

Section 6D allows the KRA to enter into information-sharing agreements with foreign tax authorities, similar to existing arrangements under which Kenyan authorities share banking details such as account balances, interest income and beneficial ownership information with foreign counterparts.

‘Kenya may enter into an agreement with another country for the automatic exchange of information relating to transactions involving virtual assets,’ says the Finance Bill 2026, which will be subjected to public participation before being debated by lawmakers.

Kenya seeks to be part of the global trend that is bringing crypto trading mainstream.

New global reporting rules came into force on January 1, 2026, and made it harder for crypto investors in more than 40 countries to hide their gains from international tax authorities.

As part of the rules, from 2027, tax authorities in tens of countries will automatically share information received from exchanges with other participating tax authorities, which include all EU countries, as well as the Channel Islands, Brazil, the Cayman Islands and South Africa.

The global rules on reporting crypto dealings were developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), known as the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework (Carf).

Overall, 75 countries have committed to implement the Carf rules, with crypto hubs such as the UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore and Switzerland set to implement the rules from 2027 and start exchanging information from 2028.

The US is set to implement the rules from 2028 and start exchanging information from 2029.

In Kenya, giving false information will attract a fine of Sh100,000 for each false entry, imprisonment for three years or both. Those who omit information will be fined Sh100,000 for each omission.

This is part of a strategy to catch tax dodgers in the largely secretive market segment, which criminals can also exploit to support illicit activities such as theft, fraud and money laundering.

The taxman estimated that between 2021 and 2022, Kenya’s cryptocurrency market transacted about Sh2.4 trillion, representing close to 20 percent of the country’s GDP.

Crypto use

Analysis by Chainalysis, a New York-based blockchain data platform that tracks crypto use, found that Kenya made Sh426.4 billion ($3.3 billion) worth of transactions in stablecoins in the year to June 2024.

A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency backed by assets considered reliable, such as the US dollar.

Buying and selling of digital assets is done on crypto exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase, which are the targets of the proposed law change.

Kenya had at first been reluctant to embrace trading in digital assets, with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) fearing that they would spawn money laundering schemes and compromise the integrity of the country’s financial system.

But as the reality of these virtual assets dawned and many countries accepted them, Kenya was forced to soften its hard stance and even introduced a digital asset tax, which is deducted by exchanges from traders at a rate of three percent and remitted to KRA.

Now, these exchanges will additionally be expected to undertake customer identification, identify beneficial owners and track all transactions, ending the anonymity that has been the hallmark of crypto trading.

Anonymity has not only been attractive to tax cheats, it has also made virtual assets such as Bitcoin the preferred currency for criminals dealing in dirty money, including drug traffickers, terrorists, fraudsters and arms smugglers.

Carf also requires tax authorities to share information on the legal and beneficial owners of assets, companies and accounts.

The global tax transparency framework that Kenya seeks to align with through the Finance Bill 2026 already facilitated the exchange of information on 123 million bank accounts holding assets worth pound 12 trillion in 2022, underscoring the growing international crackdown on hidden wealth and offshore tax evasion.

Although Kenyans have been trailblazers in the adoption of cryptocurrency on the continent, the country has lagged behind its peers in putting in place a proper regulatory framework that gives comfort to investors in virtual assets.

A 2025 report by audit firm PwC revealed that South Africa and Mauritius have introduced extensive crypto legislation and regulation, including requirements for exchanges and service providers to share sender and recipient information for transfers as part of anti-money laundering rules.

The disruption of the Strait of Hormuz reaches further than most headlines suggest. As crude oil pushed past $100 a barrel for the first time in four years, and urea prices rose by more than a quarter within days of the conflict in Iran, the immediate concern in most capitals was energy, security and inflation.

In Africa, the calculation is different. Nearly a third of the world’s traded fertiliser passes through that narrow strip of water, and the sharpest agricultural consequences are projected to arrive in the second half of this year, when farmers across our continent will be making planting decisions for the season ahead.

Africa has lived through this script before. Over the past two decades, numerous external shocks – from the 2008 global food price spikes to Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine – have impacted the price of bread and the cost of fertiliser in our markets.

Each time, hunger and displacement followed. This time, however, the consequences could even be more severe. If the conflict persists beyond the middle of the year and oil prices remain above $100 a barrel, an additional 45 million people could be pushed into acute hunger, adding to the 318 million people around the world who are already food insecure.

The more important question, however, is not whether Africa is exposed or vulnerable because we are. The real question is how we respond. We can continue reacting to each crisis through emergency imports and humanitarian appeals, or we can seize this moment to build the long-term resilience our economies, and especially our rural economies.

Kenya is choosing the second course. Three in four Kenyans are under 35, and a similar profile defines most of the continent. These young people are not a problem to be managed; they are the most productive resource our economies have ever held.

Whether they become a source of stability and growth, or one of frustration and migration, will be decided in this decade and largely in our rural areas.

The most resilient answer to a fertiliser shock is not a fertiliser shipment. It is a productive rural economy that no longer relies on imported inputs as the only path to a harvest.

That is why we are anchoring the transformation of our rural economies through the County Aggregation and Industrial Parks, which are central to Kenya’s value-addition and industrialisation agenda. These industrial parks are designed to serve as integrated hubs, where farmers can deliver their produce, access cold storage, warehousing, and modern processing facilities, and connect directly to both local and international markets.

Kenya’s expanding domestic fertiliser market shows what this means in practice: Treating agriculture for what it is already becoming in much of Africa, an innovation-driven industry. It means agribusiness, value chains and market integration in place of subsistence and aid.

It means a generation of young Africans entering not the queues of the unemployed, but the boards of cooperatives and the supply chains that connect a farm in Bungoma to a buyer in Nairobi, Mombasa or beyond.

We are already seeing what is possible. Under the Kenya Cereal Enhancement Programme, supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), digital e-voucher systems have placed improved seed, fertiliser and advisory services in the hands of nearly 150,000 smallholder farmers.

More than 86 percent of participating households report higher incomes. Almost two-thirds have moved above the poverty line. Post-harvest losses have fallen by 85 percent. Ten new agro-ecology service hubs are now run largely by young people, turning extension and mechanisation into rural businesses, not government handouts.

The same logic is reshaping rural finance. A new Rural Credit Guarantee Scheme, built on $20 million of public investment, is on course to leverage close to $80 million in private bank lending into agriculture, changing how financial institutions price risk in rural areas.

A Green Finance for Youth Employment facility will channel a further $15 million in affordable green credit to young entrepreneurs in agri-business and climate-smart agriculture.

What ties these initiatives together is what is increasingly known as ‘first-mile’ investment, the unglamorous but decisive work of unlocking the earliest stage of an agri-food value chain, where smallholder farmers and producers meet markets, finance and technology. It is at the first mile that production gains are made or lost; that young entrepreneurs either find an opportunity or board a bus to the city; and that resilience to shocks of the kind now spreading from the Gulf is built or broken.

This is why the next few months matter. At the Africa Forward Summit this week, African heads of State, business leaders, young people and civil society have come together to chart solutions to food security, economic competitiveness and other common challenges.

At the same time, IFAD’s member States have just launched the IFAD14 replenishment, one of the most consequential global decisions of the year on financing rural transformation. African leaders have an opportunity to come together to collectively commit to invest in our rural areas, and the young people who live there, at the scale and ambition this moment demands.

The case is straightforward. Every dollar of core IFAD resources translates into around $6 of investment on the ground. Growth originating in agriculture is roughly two to three times more effective than other sectors at reducing poverty, particularly in the poorest countries.

Improved financing of agrifood systems could unlock up to $4.5 trillion a year in global business opportunities. This is not aid in any traditional sense; it is shared investment, with Africa carrying its share of both the risk and the reform.

I argued last year, with my fellow leaders from Ghana and Zambia, that the global financial architecture must work better for our continent. The conflict in Iran has stripped away any remaining excuse for delay. We can pay for rural collapse later in higher humanitarian budgets, sharper migration pressures and more volatile food markets, or we can invest in rural transformation now.

Africa is not asking for charity. We are offering a partnership. The ambition is here. The opportunity is demonstrable. The solutions are working. The moment to scale them up is now.