Category: Business Daily

Esther Njuguna, 30, lives in a rented apartment in Jylland, Denmark. When she moved to Denmark in 2016 as an au pair, a programme where a young person lives with a host family and helps around the house while learning the language and culture, she never thought one day she would even afford her own home in a foreign country.

‘When I started, I’d be given about Sh70,000,’ she says of the au pair contract in Denmark, which usually runs for two years and is only open to people between 18 and 29 who are not married and have no children.

When the programme ended, she got married to a Danish man. In Denmark, marrying a native is not an outright route to getting the dream home.

‘When a Danish marries an African, he has to pay around Sh2 million to the government, but if the spouse can speak the language, it’s cheaper; one pays around Sh50,000,’ she talks of the wait for a residence permit through family reunification.

With her CPR number, the Danish social security number, and residence permit, she enrolled in college to study caregiving. She later got a job earning from Sh3,500 to Sh5,900 an hour.

While searching for a dream home, every landlord who reviewed her application would ask the same three things every time. ‘Where’s your work contract? How much do you earn? You show them your monthly salary for three months,’ she says.

‘I now stay in a two-bedroom house, which is 105 square metres, and I pay around Sh140,000,’ Esther says of her current home, a family-designated apartment with two toilets, a laundry space and a glass-covered balcony she can use through winter.

Buying a home in the UK

Phoebe Gathoni is a Kenyan in her 40s living in the UK. She started by renting before buying property there. On renting, she explains that the search begins through property apps where estate agents list available houses.

‘You then book a viewing,’ she says.

Once a tenant decides on a home, the paperwork begins in earnest.

She lists identification, proof of the right to rent issued by the Home Office to confirm legal status in the country, a reference from a previous landlord or, for newcomers without that history, a letter from an employer instead, and an address history covering three to five years.

‘If you’re new to the country, this can be problematic, so usually a letter from your employer will do,’ she says.

A holding deposit secures the property while those checks are completed, and only once everything clears does the real deposit come due.

‘Once all those things go through, you then pay a deposit that’s usually one and a half months’ rent,’ she says, adding that the sum is held by a government-backed scheme.

‘When you move out, if there are no issues, it is returned to you,’ she says.

Buying a home, she says, is a far longer road. It starts the same way; browsing listings, booking a viewing and making an offer, but she stresses that the real work begins before an offer is even made.

‘It is advisable to sort out a Mortgage in Principle before you start looking,’ she says, a document a mortgage broker helps secure after a credit check and a review of six months of bank statements, six months of payslips, identification, and, for anyone without permanent status, proof of legal residence from the Home Office.

‘Mortgage brokers deal with the banks once you have done your credit checks and given all your documents,’ she says. Once a price is agreed, a solicitor takes over.

‘You need a solicitor, a lawyer, who does the conveyancing, the legal bits,’ she says, ‘who also costs a minimum, I think, starts from Sh223,500.’

From there, the bank runs its own deeper check on the buyer. ‘The hard search includes the bank going to view the property through a surveyor, and they check if the house is valued as the buyer has said,’ she says, a step that takes at least a month and can still end in a mortgage being declined even after a Mortgage in Principle was granted.

For her, her solicitor was still running council searches on the property’s history and any developments nearby, a process she says ‘can take from two weeks to many months depending on how quickly the council responds.’

Buyers must also arrange their own structural survey. ‘Surveys cost from Sh200,000 to Sh515,000,’ she says, and any concerns it raises get passed back and forth between solicitors for months until both sides are satisfied.

Once everything clears, contracts are exchanged, and a deposit is paid straight to the buyer’s own solicitor. ‘Minimum 5 percent but usually 10 percent,’ she says of the deposit, ‘and at this point there is no turning back, all parties are locked in.’

On completion day, the bank sends the mortgage funds to the buyer’s solicitor, who passes them to the seller’s side, and the keys are handed over soon after.

Looking back on her own purchase, she sums up the scale of the process in one line. ‘We bought it, and it took about nine months in total,’ she says.

Renting in Germany

Monica Wanjiku is another Kenyan who found a home in Germany. But securing a place was not easy. Her search coincided with the start of the war in Ukraine, which drove more people into Germany’s rental market and further tightened an already limited supply of housing. But even with fewer homes available, rent increases in Germany are not simply a matter of landlords’ discretion.

‘It’s not like in Kenya, where a landlord can raise the rent whenever they feel like it,’ she says. ‘Here, rents are regulated by the government.’

Growing up in an orphanage, Monica moved to Germany in 2019 on a family reunion visa after meeting a German partner at the Kenyan coast. She settled in a small German town where she was often the only Black person around. ‘I felt out of place; I felt like an alien,’ she says.

To settle fast, she studied the language, got a driving licence, then enrolled in a nursing school. She graduated in 2026 from Akademie fr Beruf Gesundheit Schule and moved straight into work as a nurse, earning about Sh3,000 an hour.

Getting the perfect house meant she had to hand in her personal documents almost every time.

‘Normally, they want to know who you are. Alongside identification, applicants must show they can keep up with rent, and a work contract is the clearest proof of that,’ she says.

In addition to identification and proof of income, many landlords also ask for a police clearance certificate before handing over a lease.

‘I pay around Sh132,000 rent a month,’ she says of her current home, which is a three-bedroom apartment of 94 square metres near Dusseldorf and Cologne. ‘That includes the water and electricity bills.’

One thing that stood out to her was the 10pm house rule. In Germany, breach of estate rules carries real consequences. ‘No noise should come from your house past 10pm,’ she says, and breaking that rule more than once can cost a tenant their home entirely.

‘The penalty is you’ll be kicked out of the house. Your lease will be terminated,’ Monica says.

She finally received her German citizenship in July, seven years after arriving in the country.

Homeownership in the US

How much they pay in rent is one of the financial burdens Kenyans in the diaspora grapple with.

Tabby Mbeky, 32, a Kenyan who sells homes in the US, says that in Dallas, for instance, a one-bedroom apartment in a rougher part of town might cost around Sh129,700 a month in rent, while a decent one-bedroom in a better area climbs to about Sh194,500.

‘For anyone seeking a nicer, more upscale unit, be ready to spend at least Sh324,250 every month,’ she says.

She says understanding the credit system is the single most valuable lesson for someone seeking to own or rent a house. Once a bank account is opened, every payment links back to a social security number and slowly builds a financial record.

‘You need to work on your credit first. And then once that’s done, everything else is going to be straightforward,’ she says.

Her own strategy was disciplined and simple. She used credit cards but cleared the balance immediately every time. ‘I was using credit cards, but if I use it, I paid them off immediately,’ she says. ‘So I was able to build my credit very fast and have a very solid credit too.’

For those without any credit history, she outlines two practical routes. The first is finding a cosigner, someone with strong credit willing to vouch for a lease or loan. ‘A cosigner can be anybody,’ she says, provided their financial profile is solid. She found hers without much difficulty. ‘I just approached a friend, and the friend was willing to cosign me.’

The second option is being added as an authorised user on a relative’s credit account. ‘If their credit profile is already at 800, if they add you on that, you’re now also getting a good credit,’ she says.

She believes this kind of guidance rarely reaches the people who need it most. ‘A lot of information is needed in our community,’ she says.

Once she felt ready to invest, she made a deliberate choice to avoid debt entirely. ‘I came here and decided to stay away from debt,’ she says. ‘So everything I was buying, I was paying cash.’

She began with investment properties before purchasing anything for personal use, and she opened a business to separate her company’s credit from her own. ‘I was able to protect my personal credit from being overleveraged,’ she says.

For those looking to pick mortgages in the US, she says two central factors matter most: income and debt. She uses a simple example, someone earning Sh518,800 a month, to show how lenders calculate what remains after other bills before approving a mortgage payment. Though lenders set an upper limit on borrowing power, she chose to borrow less than she qualified for.

‘I went lower because I prefer to stay with as little debt as possible,’ she says. She explains that a mortgage payment folds together four elements; principal, interest, taxes and insurance, on top of the separate costs of a down payment and closing fees.

For buyers still living abroad, she says the process differs but remains manageable.

‘You don’t necessarily need to have anything like here,’ she says. A foreign buyer can apply for a Form W7, which functions much like a social security number for tax purposes. Down payments, however, run considerably higher for non-residents.

‘Your down payment as a foreigner might be anywhere between 25 percent to 30percent,’ she says.

Banks also require valid passports, visas, proof of income drawn from home country tax records, and bank statements covering anywhere from 12 weeks to 12 months, all meant to reassure lenders that mortgage payments will be met through the first year.

The World Bank’s private investment arm is buying a 6.5 percent stake in Quickmart through the retailer’s initial public offering (IPO) for Sh1.94 billion ($15 million), making a return to the local retail sector four years after selling a minority stake in Naivas Limited.

Quickmart says it has secured the investment from the International Finance Corporation (IFC)-the World Bank’s private investment arm- as a cornerstone investor in the Sh15 billion IPO, which has valued Quickmart at Sh30 billion.

This new bet on the retail sector will see the IFC acquire 258.67 million shares in Quickmart, representing about 13 percent of the offer shares, and an ultimate stake of 6.5 percent in the company.

For the IFC, this is not the first equity investment in a Kenyan retailer, having participated in a consortium that bought and sold a 31.5 percent in Naivas between 2020 and 2022 for a tidy profit.

IFC is hoping for a similar outsized return from Quickmart upon its exit, on the back of the retailer’s expansion plans and steady dividend payouts.

The retailer paid its shareholders a dividend of Sh1.65 billion, representing a payout ratio of 109 percent and is aiming to distribute at least 80 percent of its earnings to shareholders in the coming years.

The IFC is making a similar investment of $90 million (Sh11.7 billion) in the ongoing Airtel Money IPO on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) that is targeting Sh90.5 billion, highlighting its appetite for backing large capital market issuances through minority equity stakes.

Airtel Money is the fintech arm of telecommunications firm Airtel Africa, which operates in 14 African countries including Kenya.

In Quickmart’s IPO, current owners who include Mauritius-registered private equity fund Adenia Partners founders of Quickmart and Tumaini supermarkets and the retailer’s chief executive officer Peter Kang’iri are offloading two billion shares, equivalent to a 50 percent stake.

Their shares are held through an investment vehicle known as Sokoni Retail Kenya Limited (SRKL).

‘As Adenia, we are committed to staying on board and supporting Quickmart management through its next phase, and look forward to welcoming on board our incoming new shareholders, with a special mention to IFC, who are our cornerstone investor,’ said Martha Osier, a partner at Adenia, during the formal launch of the IPO on Tuesday.

Cornerstone investors are institutional or high net worth investors who agree in advance to buy a specific stake in an IPO, signaling confidence in an offer to other buyers.

The IFC, however, said its participation in the sale is not an endorsement or recommendation to other investors to participate in the IPO.

The IFC’s decision to invest in the Quickmart IPO, pending approval by its board, is its first such commitment in recent public offers in Kenya dating back to the 2000s.

Other large institutional investments in Kenyan IPOs have come in after offers open, and not through pre-sale public commitments such as the one seen from the IFC.

Some large buyers have also opted to keep their investments secret through nominee accounts in banks and stockbrokers.

In Naivas, German fund DEG, the IFC and private equity firms Amethis and MCB Equity Fund bought the stake in Naivas for Sh6 billion in 2020 through the investment vehicle Amethis Retail Limited.

The cash injection gave the supermarket growth capital to fuel its aggressive expansion across the country, while also diluting the stake of the retailer’s founding family of the late businessman Peter Mukuha Kago from 100 percent to 68.5 percent.

In the transaction, the IFC invested $15 million, equivalent to Sh1.8 billion at the dollar exchange rate at the time, a commitment that is matched by its proposed investment in Quickmart shares.

The DEG-led group subsequently sold the stake for $119.68 million in June 2022 to another consortium that was led by Mauritian conglomerate IBL Group and French sovereign wealth fund Proparco-more than doubling their original investment from two years earlier.

DEG also participated in the second consortium, simultaneously exiting its initial investment in Naivas and re-entering the retailer’s shareholder list as part of the new ownership.

The IBL consortium further increased its Naivas stake to 51 percent by purchasing additional shares from the Mukuha family, which ended up with a minority 49 percent stake in the retailer.

Similarly, Quickmart’s founding family of the late businessman John Kinuthia was left with a minority stake when it sold a 51 percent stake in the business to Adenia in 2019.

The PE fund had earlier in 2018 acquired a 55 percent holding in Tumaini Supermarket from its founders Moses Nditika, Joram Njoga and Elijah Okello, before merging the two retailers in 2020 under the Quickmart brand.

Going into the listing, Adenia holds a 50.79 percent stake in SRKL, the Kinuthia family 31.83 percent, the Tumaini founders 12.02 percent and Mr Kang’iri 5.36 percent.

Presuming the offer is fully subscribed, Adenia’s stake will drop to 25.4 percent, with the stakes of the Quickmart and Tumaini founders falling to 15.9 percent and 6.01 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Mr Kang’iri’s holding will halve to 2.68 percent.

This means that the IFC will go into the business as the third-biggest shareholder behind Adenia and the Kinuthia family after the offer.

The IPO could, however, usher in other large investors into the business, given the allocation criteria that sets aside 35 percent of the offer shares for Kenyan institutional investors, equivalent to an ultimate holding of 17.5 percent of the company’s issued shares.

Local retail and foreign investors have been allocated 20 percent each, East African Community investors 12 percent, and the IFC 13 percent. These limits can be adjusted depending on subscription levels per investor category.

Quickmart is now the second largest retail chain in Kenya behind Naivas by store count and turnover, with an estimated 15 percent share of the market. The company has a current store count of 72, in 16 counties.

In the year ended December 2025, Quickmart reported a 33 percent growth in net profit to Sh1.51 billion. Sales rose by 9.3 percent to Sh50.43 billion in the year.

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has finally approved the sale of ongoing Dangote Petroleum Refinery shares via the Nairobi bourse using a special financial instrument.

The approval of the instrument, which is technically known as global depository receipts (GDRs), would allow local stockbrokers to market Dangote’s initial public offering (IPO) locally and list a copy of the shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

The local sale of the Dangote shares was expected to start Monday morning, but the CMA had delayed the approval due to undisclosed pending issues.

The nod now allows local investors to buy the shares for as little as Sh49 a piece.

Dangote IPO, which is Africa’s biggest ever, was approved and issued in Lagos, and could not be marketed and sold in Kenya without the CMA nod.

‘The CMA has approved a short form prospectus for a global depository receipt (GDR) submitted by Renaissance Capital, enabling eligible Kenyan investors to participate in the initial public offering of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals (DPRP),’ CMA said in a statement.

‘In the case under review, Renaissance Capital (Kenya) Limited will put in place appropriate custodial arrangements for funds received from investors. At the close of the DPRP IPO and confirmation of the allocation of DPRP shares, Renaissance Capital (Kenya) Limited will structure GDRs which will be listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).’

CMA, however, noted that the listing of the GDRs remains subject to obtaining relevant approvals from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Renaissance Capital, which is behind the Dangote GDRs, was expecting to get the CMA approval last Friday and allow it to sell the shares between October 5 and October 13, matching the close of the IPO in Nigeria.

The GDRs are bank certificate that represents ownership of a specific number of shares in a foreign company, allowing investors to trade on stock exchanges outside the issuer’s home market.

Dangote IPO, which is Africa’s biggest ever, was approved and issued in Lagos, and it cannot be marketed and sold in Kenya.

Under GDRs, which will represent the underlying Dangote shares being listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX), Kenyan investors can buy the share at Sh49 a piece and trade the certificates at the Nairobi bourse.

Besides the GDR route, CMA says firms including CPF Capital and Advisory, SBG Securities/Stanbic Bank, Francis Drummond and Co Limited, National Bank of Kenya, Sterling Capital, Kestrel Capital and AXYS Investment Bank are facilitating access to the Dangote IPO through partner relationships in Nigeria.

Stanbic Bank is expected to serve as the custodian in the GDRs deal, directly purchasing the Dangote shares, which will then be packaged into receipts and offered to local investors who can then trade the units at the NSE.

The GDRs, whose offer price is expected to closely mimic the Sh49 per share offer in Nigeria, are expected to allow more investors to access the Dangote IPO in contrast to the alternative.

Licensed firms have been offering the Dangote shares at a costlier rate, with some brokers placing the minimum subscription as high as Sh259, 520 ($2,000).

The IPO, which seeks to raise Sh207.5 billion, runs up to October 13.

The sale is offering 4.1 billion ordinary shares, equivalent to a 3.4 percent shareholding of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

GDRs work like derivatives by mirroring the change in price of the underlying asset, which in this case is the Dangote shares listed in Nigeria.

Dangote, as the issuer of the IPO, is expected to deposit shares with the Nigerian custodian bank (Stanbic Bank), with the lender then expected to confirm receipt and deposit the units purchased with its Kenyan peer.

Stanbic Bank Kenya will subsequently issue the GDRs alongside Renaissance Capital, matching the units to the number of shares in its vault.

CMA’s nod allows the distribution of the GDRs to investors up to October 13, when the respective IPO closes in Nigeria.

Investors in the offer will be allotted units/receipts on November 11, while the transfer of proceeds and crediting of the units in investors’ CDSC accounts will happen between November 12 and December 2.

The GDRs will be admitted on the Nairobi bourse on December 8.

CMA says it has already granted the green light to Renaissance Capital (Kenya) Limited to seek the listing subject to the successful fund raise and subsequent allocation of the requisite shares that will facilitate the listing of the GDRs.

The markets regulator notes the transaction to be the first since the issuance of the policy guidance note on global depository receipts and global depository notes in Kenya.

The sponsoring broker, Renaissance Capital, has touted GDRs as the most effective vehicle for bringing Dangote shares to the public, as a cross-listing of the company remains off the cards until a future date.

Electricity bill savings have hit Sh8billion in five years as more industrial and business consumers shifted production to off-peak hours, lured by a discounted consumer tariff.

An analysis of official data shows firms saved Sh1.87 billion on their electricity bills in the year ended June 2026 through the off-peak preferential tariffs, adding to the Sh6.26 billion they slashed between July 2021 and June 2025.

The preferential tariff, technically referred to as Time of Use (ToU), provides eligible commercial, industrial, and e-mobility customers with a 50 percent discount on energy charges during off-peak hours.

The ToU covers weekdays from 10 pm to 6 am, Saturdays from 2 pm through midnight to Sunday at 6 am, and the whole day on Sundays and public holidays.

More firms have increasingly turned to the preferential tariff in a bid to keep a lid on their electricity bills, with 2,614 businesses benefiting from the tariff in the year to June 2026 compared to 2,339 a year earlier and 1,2482 firms in the year to June 2022.

ToU allows firms to get discounts on their base electricity tariffs once they meet consumption targets, significantly lowering their power bills despite increased electricity use.

Costly electricity is a major headache for businesses in Kenya, with the World Bank estimating the average cost of a kilowatt-hour (kWh) at $0.23 (Sh29.8), which is significantly higher than in neighbouring economies.

Steep power prices have ballooned production costs for businesses and ultimately led to pricey goods and services as the firms pass these high costs to consumers.

‘Kenya’s electricity prices are among the highest in the region, materially increasing production costs for formal, quality-compliant producers,’ the World Bank said in a review of Kenya’s private sector last month.

‘Industrial tariffs average US$0.18-US$0.23 per kilowatt-hour, compared with about US$0.03-US$0.05 per kilowatt-hour in regional comparators such as the Arab Republic of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Morocco,’ the Bretton Woods institution added in the review.

Businesses continue to grapple with costly electricity, a scenario that led to the introduction of ToU in December 2017 to encourage increased electricity consumption by commercial and industrial customers during off-peak hours.

The preferential tariff was later extended to small commercial and electric mobility customers in April 2023. ToU allows industries and big consumers of the national grid to use more electricity, especially when demand is low, at cheaper rates and in turn boost their production, besides driving Kenya Power’s electricity sales.

The tariff aims to flatten the demand curve, thereby enhancing grid stability and optimising the utilisation of available generation capacity.

The base tariff has been reducing year on year since 2023 in line with gazetted prices, but the marginal drops have done little to ease pressure on Kenya Power’s commercial and industrial clients.

Commercial and industrial clients are charged between Sh12.28-Sh18 per kWh in the base tariff compared to a range of Sh12.28-Sh20.18 in 2023. Base tariff, also referred to as consumption charge, is the single component of a power bill, with the others being fuel surcharge, Value Added Tax of 16 percent, forex adjustment, and energy regulatory levy.

The components of an electricity bill are the Rural Electrification Programme levy, Water Resources Management Authority levy, and a levy for the energy sector.

Chief executives are sometimes pushed out long before their contracts formally expire. Boards may strip them of responsibilities, cut off access to company systems or place them on leave while a successor takes over, creating an awkward period in which an executive remains employed but is effectively out of the job. Can they sue?

That is what unfolded at the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), where CEO Wilson Muthaura Mathiu was locked out of the workplace months before his contract was due to end.

Mr Mathiu was still under contract in January 2026 when his work email was deactivated. He was also removed from official work and board WhatsApp groups, and another executive took over his duties, effectively rendering him an employee without a workplace.

His driver and other benefits attached to the CEO position, including the daily newspapers, were also withdrawn. This was before his contract expired on April 20, 2026, triggering a labour dispute with KTDA and ending with a mixed judgment.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court said the agency could send him on terminal leave because he had 29.5 accrued leave days. But it found KTDA breached his contract by cutting off workplace access and benefits before employment ended.

On January 16, KTDA board directed Mr Mathiu to proceed on terminal leave pending retirement and replaced him with Francis Miano as acting Group CEO. At the time the notice was issued, the petitioner had three months remaining on his employment contract.

KTDA announced Mr Miano’s appointment on January 17, saying he would provide continuity and noting his more than 30 years of professional experience and long service within the agency.

Mr Mathiu had held senior management positions, including Group General Manager-HRA, before becoming acting CEO on June 22, 2021. He was confirmed as CEO under a three-year contract dated October 7, 2021, later renewed to April 20, 2026, with a monthly salary of Sh1.9 million.

He was on approved leave when the January 16 terminal leave letter referenced termination of employment was issued. He said the leave was ending on January 21.

In his court papers, Mr Mathiu said he learned about the termination through social media platforms and had not been personally served with the letter.

He said the move went beyond using accumulated leave. His email and access to SAP, Chaiweb and Informax were deactivated.

The former CEO said that while on leave, he was removed from all official work, board, management and employment-related WhatsApp groups. He said he was denied his office, while the acting CEO occupied it.

The monthly salary was not paid.

“These acts prevented the petitioner from performing his duties, resulting in unfair labour practices and violations of rights under the Employment Act (the Act). The imposed leave and lockout were not justified,” he told the court.

Constructive dismissal

He sued, claiming constructive dismissal and sought more than Sh40 million in compensation. His claim included three months’ notice pay, 29.5 accrued leave days, 16 board sitting allowances, vehicle deductions and 12 months’ compensation.

The forced terminal leave was thus an act of compelling the petitioner to leave employment without justification, the court heard.

KTDA disputed that account. Group Director for Human Capital, Performance and Culture Charles Kireru said the board had acted under its human resource policy after reviewing the former CEO’s accumulated leave.

He said terminal leave was an accepted workplace practice and that Mr Mathiu continued receiving his full salary and related benefits.

KTDA also disputed that Mr Mathiu was denied access, saying security records showed no attempt to visit the office and be turned away. The agency said he retained the company vehicle and its fuel card while on leave.

Further, it said the driver was assigned to the CEO’s office, not Mr Mathiu personally. It said newspapers were attached to the office, not him. “No salary reduction, suspension, or penalty was imposed, as alleged,” the defendant said.

In its judgment dated September 30, 2026, the court accepted part of KTDA’s position. Justice Monica Mbaru said taking accrued annual leave before a fixed-term contract ended was lawful. It noted that he had applied for 20 days from December 22, 2025 to January 21, 2026, and KTDA approved it.

By January 16, he had 29.5 days remaining. The judge said failure to allocate those days could have resulted in encashment. ‘The option to take such earned leave was the most reasonable measure in view of the term contract,’ she said.

Drawing the line

But the court drew a line between being on leave and losing practical rights attached to employment. Although Mr Mathiu was away, his contract continued until April 20.

‘The only difference in this case was the respondent’s conduct of blocking the petitioner from his workplace systems and platforms while employment subsisted. Such action was unnecessary,” the judge said, finding that KTDA breached Mr Mathiu’s right to fair labour practices.

She added: ‘Locking out the petitioner from the workplace by replacing him in his role, recalling his driver, and deactivating the systems to deny him access was unjustified.’

The judge concluded that “it thus became an unfair labour practice to subject the petitioner to a hostile transition period, even where the process should have been smooth”.

The court did not find constructive dismissal because Mr Mathiu was on lawful terminal leave and had not resigned. The judge distinguished his circumstances from cases where employees resigned after employers created intolerable working conditions.

Sh1.9 million award

The court held that terminal leave did not end his contractual rights before that date. It awarded him one month’s salary of Sh1.9 million as general damages for the contractual breach. It also awarded Sh14,740 for the newspapers.

His claims for three months’ notice pay, accrued leave, 16 board sitting allowances, vehicle deductions and 12 months’ compensation were not granted. The court held that the employment had ultimately ended through expiry of the fixed-term contract.

The episode unfolded as KTDA prepared for a leadership change. The agency advertised the Group CEO position on January 19, 2026, three days after Mr Mathiu was placed on terminal leave.

KTDA is farmer-owned, with its shareholding historically structured around 54 tea factory companies and individual smallholder farmers. KTDA says its operations serve more than 600,000 smallholder farmers.

Rush rush rush and if you blink, you might miss it. The world is rapidly changing right before our eyes. While the first industrial revolution from 1760 saw a global transition from agrarian and handicraft economies to machine-driven, industrial, and urban societies took a full 80 years. But the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is happening at lightning speed in comparison.

There are diverging opinions on whether the labour market will be able to catch up to the rapid rate of change and anticipated massive job losses. In the industrial revolution, workers and manufacturing plant owners had decades to prepare, adjust, and catch-up. But will today’s modern workers be able to bounce back and adapt?

At the recently held Annual Organisation Development Roundtable hosted by USIU-Africa, SNDBX Founder and CEO Joram Mwinamo warned that professionals should not be alarmist.

He predicted that many jobs will be created as a result of AI and many such types of careers are not even imagined yet. The computer and internet transition created millions of jobs and AI should not be different.

However, this stands in contrast to famous AI naysayer Bill Gates who predicts that the rate of improvement with AI has already all but wiped-out computer programmers but soon will completely replace most accountants, lawyers, and so on and so on to different professions.

The United States city of Chicago already has a primary and secondary school with no teachers. AI teaches the students and the adult humans at the school are more like emotional wellbeing coaches.

Grace Mandela, Head of Legal and Administration at Farmer’s Choice, stressed the continued need for human connection and networking as the AI revolution takes full force. We must focus on impact and differentiation.

Joram also spoke about the shocking rate of change in the world has created an environment whereby companies are having to update their strategies every year or half-year since predictions year-over-year are now not possible.

JIWE Studios CEO Max Musau stated how the rates of change in technology even beyond AI will only continue to accelerate and that firms across East Africa need to become more agile and swift in responding to the constant winds of change.

Organisation Development Consultant Daniel Karori agreed with the changes but also explained how utilising AI is not just a matter of random usage of large language models, but a matter of training a specific model over time to fit with one’s business needs and localise the AI analysis.

He highlighted how many consulting firms are using AI for uploading mounds of data and then receiving analysis, but the big recommendations given to client firms still have to originate from experienced professional human thought. There will still be roles for highly trained professionals.

Human Resources Expert Cynthia Mburugu explained how numerous firms now use AI to filter job applicants.

But it is not as much large language models for filtering, but often specialised software that is underpinned by AI. Yet one can still be distinct in the market, use connections, and actively pursue referrals.

Patrick Forscher, Senior Behavioural Scientist at Busara in Nairobi, delved into cutting-edge research on behavioural science and its role on improving humanitarian development. He also highlighted the role of bias among AI large language models and the errors they generate especially in developing country contexts.

There also exist ethical issues with the use of large language models built by big firms with highly questionable business practices. Yet there are excellent open-source ethical AI platforms that hardly anyone talks about.

In short, AI is changing the professional world, but we can adapt, integrate, and stay ahead of the curve.

The National Treasury has expanded the list of transactions to be checked for prices charged by multinational firms when trading with subsidiaries within the same company, signalling deeper scrutiny by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

New regulations published by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi showed that the KRA will now check at least 25 items on transfer pricing transactions between related divisions, subsidiaries, or affiliates of the same multinational company, marking a sharp increase from the past when about 10 areas were covered.

‘The object and purpose of these rules are to provide guidelines for determining arm’s length prices for transactions between related persons,’ Mr Mbadi said. Transfer pricing is an accounting practice used to determine the prices charged for transactions between related divisions, subsidiaries, or affiliates of the same company.

It’s commonly used by multinational corporations to allocate costs, revenues, and profits across different parts of the organisation while complying with tax regulations.

However, there are concerns that some multinationals misuse the provision to alter taxable income and cut their overall taxes.

The recently published rules on transfer pricing give KRA access to detailed information on related-party pricing, contracts, financial statements and the basis used by companies to determine whether their transactions are conducted at arm’s length.

The updated rules require companies to provide the taxman with information for each category of controlled transaction (which refers to transactions between related entities), including the parties involved, transaction value, settlement currency, contractual terms and the trading model.

‘The level of detail prescribed for transfer pricing information and supporting documentation signals the KRA’s continued, and intensifying, focus on transfer pricing as an audit and revenue mobilisation priority,’ experts at law firm Bowmans Kenya said in a commentary.

‘Collectively, the enhanced documentation requirements substantially increase the compliance burden for taxpayers and reflect a shift towards a more rigorous and evidence-based transfer pricing regime. Taxpayers should review their existing transfer pricing processes and documentation frameworks to ensure they can meet the increased disclosure and substantiation requirements.’

The new framework shifts transfer pricing compliance beyond simply declaring related-party transactions, requiring multinationals to maintain detailed evidence showing why the prices used in their cross-border dealings are commercially defensible.

The increased disclosures will give KRA a more detailed basis for testing whether prices used in transactions between related companies reflect what independent parties would have agreed.

The changes come on the back of KRA having already identified inter-company loans and royalty payments as sensitive areas in its transfer pricing reviews, amid concerns that inflated financing costs and royalty charges can reduce taxable profits in Kenya.

KRA said in March this year it was going to enhance focus on taxpayers whose declared profits do not match expected taxable income.

Under the updated rules, multinationals will also have to disclose intra-group payments and receipts broken down by the tax jurisdiction of the foreign payer or recipient, as well as the identities of connected persons and their relationships.

The rules state that the KRA commissioner may, where necessary, request a company for ‘books of accounts and other documents relating to transactions where transfer pricing is applied.’

The companies will also have to provide KRA with analysis showing the functions performed, risks assumed, and assets used by the Kenyan entity and its related parties.

Firms must also provide details of comparable transactions, the process used to identify them, the reasons for rejecting potential comparables, and an explanation of how the transfer pricing method was selected.

The rules expand the scope of transactions covered to include long- and short-term borrowing and lending, guarantees, marketable securities, advances, receivables and other debts. They also cover insurance and reinsurance, business restructurings, cost distribution arrangements and derivatives.

In addition, companies must provide audited financial statements, financial statements of transaction counterparties, segmented reports and schedules showing how financial information used in transfer pricing calculations relates to their annual accounts.

The rules also require companies applying arm’s-length pricing to develop an appropriate transfer pricing policy, determine the arm’s-length price in accordance with the rules, and provide documentation supporting their analysis when requested by KRA.

Any tax due and unpaid in a transfer pricing arrangement will be treated as additional tax under the Tax Procedures Act, exposing affected firms to penalties.

‘The provisions of the Tax Procedures Act relating to fraud, failure to furnish returns and underpayment of tax shall apply to transfer pricing,’ read the new rules.

Kenya has confirmed its first Ebola case after its citizen, who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), died in Nairobi on Monday night after a trip on public transport.

The death exposes lapses in disease screening and surveillance at the main Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, amid risks of ripple effects on the sensitive tourism sector.

The confirmation means that Kenya now becomes the third country to record a case linked to the Ebola epidemic in eastern Congo, which has so far registered more than 8,000 cases. Uganda reported 20 cases and two deaths earlier in the year but was declared Ebola-free.

The Ministry of Health on Tuesday confirmed that a Kenyan man who had lived in the DRC for seven years had tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola after travelling from the DRC to Uganda’s capital, Kampala, by road and then flying to Nairobi on Saturday. The patient later died while receiving treatment at a Nairobi hospital.

‘The Ministry of Health has confirmed Kenya’s first imported case of Bundibugyo Ebola virus. The patient fell ill about a month ago and received treatment at several hospitals in the DRC,’ announced Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale. ‘He travelled by road to Kampala before boarding Jambojet flight 8523 to Nairobi, arriving on Saturday, October 3 at 13:10.’

After arriving at JKIA, the patient passed through health screening and was later taken by a relative to Nairobi Hospital. He was admitted with fever, chills and bleeding beneath the skin and was quickly placed in isolation, Mr Duale said.

The incident has raised health safety concerns with the government now tracing the 23 passengers and four crew who were on the Jambojet flight, in addition to the 28 contacts already identified. Those considered at risk will be quarantined for 21 days.

The case is also likely to trigger jitters in the Kenyan tourism sector, especially if more Ebola cases are detected. Past outbreaks in Central and West Africa have historically triggered a broader “fear factor” that impacts tourism.

Jambojet, whose Entebbe-Nairobi flight carried the patient, said it was working with the Ministry of Health to identify and manage passengers and crew who may have been exposed.

‘The health and safety of our guests, crew and staff remains our highest priority,’ the airline said, urging passengers to rely on information from its verified channels and health authorities.

Jambojet resumed its daily flights between Nairobi and Entebbe after a six-year hiatus on October 1, and later carried the Ebola victim two days later.

It had entered the Nairobi-Entebbe route in 2018 but suspended it nearly two years later as the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted international travel.

Before the Ebola case, Jambojet was optimistic that the route would benefit from recovering passenger and commercial traffic between the two countries, with cross-border passenger traffic projected to exceed 300,000 travellers in 2026.

The case comes at a time when the country is seeking to protect its tourism industry, which recorded strong growth last year. According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, international visitor arrivals rose by 6.2 percent to 2.55 million in 2025, while hotel bed-night occupancy jumped 12.6 percent to 11.56 million.

Even before the country had recorded a case, tourism stakeholders had already raised concerns in June that reports and social media posts linking Kenya to Ebola were affecting travel decisions.

‘Misinformation is causing unnecessary travel cancellations and threatening the recovery of the country’s tourism sector,’ said John Ololtua, Tourism Principal Secretary, at the Kenya Association of Travel Agents’ annual meeting in Mombasa.

At the time, the government said it had intensified surveillance at ports of entry and was running a communications campaign to counter misinformation and maintain confidence among travellers.

The case has also drawn renewed attention to Kenya’s preparedness facilities, including the controversial US-backed Ebola quarantine facility proposed in Laikipia earlier this year.

Although the US government had committed $13.5 million towards Kenya’s Ebola preparedness, construction of the facility was later suspended following a court dispute.

Currently, the United States classifies Kenya as a Level Two travel destination, advising travellers to exercise increased caution due to risks including crime, kidnapping, terrorism, civil unrest, health issues and traffic safety.

Leaving the office on time may seem like a straightforward part of the workday, but in some workplaces, employees who consistently pack up at the official closing hour risk being seen as less committed than colleagues who stay late.

Sakwa Wangara, a human resource practitioner, lecturer at the College of Human Resource Management, and managing director of HRD Ingenuity, says workplace culture can influence how employees view working beyond official hours.

‘Some people feel the need to stay beyond their official working hours because of the culture at the workplace, as dictated by the kind of leadership that exists,’ Mr Wangara says.

He says some organisations associate employees who go beyond their official hours with commitment, particularly when they regularly take on extra work without claiming overtime.

This can also affect how employees who leave on time are perceived.

According to Mr Wangara, an employee who consistently leaves at the official closing time may be seen either as someone who respects time and is productive within the prescribed hours, or as someone unwilling to go beyond their basic duties.

‘The kind of perception the manager or colleagues would have can depend on the culture of the organisation, he says.

However, staying late does not automatically mean an employee is more productive.

Mr Wangara says if an employee is spending additional hours completing their normal workload, rather than dealing with a new assignment or an unexpected development, it could point to poor time management or productivity.

‘It should not be misconstrued to imply that you are a productive person and so you’re even ploughing in more hours for more output,’ he says.

Poor commitment

Verolyne Witambila Isutsa, a human resource professional with more than seven years’ experience, agrees that leaving on time should not be treated as a sign of poor commitment.

‘If you get to work on time, meet your targets and leave without anything pending on your desk, there’s nothing to feel guilty about when leaving work on time,’ she says.

However, she cautions that employees may sometimes need to stay longer when the needs of the business require it.

‘If the business needs an employee to go an extra mile so that it can achieve the set objectives and you choose to leave while your colleagues remain behind, you might come off as one who is not a team player,’ Ms Isutsa says.

For managers, Mr Wangara says the culture should start from the top. Leaders who complete their work within the prescribed hours and leave on time can help signal to employees that staying late is not a requirement for demonstrating commitment.

‘Everything is created there. So the kind of environment will be dictated by the kind of behaviour the leader or the manager is modelling,’ he says.

The distinction, he adds, is whether staying late is an exception or has become the norm.

An emergency or urgent deadline may justify working beyond official hours. But when employees regularly stay late simply to complete their normal duties, organisations may need to examine whether the issue is workload, productivity or workplace culture.

Picture a family from Frankfurt spending a week in Diani with one more wish: to see mountain gorillas. They must find a flight to Entebbe, then endure a long road trip to Kisoro in Uganda’s south-west, and back.

The gorilla permit is affordable but high airfares, a draining road and costly lodging near the parks push visitors to choose one experience over the other.

It need not be so. AI cannot shorten the road to Kisoro but can take the guesswork and hassle out of the trip. That is the challenge World Tourism Day set on September 27, under the theme ‘Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism’.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that, left unchecked, AI could steer travellers to the same few places and platforms. The tools favour places that are already easy to find and book online. Our shared circuit must not be among those left behind.

Since 2022, Kenya and Uganda have had partnerships, bringing together operators, hoteliers and tourism players in Mombasa every year. The effort is paying off. Kenyan visitors to Uganda rose from 466,902 in 2024 to 519,041 in 2025.

Arrivals from Uganda grew from 201,623 to 234,556, making Uganda Kenya’s second-largest source market. For many Ugandans, Kenya once meant Nairobi. Today, a direct circuit runs to Mombasa, Kwale and Kilifi.

The Coast offers white beaches, hotels and industry leaders open to partnership. Uganda brings primates, scenery and adventure. Both destinations can learn from each other.

Yet our numbers are nothing to brag about. UN Tourism reports that Africa welcomed 81 million international tourists in 2025. That is barely five per cent of the 1.52 billion arrivals worldwide. The region must become easier to discover, plan and book.

This is where technology earns its place. Real-time data would show available rooms near the park and what each destination offers.

Who will build these tools? Young people are tech-savvy and form an emerging group of travellers with their own tastes. They also need IT skills, customer care, resilience, patience and trustworthiness.

Governments must provide funding, train young people, ease access to technology financing, keep rules supportive of innovation and invest in knowledge. They must also make movement easier. No app can fix a slow border crossing.