Category: Business Daily

The Treasury is on the spot for failing to use the Sh2.67 trillion borrowed locally between 2018 and 2023 to fund projects, thereby contravening rules that stipulate debt should not be used to for recurrent activities.

The Office of the Auditor-General has said the Treasury has been operating without a framework to ensure that funds generated from domestic loans are used for development projects, at a time when the public debt has exceeded Sh12 trillion.

A performance audit on the management of cash and domestic debt shows that the government borrowed Sh2.97 trillion via bonds between July 2018 and June 2023.

‘Out of this amount, Sh2.67 trillion was transferred to Consolidated Fund Services (CFS) account, of which Sh558.87 billion was utilised to settle maturing domestic debt and the remaining balance of Sh2.1 trillion funded Exchequer releases to MDAs (ministries, departments and agencies),’ says Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu.

However, the audit does not explain how the balance of Sh300 billion, which was not deposited into the Consolidated Fund, was used.

Although the public auditor faulted the use of bond sale proceeds to fund maturities, the Treasury defended the action, saying that debt obligations are a first charge to the Consolidated Fund.

The bonds proceeds were, however, mixed with other cash inflows, such as taxes, after being deposited in the Consolidated Fund, making it difficult to tell how they were used, Ms Gathungu notes.

‘Because of fungibility of money, the monies were used to fund priority exchequer requests instead of lying idle in the Treasury bonds accounts and provided that at the end of the financial year the budget was fully funded, then there should be no problem,’ the Auditor-General said.

‘As a result, the audit could not verify what specific projects the Treasury bonds proceeds were expended on,’ she added.

The audit also faults the Treasury for the lack of a mechanism to ring-fence prove projects to be funded with proceeds of infrastructure bonds, saying the government has been floating the papers without specifics of projects to be funded.

Ms Gathungu added that this continued non-adherence to fiscal principles risks weakening investor confidence and the development of markets for government securities.

‘Review of a number of infrastructure bond prospectuses indicates the purpose of these bonds to be very general and not specific to a particular infrastructure project, thereby unable to confirm the utilisation of the treasury bonds proceeds,’ she says.

The PFM Act 2012 requires the Treasury to ensure that government borrowings are only used for financing development. But, short-term borrowings, such as overdrafts are used to manage cash flows.

Kenya’s public debt hit Sh12.05 trillion in September, with domestic debt accounting for 55.3 percent of the total debt.

Kenyan mobile phone users are raising concerns over a surge in spam or unsolicited promotional SMSs, increasing scrutiny over how telecom operators handle customers’ personal data and whether regulators are doing enough to curb intrusive messaging.

Subscribers say their phones have been inundated with trivia alerts, quizzes, motivational quotes, betting platform notifications and digital lending offers, including messages from services they have never used.

Some of these alerts deduct airtime or mobile money balances without clear consent, while attempts to unsubscribe often lead to dead ends.

Frustrated users have flooded telcos’ customer-care pages on social media with complaints, questioning how unknown companies acquired their numbers and whether the contacts were obtained legitimately or through undisclosed data-sharing arrangements.

‘I’m concerned about my data privacy. I’m getting spam messages about gambling and I didn’t give consent. Can you help me understand how my number was obtained?’ one user wrote on social media X platform last month.

On Tuesday, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) acknowledged the rising anger, calling the matter a priority.

‘We have also noted consumer frustration over spam messages, unsolicited subscriptions, unauthorised use of phone numbers and unauthorised premium services,’ the regulator said in a statement.

‘These concerns are a priority for the Authority, and the improved SIM card registration processes are part of the larger strategy to safeguard consumer interests.’

The regulator was referencing new SIM card registration rules issued by ICT Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo, which require telcos to collect biometric data, including fingerprints, when onboarding customers.

The rules are framed as a tool for combating fraud and strengthening accountability, but they have sparked controversy on their own over sensitivity regarding how subscriber data is being stored and used.

A September report by Kenya’s second-largest telco- Airtel, showed that the country had the highest prevalence of spam SMS among 13 African countries monitored by its AI-powered spam alert tool, with 68 million suspicious messages flagged out of 205 million detected across the markets.

Safaricom, in its data privacy statement, insists that it collects customer information with full knowledge and consent and uses it strictly for defined purposes such as identity verification, billing, credit scoring and sending product updates, unless a customer opts out.

‘We may. contact you with offers or promotions based on how you use our or third-party products and services unless you opt out,’ the company says.

According to data security specialist Raymond Kamau, the assumption that telcos are directly leaking customer phone numbers is not always accurate.

‘There are many places these companies may have gotten people’s phone numbers from; websites where you sign up using your number, online purchases, or even places you leave your data for access control,’ he told the Business Daily in an interview.

‘It does not necessarily mean your mobile carrier gave your data to a third party.’

Mr Kamau adds that tracing the original source of personal data used to send spam or flash messages is often difficult:

‘The telcos cannot stop it unless you alert them,’ he said, noting that customer reports are key to blocking problematic senders.

Such complaints fall within the mandate of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC).

‘If a customer does not know who shared their data without permission, they should raise the issue with the ODPC,’ said a data privacy lawyer.

‘Where possible, one should also contact the sender directly and ask how they obtained the number.’

As per the Data Protection Act, marketers must only send direct marketing messages if they collected the customer’s data legally, notified them that marketing is a purpose of collection and provided a working opt-out mechanism.

‘It is a violation when the SMS marketer does not give an opt-out option in their message, when the option does not work, or when marketing messages continue even after a subscriber opts out,’ said the lawyer.

The law also requires marketers to include clear contact information through which consumers can request that the communications stop, without incurring charges.

Consumers also have the right to ask a data controller not to process their data for all or part of a specific purpose, including direct marketing.

‘A data subject may request a data controller or data processor not to process all or part of their personal data, for a specified purpose or in a specified manner, such as direct marketing purposes,’ the Act states.

An aggrieved mobile subscriber can complain to the ODPC by filling out the complaint form available online and sending it via email.

‘The ODPC then investigates within 90 days,’ said the lawyer. ‘If the investigation reveals who illegally shared the customer’s data, the user can pursue a case against the responsible data processor or controller.’

The Co-operative Bank of Kenya has won a long-running intellectual property dispute, with the High Court rejecting claims by a tech firm that the lender stole its real estate payment innovation.

In a judgment on fintech (financial technology) patents, the court upheld an earlier ruling of the Industrial Property Tribunal that Intestyl Technologies Ltd’s registered system was not independently protected because it wholly depended on the bank’s existing infrastructure.

The system was designed to help landlords reconcile mobile payments. ‘The invention was neither standalone nor unique,’ the court stated, citing Section 103(3) of Kenya’s Industrial Property Act.

The court ruled that the innovation’s complete reliance on the Co-op Bank’s systems invalidated the registration.

The dispute originated from Intestyl’s 2020 utility model registration for a ‘Computer Implemented Banking System for Real Estate Management.’ This was a digital platform designed to help landlords reconcile real-time mobile payments.

Intestyl and its director, Alex Muigai, alleged that the bank had integrated their technology into its Open Banking Project after gaining access during collaboration talks, a claim the court found unsupported by evidence.

Although Intestyl accused Co-op Bank of exploiting its disclosure during partnership negotiations, the court found that the firm’s failure to prove standalone functionality was fatal to its case.

Intestyl and its director stated that they had approached the bank to commercialise the invention and had entered into an application programming interface (API) service agreement with the bank.

The court heard that the bank had allowed Intestyl to utilise the APIs for funds transfers, status queries, instant notifications, Pesalink and M-Pesa, and callbacks for the purpose of implementing the invention.

The dispute hinged on allegations that Co-op Bank unlawfully integrated the invention into its Open Banking Project, despite initially collaborating under an API agreement.

The tech firm began product testing, which included the full disclosure the utility-model-protected invention, and the bank gave them full access to the core banking system.

It was alleged that they worked jointly to modify the lender’s banking system to ensure compatibility and integration with Intestyl’s invention, and the systems worked seamlessly.

The tech firm and its director blamed the bank for commissioning the Open Banking Project, alleging that it had appropriated some features from their invention.

They also accused the bank of offering a licence for the invention to third parties in disregard of their rights over the utility model.

Mr Muigai and Intestyl jointly accused the bank, together with Proptech Kenya and Ezen Partners Limited, of manufacturing, commercialising and exploiting their invention for sale without their consent or knowledge.

However, the court found that Intestyl’s system only facilitated M-Pesa payments through the bank’s pre-existing Pesalink and funds transfer interfaces – a function that the tribunal likened to a ‘parasitic’ add-on rather than a standalone innovation.

This is because Intestyl’s innovation required Co-op Bank’s core banking system to operate, meaning it failed to meet the legal threshold for infringement.

It was noted that the nature of Intestyl’s invention required the bank to allow its use on its APIs, which was allegedly already existed and were in use by other fintech companies.

It was concluded that, since the invention required a host to survive, it could not therefore be infringed.

‘The appellants’ utility model could not function without Co-operative Bank’s banking system,’ the judgment stated, adding that Intestyl failed to prove misuse of any protectable expression.

The court emphasised that Kenyan law protects the tangible implementations of ideas, rather than abstract concepts that depend on third-party systems.

It noted that computer-driven business methods fall outside the scope of patents under the Industrial Property Act.

Given the appellants’ utility model relied on the bank’s banking system, it disqualified it from infringement.

‘The Intestyl’s system was to collect M-Pesa payments on behalf of landlords, and to re-route the payments to the collective merchants’ accounts, via EFT and Pesalink API,’ said the court.

‘That made the system dependent on the first respondent’s banking system, to function, and the functioning would have been impossible without the first respondent’s banking system,’ it added.

Co-op Bank had countered that the utility model’s registration was flawed, as it neither described its industrial applicability nor its operational specifics.

The bank denied wrongdoing, arguing that the tech firm’s model was neither novel nor self-sustaining, as it relied entirely on its existing Pesalink and M-Pesa APIs. The bank described the lawsuit as frivolous.

The court agreed, further rejecting Intestyl’s bid for injunctive relief and affirming the tribunal’s finding that the invention lacked uniqueness.

The judgment noted that Intestyl had failed to disclose sufficient technical details of its invention during proceedings to substantiate its claims of infringement.

South Africa’s Vodacom Group is seeking to acquire part of the government’s stake in Safaricom in a deal that could see the Johannesburg-based firm take majority control of the Kenyan tele-coms operator.

Vodacom Group has informed investors that it will bid for an extra Safaricom share as the State seeks to reduce its stake in a privatisation plan.

The government has announced plans to sell a mega stake in Safaricom in efforts to raise billions of shillings from the privatisation of State enter-prises and cut reliance on debt to plug budget deficits.

It retained a 34.9 percent stake in the Nairobi bourse-listed firm worth Sh418 billion after selling a 25 percent stake to investors via an initial public offering (IPO) in 2008. Vodacom Group has a 39.9 percent stake in Safaricom.

The sale promises the largest trans-action in the region as global private equity (PE) firms prowl Africa for tele-coms deals, attracted by their predict-able revenues and steady cash flows, which can then be used to service the debt taken on to buy the company.

Vodacom Group CEO Mohamed Josub said the South African firm expects the Kenyan government to reach out with an offer.

‘In terms of increasing stakes, we look at any market where our partners want to sell, we would consider it,’ Mr Josub told investors during the group’s 2026 second-quarter earnings call.

‘And of course, we’d expect that they would talk to us, as we’ve been partners for a very long time. If there is a want to sell, I’m sure they’ll talk to us.’

Vodacom Group previously increased its stake in Safaricom through an all-share deal with its UK parent, Vodafone Plc, in 2017.

Safaricom’s IPO was oversubscribed by 532 percent after the State sold the 25 percent stake, or 10 billion shares, earning Sh51.75 billion for the Treasury.

Analysts expect a scramble for the additional sale of the government stake in Safaricom. Safaricom’s stake sale could take the form of a secondary IPO or an auction to a high-net-worth investor for a block sale.

A second offer occurs when an investor sells their shares to the public on the secondary market after the first offer, with proceeds going directly to the pockets of the investor.

The sale of 10 percent of the government’s stake in the telco would yield Sh119.6 billion at the prevailing share price of Sh29.90.

Analysts have favoured an off-market transaction if the government is to unlock the maximum possible return from the planned divestiture.

This involves sales to high-net-worth investors like telecoms operators and PE funds that offer a premium to the market price.

Vodacom Group seems to prefer this route, which could see the State offer it preference in the purchase of the shares.

The State has been short of entities deemed ripe for privatization as the bulk of them are struggling after years of loss-making and mismanagement.

Apart from Safaricom, Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) is seen as the only other viable firm that can help the State move closer to the Sh149 billion target.

Safaricom remains the region’s most profitable firm, riding on the back of data and M-Pesa, which has seen the operator consistently pay dividends.

Safaricom reported a 52.1 percent rise in its half-year profit to Sh42.7 billion, helped by a smaller loss in Ethiopia and M-Pesa’s double-digit growth.

Its net profit grew from Sh28.11 billion the previous year, and it expects to declare an interim dividend in February. The firm paid a dividend of Sh1.20 a share, representing a windfall of Sh19.2 billion and Sh16.8 billion for Vodacom and the Exchequer.

Safaricom – Kenya’s biggest mobile carrier with close to two-thirds of the country’s subscribers – is valued at Sh1.196 trillion.

The Kenya business continued to be the main profit driver on the back of M-Pesa, the firm’s largest unit and on course to generate half of the telco’s revenues.

Its reported loss in Ethiopia dropped by 59 percent compared to the first half of the previous financial year, which was heavily impacted by a depreciation of the birr currency.

The loss in Ethiopia that is attributed to Safaricom dropped to Sh15.2 billion from Sh19.4 billion in the same period a year earlier, translating to a gain of Sh4.2 billion.

Safaricom launched in Ethiopia in 2022 as the government opened up the tightly controlled economy to foreign competition and is hoping its presence in Africa’s second-most populous country will power future growth.

Its diversification from the saturated voice and SMS business is paying off, with M-Pesa, mobile data and fixed internet emerging as sales drivers.

Safaricom’s revenue rose to Sh199.9 billion in the six months to September, from Sh179.9 billion in the same period a year earlier, reflecting a 11.1 percent growth.

Revenue from mobile financial service M-Pesa rose to Sh88.1 billion from Sh77.2 billion previously, reflecting a growth of 14 percent.

The voice business recorded a 0.5 percent decline in revenues to Sh41 billion, marking a big shift as mobile data for the first time overtook sales from calls.

Revenue from mobile data, where Safaricom has been aggressively fighting for market share, rose 18.2 percent to Sh44.4 billion, while fixed internet to homes and offices rose 10 percent to Sh9.1 billion.

Equity Group Foundation will contribute to a Sh1.3 billion ($10 million) prize for best education technology innovation in Africa in a bid to improve early childhood learning on the continent.

The lender’s charity arm, known for its flagship Wings to Fly education scholarship programme, on Thursday announced its collaboration with XPrize Foundation in the upcoming XPrize Accellerate Learning Competition during the on-going G20 Social Summit in South Africa.

The prize seeks to reward an innovation with the best learning outcomes for the most students and at the lowest cost, yet scalable and can enable young learners to achieve literacy and numeracy within a year.

‘Africa’s demographic promise will only become a dividend if we prepare our children for a future driven by science, technology, entrepreneurship, and governance,’ said Equity Group chief executive officer James Mwangi.

Other than rewarding the best technology in education innovation, the prize is part of a larger effort to equip African youth with requisite job skills for the job market, expanding from just literacy and numeracy to science and technology skills as well.

Currently, it is estimated that about 85 percent of Africa’s 10-year-olds cannot read and understand text, which is one of the challenges the prize is trying to solve.

‘If we want Africa’s children to lead in the jobs of the future, we must begin with early learning. This prize calls on the world’s brightest minds to design solutions that can uplift millions, accelerating Africa’s future,’ said Alexander Nicholas, vice president for learning and society at XPrize.

The High Court has dismissed an appeal by Moja Expressway Company; the firm that manages Nairobi’s Expressway toll road, challenging a Sh500,000 compensation order for unlawfully using a former employee’s image in promotional materials without his consent.

The court upheld the May 2024 ruling by the Data Protection Commissioner, affirming that companies must seek fresh consent to use personal data after an employment relationship ends.

The case originated from a complaint filed by Cyrus Mwaniki, who worked as a salesperson for Moja Expressway until his resignation in November 2022. Over a year later, in October 2023, he discoveredMr Mwaniki argued that while he had consented to the use of his data during employment, the company had no right to continue exploiting the same commercially after his departure.

The Data Protection Commissioner determined that fresh consent from Mr Mwaniki was necessary, to continue using the image after his resignation and awarded him the amount as compensation, a ruling that aggrieved the company.

Moja Expressway admitted using Mr Mwaniki’s image but claimed he had never withdrawn his initial oral consent. The company later deleted the videos after the complaint was lodged.

Rejecting this defence, the court ruled that employment-based consent expires upon termination.

“Once the employment relationship ended, the basis for using the data was lost,” the judge observed, upholding digital privacy rights under the Data Protection Act and signalling to employers that personal data-especially for profit-driven purposes-cannot be retained indefinitely without explicit consent.

The court said the award was based on commercial exploitation of Mr Mwaniki’s image after he stopped working for the company.

“In the context of employment, that exploitation would have been remunerated by salary or commission as part of the employment terms. After termination of employment, the respondent was not being remunerated for the continued exploitation of his data for commercial purposes,” said the court.

It added that the ex-employee’s image was being exploited for free, which was unjust, and the Data Protection Commissioner was entitled to award compensation for that exploitation.

“Perhaps an issue could be raised with regard to assessment of that compensation, but the appellant (Moja) has not addressed that to fault the quantum awarded,” stated the judge dismissing the appeal.

The judge emphasised that fresh consent was mandatory for continued commercial use, and Moja Expressway’s failure to obtain it constituted a violation of data protection laws.

Regarding compensation, the judge dismissed Moja Expressway’s argument that Mr Mwaniki had not proven tangible loss, noting that unauthorized commercial exploitation inherently warranted redress.

The court clarified that damages in such cases account for intangible harms like emotional distress and reputational harm.

While Moja Expressway questioned the Sh500,000 quantum, it failed to propose an alternative figure, leading the court to deem the sum “fair and reasonable.”

I and M Group has raised its interim dividend by 15.3 percent to Sh1.50 per share amounting to Sh2.61 billion amid growth in net profits for the first nine months of the year.

The lender has raised the payout from Sh1.30 per share that it issued last year. The move has come on the back of net earnings for nine months ended September this year growing by 28.7 percent to Sh11.8 billion from Sh9.17 billion in a similar period in 2024.

Shareholders will receive the new interim dividend on or about January 14, 2026. The payout will be applicable to those on the lender’s register as at December 15 this year. I and M shares rose 0.33 percent to reach Sh46 at the Nairobi Securities Exchange by 1:30 pm, marking the stock’s highest level since March 2021.

I and M Group performance came from subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda as well as a joint venture in Mauritius with CIEL Group where it trades as Bank One.

Kihara Maina, I and M Group regional CEO and interim CEO of I and M Bank Kenya said the performance reflects growth across its regional markets and continued focus on innovation, operational efficiency and regional expansion.

‘Our performance demonstrates the strength of our strategy, the confidence of our stakeholders and the trust our customers continue to place in us. We remain committed to delivering sustainable growth while elevating customer experiences through digital-first solutions for individuals and businesses,’ he said.

The lender becomes the second to reward shareholders with a higher interim dividend this quarter.

Co-operative Bank of Kenya announced the first-ever interim dividend of Sh1 per share totalling Sh5.86 billion after the lender’s nine-month net profit rose 12.3 percent to Sh21.56 billion.

I and M net interest income rose 21 percent to Sh31.82 billion while non-interest grew by 17.9 percent to Sh11.18 billion, supporting the growth in profits.

The lender enjoyed a reduction in interest expense to Sh17.48 billion from Sh22.74 billion. interest expense on customer deposits dropped by 21.6 percent to Sh14.72 billion.

Kenya’s banking industry has this year seen a relief on interest expenses, coming on the back of declining Central Bank Rate and returns on government paper. This contrasts with the previous year when rising rates slowed down growth in net interest expense.

Operating expenses went up by 15.6 percent to Sh25.84 billion from Sh22.36 billion driven by higher loan loss provisioning and staff costs.

‘We are seeing our footprint and segment expansion translate to tangible value creation, where each market is now a distinct engine of growth for the group,’ said Mr Kihara.

The review period saw I and M grow its loan book to Sh301.9 billion from Sh281.34 billion, taking its assets to Sh640.41 billion from Sh567.71 billion.

Customer deposits rose to Sh455.85 billion from Sh413.81 billion. The lender has been riding on digital initiatives and increased focus on retail customers to win new deposits.

Stanbic Bank Kenya is courting prospective homeowners with a discounted fixed mortgage rate of 8.99 percent per year, available for three months, as the lender seeks to lift home loan uptake.

The rate is 7.27 percentage points lower than the average 16.27 percent that the lender currently displays on the cost of credit platform. It is also lower than the average interest rate of 14.9 percent that the banking sector priced mortgages last year.

The 8.99 percent fixed rate allows borrowers to tap up to Sh10.5 million and repay for a period of up to 20 years, without exposing them to the risk of movements in annual servicing costs.

‘We believe homeownership is a key milestone tied to financial security and personal achievement for every Kenyan professional. The launch of our 8.99 percent per annum home loan is a bold, decisive step to challenge the status quo,’ said Mwaura Mwangi, head of products at Stanbic Bank Kenya.

‘We are not just offering a product; we are delivering the emotional benefit of security and the functional benefit of affordable financing to the growing middle class.’

The window for accessing the Stanbic mortgages on the discounted terms opens from November 15 to February 15 next year, giving customers eying homeownership a chance to tap the loans at a reduced rate.

The fixed rate means that borrowers will be cushioned from the potential rise in servicing costs as is the case with mortgages offered on variable interest rate terms.

Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data shows about 85.9 percent of mortgages were at variable interest rates in 2024, compared to 88.4 percent in 2023, exposing the majority of borrowers to fluctuations in interest rates.

The market had 30,016 mortgages last year, up from 29,260 in the previous year. This was an increase of 756 mortgages, or 2.6 percent, mainly due to new home loans granted during the year.

The average mortgage size decreased to Sh9 million last year, down from Sh9.4 million in 2023. The average interest rate charged on mortgages in 2024 was 14.9 percent, ranging from 8.2 percent to 20.4 percent, compared to the previous year when the average was 14.3 percent, ranging from 8.7 percent to 18.6 percent.

The CBK data shows that Stanbic was the fourth largest mortgage lender in the country, with 2,164 mortgage accounts totalling Sh22.26 billion at the end of last year.

The value of outstanding mortgages in the industry was Sh279.3 billion last year, compared to Sh270.4 billion in the previous year. This represents an increase of Sh8.9 billion, or 3.3 percent, due to new mortgages granted in the year.

The average loan maturity was 11.1 years with a minimum of 5.3 years and a maximum of 18 years.

About 89.9 percent of lending to the mortgage market was by nine institutions. KCB Bank Kenya topped with Sh91.58 billion, accounting for 22.8 percent of the total value of all outstanding mortgages. Absa Bank Kenya was second with Sh31.29 billion or 11.2 percent market share, followed by HF Group with Sh23.12 billion mortgages, giving it a market share of 8.4 percent.

The outstanding value of non-performing mortgages increased to Sh46 billion last year, up from 39.9 billion in the prior year. The ratio of non-performing mortgages rose to 16.5 percent from 14.4 percent during this period.

What Ahmed Abushariaa constantly gives you over time is evolution of style, media and inspiration. Whereas his last exhibition at the Tribal Gallery in Nairobi last year was inspired by the rolling landscapes of the Rift Valley and the Blue Nile in Sudan, his just concluded show in the same venue took a more mordant tone, borrowing a ledger from the current war-torn Sudan. One would well consider it as a long note from a dirge.

His latest exhibition was untitled and bore paintings spanning back to 2016, and about 10 pieces recently drawn.

‘This time I was doing something about the survivors from Sudan. Most have shared a lot of stories about how they fled the war, going through villages, cities, towns and their encounters during their journey. I am trying to portray this part of it mainly through paintings on canvas,’ he says.

Abushariaa is known more for working with inks and watercolours on paper. His latest foray might however seem as an oddity for people accustomed to his work. But for Abushariaa, it is part of the interesting scope in which he perceives art from.

Whereas his last exhibition was vividly colorful, with cerulean blues and verdant greens paying homage to the Nile and the landscapes from Kampala to Nairobi, his latest settled on a more balanced tone dictated by the topic.

‘I like to do painting first off as fun and not as a job, which is why when I work with paper for some time, I just want to take a break, to try something else. I am always searching; you can also notice that my style changes often. I like to challenge myself so that I can also enjoy the process, I do not like repeating the same thing all over, it becomes boring, I want it to also become fun for me because as I said, I am always on a quest.’

In his exhibition, Abushariaa settles on more direct figures. His portraits take a close up view in what he terms as an attempt to reflect what he sees and hears while meditating on it. His voice in his work is also influenced by the type of media he is working on.

‘The medium can change the scene. When working with water colour, it is different from say, working with oil or acrylic,’ he says.

How different? ‘With watercolour, it is transparent, an artist always has to check on the transparency of the watercolours, but for acrylic, it is opaque. It is stuffy yes, but it gives you more flexibility. With acrylic, one may keep adding layers of colour and sometimes you may end up covering a subject previously painted, with watercolours, you may add as many layers as you want but you will still see the first layer that you started with,’ he says.

He adds.’It is easier to work with acrylic than with water colour because with acrylic, one needs to have the predominant idea first and then you continue building on it, but with acrylic, you may start with an idea, prime it and begin on an entirely different concept, I take advantage of this to put more effort in acrylic painting to make it more colourful, vivid and activity littered.’

His later paintings in the exhibition bore the tagline of war, with names like ‘Survivor and Migration’. In his own way, Abushariaa, honours his people affected by the vagaries of war in the only way he can, by listening to their stories and finding a muse in the morbidity of the knell of death and bloodshed.

‘The stories of survivors of war are touching. I tried to reflect what I heard in my works because my family is also affected by the war. My brother has had to move to Saudi Arabia, my sisters relocated to Italy and Saudi Arabia, all because of the war. My family is scattered,’ he says.

On whether the war can be brought to an end, Abushariaa takes apolitical view.

‘I am not very good in politics, but I believe that wars are ended through peaceful talks not through wars because in wars, the victims are always innocent civilians. I am sure sooner or later the war will have to come to an end. The earliest the better before everything gets destroyed.’

He continues, ‘The war has affected many artists. Consciously or unconsciously artists from the Sudan region express their feelings about the war through their work. We all hope for normalcy.’

In his artworks, Abushariaa work carries the tears and sighs of tired souls, buried relatives, victoms of rape, plunder and violence without boundaries. The body or work in the exhibition carried the cry of a society in need of redemption, innocent bystanders paying the hefty price of divisive politics.

Abushariaa’s exhibition was a silent cry for politicians to find a way of solving differences. A country in peace bears well for artists as opposed to war.

The tone of his work reflected the languid state of his inspiration. The colours took a backseat, the figures were drawn more outwards to the canvas, their expressions open for all to see.

There was a time we proudly touted Kenya as a global model of financial inclusion. We dazzled the world with M-Pesa, agency banking and digital innovations that broadened access and lowered barriers.

But today, we are drifting toward a far more dangerous normal: mass microcredit dependence. Quietly, steadily, we have become a nation of credit addicts.

If you doubt it, follow the numbers published by credit reference bureaus (CRBs), the FinAccess household surveys and Safaricom’s own disclosures on Fuliza. Examine the market analytics produced by the CRBs themselves. The picture is unmistakable: Kenya is increasingly hooked on small, high-frequency digital loans.

With Fuliza overdrafts, Hustler Fund microloans, M-Shwari, KCB MPesa and a mushrooming marketplace of mobile lending apps, millions of Kenyans now interact with debt every single day.

This is not credit in the traditional sense-no mortgages, no business loans, no structured instalment facilities. It is ‘nano-credit’: instant, tiny-ticket borrowing to get through the day, bridge a bill or keep a household afloat. What began as financial inclusion has quietly morphed into widespread dependence on short-term digital overdrafts that roll over endlessly.

To be fair, these digital credit products play a legitimate role. They help smooth income volatility in an economy dominated by self-employment and informal wages. They provide quick liquidity for emergencies.

Yet they also come with corrosive risks: fee-driven indebtedness, habitual refinancing and fragile household balance sheets that crumble under the slightest economic shock. A sickness, school bill or delay in payment can tip families into spirals of recurring microloans.

Amid this creeping addiction, one critical reality is dangerously overlooked: Kenya’s financial system now depends on strong, stable, well-capitalised CRBs. A CRB is not an ordinary company. It is the quiet backbone of the country’s credit system-an institution that collects, validates and preserves credit histories for individuals and businesses. When a CRB falters, the entire ecosystem wobbles.

A CRB failure can distort credit scores, corrupt repayment records, lower credit access and trigger systemic lending errors.

Inaccurate or delayed data can lead to overlending, rising defaults or sudden tightening of credit-each with profound economic consequences. Credit markets cannot function properly without reliable, uninterrupted credit referencing. This is why recent developments involving Metropol-the largest CRB in Kenya by market share-must be taken seriously.

In July 2022, the Central Bank of Kenya’s Bank (CBK) Supervision Department conducted a targeted inspection of Metropol and found the institution facing significant financial challenges. I have also reviewed a forensic audit ordered by its board audit and risk committee in July 2024, containing sensational allegations of improprieties and weaknesses in financial management.

On May 20, Metropol applied to the CBK for approval to sell its assets and business to a private equity firm, Geni (K) Ltd.

That transaction has since collapsed. The CBK withheld approval, but the deeper reason was irreconcilable shareholder hostilities.

I came across a letter by the Bank of Uganda declining to approve changes to the ownership structure of Metropol’s Ugandan subsidiary, citing internal shareholder disputes that remain unresolved. A shareholder told me they remain open to engaging alternative strategic partners.

But here is the uncomfortable truth: a CRB is not just another private company to be bought, sold or allowed to drift into distress. It is a systemically important financial-infrastructure institution. A destabilised CRB can destabilise the nation’s entire microcredit architecture-an architecture that millions of Kenyans now depend on for daily survival.

If Metropol were to fail, the consequences would be far-reaching. Fuliza, Hustler Fund, M-Shwari, digital lenders, microfinance institutions, saccos and even regulators depend on its data pipelines. A disruption would create operational chaos, credit uncertainty and widespread risk mispricing.

If a new strategic investor is to be brought in, the criteria must be stringent. It cannot merely be about injecting capital. The partner must demonstrate capacity in modern data analytics, real-time mobile loan reporting, cyber-resilience, interoperable systems, customer data protection and the ability to support Kenya’s rapidly digitising credit ecosystem. These standards must be non-negotiable.

Policymakers must abandon the notion that CRBs are just ordinary private firms. They must stabilise the bureau, strengthen oversight and ensure continuity of service.

They must address urgent policy questions: What borrower protections exist when a CRB is in distress? How rigorous is the CBK’s supervision of CRBs? Has the regulator adequately mapped the systemic risks posed by weak or insolvent bureaus? Do contingency plans-such as temporary custodianship of credit data-exist to ensure uninterrupted service?

Because here is the larger truth: the institutions meant to safeguard Kenya’s credit ecosystem can, if neglected, magnify the vulnerabilities of a country, where the majority are increasingly dependent on microcredit to survive.