Category: Business Daily

Three government ministries are lining up Sh9.62 billion to buy properties owned by Telposta Pension Scheme as the retirement fund moves to cut its real estate exposure to within the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) limits.

The scheme’s latest annual report shows that the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, the National Police Service, and the Ministry of Defence have agreed to buy four properties in Nairobi, Mombasa and Gilgil.

The ICT ministry will pay Sh6.85 billion for Telposta Towers in Nairobi, the police Sh1.27 billion for flats in Makande and Bombolulu in Mombasa, while the Defence ministry will pay Sh1.5 billion for staff quarters in Gilgil.

The disposals would help reduce property concentration, which accounted for 90.44 percent of the scheme’s portfolio in the year ended June 2026, up from 82.71 percent a year earlier. This is nearly three times the 30 percent ceiling for investments in immovable property set by the RBA.

The Cabinet approved the purchase of Telposta Towers on April 27, 2026, with the scheme’s trustees are working with the ministry to finalise the payment plan and sale agreement.

‘The trustees held a series of meetings with the prospective buyer and are in the process of finalising a payment plan and executing the sale agreement,’ the scheme said.

Located along Nairobi’s Kenyatta Avenue, Telposta Towers has 403,826 square feet of space across 29 floors, with 98 percent currently occupied by government ministries.

The National Police Service plans to acquire 100 flats in Makande and 88 in Bombolulu for Sh1.27 billion, with the purchase to be financed over three financial years.

The Defence ministry has agreed to buy the Gilgil GTI staff quarters for Sh1.5 billion. The property comprises 174 rental units and 68 acres of undeveloped land.

The Gilgil property will be paid for in three instalments of Sh500 million, due on October 31, 2026, January 31, 2027, and July 31, 2027.

The sales would allow the scheme to diversify into other asset classes, improve liquidity and reduce reliance on property to meet pension obligations.

The pressure to rebalance its investments comes as the scheme’s finances face rising property-related costs. Its net assets fell to Sh13.64 billion in June 2026 from Sh14.50 billion a year earlier, while investment income remained largely unchanged at Sh986.5 million.

Property management expenses rose 62.2 percent to Sh892.5 million from Sh550.38 million. Spending on repairs, refurbishment and utilities increased eight-fold to Sh403.76 million, while property pre-disposal expenses rose 26 percent to Sh182.97 million.

The scheme was closed to new entrants and future benefit accruals from November 30, 2007. Nearly 84 percent of its members are aged between 60 and 79, increasing the importance of having liquid assets to meet retirement obligations.

Most members are former employees or dependents of workers of the East African Posts and Telecommunications Corporation and the Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation.

The two entities gave rise to Telkom Kenya, the Postal Corporation of Kenya and the Communications Authority of Kenya, which later established separate pension schemes, leaving Telposta as a closed fund.

The State provided Sh8 billion when the scheme was converted into a closed fund, with Sh3.7 billion transferred to members who moved to successor schemes.

The next tourist considering a Kenyan safari may no longer start the trip by typing ‘best safari in Kenya’ into Google, but by asking ChatGPT or another AI assistant where to go, what to see, and where to stay.

The shift is forcing Kenya’s tourism industry to rethink how it sells the destination, with visibility increasingly depending not only on attractive websites and social media, but on whether artificial intelligence can find, understand and recommend Kenyan experiences.

Kenya welcomed 2.7 million international visitors in 2025, up about nine percent from 2.47 million the previous year, while the wider tourism sector generated about Sh500 billion in earnings, raising the stakes around how future travellers discover the country.

The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) says it is responding by changing the type of information it puts online, moving beyond conventional tourism brochures and photographs towards content that AI systems can read, understand and use.

‘Kenya is making its content easily readable by AI tools, meaning we are making our content more AI-discoverable,’ KTB chief executive June Chepkemei said.

‘Moving away from great brochures and images to having digital content that is machine-readable, structured, authoritative and consistent,’ she added.

The change reflects a broader transformation in travel, where generative AI is increasingly used to discover destinations, build itineraries, recommend experiences, and connect travellers with bookable products.

Booking.com’s 2025 Global AI Sentiment Report found that 67 percent of travellers had already used AI in some part of a trip, while 89 percent wanted to use AI in future travel planning.

Travellers use AI mainly to research destinations and when to visit, find cultural activities, and identify restaurants, with AI assistants emerging as a more trusted source for travel planning than influencers, according to the study.

Google has introduced AI-powered travel planning that can build itineraries, search for deals and help turn plans into bookings, while Expedia has integrated its travel service into ChatGPT so users can search flights, hotels and destinations inside an AI conversation.

For Kenya, this creates a new marketing battle with the target not being merely getting a destination onto a traveller’s screen, but ensuring it is among the answers generated when the traveller asks a machine what to do.

KTB is developing what Ms Chepkemei describes as a national digital content infrastructure intended to give even small attractions and experiences a credible online footprint.

‘KTB is systematically filling the digital ecosystem with high-quality, authoritative, structured Kenyan content,’ she said.

‘This is so that we will improve the probability that AI systems will discover this content.’

AI is set to potentially help Kenya spread demand beyond the country’s most famous attractions, hotels and safari properties by matching travellers with experiences according to their interests rather than simply their popularity online.

But this is also where the technology presents a problem.

Dr Mohanjeet Brar, managing director of Gamewatchers Safaris and Porini Camps, says AI can reproduce the bias already present in the digital ecosystem since properties with the strongest online presence can appear more prominently than smaller operators with limited marketing budgets.

‘One limitation is that online visibility does not necessarily reflect the quality or suitability of a safari property,’ Dr Brar says.

‘Kenya has wonderful smaller camps and lodges that receive relatively little online attention. They may be a much better fit for a particular guest than a heavily marketed property, yet AI can overlook them.’

Dr Brar says the human travel professional still has an important role since choosing a safari is different from merely assembling an itinerary.

‘A good agent helps customers discover options beyond the most visible online choices,’ he says.

‘They also help people work through uncertainty: whether a safari will suit an older parent, whether their children will enjoy it, or whether the experience justifies a significant expenditure.’

AI could consequently take over some of the routine work traditionally performed by travel agents while leaving the more complicated, personal and risk-sensitive decisions to humans.

‘Generic destination information and standard itinerary writing are becoming less valuable. AI can already do much of that well,’ Dr Brar says.

But he argues that first-hand knowledge, personal reassurance and accountability remain difficult to automate, particularly for expensive or once-in-a-lifetime holidays.

This tension is already visible in Kenya’s hotels.

At Sarova Hotels, marketing creative Norman Gitimu says social media has shortened the distance between inspiration and booking, with travellers increasingly encountering hotels through short videos, influencers and content generated by previous guests.

‘Social media has become a booking influencer because guests are now discovering Sarova properties through Reels, TikTok, influencer content and guest-generated content before visiting the website,’ observes Mr Gitimu.

‘The inspiration-to-booking journey is becoming shorter and more visual.’

The hotel chain, however, faces the same measurement problem emerging across the industry in that it cannot yet establish how many customers arrived because an AI system recommended its properties.

‘We can’t quantify or track how many people are discovering Sarova through AI, and how many of those visitors ultimately book their stays with us,’ Mr Gitimu said.

Pristine Mara Bay Lodge is seeing a similar challenge, with Head of Sales and Marketing Fridah Marangu describing the modern customer journey as ‘far more digital, visual and fragmented’.

A traveller may discover a lodge on Instagram, investigate it through Google or an AI platform, compare rates on an online travel agency and eventually book through a travel adviser or directly with the property.

‘The biggest change is that discovery and booking are no longer necessarily happening on the same platform,’ Ms Marangu said.

This means tourism businesses may soon need to measure something different from conventional website traffic and booking conversions.

Ms Marangu says the lodge is already trying to make itself ‘AI-discoverable’ through accurate website information, search optimisation, consistent property details, reviews and structured information on rooms, experiences, location and sustainability.

The commercial benefits of AI are also becoming clearer inside businesses.

Sarova, for instance, is using Copilot to identify upcoming events and conferences in major cities, allowing its teams to pursue potential business opportunities, while AI has reduced the time required for content creation, campaign optimisation, segmentation and personalised communication.

At Pristine Mara Bay Lodge, Ms Marangu says the immediate gains are more about productivity than cutting jobs.

‘AI has reduced the amount of time required for repetitive commercial tasks such as drafting communications, developing initial proposals, summarising information, preparing marketing copy, adapting content for different markets and conducting preliminary research,’ she says.

‘That means the same team can accomplish more within a shorter period.’

Yet Kenya has another data problem that could determine how far personalised AI tourism can go.

Ms Chepkemei says the tourism industry lacks a consented, unified view of the traveller from the moment they become interested in Kenya through booking, visiting and returning home.

‘Most of the traveller data lies with airlines, travel agents, hotels and other service providers,’ she says.

‘What KTB does not have is a consented, unified, end-to-end view of the traveller, from inspiration through booking, visit and post-trip, which is what personalised marketing needs.’

But the problem is not unique to Kenya. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has identified data protection, consumer protection, skills and the ability of smaller tourism businesses to keep pace with AI as central challenges for destinations adopting the technology.

For Kenya, the opportunity comes as the country seeks to push international arrivals towards five million while expanding tourism earnings and spreading visitors beyond established attractions.

The country already has a large tourism product to feed into the emerging AI ecosystem, including safari, beaches, culture, adventure and business travel, while KTB has been developing tourism circuits covering all 47 counties.

Ms Marangu says Kenya needs to sell conferences not merely as events held in Nairobi, but as complete business-and-leisure experiences combining meetings with safari, coast, conservation and culture.

‘Kenya can offer something extraordinary: conference plus safari, conservation, culture, coast and incentive travel within one destination,’ she said.

‘Our opportunity is therefore not simply to compete on conference halls and hotel rooms. It is to position Kenya as a destination where international delegates can conduct business and then experience something genuinely memorable.’

The global travel industry is already moving towards AI agents that can search, compare and eventually complete more of the journey on behalf of travellers.

The World Travel and Tourism Council and Trip.com Group say such agents could automate significant parts of travel searches and bookings by the end of the decade.

The Cabinet has approved an additional $350 million (Sh45.4 billion) worth of shareholder loans to Kenya Airways as an urgent measure to help the airline meet its financial obligations.

A statement from the Cabinet said the funds will be disbursed in stages under the oversight of the National Treasury which holds a 48.9 percent stake in the national carrier.

The loans will be repaid over 10 years and could be converted into shares of the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm.

The Cabinet also approved the proposed conversion of Sh122 billion worth of accrued interest and loans advanced by Treasury to Kenya Airways into “an equity-qualifying tradable instrument” to strengthen the airline’s balance sheet.

The statement did not explain the details of the equity-qualifying instrument. The Sh45.4 billion new shareholder loans, if converted into shares of the national carrier, will substantially raise the government’s stake in the company and entrench its control as other investors such as KLM (with a 7.76 percent stake) are diluted.

The additional financial support to KQ, as the carrier is known by its international code, comes amid delays in addressing its debt woes through other means including bringing in a strategic investor.

KQ’s multi-year losses has seen it rely more heavily on the government without whose support it would have been unable to continue operating.

“The measures form part of Kenya Airways’ long-term turnaround plan and are intended to safeguard an airline that contributes more than $1.3 billion (Sh168.6 billion) annually to Kenya’s GDP through tourism, trade and regional connectivity,” the Cabinet statement reads in part.

“Implementation remains subject to the necessary corporate, shareholder and regulatory approvals.”

The new loans will expand the airline’s indebtedness to the Treasury. The government had provided loans worth Sh131.48 billion as of December 2025, rising from Sh108.3 billion a year earlier.

The fresh funding comes as KQ faces a renewed financial squeeze after recording a Sh17.16 billion net loss in 2025, reversing a Sh5.43 billion profit the previous year.

The airline’s revenue fell 14 percent to Sh161.47 billion last year, while available seat capacity shrank 18 percent, largely because three Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners were grounded.

The aircraft shortage cut the airline’s ability to carry passengers and cargo, with cargo tonnage falling 8.5 percent to 64,780 tonnes in 2025, according to its annual report.

The grounding of three Dreamliners represented about a third of the carrier’s wide-body fleet, limiting capacity on long-haul routes that are important for international passenger traffic and revenue.

The disruption has persisted amid global supply-chain constraints, engine availability problems and delayed spare-parts deliveries, leaving maintenance schedules vulnerable to delays beyond the airline’s direct control.

KQ’s 2025 accounts show operating costs remained high despite reduced flying, with fleet ownership costs rising to Sh27.14 billion from Sh20.43 billion a year earlier.

The carrier also recorded finance costs of about Sh12.4 billion in 2025, reflecting the burden of borrowing, aircraft leases and currency-related expenses on its already strained finances.

Its borrowings stood at Sh151.3 billion, against cash and bank balances of just Sh5.3 billion, leaving net borrowings of almost Sh146 billion at the end of last year.

The proposed financing follows another difficult period in 2026, with KQ reporting a 31.9 percent jump in net losses to Sh16 billion in the first half, up from Sh12.2 billion a year earlier.

Fuel costs rose 72 percent during the first half of 2026 amid the Middle East conflict, accounting for as much as half of the airline’s total costs.

The conflict also disrupted deliveries of spare parts and maintenance services, adding pressure to an airline already struggling to restore aircraft and take advantage of passenger demand.

The carrier connects Nairobi with international and regional markets, while its cargo operations support the movement of goods, including time-sensitive exports, linking airline capacity to wider commercial activity.

Property developer International Housing Solutions (IHS) Kenya has broken ground for a Sh1.8 billion rental project, expanding its portfolio in Kiambu County.

The project, dubbed Muzi Enzi, is located within the Tatu City mixed development in the Ruiru area, Kiambu County and will consist of 406 apartments.

IHS Kenya said the rental development targets growing demand for rental property in Tatu City, which already has a captive market due to the concentration of corporate and industrial tenants, as well as demand in the wider county and neighbouring Nairobi County.

‘Tatu City is already home to more than 7,000 residents, and that number is expected to triple over the next five years. We therefore anticipate sustained demand for quality, affordable housing close to where people work,’ IHS Kenya Managing Director Kioi Wambaa said, adding that Tatu City’s population is increasing by 40 per cent annually and currently stands at over 35,000.

‘This is driving demand for quality, well-priced housing close to workplaces and amenities, particularly among employees of Tatu City-based businesses, many of whom hold entry and mid-level roles and want convenient housing within the city,’ he added.

The project, through its IHS Kenya Green Housing Fund, will comprise a mix of 238 one-bedroom apartments and 168 two-bedroom apartments.

Industry data shows that Ruiru town has shown strong growth in the rental market driven by its proximity to Nairobi and good accessibility due to the road infrastructure network. This has also resulted in an overall rise in house prices in the area.

The 2025 HassConsult Land Index showed that house prices in satellite towns climbed by rising rents. In Ruiru, house prices climbed by up to 15.6 percent, ranking it among the notable gainers.

In Kiambu County, IHS has also developed a green affordable housing development located within the Tilisi Masterplan Development, Limuru. The affordable housing project, dubbed Muzi Salama, has 240 units of two- and three-bedroom apartments.

In Nairobi County, IHS Kenya has partnered with Mi Vida to develop 200 green, affordable, and quality rental housing units within the Garden City mixed-use masterplan along the Thika Road Superhighway.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court has upheld Bank of Africa’s decision to fire a senior banking officer over an erroneous Sh48 million foreign-exchange transfer to Dubai Bank Kenya Limited 10 years ago.

The court dismissed Mary Wachira’s claim of unfair termination, finding that she negligently approved the payment to Dubai Bank Kenya Limited without independently confirming receipt of the corresponding funds.

Stating that an acquittal in a criminal case does not invalidate an employee’s dismissal for misconduct, the court also upheld the bank’s decision to withdraw Ms Wachira’s preferential staff-loan interest rates after termination, ordering her to repay Sh9.78 million in outstanding loans.

‘Acquittal of criminal charges is fundamentally different from employment misconduct. In this case, with employment lawfully terminated, the benefit accrued from employment ceased,” the court said.

The labour dispute arose from a foreign-exchange transaction on July 2, 2015, involving six million South African rand (6 million ZAR), although the original instructions referred to USD $6 million. The court heard that the error led to the release of Sh48.1 million before the bank received the corresponding funds.

The bank said it received a SWIFT message from Citibank New York requesting the purchase of $6 million, with Citibank South Africa indicated as the ordering institution. Ms Wachira and her team erroneously interpreted the transaction as a request by Dubai Bank Limited to purchase ZAR 6 million, failed to verify the transaction details, and forwarded it for approval.

Ms Wachira joined Bank of Africa in May 2007 as an operations assistant and climbed the ranks to become a senior banking officer, a Treasury back office official, and subsequently a team leader in the Treasury back office. Her duties included overseeing foreign-exchange transactions and verifying their details before approval.

The bank accused her of releasing the Sh48 million without confirming receipt of the corresponding funds. Dubai Bank later entered receivership, and the money remained unrecovered, according to the judgment.

Challenging the dismissal, Ms Wachira maintained that she discharged her duties diligently and that no previous allegations of negligence had been raised against her. The court heard that on July 2, 2015, she oversaw 345 transactions valued at almost Sh1 billion, of which only one was erroneous. She said the error arose from a misinterpretation of the transaction details.

Ms Wachira argued that she relied on information from colleagues and acted promptly after discovering the discrepancy during reconciliation. She said she notified the dealing team, contacted Dubai Bank, initiated a SWIFT recall, and reported the incident to her superiors.

She also challenged the bank’s reliance on an interbank procedure reviewed on July 16, 2015, after the transaction. She maintained that the applicable procedures were unfinished and that responsibility rested with several employees.

The court rejected her defence, emphasising her supervisory responsibility. ‘As the team leader, the greatest responsibility was with her,’ Justice Monica Mbaru ruled.

The judge found that Ms Wachira relied on verbal confirmation from a colleague instead of checking the SWIFT advice slip and completing the necessary verification. The court held that the bank had established a valid reason for dismissal and followed due process, including a disciplinary hearing.

‘The claimant was taken through due process,’ the court stated, adding that her explanation was unsatisfactory. The court consequently rejected her claims for compensation, notice pay and severance.

Ms Wachira had also argued that her acquittal in a related criminal case in July 2018 supported her position. She argued that her acquittal in the criminal case, arising from the same transaction, confirmed there was no dishonesty or negligence.

But the court distinguished criminal proceedings from employment discipline, finding that an acquittal did not determine whether her conduct justified dismissal.

The court also allowed the bank’s counterclaim for Sh9.7 million, the outstanding loan balance, plus applicable interest and costs. The bank had initially claimed Sh11.4 million.

The claimant disputed the debt, arguing that the bank had sold property securing her loans and failed to establish the remaining balance. She said the bank varied the interest rate on her staff loan from the preferential rate to the commercial rate of 24 per cent, despite her appeal against the dismissal remaining undetermined.

The judge found the bank’s counterclaim justified, ruling that preferential lending terms tied to employment ceased after her lawful dismissal.

The ruling came after other employees involved in the same transaction challenged how they were treated by the bank. In November 2023, the court awarded Faith Wairimu compensation equivalent to five months’ salary after finding her termination unfair.

In a separate November 2021 case, another employee, Robert Gatobu, won compensation after the court found he had been constructively terminated.

The administrator of collapsed clean cooking start-up Koko Networks has failed to secure a buyer willing to pay a meaningful price for the company’s carbon credits, threatening efforts to recover money owed to creditors.

A carbon credit is a tradable certificate that represents the removal or reduction of one tonne of carbon dioxide or an equivalent greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.

The certificates are bought to comply with governments’ regulations or to meet a company’s self-imposed environmental targets.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which took over the management of the start-up in February, estimates the company’s carbon inventory to be worth £274,992 (Sh47.1 million).

In new filings to the UK government, the administrator says it has held discussions with three potential buyers and five brokers over the six months to August 18 but has yet to conclude a sale.

‘Discussions were held with three potential purchasers and five brokers. However, no sale had been concluded as at the date of this report. We have engaged a broker to market the carbon credits and a number of offers have been received to date,’ PwC said in the disclosures.

‘The administrators do not consider that these offers would generate a meaningful return to the estate. Accordingly, the carbon credits will continue to be actively marketed to secure an improved sale price.’

Koko Networks filed for administration in Kenya on February 1 after the government declined to issue it with a letter of approval (LoA) to export carbon credits, saying the company would have exhausted Kenya’s share of the market.

The company relied on carbon credit sales to offset losses from supplying heavily subsidised bioethanol stoves and fuel to low-income households. It served more than 1.5 million households in Kenya before shutting down.

Koko’s business model depended on selling carbon credits generated by its clean cooking operations in international carbon markets, which companies like airlines use to offset their carbon footprint.

Koko had been selling credits in voluntary markets. Credits in the compliance markets cost about $20 (Sh2,596), about 10 times the price collected in voluntary markets.

The Kenyan unit was the sole supplier of credits to its UK parent firm, and the failure to secure approval to access the higher-value compliance markets crippled the group’s revenue model.

Koko’s collapse left it with debts of £127.2 million (Sh21.8 billion) against assets of just £1.45 million (Sh248.8 million) available to preferential creditors, according to filings by the administrator made in March.

The £126.9 million (Sh21.8 billion) deficiency means creditors face substantial losses as administrators seek to sell the remaining assets and wind down the company’s operations.

PwC said it had recovered Koko’s information technology assets such as laptops and computer monitors from former employees.

The remaining laptops were sold following an external valuation, generating net proceeds of £1,230.64 (Sh210,947), which PwC was still awaiting payment for at the time of the report.

The administrators had previously estimated the company’s computers and equipment to be worth £8,419 (Sh1.4 million).

Koko’s intellectual property-creations such as inventions, brand names and creative works-is being marketed through a joint sales process involving the liquidator of the firm’s product design subsidiary Saarus Innovations Pvt Limited, and Koko Networks Private Limited, both in voluntary liquidation, alongside the administrator of Koko Networks Mauritius.

‘If this sales process results in a successful sale, a legal advisor will be instructed to assess whether any portion of the net proceeds should be received by the company,’ the administrator said.

The asset sale process began on July 17 as the administrators seek to realise value from the collapsed business.

Management accounts show the Kenyan business generated £44.7 million (Sh7.7 billion) in revenue in the year ended December 2025, up from £38.4 million (Sh6.6 billion) in 2024, as it pursued access to compliance markets to achieve profitability.

Following the collapse, Koko’s UK parent disclosed that it had written off £35.5 million (Sh6 billion) in loans owed by its Kenyan subsidiary after determining that the debt would not be repaid. It also marked down £1.32 million (Sh226.2 million) in intangible assets linked to its intellectual property portfolio.

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) plans to set up a central database of recycled phone numbers to help banks, fintech firms and other service providers avoid sending messages to unintended recipients after mobile lines change ownership.

The database will list recently recycled numbers to enable third parties, such as bulk SMS platforms, to verify their status before sending subscription-related messages.

This is part of the regulator’s proposed rules that seek to give mobile subscribers more control over their lines by extending the window telcos take to recycle dormant numbers by three months.

It mirrors a similar system in the United States, where the Federal Communications Commission maintains a Reassigned Numbers Database that allows callers to check whether a phone number has been reassigned since a specified date.

‘The Authority will establish a centralised database that will contain a list of numbers that have been recycled within a given period of time,’ the CA said in response to public comments on the proposed line deactivation and recycling rules.

‘Querying the database will ensure that third-party value-added service providers only send messages to the rightful owner.’

The proposal follows concerns over the security and privacy risks arising from the recycling of dormant mobile lines, which have become a key gateway to mobile banking, online accounts and identity verification through one-time passwords (OTPs).

A recycled number could leave banks, savings and credit co-operative societies (Saccos) and fintech providers sending account alerts or password-reset messages to a new subscriber rather than the original customer.

The proposed database would allow service providers to verify whether a number has changed ownership before sending subscription-related messages, reducing the risk of personal information being exposed to unintended recipients.

Telcos such as Safaricom and Airtel Kenya will be required to submit lists of deactivated and recycled numbers every three months to the centralised system to help third parties update their records.

But the regulator rejected a suggestion that subscribers should be required to notify their contacts by SMS when their mobile numbers change ownership, warning that such efforts could create fresh privacy concerns.

‘It is a violation of the Data Protection Act to access personal information without authorisation,’ the CA said.

Under the proposals, a line would become eligible for deactivation and recycling after three months without revenue-generating activity, including calls, SMS, data use, airtime top-ups or value-added services.

Operators would then be required to contact the subscriber and give them a further three months to reactivate the line.

Thirty days before the end of that period, they would publish lists of numbers due for deactivation through their websites, newspapers with nationwide circulation and other media.

Newly issued and recycled numbers would not receive marketing messages by default, while operators would have to remove recycled lines from previously opted-in business-to-consumer messaging services.

Before reallocating a number, telcos would also be required to delink and archive the previous owner’s personal data, ensuring it is not accessible to or inherited by the new subscriber.

The proposed safeguards come amid growing concern about the risks of recycling numbers that remain linked to former owners’ financial and digital accounts.

In March, the High Court barred telcos from automatically recycling inactive numbers without the original subscriber’s consent, following a challenge by an inmate whose line had been affected by prolonged involuntary inactivity.

The court cited the risk of privacy breaches where new users could access residual information linked to mobile banking, messaging platforms and online accounts.

The CA’s proposals provide special protection for prisoners and people held in remand for extended periods.

The Commissioner-General of Prisons would facilitate the exemption of eligible inmates from the inactivity window, including suspects denied bail who are likely to remain in remand for more than six months.

For telcos, the longer retention period and additional notification, reporting and data management requirements are expected to increase compliance costs.

Dormant lines generate no revenue but continue to occupy network resources, while the supply of numbering resources is limited.

The High Court has quashed notices issued earlier this year seeking interested buyers for Nairobi’s 14 Riverside Drive, which houses DusitD2 hotel.

The court ruled that the process Synergy Industrial Credit and Moran Auctioneers followed in the proposed public auction, scheduled for May 26, was defective and invalid.

However, the judge said Synergy is free to issue fresh notices and execution documents, provided they comply with the law.

‘I have carefully considered the material record. I find that contrary to Synergy’s submission, the execution instruments relied upon were defective,’ the judge said.

Synergy Industrial Credit said it would appeal the decision.

The court identified several defects in the execution process, including the failure to properly state the reserve price.

Under the Auctioneers Rules, a warrant for the sale of immovable property must include the reserve price for each separate parcel of land, based on a professional valuation conducted not more than 12 months before the proposed sale.

The court also found that the sale documents failed to disclose registered encumbrances, as required under the Civil Procedure Rules.

‘In the present case, the warrant marked encumbrances as NA (not applicable or not available), omitting the four registered long leases,’ the judge said.

The court said the requirement for a reserve price is intended to safeguard against property being sold at an undervalue.

‘Consequently, the notification of sale and warrants of sale alongside the auctioneer’s notice and advertisement are invalid and must be set aside,’ the court ruled.

The judge said Cape Holdings remains the registered proprietor of the property until a sale is lawfully completed. ‘The notification of sale in respect is set aside for lack of compliance with the procedure. The respondent (Synergy) is at liberty to issue execution documents strictly complying with the law.’

The dispute stems from Synergy’s efforts to recover a debt arising from an arbitral award of Sh1.66 billion, which has since grown to about Sh10.7 billion due to accumulated interest.

The dispute dates back to a 2011 agreement under which Cape Holdings agreed to sell office space in the 14 Riverside development to Synergy for Sh703.2 million.

The Court of Appeal has rejected a bid to stop Co-operative Bank from pursuing 10 disputed homes linked to a Sh1.39 billion debt owed by a real estate development company, Loneview Developers Ltd.

A three-judge bench dismissed Mathew Musau’s application for an injunction, saying his intended appeal would not be rendered worthless if protection was denied.

He moved to the Court of Appeal after the Environment and Land Court in July 2024 refused to protect the 10 units at Loneview Estate he claimed as his, and he wanted the appellate court to preserve those properties while he pursued an appeal.

The dispute centres on a parcel of land in Syokimau, LR No. 12916, registered to Loneview Developers and charged to Co-op Bank for Sh1 billion. The bank told the court that Sh1.39 billion was outstanding as at October 26, 2023.

Mr Musau claims Suraya Property Group Limited surrendered the 10 homes to him under a settlement deal after it failed to complete payment for land previously owned by his family.

The property was initially registered as LR No. 7149/24 in the name of Sebastian Kathilu, Mr Musau’s father. He told the court that Peter Muraya of Suraya approached him on July 24, 2008, with a proposal to develop maisonettes on the land through a joint venture.

The arrangement later changed from a joint venture into an outright sale, with Mr Musau and his father each expected to receive Sh45 million. After payment problems, the parties entered a September 12, 2015 settlement under which Mr Musau took 10 units. The housing project is located in Syokimau, Machakos County.

He says the units were to be discharged from the bank’s security so that he could assume full ownership. Co-op Bank rejected that position and issued notices to tenants occupying the homes.

Co-op Bank says it was not a party to the arrangements between Mr Musau and Suraya and that those agreements cannot defeat its rights as financier. It argued that the arrangements would in any event be a nullity in the face of the original and subsequent mortgage finance facilities it granted to Loneview, the developer.

‘A copy of the Certificate of Title Grant No. I.R. 130518 in respect to land reference 12916 (the suit property) shows that it is registered in the name of Loneview Developers Limited,’ the appellate judges said.

The legal dispute started in 2023 after Mr Musau moved to the Environment and Land Court in Machakos, seeking orders to restrain the bank from interfering with, dealing with or entering the 10 units he claimed belonged to him.

The bank’s security arose from financing provided to Loneview for the development. The earlier Environment and Land Court ruling records a Sh500 million further mortgage facility granted in January 2014 and an escrow agreement in the bank’s favour, with apartment sale proceeds intended to help redeem the mortgage.

In July 2024, the Environment and Land Court dismissed Mr Musau’s application, finding that he had not established a strong case. It also held that the bank could exercise its statutory powers after Loneview defaulted.

Mr Musau then sought protection from the Court of Appeal pending his intended appeal. The appellate judges said such an application required him to show that his appeal was arguable and would be rendered nugatory without an injunction.

‘Even if we were to find that the intended appeal is arguable, still the motion is for refusal as it does not surmount the second limb. Yet at the core of Mr Musau’s case, as can be gleaned from the agreement of September 12, 2015, is that it entered into the arrangement so as to secure ‘compensation’ from Suraya,’ the judges said.

They noted that his claim against Suraya was monetary in nature and, by extension, of similar character against the bank should it be adjudged that he has a legitimate claim against the bank.

Co-op Bank argued it could meet any award made against it if Mr Musau eventually succeeded. The court noted that he had not disputed the bank’s stated financial capacity.

‘In the circumstances, the intended appeal by Mr Musau is unlikely to be rendered nugatory even if the injunction sought is not granted,’ the judges ruled, dismissing his application.

Every serious investor, local or foreign, always seeks to enjoy secure land tenure rights, and the goodwill of neighbours. That assures stability of an undertaking and good buy-in from those with whom they have to co-exist.

This alone, apart from the text of law, should form an entry point for Lamu oil refinery investors. But let’s also turn to the implications of those who may have to vacate from the project site to pave way for the initiative.

Eviction is harsh. It’s a total overhaul of lifestyles. Most people only relate with it arbitrarily. Its raw nature involves packing up, with or without notice, and leaving what one has always considered home, and moving on to live in new spaces.

It interrupts social networks, existing means of livelihoods, gets children out of school, forces one to construct dwellings anew, and to have to reinvest in new social acquaintances. Eviction, even with compensation, is never to be celebrated. One, therefore, easily relates with the plight of those that have to leave the Lamu site, compensation notwithstanding.

Perhaps the reason our laws are quite clear where one has to vacate land for projects.

A businessperson who seeks to put their investment on privately owned land must negotiate and purchase it from affected proprietors at market rates. That’s straightforward.

However, when government seeks to have public infrastructure such as roads, airports, dams or railways constructed on or pass over private land, compulsory acquisition, commensurate and prompt compensation in accordance with the Land Act, must be done.

County executive member responsible for land moves the National Land Commission to process the acquisition where the project is county driven.

The Cabinet secretary responsible for lands handles such compulsory acquisition requests where the project belongs to the national government. Then the National Land Commission processes the compulsory acquisition and compensates the affected in accordance with the law.

But what then happens when land belongs to the county or national government? Would compensation arise? Usually no. But things changed quite a lot with the application of the Constitution in 2010.

While parts of Section 40 of the law provide that compensation shall not be due for any unlawfully acquired land, other parts of it provide that it may be made to occupants in good faith.

This complicates circumstances where citizens may hold claims over land that may have been converted to public while they held legitimate ancestral claims, as happened in parts of coast Kenya.

It should not be difficult for government, which one presumes provided entry rights to the Lamu oil refinery investment, to listen to and address the claims to the land earmarked for the new project.

And even if the claims turn out legitimate, compensating for the land affected, and the mundane developments thereon would be good practice, given the magnitude and importance of this project.

That will afford the project affected persons a new lease of life, while leaving the investor to enjoy a peaceable entry to the site, and the goodwill to run the investment into a long-term future.