Category: Business Daily

Organisations in Kenya began 2026 with a deceptive sense of cybersecurity comfort after reported cyberattacks declined 81.6 percent year-on-year during the quarter to September 2025, even as a quieter but potentially deeper risk expands through workplace use of generative AI tools.

Employees are increasingly using public generative AI platforms to draft emails, analyse data, write code and prepare reports, embedding AI into daily workflows faster than governance structures can adapt.

The rapid adoption is creating new data exposure risks that do not resemble traditional cyber threats, as sensitive information is often shared voluntarily.

Generative AI tools are, by design, data processors, meaning every prompt or uploaded document potentially transfers information beyond an organisation’s direct control and outside established security and compliance frameworks.

A global cybersecurity survey by research firm Check Point last month shows that one in every 27 GenAI prompts submitted from enterprise networks posed a high risk of sensitive data leakage, while 91 percent of organisations using GenAI tools were affected by high-risk prompt activity.

‘Sensitive corporate data is increasingly being uploaded to third-party generative AI services without adequate controls, sanitisation or oversight, often outside established security governance,’ notes Check Point.

‘With employees using an average of 11 GenAI tools, organisations need the ability to monitor and restrict what data is shared with every platform.’

Mr Anthony Muiyuro, East Africa Regional Director at Syntura, terms local firms as ‘highly vulnerable’, adding that AI adoption has outpaced internal rules, oversight and employee awareness.

According to Mr Muiyuro, many workers assume AI platforms function as private workspaces, unaware that prompts, chat histories and uploaded data may be stored, reviewed or used for model improvement.

This misunderstanding is widespread since generative AI is largely viewed as a productivity tool, rather than a system that changes how corporate and customer data is shared.

As a result, many organisations still rely on perimeter security controls and non-disclosure agreements that were designed for predictable internal data flows.

‘Most Kenyan enterprises are not adequately prepared. While a few large banks, telcos and multinationals are beginning to define AI usage policies, many firms have no clear guidance on what workers can or cannot share with AI tools,’ he says.

‘Governance is often reactive. There are limited controls around data classification, no clear auditability of AI usage and minimal staff training on AI-related data risks. Well-intentioned workers can unknowingly expose confidential information.’

The risk is particularly acute in financial services, government, logistics, healthcare and education, where sensitive personal, operational and strategic data is routinely handled by employees.

In many of these places, there is no visibility into which AI tools employees are using, what information is being shared or whether sensitive data is leaving the organisation.

Mr Muiyuro says criminals are positioning themselves to exploit the shift by targeting systems and leveraging data unintentionally exposed.

According to the expert, attackers are likely to harvest leaked credentials, internal files or customer information that employees feed into public AI tools.

‘Criminals are also using generative AI to scale and localise attacks, including phishing messages written in culturally familiar language or impersonating trusted institutions,’ he says.

The combination of leaked internal data and AI-assisted social engineering increases the effectiveness of scams, particularly against SMEs and digitally expanding firms.

GenAI further lowers the barrier for attackers, allowing small groups or individuals to launch personalised, convincing attacks at scale without the resources previously required for such campaigns.

Experts advise local companies to begin by defining clear, practical rules on what types of data may be used in AI tools and what information is off-limits.

These rules must be embedded into daily workflows and communicated in plain language, rather than buried in lengthy policy documents.

‘Beyond controls, organisations must enable and encourage responsible AI use, not suppress it. Employees should feel confident using AI tools within clearly defined guardrails that protect data, customers and the organisation’s reputation,’ Mr Muiyuro says.

‘This starts with clear practical guidance on what AI tools are approved, what data can be used and what is off-limits – communicated in plain language rather than legal policy documents. Organisations should provide secure, enterprise-grade AI platforms, reducing the temptation for workers to use unsanctioned public tools.’

Kenya’s debt servicing costs jumped 44.1 percent in the first half of the current financial year, increasing pressure on public finances as repayments consumed more than 80 percent of all taxes collected over the period, new National Treasury data shows.

The government spent Sh941.6 billion servicing public debt in the six months ended December 2025, up from Sh653.5 billion over a similar period the previous year, marking a Sh288.1 billion increase.

The rise pushed debt service costs to 81.1 percent of total tax revenues, following a Sh1.161 trillion collection by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) during the period. This compares with a debt service ratio of 60.8 percent a year earlier, when Sh653.5 billion was spent against tax receipts of Sh1.074 trillion.

The growth in debt service costs leaves the exchequer with limited room to fund development spending and other essential public services.

The pressure is further compounded by weak revenue performance, with data showing that the KRA missed its half-year tax collection target by Sh152.2 billion. Against a Sh1.314 trillion target, it managed to collect Sh1.161 trillion.

The elevated half-year debt repayment costs comprise a record Sh509.6 billion paid out to service public debt during the first quarter of the fiscal year, which marked the highest ever recorded in a similar three-month period.

The repayment pressure comes against the backdrop of an expanding debt burden, with the public debt stock standing at Sh12.3 trillion as of November last year.

Kenya has, in recent years, relied heavily on borrowing to plug persistent budget deficits, driven by ambitious infrastructure programmes and recurrent expenditure pressures.

Read: Kenya has failed to tame recurrent spending, World Bank says

The growing debt service burden continues to crowd out project funding, with a development expenditure of Sh145.04 billion in the six months to December, accounting for just 15.4 percent of total debt servicing costs during the period.

The difficulty in expanding revenue collection has also constrained the government’s ability to scale up spending on priority areas such as health and education, even as demand for public services continues to rise due to population growth.

Public debt payments are among the first charges on the Consolidated Fund, meaning they must be settled before other categories of expenditure are financed.

The government is betting on the sale of several State-owned enterprises to raise funds for infrastructure and general budgetary spending.

The Treasury has opened the sale of a 65 percent stake in Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) to the public in a bid to raise Sh106.3 billion.

The Treasury has also signed an agreement to sell a 15 percent stake in Safaricom to Vodacom Group for Sh204.3 billion. It will, in addition, receive a separate Sh40.2 billion representing an upfront payment of dividends that will accrue on its residual 20 percent stake in Safaricom.

Investors who held a 10-year bond maturing in August 2026 agreed to roll over Sh26.49 billion of their paper into a 15-year bond in the current fiscal year’s first switch bond issuance.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said that it accepted rollovers of Sh25.17 billion against its target of Sh20 billion. The 15-year paper, which is known as a destination bond, was issued in April 2022, giving it a period to maturity of 11.3 years.

Following the auction, the 10-year bond that has a coupon of fixed interest rate of 15.04 percent will see its outstanding amount fall from Sh103.4 billion to Sh78.2 billion, while the outstanding amount on the 15-year bond whose coupon is 13.94 percent rises to Sh154.37 billion from Sh129.2 billion.

A fellow columnist recently argued that the main requirement for a Singapore-type economic transformation is a national mindset change.

A shared mental model of success is needed, he said. While we may not be there yet, the discourse continues. In the last two weeks, two governors – Kisumu’s Anyang Nyong’o and Muranga’s Irungu Kang’ata, have weighed in – the first with a formal concept note to the Head of State, and the second in his weekly column.

It seems reasonable to ask what role counties can play in the desired transformation. Is devolution the platform and drivers of the rapid economic change? To answer this question, let us examine lessons from the small population (micro) states that have made the transition to high income status in recent times?

Five high-income states come to mind – Seychelles, Mauritius, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago and Costa Rica – All have population sizes comparable to our counties.

Seychelles has 107,000 people comparable to Lamu’s 170,000. Mauritius has 1.27 million, comparable to Mombasa’s 1.3 million. Antigua and Barbuda have 94,000. Trinidad and Tobago has 1.5 million, similar to Kilifi.

Cost Rica has 5.2 million, similar to Nairobi County.

Good governance, strong institutions and significant investment in education are common to all. The Kenya’s long-term (since 1971) average expenditure on education is 5.36 percent of GDP, comparable to Costa Rica’s 5.2 percent.

Costa Rica’s become high income through transition from an agrarian society to a diverse, export-led economy, driven by high-tech manufacturing and services.

The key foundational pillars included political stability, a shift from import substitution to export-led growth, and economic diversification. Once dependent on bananas and coffee, it excels in high-value exports such as medical devices, electronics, and IT services.

Its special economic zones that offer tax incentives to multinationals such as Intel, Amazon, and IBM, which contributed roughly 14 percent of GDP in 2023.

By protecting 25 percent of its land as national parks, the country is a global leader in sustainable tourism, which earns more foreign exchange than agriculture.

Over 98 percent of the country’s electricity is generated from renewable sources (hydro, geothermal, wind), reducing vulnerability to volatile fossil fuel markets. They have worked hard at fiscal responsibility, with specific limits on government spending.

Mauritius transformed to high-income status through economic diversification, going from a one crop, sugar economy in the 1970s, to a diversified services hub by the 2020s. Favourable EU sugar export quotas generated rents, which were used to fund Export Processing Zones (EPZs), which made textiles and apparel.

In the 1990s, Mauritius expanded into tourism and established a taxation framework attractive to offshore banking and financial services. Recently it has branched into ICT/BPO, seafood processing, high-end real estate, medical tourism and a “knowledge hub” for regional education. Progressive social policies have helped maintain social cohesion in a highly diverse multi-ethnic society.

At $ 21,630 per capita, Seychelles is currently the richest country in Africa. It transitioned from a plantation-based economy to a service-led one, based on high-end tourism and industrial fisheries.

In 2008, it defaulted on its international debt. This led to a structural adjustment programme to transform the economy:- The government liberalised the exchange rate, allowing the Seychellois rupee to trade freely. They implemented a 15 percent reduction in public sector employment and abolished universal price subsidies, replacing them with a targeted social safety net.

The reforms allowed the country to successfully restructure its external debt, nearly halving its public debt-to-GDP ratio within five years.

The country has now diversified into financial services, developing a robust offshore financial services sector.

Trinidad and Tobago achieved high-income status through the strategic exploitation of its oil and natural gas reserves, together with significant investments in downstream petrochemical industries.

Since the 1990s, the government has focused on adding value to raw natural gas by developing a world-class petrochemical hub at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate, which produces fertilisers and industrial chemicals for global markets.

With forward looking governors in Kenya, is devolution the country’s platform for transformation?

One of the world’s largest satellite internet providers, Starlink, recently signed a deal with Airtel Africa to introduce the American firm’s direct-to-cell (D2C) satellite technology to all of Airtel’s 14 African markets, including Kenya, in 2026.

This marks a major step in the continent’s telecommunications sector, where satellite technology has previously mainly been used to power internet providers’ cellular backhaul through traditional ground-based towers.

D2C satellite technology enables standard smartphones to connect directly to satellites orbiting in space. The term is often used interchangeably with direct-to-device (D2D) technology, which makes smartphones and IoT (Internet of Things) devices, such as smart speakers and asset trackers, able to connect directly to satellites.

Both technologies aim to bypass terrestrial cell towers, but D2C focuses on cellular compatibility for phones while D2D covers a broad range of gadgets.

This technology comes in handy as a solution to so-called dead zones – areas without reliable internet connectivity due to geographical barriers, dense construction, infrastructure gaps, and government restrictions.

These include places such as remote locations, flights, and the sea, where other connectivity technologies like fibre optic and cellular do not reach.

How does D2C work?

Satellite internet companies use low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites around 550 kilometres up in space to beam high-speed, low-latency internet to a user’s dish.

The satellites act as cell towers to provide internet coverage without terrestrial infrastructure, using existing cellular protocols like LTE and 5G.

The dishes, also called user terminals, communicate with nearby satellites and terrestrial ground stations connected to the internet.

With D2C, however, mobile phones and smart devices can directly connect to internet satellites in space, bypassing the traditional land-based cell towers.

Starlink, for example, says it operates over 8,000 LEO satellites, 650 of which are dedicated to D2C services. It is the world’s largest D2C constellation that can deliver data, voice, video, and messaging to mobile dead zones across five continents.

How does satellite technology integrate with traditional network carriers?

Satellite can be used to power cellular backhaul for traditional towers by serving as a high-speed, low-latency link to provide connectivity in remote areas or locations hard to reach with a terrestrial fibre network.

Traditional cell towers are equipped with a satellite terminal, which transmits data directly to the LEO constellation. The constellation then routes it to the core network.

Safaricom’s parent company, Vodacom, in November 2025, signed an Africa-wide deal with Starlink’s parent SpaceX, which will see Kenya’s largest telco integrate such satellite backhaul.

With D2C, satellites equipped with cell tower technology called ‘eNodeB’ act as space-based cell towers, connecting directly to standard phones using existing 4G/LTE protocols. Ground stations link the satellite network to the traditional internet backbone, and phones recognise the satellite as another mobile network, similar to roaming.

Starlink’s deal with Airtel, announced in December 2025, will begin by delivering data that enables voice, video, and messaging, before advancing to high-speed broadband.

Read: How Musk made peace with Safaricom and Airtel in internet war

Are there specific hardware components needed to access D2C satellite internet?

No. One does not need special hardware, firmware, or mobile apps; the technology works on existing LTE-enabled phones to enable services like texting, calling, and data, even where no cell towers exist.

What are D2C’s main features and benefits?

Direct-to-cell satellite internet’s main advantage is its accessibility in remote, rural, or disaster-stricken areas that lack traditional network infrastructure. Remote workers or adventure-goers maintain communication without worrying about signal drop-offs.

For telcos such as Safaricom and Airtel, it enables them cover rural locations, the sea, or mountainous regions where the cost of building new traditional cell towers or laying fibre infrastructure is high.

What limitations does D2C technology have?

Despite their ability to bypass local terrestrial infrastructure, D2C internet services are still subject to local regulatory constraints within the countries they operate, and governments can force shutdowns, as seen with Starlink in Uganda during the just-concluded general elections.

Governments may also use specialised equipment to jam satellite signals, as reported in Iran amid the ongoing internet shutdown since January 8.

The service is also affected by environmental factors such as heavy rain or snow, which can weaken signals, reduce speeds, or cause intermittent, short-term service outages. Satellite internet’s ‘line-of-sight requirement’ also means it requires a direct, unobstructed view of the sky and might not work reliably indoors or underground.

How are telcos globally adopting satellite technology?

The US telco T-Mobile has partnered with SpaceX to launch a D2C service using Starlink’s satellites to provide text, voice, and data in dead zones.

Another major US carrier, AT and T, is collaborating with the American satellite firm AST SpaceMobile to develop and deploy a space-based, D2C cellular broadband network.

Tech giant Apple has also invested $1.5 billion (about Sh193.5 billion) in another satellite firm, Globalstar, to boost its iPhones’ satellite capabilities beyond basic emergency SOS services.

Capital A Investment Bank dominated trading in bonds -the largest asset class- on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) last year according to market data.

The institution oversaw the trading of bonds worth Sh1.06 trillion in 2025, giving it a market share of 19.68 percent as the sale of government securities, especially tax-free infrastructure bonds took root on falling interest rates.

Last year saw records in both equities and bond trading supported largely by a broad share price appreciation and increased prices for listed government bonds as interest rates in the primary market fell.

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is deploying a technology that locks electronic tax invoices to specific locations to curb fraud estimated at up to Sh30 billion annually.

The taxman has piloted georeferencing policy whereby the electronic invoices generated on electronic tax invoice management system (eTIMS) are assigned precise geographic coordinates to the locations associated with them, such as a service location or a seller’s address.

The KRA said that georeferencing would help it deal with a surge in fictitious invoices, even as taxpayers rushed to comply with income and expense validation for 2025.

Nairobi’s rapidly rising skyline has once again come under scrutiny following the collapse of two buildings in the early days of 2026, raising fresh concerns over construction standards, oversight and accountability.

The first incident occurred in South C, where a 16-storey building collapsed under unclear circumstances on January 2, 2026.

Just days later, another building came down in Karen, intensifying public anxiety and shaking confidence in the safety of urban developments across the capital.

Speaking at the site where the building in South C collapsed, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja blamed weak enforcement and loopholes, saying the developer had repeatedly tried to construct at the site unsuccessfully.

‘Sometimes when there are infractions, like these people were charged a couple of times, that prosecution power needs to be returned to the county government, because there was a point when charges were dropped for a fine of Sh20,000,’ he said.

In a statement dated January 4, 2026, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) directed the Inspector-General of Police to record statements from all relevant persons, including the developer, the contractor, and those responsible for building and construction approvals, inspections and enforcement, and forward the resultant file for perusal and action within seven days from the date hereof.

The collapse sparked heated debate online and within affected communities over the enforcement of building regulations.

Read: Activist seeks removal of NCA boss over building collapses

Material failures

According to structural engineer Nashon Tambo, several factors could be contributing to the failures.

‘Building collapses can be due to a number of reasons. In the recent past in the country, most of them have been alluded to failures in the materials we use in construction because we have seen specifically cement that is of low standard or repackaged,’ Mr Tambo told the Business Daily.

He added that the widespread use of substandard materials remains a major concern.

‘There is also an influx of repurposed or reconstituted steel reinforcement bars. Additionally, collapses can result from design challenges,’ he said.

‘Usually when we are constructing a building, there is an architectural design that is done by an architect; they should be done by a licensed and experienced architect, then it goes to a structural engineer to give the building muscle,’ added Mr Tambo.

‘Sometimes these designs are either not properly done, or some people just get unlicensed individuals or not very experienced people to do them and pay bribes for these designs to be approved.’

A report by the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK), cited last week at the height of investigations into the collapse of a building in South C, showed that only 15 percent of buildings in Nairobi are considered safe, and that just 80 percent of construction projects countrywide involve professionals.

The report showed that inspections conducted by the National Building Inspectorate on about 15,000 buildings revealed that only 15 percent were safe, while about eight percent were rated as fair and capable of use.

George Ndege, the President of the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK), the body that governs building professionals in the country, said many Kenyans are not using professionals, even though there are not many in the sector.

‘We don’t follow the processes and use the right people, so many things go wrong, leading to collapses.what most developers are doing is either out of ignorance or to get things to go faster, they move through the process, like at the county levels, trying to avoid the hurdles through graft,’ said Mr Ndege.

According to the National Construction Authority (NCA), the South C building, registered on November 8, 2023, was non-compliant at the time of the collapse, echoing the county government’s statement that the building had been flagged for multiple infractions in May, July and December 2025.

Profit pressures

Despite repeated incidents, enforcement gaps and cost-cutting by developers, the situation continues to expose residents to safety risks, raising concerns about the quality, affordability and regulation of urban housing.

‘The reasons are to do with compromise with quality and mostly cost driven; it either comes from profit or what the developers are trying to achieve like in the case of South C; you clearly see the mention of addition of floors, that is more or less profit driven but what is the process of adding the floors and whether the professionals were involved,’ said Diana Musyoka, a quantity surveyor and director of Epic Value Consultants.

Design alterations are not uncommon in the building and construction sector, but major changes are cautioned against.

‘You shouldn’t even be having major changes in terms of design on site, ideally, you’re supposed to have better planning before you get to site… and as a quantity surveyor, I wouldn’t encourage changes on site,’ added Ms Musyoka.

‘However, since they still happen, the process is to have a better team, involve them in the changes you want done, assess whether it’s possible to do them, then get the approvals for the changes.’

Mr Tambo echoed Ms Musyoka’s sentiments on the need to use professionals when making changes to a blueprint and ensuring approvals are obtained.

‘Cases where designs are changed on site outside of the approvals can have some challenges because sometimes these are done by individuals who are not very experienced and might also be quacks who are not licensed to do that,’ added Mr Tambo.

Building collapses in Nairobi have repeatedly been linked to weak enforcement of construction regulations and the exclusion of qualified professionals from development projects.

In many cases, buildings are approved, altered or constructed without proper oversight by registered architects, engineers and quantity surveyors, undermining compliance with safety standards.

‘We need to make information public; this includes all high-risk buildings, so that Kenyans are aware, there needs to be standardisation for examples of building materials,’ added Mr Ndege.

The AAK called for vigilance and urged Kenyans to report or whistleblow to the relevant authorities when a building does not have the necessary permits.

Cracks in walls, columns or beams, sinking or uneven foundations, exposed or corroded reinforcement, persistent water seepage and visibly leaning structures are common warning signs of potential building failure.

Other red flags include unauthorised additional floors, poor-quality concrete, removal of structural elements and lack of professional supervision during construction. When these indicators are ignored, the risk of structural collapse increases significantly.

Construction without approved drawings, use of unqualified contractors and absence of professional supervision also significantly increase the risk of collapse.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) backed the government’s proposal to sell a 15 percent stake in Safaricom, saying that the deal would not compromise the country’s financial stability.

CBK Governor Kamau Thugge said that Safaricom’s mobile money platform M-Pesa, which holds over Sh250 billion in customer funds, is well cushioned from risks.

‘Formal CBK approval is still under assessment, but the proposed transaction will not compromise the integrity of the national payment system provided all prudential safeguards are enforced,’ he told the National Assembly’s joint committee on Finance and National Planning and Public Debt and Privatisation.

Stanley Kioko, 36, wasn’t just chasing adventure when he got into a Toyota Prado with some friends to travel from Nairobi to South Africa. He was stepping into the unknown, driven by the hope of finding better opportunities and living beyond the boundaries of his familiar life.

Their first stop outside of Kenya was Namanga, followed by Arusha. “Our first meal outside the country was in Arusha,” Stanley recalls. “That’s when it really hit us that we had left Kenya.” The journey took nearly seven days.

Today, Stanley lives in Tyger Valley, a small area in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. He describes Cape Town as one of the best places to live in South Africa.

Stanley, who was born in Machakos County, began his education there before moving to Eldoret after high school. He worked for two years while studying Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at Moi University, graduating in 2009.

After graduating, he was transferred to Mtwapa, Mombasa. It was during this period that he began to consider leaving Kenya. Stanley and his colleagues would sit together after long workdays, sharing their frustrations and dreams.

“We were working very hard and kept asking ourselves if this was all life had to offer,” he recalls. “We started talking about greener pastures and the spirit of adventure.”

They wanted better opportunities, higher pay, and a chance to see the world beyond what they had always known. “You need to know more than what you’re used to,” says Stanley.

At the time, he was working the night shift, from six in the evening to seven in the morning. “I kept asking myself, ‘Can I really do better than this?’ That question pushed me to make a hard decision.”

After unsuccessful applications to other countries, Stanley did not hesitate when his South African visa was finally approved. He didn’t even formally resign from his job. “I was already on my way,” he says. He arrived in South Africa on September 9, 2011.

On reaching, his first task was learning how to live in a new society. Integration took him about three months. Language remained one of the biggest challenges, especially as a lecturer.

Students often asked questions in their local languages. Stanley had to learn quickly, not just the language but also cultural expressions and ways of life.

‘Over time, I embraced local food, customs, and social life. Before I knew it, I living like locals,’ he says with a smile.

His first job was as a lecturer. He worked part-time, moving between the University of Johannesburg and several further education and training colleges. One of these was Rand Training College, which was owned by a Kenyan and where he taught ICT. He also lectured at the Johannesburg Technical and Vocational College and participated in training programmes in Sandton.

His career gave him flexibility. Some of his work could be done remotely. At night, he programmed, and during the day, he lectured students. He worked this way for almost three years as a trainee, lecturer, and programmer. “I enjoyed teaching,” Stanley says. “The more you teach, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more you realise how much you still need to learn.”