Category: Business Daily

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is set to lend $10 million (Sh1.3 billion) to Mombasa-based medical device manufacturer Revital Healthcare (EPZ) Limited to aid its expansion.

The company, in which the founder Rajnikant Chandulal Vora holds a 64 percent stake, is investing a total of $23.4 million (Sh3 billion) in the project. Dr Vora and his family hold a total of 73 percent of the company, with other shareholders holding the remaining 27 percent.

Additional funding is coming from internally generated cash and financing from a joint venture partner. The proposed IFC loan is a 10-year senior facility.

‘The investment will finance additional kitting and cold-chain infrastructure at the existing Kikambala facility, as well as the development of a new logistics and warehousing hub on a 20-acre parcel within the Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Mombasa County, Kenya,’ IFC said in its investment disclosures.

‘The project is expected to strengthen the company’s ability to serve regional healthcare markets and support employment creation.’

Healthcare kitting and fulfilment involves assembling, packaging and distributing healthcare-related products as complete kits to patients, providers, clinics, research sites and healthcare facilities.

The benefits of kitting in healthcare logistics include increased consistency and accuracy, stronger regulatory compliance, and simplified inventory management.

IFC says its long-term financing will support Revital Healthcare’s expansion without putting pressure on the company’s cash flows.

‘In the prevailing market, most banks offer manufacturing companies funding tenors of up to 3-5 years. Such shorter-term financing could put strain on Revital’s debt profile, which includes short-term facilities,’ the global financier said.

Revital Healthcare was established in 2006 and produces medical consumables and devices including syringes, needles, diagnostic products, neonatal care products, catheters and personal protective equipment (PPE).

The company exports its medical products to more than 60 countries worldwide through partnerships with leading global health organisations, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Other partners are the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

IFC says the company’s manufacturing operations and product portfolio are supported by internationally recognised certifications and regulatory approvals, including 10 World Health Organization (WHO) Prequalified products, United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) 510(k) clearances and Medical Device Single Audit Program (MDSAP) certification.

‘The project is expected to expand access to affordable, quality health products for healthcare facilities and humanitarian settings across Kenya and East Africa, including essential healthcare kits for vulnerable populations reliant on donor-supported services,’ IFC said.

‘It will also support skills development and create direct and indirect employment opportunities in medical supplies manufacturing and logistics. Beyond these impacts, IFC’s financing will strengthen the resilience of the regional medical supplies market by supporting a systemically important player, helping scale critical manufacturing infrastructure while promoting greater market diversification and regional integration.’

Revital Healthcare is the latest Kenyan firm to be supported by IFC, which has backed scores of local firms through debt or equity investments.

In 46 developing countries, governments now spend more on loan interest payments than on either health or education, according to UN figures. Across the developing world, more than 3.4 billion people live in countries caught in this squeeze.

A hospital without medicines and a school without books often share the same underlying problem: money that could be invested in people and productive economies is instead being used to service increasingly expensive debt.

Africa feels this imbalance particularly acutely. Developing countries have historically borrowed internationally at rates two to four times higher than the US and six to 12 times higher than Germany. UNDP estimates that subjectivities in foreign credit ratings cost African countries as much as $74.5 billion through excessive interest and forgone lending.

At the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, African leaders again called for international financial architecture and more accurate assessments of African risk.

But Africa must not only argue that its risk is mispriced. We must also produce more of the evidence that allows capital to price African opportunity differently. Trade can help us do that.

Investors want to understand what an investment will produce. Africa therefore needs more investment-ready projects with a clear economic and commercial case: the costs they will reduce, the trade they will improve, the revenues they can generate and the additional investment they can attract.

Public and concessional capital has an important role to play. It can fund prefeasibility studies, project preparation and initial risk, helping make projects bankable enough for development finance institutions and commercial investors to invest.

Trade strengthens the fundamentals on which economies are assessed.

When goods cross borders faster and at lower cost, businesses reach larger markets, exporters earn foreign currency, governments collect revenue. Stronger exports and more productive economies can, over time, strengthen investor confidence.

Realising this opportunity requires investment in the infrastructure that makes trade possible: roads connecting producers to markets, efficient ports and border posts, digital trade systems, standards infrastructure and finance for businesses to produce, process and export.

Africa should continue demanding a global financial system that prices its risk fairly. But we should not wait for that system to change.

Trade will not solve Africa’s borrowing problem on its own. But by building stronger economies, attracting investment and demonstrating measurable returns, it can help change the evidence on which Africa is priced.

Co-operative Bank is among 11 firms that have received a Sh12.9 billion legacy debt write-off from the National Treasury, with some loans dating back to the 1970s.

The Treasury says the loans, wiped off its books in the year ended June 2026, had accumulated over decades.

Officials add that recovery had been undermined by a range of circumstances, including borrowers’ financial difficulties, the collapse or liquidation of entities and projects, and the lack of proper or traceable loan documentation.

Treasury’s debt schedule shows Co-op Bank, Kenya’s third largest lender by assets and deposit accounts, had Sh267 million written off during the year.

The unpaid loan has raised questions about how the lender, which posted Sh29.75 billion profit last year, was struggling to pay off a debt of Sh267 million, which initially stood at Sh339 million.

But a senior official at the bank said the exposure came from an old government kitty received by the bank for on-lending to smallholder farmers in cotton, irrigation, pyrethrum and dairy sub-sectors, making the liability a legacy government programme rather than recent commercial lending.

The government had tasked Co-op with facilitating the issue of loans to farmers under co-operative societies, collecting the repayments and remitting the money to the Treasury, but poor repayment left residual balances long after the programmes collapsed.

‘A majority of farmers didn’t pay back, and that has reflected as the outstanding amount [in Treasury books] over the years,’ the official previously said.

The write-off leaves Equity Bank as the only privately owned lender remaining on Treasury’s list of borrowers under on-lending arrangements, with the country’s largest lender by deposit accounts owing Sh279 million in arrears from Sh534 million channelled through its network.

The Treasury says the debts chalked off form part of its book clean-up exercise targeting Sh26.33 billion.

The officials add that the Treasury sought Cabinet approval to write off Sh13.29 billion in outstanding principal and waive a further Sh13.04 billion in accumulated interest arrears which had become difficult or impossible to recover.

‘The write-offs were undertaken as part of efforts to clean up the National Treasury’s loan records, address long-outstanding audit queries and facilitate implementation of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recommendations on non-performing Government loans,’ the Treasury writes in the latest annual debt management report.

The Treasury says the loans had remained unpaid for years due to financial constraints, collapsed projects, ceased operations, missing records, disputes over loan terms and legal changes that transferred liabilities to county governments.

The defunct Local Government Loans Authority accounted for the largest balance among the 11 entities, with Sh7.594 billion outstanding at June 2025 before the debt was wiped from Treasury’s books.

The authority historically facilitated capital development borrowing by local authorities, which accumulated liabilities to the national government before the system was replaced by devolved county governments.

Treasury also wrote off Sh2.461 billion owed by the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation, a body formed in 1987 to develop public water supplies and reduce reliance on the Exchequer.

The corporation has since been reconstituted as the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority, responsible for strategic national water storage, water harvesting and conservation.

The regulated Sacco sector is becoming increasingly concentrated, with 61 tier-one societies controlling more than 70 percent of the market even as smaller groups hold on to their entities.

Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (Sasra) chief executive David Sandagi says the slow pace of voluntary mergers has prompted the regulator to consider stronger measures, including forced mergers, to strengthen weaker societies and safeguard members.

In an interview with Business Daily, Mr Sandagi also discusses the widening gap between loans and deposits, lessons from the Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (Kuscco) crisis and the trade-off between dividend payouts and building capital.

Sasra has encouraged Saccos to merge to enjoy economies of scale and strengthen stability. Why have we not seen many mergers?

The regulated Sacco industry represents more than 90 percent of the assets of both regulated and unregulated Saccos. These assets are held by 357 regulated entities as of December 2025.

There are 61 tier-one Saccos with an asset base of Sh5 billion and above, and this segment constitutes over 70 percent of the market. This category has continued to grow in terms of its contribution and market share.

We also have mid-tier and small-tier Saccos that play a pivotal role in financial inclusion. There are more than 13,000 Saccos and co-operatives outside Sasra’s regulatory oversight, yet the market share they hold is less than nine percent in terms of assets.

It is inevitable that Saccos need to be well-capitalised to acquire best-in-class technologies, expand their outreach and integrate with other players within the financial ecosystem.

Amalgamations are provided for in law, but they are deemed voluntary. In 2024, we witnessed one successful merger and in 2025, another one. These have largely involved bigger Saccos taking over smaller ones, allowing members to transition seamlessly.

But recognising that voluntary mergers have not significantly changed the market, we have considered the need to deploy forced mergers. However, the law as it is today is restrictive because it provides for voluntary mergers, and therefore there would need to be perhaps an amendment to the statute.

That way, where the authority determines that there is an opportunity for a Sacco to merge with a stronger Sacco, regulatory tools could be used to encourage such mergers, safeguard members’ interests and maintain stability.

Thousands of Saccos remain outside Sasra’s prudential oversight, yet problems in that segment can affect the reputation of the entire sector. What needs to be done?

We currently have two layers of regulation covering deposit-taking and non-deposit-taking Saccos. The prioritisation of these two categories was based on scale and risk, and this has resulted in more than 90 percent of total Sacco assets now being under Sasra’s regulatory oversight.

The ministry’s position is that all Saccos should ultimately be regulated. Over the 15-year journey of regulation, we started with deposit-taking Saccos because they control the larger share of assets, mobilise deposits and savings, and are exposed to greater risks.

The ministry and Sasra are currently drafting co-operative regulations that will, among other things, guide how best the unregulated segment can be brought under regulatory oversight.

It is important to clarify, however, that these Saccos are not operating without any form of supervision. We have the Office of the Commissioner for Co-operatives, county directors of co-operatives and various county departments providing oversight.

What may not yet be in place is a prudential regulatory regime, and that is a work in progress.

Sacco lending has been growing faster than deposits. To what extent is the widening loan-deposit gap a concern?

I like the question of whether this gap is a challenge in the first place. The liquidity status of the industry is still well above the minimum regulatory requirements.

The traditional model has been that deposits are leveraged as the key consideration for accessing credit, ordinarily with a multiplier of three. Without a corresponding enhancement in deposit mobilisation, that has been a constraint over time.

What we are seeing is that a number of Saccos are developing savings products that more or less match the outflows in the form of loans over a specific period. The loan facility is pegged on continuous savings by members to bridge the loan-to-deposit ratio.

There is an opportunity for Saccos to devise additional strategies to mobilise deposits. In 2025, close to 80 percent of revenues were derived from interest income, so the traditional lending model remains central to the sector.

To what extent could lower Sacco lending rates, compared with banks, have contributed to faster loan growth?

Most certainly, a number of macroeconomic variables could influence lending behaviour, but this is not new to Saccos. Sacco members transact with their Saccos and are the owners.

Unlike in banking, where a customer may not have an explicit right to access credit, a Sacco member, upon compliance with eligibility requirements, has access to credit.

So, while a number of macroeconomic factors could have been at play, the big driver is the lending model.

Kuscco has been a painful episode for the sector. Would you say the crisis served as a wake-up call for the sector?

Yes. Looking at the legislative instruments before Parliament (the Co-operative Bill and the SACCO Societies Amendment Bill 2025) and what they seek to address, I foresee, and remain hopeful about, a much stronger framework.

I see the two legislative instruments as a critical cog in enhancing the stability, sustainability and resilience of the industry, including the various players defined within the Co-operative Bill.

These legislative reforms require parliamentary intervention, and we are subservient to the processes within Parliament.

The amendments are designed to ensure that there will be no legal lacuna in the operations of specific Saccos within the sector.

We are hopeful that the National Assembly will favourably consider the proposed amendments, which are necessary to strengthen the Sacco industry, enhance its stability and ensure efficiency.

Operationally, however, we continue to deploy and revise various standards. We have deployed a risk-based supervision system that is currently in use, which we envisage will enhance transparency while making our oversight methodology more effective and predictive.

Sacco dividends as a share of total income have fallen for two years as institutions build capital. How should members view this trade-off?

A Sacco member occupies such a pivotal place in ensuring stability and sustainability that there ought to be a consistent and tangible return.

At the same time, the Sacco member is an owner of the institution from which they derive affordable credit. Those credit facilities generate revenues that are then distributed as well as reserved to assure the member of the long-term sustainability of the entity.

The trade-off between affordable credit facilities and a return in the form of dividends or interest on deposits needs to be effectively balanced.

In 2025, Saccos, of their own volition, recognised the need to enhance retention to bolster their capital. Through retained earnings, Saccos have literally zero-cost capital, eliminating the need for expensive external borrowing.

As a regulator, we are keen to enhance stability. We therefore evaluate Sacco performance and ensure payouts are commensurate with performance, cash flows and the long-term sustainability agenda.

New Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) rules have triggered anxiety among non-deposit-taking credit providers (NDTCPs), with analysts raising concerns about non-clarity in the set order of distributing proceeds from loans repaid by borrowers.

The regulations published by CBK Governor Kamau Thugge suggested that funds from loan repayments to NDTCPs will first offset the principal amount, then fees and charges, and finally interest.

‘The repayment amount referred to in paragraph (1) shall be allocated in the following manner-(a) settle any due principal payment; (b) any outstanding fees and charges on the loan; and (c) interest due on the loan,’ the CBK regulations said.

Analysts, however, pointed out that the new CBK rules reverse the sequential payment hierarchy traditionally used to distribute recovered loans.

‘This reverses the waterfall in Loan Market Association-based and syndicated facilities, which applies payments to agency costs, then interest and fees, then principal,’ analysts at law firm Bowmans said in a commentary and urged the CBK to address the concern.

A sequential payment hierarchy, commonly known as a payment waterfall, prioritises the payment of agency costs-such as trustee fees, servicer fees, and administrative expenses-at the very top of the structure to guarantee the operational survival and basic compliance of the financial vehicle.

A sequential payment hierarchy prioritises interest and fees over the due principal to protect the lender’s ongoing yield and cover immediate servicing costs.

The experts also raised concerns about the new CBK regulations on corporate, cross-border and wholesale lenders.

‘There are no carve-outs for foreign lenders, DFIs (Development Finance Institutions), wholesale lenders, representative offices or intra-group loans, and no ‘sophisticated borrower’ threshold. It is unclear whether lending to a single corporate is lending to ‘a section of’ the public,’ they said.

The NDTCP regulations follow amendments to the CBK Act (Cap 491) vide the Business Laws (Amendment) Act, 2024. The amendments are aimed at, among others, clarifying and widening the scope of operations of NDTCPs, formerly Digital Credit Providers.

The new regulations place big emphasis on consumer protection, with the CBK setting tough terms on key areas such as credit terms and handling of personal information.

‘A non-deposit-taking credit provider shall formulate a credit policy consistent with the Act… The credit policy shall be aligned to the size of the non-deposit-taking credit provider, and the nature and complexity of the products offered by the non-deposit-taking credit provider,’ the CBK said.

‘A non-deposit-taking credit provider shall not introduce a new non-deposit-taking credit product to the market or vary the features of an existing product, including the interest rates, without the prior written approval of the Bank.’

CBK said that NDTCPs proposing to change product features or interest rates will have to justify the variations and notify their customers of the planned changes at least 30 days before they take effect.

The CBK said the credit firms will be required to provide a unique identifying account number issued by a mobile money operator to be used for disbursements and repayments of loans; the app-based platforms to be launched; and the name of the bank and number of accounts to be operated.

‘With respect to app-based and other digital platforms, a non-deposit-taking credit provider shall make provision for unsubscribing or opting out from the service, including from receiving marketing messages upon full repayment of the loan and from receiving marketing and promotional communication,’ the regulator said.

The CBK said that subject to its credit policy, a non-deposit-taking credit provider may restructure a loan in terms of instalment amount, payment period or other terms upon receipt of a request from a borrower or on prior notification to the customer.

‘A non-deposit-taking credit provider shall be limited in what it may recover from a customer with respect to a non-performing loan to the maximum amount under paragraph (2). Limit on interest recoverable from non-performing loans,’ the bank said.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has raised its monthly target from bond sales to more than Sh100 billion in the current fiscal year from an average of Sh70 billion in the previous year, highlighting the increased pressure on the domestic market to fund the budget deficit.

The Treasury is now making two bond sales per month to meet its domestic borrowing target that was set at Sh987 billion in the June 2026 budget, while also rolling out a monthly switch bond issuance to ease pressure on repaying maturing debt.

The local market is expected to provide 80 percent of the State’s full year borrowing target of Sh1.2 trillion, with external lenders chipping in with Sh247.2 billion.

To meet this local target, CBK is selling Sh100 billion bonds this month, in two tranches of Sh50 billion each. The first sale comprising reopened 15 and 20-year papers from 2019 raised Sh57.5 billion from offers of Sh80.6 billion.

The second issuance opened on Tuesday, comprising reopened 30-year bonds that were initially floated in February 2011 and March 2026.

CBK governor Kamau Thugge reckons that local lenders have room to lend the higher amounts to government without distorting the growth of lending to the private sector, following persistent concerns that the State might end up crowding out businesses and households from bank loans.

Speaking on Thursday, the governor said that the government is confident of achieving its budget deficit financing even in the absence of a funding programme from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

‘From a financing point of view…we have a fairly deep domestic financial market, and are able to mobilise the resources required,’ said Dr Thugge. To address refinancing pressure, the State has taken to issuing one switch bond per month, eyeing between Sh10 billion and Sh20 billion.

For many women, the pressure to have the ‘right’ body can feel like a never-ending negotiation.

One day it is the hourglass figure – a tiny waist, fuller hips and breasts. Then the ideal changes, and suddenly another shape, size or feature becomes the one to chase. Social media, fashion and beauty culture can make these shifting standards feel less like trends and more like targets women are expected to meet.

For some, the pursuit comes at a steep cost, from expensive beauty treatments and unregulated medications to cosmetic surgery. But at a Nairobi art exhibition, the coveted hourglass figure is being explored in a very different way – on canvas.

For Sh140,000, one of the featured paintings allows a buyer to take home an artistic interpretation of the much-desired silhouette.

The piece is part of Curves in Colour, a joint exhibition featuring artists Ciru Ivy, Sylvia Oloo, Wayne Oloo, and Ian Ngethe.

The exhibition explores the relationship between beauty, body image, identity and the different ways people see and express the human form.

Body struggles

For Ciru, who has lived with her own struggles around body image, the exhibition is also an attempt to challenge the idea that there is only one acceptable way for a woman to look.

‘I went on holiday a while back and noticed many women in different shapes and sizes, so I wanted to celebrate them by doing their portraits,’ she says.

‘I love loud colours and I didn’t want to limit myself. So curves in colour fits my theme and style. I have been plus-size most of my life so I know some problems we face. I tried to portray the insecurities but also the acceptance of one’s body,’ she says.

Conversations around beauty standards, like the hourglass figure, tend to focus on women.

Which begs the question, why does society’s gaze remain so tightly fixed on the female form when discussing body image?

‘Women are beautiful and spend the most money on beauty products so I think that’s why we get that attention. I know I’m being a bit stereotypical when I say this,’ Ciru says.

‘The female form is the best image to be represented in my artwork. It has so many curves,’ adds Sylvia.

That price that Ciru talks about comes to about Sh140,000 for the hourglass.

‘It’s like an emotion that people tend to gravitate to, like happiness or pride,’ says Wayne.

The hourglass captures a woman’s back view on the terrace of an apartment of what would appear as Nairobi’s Westlands, overlooking the Kenyatta International Convention Centre.

‘The hourglass is a shape women have wanted since the 90s and I think this piece is kind of affirming. Anyone can aim for the body they want but trends keep changing and as soon as you achieve it another trend will come. It’s better to concentrate on health,’ says Ciru.

“Tabitha”, “Emiliy”, “Mwende”, “Nafula” and “Nyambura” were among the oil in canvas paintings going for between Sh18,000 to Sh50,000 at the exhibition.

“Nyambura’ portrays a woman in a bikini and shows the confidence a woman needs to wear what she wants. I showed the confidence rather than insecurities in the pieces,’ says Ciru.

Muscular and beautiful

She also challenges the idea that only a specific body size is beautiful. She shows a more muscular woman.

‘I have always thought I was huge when in fact I was average. In my adulthood I gained weight and have been trying to lose weight for health reasons,’ says Ciru.

‘I once went to a gym wearing an outfit that showed my tummy. I forgot to pack my T-shirt so I decided to just show my huge body. I felt so insecure doing yoga with my tummy all out.

‘I hope to inspire creatives and encourage them to portray real women. I hope they see that we all have different bodies. Opinions and trends change so just love your current body. Whatever your shape, don’t stop exercising because that is healthy.’

Sylvia and Wayne took a more abstract yet literal approach to Curves in Colours.

‘I wanted to focus on black women. Bringing in the aspect of beads and African fabrics and colour into my art pieces against the dark figures accentuates the presences of colour and its beauty against nature as a whole along with the human body,”says Sylvia.

‘I saw someone shed a tear when they saw my piece called ‘The Colour Tunnel.’ It is one of my best pieces, because many relate to it. Regardless of gender, anyone can see themselves in it,’ she added.

One of her pieces, “Outside My Window”, beautifully captures an Africa woman seated by the window but beyond it is a vast concrete jungle devoid of nature. It went for Sh55,000.

Wayne, Sylvia’s brother, chose to focus on the emotions behind body positivity.

‘If looking into the world regardless of image or colour can evoke sadness, nostalgia, hope, authenticity and more… then why shouldn’t our bodies?’ He poses.

Ian’s work explores the relationship between identity, movement, colour and self-expression.

‘Through my car paintings, I depict the automobile as more than a machine, it becomes a symbol of personality, aspiration, freedom and the different journeys we take through life,’ he says.

Appreciating imperfections

‘Bold colours, dramatic contrasts and expressive surfaces allow the cars to move beyond realism and become almost character-like. They represent energy, confidence and the freedom to be seen.’

‘For ‘Curves in Colour’, I was drawn to the idea of celebrating form beyond the human body. The curves, reflections and sculptural qualities of automobiles offered another way of exploring beauty and character through shape, colour and movement. Just as every person carries a unique presence, every vehicle can communicate a distinct sense of personality and identity.’

Ian says his paintings invite the viewer to look at everyday objects differently and to appreciate their imperfections and individuality.

The Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) has protested an abrupt rollout of mandatory travel health insurance cover for foreign visitors to the country, citing uncertainty for travellers.

The agents also want details of the approved insurers, premiums, coverage and exclusions, saying the abrupt rollout has left travel agents, airlines and travellers seeking guidance.

‘Given the abrupt rollout and limited information available to travel agents, tour operators, airlines and travellers in general, we would appreciate confirmation of the effective date and scope of implementation, including the specific categories of travellers affected and the requirements applicants must fulfil prior to travel or entry into Kenya,’ KATA said in a letter dated October 7.

The letter addressed to Immigration Director General Evelyn Cheluget comes a day after the High Court upheld the Sh6.4 million minimum insurance cover required for non-Kenyans intending to enter and remain in the country for less than 12 months.

The High Court dismissed a constitutional petition by Marsabit residents Edow Issack Mohammed and Zhulekha Mohamed Edin, finding that Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale acted within the law when he issued a Gazette Notice announcing the requirement.

The notice requires qualifying visitors to carry insurance with cumulative benefits of at least $50,000 (Sh6.4 million), covering medical expenses, emergency transport, medicines, mental illness treatment and repatriation. All visitors who intend to travel to the Republic of Kenya are requested to purchase mandatory insurance through a portal dubbed the Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA)

The minimum benefits include $20,000 (Sh2.5 million) for medical expenses, $25,000 (Sh3.2 million) for emergency medical transportation, $300 (Sh38,700) for prescribed medicines, $1,000 (Sh129,000) for mental illness treatment and $5,000 (Sh645,000) for repatriation of mortal remains.

The petitioners had questioned the eTA system, insurer approval criteria and the policy framework supporting the scheme.

They argued that a Health Ministry clarification allowing qualifying insurance bought in travellers’ home countries conflicted with the Gazette Notice, which referred to insurers licensed under the Insurance Act.

The State said visitors could upload qualifying policies from their countries of origin or obtain compliant cover at designated entry points.

The court rejected a privacy challenge, finding that the petitioners had not demonstrated that information collected through the system was insecure.

The Ministry of Health had prepared an administrative framework in November 2025, according to State court filings, months before the Gazette Notice.

The ruling has now been followed by changes on the eTA platform. KATA says the Immigration portal displays a Ministry of Health notice stating that health insurance is mandatory for incoming travellers.

It says the Insurance Regulatory Authority portal also shows an eTA applicant being offered inbound travel health insurance at a premium of US$44.

KATA says the rollout has created uncertainty for travel agents, tour operators, airlines and travellers.

In its letter, the association asks Immigration to provide details of approved insurers, premiums, coverage, exclusions and the process for obtaining insurance.

‘We would also appreciate details on the approved insurance provider(s), the applicable cost or premium, the scope of coverage and key exclusions, as well as the process for obtaining the insurance,’ said Nicanor Sabula, KATA’s Chief Executive Officer. The letter is also copied to Ambassador Isaac John Ochieng, Director General, E-Citizen Services.

‘Further, kindly provide designated contact points or support channels that applicants may use to resolve any challenges encountered during the application or entry process,’ it adds.

When his father died and life dealt him new cards as the eldest son and successor to the throne, he made a strategic move. He learned the game under the stewardship of Michael Karanja, his father’s then business partner, who became his mentor and boss.

When he was man enough to dine with the elders, Mr Karanja again pulled up a chair at the table, and that’s how Mucai Kunyiha became Group Chief Executive Officer of Kzanaka, a Kenyan family-owned investment company with interests spanning manufacturing, agriculture, hospitality, real estate, and business services.

Getting there meant pit stops as general manager, managing director, and CEO. It took him 28 years to become a success. ‘Success is a journey, not a destination,’ he says.

In July this year, he was elected the President of the Comesa Business Council, representing businesses across the 21 member states.

If there’s one thing Mucai, a trained lawyer, believes, it’s that you have to make the most of the cards you’re dealt.

‘People waste energy wishing they had different parents, or went to different schools, or had better circumstances,’ he says. ‘You have to make every day choices to get anywhere.’

The second lesson he lives by is to live a life of service.

‘On my WhatsApp status, I have memento mori. Memento mori means ‘remember your death.’ Monks used to keep a real skull in their room to remember mortality and not take themselves too seriously. If you realise you are here for a time, you put in your best effort and remain humble. I am thinking of putting a tattoo of the three transcendentals as proposed by the philosopher Plato: the good, the true, and the beautiful.’

You don’t meet a lawyer who runs the agricultural space every day. Was this by design or did you stumble into it?

It was by chance [chuckles]. I studied law partly because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Somebody convinced my dad that law is a good general degree to start with. I explored it before I joined campus, studied it, then joined the bar after my pupillage.

During pupillage, the work wasn’t what I expected. What interested me was creativity. In law, your client brings you their problem statement-whether litigation or commercial-and you solve it. You can apply some creativity, but you can’t create a problem. It is quite limiting.

So I left shortly after qualifying as an advocate and joined the family business. I started by helping my mum run a detergent distribution business, then we opened an office cleaning business.

Unfortunately, two years later, my dad died. His background was in agricultural economics, and he ran an agricultural business with his partners. So I joined the business in 1999 and worked my way up the ranks to become General Manager, Managing Director, CEO, and Chairman of CKL Africa. I have been here for about 28 years now.

What was it like when your dad passed away, and what did you learn about the business while watching him at the helm?

Unfortunately, I only watched him for just two or three years, though he had been in business for about 20 years. As a student, you only see a little bit of what goes on in business. But we learned core values of running a corporate business. When they bought this business, they established a board on the first day. This is still a family business, though.

Dad was keen about paying debts. After he died, we only had one court case regarding this building, but he had no personal debts. His partner, Edward Karanja, has been like a father to me. He became Chairman and guided me through, teaching me how to run a business as clean as possible, how to be strategic, work with people, grow people, and maintain good financial management and transparency.

Do you remember the first time you stood in that office with your dad gone?

Discombobulating [chuckles]. I was very young; this was about 27 or 30 years ago. Being the firstborn son, I also had to take care of the family. What drove me was a conversation I once overheard while driving my dad and his friends. They were talking about a mutual friend who had died earlier and how his family wasted everything they inherited. I resolved not to be like that.

One of my core values, which I have embedded in CKL, is stewardship: taking care of things not just for ourselves, but for future generations. We support farmers who depend on us for quality products to sustain their yields and incomes for their families. We also look after our staff and the environment. Stewardship also extends to political and economic ecosystems.

Are there questions you never thought-or dared-to ask your father, whose answers you still find yourself searching for?

Many. Like advice on bringing up sons, or how to handle stress. I wish he were here to give me tips. And when I achieve success, like seeing my sons graduate from university, I wish he were here to witness it.

Did you feel that being the eldest son invited a different version of fatherhood?

My sister was the firstborn in the family of four children, but as the eldest son, I had a heightened sense of responsibility. Even before he died, I knew where the businesses and bank accounts were, and how things ran. So when conmen tried to approach us claiming my dad owed them money, I had the real picture [chuckles].

What do you hope your sons understand about being a man based on what you observed from your father?

Learning and growing. My dad was about my age when he died. When you are younger, you assume you know everything, but the key is staying open to learning.

One of my core values is seeking and cultivating wisdom. Wisdom is out there; it is about whether you can seek and hear it. That’s what it means to be a man. A major issue today is toxic masculinity-the overconfidence of “I know, and I can conquer.” The best position is instead: ‘I want to explore, learn, and grow.”

The second lesson is living a life of service. My WhatsApp status is “memento mori”. Memento mori means “remember your death.” Monks used to keep a real skull in their room to remember mortality and not take themselves too seriously. If you realise you are here for a time, you put in your best effort and remain humble. I am thinking of getting a tattoo of the three transcendentals: the good, the true, and the beautiful.

You’ve spoken about (Edward) Karanja mentoring you. Is there an unspoken expectation in family businesses that one child must eventually take over?

Succession is one of the biggest challenges. Fortunately, our business involves two families, so there is a wider pool of potential successors. It doesn’t have to be my sons running the business. We raised them to pursue their dreams and ambitions.

The other day my son asked us what he was going to be, because his Asian classmates were told by their parents that they would be doctors or businessmen. But we told him, “You will decide.” They are young graduates finding their way in the world. Furthermore, in a family business, not everyone has to run the day-to-day business. My siblings and other family members provide important oversight as board members.

What advice do you have for “dadpreneurs”?

Building a business takes time. While a few lucky people make breakthroughs quickly, long-term business success relies on consistency, discipline, and financial management over time.

You need to build ecosystems: suppliers who trust you, employees who build with you, and customers who rely on you. Look at institutions like Equity Bank, which started in the 1980s. Success requires repeating the same basics consistently. Discipline also means understanding cash flow and distinguishing between your money, suppliers’ money, staff money, capital, and bank loans. Unmanaged debts build up and can cripple you over time.

Have you ever lost everything and had to rebuild?

No.

What beliefs about money have shaped the way you manage it?

The goal is to create and deliver value, not just accumulate cash. Real value is: what am I exchanging or giving that is fruitful? Like planting a tree that continuously bears fruit rather than just stealing the apple.

Money can also corrupt. From a biblical perspective, you cannot worship money, or rather, you cannot serve God and mammon. Money is transient and fungible; memento mori applies here too. It passes through your hands, so use it wisely for future generations.

Be careful about greed and understand what “enough” is. Operate from a mindset of abundance, not scarcity. You don’t have to squeeze every customer or supplier to death today, because another customer will walk through the door tomorrow. I believe in fair value and sharing wealth-suppliers and contractors need to make a profit too.

Now that you are in your 50s, what hard-won wisdom has replaced the assumptions you held in your 20s and 30s?

When you are young, things seem black and white, good and evil. As you grow older, you realise people’s choices are influenced by their upbringing, resources, trauma, or circumstances. You become more forgiving, empathetic, and understanding, while remaining hopeful that people and situations can change for the better.

Second, you learn patience. When we were younger, any issue caused immediate anxiety. I remember when Mwai Kibaki was president, people criticised him for being slow to act. But with time, you realise the wisdom of waiting things out, observing, and seeking deeper root causes before acting.

As you’ve gotten older, what have you become less tolerant of?

I am very tolerant; kwani, what have you heard? [chuckles]. That’s a good question. I am less tolerant of other people’s expectations and rigid social norms. When I was younger, I worried about what people were saying and doing and tried to match it. Now that doesn’t bother me. For instance, at our wedding, my wife and I decided against formal speeches. So we had none [chuckles]. To this day, I get really bored at functions or funerals that take too long.

Has marriage been good for the business?

Absolutely. I have been married for 29 years to my wife, Nancy. I got married at 24, and that brought stability, wisdom, partnership, and someone to walk through life with.

What does Nancy worry about that you don’t?

Haha! As a clinician, she worries about her clinic and practice. Early on, she had difficulty distinguishing our immediate family dynamic from the broader business and extended family. But over time, we’ve built a solid family structure with my siblings and their spouses, ensuring we maintain healthy relationships.

What advice did you receive when you were young that has been good for your marriage?

There is a book called Intimate Allies [by Dan Allender and Tremper Longman] which offered a great principle on problem-solving: separate the problem from the individual. Instead of saying “you are the problem,” frame it as “we are a team facing this issue together.” Whether it is health, finances, or our children’s future, committing to a shared partnership allows you to tackle life’s challenges side by side.

Which decade of your life challenged you the most?

The 30s had stability, young children, and growing careers. The 40s focused on business leadership and understanding people. The 50s bring challenges around succession, caring for ageing parents, guiding adult children, and reflecting on legacy with a shorter runway ahead.

What is the toughest decision you have had to make?

Over the last three years, we faced a major battle fighting off land grabbers. That was extremely difficult because it thrust us into a completely different realm compared to standard corporate governance work with KAM (Kenya Association of Manufacturers) or KPDA (Kenya Property Developers Association).

What mistake do people make when trying to build a meaningful life and a successful business?

Life is about playing the cards you have. People waste energy wishing they had different parents, or went to different schools, or had better circumstances. Much of life involves chance, and unexpected events happen. Sometimes your number is up, and it is not up to you, but you have to play your cards. Sometimes you assume you need a long life to be impactful, but some people have short, impactful lives. Meaningful living is all about accepting your circumstances and playing your cards as well as you can within your limits.

What has success not fixed? My back?

My back? Haha! My mum gave me a plaque when I became General Manager that says, “Success is a journey, not a destination.” Success does not eliminate daily challenges or the need for daily discipline, ethics, and living right. You have to make every day choices to get anywhere. The true measure of success is simply having lived each day fully, as one of my favourite songs by OneRepublic says, I Lived.

What does your exit ramp look like? Why, where am I going?

[chuckles]. Regarding the business, succession planning is active work over the next decade. Beyond business, I am deeply interested in exploring societal beliefs and values because I am seeking wisdom in theology, sociology, and anthropology. I think they hold answers to the problems holding African societies back.

For instance, Kenya is a religious nation, yet corruption is pervasive. We don’t live like we fear God, because if you think about it, how you live is what you actually believe.

Corruption spans across society, businesses, and churches because of a breakdown in stewardship, honour, and accountability. Society has shifted toward individualistic consumerism of “me, myself, and I”, rather than building a national vision or stewarding resources for future generations. We have forgotten we are here temporarily, and life is ultimately about community, relationships, and the impact we leave behind.

Finally, what do you do simply for the fun?

I used to enjoy gaming and watching movies, and I also try to exercise. Now what I truly enjoy is sitting around with close friends, sharing a good meal, and shooting the breeze.

State corporations increased their commercial borrowing outside government guarantees by 38.2 percent to Sh62 billion in the year to June 2026, exposing the Treasury to growing contingent risks if the firms fail to repay their lenders.

The stock of non-guaranteed debt increased by Sh17.1 billion in the period, adding to the stockpile of Sh44.9billion recorded in June 2025.

The increase means the debt load by State firms outside explicit sovereign guarantees has grown by more than a third in a single year, adding to the Treasury’s financial risks.

The National Treasury says in the latest annual debt management report that the increase ‘warrants enhanced monitoring given that such borrowing, although not explicitly guaranteed by the government, may present contingent fiscal risks’ when the State-controlled companies experience difficulties servicing their obligations.

The report shows that five entities hold 81.9 percent of all non-guaranteed debt, meaning unlikely financial challenges at a handful of firms could expose the government to high costs.

The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) was the largest borrower at Sh13.94 billion fertiliser loan owed to KCB Bank Kenya, equivalent to 22.5 percent of the total as at end of June 2026.

Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), 70 percent owned by the State, owed Sh9.77 billion, including Sh9.32 billion borrowed from Absa Bank and Sh443 million from the French development-finance institution Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) owed Sh9.65 billion, comprising loans from the World Bank and AFD, with the latter facility listed in the report as AFD (MIA).

Kenya Forest Service (KFS) had Sh9.25 billion in outstanding debt owed to the French Government, the African Development Bank and the African Development Fund.

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) owed Sh8.18 billion across two loans from Stanbic Bank, amounting to Sh3.82 billion and Sh4.36 billion, respectively. The five entities together had Sh50.8 billion in outstanding non-guaranteed loans, leaving Sh11.2 billion spread across the other six corporations covered by the Treasury’s assessment.

The concentration is significant in energy and infrastructure-related entities, with energy and petroleum companies accounting for Sh19.59 billion or 31.6 percent of the total exposure.