Category: Business Daily

The High Court has dismissed a petition by a Chinese firm seeking to suspend a multibillion-shilling tender by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) for the pre-inspection of goods destined for the Kenyan market.

The court ruled that World Standardisation, Certification and Testing Group (Shenzen) Co. Ltd had failed to prove that the due diligence conducted by the Kebs evaluation committee was flawed.

The court further said the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board, which subsequently dismissed the firm’s request for review, properly analysed the evidence, applied the correct legal principles, and arrived at a reasoned conclusion.

Shenzen had previously won the Pre-export Verification of Conformity (PVoC) contract on May 9, 2022, covering the inspection of motor vehicles, spare parts, and other equipment to ensure compliance with Kenyan standards.

It was, however, disqualified from the 2025-2028 tender. In a letter dated September 23, 2025, Kebs accused the firm of repeatedly breaching its contract, allegedly compromising public safety.

Although Kebs said the firm met the minimum prequalification requirements, issues were noted during the due diligence process.

Shenzen had last year successfully petitioned the court to compel Kebs to conduct fresh due diligence on its qualifications and integrity.

And according to the court, having accepted the remedy, the firm cannot be seen to challenge the composition of the committee it embraced and subjected itself to, just because it lost.

‘Having accepted the benefit of the Board’s decision directing a fresh due diligence, the Applicant cannot now seek to prevent the very exercise it successfully sought,’ said the court.

The court said the firm’s argument that an evaluation committee whose membership is drawn from the staff of a procuring entity cannot preside over a complaint raised against the same procuring entity was misplaced.

The court said the evaluation committee was not adjudicating a dispute between the firm and Kebs but was performing a statutory function of verifying its qualifications and integrity as required by law.

The company then challenged the disqualification, and the procurement watchdog found that it had not been given an opportunity to respond to the allegations relied on by the evaluation committee.

The board directed Kebs to conduct fresh due diligence. This was done, after which the firm was again disqualified.

The Chinese firm challenged the second disqualification before the board, but the request was dismissed in February. Kebs was directed to conclude the prequalification exercise while excluding the applicant’s bid. The firm then appealed to the High Court.

Kebs had invited bids for the tender earlier this year, attracting 19 firms, including the Chinese company. Nine bids were disqualified at the preliminary stage for being non-responsive.

The remaining 10 firms met all mandatory requirements and advanced to the technical evaluation stage. All were recommended for prequalification, subject to due diligence.

The board was told that Kebs’ head of procurement had reviewed the entire process and supported the decision not to prequalify the Chinese firm.

The company challenged the decision, saying Kebs failed to provide evidence of the alleged breaches. It argued that the claims arose from an ongoing contract that is already the subject of a court case.

The firm said its disqualification would result in financial losses and reputational damage, despite meeting all technical, eligibility and financial requirements.

It also faulted the board, arguing that instead of addressing the matter before it, it went on a tangent by effectively adopting the position of the evaluation committee and seeking to re-evaluate the tender.

After the Showman Residence by Nyashinski (which was a scream), a friend suggested we stop by a new bar for one drink.

He’s a young fellow, this friend, though his ex-rugby frame hides it. Inside, he’s still a boy searching for his true north. I tend to attract these young cats – looking for something: purpose, fathers, friend.

We ended up at Loco Moto, a place I know well but not as Loco Moto. It used to be a carwash. Then someone opened a bar. Now it’s this thing.

I hadn’t been in ages, partly because a friend who loved it moved to Congo to work on wealthy Congolese teeth. He’s a dentist. The bar was loud. Not me showing my age – just a fact. But we were already there, so what the hell.

He knew everyone. From the guards at the door, he was shaking hands, doing a small lap of honour before we sat. We joined a table with his friends – ex-rugby fellows, softening at the midsection but not yet settled into their mid-30s. There were also two girls at the table, mid-to-late 20s. A bottle of Johnnie Walker Black stood in the middle of this gathering. I ordered water.

Someone was talking about someone making serious money from some government import deal. I could tell he was lying. You can always tell an embellisher. They don’t pause. Even when it’s not their turn, they are still speaking.

Another fellow was trying to get the attention of a girl with dark lipstick. One ignored the other girl entirely, constantly scrolling through game score – probably gambling.

I felt out of place. Tired of the loud music. The room was young. But then, many rooms are getting younger.

I started thinking of a hot shower and my bed. So I told my friend I’d turn in early. My issues aside, Loco Moto is the kind of local that you’d fall in love with for its lack of pretense.

Uchumi Supermarkets has disclosed that it was technically insolvent to the tune of Sh7.05 billion as at June 2025, ahead of its first shareholder meeting in eight years.

This represents a massive 106.74 percent jump from a negative equity position of Sh3.41 billion as at June 30, 2017 and reflects accumulated losses and liabilities that heavily weighed down the retailer’s recovery prospects.

The company, in its latest annual report for the financial year to June 30, 2025, said despite the improvement in its operational performance, it continues to carry significant historical liabilities that have accumulated over previous years, pushing it into a the deeper negative equity position of Sh7.05 billion.

‘The board and management remain committed to addressing these legacy obligations through ongoing restructuring efforts and continued improvement in operating performance,’ the company says.

A negative equity position occurs when a company’s total liabilities exceed its total assets, resulting in a negative net worth or book value. This financial state often signals distress, caused by prolonged operating losses, heavy debt, or massive asset write-downs, and can indicate insolvency.

Over the last eight years (2018-2025), Uchumi, which is owned 14.7 percent by the National Treasury, has been in a sustained critical financial crisis, characterised by technical insolvency, massive accumulated losses, and reliance on a court-supervised debt restructuring plan called Company Voluntary Arrangement which is an agreement between the company and its creditors.

However, as of late 2025, the company has shown flashing signs of a recovery driven by a shift from a retail business model to a rental income model.

As a result of the improvement in revenue and the continued implementation of strict cost management measures, Uchumi reported a rare profit of Sh8.7 million for the year ended June 2025 marking a turnaround from a loss of Sh 167.8 million recorded in the previous financial year, largely driven by rental income.

‘This improvement reflects the positive impact of management’s restructuring initiatives and the board’s continued focus on restoring operational stability,’ the company says.

‘While the group continues to face legacy financial challenges, the improvement in operating performance recorded during the year demonstrates that the recovery strategy is gaining traction.’

This marks the first time in years that the debt-ridden retailer has posted a profit, even as it faces the risk that the outcome of the legal battle with the Kenya Defence Forces over the ownership of 17-acre land in Kasarani, Nairobi, could make or break its revival.

Uchumi’s CVA framework, a key component of the group’s financial restructuring strategy, was set up in March 2020, providing a roadmap for settling preferential and unsecured debts over a six-year period ending June 2026.

The company is set to hold its first annual general meeting (AGM) in eight years this month, on April 29, where shareholders are expected to receive and adopt financial statements for the eight financial years from June 2018 to June 2025.

The company last held an AGM in March 2018 at a time when there was optimism that it would secure a strategic investor to inject Sh3.5 billion capital to help its turnaround.

A standoff between the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) and its financier, the European Investment Bank (EIB), has stalled a key consultancy tender for the Sh32 billion Olkaria VII geothermal project.

The High Court has now backed KenGen’s decision to terminate the procurement for the consultancy services, quashing a tribunal’s ruling that had ordered the process to proceed despite the funding stalemate.

In a judgment delivered in Nairobi, the court found that the tender could not lawfully continue after EIB declined to issue a mandatory ‘no objection’ letter required under the financing framework.

‘The question is whether KenGen could reasonably be expected to move forward with the procurement process, award contracts, or implement those contracts without confirmed and adequate budgetary provision and funding. The answer is a big NO,’ the judge ruled.

The dispute centres on a tender for consultancy services linked to the Olkaria VII geothermal power plant, one of Kenya’s flagship renewable energy projects.

The 80.3-megawatt power plant in Naivasha’s Olkaria field project was designed to expand the country’s renewable energy capacity and strengthen power supply.

It was formally initiated through feasibility and planning processes beginning in 2022, when KenGen called for studies to support its development. The project gained further momentum with government approvals in 2025, setting it on course for construction and eventual delivery to the grid by 2027.

KenGen had initiated the procurement in September 2024, indicating that the contract would be financed by the EIB and governed by the bank’s procurement guidelines.

Those guidelines required the financier’s approval at every critical stage, including before award and contract execution.

After completing the evaluation and recommending a winning bidder, KenGen sought the EIB’s clearance in January 2026.

The bank declined to approve. KenGen then terminated the tender, stating that without the financier’s concurrence, there would be no funds to meet contractual obligations.

However, the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board overturned that decision in February 2026 following an application for review lodged by Sintecnica Engineering S.R.L in joint venture with Steam S.R.L, the bidder recommended for award of the consultancy tender.

The board had found that KenGen had not sufficiently justified the termination. It ordered the company to proceed with the procurement to its logical conclusion, triggering a court challenge by KenGen.

The High Court found that the tribunal misdirected itself on the legal effect of the donor’s refusal and issued orders that could not be implemented.

‘The financier’s ‘no objection’ was a mandatory condition precedent to award and contract execution,’ the court ruled, adding that treating the requirement as optional amounted to a fundamental error of law.

‘It was not open to the Review Board to direct continuation of a procurement process in disregard of an express financing condition,’ the court said. The ruling further held that the tribunal exceeded its jurisdiction by interrogating and overriding EIB’s decision.

According to the court, decisions relating to donor concurrence fall within the financier’s contractual mandate and cannot be substituted by a local review body.

The judgment also faulted the board for conflating the broader project financing with the specific tender structure.

While the Olkaria VII project is co-financed by multiple partners, including KenGen and other development agencies, the consultancy tender was expressly tied to EIB funding.

The court said the absence of EIB approval meant the procurement could not legally progress, regardless of other funding sources for the wider project.

‘Funding for the overall project does not equate to availability of financing for this particular tender,’ the court noted.

It warned that compelling KenGen to proceed without confirmed financing would expose the public entity to unlawful financial commitments.

The court stressed that public procurement must align with constitutional principles on prudent use of public funds.

‘It would be irrational and unlawful to compel progression of a process that cannot be implemented,’ the judge said.

The decision effectively restores KenGen’s termination of the tender and halts the procurement unless the financier reverses its position or new funding arrangements are secured.

When Kenya’s debt numbers rise, the immediate reaction is predictable; alarm, austerity calls and renewed pressure from international lenders. But what if part of the problem is not the debt itself-but how it is being counted?

That question now sits at the centre of Kenya’s engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is pushing for a broader definition of public debt to include liabilities linked to fuel levies, sports levies, import duties, and pending bills.

The result, if fully implemented, could significantly inflate Kenya’s debt-to-GDP ratio, already estimated at 68-72 percent, well above the country’s 55 percent sustainability threshold.

To be clear, some of this reclassification is justified. Pending bills-now estimated at over Sh500 billion-are genuine obligations. They represent unpaid government commitments to businesses and contractors, many of whom have borne the cost of delayed payments for years.

Under both the IMF’s Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM 2014) and accrual accounting principles, these are liabilities that should be recognised as debt.

But beyond this, the IMF’s approach risks blurring critical distinctions in public finance.

Take fuel levies. Each litre of fuel in Kenya carries a levy of roughly Sh25-30, generating upwards of Sh80-100 billion every year. These funds are not part of general government revenue. They are ring-fenced and channelled through institutions such as the Kenya Roads Board to finance road projects.

This is not conventional borrowing. It is closer to what economists call shadow tolling-a system where infrastructure is financed through dedicated revenue streams rather than direct user charges or sovereign debt.

Similar models have been used in the United Kingdom under the Private Finance Initiative, and in Spain and Portugal through motorway concession frameworks.

Even within the IMF’s own GFSM 2014 framework, there is recognition that not all obligations should be treated equally.

The framework distinguishes between direct debt liabilities and contingent or conditional obligations, particularly where payments depend on specific revenue streams or project performance.

Likewise, International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) differentiate between recognised liabilities and arrangements tied to future events or dedicated financing structures.

Kenya’s fuel levy system fits more naturally into the latter. It is a form of hypothecated taxation, where funds are legally and operationally ring-fenced for a specific purpose. Repayment is supported not only by the levy itself but also by economic returns of improved infrastructure-lower transport costs, enhanced trade, and expanded tax capacity.

The same principle applies, albeit on a smaller scale, to sports levies.

Generating approximately Sh6-10 billion annually, these funds are earmarked for capital investments such as stadiums, which are expected to generate independent revenues through events, sponsorships, and commercial use. While execution risks remain, their financing structure aligns more closely with revenue-backed project finance than with general obligation debt.

By classifying these levy-backed flows as conventional debt, the IMF risks collapsing an important distinction between borrowed money and structured financing mechanisms.

The consequence is not merely academic. Debt ratios shape investor sentiment, influence credit ratings, and ultimately determine the cost of borrowing. An inflated debt profile can raise risk premiums and constrain fiscal space, even where underlying risks are more contained.

This is not an argument against transparency.

Kenya must fully disclose all fiscal exposures, including contingent liabilities and off-balance-sheet commitments. But transparency should not come at the expense of precision. Not every obligation should be treated as immediate debt, particularly where revenues are ring-fenced and projects are designed to be self-financing.

The real issue, then, is not whether Kenya should account for these liabilities, but how. A more accurate approach would distinguish between accrued debt such as pending bills, contingent obligations, and project-financed liabilities backed by dedicated revenue streams.

If Kenya gets this distinction wrong, it risks fighting a debt crisis that is, at least in part, statistical. And in public finance, as in life, how you count often determines what you see-and what you fear.

Safaricom says it is working to fix glitches reported by some of its customers when logging into its newly launched all-in-one mobile application.

‘To our customers, we owe you a sincere apology over the new My OneApp. We are sorry for giving you a poor experience,’ Kenya’s largest telco said in a statement on Thursday.

Kenya’s largest telco has, since last week, been automatically migrating customers from its M-Pesa app to a new platform dubbed ‘My OneApp’, which consolidates mobile money services with customer management tools housed in the standalone MySafaricom app.

The new app integrates services such as sending money, buying airtime and data bundles, paying bills, and accessing investment products, alongside account management tools including home internet services.

Some customers, however, have encountered difficulties logging into the telco’s new ‘My OneApp’, which has replaced the standalone M-Pesa app following an automatic migration rolled out over the past week.

As part of the rollout, users were automatically logged out of the old M-Pesa app and required to re-authenticate their accounts via a one-time password (OTP) sent to their Safaricom SIM cards.

The process requires users to set their Safaricom line as the primary SIM and to use Safaricom mobile data during login, effectively restricting initial access to the app to Safaricom’s own network. This has locked out users attempting to log in via Wi-Fi, alternative data providers, or virtual private networks (VPNs).

The restrictions have proven particularly challenging for Kenyans abroad, many of whom are unable to access the network without enabling roaming services, with some still reporting failed login attempts.

‘This is not what we promised, and for that we are sorry,’ the company said in the Thursday statement.

Some customers have also reported being repeatedly logged out even after successful authentication, forcing them to repeat the process multiple times.

Safaricom had earlier in the week indicated that mobile data may be required ‘for the first few logins,’ contradicting initial communication that the requirement applied only once.

Users also reported that Face ID and fingerprint-enabled devices still require manual PIN entry to access the app, while others reported losing previously saved Paybill and Till numbers during the migration.

‘We have gathered all the feedback, and we are treating your concerns with urgency. Our teams are working around the clock to resolve the issues you have raised,’ the statement said.

M-Pesa supports more than 37 million person-to-person transactions daily, valued at over Sh2 billion. For the year ended March 2025, it generated Sh161.1 billion in revenue in Kenya, making it Safaricom’s largest revenue driver.

Cash-strapped Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) has opened up nearly 2,000 acres of land across the country as part of a broader State strategy to generate revenue from idle public assets.

Official disclosures show that the State agency has listed 1,909.9 acres for long-term leases to investors for farming and other temporary business ventures, as it seeks to boost revenue and reverse its dire financial position, marked by cash flow challenges and debt projected at about Sh90 billion.

The land on offer includes 1,234 acres in Donyo Sabuk Komarock, Marania transmission site (146.5 acres), Maralal (200 acres), Kitale (200 acres), Nyamninia transmission site (100 acres), Kapsimotwa (29 acres), and Sauti House Mombasa (0.4 acres).

‘This will secure the remaining property and avoid further illegal encroachment, invasion, and land-grabbing attempts. To further utilise the space and put the land into economic use instead of leaving it lying idle. The government has further directed parastatals to look into ways of generating their own income instead of relying on the exchequer for funding. This, therefore, calls for better utilisation of the land for income generation,’ KBC said.

The leases form part of the State’s Land Commercialisation Initiative (LCI), which aims to lease up to 500,000 acres of idle land and attract at least Sh65 billion in agricultural investments.

The initiative targets a reduction in the staple food deficit by at least 50 percent, creation of 1.1 million jobs, higher farmer incomes and increased value addition.

Other public land identified for the LCI includes 200 acres at Egerton University set aside for an agro-science park, 10,000 acres at the Galana Kulalu irrigation scheme, and 25,000 acres at the Bura irrigation scheme.

Additionally, the Tana Delta Irrigation Project has 10,000 acres earmarked for rice production, while Kiambere in Embu County has 1,000 acres for fruit and vegetable farming.

Lease push

The State has also offered 21-year renewable leases to investors for 25,000 acres within the Bura irrigation scheme for commercial sugarcane production, as part of the wider push to monetise idle public land.

The Bura scheme spans 296,000 acres, of which 12,000 acres have been developed and 6,000 acres are currently under production for rice and maize.

The National Irrigation Authority (NIA) said it has opened up 25,000 acres for sugarcane farming under lease arrangements.

A work plan released by the NIA in June 2025 shows the government plans to allocate 45,000 acres in the Bura scheme to rice farming and 50,000 acres to sugarcane, while maize, pasture and fodder crops will occupy 10,000 acres.

Under the partnership model, the government will provide bulk irrigation water from the main canal, while lessees will be responsible for on-farm distribution, land preparation and infrastructure development.

The Agriculture and Livestock Ministry has also opened up 21,000 acres of idle land belonging to the National Youth Service (NYS) and the Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (Tarda) for commercial leases to boost food security.

The State plans to lease 20,000 acres within the Samburu Kirimun field unit held by NYS, currently used for livestock production, wildlife conservancy and tree plantations. An additional 1,000 acres held by Tarda near the Kiambere hydropower dam is also available.

Cash-strapped Moi University has also opened up 1,500 acres at its main Kesses campus in Eldoret for farming leases. The university said investors will take up the land for 60 months, mainly for maize farming.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut Kenya’s growth forecast for 2026 to 4.5 percent from 4.9 percent, citing rising energy costs, risks to remittances and export disruptions linked to the war in the Middle East.

Kenya’s revised outlook comes as the IMF also lowered its global growth forecast to 3.1 percent from 3.3 percent, reflecting mounting geopolitical and economic headwinds.

The downgrade is likely to weigh on job creation, especially as the latest official data shows the economy added the fewest jobs since the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

The IMF also expects inflation to accelerate faster than previously projected, with consumer prices now seen closing the year at 5.9 percent, up from an earlier estimate of 5.2 percent.

The projected slowdown is expected to stem from reduced productivity as firms grapple with rising input costs, including fuel and fertiliser.

Higher inflation is also set to erode household purchasing power, forcing consumers to cut spending and weakening demand, which could limit hiring and increase the risk of layoffs.

The Washington DC-based lender warned that the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran could derail the global recovery.

‘Once again, the global economy is threatened with being thrown off course – this time by the outbreak of war in the Middle East at the end of February 2026,’ the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook report published earlier this week.

‘Over the past year, headwinds from higher trade barriers and elevated uncertainty have been offset by tailwinds from technology-related investment, accommodative financial conditions, including a weaker US dollar, and fiscal and monetary policy support. The Middle East conflict presents a significant counterforce to these tailwinds through its impact on commodity markets, inflation expectations and financial conditions.’

More downgrades

The World Bank has also lowered Kenya’s growth projection for 2026 to 4.4 percent from 4.9 percent, citing mounting external pressures and structural constraints linked to the conflict.

It noted that while macroeconomic stability has improved in many countries, supported by easing inflation, stronger currencies and better fiscal management, these gains are now being tested by external shocks, particularly from the escalating US-Israel conflict with Iran.

‘The conflict has heightened risks to remittance flows, threatening an essential income source for countries such as Kenya, which could face monthly losses of up to $40 million (Sh5.2 billion),’ the World Bank said.

Global ratings agency Fitch has also trimmed Kenya’s 2026 growth forecast to five percent from 5.2 percent, citing inflationary pressures linked to the conflict.

In 2024, the economy created 782,300 jobs, down from 848,100 a year earlier, according to official data.

About 90 percent of these jobs were in the informal sector, highlighting the challenges facing formal businesses in creating quality employment for graduates entering the labour market.

The economy generated 75,000 formal jobs last year, compared with 122,900 previously – another low since the Covid-19 downturn, when 185,800 jobs were lost in 2020.

Policy outlook

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has also cut its 2026 growth forecast to 5.3 percent from 5.5 percent, reflecting emerging risks from the Middle East conflict.

‘Higher energy prices attributed to the war in Iran are expected to affect the performance of key sectors such as manufacturing, transport and storage, accommodation and food services, and wholesale and retail trade,’ CBK Governor Kamau Thugge said.

‘Disruptions in supply chains are also expected to affect exports and imports of goods and services.’

However, CBK expects the manufacturing sector to grow by three percent in 2026, up from a projected 2.2 percent in 2025.

Growth in transport and storage, as well as accommodation and food services, is expected to slow to 4.3 percent from 4.9 percent and to eight percent from 10.4 percent, respectively.

The agriculture sector is expected to provide some support, aided by favourable weather conditions, while services are likely to remain resilient on the back of continued digitisation and the expansion of e-commerce.

A walk through Circle Art Gallery feels like standing in the stillness of mountain echoes: Quiet, yet resonant. Within that stillness, the works of Issam Hafiez radiate a warmth that both comforts and unsettles.

Nubian Tar, as the exhibition is titled, is a body of work that demonstrates a masterful command of stroke, balance, form, pattern, and colour. Nothing is accidental. Every detail feels deliberate.

Hafiez has the rare ability to make complexity appear effortless. His work carries depth without intimidation, inviting the viewer in even as it layers meaning beneath the surface. It is art that speaks softly yet lingers loudly.

With prices ranging between Sh77,550 and Sh1.3 million, Nubian Tar stands among the more premium exhibitions on the local circuit.

Yet to measure Hafiez’s work purely in monetary terms would be to miss the point. His dedication, lived experience, and artistic precision elevate the collection beyond price, into something far more enduring.

Nubian Tar pays homage to people and landscapes of Hafiez’s youth; the Nubian culture of farmers along riverbanks of the Nile intertwining with the desert into Egypt, the houses on the hills and the highlands with their white facades and the gentle sway of palm trees which are emboldened onto the fabric of his memories and alternatively onto the delicate tip end of his brush strokes on canvas.

It plays to his strength of merging patterns, figures and faces into landscapes with almost unnerving ease. A Hafiez painting is detailed intricacy at play.

Nubian Tar has been a work in progress. For the past three years after Hafiez relocated to Kenya from Sudan because of the war, some of the paintings which were done before the war have had to be collected and shipped from Khartoum, Egypt and London to Nairobi.

It is an exhibition that offers different shades and perspectives of the Sudanese artist, from dull to grayscale to colourful presentations.

The stories presented in the pictures are narratives from his childhood and his observation of the world he grew up in before and after the war in Sudan.

‘It is kind of focused on our country and the experience of having war wounds. Everything on these paintings, especially those done in the past three years, are expressions of myself against the war and my reflections on this situation’, he says.

The expressions are not as direct as a poem a song or a hard prose would look like. Beneath the colours and shades is masked pain and hurt at the needlessness of unnecessary wars.

‘If you go through a war and you have to relocate and stay alone without family and community, living becomes hard. War has had me kicked from my home and all this has come out to express itself in the exhibition. It was very hard for me because this is the first time I am doing an exhibition away from my home, and not by my choice.’

Nubian Tar also traces the evolution of Hafiez’s palette. His earlier works carry the deep ochre tones of the Nubian desert; the ‘tar’ that grounds the exhibition’s title. But over time, his canvases begin to open up into lighter, more vibrant hues.

This shift, he explains, was almost unconscious.

‘My artwork has changed because I came out of a war,’ he says. ‘In Kenya, I draw from the peace around me – the people, the environment. Art helps me express myself in ways that words never could. This exhibition feels like a beginning, like saying: I am still here.’

For Hafiez, the show is also a cry for help for Sudanese art which he says has been negatively affected by the war.

‘The war is working negatively against art and culture in Sudan because during this period, we have seen a lot of heritage sites being destroyed. I need not always talk about war but war is what I have, that is my situation.’

Hafiez, who also doubles up as a photographer, observes from his travelling that Africa is collectively suffering.

His travels across Central Africa, Mali, Ethiopia recording wars have had him conclude that for the most part, the citizenry is innocent, and that the influx of uncontrolled weapons is the disease that needs purging because of the atrocities it has enabled. This purging, he believes, will brought about by art.

‘Art will bring a revolution to this continent. It will unite the African people. My messaging isn’t for Sudan only, we have chronic wars in many parts of Africa. We need to work more as artists to create movements that will revolutionise ideologies against war,’ he says.

Attorney General Dorcas Oduor has opposed a fresh petition by former Cabinet minister and Jubilee Party Secretary-General, Raphael Tuju, seeking to block a regional lender from auctioning his three properties in Karen, Nairobi, over a Sh1.9 billion debt.

Mr Tuju, in his petition, claims the East African Development Bank (EADB) is relying on sections of the law that were declared unconstitutional by the High Court in 2025.

EADB is primarily owned by four member States of the East Africa Community – Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.

But in an objection filed in court, Attorney General argued that various courts had determined the matter and cannot be revisited.

Mr Tuju filed the petition last month, arguing that the EADB was relying on Sections 2(1) and (2) of the East African Development Bank Act to enforce an English court judgment and auction his properties, yet the provisions were declared unconstitutional.

The ex-minister’s properties caught in the debt row include Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary, Tamarind Karen, and Dari Business Park, assets used as collateral for a multi-million-dollar facility advanced to Dari Limited in 2015.

One of Mr Tuju’s properties, Dari Coffee and Garden Restaurant in Karen, was auctioned on October 1, 2024, for Sh450 million to Ultra Eureka Ltd – a company owned by Stabex International Ltd co-owner Jackson Kiplimo Chebett.

Mr Tuju submitted that the provisions unilaterally conferred on the Finance Cabinet Secretary, unchecked authority to charge and disburse public funds from the Consolidated Fund to EADB without parliamentary input or accountability.

However, the Attorney General maintained that the declaration of unconstitutionality of Sections 2(1) and (2) of the EADB Act relates strictly to financing of the bank by the Kenyan government and does not affect EADB’s lending powers, which are defined in its founding documents.

‘Thus, this petition is a last-ditch attempt to manoeuvre the court’s jurisdiction in a manner incompatible with the rule of law, the sanctity of contractual obligations, and the imperative of justice, and is therefore an abuse of the court process,’ the Attorney General said.

The State Law Office added that EADB obtained a judgment against Mr Tuju and Dari Ltd from the High Court of England and Wales on June 19, 2019, ordering them to pay $15,162,320.

Further, the High Court, in a recent ruling, affirmed that issues surrounding the 2015 loan agreement had already been determined by the courts and cannot be revisited.

The bank said the petition is time-barred and that the issues raised have already been determined by other courts.