Category: Business Daily

A credit rating firm wants the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to compel commercial banks to publicly disclose the average risk premiums on their loans under a new credit pricing model.

Augusto and Co, one of four local rating agencies, wants Kenyan banks to publish the average of their risk premium – labelled as ‘K’ – in addition to the base lending rate recently unveiled by the CBK.

Under the new model, the total lending rate will be the interbank rate plus a premium, or K, which will be different for each borrower.

The interbank market rate refers to the rate at which commercial banks borrow and lend money to each other on a short-term basis and is widely relied upon as a gauge of the market’s liquidity.

The premium K will be a factor of a bank’s operating costs related to its lending business, the expected return to shareholders, and the borrower’s risk premium.

While the risk premium is tailored to each customer, Augusto wants banks to calculate and publish their average premiums so customers can compare the cost of lending across banks.

‘If you look at the United Kingdom, one of the things that is required is that banks must publish the weighted average premium for customer comparison,’ said Yinka Adelekan, the managing director Augusto and Co, in a press briefing on Thursday.

‘So customers with lower risk must have a lower interest rate compared to customers with higher risks. In the UK, they have to disclose this.’

The interbank rate has limits in terms of volatility because it operates within limits fixed on the CBK benchmark rate to ensure the benefits of monetary policy are transmitted to the real economy.

The limit current stands at plus or minus 75 basis points of CBR.

This means that the interbank rate cannot rise above 0.75 percentage points of the Central Bank Rate (CBR) of 9.5 percent or a maximum of 10.25 percent, and not less than 8.75 percent.

CBK has renamed the interbank to Overnight Interbank Rate to Kenya Shilling Overnight Interbank Average (Kesonia), which now stands at 9.2476 percent.

CBK officials note that disclosures based on Kesonia will start being published next month as the country transitions into the new lending framework.

Kenya Bankers Association Head of Research Samuel Tiriongo said all banks will be ready to roll out the new pricing regime anchored on Kesonia at the end of this month. The total cost of the credit portal will be revamped to cover more facilities beyond mortgages and personal loans.

‘By November 30, all banks should have their models ready and approved. The beauty is that this time, only the board is approving the framework. Once the board approves, each bank can proceed to implementation,’ Dr Tiriongo said.

‘All banks have to publish the average premiums for all products that they have within their books.’

The financial regulator replaced the CBR with Kesonia after it emerged that commercial banks were not passing on the benefits of lower policy rates to borrowers.

Each commercial bank must design a risk-based credit-pricing model and related policies and procedures within three months of CBK issuing the final revised framework and obtain board approval.

Banks must submit their board-approved model, policies and procedures to CBK within 15 days of board sign-off and no later than 15 days after the three-month deadline.

Although banks have begun publishing average lending rates, analysts fear many may withhold the weighted-average premium (‘K’), hiding the true cost of credit and possibly masking negative premiums.

Ms Adelekan noted that in Sub-Saharan Africa – in Morocco and South Africa – banks publish the weighted risk premium.

‘The (Kenyan) banks have to be transparent. They have to move from collateral-based lending to now look at entities based on their creditworthiness and their capacity to meet obligations,’ she said.

She added that banks should have an internal scoring model to assess counterparties.

Besides Augusto, other rating agencies licensed by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) include Metropol Corporation Limited, Global Credit Rating Company, A.M. Best Rating Services Limited, and CARE Ratings.

Kenya Reinsurance Corporation (Kenya Re) has reinstated managing director Hillary Wachinga after two months of suspension over allegations that he had unprocedurally dismissed two employees.

The reinsurer’s board said on Thursday in a notice that Dr Wachinga has been restored to his position. The board did not disclose the findings of the ‘preliminary review of internal matters’ that had prompted his suspension.

‘The board has lifted the suspension of Dr Hillary Wachinga and restored him to his position as the managing director of the corporation,’ said the board in a notice.

‘The board of directors remains focused on overseeing the execution of the corporation’s long-term strategy and furthering the interests of all its shareholders and stakeholders.’

Dr Wachinga’s reinstatement comes barely a month after he withdrew the case in which he had sued Kenya Re board for unprocedural suspension and invitation for a disciplinary hearing.

The law suit revealed that Dr Wachinga had been suspended over what the board termed as ‘not complying with instructions’ in the handling of a disciplinary matter involving two of the reinsurer’s staff.

Dr Wachinga was first suspended on September 3 for 21 days before the board extended this for a further 21 days that ran from October 2.

Kenya Re’s share price at the Nairobi Securities Exchange dropped 8.38 percent on the day Dr Wachinga was first suspended, closing as the day’s top loser at Sh3.17.

On Thursday, the stock opened at Sh3.13, which was 8.6 percent below the Sh3.62 level it traded at before the suspension.

Dr Wachinga had moved to court on September 22, 2025, accusing Kenya Re of violating his constitutional rights through a disciplinary process that he said was ‘in bad faith’ and risked violating his rights to ‘fair hearing, fair labour practices and fair administrative action.’

In his court filings, Dr Wachinga argued that he had received two letters -a suspension letter dated September 2, 2025 and a show-cause letter dated September 3, 2025- which he described as contradictory.

He had been invited to a disciplinary hearing on September 23, 2025. However, the session did not proceed after the court issued a temporary freeze following Dr Wachinga’s application.

Court records show that both parties filed submissions -Dr Wachinga on September 24 and the reinsurer on October 6.

The case was scheduled for a ruling on October 23 after a mention hearing on October 7. However, before the court could pronounce itself on whether the disciplinary process should proceed, Dr Wachinga filed a notice to withdraw the entire case.

As governments worldwide race to modernise their tax systems, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is emerging as a regional leader in digital transformation.

From manual filing to auto-populated returns, and ultimately, real-time tax compliance and reporting, the future of tax compliance is being shaped by technology and businesses must adapt or risk falling behind.

In developed economies, revenue authorities are pushing the boundaries of digital transformation.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, over 80 percent of tax administrations have developed Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to integrate tax systems with third-party platforms.

Around 60 percent offer full prefilling of personal income tax returns, and nearly 40 percent can prefill Value Added Tax (VAT) returns. Estonia, for example, enables near real-time tax refunds, while the United Kingdom uses digital IDs (Digital Identification) for secure access to tax services.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being deployed to enhance compliance management, detect fraud in real time and improve taxpayer services.

Exemplifying this is Italy’s revenue authority which has developed an algorithm known as VeRa; a tool tasked with cross-referencing tax filings, property records and bank data to identify discrepancies and flag high-risk taxpayers.

Big data analytics tools are being deployed by tax authorities to forecast revenue, identify trends and personalise taxpayer engagement.

Poland’s STIR (System Teleinformatyczny Izby Rozliczeniowej – Teleinformatic System of the Clearing House in English) analyses daily banking and clearinghouse data to detect potential carousel frauds in near real time, enabling swift enforcement by the National Revenue Administration.

Blockchain is being explored for tamper-proof audit trails. In China, blockchain-based electronic invoicing uses smart contracts and encrypted algorithms to ensure secure issuance, storage and transmission of documents. The system offers complete traceability and tamper resistance, making post-fact data manipulation virtually impossible.

Natural Language Processing is also gaining traction, helping tax authorities and businesses monitor legislative changes and automate compliance workflows.

While Kenya may not currently match these capabilities, it is rapidly narrowing the gap. Prior to migration to the iTax platform back in August 2015, tax compliance in Kenya was a paper-heavy, time-consuming process.

Today, KRA has embraced digital innovation, collecting Sh2.57 trillion in the 2024/25 fiscal year and targets Sh2.75 trillion in ordinary revenue for the 2025/26 fiscal year.

With new tax law changes introduced by the Finance Act, 2025 forecast to yield only about Sh25 billion to Sh30 billion in additional revenue, KRA is expected to rely heavily on technology-driven tax administration efforts to meet its ambitious growth and compliance objectives. This means tightening enforcement through digital means to raise the budgeted revenue without imposing significant new taxes.

The rollout of platforms like GavaConnect-an API-driven solution that integrates tax compliance into everyday business operations, and eTIMS (Electronic Tax Invoice Management System), which has revolutionised VAT reporting, reflects a broader shift toward proactive enforcement. These tools not only improve efficiency but also enhance transparency and taxpayer trust.

Kenya’s digital tax transformation is part of a wider East African trend. Neighbouring countries are implementing similar tech-driven initiatives to modernise tax administration and improve compliance within their jurisdictions.

For example, Tanzania’s excise revenue jumped over 80 percent since introducing the Electronic Tax Stamp System (ETS), while Uganda saw a 30 percent rise in collections following its rollout of e-invoicing and ETS.

Rwanda’s flexible e-invoicing system, tailored to businesses of all sizes, has achieved near-total VAT invoice capture and is considered a regional model.

As KRA intensifies its digital oversight, businesses in Kenya are increasingly recognising the need for a dedicated tax technology function as a strategic capability that blends tax expertise with digital innovation.

In Kenya’s fast-digitising economy, the KRA is setting the pace for revenue authorities across Africa, driven by a bold vision to emulate the best practices of advanced economies. Through the adoption of cutting-edge technologies ranging from real-time data integration and AI-driven risk analytics to tamper-proof systems, KRA is redefining tax administration.

In this new era, tax technology is no longer a back-office function, it is a strategic enabler.

Companies that invest in robust tax tech capabilities are better positioned to navigate regulatory changes, leverage tax optimisation as a growth catalyst, avoid penalties and unlock new operational efficiencies.

Kenya has good economic strength and is strategically located as a gateway to African trade. Nevertheless, to maximise its export potential and increase global edge, Kenya needs to take a holistic approach to the matter that will incorporate fiscal reforms, industrial policy, and international benchmarking.

One of the reasons why it is important to strengthen exports is that they will enhance production, employment rates and long-term economic stability in the domestic market, not only by enhancing the balance of trade and payments but also by boosting production.

The foundation of export growth lies in diversification and industrial upgrading. Kenya’s manufacturing contribution to gross domestic product remains below eight percent, significantly lower than the 15 percent target envisioned in Vision 2030.

Expanding industrial capacity, especially in agro-processing, textiles, automotive assembly, and ICT services, will enable the country to increase its export basket’s complexity and value.

Establishing specialised export processing zones and industrial parks closer to raw material sources can cut logistics costs and enhance production efficiency. Increasing the level of quality, investing in the logistics infrastructure, and local industries to comply with global standards will play one of the key roles in gaining the privileges to high-value markets.

The effect of government policy is definitive in determining competitiveness in exports. President William Ruto’s administration has identified a set of ambitious proposals to make Kenya an export-driven economy with the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.

The focus of this plan is on industrial parks, export processing zones, and enhancement of reach to the market via trade agreements like the African Continental Free Trade Area and bilateral agreements with the United States and the European Union.

The Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency and the Kenya Investment Authority should be empowered to coordinate aggressively in market intelligence, export promotion, and investment attraction.

This will have to be effected with good implementation, which will involve lean bureaucracy, transparency and policy implementation uniformly to earn investor confidence.

An expanding tax regime can be used as a boost to exports. Kenya needs to diversify and streamline tax concessions to firms involved in export business by making sure that they promote innovation and local value addition instead of just providing relief.

Reduction of export taxes imposed on intermediate goods, tax holidays in the strategic industries, and alignment of county levies will reduce the cost of production and increase competitiveness.

Simultaneously, the Kenya Revenue Authority should streamline compliance procedures and capitalise on the digital solutions to make compliance efficient and not to undercut revenue collection.

Japan offers a compelling model for Kenya’s export transformation.

Post-war Japan’s economic miracle was built on three pillars: government-industry collaboration, technology-driven innovation, and a disciplined export strategy anchored in quality.

By combining the efforts of the government and industry, Japan fostered individual competitiveness sectors through investments in research, technology transfer and developing their skills.

Kenya can replicate this template by establishing special export promotion agencies that would integrate the academia, the government, and the private sector, with the end goal of spurring innovation.

A growing and long-term vision that focuses on productivity, quality control, and exportation of the brand will allow the Kenyan products to compete in the world not on prices alone, but on merit.

An enhanced export base will generate a profound multiplier effect across the economy. More production to supply the world will directly employ people in manufacturing, logistics, and agribusiness and increase demand in local service provision through transport, banking, and information and communications technology.

An increasing export base makes the shilling strong, cuts the current account deficit, and improves Kenya’s credit position in world markets.

Kenya’s journey toward global export competitiveness demands coordinated action, anchored on government facilitation, tax reforms, industrial diversification, and sustainable production.

By adopting strategic lessons from global exemplars like Japan, implementing predictable fiscal incentives, and accelerating infrastructure development, Kenya can transition from an export-dependent to an export-driven economy.

President Ruto’s export-oriented agenda provides a timely blueprint. What remains is steadfast execution; transforming policy intent into measurable outcomes that elevate Kenya as a formidable player in global trade.

The share of electricity that Kenya Power loses shrank to 21.2 percent in the year to June 2025 -the lowest in seven years- as the firm reaps the benefits of the smart meter rollout and revamping of the ageing lines.

This is a drop from the 23.16 percent for the previous year. The last time that the system losses were lower was 21 percent in the year ended June 2018.

Kenya Power last year started installing smart meters, targeting large consumers and small businesses to track consumption more accurately and in turn cut commercial losses due to theft and billing errors.

Electricity theft and an aging network are the biggest components of system losses to Kenya Power, highlighting why the firm is keen to spend billions of shillings to revamp the system.

Reduced system losses are a boost to Kenya Power given that the firm can only transfer the losses to customers up to a given limit and then absorb the rest in its books.

‘Total system losses reduced from 23.16 percent to 21.21 percent driven by smart meter roll-out, network reinforcements and system upgrades and enhanced energy accounting,’ Joseph Siror, the managing director of Kenya Power noted in a statement.

Installation of the smart meters is part of the project where the firm invested Sh29 billion in the year under review. The firm also revamped aging lines and upgraded substations in areas with high customer growth.

At 21.2 percent, the system losses for the year to June 2025 are still higher than the cap of 17.5 percent set by the energy regulator for the period under review.

System losses refer to the electricity that a distribution firm buys but loses it to theft in illegal connections and energy dissipation in the course of transmission.

The drop in the amount of power lost came at a time when electricity sales grew by 887 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) to 11,403 GWh but net profit fell 18.6 percent to Sh24.47 billion due to reduced electricity prices.

System losses can either be technical or commercial. The technical losses are caused by resistance of the conductors along the transmission network while the commercial ones are tied to illegal connections or metering errors.

A growing customer base and increased transmission network directly leads to higher system losses. This is made worse if most of the transmission lines are low voltage.

Kenya Power’s customer base currently stands at 10.06 million compared to 9.6 million a year ago. The increased numbers have forced Kenya Power to extend the low-voltage network and thus higher rates of energy dissipation.

The firm has over the years struggled to cut the amount of electricity lost to illegal connections especially in the informal settings

Kenya Power has set an ambitious target of cutting system losses to 15.5 percent by 2028. The firm is banking on grid digitisation and increased revamp of the system to achieve this target.

Powerful Western lenders led by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forced Kenya to convert dollar-denominated standard gauge railway (SGR) debt into yuan after concerns that the creditors’ cash was being channelled to China.

President William Ruto’s top economic advisor, David Ndii, said the multilateral lenders were disturbed over the use of their dollar loans to pay China instead of supporting the country’s budget and infrastructure projects.

Kenya last month completed converting three dollar-denominated loans from China into yuan, with the Treasury saying it would save the country about $215 million a year on interest payments.

The swap, which allows the floating, dollar-based interest rates across the three loans from China Exim Bank to drop into their lower, yuan-based rates.

The US dollar attracted interest of more than 6.0 percent compared to 3.0 percent for the yuan facility, said the Treasury.

But Dr Ndii has revealed a hidden hand behind the swap.

‘The Western lenders queried why they should be supporting us while other lenders are taking out the money,’ Dr Ndii told the Business Daily in an interview.

‘That’s why they put pressure on countries to restructure debts so that the money they put in stays in the country and does not go to pay other lenders.’

Kenya borrowed $5.08 billion (Sh656.54 billion) from China Export-Import Bank (Exim) for the construction of two phases of the SGR.

The first phase of the modern railway from the port city of Mombasa to Nairobi received two facilities of $1.6 billion (Sh206.78 billion) and $2 billion (Sh258.94 billion), while the second, connecting the capital city to Naivasha, took up $1.48 billion (Sh191.63 billion).

The loans were dollar-denominated and had floating interest rates reportedly set at 3.6 percent or 3.0 percent above the average London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) -a global benchmark retired in June 2023 and replaced by SOFR and other alternative reference rates.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said that in US dollars, the interest cost comes to more than 6.0 percent (about 4.6 percent SOFR plus 2.0 percent). ‘But with renminbi it is about 3.0 percent,’ he said.

The country pays interest on the SGR loans every six months in January and July.

The Treasury has a budget of Sh129.90 billion towards repayment of loans contracted from China this financial year ending June 2026, comprising Sh95.64 billion in principal and Sh34.26 billion in interest costs. A large share of these repayments is for the SGR debt.

China has not lent additional funds to Kenya beyond the SGR facilities, easing the Beijing debt.

Multilateral lenders, including the World Bank and the IMF, have meanwhile intensified lending to Kenya in recent years, strengthening their hands in influencing Kenya’s policies.

Treasury data through September 2025 shows outstanding loans due to China have fallen by 18.8 percent over the past five years to Sh620.3 billion from Sh764.2 billion in September 2021.

Borrowings from the IMF have risen at the fastest rate of 164.2 percent from Sh180.6 billion in September 2021 to Sh477.2 billion in September 2025.

Outstanding balances due to the World Bank (IDA) and sovereign (Eurobonds) have grown by 51.8 percent and 30.3 percent respectively to Sh1.66 trillion and Sh1.022 trillion respectively.

‘If you look at the net position of external lenders, the World Bank position is positive, so is the IMF, but China’s position is negative in that they are putting in less money than they are getting out,’ Dr Ndii added.

‘The lenders say that our money is going to pay China. Multilaterals and other Western lenders, over the last couple of years, have been putting in money but the markets and China have been taking out money.’

Kenya-classified by the IMF as at high risk of debt distress-has been taking steps to tackle its loans since State finances came under severe pressure in 2024, when anti-government protests forced the administration to withdraw the Finance Bill with Sh345 billion in new taxes.

President Ruto’s government has been trying to cut its overall debt, which stands close to 70 percent of gross domestic product, to make repayments more manageable.

The government has revamped its debt management strategy to smooth out its maturity curve and lighten the pressure on public coffers.

It has also been turning to securitisation of revenue to raise funds for key projects like the extension of the railway from Naivasha to the Ugandan border, and the upgrading of the main airport in Nairobi.

The currency swap on the SGR loans forms part of the country’s debt management, which seeks to diversify Kenya’s debt-currency mix, currently concentrated in dollars.

The proportion of external debt denominated in US dollars at the end of September was 52 percent, 27.9 percent for the euro, 12.3 percent for yuan, 5.2 percent for the yen and 2.5 percent for the British Pound.

A negligible 0.2 percent of Kenya’s debt was denominated in other currencies, including the Danish kroner, Kuwait dinar, Korean won, Indian rupee, Canadian dollar, Saudi riyal, Swedish kroner and the Emirati dirham.

Kenya has stepped up its debt management operations in 2025 by further undertaking early repayments due in 2027 and 2028 Eurobonds, pushing out expected sizeable maturities on external debt to at least 2031.

Domestically, the Exchequer has targeted similar early buybacks alongside switch bonds to ease pressure on maturities.

The country is expected to deploy multiple strategies to acquire yuan to pay for the SGR loans, including seeking currency swaps with China using Kenyan shilling.

China’s ruling party, the Communist Party of China, recently charted the country’s path forward through its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030).

The plan sets out a framework for China’s continued development over the next five years, focusing on key areas such as technological innovation, economic reform, environmental sustainability, and social welfare. The resolutions are a reflection of both the nation’s ambitions and the complexities of the global landscape in which it operates.

With this latest long-term plan, the world’s second-largest economy is once again demonstrating the power of disciplined, forward-looking governance.

Few policy instruments have shaped modern nations as effectively as China’s planning framework, which has since its inception in 1953, guided the country’s economic and social transformation from an agrarian society to a global superpower.

China’s Five-Year Plans (FYPs) were inspired by Soviet-style centralised planning but have evolved to reflect China’s unique political and economic context.

The First Five-Year Plan (1953-1957) focused on heavy industrialisation, laying the foundation for a modern industrial base. Subsequent plans navigated periods of turbulence, including the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, but the planning tradition endured – adapting to new realities.

The turning point came with the 6th Five-Year Plan (1981-1985), when China began shifting from a centrally planned economy to a ‘socialist market economy.’ From then on, the plans have become strategic blueprints – setting long-term goals, identifying key priorities, and mobilising resources and institutions toward their achievement.

The significance of China’s Five-Year Plans lies in their discipline, continuity, and focus. Each plan articulates clear national priorities – from industrial restructuring to technological innovation and environmental protection – backed by measurable targets. They align central and local governments, private enterprises, state-owned firms, and civil society behind a common vision.

Importantly, the plans are not static; they undergo rigorous consultation, research, and revision, reflecting a mix of top-down direction and bottom-up feedback. This ensures that China remains nimble in responding to internal and external changes while keeping its long-term objectives intact.

China’s achievements over the past seven decades are, in many ways, the story of its Five-Year Plans. Poverty alleviation to technological advancement, infrastructure development to environmental goals.

African countries, including Kenya, can draw powerful lessons from China’s planning model. First is the centrality of strategic discipline. China’s plans are not political slogans that change with each administration; they are national compacts that transcend political cycles.

Second is institutional alignment. China ensures that ministries, local governments, and economic actors are working toward shared goals. In Kenya, by contrast, national plans often clash with county priorities or are derailed by political contestation.

Third is forward-looking vision. China plans for decades, not just electoral cycles. It identifies strategic sectors, invests heavily in research and development, and prepares its workforce accordingly.

Kenya’s Vision 2030 was a bold step in this direction, but its execution has been uneven, often derailed by leadership transitions and resource leakages.

Perhaps the most critical lesson is discipline and commitment. The success of China’s plans hinges on rigorous implementation and accountability.

In Kenya, while policy documents abound – from development blueprints to sectoral strategies – the gap between policy formulation and execution remains wide.

None other than the Cabinet secretary for the Treasury and Economic planning John Mbadi has admitted to this misalignment.

Mbadi agrees that planning over the years has been treated as a mere ritual with little or no serious attempts being made to follow through on the agreed areas of focus, something he is promising to change.

China’s unwavering commitment to planning is partly driven by necessity. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion and regions that experience harsh winters, droughts, and floods, failure to plan would mean not just inefficiency but national catastrophe. In China, as the saying goes, ‘failing to plan is planning to die.’

This sense of existential urgency is largely absent in many African states, where planning is often treated as a bureaucratic ritual rather than a matter of survival and national destiny.

For Kenya, embracing a disciplined planning culture would require several shifts: Depoliticising national development plans, ensuring they are owned by the State, not just the government of the day; strengthening monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to ensure plans are not just written but executed with precision.

Focus should also be on building a culture of long-term thinking in political leadership, civil service, and the citizenry; investing in research and data, as China does, to base planning on evidence, not guesswork.

Ultimately, Kenya’s developmental aspirations – from industrialisation to universal health coverage – will only be realised if planning moves from paper to practice.

At only 12 years old, Humphrey Wattanga left home for boarding school. He later attended Alliance High School, where he topped the KCSE [Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education] exams in 1990, followed by a degree in Biochemical Sciences (cum laude) from Harvard University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. These are the experiences that shaped him into who he is today, the Commissioner-General of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

Before this appointment, he was the managing director of Meghraj Capital Group, the investment banking advisory arm of the Meghraj Group, and an international firm founded by Meghji Pethraj Shah (MP Shah). He is a platinum member of the Kenya Institute of Bankers.

His intellectual heft is not in doubt, but does he ever get tired of being ‘smartest man in the room’? To be smart, he says, is to be aware. ‘You have to continually improve.’

As a tax collector, do you think people somewhat resent you?

[Chuckles] I think tax collectors, from as far back as the days when Jesus walked this path, had a reputation which has not been easy to change. I don’t take it personally, but I represent, and I’m part of an institution called KRA, which in and of itself has built an association and a reputation with the public over the period of its existence, which is 30 years.

We acknowledge that that has not necessarily been a favourable reputation over the years. The question is, what is it that we have learned in the past, and how do we improve on it going forward so that we can be seen to serve the public in much more favourable terms? I seek to transform tax administration and the tax processes to be as painless and passive, and even pleasant to our clients as possible.

I have to say, you sound well media-trained.

Haha!

Looking back at your career, what was your Eureka! A moment that made you realise you were onto a good thing?

After I finished high school, I went to medical school at Chiromo.

Then, having been the top student in Kenya in the KCSE, I got this scholarship to go to Harvard University, where I studied biochemistry, trying to contribute to science and see how we could bring advanced molecular genetics and scientific research to Africa to attend to our specific set of medical challenges.

But then I realised for us to have the technology and the capacity to do advanced research,we need resources.

One thing led to another, and I got the Nelson Mandela Hope Worldwide that took me to the Wharton School of Finance, where I slowly drifted into finance and technology, graduating in 2000, at the peak of the dot-com economy.

In 2002, the dot-com bubble burst, and the company that I was working for was then acquired by the biggest telecommunications company in the US, AT and T, which then bought into South Africa Telecom.

I was part of the team that was then sent to South Africa, where my three-month assignment turned out to be almost nine years.

That was a great opportunity to view the challenges and opportunities in Africa from a developmental perspective.

Within that time, I was engaged by the government of South Sudan.

After the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement on January 9, 2005, I was one of the economic advisers. We then moved into Juba. As you can see, it has been an adventure. [chuckles].

What does it take to get here?

Foremost is diligence and recognising that you need to work hard and effectively take advantage of the opportunities. Our parents instilled in us that education was the principal path out of the circumstances we were raised in.

You have to push yourself into available opportunities and work to excel once you get into a position so that you can rise above your peers, get recognised, and almost always, that opens more doors for you. It’s hard work and discipline.

There’s hard work and discipline, but how much luck does one need for their name to be whispered to the right ears?

I’m not certain one can quantify luck [chuckles]. Because luck is an opportunistic event. You want to be ready and prepared if and when that aspect of luck happens. I wouldn’t say I’ve been lucky.

Looking at my journey, to some extent, I have made an effort toward something, despite the uncertainty. And then maybe what you then call luck comes. But it’s not something that just appears out of the blue.

You’ve studied at Wharton and Harvard, you were the top KCSE student in 1990, and the 20th nationally in the 1986 KCPE. You are quite the intellectual and bookie. Do you ever feel ‘not smart’?

Haha! You don’t go about feeling smart. If there’s anything like smartness, I think it is a thirst for knowledge, a desire to improve oneself in terms of technical know-how, social capacity, and not just purely academic per se.

To be smart in a complex context, such as the one we exist involves a lot of consciousness, which is partly technical, partly social, partly political. So, it’s a composite of all those things. And it’s an evolving aspect. To be smart is to be aware; you have to continually learn, engage, improve, and consult.

If you were to interview and hire yourself for one skill, what would that be?

The ability to interrogate and analyse situations, what we call, in a very simplistic sense, SWOT [Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats] analysis.

The ability to move into a space and understand the context and figure out where the gaps are and the very strategic or tactical input that is required to have the greatest impact.

Which of your career moves paid off immensely?

Leaving the US for Africa. In 2004, I moved to South Africa and established a corporate finance and transaction advisory firm. This venture gave me extensive exposure to, and a deep understanding of the developmental challenges, as well as the immense potential and opportunities on this continent. It was an alignment that put me on the exciting journey of tackling some of Africa’s most pressing challenges.

Now that you occupy this seat, are you ever that friend in ‘high places’ whom people call because ‘Humphrey can make this or that go away’?

It’s only human that your friends or those who have access to you will try to reach out to address their issues and challenges. I’ll be available to listen, which is an important part of intervention. Whether I act is a different matter [chuckles].

You occupy a position where you’re more often than not in a Mexican standoff situation. How do you not let that seep into your personal life?

It begins with you understanding your mandate, and responsibility, and the degree of freedom that you may or may not have.

I think with that clarity in mind, because in most cases, the asks that might come to you, some people think that because you occupy this space, you can do anything.

My priority is collecting taxes and mobilising resources for the critical development of this country. I’m here specifically to maximise the mobilisation.

What did they not tell you about this seat?

The way the organisation is funded. I spend a significant amount of my time looking for funds to run the organisation. But there’s always the notion, even among some fairly senior people in government, that KRA collects these trillions, so it should have enough first for itself.

But that’s not the way the government is set up, and specifically for this organisation. We are funded through the normal budgetary processes, and I am constantly seeking resources to run the organisation.

What has leadership taken from you that you did not expect to lose?

I’ve been fortunate to be in leadership for a long time, since high school, where I was appointed the school captain at Alliance High School.

That was quite the experience, in the sense that, in terms of limitations, what it takes from you, sometimes that’s the flexibility and some relative freedoms that many others enjoy.

Because you have to be self-conscious to a large extent, which, I should note, is not necessarily a bad thing. You can’t just pop up anywhere and say anything. Also, to some extent, it limits your availability to friends and family.

Having been a leader throughout your life, when do you ever just discard the cloak and be a man? A father, a husband, a Humphrey.

I don’t think my children recognise my titles [chuckles]. Largely, I try to find a day, like say on Sunday, go recharge, spend time with them, or sometimes take a few days of vacation. Sometimes it is just as simple as waking up early, having breakfast with the children, and then, if possible, take them to school, and then go and become Commissioner-General.

You’re a high achiever. And naturally, we talk about ‘filling one’s father’s shoes’. Do you think that puts pressure on your children?

I imagine it does to some extent. But I think we’ve gotten here partly because of the push that we got from our parents. For them, it was about trying to ensure that we take advantage of the opportunities, particularly education, so that we can cross over to the other [better] part of town.

For our children, it’s different. They are already in this part of town [chuckles]. Our task now is to find a way to instill the importance of staying focused, disciplined, and working hard, but without necessarily burdening them, trying to make them who you are, or that they feel they can’t emulate what you’ve done.

You want to balance it in a way that they can also chart their own path and succeed in whatever it is they want to do without trying to mirror you.

What part of fatherhood don’t you currently have a handle on?

I’d like to spend more time with the children, especially as they get older. Time moves very fast, and in my case, I pretty much left home when I was 13 to go to high school.

Looking back, I effectively never went back home because it was a boarding high school, then Chiromo, then I went to the US for 21 years, and by the time I came back, my parents were old.

My dad passed away five years ago and since then I have always stayed mindful that I have a very short time with my children, a small window of time to have influence and impact before they leave. That is what concerns me: When will I have that?

Has being a parent made you understand your father more?

When I was going to boarding school, my parents were moving from Nairobi to Kitale, and even then, we never went home during most of the holidays. But I understood my dad. He was a smart guy, fairly driven in his own sense, an accountant. It’d be interesting for him to learn that, though I’m not one, I’m effectively leading an organisation full of accountants.

We eventually become our fathers.

Yeah, I think so.

When you look back over your life, what feelings come to you?

A journey driven by a desire to push the envelope and pursue my passions, both from a professional and social perspective. To build and hold a family together. And when I say family, it’s the greater family while maintaining and building on my co-friendships from the hood to the US.

Have your friendships become more vital with age? And when did that realisation come, having been all over the world?

I’ve been fortunate, I know it sounds like a broken record, but you can’t talk to an Alliance guy without it being mentioned, haha! For those of us who went to Alliance, wherever we went, we were always there.

When I was at Harvard or Wharton, there were Alliance people there, like John Gachora of NCBA. Most of us are now back in Kenya, and we had the opportunity to continue with our friendships.

I’ve also been fortunate to still maintain, not to the extent I would have liked, some of my friendships from where I grew up, in Uhuru Estate Primary School and my Buruburu days.

What has success not fixed?

That’s a very difficult question [chuckles]. Success is a relative term and a journey. I cannot say this is it, that I’m successful, I’m fixed here.

The relative success that I’ve had has only inspired me to aspire to greater successes, with the objective of having a bigger and greater impact in the lives of those that I love and care for, and in the community and the nation-state that I exist and that has given me the mandate and the obligation and the responsibility to provide that advancement and provide an angle for a long-term sustainable impact going forward.

You’ve managed me there, but since we are chasing the day, I’ll ask one final question. When you look in the mirror, what kind of man do you hope to see?

I hope to see somebody who’s happy and fulfilled in having optimally and fully applied themselves and leveraged every opportunity that they came across, and in so doing, having had the desired impact to make a difference.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nairobi has stopped Speedaf Logistics Limited from declaring some of its employees, including courier officers, riders and drivers, redundant.

This is pending the hearing of a case filed by the Communication Workers Union of Kenya (CWU), which accuses the courier and delivery services company of using mass layoffs disguised as restructuring to thwart unionisation efforts.

In court documents seen by the Business Daily, CWU says Speedaf’s July 9 redundancy notice was a ploy to dismantle union representation, just months after 35 workers had joined the union.

In its verdict, the court noted that the union had demonstrated a prima facie case (sufficient evidence at first glance to support its claims) and that the affected employees risked total job loss if the process continued before the case was heard.

It ordered Speedaf to halt all redundancy actions under the July 9 notice.

‘Pending the hearing and determination of this claim, the respondent is hereby restrained from declaring the claimant’s members and unionisable employees redundant pursuant to the notice dated July 9, 2025,’ reads the October 31 ruling.

Further, the court directed CWU and Speedaf to file their responses within 21 days.

The union claims the company neither consulted it nor notified the County Labour Officer as required by law, and was using restructuring as an excuse to replace some of its staff with outsourced labour under a new franchise model.

‘Respondent expressed its intention to close its business and transfer operations to several other entities described as enfranchises,’ CWU submits.

According to Speedaf’s replying affidavit, its total workforce comprised 114 employees at the time of the redundancy notice, 34 of whom CWU had recruited, representing 29.82 percent of the total workforce.

The company, however, argues that this figure falls short of the statutory threshold required for recognition per the Labour Relations Act, which stipulates that a union needs a simple majority of the unionisable employees (at least 50 percent plus one) to be legally recognised.

Speedaf holds that it was restructuring to improve efficiency, reduce parcel losses and resource theft, and ensure sustainability. It maintains that it informed the union about the restructuring before sending out redundancy notices.

Additionally, the company accuses a CWU recruiter of coercing employees, including those in management positions, to join the union.

On its part, CWU says the company has since been recruiting new employees; the union claims it confirmed the engagement of nearly 20 new staff within a month of declaring redundancies.

It terms the purported redundancies as retaliatory, targeting its members for their trade union activities and aimed at undermining the ongoing recognition dispute.

The TelPosta Pension Scheme has activated a nationwide disposal of 64 houses and plots of land in a bid to correct a massive breach of investment limits that has left the fund overexposed to real estate.

The scheme is selling 16 flats, 14 vacant plots and 34 bungalows spread across Nairobi, Naivasha, Nyeri, Nanyuki, Kericho, Karatina, Isiolo and other towns, in one of the biggest single pension property disposals seen in recent years.

The current real estate exposure currently stands at 82 percent of its total asset base, which is nearly three times above the legally set limit of 30 percent.

Trustees of the scheme said the sale of the properties is necessary to restore compliance and free up liquidity to settle benefits for pensioners who were members of the old State-owned telecoms and postal sector before the liberalisation era changes at the turn of the millennium.

The firms included the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, Telkom Kenya Limited, Postal Corporation of Kenya and the Communications Commission of Kenya (now Communications Authority of Kenya).

The pension scheme inherited most of the assets more than two decades ago during the government’s restructuring of the postal and telecommunications sector.

‘In November 1999, the government vested in TelPosta Pension Scheme trustees various properties for purposes of discharging pension liabilities in respect of any person who on June 30, 1999, was entitled to receipt of a pension,’ wrote the trustees in a public notice.

As the cash demands on the scheme grew, especially from retirees whose pension rights stretch back to the late 1990s transition period, the mismatch between physical assets and liquid income-generating assets appears to have reached a breaking point.

‘The scheme’s property portfolio currently stands at 82 percent, which is above the 30 percent limit set by law. The board of trustees sought and received concurrence to dispose of the properties to ensure compliance,’ added the trustees.

The properties have now been formally placed on tender, with bids closing on December 1 this year.

Real estate has been among the top attractive holdings for many legacy pension schemes, especially those that inherited land and housing stock during State restructuring phases in the 1990s.

This has, however, created liquidity hitches for funds that require cash to meet pension payment obligations.