Category: Business Daily

In today’s environment of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA), combined with rapid change, the insurance industry stands at the frontline of managing risk while simultaneously navigating its own.

From digital disruption and regulatory shifts to the growing impact of climate change, insurance projects face unprecedented challenges. Resilience has therefore emerged not merely as a desirable trait, but as a defining capability that determines whether projects merely survive or sustainably thrive.

As PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) notes, resilience in insurance projects goes beyond traditional risk management. It involves embedding adaptability, foresight and agility into every stage of project planning and execution.

This shift in perspective recognises that risk is no longer an occasional disruption but a constant feature of the operating environment. Resilience, in this context, becomes a strategic advantage rather than a defensive posture.

Patience Muvea, Chief Actuary at Liberty Kenya, captured this thinking succinctly when she observed at a professional forum that ‘resilience is not about avoiding risks; it’s about having the capacity to absorb shocks, learn from disruption, and emerge stronger.’

This mindset underscores the importance of proactive risk identification and scenario planning.

As KPMG highlights in its work on emerging risks in the global insurance sector, resilient projects anticipate uncertainty by developing multiple ‘what-if’ scenarios that test responses to regulatory changes, technological failures or market shocks.

In practice, agility is a core competence that strengthens resilience in insurance projects. Agile methodologies allow teams to break large initiatives into manageable components, test assumptions continuously and adapt strategies in real time.

This is particularly important in a heavily regulated industry, where innovation must be balanced with compliance and governance. A well-calibrated balance between structure and flexibility enables insurers to innovate responsibly without compromising oversight.

Resilient projects also depend on strong communication frameworks and engaged stakeholders. Transparent communication, through regular updates, clear milestones and shared expectations, keeps teams aligned amid change.

Kenya’s external debt average time to maturity and grace period shortened as the country saw a reduction in the share of bilateral loans that feature longer breathing room and repayment duration.

New data from the Treasury shows the average maturity of new external debt shortened to 15.6 years in the year to June 2025 from 20.5 years a year earlier.

The grace period-the time before debt service starts-meanwhile fell to 3.7 years from 4.4 years.

The average interest rate for new external debt, however, dropped to 4.3 percent from 4.6 percent previously, resulting in a lower debt service burden amid a stable shilling. The external loans are typically denominated in hard currencies such as the United States dollar and euro.

The trend shows Kenya will have a shorter time to repay contracted foreign debt while having less breathing room to the start of interest payments.

‘The average maturity of new external debt shortened to 15.6 years at the end of June 2025, down from 20.5 years in June 2024,’ the Treasury said.

‘Over the same period, the weighted average interest rate declined from 4.6 percent to 4.3 percent, while the average grace period eased slightly to 3.7 years from 4.4 years.”

The average maturity for new external debt is the lowest since June 2019 while the grace period is the shortest since at least 2017.

The grace period is usually mostly contained in official bilateral and multilateral loans from institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

During the period under review, outstanding bilateral debt fell by Sh51 billion to Sh1.11 trillion in June 2025 from Sh1.16 trillion a year earlier.

At the same time, multilateral and commercial debt surged by Sh259 billion and Sh105 billion, respectively.

Total multilateral debt topped Sh3.04 trillion from Sh2.78 trillion, while commercial debt rose to Sh1.31 trillion from Sh1.2 trillion.

Combined, total external debt climbed to Sh5.48 trillion in June 2025 from Sh5.17 trillion previously.

Treasury has been focusing on operations to smoothen the debt maturity profile by spreading repayment obligations over a longer horizon and easing near-term refinancing pressures even as new debt sustainability metrics come under pressure.

In February last year, the Treasury issued a new Sh193.5 billion ($1.5 billion) Eurobond maturing in 2036 and used part of the proceeds to repurchase Sh74.7 billion ($579 million) of the Sh116.1 billion ($900 million) Eurobond due next year.

Last year, Kenya also extended the term of three Chinese loans used for the construction of the standard gauge railway (SGR) from 2029 to 2040.

Treasury said it had negotiated new terms that turned the loans into a 15-year-old facility that includes a five-year grace period.

The extension is part of a conversion of three dollar-denominated loans into yuan, a move estimated to save Kenya about Sh27.7 billion ($215 million) a year in interest payments.

Treasury is betting on a variety of strategies to manage external debt with the primary goal of easing refinancing pressures, which involves both the extension of loan tenor and the push for lower interest rates. It has also issued new public debt management initiatives to contain the growing debt burden.

‘The reforms include the review of the debt and borrowing policy to bring on board new developments in debt management such as derivatives, liability management operations and associated instruments such as swaps, forwards and options and associated risks,’ the Treasury stated.

A legal dispute has stalled the planned transfer of management of Amboseli National Park from the national government to the Kajiado County administration, amid claims that the move violates the Constitution and endangers a key national asset.

The petition, filed by Joseph Kasau Masaa against Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife, Kajiado County, and other state agencies, argued that the transfer was rushed, unlawful, and threatened a nationally protected asset held in trust by the state.

The High Court dismissed an attempt by Cabinet Secretary and the Attorney General to strike out the case and instead issued conservatory orders freezing the gazetted handover pending a full hearing.

The court ruled that the dispute raised constitutional questions that could not be dismissed at a preliminary stage.

‘It is not the mere mention of land or environment that ousts the jurisdiction of the High Court,’ the court said while sitting at the Constitutional and Human Rights Division.

Central to the dispute are two Gazette Notices issued in October 2025 and a deed of transfer that sought to shift the park management to Kajiado.

Under the agreement, the county was expected to manage the park while the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) still holds the title. Revenue would be collected via the e-Citizen platform, with a 50/50 split between national and county governments.

The Amboseli Ecosystem Conservation Authority (AECA), a semi-autonomous management authority, is set to take over the management of Amboseli National Reserve once it is transferred back to Kajiado County government.

The county government anticipated millions of shillings in annual revenues, since KWS rakes in at least Sh1.5 billion every year from park collections and related tourism activities.

However, the petitioner contends that Amboseli is public land under Article 62 of the Constitution and that national parks fall under exclusive national government control.

He argued before the court that wildlife and national park management is a national function under the Fourth Schedule and cannot be devolved through executive agreements or gazette notices without parliamentary approval.

The petition further alleges that the National Land Commission was excluded from the process despite its constitutional mandate over public land.

‘The transfer effectively converts a national park into community land without parliamentary sanction, undermining the doctrine of public trust and equitable sharing of resources,’ the petitioner stated.

The court agreed that the alleged omission raised serious legal questions warranting a full trial.

Additionally, the petitioner argued that the transfer undermines environmental protection, the doctrine of public trust, and Kenya’s national and international conservation obligations.

‘The transfer effectively downgrades a national park to a county-managed reserve without compliance with statutory safeguards under the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, exposing a globally significant ecosystem to irreversible harm,’ he said.

The government and Kajiado County defended the transfer as lawful, stating that it aimed to address historical injustices faced by the Maasai community and enhance local participation in conservation. They maintained that only management functions, not ownership, were being transferred.

However, Justice Mwamuye ruled that these arguments could not override constitutional safeguards at an interim stage. ‘Statutory mechanisms cannot shield allegedly unconstitutional executive action,’ the judge stated.

The petitioner warned that assigning park revenues to a single county would undermine equitable sharing of national resources and risk irreversible harm to the ecosystem if governance standards weaken.

In granting conservatory orders, the court emphasised that public interest required maintaining the status quo.

‘Keeping the park under existing management causes no prejudice, whereas proceeding with the transfer risks irreversible constitutional harm,’ the ruling stated.

The case will be mentioned on February 4, 2026.

The national government in 2005 proclaimed the transfer of Amboseli back to Kajiado County as provided for in Article 187 of the Constitution. The proclamation was however not acted on until 2004 when President William Ruto ordered its implementation.

A Ruiru-based sacco has obtained court orders allowing it to auction movable assets belonging to the Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (Kuscco) over unpaid deposits and interest amounting to Sh108.8 million.

The move threatens to further complicate Kuscco’s efforts to stabilise its finances after it emerged that more than Sh13 billion was lost, allegedly through fraud involving some of its former officials and through investments in business lines it was not licensed to undertake, including lending, mortgages and insurance.

The losses, combined with defaults on loans and mortgages it had issued irregularly, had severely strained its liquidity and left it unable to meet obligations to member saccos.

This marks the first known case of a sacco securing legal authority to auction Kuscco’s movable assets, piling pressure on the organisation as it seeks to regain its footing and refund members’ deposits.

Rupsa Sacco, formerly known as PCEA Ruiru Sacco, said it sought the auction orders after Kuscco failed to comply with a ruling by the Co-operative Tribunal directing it to settle the debt, even as it continued paying deposits owed to other saccos.

The sacco said it had exhausted all avenues to recover the funds, including legal redress before the tribunal, which ruled in its favour last year and ordered Kuscco to release the money.

‘Our only objective is the recovery of our members’ funds,’ said Rupsa Sacco chief executive Julius Mbugua.

‘After exhausting diplomatic engagement, we sought redress from the tribunal and obtained a favourable judgment. Given the legal implications of the matter, we expected the outstanding debt to be accorded appropriate priority by Kuscco.’

Rupsa is seeking Sh108 million, comprising deposits and investments of Sh88.95 million, investment interest of Sh6 million, deposit interest of Sh13.3 million, with the balance accounting for taxed costs and collection fees.

The sacco moved to the tribunal in 2024 after unsuccessfully attempting to withdraw its deposits for more than two years, with Kuscco citing liquidity challenges.

It said Kuscco later paid deposits totalling Sh369.3 million to other member saccos in December 2025 but continued to ignore its claim despite the tribunal ruling.

‘Noting the self-reported change in financial fortunes, and backed by the tribunal’s judgment in our favour, Rupsa Sacco fails to understand why Kuscco has deliberately chosen not to honour our outstanding and legitimate claim,’ the sacco said in a statement.

Kuscco officials confirmed that the organisation paid part of members’ deposits in December after saccos provided proof of their investments and deposits, as required by a government-appointed forensic audit of Kuscco’s accounts by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

‘In the case of Rupsa, they did not respond to the PwC validation exercise, hence the current impasse. But once they comply by responding to the questions PwC asked, we are ready to start paying them,’ said Kuscco general counsel Cecil Miller.

A copy of a letter sent by PwC to member saccos, seen by this publication, shows that the firm requested evidence of investments or deposits in Kuscco, including copies of cheques or bank transfer forms and letters of acknowledgement issued by Kuscco.

Mr Mbugua, however, said he was not aware of any such validation exercise and that Kuscco had never raised it with Rupsa or during tribunal proceedings.

‘If that was the reason they are not paying us, they would have said so [in litigation],’ he said.

The tribunal ruling, issued in April 2025, shows that Kuscco cited liquidity challenges as the sole reason for its failure to refund Rupsa’s deposits. The PwC verification exercise began a month later, in May 2025.

While many people fill their homes with furniture, Michelle Mashauri has sacrificed comfort for plants. In her small apartment in Nairobi’s Ruaka, she owns only a small three-seater couch and a coffee table that serves more as a plant stand.

‘I got rid of big seats so my plants could fit. When I move to a new house, I look at windows first, then furniture,’ she says.

Bloodleaf plants display their dramatic burgundy foliage in her house. Pothos vines fall from the shelf like waterfalls.

The dining space has been completely reimagined. Where a table and chairs might once have stood, there is now a dense plant collection.

An asparagus fern sits on a white shelf. Monsteras thriving, its split leaves creating dramatic shadows. Calatheas show off their intricate patterns.

Her very first plant still sits in the corner of her living room windowsill. ‘It’s a cactus,’ she says, but I call it Pete.’

Pete is named after her nephew. ‘But most of my plants are girls,’ she says, laughing.

One of the most special is a date palm she named Raila. ‘When Raila Odinga passed on, I bought an orange planter and planted a date palm in it. That plant is Raila. I really loved him.”

In her bedroom, Michelle is literally competing for oxygen with plants at night. Another date palm stands just beside the bed, its branches nearly brushing the ceiling.

The kitchen is functional, but on the windowsill sits another collection of succulents. She has 10 plants in her kitchen.

She has about 183 plants, not counting the smaller ones-the tiny succulents clustered on window sills, the propagations suspended in glass bottles of water. Most are tropical varieties that thrive indoors.

She buys them from everywhere: roadside vendors with makeshift nurseries, professional sellers with greenhouses, and sometimes even sneaks cuttings from cafés. ‘If I see it and I love it, I take it home,’ she says. ‘That’s really it.’

What guides her when buying? ‘My eyes. If I fall in love with it, I buy it.’

Her most expensive acquisition was a tree she bought already potted. ‘I trimmed it because it was too long, but with the pot and everything, it cost me about Sh6,800.’

She has no intention of slowing down. ‘I still have too few plants,’ she says, her eyes travelling to the ceiling and floor.

Plant care takes serious time. ‘Watering and cleaning take a whole day,’ Michelle says. She waters once a week, testing the soil with her fingers, watching for drooping or yellowing.

Then comes the cleaning, wiping every single leaf with a damp cloth, removing dust that blocks the tiny pores through which plants breathe.

‘It takes me about four days to clean the entire house because there are plants in every room,’ she says. Four days. Not four hours-four days.

The hardest part? ‘Pests and cleaning. Sometimes I find insects, and I just scream and call the caretaker.’ Spider mites, aphids, fungus gnats, the tiny invaders.’

‘I’ve lost hundreds of plants over the years,’ she admits. ‘These ones you see are just the strong soldiers.’ One of the hardest losses was a large elephant ear that her parents planted for her.

People often think Michelle is strange. ‘Some think I’m into dark stuff; others think I’m crazy,’ she laughs, saying she has always loved plants, even as a child.

‘During Covid-19, I suddenly had so much time. That’s when I really started collecting plants. I kept adding and adding, and here we are,’ she says.

Caring for plants has taught her one important virtue. ‘Patience,’ Michelle says. ‘And tenderness. You try, you fail, you try again.’

For most ‘plant parents’ living in rental apartments, the challenge is finding the right location that would not be in conflict with the homeowner.

Drilling or installing shelves can eat up the deposit fees or cause problems with landlords.

Michelle had the same fears. ‘I can’t drill or fix things on the wall, so I use movable planters,’ she says.

At one point, the landlord complained about plants outside her veranda. But Michelle was adamant about removing them.

‘I even told them they could give me a notice to vacate. I wasn’t removing my plants.’ The owner eventually visited. ‘She walked in and said, ‘Wow.’ After that, she was okay with my balcony gardening.’

But now, Michelle is worried about one thing: the fear of moving day.

‘They are fragile. Some will break. Some may die,’ says Michelle.

She recalls a time when her plants were temporarily moved to a friend’s house, and many died due to mishandling.

‘That was very painful,’ she says. The thought of moving again haunts her.

Focusing on health and property taxes, the third edition of Own Source Revenue (OSR) Conference is on February 11-12. It comes at a time when OSR is growing strongly.

In the 2024/25 fiscal year, counties collected Sh67.3 billion, the highest amount since the second devolution started. This was 78 percent higher than just two years earlier.

Growth in OSR is good news for counties service delivery in agriculture, health, water, early childhood education, and other critical devolved functions.

Still this is less than 30 percent of the assessed potential, a disappointing outcome. And it is not for lack of trying. Since 2013, there has been many reports, studies and initiatives aimed at optimising own source revenue.

The Commission for Revenue Allocation (CRA)’s Comprehensive Own Source Revenue (OSR) Potential and Tax Gap Study remains topical, and is referenced by many county governments.

CRA recommends that counties form revenue boards. Many have. They have all attempted to automate revenue collection. With a few exceptions, automation has not yielded desired results, because it was done poorly.

There has been an erroneous view that point of sale devices (POSs) represent automation. They don’t.

The devises require a human being to operate. Automation is when you remove human intervention, so that citizens can pay without assistance. With multiple payment channels available, today automation is much easier to achieve.

High revenue performers have one commonality – they have focused on tracking service delivery as the key driver of revenue collection.

This is because county revenues are largely fees for services, property taxes being the exception.

Health services are the best example. If doctors are not attending to patients, there are no consultation fees. If the pharmacies have no medicines to dispense, you cannot expect payments! The same can be said of meat inspection, artificial insemination services, and livestock movement permits among others.

Often, revenue boards find the work very frustrating, with line departments abdicating service delivery, expecting that the business of collecting revenue belongs to the revenue board.

Use of technology and financial structuring will likely feature again in the conference next month. It is clear that high performers are those who are relying heavily on technology.

And it is not just a revenue collection system, but rather, better use of technology across health, human resources and enterprise management.

The counties with strong revenue growth are able to attract resources from the capital markets including leasing, and tenant purchase.

With expenditure needs outstripping the sum of own source revenue and equitable share, leasing is critical for health finance. Imaging and diagnostic equipment are particularly well-suited for leasing, making it practical for counties to push more diagnostic capability to level 3 and 2 facilities.

Bonds have remained elusive. In previous conference, delegates sought lessons from Tanga and Laikipia. The first succeeded, but no one has done it in Kenya.

Structuring is quite important in mobilising additional resources. The Laikipia Infrastructure Bond was financing part of the infrastructure development of smart towns. It was to be repaid with cashflow from single business permits, parking, building plan approvals.

Financiers will likely raise issues on political risk. Cancellations and frustration of commercial contracts, and delayed payments have been the bane for contractors. This prompted the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority to issue a circular to County Governments and their entities, reminding them that under section 176 of the Procurement Act, it is an offense to delay contractor payments.

Political leaders strive to be seen as hard working.

They launch programmes and projects. Although the way to communicate, launching can be wasteful, and reinforces an obsession with inputs as a way of demonstrating work. Many formal reports, by departments, treasuries focus on the money budgeted or spent. And while a necessary condition, a pile of money is not sufficient for true and lasting benefits to accrue to the citizen.

To obtain impacts, you need flawless implementation, and most importantly, a change in behaviour of the target beneficiaries. To improve maternal health, for example, it is not enough to build maternity facilities at the dispensaries.

You have to persuade the population to use them, by altering health seeking behaviour.

This leads us back to performance management as the basis for growing own source revenue. I have been working in many counties, from Homa Bay to Migori, Wajir, and a commonality of high performers is the regular (often monthly) tracking of service performance tracking, often weekly. Often referred to as Governor’s Revenue Roundtable.

House prices in Nairobi and its environs grew at the fastest pace since 2015, driven by rising demand for standalone units as land prices slowed after developers reduced the need for plots to build apartments following a glut.

A survey conducted by real estate firm HassConsult found that property costs rose 7.7 percent last year compared to 5.2 percent in 2024, marking the highest pace of expansion since 2015, when annual prices increased 9.6 percent.

Asking rental prices contracted by 2.5 percent, having been flat the previous year, offering respite to tenants who have seen a drop in their disposable incomes over the past five years.

In the suburbs such as Muthaiga, Langata and Lavington, the price per acre grew by 5.92 percent to Sh226.8 million, which was slower than the growth of 6.8 percent seen in 2024.

Standalone houses were the key driver for both the property and land markets as demand for new units ran ahead of supply, buoyed by a bulging middle class and an upturn in economic activity.

Detached house prices thus grew at 9.5 percent, ahead of semi-detached units at 5.2 percent and apartments at 2.5 percent.

On average, the price of houses in Nairobi stood at Sh39.6million by the end of December, with a four- to six-bedroom property averaging Sh45.1 million and a one- to three-bedroom property at an average of Sh12.8 million.

‘In the market for houses, Runda remained the strongest outperformer, with sales prices up by 12.8 percent across the year. Lavington, Muthaiga and Ridgeways also experienced strong house price growth, at over 10 percent for the year,’ said Sakina Hassanali, co-CEO at HassConsult, which conducts the property pricing index in Kenya and largely sells homes in the high and middle segments of the market.

Kenya’s private sector ended 2025 on a strong note, the Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed.

The private sector economy maintained solid growth in December, driven by robust customer demand and increased business activity.

The headline PMI stood at 53.7 in December, down from 55.0 in November, indicating a continued expansion in business conditions. Readings above 50.0 denote growth, while those below indicate contraction.

This growth benefited the middle class, who have spending power and are looking at real estate as an investment option and for home ownership.

In December 2025, detached houses accounted for 8.5 percent of the property market, compared to 20.4 percent for semi-detached units and 71.1 percent for apartments.

Rental prices were, however, contracting even as home buyers agreed to shell out more money to secure new standalone units.

The contraction of 2.5 percent in asking rents for the year was largely on account of apartment developers competing on prices in order to secure tenants in a competitive market characterised by a looming oversupply of units in suburbs near the city centre, such as Wetlands, Parklands and Upper Hill.

‘In the apartments market, demand has never stopped expanding, but each area is now finely tuned in the volume of new development it can absorb at a time and very large developments often create a dip in rates as new entrants discount to gain full occupancy,’ said Ms Hassanali.

In the land market, suburbs such as Spring Valley, Karen and Gigiri, which also primarily see detached house developments, led the city in land price growth at 10.4 percent, 10.2 percent and 7.8 percent to Sh307.3 million, Sh76 million and Sh262.4 million, respectively.

Land in areas that combine commercial or office developments with residential properties, however, remains the most expensive in the city, with an acre in Upper Hill costing Sh560.6 million and Westlands Sh502.7 million.

Satellite towns, meanwhile, saw a marked slowdown in price growth, reflecting easing demand for new land holdings by both commercial and private home developers across the city.

‘The three-year surge in satellite town land prices, which peaked in the third quarter of 2024 at 12.58 percent, slowed rapidly, returning to normal levels for the decade at 6.21 percent at the end of 2025,’ said Ms Hassanali.

Demand for land in the outlying towns has largely been driven by middle-class buyers looking for affordable plots to put up their homes, and commercial developers putting up apartments and other facilities to serve the middle-class market.

These areas have a lower cost of land per acre compared to suburbs closer to the city, where the high price puts the property out of reach for middle-class home builders.

Prices in the towns are also influenced by the availability of amenities such as schools, malls and hospitals, which are a key factor when one considers the overall cost of settling in an area. Friendlier zoning laws also allow for the subdivision of land in the towns into smaller units of up to an eighth of an acre, putting land ownership within reach of more middle-class Kenyans.

In the towns, Juja and Kiserian reported the highest price growth in the year at 13.6 percent and 12.4 percent to Sh26.3 million and Sh13.5 million per acre, respectively, while Kiambu and Ruaka were the worst performers with a contraction of 1.5 percent to Sh48.8 million and a growth of 0.7 percent to Sh111.9 million, respectively.

Kenya Airways (KQ) share price has rallied 69.7 percent in eight trading days amid rumours of ongoing talks with a strategic investor and the creation of a new board seat to represent Kenyan banks in the airline.

The national carrier’s stock closed at Sh5.50 per share on Tuesday, up 9.56 per cent from Sh5.02 on Monday, extending gains since January 15, when it closed at Sh3.24. The eight-day rally has generated paper gains of Sh13.1 billion for shareholders.

The national carrier was the top gainer in Tuesday’s trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

The gains reflect how the potential capital injection from a new strategic investor and the appointment of veteran banker and public servant Esther Koimett lifted market sentiment and boosted confidence in the company.

A Middle Eastern airline and a Singapore-based firm were reportedly interested in investing in the Kenyan national carrier, though the Singaporean firm later denied the report. Kenya Airways did not confirm or deny the talks with strategic investors.

‘Kenya Airways continues to pursue engagements with various stakeholders and potential investors, which are at various stages of conversation,’ said Henry Okatch, KQ director of communications.

‘As a listed company, we can only make this information available to the public once these discussions are completed and in line with Capital Markets Authority (CMA) regulations through our official channels.’

The government has been trying to sell a stake in the airline for years, but nothing has materialised so far.

The airline reported a negative book value of Sh129.5 billion in the half-year to June 2025, meaning its liabilities exceeded its assets by this amount.

Ms Esther Koimett was appointed to the KQ board on Monday evening, occupying a newly created seat representing KQ Lenders Company 2017 Limited, the entity formed to convert local banks’ Sh17 billion debt into equity.

‘Ms Koimett is an accomplished public servant with over 35 years’ experience spanning investment promotion, banking, privatisation, public enterprise reform, and public policy,’ the KQ board said in a statement.

‘She has played a key role in structuring and executing major strategic transactions and initiatives undertaken by the Government of the Republic of Kenya.’

Koimett previously served on the KQ board representing the government while Principal Secretary for Transport and Director-General for Public Investments and Portfolio Management at the National Treasury.

She was involved in restructuring the KQ balance sheet, which led to the creation of the company she now represents on its board, and in negotiating with aircraft lessors and guarantors to give the airline financial headroom.

Her return, this time representing the banks’ consortium, is seen as a strategic move to give lenders a stronger voice in the company’s strategic direction, besides potential transactions involving new strategic investors.

The bank consortium includes Equity Bank, KCB, Co-operative Bank of Kenya, National Bank of Kenya, Diamond Trust Bank, SBM, NCBA, I and M Bank, Kingdom Bank, and Ecobank. Together, the ten banks hold about 38 per cent of the carrier.

The consortium became the largest shareholder after the government, which owns 48.9 per cent. Until Monday, the KQ board had 10 members representing the National Treasury, the State Department for Transport, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and other shareholders.

The addition of the lenders’ representative now increases the board to 11 members. The airline issued a profit warning for the year ending December 2025. 513 million a year earlier.

The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) faces a lawsuit over allegations that its board failed to consider ethnicity in senior appointments in violation of the Constitution.

The petition, filed by Benjamin Okumu at the High Court in Nairobi, claims to be acting in the public interest to uphold constitutional values in public service at Ketraco, a key player in Kenya’s power transmission sector.

Mr Okumu accuses the Ketraco board of swiftly replacing senior managers shortly after its appointment, allegedly favouring individuals predominantly from one ethnic community.

The High Court has certified the case as urgent and directed all parties to be served, setting the stage for a constitutional challenge against public sector hiring practices.

According to the petition, Ketraco previously maintained a stable and ethnically diverse executive committee reflective of Kenya’s plural society, as mandated by the Constitution and governance codes.

However, this balance was allegedly dismantled within a year (2024), with five of nine top executive positions now held by individuals from a single community-approximately 63 percent of senior management.

‘The pattern of recruitment is so uniform that it raises legitimate constitutional concerns regarding ethnic bias and exclusion,’ Mr Okumu says.

He clarifies that he does not accuse individual appointees of wrongdoing but challenges the process and outcome of the appointments as constitutionally flawed.

The petitioner argues that the board’s human resource committee holds sole control over the recruitment of the managing director and general managers, making the board directly accountable.

Outcome of the case could set a precedent for constitutional adherence in public sector appointments, reinforcing principles of inclusivity, accountability, and equitable representation in Kenya’s state corporations.

‘The pattern of appointments complained of constitutes systemic ethnic discrimination, prohibited by the Constitution irrespective of individual qualifications,’ Mr Okumu asserts.

He contends that the board violated Article 232(1)(h) by failing to ensure representation of Kenya’s diverse communities in public service.

Beyond legal violations, the petition highlights institutional harm caused by abrupt leadership changes and loss of institutional memory at Ketraco.

Mr Okumu alleges that senior officers with technical expertise were removed, including those handling a long-running dispute with a Spanish contractor, exposing the company to financial risks.

‘Due to mismanagement and lack of continuity, the contractor has obtained garnishee orders and is attaching Ketraco’s bank accounts,’ the petition claims. It further alleges panic-driven financial decisions, including rushed fund transfers and premature salary payments, jeopardising public resources.

The case also raises concerns over timing, as the current board’s term expires in February, prompting fears of renewal before accountability is enforced. Mr Okumu warns that without court intervention, the alleged discriminatory practices may persist, eroding public trust in state corporations.

He seeks court orders declaring the appointments unconstitutional, quashing them, and mandating a reconstitution of senior management in compliance with constitutional standards.

Additionally, the petition requests an injunction barring any extension or reappointment of the current board pending the case’s resolution.

The case is scheduled for mention on February 17, 2026, to confirm whether Ketraco and its CEO have filed responses.

A US-based cosmetics products manufacturer has won a trademark dispute after the High Court ruled that its distributor in Kenya fraudulently registered its brand.

The court overturned a 2022 decision by the Assistant Registrar of Trademarks and ordered the immediate cancellation of the ‘Vitale V’ trademark held by James Kihara, trading as Jampur General Agencies.

Stating that distributors cannot claim ownership of brands they are contracted to sell, the court ruled that the mark rightfully belonged to Afam Concept Incorporated, an American company with decades of global use of the ‘Vitale’ brand.

The Assistant Registrar had ruled that Afam Concept Incorporated was not an aggrieved party, that the ‘Vitale V’ trademark was lawfully registered in Mr Kihara’s name, and therefore declined to expunge it from the register.

However, the court allowed an appeal filed by Afam, ruling that the company qualified as an ‘aggrieved person’ under the Trademarks Act and had the legal right to challenge the registration.

The court criticised the registrar for disregarding key contractual terms and relying on extrinsic evidence that contradicted a clear written agreement.

Afam told the court it had manufactured health, beauty and cosmetic products since the late 1970s and sold Vitale-branded goods worldwide.

The company entered the Kenyan market in 2010 by appointing Mr Kihara as an exclusive distributor and representative for the sale and distribution of Vitale olive natural oil in Kenya. The arrangement was governed by a distributorship agreement that explicitly prohibited him from claiming ownership of Afam’s trademarks.

A clause in the agreement stated that the distributor ‘will not use, authorise, or permit the use of’ the Vitale name and ‘shall not contest the right of the manufacturer to exclusive use’ of the trademark. The judge ruled that this clause unequivocally confirmed Afam’s ownership.

Despite this, Afam alleged that Mr Kihara registered ‘Vitale V’ in his own name in 2011 without consent, an act the court deemed dishonest.

The court found his declaration of ownership to be false and misleading. ‘In the absence of such evidence, it was clear that the respondent’s assertion on the registration form. was false, misleading, and aimed at deceiving the registrar,’ it stated.

The court dismissed arguments that Afam had acquiesced to the registration or waived its rights, noting that correspondence between the parties showed no transfer of ownership or consent.

‘A review of the emails and correspondence exchanged when the respondent registered the trademark in May 2011 – or at any earlier date – does not reveal that Afam waived its ownership rights nor consented to transferring the mark to Mr Kihara,’ the judgment stated.

The court emphasised that written agreements prevail unless fraud or illegality is proven and that courts cannot rewrite contracts between parties.

It also rejected claims that long-term use protected the trademark, ruling that statutory safeguards do not apply to registrations obtained through misrepresentation, particularly when they infringe on the rights of the true owner.

The dispute escalated after Afam terminated the distributorship in 2018 over unpaid supplies and later discovered the trademark registration. Mr Kihara allegedly demanded Sh20 million to recoup sums incurred in promoting the ‘Vitale V’ brand within Kenya. This prompted legal action, and expungement proceedings were initiated at the Registrar of Trademarks.

In its final ruling, the court set aside the registrar’s decision, ordered the trademark’s removal from the register, and awarded costs to Afam.