Category: Business Daily

The government is planning to hand over the modernisation of the country’s driving licence system to a private investor after years of underperformance by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).

This is after the NTSA missed the target for issuance of chip-based driving licences (DLs) for the second time in three years, blaming the underperformance on motorists’ growing preference for electronic (system-generated certifications) driving licences.

The State Department for Transport says it is now considering transitioning the underperforming smart driving licence project to a public-private partnership (PPP).

NTSA has issued less than half of the targeted five million smart driving licence cards in eight years.

The transport sector regulator signed a three-year, $21.09 million (about Sh2.1 billion at the time) deal with the National Bank of Kenya (which has since been acquired by Nigerian-owned Access Bank Plc) in March 2017 to supply, install and maintain five million second-generation licences.

The NTSA, the report submitted to the Treasury shows, had issued 2.1 million chip-based DLs by June 2025 against a planned five million cards. This comes after the NBK, which subcontracted the supply to another firm, delivered more than four million blank cards.

‘The uptake of smart driving licences has been slow. The project is under consideration for transitioning to PPP,’ the Transport department wrote in its budget proposal report to the National Treasury.

The proposed policy shift comes after NTSA underperformed its target for the chip-based driving licences by 14.38 percent in the financial year to June, shining the spotlight on the multibillion-shilling system to modernise management of the chaotic transport sector.

NTSA printed 342,492 smart driving licences in that period against a target of 400,000, falling short by 57,508 cards.

The performance marked a reversal from the previous year when NTSA surpassed a lower target of 350,000 smart DLs following increased enrolment drives that saw 369,155 motorists acquired the chip-based DLs.

‘The target [was] not achieved due to preference for a yearly electronic driving license as opposed to the 3-year smart driving license,’ NTSA explained in the report.

Embedded chips

Smart driving licences, which are renewed after three years, come with embedded chips similar to those in ATM cards, designed to carry a motorist’s information, photos and offence history under a Demerit Points System under the NTSA.

The Electronic Driving Licence is renewed for three years at a cost of Sh3,050 through the NTSA portal and verified digitally by police via an app.

It is also easier to renew compared with the smart card that requires biometric capture and an in-person appointment at Huduma Centres or NTSA stations. The smart card also costs Sh3,050.

Performance records show NTSA also missed its smart DLs issuance targets in 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years, largely due to frequent breakdowns of the specialised printer needed to personalise the smart cards.

The latest setback underscores the agency’s continued struggle to match its fiscal year 2020/21 performance, when intensified public campaigns propelled issuance to nearly 396,000 cards -about 96,000 above target.

The smart driving licence project had gobbled up nearly Sh1.83 billion by June 2025, with NTSA putting the implementation status at 85 percent.

In her latest report for the year ending June 2024, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu noted that NTSA had printed 1,637,930 smart licences out of more than 4 million blank cards delivered by the supplier, NBK.

Her audit found 572,674 unprinted cards valued at Sh176 million lying unused in NTSA stores, with no clear plan for deployment, exposing taxpayers to potential losses.

‘The uptake for the cards is still slow and the management did not demonstrate efforts to improve the situation,’ Ms Gathungu wrote in her report.

‘In the circumstances, the value for money could not be confirmed.’

As the year draws to a close, BD Life reflects on some of the milestones in the music industry in 2025.

Cultural resurgence

In an exclusive interview with the BDLife a year ago, singer-songwriter, musician, Bien-Aimé Baraza (of Sauti Sol fame) revealed that he was seeking a new edge to his music by exploring the cultural heritage of his roots in Western Kenya.

True to his word, 2025 marked a significant shift in his overall sound and image with the hit single All My Enemies Are Suffering. Propelled by the energetic rhythm of isikuti drums, multi-layered harmonies and a contemporary Afro groove, it set the template for a powerful fusion of global and cultural influences.

Some of the biggest acts of the year, including Okello Max, Coster Ojwang, Watendawili and Charisma, have molded their aesthetics with a strong cultural foundation while still producing music that resonates with a mainstream audience.

Reinvention of classics

Just like the soundtrack to the anti-taxation protests in Kenya last year was Kasongo, a 1977 song by Super Mazembe, 2025 also saw classic songs going viral thanks to topical events.

For instance, the most searched song lyrics, according to Google Kenya’s Year in Search, were for the Jamaican folk song Jamaica Farewell, recorded in 1956 by Harry Belafonte. Interest in the song was sparked by the death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who had often mentioned it as his favourite.

The interest in oldies was not peculiar to Kenyans. The No 1 song on video sharing platform Tik Tok in 2025 was Pretty Little Baby, a 1962 song by American singer Connie Francis.

Tik Tok’s Year in Music Recap released this week reveals that the song’s popularity was due to its use as the soundtrack for videos on family, pets, relationship and flowers leading to more than 68 billion views. Its popularity was not just confined to one platform; it has 133 million streams on Spotify.

Francis who died in July 2025 at age 87 expressed surprise at the success of the ballad she recorded 63 years ago: ‘To tell you the truth, I didn’t even remember the song,’ she told the People Magazine in May.

Streaming

Music streaming platform Spotify has now made Wrapped a much-anticipated fixture of the end of the year with fans sharing personalised revelations about their music preferences, from genres to artistes, of the past year.

The data is mind boggling. For instance, Spotify listeners streamed over 163 billion hours of music in 2025 with social features like Collaborative Playlists and Friends Mix accounting for 782 million hours of shared music during the year.

The older generation of Kenyans, those who grew up on physical formats like the vinyl and CDs, are gradually discovering the world of streaming; the over 55s registered the highest growth in listening this year at 74 percent, followed by the 45-54-year-olds whose streaming grew by 56 percent.

Top songs

The East African collaboration between Tanzanian star Marioo and Kenyan artist Bien, Nairobi, tops Apple Music’s 2025 Year-End Charts in Kenya, followed by Tanzanian Joel Lwaga’s worship anthem Olodumare and the South African amapiano/Afrobeats hit Isaka (6 am) by Ciza, Jazzworx, and Thukuthela.

The popularity of the latter, along with other isiZulu hits like Ngishutheni by Goon Flavour, confirms isiZulu as one of the top three most-streamed musical languages in Kenya, just behind English and Swahili, according to Spotify data.

Documentaries and biographies

If you missed any of the outstanding music films and publications in 2025, there is no better time to catch up on them than this holidays season.

The most talked about music documentary of 2025 is the recently released Sean Combs: The Reckoning which investigates the murky events surrounding the life and career of US producer and music mogul, also known variously as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, who is currently serving a 50-month jail term.

Earlier in the year, Avicii: I’m Tim offered a very personal portrait of the much-loved Swedish Electronic Dance Music DJ/producer who died in 2018.

One Shot with Ed Sheeran is a pure musical experience as British singer-songwriter walks the streets of New York City with his guitar spontaneously entertaining fans with a repertoire of his songs as a film crew shoots the unfolding events in one take.

If you don’t want to fight for the TV remote control with members of your household then get your hands on Truly by Lionel Richie, the 2025 memoir of one of the biggest pop stars of all time.

Read: 10 nuggets from Lionel Richie’s memoir ‘Truly’

Lionel shares his story with wit, self-deprecating humour and juicy nuggets of his interactions with everyone from Michael Jackson to Quincy Jones.

Transitions

Some big names that left the stage for the last time in 2025, including Roberta Flack, she of Killing Me Softly with His Song fame, who died in February at the age of 88.

Teddy Osei bandleader of the legendary Ghanian group, Osibisa, who found global fame in the 1970s and 80s with hits like Woyaya and Sunshine Day died in January at 89.

Two Jamaican reggae icons died this year, Cocoa Tea in March at age 65 and Jimmy Cliff in November at age 81. US neosoul pioneer D’Angelo passed in October at age 51.

Safaricom has borrowed $138 million (Sh17.8 billion) from Standard Bank to fund the expansion of its subsidiary in Ethiopia.

Africa’s largest bank by assets, operating in Kenya as Stanbic, is the sole arranger and lender of the loan. Safaricom will invest the capital towards expanding digital infrastructure and services in Ethiopia.

‘The two businesses worked side by side in the development of the financial solutions that were bespoke to the business while responsive to the market’s needs,’ Standard Bank said in a statement. Safaricom entered Ethiopia in 2022, with Standard Bank as its advisors and financiers. The company has since then invested $2.27 billion (Sh292.77 billion) in telecom and digital financial services infrastructure in the country.

‘We are honoured to have partnered with Safaricom again in enabling and supporting their ongoing vision to drive digital transformation and inclusion in Ethiopia,’ said Anthony Ndegwa, Executive Vice President for Telecoms, Media and Technology at Stanbic Kenya’s Corporate and Investment Banking.

Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said: ‘We are guided by innovation and strategic partnerships as we aim to transform lives at scale; empowering youth, entrepreneurs, and underserved communities to fully participate in Ethiopia’s digital economy and realise the promise of shared prosperity by 2030.’

‘Through this partnership, we are given the opportunity to pursue this goal and grow further to digitally enable Africa,’ Mr Ndegwa said.

Safaricom has over 10 million active customers in Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous market.

The telco says its 4G network now covers more than half of the 136 million population, with 3,141 live sites deployed across over 150 towns and cities.

Last week, the telco introduced a network-agnostic M-Pesa app called Lehulum, just two years after introducing the mobile money service in Ethiopia. It marked a major step in the country’s digital payments landscape, allowing any mobile user, regardless of their network operator, to download the app and use M-Pesa services.

This includes sending and receiving money, making payments, and accessing digital financial tools – services that have helped M-Pesa grow in double digits in Kenya since its 2007 launch. But the company has already reported restricted access among users of the state-backed telco Ethio Telecom, the country’s biggest player with 83.2 million customers as of June.

‘M-Pesa Lehulum is currently not accessible on smartphones using mobile data services managed by Ethio Telecom, leaving our customers unable to log in, transact, or retrieve their funds,’ Safaricom said in a December 5 statement.

In the six months to September, Safaricom recorded a smaller loss in Ethiopia, which contributed to a 52.1 percent rise in profit to Sh42.7 billion ($330 million).

Ethiopia’s losses dropped by 59 percent to Sh15.2 billion from Sh19.4 billion in the first half of last year.

This was heavily impacted by a depreciation of the birr currency. Safaricom expects to make a profit in the country in the year ending March 2027.

KCB Kenya has received Sh19.5 billion ($150 million) financing from the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), allowing it to expand its lending, especially to women-led entities and green businesses.

The country’s largest lender, by asset base, said Sh12.9 billion of the funds will be subordinated debt. Subordinated debt is classified as tier two capital and contributes to a bank’s total capital position that determines the amount of lending a bank can do.

KCB capital positions were above regulatory requirements as at the end of September. However, an increase in total capital ensures growth of its loan book, especially with the uptake of large ticket green projects.

KCB said it will use the funds for onward lending projects under renewable energy, infrastructure, and agriculture. Environmental awareness has seen businesses increasingly lean towards projects that are classified as green, including the installation of solar power and renovation of their buildings, creating opportunities for banks to grow their loan book.

‘We are looking to strengthen our capacity in supporting customers focusing on green projects,’ KCB Bank Kenya MD Annastacia Kimtai said.

‘This partnership marks a significant milestone in our sustainability journey as it reinforces our commitment to scale up green lending and enable us to deepen our impact, catalyse private investment and support Kenya’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050,’ she added.

KCB has been piling funds for lending to projects that prioritise environmental sustainability and high social impact, especially in energy, infrastructure, agriculture, health, and education sectors.

For example, in February, the bank received Sh12.9 billion ($100 million) from the British International Investment (BII) for lending to climate-related projects, which came on the back of Sh27.5 billion received from different international lenders last year.

Last year, KCB disbursed Sh51.8 billion ($402 million) in green loans, growing its green portfolio to 21.32 percent from 15 percent in 2023. The loans were largely extended to green products designed to foster energy transition, including initiatives in the blue economy, e-mobility, and climate change adaptation.

KCB was part of the consortium of banks that funded Safaricom’s Sh30 billion sustainability-linked loan. KCB partnered with Absa, Standard Chartered Kenya, and Stanbic to extend the loan to Safaricom in two tranches of Sh15 billion each, the first being in 2023 and the second one last year. KCB is pushing to allocate 25 percent of its portfolio to green initiatives by 2031.

‘KCB has demonstrated strong leadership in sustainable finance, and we are confident this collaboration will deliver measurable climate impact and inclusive development for Kenya and the region,’ said AfDB Director General for East Africa Alex Mubiru.

KCB will use Sh6.45 billion to deepen its presence in international transactions, with the AfDB providing a guarantee to other banks receiving letters of credit and similar trade finance instruments from KCB.

Trade finance helps the bank earn commissions off the balance sheet. KCB has been a key player in trade finance, including its role in the government-to-government (G-2-G) oil deal.

KCB Kenya contingent liabilities, which capture letters of credit, guarantees, swaps, and options issued under trade finance by the bank, were at Sh295.9 billion at the end of September 2025.

KCB had the largest size of contingent liabilities in the banking sector, signaling its dominance in trade finance. It earned Sh9.8 billion from fees and commissions, which were not loan-related in the nine months to September, pointing to the lucrativeness of trade financing.

Although over 60 companies are listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), most investors struggle to track the companies’ earnings calendars and key activities. This challenge stems from persistent underinvestment in Investor Relations (IR), which is often viewed as a minor, reactive function within Finance.

Consequently, market activity is concentrated in a few blue-chip stocks, such as Safaricom and banks like Equity, which account for over 70 percent of daily trade turnover, leaving many other listed firms invisible, illiquid, and unable to attract the global capital needed for NSE’s strategic growth.

A stock that trades only once a week isn’t ‘fundamentally weak,’ it is simply invisible. A market with dozens of invisible companies isn’t ‘small,’ it is underdeveloped, and cannot attract global capital. This lack of professional transparency has led to tangible consequences. The market is currently experiencing a historic withdrawal of international capital, with foreign participation in equity turnover averaging just 30.12 percent in Q3 of this year, a 15-year low. This retreat resulted in a net portfolio outflow of Sh 3.84 billion for the quarter.

Foreign investors are not leaving Kenya because companies are fundamentally flawed. They are reallocating due to inadequate communication.

When investors cannot reliably know ‘when earnings will be released, whether guidance is coming, how management interprets quarterly performance,’ they do not invest. They wait, and prolonged uncertainty leads them to exit the market.

Also, retail investors are projected to increase with NSE targeting 9 million participants by 2029 through the introduction of fractional share purchases. If listed companies do not provide effective IR, they create information asymmetry, discouraging this growing retail base from sustained, informed participation.

Addressing the lack of mandated professional investor communication structures is no longer optional. A world-class market cannot be built on silence and spreadsheets alone.

However, recognition without action is insufficient. IR is a strategic communication tool that creates value through transparency. It bridges management’s vision and market confidence, and serves as an investment that improves valuation, attracts capital, and drives liquidity.

The solution is for listed companies to urgently elevate the IR function from a compliance checklist item to a strategic, board-level priority. To beat this crisis, listed companies must take specific, non-negotiable actions.

First, they must announce and strictly adhere to an annual IR calendar, clearly outlining the dates for earnings releases, dividend declarations, and Annual General Meetings at the start of every fiscal year.

They should also appoint and empower a single, named point of contact for investors on the company website, with dedicated phone and email channels, replacing the current fragmented approach.

Third, listed companies must exceed minimum legal disclosure by adopting Integrated Reporting and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) disclosure guidelines. This approach communicates the company’s holistic value creation strategy to socially conscious investors, both global and local.

Fourth, the Capital Markets Authority(CMA) should mandate annual Board review of the IR strategy and link senior management compensation (CEOs/CFOs) directly to performance on key IR metrics, such as investor satisfaction scores and stock liquidity. This ensures IR is treated as a profit driver rather than a compliance cost.

For the Kenyan retail investor, always demand transparency.

Use your vote at Annual General Meetings (AGMs) to challenge boards on their lack of professional IR, disclosure standards, and the allocation of resources to this critical function. Stop accepting the bare minimum. Only by holding boards accountable for their silence will the market’s basement issues be truly fixed.

We often discuss rights in terms of education, healthcare, or access to clean water. While these are all critical to our survival, and indeed our development, one of the most powerful enablers of dignity and opportunity is access to credit. Unfortunately, this is rarely framed as a human right, and yet, it should be.

Credit is not merely a financial instrument. For millions of Kenyans, it is the difference between survival and progress; between operating at the margins of the economy and building a livelihood with dignity.

Without access to finance, a farmer cannot expand production, a small trader cannot stock inventory, and a young entrepreneur cannot scale an idea into a thriving business.

Kenya has made strides in financial inclusion. According to the 2024 FinAccess survey, 84.8 percent of the population now has formal financial access, with credit usage rising to 64 percent of the total population.

Yet beneath these gains lies a stubborn gap: Many Kenyans, especially women, and those in the informal sector still depend on unregulated sources like chamas (savings and investment groups), relatives, or even shylocks.

While these informal systems are important, they cannot provide the scale or sustainability required to unlock long-term opportunity. For women, rural communities, and micro-enterprises, the barriers are even higher.

This exclusion is not trivial. It systematically denies people the agency to grow, invest, and participate fully in the economy.

A key way of boosting financial inclusion is the adoption of lending models tailored to women, youth, and informal workers. Products designed for chamas, agribusiness collectives, and youth start-ups have made it possible for those without traditional collateral to access financing.

These inclusive models matter in a country where women-led enterprises face a $2 billion credit gap, youth unemployment remains stubbornly high, and the informal sector employs over 80 percent of Kenya’s workforce. Credit, designed inclusively, is the bridge.

The future of credit is not only inclusive but also green. Increasingly small loans are already being extended to households and small enterprises for solar home systems, clean cooking solutions, and water access projects. These not only reduce emissions but also cut household energy costs and improve resilience.

As Kenya positions itself as a green economy leader, community-level green lending will be critical. A small loan for a solar irrigation kit may seem minor in the national balance sheet, but for a farmer, it is the difference between food insecurity and surplus. For a village, it can mean the difference between vulnerability and resilience.

Access to credit must be reframed as a human right. If we can guarantee education, water, or healthcare, why not guarantee financial access-the very thing that allows individuals to pay for these services and improve their lives?

As Kenya works toward inclusive growth and climate resilience, the ability of ordinary people to access and use credit must be treated not as a privilege for the few but as a right for all.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has cut its inflation outlook further for the next 12 months as it sees continued stability in consumer prices and the exchange rate.

The apex bank said on Wednesday that it expects the cost of living to fall steadily to reach lows of 3.7 percent in June 2026, having previously forecast inflation to fall to 4.3 percent in the same month.

Inflation dropped to 4.5 percent last month compared to 4.6 percent in October.

The expected low inflation rate will give the CBK further room to cut interest rates if it deems the move as appropriate in driving the recovery of private sector credit.

‘Our focus for inflation going forward for the 12 months up to November 2026 shows that inflation will remain below the midpoint of our target range and will not exceed the five-percent rate all the way,’ CBK Governor Dr. Kamau Thuigge said.

CBK has a mandate to keep inflation low and stable at no more than 7.5 percent but not less than 2.5 percent by deploying monetary policy tools including interest rates.

Previously in August, CBK had projected inflation to run hot, touching a high of 5.2 percent in March next year.

Core inflation or non-food/non-fuel inflation which contributes to an approximate 81 percent of the overall inflation rate is expected to anchor the slow growth in consumer prices over the next 12 months.

Non-core inflation which covers food and fuel prices is expected to rise over the next quarter on expensive vegetable prices but fall at the onset of the heavy rains season which is expected to start in April.

‘Non-core inflation especially for vegetables remains elevated for the next two to three months and then it does come down starting with the long rains around April,’ Dr Thugge added.

The November 2025 Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Market Perceptions Survey and Agriculture Sector Survey shows that inflation expectations remain anchored within the 2.5 to 7.5 percent target range in the near term.

Respondents to the agriculture survey noted they expect improved food supply following recent harvests particularly of maize, stable pump prices and exchange rate stability to support a stable inflation rate in the near-term.

Seasonal factors associated with December festivities and higher prices for some food items especially vegetables are however expected to apply moderate upward pressure to overall inflation.

‘The November 2025 MPC Market Perceptions Survey shows that inflation expectations in the near-term remain anchored within the target range, mainly due to exchange rate stability, improved food supply, and stable global oil prices which are expected to keep local pump prices and transport inflation stable,’ CBK said.

The apex bank cut its benchmark rate for the ninth straight MPC meeting on Tuesday in a move to support the recovery of bank lending on the heels of both stable inflation and exchange rate.

Private sector credit growth hit a 19-month high in November mirroring recovery in lending on falling borrowing costs after a prolonged contraction period in the past year.

‘Growth in commercial banks’ lending to the private sector continued to improve and stood at 6.3 percent in November 2025 compared to 5.9 percent in October and a contraction of 2.9 percent in January,’ CBK said in a statement on Tuesday.

‘This mainly reflects improved demand for credit in line with the declining lending interest rates.’

CBK can cut its benchmark rate further if both inflation and exchange rate stability holds.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has opened the sale of a Sh60 billion Treasury bond, continuing its recent trend of issuing longer dated papers to lengthen the government’s domestic debt maturity profile.

In the issuance which runs until January 7, 2026, the CBK has reopened a 25-year bond that was initially brought to the market in September 2022, and a 20-year bond first sold in March 2019.

The 25-year paper, which was most recently reopened last month, has 21.8 years to maturity and a coupon or fixed interest rate of 14.18 percent, while the 20-year bond has a period to maturity of 13.2 years and a coupon of 12.87 percent.

The market has seen high liquidity in recent months, resulting in an oversubscription in the November and December auctions, and in the weekly Treasury bill auctions as well.

In the December bond whose auction was held last week, investors offered a total of Sh53.13 billion against a target of Sh40 billion, with the CBK taking up Sh47.1 billion.

The CBK had reopened a pair of 25-year and 30-year bonds that were first issued in May 2021 and February 2011 respectively in the sale.

‘We note resilient liquidity conditions in the market, signaled by the steadily strong performance rate, which has remained above 230 percent since the August primary auction,’ said analysts at AIB AXYS Africa in a note on the December bond sale.

In November, the CBK carried out two separate issuances in which it reopened a pair of 15-year bonds, a 20-year bond and a 25-year bond (the same one on sale for January 2026), which raised a combined Sh107.6 billion from bids of Sh208.75 billion. Each of the two issuances targeted Sh40 billion.

In addition to a liquid market, the CBK is also leaning on the demand for higher coupon bonds in a period of falling interest rates.

The long-term bonds that the government has been reopening in recent months carry coupons of between 12 percent and 14.2 percent, which is significantly higher compared to short-term rates of between 7.7 percent and 9.4 percent on Treasury bills.

The maturity profile of these bonds would normally appeal to buyers with a longer investment horizon such as pension funds, but retail investors have also bought in as returns from other assets such as Treasury bills, unit trusts and fixed bank deposits continue to trend lower.

The general decline in interest rates has tracked the easing actions of the CBK’s monetary policy committee, which has cut rates in its last nine meetings held since August 2024.

The Central Bank Rate (CBR) currently stands at nine percent, having been cut by 0.25 percentage points in the latest meeting on Tuesday. The CBR stood at 13 percent before the current easing cycle started in August 2024.

For investors, the lower base rate has the effect of cutting returns from fixed income investments whose pricing is linked to short term government securities.

A section of Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) directors deliberately influenced the supply of low-quality stocks to the regional auction, hoping to irregularly benefit from a guaranteed reserve price, an audit has revealed.

The audit by the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) established that some rogue officials allowed factories located west of the Rift Valley to supply poor quality tea to the auction after the government introduced a $2.43 (Sh314.09) reserve price for every kilogramme of tea sold at the Mombasa auction in July 2021.

The reserve price was introduced as a guarantee that smallholder farmers would fetch a minimum return on the tea they supplied to KTDA. The reserve price was scrapped in October last year due to concerns of accumulating stocks at the sale. ‘Some of the directors required factory managers to compromise green leaf standards from tea farmers on account of the guaranteed reserve price. This not only negatively affected the absorption of tea from the region, leading to accumulating stocks of unsold teas, but also, tea farmers got used to the production and supply of green leaf of lower quality,’ TBK said in a presentation of its audit finding to a committee of Parliament.

The board said its surveillance to confirm green leaf quality standards in the regions showed they had fallen below 50 percent, against the minimum desired quality of 60 percent, mainly due to the low quality of leaf plucked by farmers.

Unsold tea stocks hit 104 million kilogrammes last year from a low of 37 million kilogrammes in 2021 before the State abandoned the reserve price policy.

The drop in tea quality affected farmers from Kericho, Bomet, Nyamira, Kisii, Nandi, Vihiga, and Trans Nzoia.

MPs in the Agriculture Committee also accused some KTDA directors of being the main beneficiaries of procurements by its factories in Rift Valley and western regions, calling on the tea sector regulator to conduct lifestyle audits on them and other influential persons in factories.

‘In some factories, board members were the main beneficiaries of procurement processes,’ the committee said in a report tabled before Parliament last week.

The revelations come amid concerns from farmers that the factories have been buying products at inflated prices, raising production costs, and causing farmers to pocket less from their sweat.

The parliamentary report established that the practices by KTDA directors, clerks, and other cartels at its factories have contributed to a situation where the majority of the 600,000 tea farmers supplying the agency with produce are earning less.

‘Cases of falsification of the weighing scale at buying centres were reported in the west of the Rift Valley. Some farmers are given less kgs than what they have supplied, therefore reducing their earnings,’ the committee observed.

The MPs now want TBK to audit all tea factories and prosecute all officials found to be committing malpractices.

‘The Tea Board of Kenya should conduct a lifestyle audit of the directors, clerks, and other influential persons in the factories,’ the committee recommended.

The farmers affected come from seven counties on the West side of the Rift Valley and supply 70 percent of the tea processed and marketed by KTDA.

In a petition to the parliamentary committee, the affected farmers accused KTDA directors and factory boards of misappropriation of funds, eroding trust, and reducing farmer income.

‘Widespread corruption among clerks, managers, and directors requires lifestyle audits and recruitment investigations. High production costs driven by poor financial discipline rather than low market prices, failure to control rising production costs, including inflated firewood procurement and staff expenses,’ the farmers from West of the Rift Valley regions told Parliament.

The farmers complained that the malpractices have contributed to a situation where their tea fetches lower prices at the auction as compared to their peers in the Mt Kenya region, calling for reforms.

KTDA factories serve an estimated 600,000 smallholder farmers across the country, the majority of whom are in the affected regions.

The pressure is mounting on KTDA even as a TBK audit on debts by its factories revealed that they had accumulated Sh26 billion by June, as it pointed out cases of financial indiscipline during the borrowing.

KTDA on Tuesday defended itself, saying that it borrowed to pay farmers after unsold teas at the Mombasa auction accumulated to 104 million kilos.

DStv’s fortunes in Kenya got a major boost after the firm’s active subscribers grew by 43 percent in the three months ended September this year, despite an increase in the cost of its monthly packages.

The pay television had 270,017 customers in the review period, according to industry data from Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), compared to the 188,824 it had in June this year.

The increase came despite a move by MultiChoice Kenya -the operator of DStv in Kenya- to increase the price of monthly packages by up to Sh700 from August 1 this year, in a bid to boost revenues in the local market.

DStv had suffered a hit after it lost 84 percent of its customers dropped in the year to June 2025 amid pricey monthly packages. It had 1.19 million active subscribers in June last year.

CA did not disclose reasons behind the recovery in the subscriber numbers which came at a time when the monthly price of DStv packages went up.

The cost of DStv Premium package rose by Sh700 to Sh11,700 from August 1 this year while the price of the Compact Plus increased to Sh7,300 from Sh6,800.

The price increase which also affected the Compact and Family packages, was the fifth in three years as MultiChoice Kenya tries to arrest the fall in revenues generated in the Kenyan market.

Subscription revenues that MultiChoice made in Kenya, when expressed as a share of the total from all markets where the firm operates, dropped to seven percent in the year ended March 2025 from eight percent a year ago.

It remains unclear on what triggered the resurgence in DStv’s customer numbers given that the firm has grappled with a mass exodus as subscribers opt for the free but illegal online streaming services.

A harsh economy characterised by near stagnant earnings and heavy taxation for workers has forced most subscribers of pay television to go for the free online streaming services.

There are currently four pay television services in Kenya. Besides DStv, the others are Star Times, Azam Tv which is owned by Tanzania’s Bakhresa Group and the Wananchi Group-owned Zuku.

Fortunes of the four took a hit in the year ended June 2025 when their combined subscribers tumbled by 67 percent to 602,706 subscribers from 1.84 million.

DStv accounted for the biggest drop in the period at 84 percent followed by Azam Tv at 63 percent. Star Times’ market shrank by 45 percent while that of Zuku fell by 7.2 percent.

MultiChoice Kenya slashed the cost of its decoders and installation kits by to Sh350 from the start of this month in a bid to attract new customers.

It however remains to be seen if the price reduction, which will run up to the end of this year, will further boost the resurgence in subscribers that DStv posted in the three months to September this year.