Category: Business Daily

A growing pool of public funds invested in interest-earning government securities is boosting the Treasury, even as it targets a total of Sh987.4 billion from the domestic market in the current fiscal year to June 2027.

New disclosures show that hundreds of billions of shillings, including the more than Sh300 billion seed capital of the newly created National Infrastructure Fund (NIF), is set to be pumped into government securities-boosting the Treasury’s prospects of reliable domestic capital to fund budget deficits, public operations, and national infrastructure.

The share of Treasury bonds and bills held by government entities, semi-autonomous agencies and public sector funds has crossed Sh500 billion, pointing to an expanding role for public institutions as investors in State debt.

The holdings by general government entities rose to Sh513.31 billion by August 28, 2026, up from Sh467.78 billion in June 2025, according to figures published by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).

The increase has coincided with the Treasury’s strategy to put surplus balances held by public entities to work rather than leave them idle in accounts at the CBK.

A policy by President William Ruto has since last year targeted surplus money held by State entities in commercial banks, widening the pool of funds available to finance domestic borrowing.

In submissions to Parliament in May 2025, the Treasury said it had introduced measures to invest idle balances of selected entities held at the CBK.

‘To reduce the cost of borrowing, the National Treasury has instituted measures that idle balances of selected entities domiciled at CBK not immediately required are invested in government securities under non-competitive terms,’ the Treasury said in a submission to Parliament in May 2025.

‘For public entities with bank accounts in commercial banks, a circular will be issued mandating direct investment of surplus balances in government securities, bypassing intermediaries and under non-competitive terms.’

The move marked a change in public cash management, with money awaiting expenditure being deliberately placed in interest-generating government debt rather than left idle.

One of the biggest pools of public money being positioned for such investment is the NIF, whose Sh310.3 billion seed capital is expected to generate billions of shillings before the cash is spent.

The NIF expects to earn about Sh42 billion annually from government securities, based on a projected return of 12.5 percent.

‘The yield we are expecting to get there is about 12.5 percent in annual return, and so we should be making just about Sh42 billion worth of income per year, so we are working with Sh40 billion as a benchmark,’ James Mworia, the chief executive officer of the NIF, said.

The approach allows the fund to earn income while preserving its principal for future infrastructure investment.

The NIF plans to finance highways, railways, airports, seaports, electricity, ICT, water reservoirs and agribusiness infrastructure, while using its capital to attract private investment.

The Fund, chaired by Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, aims to mobilise as much as Sh5 trillion by leveraging its resources to crowd in private capital, making preservation of its seed money critical.

The strategy has been deployed by the Affordable Housing Fund, whose board has shown how surplus public money can temporarily become an investor in Treasury debt while projects await implementation.

The Affordable Housing Fund’s board had, by early 2025, parked Sh45.48 billion in Treasury bills, and disclosed in June 2025 that the investment had earned it Sh4.2 billion, without disclosing the exact amount that generated that income.

However, Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga said the fund had no money remaining in Treasury bills by August 2026, after faster procurement and budget absorption accelerated project implementation.

‘There’s currently zero money in T-bills from the Fund,’ Mr Hinga said, attributing the change to stronger budget absorption and earlier procurement planning.

The housing levy experience demonstrates that public-sector investment funds can vanish once agencies begin spending on their intended programmes, cutting off the temporary pool of funds for domestic borrowing.

The Sugar Development Fund (SDF) is another notable example of the strategy taking shape across public institutions, with the Kenya Sugar Board having planned to invest surplus collections in government securities.

The sugar board said funds not immediately required would be placed in Treasury bills, bonds or call deposits, depending on projected cash needs.

‘The investments could either be on a short-term or long-term basis, depending on the cash flow projections,’ the board said in a July 2025 report.

The SDF is financed through the Sugar Development Levy collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority from locally produced sugar at the rate of four percent of the ex-factory price of the sweetener and imported sugar, providing a recurring source of funds awaiting deployment.

The growing use of State funds offers a potentially cheaper and more predictable domestic funding source, but its size will depend on the timing of public-sector spending and investment needs.

Dr Ruto has been pushing for State corporations to surrender more of their income to the Exchequer amid pressure on tax collections and government cash flows.

In March 2024, Dr Ruto directed commercial State corporations to remit up to 80 percent of their net profits to the Treasury, with the requirement later incorporated into performance indicators for chief executives.

‘The money that some parastatals make does not belong to their boards or management. It belongs to the people of Kenya as returns on investment,’ Dr Ruto told State corporation chiefs.

The Treasury’s latest approach goes further by seeking returns from money that public institutions have not yet spent, creating a temporary financing channel without requiring immediate disposal of their underlying assets.

In case you’re new to this column, let me warn you: I don’t do polite. I nitpick, I rant, and I gnash my teeth about the absurdities of corporate governance, farming in Laikipia, and now, drumroll please, the circus that is trying to find a decent software developer in Kenya.

Let me tell you a story. It starts, as all good Kenyan business horror stories do, with a referral in 2018 BC (Before Covid). I needed a developer to create a platform for a client service that I provide. Nothing fancy, just a clean, functional system that wouldn’t dissolve like the increasingly potholed Limuru Road after a massive rainstorm.

A friend, bless her, she meant well, connected me to a developer who, in the retelling of his own CV, had practically built the internet. He’d worked on a platform for one of Kenya’s largest banking groups, he said, with the casual confidence of a man who knows you’re too polite to ask for references. He even showed me the work he’d done for said bank.

Anyway, I bit. He started the job, then promptly disappeared mid-process. Luckily, or so I thought, the actual work was being done by one of his junior developers who “inherited” the contract and therefore continued the work. I thought I had dodged a bullet. Spoiler alert: I had not.

Junior Dev finished the platform. We launched. A year later, the platform had several kinks that needed fixing.

But Junior Dev had disappeared. When he finally reappeared as the Artist Formerly Known As Junior Dev, it was like a scene from a bad Nollywood movie: in beach shorts, barefoot, clutching a bottle of wine that had personally wronged someone, looking exactly like he’d crawled out of the beach bar cave he claimed to have ‘SGR-d’ from that morning.

Since his triumphant, shoeless return, he has continued to “work” for me, and I use that word with the same generosity that a Nairobi County office posts on its walls: “You are entering a corruption-free zone.” Every task now requires a full diplomatic summit. I must cajole him. I must beg. I must, apparently, stroke an ego that has produced remarkably little to justify its own maintenance.

I asked, repeatedly, in writing, with the patience of a woman raising a toddler and a grown man simultaneously, for a simple maintenance contract. Something formal. Something with dates and deliverables and consequences. I am still waiting. I suspect I will be waiting when my grandchildren are old enough to inherit this platform, and this grievance, along with it.

So, reasonably, I did what any exhausted Kenyan business owner does when the informal economy of favours and friends-of-friends fails her: I went to LinkedIn last week. I posted a request for help, worded with the precision of a UN resolution: I wanted recommendations for development firms, but only from people who had actually, genuinely, verifiably been happy clients. Not agencies. Not “connect with me to discuss.” Not cousins of the firm’s marketing intern. Just happy clients.

Within hours, my DM inbox looked like the Museum Hill exit of Nairobi Expressway at 5pm on a Friday. Jammed, chaotic, and full of people who had clearly not read a single word I wrote. Developers. Agencies. Friends of developers and agencies. And it wasn’t just a local affair, the self-recommendations came in from as far as India and Dubai, which tells you two things.

One, that LinkedIn’s algorithm has the reading comprehension of a goat. And two, that somewhere out there, a very determined man in Bangalore saw a post that explicitly said “do not respond if you are the provider of this service” and thought, yes, this is my moment.

I did not know LinkedIn could serve your own plea for help back to the very people you were pleading to be protected from, but here we are. Apparently, the platform’s idea of “relevant audience” is “anyone who can smell a client from three continents away.” Every single one of them selling, not one of them referring. I asked for testimony and received a trade fair, with international delegates.

So I remain here, tethered by a fraying thread to a LinkedIn inbox full of pitches from full-stack, half-stack, and no-stack people that I never asked to pitch me, wondering if the actual disruptive Kenyan startup idea is simply this: a platform that verifies whether a client was, in fact, happy.

Anyway, I’m still sifting through my inbox. I’ll provide an update when I’m done with all of that. Just a warning: it’s increasingly looking like a Vision 2030 article.

If you want to know how many hours are in a minute, look at what Jacqueline Waihenya does with it. To list all her attributes would be to undersell her, but let’s try. She is a chartered arbitrator, certified advanced construction adjudicator, governance expert, International Mediation Institute certified mediator…and so on. Let’s just call her multi-disciplinary or, as she prefers, multipotentialite.

‘In 2012,’ she says, ‘I made a commitment to myself to learn at least one new thing every year.’

However, to cut straight to her core, she will tell you that parenting is her lifelong lesson. How to let go of control. How to be a go-getter. How to be yourself. That’s the part-mum, part-expert advice she offers her daughters. And she hopes, when the world tells them to ‘play nice’, they will critically analyse the situation and not just kiss the ring or bend the knee. She knows this because she’s learned it, and she passes it on, because you only keep what you give away.

If someone were to observe one day in your job, what would surprise them the most? I do not have a set routine. I deal with whatever is on the table on any given day. Sometimes I serve as the Chairperson of the Institute of Certified Secretaries; other times I am the former chairperson at CHArb. Above all-and at all times-I am a mother to my two daughters, aged 22 and 19. I really love engaging with the younger generation because my daughters have very similar expectations and needs.

So I think the one thing that would surprise people the most is that I am a mum [chuckles]. I like to think that I am a present mother to my daughters. We spend a lot of time together, and sometimes they ask me whether I am a stay-at-home mum because I try to work from home a lot when they are around.

What do your daughters think you take too seriously? They think I am too serious about work, especially academia and scholarship. I really enjoy challenging myself academically. I am currently pursuing a PhD, so I have ample opportunity for intellectual rigour, and they get to see me doing that.

You are pursuing a PhD alongside all these other multi-potentialities that you have. How do you manage all of this? It is an integral part of who I am. Around 2012, I made a commitment to learn at least one new thing every year. Continuous growth is a deliberate process. There are days dedicated to academia, days focused on my legal practice, and other days spent engaging in service at the Institute of Certified Secretaries, supporting the community, and mentoring young professionals. I have also been in Rotary.

What is one key lesson from learning something new every year that has deeply impacted how you live your life? That small steps make a huge impact. When I first stumbled into arbitration, I took what we call the entry course and thought it would take forever to learn the nitty-gritty and become an expert. But by breaking complex subjects like arbitration and mediation down into bite-sized pieces, mastering them became manageable. It has been a privilege to start where no structure previously existed and build one day at a time.

I also learned that becoming an expert requires dedicating 10,000 hours to a subject. I resolved to invest those 10,000 hours, knowing that even if I shifted focus later, I would have acquired valuable expertise.

What achievement are you secretly proud of? I think I really like being a mum haha! I am proud of my professional work, but there is something I am doing that very few people know about. Every Wednesday, I attend a diploma class in Theological Education by Extension at PCEA St Andrews. It allows me to connect my faith with my intellectual pursuits, and earning that certificate is my goal for this year.

What part of being a mother has been the hardest to learn? Parenting is inherently challenging. My eldest daughter, who recently graduated as a lawyer, pointed out that I was projecting my own goals onto her. That was hard. I thought that I could guide her path, but she opted to pursue public policy rather than commercial law.

Was it easy to let go of control? No, it was very hard. When you experience an empty nest for the first time, you become deeply introspective and have to recalibrate your life almost from scratch. As children become adults and take charge of their own lives, letting go is far more challenging than managing earlier stages of parenting.

Having built your life through continuous learning, what do you hope your daughters build differently? It’s a deep question. My own mother encouraged me to be a go-getter, to be myself, and not to be afraid of reaching out. That is what I have taught my daughters. My life has been an incredibly rich experience, and I hope they derive similar fulfilment from their professional and personal journeys.

When was the last time you did something purely for Jacky? I cannot even remember haha! Serving others is what genuinely brings me joy. When my daughters were very young, before taking on professional institutional leadership, I was heavily involved in community service through Rotary.

I eventually rose to become the Rotary Kenya Country Chair during a season when we were restructuring the district from five countries-Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Sudan (later Eritrea)-into separate districts. That service provided incredible leadership training through interacting with ordinary citizens across East Africa. Travelling across the region demonstrated that despite regional nuances, our fundamental aspirations, challenges, and ideals are remarkably similar. It also heightened my deep appreciation for Kenya.

What are your primary interests outside work? I am a workaholic. What truly drives me in work and leadership is engaging with, observing, and serving people.

No hobbies whatsoever? I have explored several over the years, though I do not maintain a strict routine. I sang with a choir in Mombasa for two years, and I tried playing golf, but it did not stick because I do not follow a fixed schedule. I think of myself as a non-conformist.

How do you ensure that work does not prevent you from being present in the moment-such as being buried in your phone? I maintain too many diverse interests to be consumed by a single distraction. My phone is a work tool that I keep accessible for urgent matters, but when I sit down with someone or engage with a group, I remain fully present.

What core rules do you live by? My primary rule is to learn something new every single day. My second is courage. Not arrogant bravado, but the quiet courage to speak out when silence would be easier.

Why is daily learning so vital to you? Learning drives personal growth. A mentor once told me, ‘Jacqueline, make sure that every day you can say that you are not only growing in age, but in wisdom.’ Time will always pass, but actively accumulate wisdom, knowledge, and understanding rather than merely ageing.

What habit has yielded the greatest benefit for you? Being a morning person. Starting my day early adds productive hours, enabling me to accomplish major tasks by 11 o’clock so I have the rest of the day for other pursuits. It got validation from Robin Sharma’s 5 am Club too.

Speaking of, is there a book you frequently recommend to people? Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It is my all-time favourite recommendation. It is an essential read for disruptors and leaders navigating change. It illustrates how Abraham Lincoln assembled competing rivals into a unified, effective cabinet.

A favourite takeaway of mine is Lincoln’s principle of “government of the people, for the people, by the people,” which applies directly to organisational governance by involving people and ensuring decisions create meaningful public impact. Another profound concept from Lincoln’s story is sharpening the axe beforehand by investing 80 per cent of your effort in preparation so that execution takes only 20 per cent of the time.

What should be common knowledge but isn’t? That there are sufficient resources for everyone if equal opportunities are provided. Many people operate from a scarcity mindset and an excessive urge to accumulate, driven by historical fears of hardship and having to go back there. The remedy lies in leveraging our rich human capital and empowering citizens through visionary leadership.

What do people get wrong about you? People often assume I am soft because of my soft-spoken and calm demeanour. However, my calmness is actually my superpower.

What advice should women be cautious of accepting? To “be nice”. In many contexts, telling a woman to be nice is an indirect way of asking her to step down or yield her position or taking advantage of them. It is really context-specific, but women should critically analyse the situation before deciding whether being “nice” serves their interests.

What have you become worse at with age? Having filters. They tend to dry up as you grow older. Beyond age 50, you gain the clarity and freedom to authentically focus on your core priorities without worrying about pleasing everyone.

What has been the greatest blessing of reaching half a century? Experiencing positive societal transformation firsthand and actively contributing to emerging fields. For instance, my PhD research focuses on artificial intelligence and sustainable finance, where technology meets social consciousness in the financial space. It is a privilege to contribute governance experience to emerging technology while seeing the next generation thrive in a dynamic Kenya. This is my small thing.

What fundamental lesson has life taught you? Life changes, and those who adapt thrive.

What is the soundtrack of your life currently? Uplifting gospel music, particularly songs reflecting gratitude for God’s blessings like Baruch Hashem Adonai, sung by Maranatha! Music.

Who do you know that I should know? Dr Deche Mercy. She is a powerhouse in academia but has served in public spaces and professional spaces. The first time we met, we had been invited to a career fair in Mombasa, and she was married and raising her family there. She spoke immediately after me, which made a huge impression on me. She noted that law is a unique profession where earning capacity ranges from zero shillings to infinity based on individual dedication and effort. Her wisdom made a lasting impression and deeply inspired my approach to legal practice. Have I said she’s also in Mombasa and Nairobi and the whole country? [chuckles]

He presses two fingers into his calf, flexes the muscle once, then lets it relax. His shoulders roll back, his chest lifts, and for a brief second, his whole body snaps into a bodybuilding pose before he settles into his chair again. Wellington “Willy” Owiye studies his body the way some people reread a draft before publishing.

He does not say he built it. He says he edited his body.

“In 2025, I realised some muscles weren’t keeping up with the rest,” says the 33-year-old. “So I went quiet. I studied my training, fixed my sleep, rebuilt my diet and worked on the body parts that were falling behind.”

To him, editing is not about dramatic change. It is about patiently correcting what is missing, one muscle at a time. “I had some lagging muscles,” he says with a grin. “Right now, I’m fully edited.”

He is now training for the Body Fuel Championship set on October 10, meaning even more gruelling exercises.

He follows a strict rhythm, built around two things: training and eating.

‘Monday is a chest day, Tuesday for legs, Wednesday for shoulders, Thursday for back, Friday for arms, abs, and calves, and Saturday brings legs again along with more calf work,’ he says. Sunday is the only day he rests.

A normal session runs close to two hours. On a strong day, it can stretch to three hours. On a tired day, it might reduce the exercises to an hour and a half. Willy sometimes trains twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, a habit he has kept for two to three years, long before this current cycle even began.

But close to the competition, the purpose behind his training has changed completely. He is no longer chasing bigger muscles. What is left now is revealing what is already there, pulling the quad sweep into view, carving out the cut between the hamstring and the calf, bringing up the separation in his shoulders. He picks his legs as an example, and as he explains it, he closes his eyes right there, the way he does in the gym, his hand resting lightly on his thigh.

“In my preparation, I am more focused on these particular muscles,” he says. “The quad, the calf, the cuts in between. Normally I train when I’m closing my eyes. And I try to locate that muscle in my body.”

He explains that this kind of body awareness is not something everyone has. A bodybuilder trains that awareness the same way an athlete trains any skill, slowly, over years, until every single muscle can be called up and controlled on command, almost like flipping a switch.

He says he has cut out food variety so he can understand exactly how his body reacts to each ingredient. His carbohydrates come almost entirely from white rice and sweet potato. His protein comes from chicken, paired with broccoli, and sometimes a small serving of avocado when his body needs a bit of healthy fat.

For the past three weeks, his meals have barely changed. Chicken breast and white rice, again and again.

‘It is a boring diet,’ he says. ‘But I have to do it.’

What he eats

Eggs carry their own place in his daily routine. ‘My mornings begin with three whole eggs before heading to training. Afterwards, I take two more, this time eating mainly the yolks, alongside a small portion of carbohydrates. By the time my day ends, I have taken like eight to 10 eggs in total,’ he told BDLife.

None of this comes cheap. A kilogramme of chicken breast currently costs around Sh780. Broccoli goes for between Sh100 and Sh200. A single egg goes for Sh15 to Sh17. The more concentrated protein his body needs at this stage currently costs around Sh22,000. Then come the supplements, which push the numbers even higher. He takes creatine, fish oil, magnesium, and zinc, each one playing its own small part in keeping his body ready.

He says having an exercise companion also helped him start a career as a fitness coach.

He noticed that many people don’t know how to train. ‘When I was training, and someone was looking, they were like, hey, since you look good and fit, can I train with you? Can we be training together? ‘

No heavy lifting

He got training partners, and the small beginning grew steadily. Willy realised he had built a following at the gym. People trusted him and wanted his guidance. In 2021, he made the leap, leaving his job as a salesperson at Dr Mattress to become a full-time trainer.

Bodybuilding came soon after that decision. ‘I never wanted to become a bodybuilder,’ he says. ‘I just wanted my name to be known. And in fitness, the only way, or the chances of your name being known, is through bodybuilding and training events.’

People around him kept telling him he had the frame for it, and eventually the idea stuck. He competed for the first time in 2021, at what he remembers as Mr 001, likely the very first edition of that competition. ‘It did not go the way I had hoped. I was new to everything, unsure of what the judges wanted, unsure of how my own body would hold up under the lights,’ says Willy. He rested the following year and kept building quietly in the background.

By 2023, he felt ready again. He participated in Mr East Africa carrying a better understanding of what competing truly demanded, and it paid off.

‘This time, I placed third in my category. That feeling, seeing months of quiet work reflected while I was on stage, pulled me forward.’

He competed again in 2024, this time with more confidence, inviting friends and clients to come watch him perform. He placed third again.

With four weeks left before the Body Fuel Championship, Willy is careful about every choice he makes, because this stretch of time carries its own risks. He explains that right now, he should not feel fully ready, because peaking too early is one of the biggest mistakes a bodybuilder can make.

‘At the moment, I am not supposed to be ready,’ he says. ‘Because if I am ready at this moment, that will mean that by the time October, I’ll be past ready. And that is the mistake that people do. You get in shape way before the competition.’

He has learned that lesson the hard way before, and he is not willing to repeat it. So he avoids lifting heavy weights in these final weeks, choosing lighter, controlled movements instead, working each muscle through repetition rather than raw strength.

‘Heavy lifting now carries too much risk of injury, and an injury at this stage, with my diet stripped down the way it is, could set my recovery back by months, possibly past the competition itself,’ he explains.

He also watches his weight closely, understanding that it will naturally drop as the event approaches, whether he wants it to or not. ‘The goal now is simply to manage that drop with patience rather than panic.’

Kenyans has been hit by unease following a pronouncement by President William Ruto that foreign nationals be barred from operating micro and small enterprises in the country. The pronouncement particularly rattled nationals of East African Community (EAC) countries such as Burundi who have thronged into Kenya over the years.

The Business Daily reviews what it takes for EAC nationals to live, work or do business in Kenya.

After many years, Centum Investment Company became a debt-free holding company in the year ended March 2026.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm had used large amounts of debt to fund its expansion, sometimes borrowing and issuing guarantees on behalf of subsidiaries which also contracted debt on their own in some cases.

While the holding company became debt-free, the risk of debt has grown in the portfolio companies according to disclosures in Centum’s latest annual report.

The group’s bank borrowings-representing amounts owed by the operating units-rose to Sh13.6 billion in the review period from Sh12.2 billion a year earlier.

More of the businesses-compared to the prior year-are struggling to repay their obligations or comply with conditions set by the financiers.

This has resulted in renegotiations with lenders.

Longhorn Publishers’ credit facility from Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, for instance, increased to Sh910.2 million from Sh559.5 million as the company breached the loan terms including the capacity to service its debt from cash flows and current assets.

‘Management is actively engaging with the bank (StanChart) regarding the outstanding obligations, including discussions on a potential capital injection and the disposal of the charged property to reduce indebtedness and strengthen the company’s financial position,’ Centum said of Longhorn’s indebtedness.

The terms tied to a $20 million credit facility from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for an affordable housing project by Centum Real Estate were also breached, with the subsidiary obtaining a waiver from the financier.

‘As at 31 March 2026, the group was not in compliance with the liabilities to tangible net worth ratio covenant,’ Centum said of the loan condition.

‘The group obtained a formal waiver from the lender prior to the authorisation of these financial statements, and accordingly, the borrowing continues to be classified as a non-current [long term] liability.

Breach of loan terms triggers the reclassification of long term loans into short-term facilities, effectively demanding that a borrower settles the amount within 12 months.

This is designed to protect the interest of creditors. A waiver, however, allows the borrower to stick to the original repayment schedule on the understanding that its financial position is likely to improve.

Vantage Capital, which provided a $32.3 million debt facility to Two Rivers Land Company (SEZ) Limited, waived the terms of the loan.

NCBA Bank Kenya issued a waiver to Two Rivers Power Company Limited to which it had lent 1.44 million euros. The subsidiary, which provides electricity to the Two Rivers property complex, exceeded the debt limits agreed with NCBA.

The utility also breached terms set by Grid X Duara Holdings, another creditor from which it borrowed $7 million in the form of a convertible loan.

‘At 31 March 2026, Two Rivers Power Company was in breach of both covenants. As such, the borrowing facility has been classified as a current liability [payable in the short term],’ Centum said.

While the lender had an option of converting its claims into shares of the company, no such conversion had occurred by the end of the reporting period.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm did not report new developments with regard to the borrowings in the subsequent events section which captures material issues occurring after the end of the reporting period (March 2026).

Some of the loans are in compliance including a $38.5 million facility from Nedbank Limited owed by Two Rivers Land Company (SEZ) Limited and a $1.9 million loan from NCBA Uganda Limited owed by Pearl Marina Estates Limited.

Centum has been attacking the debt problem over the years to de-risk the business as several of the operating units underperformed while the liabilities including interest expenses piled up.

The group incurred total finance costs of Sh2.19 billion in the review period, up from Sh1.65 billion the year before.

In the review period, Centum settled loans from Stanbic Bank Kenya and Standard Bank of South Africa which were owed Sh690 million and Sh1.32 billion respectively in the prior year.

The company has relied on asset sales to raise funds for the debt repayment efforts. By eliminating debt at the holding company level, Centum has reduced the risk of the subsidiaries’ indebtedness spreading to owners of the NSE-listed firm which holds diverse assets.

A debt crisis at a subsidiary will be resolved using its own assets, except where the parent firm has issued guarantees.

Most of the bank borrowings have been secured using Centum’s real estate assets including land and buildings worth Sh42 billion at the end of the review period.

Centum recently sold a 60 percent stake in asset manager Nabo Capital Limited to Rock Investment Bank Limited.

One of its most prominent divestitures was the 2019 sale of its ownership in the local Coca-Cola bottlers for Sh19.3 billion.

Centum previously invested heavily in listed stocks before pivoting to the more capital-intensive private equity and real estate using borrowed funds.

He presses two fingers into his calf, flexes the muscle once, then lets it relax. His shoulders roll back, his chest lifts, and for a brief second, his whole body snaps into a bodybuilding pose before he settles into his chair again. Wellington “Willy” Owiye studies his body the way some people reread a draft before publishing.

He does not say he built it. He says he edited his body.

“In 2025, I realised some muscles weren’t keeping up with the rest,” says the 33-year-old. “So I went quiet. I studied my training, fixed my sleep, rebuilt my diet and worked on the body parts that were falling behind.”

To him, editing is not about dramatic change. It is about patiently correcting what is missing, one muscle at a time. “I had some lagging muscles,” he says with a grin. “Right now, I’m fully edited.”

Wellington Owiye, also known as Willy Owiye, 33, a professional gym trainer and bodybuilder, flexes his muscles during a fitness session at Ark La Creme Fitness Center in Ruaka on September 11, 2026.

Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group

He is now training for the Body Fuel Championship set on October 10, meaning even more gruelling exercises.

He follows a strict rhythm, built around two things: training and eating.

‘Monday is a chest day, Tuesday for legs, Wednesday for shoulders, Thursday for back, Friday for arms, abs, and calves, and Saturday brings legs again along with more calf work,’ he says. Sunday is the only day he rests.

A normal session runs close to two hours. On a strong day, it can stretch to three hours. On a tired day, it might reduce the exercises to an hour and a half. Willy sometimes trains twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, a habit he has kept for two to three years, long before this current cycle even began.

But close to the competition, the purpose behind his training has changed completely. He is no longer chasing bigger muscles. What is left now is revealing what is already there, pulling the quad sweep into view, carving out the cut between the hamstring and the calf, bringing up the separation in his shoulders. He picks his legs as an example, and as he explains it, he closes his eyes right there, the way he does in the gym, his hand resting lightly on his thigh.

“In my preparation, I am more focused on these particular muscles,” he says. “The quad, the calf, the cuts in between. Normally I train when I’m closing my eyes. And I try to locate that muscle in my body.”

Wellington Owiye performs a dumbbell bicep curl during a fitness session at Ark La Creme Fitness Center in Ruaka on September 11, 2026.

Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group

He explains that this kind of body awareness is not something everyone has. A bodybuilder trains that awareness the same way an athlete trains any skill, slowly, over years, until every single muscle can be called up and controlled on command, almost like flipping a switch.

He says he has cut out food variety so he can understand exactly how his body reacts to each ingredient. His carbohydrates come almost entirely from white rice and sweet potato. His protein comes from chicken, paired with broccoli, and sometimes a small serving of avocado when his body needs a bit of healthy fat.

For the past three weeks, his meals have barely changed. Chicken breast and white rice, again and again.

‘It is a boring diet,’ he says. ‘But I have to do it.’

What he eats

Eggs carry their own place in his daily routine. ‘My mornings begin with three whole eggs before heading to training. Afterwards, I take two more, this time eating mainly the yolks, alongside a small portion of carbohydrates. By the time my day ends, I have taken like eight to 10 eggs in total,’ he told BDLife.

None of this comes cheap. A kilogramme of chicken breast currently costs around Sh780. Broccoli goes for between Sh100 and Sh200. A single egg goes for Sh15 to Sh17. The more concentrated protein his body needs at this stage currently costs around Sh22,000. Then come the supplements, which push the numbers even higher. He takes creatine, fish oil, magnesium, and zinc, each one playing its own small part in keeping his body ready.

Wellington Owiye performs a seated cable row during a fitness session at Ark La Creme Fitness Center in Ruaka on September 11, 2026.

Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group

He says having an exercise companion also helped him start a career as a fitness coach.

He noticed that many people don’t know how to train. ‘When I was training, and someone was looking, they were like, hey, since you look good and fit, can I train with you? Can we be training together? ‘

No heavy lifting

He got training partners, and the small beginning grew steadily. Willy realised he had built a following at the gym. People trusted him and wanted his guidance. In 2021, he made the leap, leaving his job as a salesperson at Dr Mattress to become a full-time trainer.

Bodybuilding came soon after that decision. ‘I never wanted to become a bodybuilder,’ he says. ‘I just wanted my name to be known. And in fitness, the only way, or the chances of your name being known, is through bodybuilding and training events.’

People around him kept telling him he had the frame for it, and eventually the idea stuck. He competed for the first time in 2021, at what he remembers as Mr 001, likely the very first edition of that competition. ‘It did not go the way I had hoped. I was new to everything, unsure of what the judges wanted, unsure of how my own body would hold up under the lights,’ says Willy. He rested the following year and kept building quietly in the background.

Wellington Owiye performs a reverse pec-deck fly (rear-delt fly) during a fitness session at Ark La Creme Fitness Center in Ruaka on September 11, 2026.

Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group

By 2023, he felt ready again. He participated in Mr East Africa carrying a better understanding of what competing truly demanded, and it paid off.

‘This time, I placed third in my category. That feeling, seeing months of quiet work reflected while I was on stage, pulled me forward.’

He competed again in 2024, this time with more confidence, inviting friends and clients to come watch him perform. He placed third again.

With four weeks left before the Body Fuel Championship, Willy is careful about every choice he makes, because this stretch of time carries its own risks. He explains that right now, he should not feel fully ready, because peaking too early is one of the biggest mistakes a bodybuilder can make.

‘At the moment, I am not supposed to be ready,’ he says. ‘Because if I am ready at this moment, that will mean that by the time October, I’ll be past ready. And that is the mistake that people do. You get in shape way before the competition.’

He has learned that lesson the hard way before, and he is not willing to repeat it. So he avoids lifting heavy weights in these final weeks, choosing lighter, controlled movements instead, working each muscle through repetition rather than raw strength.

‘Heavy lifting now carries too much risk of injury, and an injury at this stage, with my diet stripped down the way it is, could set my recovery back by months, possibly past the competition itself,’ he explains.

He also watches his weight closely, understanding that it will naturally drop as the event approaches, whether he wants it to or not. ‘The goal now is simply to manage that drop with patience rather than panic.’

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has criticised President William Ruto’s government for supporting Kenya Airways while simultaneously imposing charges and policies that increase the cost of air travel and undermine the national carrier’s growth.

IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East, Kamil Al-Awadhi, said Kenya is among several African countries imposing excessive taxes, levies and charges on aviation, with the recently introduced mandatory travel insurance for international visitors adding to the burden.

Kenya Airways, he said, cannot thrive when it is being squeezed by taxes and charges in Kenya and across the continent, which push up fares and erode airlines’ already thin profit margins amid rising fuel costs and other industry pressures.

‘What bothers me is that the entities within the African governments are squeezing more and more out of their airlines,’ Mr Al-Awadhi said in a press briefing on the sidelines of the Aviation Africa Conference in Nairobi on Thursday.

‘You hear the same guy say, ‘I want to create a national carrier, the pride of Africa,’ and I agree with him. That same guy, ‘we’re going to charge $5 API-PNR.’ Why are you charging something that passengers have nothing to do with?’

Advance Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record (API-PNR) are separate datasets that airlines transmit to border control authorities before passengers arrive. Kenya charges airlines $4.95 (Sh640) per passenger for processing the data, a fee that has drawn criticism from the aviation industry.

The API-PNR fee comes on top of the $50 (Sh6,470) Air Passenger Service Charge (APSC) imposed on international travellers, while domestic passengers pay Sh600. The international charge was increased from $40 and the domestic charge from Sh500 in 2018.

Mr Al-Awadhi also criticised Kenya’s introduction of mandatory health insurance for international visitors, saying the additional $44 cost will ultimately increase the price of travelling to the country and could suppress demand.

‘Kenya has just added $44 for medical insurance to the ticket. Don’t you think there’s gonna be an impact on the number of passengers travelling?’ he said.

He attributed the proliferation of aviation charges partly to poor coordination among government agencies and a failure to appreciate the wider economic contribution of aviation.

The criticism comes as the government supports Kenya Airways’ turnaround efforts, including helping guarantee the airline’s debt and seeking a strategic investor to inject fresh capital into the carrier.

But IATA argues that such support is undermined if government agencies continue extracting more revenue from the airline and the wider aviation sector through taxes, levies and fees.

According to IATA, African airlines, including Kenya Airways, are expected to make an average net profit of only $0.40 (Sh52) per passenger seat this year, down from $1.50 (Sh194) last year.

‘This is because of the ridiculous prices of fuel today in Africa specifically, and the crazy, illogical, down-to-theft charges, levies, and fees on aviation,’ Mr Al-Awadhi said.

In June, African states, including Kenya, committed through the Lomé Ministerial Declaration to reduce excessive taxes, levies and fees on aviation as part of efforts to lower operating costs and improve the competitiveness of African airlines.

However, IATA says governments have yet to take meaningful steps to reduce the charges.

President Ruto this week signed the Air Passenger Service Charge Amendment Act into law, expanding the purposes for which APSC proceeds can be used to include the Kenya Meteorological Department, alongside the Kenya Airports Authority and the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority.

The development increases the number of government agencies relying on the passenger charge, even as the aviation industry calls for lower costs to support the growth of air connectivity and airlines such as Kenya Airways.

Kenya Airways has restructured its top management, changing the reporting lines of different business segments, in a bid to strengthen its business amid continued financial and operational pressures.

The restructure, effected days after the airline’s acting CEO George Kamal resigned for personal reasons, will see at least four segments previously under the Strategy and Innovation division transferred to the Commercial division headed by Julius Thairu.

Ms Hellen Mathuka headed the restructured Strategy and Innovation division.

The four affected segments include the head of pricing and revenue management, head of network planning and alliances, head of media and public relations, and head of government affairs.

In an internal memo seen by Business Daily, the airline said the changes were part of an organisational realignment intended to make Kenya Airways more ‘competitive, commercially agile, and operationally excellent’. The changes took effect on September 7, 2026.

‘The management changes outlined below are designed to strengthen alignment, sharpen accountability, and accelerate delivery against our strategic priorities,’ KQ’s acting chief people officer Judith Maye said in the internal communication.

She said the consolidation was intended to create a more integrated approach to revenue generation, market positioning and stakeholder engagement.

The move effectively brings functions that directly influence how the airline prices its seats, deploys its network, manages its brand and engages governments and regulators under one commercial umbrella.

It is meant to bring more of KQ’s commercial decisions under Mr Thairu, the commercial manager, who reports to the CEO, and has been tasked with boosting the airline’s sales and marketability.

The airline said the changes would allow pricing, network, brand and government relations to operate as a ‘cohesive commercial ecosystem’, enabling faster decision-making and a more coordinated go-to-market strategy.

The airline also moved the head of fleet development from Ms Mathuka’s division to the technical division, a move it said will ‘ensure fleet planning decisions are closely integrated with our engineering, maintenance and operational readiness capabilities, enabling a more seamless approach to fleet lifecycle management’.

The managing director for cargo has also been moved from the strategy division to head a separate division that will report directly to the CEO, as the carrier capitalises on cargo growth to grow its revenues.

The restructuring comes at a critical point for KQ, which is seeking to improve its financial position by restoring aircraft capacity and pursuing fresh capital.

Insiders who spoke to Business Daily said Mr Kamal and his predecessor Allan Kilavuka had championed the disbanded work structure.

The structure, however, is said to have caused several frictions at the carrier, with the commercial chief said to have limited control over the departments meant to help execute his role.

Kenya Airways’ net loss for the six months to June 2026 jumped by 31.9 percent to Sh16 billion after its costs grew exponentially to a record level, due to the Middle East conflict.

The national flag carrier’s costs during the period surged by 12 percent to a record Sh97.7 billion, up from last year’s Sh86.7 billion, pushing up its losses from the Sh12.2 billion reported in the first half of 2025.

This was largely due to a surge in fuel costs, which rose to Sh29 billion, accounting for roughly 32 percent of its operating costs, up 66 percent from Sh17.47 billion, which was 22 percent of operating costs.

The airline’s revenues rose to Sh81.2 billion from Sh74.5 billion, supported by growing passenger numbers and demand on key routes, with several international travellers being rerouted through African routes amidst the Middle East shutdown.

Artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic has revealed how its Claude chatbot was used to mass-produce fake social media posts praising Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi and attack Kenya’s opposition.

The AI safety and research firm said a Claude user generated Kenyan political content designed to appear as organic public sentiment, including batches of fake posts on the social media platform X.

The content praised Mr Wandayi for allegedly stopping a scheduled electricity tariff increase.

The operation also pushed claims that the United Opposition coalition was breaking apart ahead of the 2027 elections, targeting politicians including former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua and former president Uhuru Kenyatta.

It reveals how AI is emerging as a new tool for political influence in Kenya ahead of the 2027 General Election, as political operators use the technology to manufacture apparent public support for politicians.

‘We identified and removed an account that was used by a single actor to mass-produce Kenyan political content,’ Anthropic said in a new report detailing AI misuse cases on its platform between December 2025 and August 2026.

‘The operation was built to look like spontaneous, grassroots public sentiment. The actor used Claude across several sessions to generate batches of exactly 50 tweets.’

The Claude prompts instructed the chatbot that the posts should look like organic grassroots commentary rather than a coordinated campaign. They used hashtags including #PowerReliefKE and #PoweringTheNewKenya to amplify the messaging.

While Anthropic’s investigation did not establish the identities of those behind the operation, the company said the pro-government tone and specific hashtags suggested that it was plausibly aligned with President William Ruto’s supporters.

‘We believe this was a local Kenyan political astroturfing campaign,’ the report said, referencing an organised effort that looks like a natural, spontaneous public movement, but is sponsored by hidden political interests.

‘The network’s pro-administration tone and specific hashtags suggest it was plausibly aligned with the ruling coalition, though we have not identified the exact organisation responsible.’

Read: Protecting your reputation in age of AI, and fake news

It said the operation did not ultimately reach real people, with its activity remaining isolated within a network of fake accounts and local influences on a single platform.

Anthropic said it probed Kenya following a tip from the rival US firm OpenAI about undisclosed criminal activity on its ChatGPT platform.

‘While a social media site usually sees an operation once its content is already circulating, we may see it on Claude while the operation is still being built,’ the company said.

The investigation comes amid growing concern about the use of AI to manipulate political and civic discourse.

Kenya’s information ecosystem is increasingly dependent on social media platforms such as Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and WhatsApp, creating new avenues for political messaging outside traditional platforms like television, newspapers and radio.

A recent Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) study found that alternative media actors on social media are shaping political narratives, often with less editorial accountability than traditional media.

The study, based on monitoring conducted between January and March 2026, found a pattern in which misleading narratives can move across platforms and become progressively harder to challenge.

The think tank flagged Facebook for providing the starting point through fabricated newspaper headlines, doctored political graphics, and impersonated editorial content.

It said TikTok then accelerates the narratives through emotionally charged and selectively edited clips, while YouTube and podcast channels give them a longer life through extended commentary and speculation on platforms like podcasts.

‘Platform algorithms play an important role… Content that generates stronger emotional reactions-anger, humour, outrage, fear, or political loyalty-is often amplified more widely through recommendation systems and reposting behaviour,’ said the report.

‘As a result, sensational political narratives may receive greater visibility than balanced or evidence-based reporting.’

Read: How Raila deepfake exposes digital weak spot, sparks AI alarm

The growing use of generative AI raises the risks, as experts warn that AI-generated deepfakes and manipulated content will become more sophisticated ahead of the 2027 elections.

‘False content may become more convincing and harder to detect; manipulated media may spread rapidly across platforms; and verification processes may struggle to keep pace,’ KICTANet said.

Kenya has faced politically driven online manipulation before. During the 2017 General Election, British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica was embroiled in controversy over claims that it used data analytics, psychological profiling, social media ads and grassroots networks to influence voters.

The company was accused of using Facebook user data obtained through a third-party application to target users with fake-news campaigns.