Category: Business Daily

The truth is, scores of us will get cancer. And scores of us won’t. Some of us who get cancer will die. Others will survive. However, the ones who survive will eventually die too. Same as those who didn’t get cancer. Which makes the undeniable truth very unrevealing and boring, even that we will all die. Of something. And we all know this unavoidable fact of life, just like we know the inevitability of taxes.

To hear Prof Nicholas Othieno-Abinya say it, a well-regarded consultant medical oncologist with close to 40 years of experience in cancer study and treatment, neither offers comfort nor makes it more dire. It simply is.

Prof Abinya was a professor of medicine at the University of Nairobi, where he was director of the Medical Oncology Fellowship Programme and Head of Haematology/Oncology at Kenyatta National Hospital. He has published widely on malignant haematology and breast cancer, and founded the Kenya Society of Haematology and Oncology, of which he was the first chair and remains patron.

He got into cancer medicine because not many students wanted to, on account of poor outcomes. People didn’t survive much. ‘Why would you want to go into an area where people just die? Well, because that is exactly why a doctor should go into that area.’ The second reason was a book, Cancer Ward, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, which he read in high school. He still keeps the original copy in his office drawer, yellowed with age, its sleeve covered in a clear polythene sheet.

Now 75 and retired since 2022, Prof Abinya still sees patients at the Nairobi Hospital Cancer Centre. He controls his own timetable now. His advice to patients who’ve completed treatment remains simple: live your life. Go on living. What fascinates him now isn’t life and death, it’s the universe-all those planets and stars out there. How far does it go? ‘It’s endless out there,’ he says.

Prof, what important questions should we be asking about cancer?

Cost. That’s the central question. Cancer treatment is expensive everywhere, and there is very little preparedness among insurers, governments, or even prescribers to deal with that cost.

We live in an unequal world: Kenya is low-middle income, Europe and North America are high income, and countries like India sit somewhere in between.

Most cancer research is done in high-income countries, so treatments are priced for those economies. In the US, insurance pays once a drug is approved. Locally, insurance-public or private-doesn’t have that capacity. Incomes are simply lower.

We then adopt these new treatments quickly. They do have advantages, but the benefit-to-cost ratio is often poor. Take breast cancer: here, chemotherapy costing about Sh50,000 every three weeks gives good results. Abroad, you may spend five times more for an improvement of around 5 per cent in outcomes.

In metastatic cancer, treatment here may give a patient 11 to 12 more months. Newer drugs abroad may extend that to 15 or 16 months, but at enormous cost. The benefit exists, but it is small relative to the money spent.

If the best treatment in Nairobi cannot cure you, the chance that treatment outside Kenya will cure you is maybe 5 percent. The rest will also not cure you, only at a much higher cost. Many people don’t know this.

India illustrates this well. They have strong facilities, but they use the same medicines we do. They don’t develop their own cancer drugs; they manufacture generics. That’s why treatment there is cheaper. We don’t do that locally-and that’s part of the problem.

You have been doing this for decades. Does it get boring?

It doesn’t get boring because every day someone comes with something new-either a new disease, a new presentation, or a treatment that worked. And there are many that work. You cure people, and you’re happy. Then you forget them.

Just last year, we treated a Dutchman. His treatment started in South Africa, and we completed it here. He worked for the United Nations. Years later, from the Netherlands, he sent a woman he knew back then who had developed cancer and told her, ‘Go and see him. He treated me and cured me.’

You treat many people. A lot are cured. Many also fail. That’s what people don’t see. When treatment fails, you don’t just sit there and say there’s nothing else to do. You have to go out of your way and try other options. You start with first-line treatment. It works, patients stay well, then they relapse. You move to second-line treatment. The benefit is shorter. You look for something else. As long as a patient is still strong, you don’t let them go. You want them alive-able to work, to function, to sustain themselves.

What’s the impact of that on you-being so close to someone’s recovery, or not?

You don’t really think of it as having someone’s life in your hands. You think of it as responsibility-your responsibility to make sure they’re still around. The lady who just walked out of here.

You don’t know her, so it won’t mean much to you. She has breast cancer. There was some fiddling before the diagnosis, so by the time she came, it was a bit advanced. She is 41. We thought, ‘let’s try our best to cure her.’ We treated her with everything. After a year, she relapsed.

There are some free medications we get through a foundation called Max Access Solutions, and we treat a number of patients here using that support. We got approval for her. But she became anxious and went to India, where they started her on medication that turned out to be generics. What we have here is the original drug. We give it for free. It costs about Sh300,000 a month.

Today, she came back to start the original medication. She looks well. And that’s the point. You want people working while they’re on treatment. You don’t want patients crawling with side effects. There are many people on cancer treatment who are working. People don’t know that. They think if you’re being treated for cancer, you’re dying in your mind. That’s not how it has to be.

What stays in your mind is this: will this person survive? Will their children stay in school? Will fees be paid? That’s what matters. I must try my best so this person stays on treatment and takes care of their children, for as long as possible.

Because you know so much, do you worry less or more for yourself and your family?

Interesting. I wrote a book about my work. In there, I try to address this question. Cancer is not a nice diagnosis. It’s not. And cancers are different. There are some you hear about, and you almost feel dizzy-they’re not nice at all. But there are others where you hear the diagnosis and you think, ‘we’ll give this the best shot.’Breast cancer. Prostate cancer. Lymphomas. Cervical cancer.

Unless they are very advanced, many of these are manageable. Cure rates are high. We cure a lot of them. But if cancer comes back, that’s a big trouble. Cancer that has been treated and then comes back is extremely troublesome.

A furious cancer.

Yes. But you never lose faith. If cancer comes, face it. Go through the treatment that’s there. And once doctors say you’ve completed it, live your life. Go on living.

Don’t obsess if it will come back, doing more tests every few months. It’s a waste of time and money-it doesn’t change anything. If it comes back, it comes back, and we fight again. Because catching it early after the first treatment rarely changes survival in a meaningful way. So live your life. Do your things.

If one day you feel symptoms, get checked and get treated then. Constantly looking for recurrence won’t make you live longer. And remember this: you are human. People are born, people live, and people die. And when your time comes, you are gone.

This is a nice segue into death; what are your thoughts on death, seeing as you work closely with it?

[Chuckles] I work against it. Death is there. Sudden death is not a good thing, but if you have a disease that you know will end up killing you, then you should accept that a time will come. And when it comes, there isn’t much you can do about it.

I remember in 1978, when Jomo Kenyatta died and Daniel arap Moi had just taken over. I was a university student doing a project in Kisumu.

Moi came to the stadium, and he said something that stayed with me: siku ya mwisho iki fika imefika. Whatever you do, however much money you spend, when that day has come, it has come. So you accept that it is time to go. Other people will survive, and one day they will also follow you.

What’s the last thing that really scared you?

[Long pause] I don’t know. [Pause] I don’t know what scares me anymore. I’ve been unwell before. And when I am unwell, I tell myself: if it doesn’t last, then this is the last.

After all, I’ve been lucky to have lived all these years. There are people who die much younger. I look at the war in Ukraine, and I see the numbers; young people are dying every day. And you realise that if you die, yours is not the only death the world has ever seen. Death comes. Big people have died. Small people have died. So if you are dying,who are you? The world will not stop because someone is dying today.

How old are you now?

75.

Would you look back and say you’ve had a good life?

Yes, good in the sense that I have done what I wanted to do. And I have enjoyed doing what I do.

Up there, amongst your awards and certificates is a plaque for Best Father Award. Great validation, yes?

That was from my daughter, who was in the US. She passed on.

Oh goodness! I’m sorry.

Yeah. Anyway, some of those plaques are from my mentors, like Professor Ogada, who was a very good teacher. He was also in cancer medicine. He started coaching me when I was an undergraduate and guided me all the way into that field.

What’s been your best decade?

I think this is my best decade, my retirement, which happened in 2022. Because now I can control my own timetable. During working life, you have many things to look after-and many people giving you instructions.

You start one thing, then another instruction comes. You realise you don’t control your own time. Now I wake up in the morning and do my work. But nobody forces me to wake up.

So you’re not necessarily working for money anymore-your children are grown?

[Laughs] I still work for money. I sometimes maintain my children.

How old are they?

My children are grown. They are working. But once in a while, when someone needs support, you support them. One of them is an oncologist.

The youngest is a gynaecological oncologist. I’m a medical oncologist. So my children are all working. One is in the US. One is in business here in Kenya. The one who died in the US was a banker.

You must think about her a lot?

She died in 2023, so that’s the other day. It’s still fresh. [Pause] But death is there.death is there. Once somebody is dead, they are dead. As much as you loved them, that is the end of the story. They have died. You will not bring them back.

So, struggling endlessly over it does nothing. If you destroy yourself in the process, then all that happens is that there is another death. That is not an answer.

Are you busier now in retirement than you were, or has it slowed down a bit?

Just as busy as I was. It’s simply that I decide what I want to do. I’m still treating people. I still want to do some research. I don’t just sit there like a block. And I enjoy it because I plan it myself.

Nobody is planning it on my behalf. I also exercise, I do a lot of walking, and I also watch what I eat, as everybody should, because now I have high blood pressure and diabetes, so it’s key.

Do you have other interests outside medicine? Like, I don’t know, gardening, golf, travelling?

No, nothing. I used to watch football when I was younger. Then you go to the stadium and you meet hooliganism. Sometimes your life is at risk. So I stopped.

I switched to watching TV. Then you watch a big tournament-the World Cup-and it starts to feel like referees are deciding who wins and who doesn’t. I said, this is not real. This is rigged. So when I saw how much rigging there was in football, I eased off on it.

So, what are you most curious about now in this season of your life?

The universe. How far does it go? What structures are there, and how are they arranged? That’s what’s intriguing. The planets, the stars-the ones we’re only now realising are there.

You discover that a star is surrounded by planets we didn’t know about before. It’s endless out there. And to me, that is extremely intriguing.

Do you think God put them there? Do you believe in God? The more people like you study science, the less they believe in God.

I believe in God, yes. But you are right, mostly that’s true. But these things just didn’t happen. They didn’t just appear. I know there are people who believe they did and try to explain it physically, but to me, it doesn’t add up.

What I understand as creation is a continuous process. Take the human being: what humans could do a thousand years ago, what they can do today, and what they will do tomorrow-that, to me, is part of creation. And the ability to keep doing it is controlled.

And to me, that is God’s work. Not the work of human beings. God’s work.

Do you believe in miracles? Do they sometimes happen to desperate patients?

You’re really asking about faith healing. Yes, I believe there is faith healing. But not in the way people make it look. It’s not as simple as going somewhere, people falling down, throwing away crutches, throwing crosses, and suddenly everything is fine. No.

That, to me, has nothing to do with it. The prophets of today who claim to heal people all over the place-I don’t believe in that. What I believe is this: some people can be healed by faith. Not many, but some.

Treatment is given, yes. And their faith is added to it. They go through very difficult diseases, very difficult treatments, and they come out of it. There are a few, but they exist.

The Court of Appeal has frozen transactions and dealings on a disputed prime Muthaiga property once owned by the late President Daniel arap Moi after Equity Group CEO James Mwangi sought to reclaim the land, now valued at approximately Sh1 billion.

In a consent order issued yesterday, the appellate court ruled that the ‘status quo’ on the property must be maintained pending the hearing of Mr Mwangi’s appeal against a High Court judgment that revoked his title.

The court further ordered Mr Mwangi and his wife, Jane Wangui, to, within 60 days, deposit a security of Sh10 million in a joint account held by the advocates’ sides involved in the dispute. The court also directed that the appeal be fast-tracked.

The case pits the couple against Mount Pleasant Limited in a dispute over land in Nairobi’s upscale Muthaiga area, with competing ownership claims tracing back to transactions involving the late Moi in the 1980s and a contested transfer decades later.

A three-judge bench recorded the parties’ consent and set strict timelines for filings, signalling its intention to resolve the appeal swiftly.

The status quo order prohibits either party from selling, charging, developing, or altering the property’s registration while the appeal is pending -a measure aimed at preserving the disputed asset and preventing further complications in already convoluted land records.

Mr Mwangi contends that he purchased the land measuring 3.7 acres from Moi in December 2012 for Sh320 million.

Central to the appeal is a detailed Environment and Land Court judgment delivered in October 2025 following a trial that traced the property’s ownership history to the early 1900s.

Mount Pleasant told the court it acquired two parcels -LR 214/20/2 and LR 214/20/1/1- from the family of former Finance Cabinet Minister Arthur Magugu between 2006 and 2007 for Sh130 million after banks had charged and later discharged the land. The company stated that it later took possession.

Mount Pleasant further claimed that the Magugu family had purchased the land from Moi in 1982. After acquiring it from them in 2006, the company sought development approvals and maintained that it was the lawful owner.

The firm argued that any subsequent transfer to Mr Mwangi was legally untenable since Moi had already conveyed the land to the Magugus in 1982, thereby relinquishing his interest.

Mount Pleasant also contested registry entries from 2013 that showed a conveyance to the Mwangis and a later amalgamation into LR 214/832, alleging inconsistencies, lack of supporting surrender documents, and irregular signatures.

Consequently, it sought cancellation of the Mwangis’ titles and reinstatement of its own.

However, Mr Mwangi testified before the trial court that he and his wife bought the land directly from the late Moi in December 2012 for Sh320.6 million, paid stamp duty, and took possession in 2013.

He stated that he secured planning approvals, pursued amalgamation, and ultimately received a title deed in 2019.

Mr Mwangi emphasised that the purchase was intended for a family home and held personal significance, adding that he retained the original conveyance document handed to him by the former president.

He explained that he entered into an agreement with Moi for the property’s purchase and that before finalising the deal, they conducted searches, verified details, and commissioned a valuation.

However, evidence from the land registry complicated both parties’ claims. The Chief Land Registrar testified that key parcel files were missing, some volume and file numbers cited in the entries did not match historical records, and entries purporting to transfer the land to the Mwangis were unsigned and lacked supporting documentation.

The registrar’s office also disclosed that a lease for the amalgamated parcel was later prepared and a title issued, even as investigators raised doubts about the authenticity of certain documents.

The trial court ultimately ruled in favor of Mount Pleasant, nullifying the 2013 transfer and amalgamation while criticizing irregularities in the registry process. This decision prompted Mr Mwangi to appeal.

His application sought an order to halt enforcement of the judgment and preserve the property pending appeal.

The Court of Appeal granted the request, ordering maintenance of the status quo and a Sh10 million security deposit to prevent further transactions. It also indicated that the appeal should proceed expeditiously.

Additionally, the court directed that the matter be listed for case management within 30 days, with submissions and legal authorities to be filed beforehand.

As governments race to digitise public services, digital identity systems are increasingly framed as efficient, modern and inevitable. The United Kingdom is no exception.

Recent policy directions under Prime Minister Keir Starmer point towards expanded use of digital identity and digital-only immigration status systems in visas, right to work checks and access to housing. While this debate may seem distant it should matter greatly to Kenyan students considering the UK as a study destination.

The issue is not technology. The issue is what these systems are designed to do and who they are designed for. The UK does not yet have a single national mandatory digital ID.However, immigration and residency status for many migrants and international students already exists primarily in digital form.

Physical documents are increasingly replaced by online status checks.

In theory this improves efficiency.In practice it concentrates power in databases.When systems work perfectly, digital identity feels seamless.When they fail the consequences are immediate and personal.

Students have reported difficulties proving lawful status, delays in accessing housing and problems securing part time employment because a system could not verify them correctly. In such cases there is no physical document to rely on only a digital record that may be incomplete, inaccurate or temporarily unavailable.

Modern data protection frameworks emphasise fairness, accuracy, accountability and respect for individuals’ rights. When a digital system determines whether someone can work, rent a home or continue studying these principles are not abstract legal ideas they are practical necessities.

A system that is digital only, difficult to correct and heavily automated places international students in a vulnerable position especially when they lack local support networks or familiarity with complex administrative processes. Errors that might be minor inconveniences for citizens can become existential barriers for migrants and students.

Kenya itself is rapidly digitising public services, but the UK experience offers a warning in that technology cannot compensate for poor governance choices.

Digital systems should reduce dependency does not increase vulnerability. They should make institutions more accountable not harder to reach. For Kenyan students looking to the UK this debate is not abstract policy.

It is about whether digital progress will serve them or silently exclude them. That is a question worth asking now before systems fail the people they are meant to serve.

One of the most troubling outcomes of digital immigration checks in the UK has been indirect discrimination.

Faced with complex digital verification requirements some landlords and employers choose the safest route which is avoiding anyone who appears ‘foreign’ or whose status might require additional checks. This is not always driven by prejudice.It is driven by system design.

When systems shift risk from institutions to individuals as a result thereof exclusion becomes a rational response.

When exclusion becomes widespread, equality before the law is quietly undermined. The UK remains a top destination for Kenyan students representing opportunity, global exposure and professional growth.

Studying abroad is a major investment both financially and personally. Students do not migrate to navigate fragile digital systems. They migrate to learn, contribute and build futures.Any policy that places their education, housing or work prospects at the mercy of malfunctioning or inflexible digital identity infrastructure deserves scrutiny.

The UK’s digital ID push is not that digitisation is wrong. It is that digitisation without inclusion fails. Systems designed primarily for enforcement behave very differently from systems designed to support people through transition. The former tolerate exclusion as collateral damage

The latter treat exclusion as a design flaw. If digital identity systems are to succeed whether in the UK, Kenya or elsewhere they must be built with human fallback mechanisms, clear and accessible correction processes and rights protected by default not by exception. Digital transformation is necessary.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has taken over the operations of clean energy startup Koko Networks, which has been placed under administration amid hopes of a possible revival of the cash-strapped firm.

Muniu Thoithi and George Weru of PwC were appointed joint administrators of the troubled startup on February 1, 2025, two days after Koko announced the closure of its business amid financial woes.

Administration is a process through which a third party, an administrator, is appointed to take over the affairs of a company in distress to improve its financial situation for the benefit of its creditors or to affect a sale of the business to preserve its value.

The appointment of the two administrators marks a last attempt to rescue the firm or ensure that all its creditors and suppliers are paid before Koko ends its 11-year stay in the local market.

‘The administrators request anyone with a claim against the companies (Koko Networks Limited and Koko Networks Global Services) to submit it to them within the next 14 days from the date of this notice, for inclusion in the companies’ roll of creditors,’ the joint administrators said in a notice on Wednesday.

Under the Insolvency Act 2015, administrators have two major roles: restoring a company to financial health or selling the company’s assets to compensate its debtors – mainly creditors and suppliers – if a revival is not possible.

Koko announced an end to its Kenyan operations on Friday last week amid a biting cash crunch, made worse by the failure to obtain government approval to sell carbon credits in lucrative markets outside Kenya and raise money to cover its subsidised energy project and other operations.

Its abrupt exit has left at least 1.5 million customers in limbo, mostly in the low-income segment, who relied on its clean and affordable Koko fuel for cooking. At least 700 direct employees have also been rendered jobless.

The energy startup disclosed that the government had denied it a licence to sell carbon credits abroad to raise billions of shillings to finance the sale of subsidised cooking stoves and biofuel.

Koko sells its biofuel at Sh100 per litre instead of the market rate of Sh200, while the cooking stoves have been subsidised to Sh1,500, compared to the market price of Sh15,000.

The subsidy largely relied on Koko raising billions of shillings from the sale of carbon credits under an agreement that the firm signed with the government in June 2024.

Under the agreement, the government agreed to give Koko permits (letters of authorisation) to sell carbon credits from its clean fuel business to global markets. The agreement has since been breached, leaving taxpayers at risk of paying the firm Sh21 billion.

Koko is the latest startup to have gone into administration over mounting financial woes. Others that have gone a similar route include Sendy Group, Vehicle and Equipment Leasing Limited (Vaell) and Copia.

Civil society organisation, the Katiba Institute, has written to the Controller of Budget Office demanding strict compliance with a High Court ruling that declared the creation and staffing of offices for Presidential Advisors unconstitutional, intensifying scrutiny over the government’s use of public funds.

In a letter dated February 4, 2026, addressed to Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o, the organisation sought written confirmation that no funds have been approved for the former advisers or their offices since January 22, when the High Court nullified the positions.

‘I write to draw your attention to the aforementioned judgment and to request confirmation that, in line with Article 228, no payments to the former Presidential Advisers, their staff, or offices have been approved since January 22, 2026, nor will they be approved hereafter,’ Katiba Executive Director Nora Mbagaithi said.

The move shifts the dispute from the courtroom to Kenya’s public finance oversight system, placing the Controller of Budget under scrutiny regarding whether funds have continued flowing to the affected offices despite the court’s decision.

Under the Constitution, the Controller of Budget serves as a gatekeeper for public spending, authorising withdrawals from public funds and ensuring expenditures comply with the law.

The demand follows a High Court decision rejecting an attempt by the 21 former advisers to suspend the January ruling.

The court dismissed their application for a stay of execution, allowing full enforcement to proceed.

Among those affected are David Ndii, Makau Mutua, Monica Juma, Harriet Chigai, and Edward Kisiang’ani, who had served in various advisory roles to the President.

In its January verdict, the court ruled that the advisory offices lacked a clear legal basis and duplicated roles already existing within the public service.

‘The court found that the establishment of these offices and the appointment of advisers were undertaken without constitutional or statutory backing, bypassing the mandates of the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC),’ Katiba stated in its letter.

The court also flagged concerns over public finance management, noting the offices carried ‘significant budgetary implications’ without proper legal and institutional oversight.

As part of the judgment’s implementation, the PSC and SRC were ordered to cease recognising the posts and stop related payments.

Additionally, the PSC was directed to conduct a 90-day audit of offices created under the Executive Office of the President since the 2010 Constitution.

The advisers, listed as interested parties in the case, swiftly returned to court seeking a stay of execution.

They argued that a temporary return would facilitate an orderly transition, protect their intended appeal, and prevent prejudice to the President. The Attorney General, PSC, and SRC supported their application.

However, the court dismissed the bid, citing the doctrine of res judicata, which bars relitigation of matters already conclusively decided.

‘I find and hold that the application dated January 27, 2026, is indeed res judicata,’ the judge ruled, noting similar stay requests had been rejected shortly after the January 22 judgment.

The court warned against ‘cyclic litigation,’ stating that repeatedly revisiting settled issues exacerbates case backlogs and undermines judicial certainty.

‘Where the substance and arguments are identical, res judicata bars a second attempt,’ the judge affirmed, effectively ending any prospect of a temporary return to office.

With enforcement now unimpeded, Katiba’s letter turns attention to the Controller of Budget, whose constitutional mandate under Article 228 includes authorising withdrawals from public funds and ensuring lawful expenditure.

By demanding confirmation that no payments have been approved post-judgment, Katiba seeks to ensure the ruling has financial as well as administrative consequences.

‘The judgment also addressed concerns about the use of public funds,’ Ms Mbagaithi wrote, emphasizing that the offices’ creation lacked proper oversight. The letter requested a response within 14 days.

The dispute originated from Katiba’s petition, which argued that the advisory roles duplicated existing offices, encroached on public service functions, and were established without legal checks.

The court concurred, underscoring that public sector appointments and remuneration must follow PSC and SRC procedures and be rooted in statute or the Constitution.

While the advisers retain the right to appeal at the Court of Appeal, the High Court has affirmed they have no legal basis to remain in office pending further litigation.

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has unveiled a Sh30 billion plan to build office blocks and luxury apartments in Nairobi’s central business district as the capital joins a growing number of towns where residents work and stay in the city centre.

The multi-billion shilling mixed development, comprising twin towers of 35 and 60 floors, will also hold conference and retail facilities and a hotel.

This will mark the return of the cash-rich NSSF to mega real estate projects, with the 60-storey tower set to be the tallest in Nairobi. It will also keep the city in line with the global resurgence in city-centre living as students and young professionals seek convenience and shorter commutes to their workplaces.

NSSF managing trustee and chief executive officer David Koross told the Business Daily on Thursday that the decision to include apartments in the development is part of the regeneration of the Nairobi CBD, which has suffered from an exodus of major businesses to other commercial nodes in recent years.

The NSSF is also seeking to unlock the value of its 3.85-acre idle land on Kenyatta Avenue, which it estimates at Sh4 billion.’We are also considering the idea of regenerating life in the city centre, and that’s why in that design we are doing apartments, to bring people to live in the CBD. In other places in the world, people are living within city centres,’ said Mr Koross.’NSSF will be funding the project fully, over the next four years. We estimate its cost at Sh30 billion.’The Sh30 billion is a third of the Sh100 billion that NSSF will collect this year from members, riding on the higher contributions and underlines its funding war chest.Workers will pay up to Sh6,480 per month from Sh200 in 2022 starting February after the previous four annual reviews.While living within city centres is common in other countries, Nairobi has not seen developers setting up apartment units within the CBD, which is predominantly left to offices, business outlets and government facilities.Other key commercial hubs such as Westlands and Upper Hill, however, have a sizeable supply of modern apartments, which has helped attract corporates that factor in convenience for staff in picking office location.A lack of sizeable and readily available land holdings within the CBD has partially contributed to the shift to other hubs.

In cities such as Addis Ababa, Luanda, Tokyo, Manila and Shanghai, there is a sizeable portion of the population that lives and works within city centres under mixed-use zoning systems that incorporate high-rise residential buildings within their business districts.Urban planners are also shifting to hybrid developments that combine residential, co-working and entertainment facilities, mainly to cater for young professionals under what is known as a ’15-minute-city concept’ that shortens commutes between the various spots and reduces the carbon footprint of residents.The growth of serviced apartments and other short-stay platforms such as Airbnb has also supported city centre residential property development, targeting tourists, conferences and transit passengers.At 3.85 acres, the NSSF plot is one of the largest undeveloped parcels of land in the CBD, a fact that has in the past attracted purchase bids from private firms and ownership intrigues.The much-coveted plot was previously used as a makeshift car park.In the late 2000s, billionaire Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani had planned to buy the plot for Sh1.3 billion, but later pulled out of the deal after it emerged that the land was smaller than what was indicated on the title deed.He planned to build a 21-storey hotel on the property, but later built Delta House in Westlands after the collapse of the deal.The land was also the subject of several investment proposals by investors and wheeler-dealers in the Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi administrations.Several parties, including the Kenya Tourist Development Corporation, hospitality chain Holiday Inn, Japan’s Chori and the Ataka Group, were among those fronted by the fixers as potential developers on the land.The decision by the NSSF to put up the new towers will now draw a line under the decades-long pursuit of the land by powerful actors.The development will also mark a return to large-scale property projects that once dominated the State-controlled fund’s assets portfolio.The fund has in recent year diversified to other asset classes, opening a headroom to make fresh property bets without risking a breach of Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) rules that cap real estate exposure at 30 percent of total assets.In the year to June 2025, the fund held immovable property worth Sh35.45 billion on its books, accounting for 6.35 percent of its total investment assets of Sh558.05 billion.Five years ago, the fund’s property holdings worth Sh43.3 billion accounted for 18 percent of its total investment assets.Bonds and listed stocks account for the largest shares of NSSF investment assets at 69.83 percent or Sh389.67 billion and 15.26 percent or 85.13 billion, respectively, with property a distant third.Other significant asset classes are fixed cash deposits at Sh13.35 billion (2.39 percent) and private equity investments at Sh7.29 billion (1.31 percent).In terms of annual asset value growth, property lagged behind bonds and equities in the year to June 2025, showing the effect of idle property holdings such as the Kenyatta Avenue land.The value of the NSSF’s property holdings only rose marginally from Sh35.39 billion to Sh35.45 billion in the period, in contrast to bonds (including Eurobonds) whose valuation rose to Sh389.68 billion from Sh260.98 billion in June 2024. Equities, meanwhile, appreciated to Sh85.14 billion from Sh61.19 billion in valuation.Some of the growth was attributable to additional investments in the period at a time when the fund’s collections have gone up after the implementation of the NSSF Act 2013 from February 2023.

LemFi, the global financial platform built for the underserved, is launching its remittance services in Australia after receiving approval from the country’s financial services regulatory unit.

The approval marks a significant milestone in LemFi’s global expansion and enables the company to begin offering its remittance services to customers in Australia, one of the world’s fastest-growing and most important outbound remittance markets.

Australia’s migrant population has grown rapidly, now accounting for 31.5% of the total population, or 8.6 million people, following record net overseas migration over the past two years.

Migrants contribute USD $330 billion ($480.5bn) to Australia, and outbound remittances from Australia have surged, with USD$38.2 billion (AUS$56.6bn) sent overseas in 2024 alone.

India is the single largest recipient, receiving $7.3 billion in remittances from Australia in 2024, followed by China at $5.35 billion. Other major remittance corridors include Vietnam, the Philippines, Pakistan, Kenya and Nigeria – all of which are markets already served by LemFi.

A high regulatory bar and a strong signal of trust

LemFi has received formal authorisation from AUSTRAC, Australia’s financial intelligence and regulatory authority, to operate as an independent remittance dealer. Securing approval demonstrates LemFi’s operational maturity and its ability to meet stringent international compliance standards.

As an independent remittance platform, LemFi can now directly provide its remittance services to Australian residents, offering competitive exchange rates, fast transfers, and low-cost fees. Australian customers will join over 2 million LemFi users across Europe and North America, sending money to more than 30 countries worldwide.

Rebeca Wignall, Chief Legal Officer at LemFi, said:

‘Remittances are more than transactions; they are about family, responsibility and opportunity. Receiving AUSTRAC approval reflects the strength of our compliance framework and allows us to support Australia’s diverse migrant communities with secure, transparent and accessible financial services.’

Mamadou Mareme Diop, VP of Remittance at LemFi, said:

‘Australia is a critical remittance corridor, and demand continues to grow alongside migration. This approval allows us to bring LemFi’s trusted, customer-first remittance experience to a market where these services are essential to millions of people.’

A growing global footprint

Australia becomes the latest addition to LemFi’s expanding regulatory and geographic footprint, alongside licences and approvals in the UK, Ireland, the US and key remittance corridors across Africa and Asia.

The expansion supports LemFi’s broader mission to build a full financial ecosystem for immigrants, spanning remittances, savings and credit, designed around the realities of global mobility.

What is rhumba if not a language-less gift? When the words don’t mean as much as the feeling of rebirth? Because that’s what listening to rhumba is-the same feeling a new-born has even in their unawareness of the gift of their lungs and heart.

Isn’t that what nostalgia-the bedrock of rhumba-is? To feel that you never grew up. That you still sit on the floor with your toys as the scratching sound of your father’s LP spins, the pin jumping loops to find the music.

When your father seems old but is barely in his mid-30s, dealing with more than you ever did at his age. Isn’t it the sound of adults at night, laughing in the living room, having Tuskers as you stay up in your bed, listening to what you will learn is Zaiko Langa Langa

A time when rhumba was shady and boring.when you knew so little because life hadn’t raised its skirt for you to see its bloomers underneath.

This is the only reason you’d find yourself at Liquor Bistro on Kisumu’s Ondiek Highway, sandwiched between nondescript bars and eateries.

It has no ambience, Liquor Bistro, no defining character and no hardware you will remember. It could as well be the famous shebeens of South Africa. But you don’t seek a rhumba establishment for ambience; Good rhumba is the full ambience.

At Liquor Bistro, the music is something of a spiritual nature, at least the night I was there in December. Ondiek Highway is the electric avenue of Kisumu-many bars and restaurants selling either food or music.

Liquor Bistro is a small bar, with a handful of seats and tables. DJ Abbix-stood in a corner behind his deck, presiding over the 30 souls of rhumba.

I was with my friend Pinye (not the deejay), a childhood friend and the greatest lover of rhumba I know (apart from the rhumba oracle, Fred Afune). The music transported us back to a time when we were foolish children eager to grow up. That’s what good rhumba does-it gives you your childhood back, even if just for a night.

Cancer care in Africa is often framed in terms of scarcity: too few machines, specialists, and resources. While these gaps are real, they tell only part of the story. The deeper challenge lies in how our health systems are designed and for whom they are designed.

As a cancer surgeon and health-systems researcher, I see this reality weekly. Patients are not diagnosed late because they do not care; they are diagnosed late because the pathway to care is fragmented, expensive, and difficult to navigate. Delays begin long before diagnosis, shaped by income, geography, beliefs, and policy decisions that determine who can move through the system and who cannot.

This World Cancer Day’s theme, ‘United by Unique’, invites a shift in thinking. Cancer journeys are shaped by distinct social, economic, and geographic realities. Equity will not come from uniform solutions, but from systems deliberately built to accommodate difference rather than amplify disadvantage.

Access to cancer care is often reduced to whether services exist. In reality, access is a continuum: awareness, early detection, accurate diagnosis, timely referral, affordable treatment, and long-term follow-up. Failure at any point can negate progress elsewhere.

Across many African settings, these steps remain poorly connected. Diagnostic services are centralised far from communities. Referral pathways are unclear or slow. Treatment may exist in theory but be financially or geographically out of reach.

Fragmentation frequently occurs at the handover points along the care continuum, where quality suffers most. As a result, patients are often diagnosed with advanced disease or fail to complete treatment, not because they ignored symptoms, but because the system failed to meet them early.

Limited infrastructure, shortages of trained oncology professionals, inadequate diagnostics, and overstretched public facilities. These directly contribute to poor outcomes. Yet equally powerful, and often overlooked, are social and economic barriers.

Time poverty is rarely acknowledged. Many patients must choose between seeking care and earning a living, caring for family, or affording transport. Even when services are subsidised, indirect costs, travel, accommodation, and lost wages can be prohibitive. A service that is technically available is not truly accessible if it demands resources patients do not have.

If we are serious about changing the status quo in cancer care access, three priorities for the next decade stand out. First, design cancer care around people, not facilities, integrating services into primary care and ensuring continuity from detection to survivorship.

Second, invest in health systems, not just technologies, including workforce development, diagnostics, referral pathways, and data.

Third, protect patients from financial catastrophe by reducing out-of-pocket costs and expanding effective coverage through innovative financing and universal health coverage.

The theme ‘United by Unique’ means that we are united by the shared challenge of cancer, but our patients are unique in their circumstances and needs. Equity will not come from one-size-fits-all solutions. It will come from systems that recognise difference, anticipate barriers, and respond with dignity.

This World Cancer Day, let us commit not only to fighting cancer, but to building cancer care that truly meets people where they are.

Income strongly influences when and whether patients seek care. High out-of-pocket costs across much of the continent force many to delay, interrupt, or abandon treatment. For households already living at the margin, a cancer diagnosis can trigger catastrophic financial consequences.

Education shapes symptom recognition, health-seeking behaviour, and trust in the health system. Without clear, culturally relevant information, early warning signs are easily dismissed.

Employment status also matters. Informal work offers no sick leave or financial buffer. For many patients, the question is not whether treatment exists, but whether they can afford to remain in care.

Cultural beliefs and stigma further shape cancer narratives. Fear, fatalism, and misinformation delay care-seeking and undermine adherence. These are not individual failures, but reflections of gaps in communication, community engagement, and trust.

Geography compounds these challenges. Distance to care remains one of the strongest predictors of outcome, reinforcing persistent inequities between urban and rural populations.

Where progress has been made, it has come from integrating cancer services into primary care, task-shifting to trained non-physician providers, simplifying screening, and strengthening referral systems. Effective solutions are often not high-tech, but intentionally designed to reduce steps, minimize delays, and ensure timely follow-up.

In addition, policy choices shape outcomes. Access to cancer care is ultimately shaped by policy, governance, and financing. Health financing models determine whether services are covered or paid out-of-pocket. Workforce policies affect retention and distribution. Data systems decide whether inequities are addressed or ignored.

Policies that prioritise universal health coverage, pooled risk financing, and regional collaboration can transform outcomes. Those that do not will continue to reproduce inequity.

Chinese-backed electric carmakers and their local partners have begun setting up assembly lines in Kenya, marking a quiet shift as they bet on local production and tax breaks to boost the competitiveness of battery-powered cars in a market dominated by imported used internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

Kenya’s green mobility push has long been dominated by motorcycles and buses, with passenger cars largely sidelined by high upfront costs and limited incentives.

This week, Rideence Africa, a Chinese-owned EV dealer that has been selling Beijing Henrey’s small Xiaohu electric cars in Kenya since late 2023, announced a Sh320 million investment to assemble electric vehicles in Mombasa. The firm has inked a deal with Associated Vehicle Assemblers (AVA), one of the country’s largest contract assemblers.

Rideence plans to assemble electric hatchbacks from completely knocked-down (CKD) kits supplied by Beijing Henrey, alongside 16-seater electric vans from the Chinese commercial vehicle company Jiangsu Joylong. The first 132 cars and 20 vans are expected to roll off the line by the end of February.

Its cars currently sell for between Sh2.5 million and Sh2.8 million, with driving ranges of 200 km and 285 kilometres, respectively. By assembling locally rather than importing fully built units, the company expects to reduce vehicle prices by as much as 25 percent, primarily by leveraging tax incentives for assemblers.

“We will be assembling between five and 10 vehicles a day at the Mombasa facility,” the company told the Business Daily.

In December 2025, Dongfeng – one of China’s largest automakers – announced it would begin assembling passenger electric cars locally in the first quarter of 2026, also in partnership with AVA. Working with local distributor ePureMotion, Dongfeng plans to roll out the ePureCitie compact hatchback in two trims, priced at Sh4 million and Sh4.5 million, with ranges of 330 km and 430 km, respectively.

The company has said it will follow up with additional passenger and light commercial EVs targeting private buyers, fleets, logistics firms and public-sector users.

Driving the market

Another entrant is Tad Motors, which in November 2025launched sales of five electric car models assembled in Kenya using Chinese-sourced parts. Operating from the Naivasha Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Tad Motors has invested about $10 million (Sh1.3 billion) so far and plans to ramp up production to 3,000 cars a year.

Its line-up includes two SUVs and three sedans priced between Sh1.3 million and Sh2.6 million, all with a range of about 250 kilometres. The company, owned by Ethiopian-born Dutch businessman Tadesse Tessema, says it works with more than 30 Chinese original equipment manufacturers.

He has said they aim to source more than 80 percent of components locally by next year, selling 80 percent of output across the East African market and 20 percent internationally.

‘We’re going to control the market, especially when we begin local manufacturing,’ Tessema told the Business Daily in November 2025. ‘Our idea is to make EVs affordable to ‘normal’ people.’

Slow traction

Electric vehicle assemblers in Kenya are exempt from the 35 percent import duty charged on fully built vehicles, enjoy lower import declaration fees and Railway Development Levy rates on CKD parts, and benefit from a reduced excise duty of 10 percent and zero-rated value-added tax (VAT) on EVs. Together, these incentives can shave millions of shillings off the units’ final retail price.

Yet electric cars have struggled to gain traction compared with e-motorcycles and buses. At the end of 2024, Kenya had 9,144 registered EVs, according to data from the Electric Mobility Association of Kenya (EMAK). E-motorcycles and bicycles dominate the sector, comprising 90 percent of the EV market. Out of the 14,750 EVs registered in the country between 2018 and 2024, only 326 were passenger cars.

‘The commercial aspect has favoured two-wheelers and buses,’ said Warren Ondanje, managing director of the Africa E-Mobility Alliance, in an interview with the Business Daily.

Motorcycles are income-generating boda boda assets, while buses serve public transport routes, making their economics clearer. Passenger cars, by contrast, compete against a vast pool of cheaper second-hand imports.

At the same time, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) applies a depreciation schedule based on a car’s age to the retail selling price to calculate import taxes.

Depreciation rates range from five percent for cars less than a year old to 65 percent for those between seven and eight years old. This is applied to the vehicle’s original value, with older cars having higher depreciation and lower taxes. Because electric cars are mostly new, they attract higher taxes than older petrol vehicles, pushing prices beyond the reach of many buyers.

‘As it stands, there is less incentive for someone to switch from an ICE car to an EV,’ said Moses Nderitu, EMAK’s vice president and the managing director of electric bus maker BasiGo in Kenya.

Local assembly, Mr Ondanje added, could significantly lower prices and stimulate demand, especially as industry groups lobby for further duty reductions on electric vehicles.

Weak link

Charging remains another weak link. Kenya had approximately 300 EV charging facilities-including battery swapping stations and charging points-at the end of 2024.

Apart from e-bus makers, most companies rely on AC home charging, which is slower and best suited for overnight use, compared with larger, faster DC chargers at public locations.

Rideence, for instance, operates just over 16 charging stations across several counties and plans to scale this to 100 by the end of 2026, mainly to support electric vans. Tad Motors does not plan to build chargers; instead, it sells cars with onboard AC chargers compatible with regular wall sockets.

Dongfeng sells its cars with onboard chargers and offers faster DC chargers at an extra cost, while slowly expanding a small public network of its four current charging points in Nairobi.

Analysts see the clustering of Chinese EV assemblers as a sign that Kenya could emerge as a regional hub for affordable electric cars, much as it has for buses and motorcycles.

This, however, would require more tax incentives and favourable policies to make electric cars more competitive, demonstrate the existence of a mass market, and unlock further investment in assembly and charging infrastructure.

‘It’s about scale,’ said Mr Nderitu. ‘A few EV units cannot compete against the thousands of cheaper, used ICE imports.’