Category: Business Daily

There are major jitters in the market as investors continue to digest Tuesday’s High Court ruling nullifying the government’s sale of a 15 percent stake in Safaricom to Vodacom.

The broader policy concern is this: a foreign investor planning to establish a project in Kenya must now price judicial activism and litigation uncertainty into the investment risk.

The Safaricom divestiture is only the latest illustration of a paradox we have lived with since the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution: the growing assertiveness and high profile of the courts in public finance and economic policymaking. This is a significant paradox because courts have, in effect, become co-authors of fiscal policy. We appear to be gradually outsourcing economic policymaking to the judiciary.

Judges are increasingly being asked to arbitrate complex infrastructure-financing models, major public transactions and specialised financial arrangements. Administrative and constitutional courts now routinely stop or disrupt the implementation of economic policies and programmes. They issue stay orders, quash statutory instruments and strike down revenue-raising provisions.

There is an important downside. When tax laws or other revenue-raising mechanisms are invalidated in the middle of a financial year, the Treasury faces unexpected revenue shortfalls. It must then cut spending through supplementary budgets or increase borrowing.

Can emergency stabilisation measures, foreign-exchange interventions or urgent adjustments to fiscal targets survive months of mandatory notices, public hearings and litigation over whether consultation requirements were met? To be clear, none of this is an argument against judicial oversight. The case for limits on executive power and scrutiny of government decisions cannot be gainsaid.

My point is that, 16 years after the Constitution came into force, we owe ourselves an honest audit of how the Haki Yetu constitutional order has reshaped economic policymaking in Kenya-and at what cost.

Kenya urgently needs a consensus on the minimum requirements that must be met before the constitutional threshold for meaningful public participation can be regarded as satisfied.

The current regime is vague. It does not adequately define the scope, content or procedure of public participation. How many meetings are sufficient? Should participation be measured by attendance, the diversity of views, opinion polls or written submissions from experts and think tanks? Must every citizen be reached?

The result is that a process designed as an important democratic safeguard has become a box-ticking compliance exercise.Stakeholders and ministries increasingly treat public forums not as spaces for genuine deliberation, but as legal shields designed to withstand judicial scrutiny.

If a court demands a paper trail of town-hall meetings, the State dutifully produces thousands of pages of minutes-regardless of whether a single citizen’s contribution altered the policy or fiscal proposal.

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi captured the paradox when he questioned the court’s finding on public participation in the Safaricom transaction. He pointed out that the decision had been subjected to scrutiny and approval by the Cabinet, a parliamentary committee and the National Assembly, alongside weeks of public hearings.

Yet a government policy can now be subjected to the most rigorous, publicised and multi-stakeholder process imaginable and still be declared insufficiently participatory by a court.

The Senate is currently inviting written submissions on the Public Participation Bill, 2025, which seeks to establish common rules for public participation across public institutions and government decision-making processes. The deadline for submissions is September 28. Let us hope that this legislation gives Kenya a clearer framework and helps establish a workable consensus on what meaningful participation requires.

A closing anecdote from recent experience: Two weeks ago, I was invited to participate in a panel of non-State actors at the Katiba 16 symposium, only to arrive and find that the non-state actors’ session had been omitted from the programme.

I had prepared a short presentation titled: The contradictions and paradoxes at the heart of our Haki Yetu Constitution: The impact on economic policy-making-and why judges should urgently take refresher courses in economics, particularly in investment banking, structured finance and the nuances of complex infrastructure-financing models.That may sound provocative. But the question is serious.

Judicial oversight is indispensable. So is economic literacy within the institutions that review public finance and investment decisions. A constitutional democracy cannot function properly if courts protect participation while failing to understand the broader financial and economic implications underlying the decisions they are asked to review.

The challenge before Kenya is to find a balance between accountability and governability: between ensuring that public decisions are lawful and ensuring that the country remains capable of making timely, predictable and economically coherent policy.

Investor wealth at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) had dipped below the Sh4 trillion mark for the first time since crossing this milestone a month ago, weighed down by retreating blue-chip stocks driven by heightened selling by foreign and local investors.

The bourse closed Thursday with a valuation of Sh3.948 trillion, having shed Sh178.7 billion in two days to wipe out nearly a fifth of its gains in the year-to-date.

Traders said that share prices were hit by continued selling activity from investors, resulting in supply outstripping demand on most counters.

Foreign investors have sold a net of Sh2 billion worth of shares in the last three days, putting large stocks under pressure.

The biggest losers in the last two days in terms of market capitalisation are Safaricom at Sh52.1 billion, Co-operative Bank of Kenya (Sh24.9 billion), Equity Group (Sh21.7 billion), KCB Group (Sh18.5 billion) and Absa Bank Kenya (Sh16.3 billion).

‘There has been some correction on large counters over the last couple of days, as investors continued taking profits and locking in substantial capital gains after the strong rally,’ said Melodie Ndanu, a research analyst at Standard Investment Bank (SIB).

When sellers outnumber buyers in a session, prices usually trend downwards as those offloading units quote their stocks at the lower end of the daily price limit in the hope of securing takers for their shares ahead of competing sellers.

Alternatively, when demand exceeds supply, sellers are able to quote and get paid prices that are near the upper daily limit, setting off a rally.

The daily movement of a stock is capped at 10 percent relative to the previous day’s weighted average closing price, except on days when there is a material announcement on the counter such as an announcement of financial results.

The losses over the last two trading sessions have extended the dip that started over a week ago, when investors started selling stocks to lock in gains that had accrued during the August market rally.

The exchange’s larger stocks such as Safaricom, Equity, KCB and Co-op Bank have accounted for the bulk of the losses seen over the last week-and-a-half.

The banking stocks were trading at their all-time high levels as of September 3, when the NSE touched its highest ever valuation of Sh4.285 trillion.

Equity, KCB and Co-op Bank traded at Sh106, Sh98.55 and Sh38.55 per share respectively as of September 3, while Safaricom was trading at a multi-year high of Sh37.94 per share.

At the close of trading on Thursday, Safaricom’s share price stood at Sh35.20, while Equity’s price had fallen to Sh96 per share. KCB and Co-op Bank closed the day at Sh84.25 and Sh31.95 per share, respectively.

The sell-off on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) comes amid rising jitters among international investors over the escalation of US-Iran tensions in the Middle East.

Attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebels on the Red Sea shipping channel have also caused a jump in benchmark oil prices, triggering fears of a new round of higher global inflation.

Due to the rising geopolitical tension, the yield on the US 10-year bonds has hit the key five percent threshold for the first time since 2023. The US Federal Reserve also raised its benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points on Wednesday, signalling concerns of higher inflation in the world’s largest economy.

The benchmark US 10-year bond rate and the Fed rate are a closely watched gauge of market inflation expectations, influencing capital movement across the globe.

For the equities markets, higher US rates tend to cause capital flight from smaller, riskier markets, especially when they are accompanied by a strengthening of the dollar in the forex market.

The capital flight ultimately weighs down share prices of stocks that are favoured by foreign investors, which in Kenya are primarily Safaricom, EABL, Equity and KCB.

A dispute between former shareholders and business partners of Savannah Cement over a controversial Sh4.5 billion bank loan has moved to the Court of Appeal.

Savannah Heights Limited and businessman John Gachanga Kaiganaine have challenged a High Court decision that halted the criminal prosecution of Benson Sande Ndeta over alleged fraud in the contested loan tapped from Absa Bank.

Mr Ndeta, Mr Kaiganaine and businessman Donald Kiboro Mwaura were directors of Savannah Heights Limited, which was a major shareholder of Savannah Cement Ltd before it collapsed in 2022.

The notice of appeal challenges the entire judgment delivered by the High Court on September 7, 2026, which declared Mr Ndeta’s prosecution unlawful, null and void and barred further proceedings arising from the disputed bank loan and corporate transactions.

The appeal keeps alive a dispute that began inside Savannah Cement, once a key player in the construction industry before it was placed under administration in November 2022 with debts exceeding Sh14 billion.

Mr Ndeta was charged alongside Mr Charles Hill Jr over allegations that they used forged corporate documents, guarantees and board resolutions to obtain a $35 million (Sh4.5 billion) facility from Absa Bank Kenya in 2017 and 2018.

Prosecutors alleged that the two presented themselves as authorised representatives of Savannah Cement when securing the financing.

Mr Ndeta denied the allegations and challenged the prosecution, arguing that the criminal case was being used to settle a shareholder and corporate control dispute. He maintained that the validity of the borrowing arrangements had already been addressed in related civil proceedings.

The judge found that an earlier commercial court decision had upheld the resolutions authorising the Absa borrowing. The court held that allowing the criminal case to proceed would require the trial court to revisit issues that the High Court had already determined.

The court also faulted the Director of Public Prosecutions for failing to consider material that could have supported Ndeta’s defence, including Absa’s confirmation that the loan had been legally offered and accepted.

‘If the borrowing resolutions were valid, it is difficult to see how the Petitioner can be criminally liable for obtaining credit by false pretence or for forging minutes that were, according to a competent court of concurrent jurisdiction, valid,’ the court said.

But Savannah Heights and Kaiganaine dispute that reasoning. They argue the commercial case concerned corporate resolutions, not criminal offences.

They say a valid borrowing resolution does not automatically rule out the possibility that unauthorised documents were later used or false representations made during the loan process. They maintained that the bank’s confirmation of the loan did not conclusively negate internal fraud or forgery.

They also argued that the Constitutional Court should not assess evidence belonging before the criminal trial court. They maintained that the DPP enjoys constitutional independence and that prosecution should only be stopped where clear illegality, abuse of process or rights violations are demonstrated.

Another argument is that some findings relied upon by the court concerned attendance at a meeting linked to a Kenya Commercial Bank loan facility, rather than the Absa transaction forming the basis of the criminal charges.

The dispute also involves another partner, Mr Mwaura, who alleges that Mr Hill lacked authority to act for Savannah Heights after a contested share purchase arrangement collapsed.

Mr Mwaura says the disputed documents exposed the company and its directors to liability for the loan.

Savannah Cement was acquired in August 2025 by Mombasa Maize Millers, Kitui Flour Mills and Eldoret Grains Limited. The investors renamed the business Savannah Cement 2025 Limited. The cement manufacturer is based in Athi River.

Savannah Heights Limited was one of Savannah Cement’s shareholders. It nominated three directors to Savannah Cement’s board, including Mr Kaiganaine, Mr Mwaura and Mr Ndeta.

The Court of Appeal is expected to determine whether the High Court correctly stopped the prosecution or improperly prevented criminal allegations from being tested at trial.

Co-operative Bank of Kenya has boosted its capacity to provide long-term dollar financing to Kenyan businesses after securing a $100 million (Sh12.9 billion) currency swap programme with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

A currency swap allows two parties to exchange a loan in one currency for an equivalent loan in another currency. The swap locks in a pre-agreed exchange rate, protecting both parties from market changes.

At the start, they exchange the principal amounts at an agreed exchange rate. During the swap, each party pays interest on the currency it has received. At the end, the principal amounts are exchanged back.

Currency swaps are used to obtain foreign currency loans at a better interest rate than a company could obtain by borrowing directly in a foreign market.

The first $50 million (Sh6.5 billion) tranche of the programme has been executed through a cross-currency swap using the Kenya Shilling Overnight Interbank Average (Kesonia) as a reference rate, making it the first such transaction in the country to use the benchmark.

The arrangement is expected to strengthen Co-op Bank’s ability to provide long-term foreign-currency financing to businesses, particularly those with revenues, costs or contractual obligations denominated in foreign currencies.

The structure gives Co-op Bank additional capacity to mobilise dollar funding while managing the foreign-currency and interest-rate risks associated with conventional dollar borrowing.

Co-op Bank’s chief executive Gideon Muriuki said the currency swap with the multilateral bank would enhance the local lender’s ability to provide long-term foreign-currency financing to businesses.

‘Our partnership with the EBRD under this $100 million currency swap programme represents an important milestone in our commitment to supporting Kenyan businesses with innovative financing solutions,’ said Mr Muriuki.

‘The first $50 million tranche enhances our ability to provide long-term, competitively priced foreign currency financing to help businesses strengthen their competitiveness while contributing to Kenya’s economic development and job creation.’

The bank’s target sectors include exporters, manufacturers, agriculture and agro-processing, horticulture, floriculture, logistics and tourism.

The arrangement is especially relevant to companies participating in regional and global value chains, which often have revenues, costs or contractual obligations denominated in foreign currencies.

Businesses can use the financing to acquire machinery, equipment, technology and raw materials, as well as meet working-capital requirements linked to imports and exports.

EBRD regional head of Local-Currency Portfolio Management, Abdessamad Abouti, said the transaction demonstrates the use of Kenya’s new benchmark in an international financial-market transaction, following efforts to develop local capital markets.

‘We have worked closely with local authorities and market participants to support the development of Kesonia, and this swap shows how reforms can move from design to implementation, reflecting the EBRD’s longstanding commitment to developing local capital markets,’ said Mr Abouti.

The EBRD deal is part of Co-op Bank’s strategy of working with international financial institutions to increase funding available to Kenyan enterprises and support trade and investment.

Should employers make statutory deductions like affordable housing levy, Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and PAYE from court awards for terminal dues? Picture a scenario that has become all too familiar: an employee is awarded compensation for unfair termination by the Employment and Labour Relations Court.

Keen to comply with the law, the employer deducts PAYE, NSSF, SHIF contribution and the Affordable Housing Levy, remits those sums to the relevant statutory bodies, and pays the balance to the former employee.

It is then promptly hauled back to court for further recovery on the claim that the decree has been underpaid. Had it paid the award without statutory deductions, the taxman would certainly have come calling, armed with penalties and interest.

For the better part of a decade, the law appeared settled. On the face of it, Section 49(2) of the Employment Act contemplates that remedies for unfair termination are subject to all applicable statutory deductions. Sections 3 and 5(2) of the Income Tax Act go further by classifying any amount received as compensation for the termination of a contract of employment as gains or profits from employment, taxable whether the contract itself provided for such payment, or not.

The Court of Appeal appeared to place the matter beyond controversy in Directline Assurance Co. Ltd v Jeremiah Wachira Ichaura [2016] KECA 118 (KLR), holding that it is trite law that lump-sum terminal dues are subject to statutory deductions and that damages fall to be computed on net, rather than gross, salary.

The Employment Court itself embraced that position in a long and consistent line of authorities from William Kilonzi v Bamburi Cement Limited [2016] KEELRC 690 (KLR), through Ndungu v Safaricom PLC [2025] KEELRC 2234 (KLR), to Njuguna v Sybrin Kenya [2026] KEELRC 92 (KLR), where the court reaffirmed an employer’s obligation under Section 37 of the Income Tax Act to deduct the appropriate tax from any lump-sum payment before releasing the balance. Employers, advocates and the revenue authorities alike arranged their affairs on that understanding.

Then came the rupture: in Stubbs v Fourt Generation Capital Limited [2025] KEELRC 3305 (KLR), the Employment Court held that although PAYE was properly deductible from an unfair termination award, contributions to the SHIF, the Affordable Housing Levy and the National Social Security Fund were not.

The court reasoned that those statutory levies are inextricably linked to a subsisting employment relationship: they are deducted through payroll, complemented by employer contributions, and confer benefits associated with active service.

To impose them upon a post-employment compensatory award, the court held, would amount to an impermissible double burden that would be inconsistent with the constitutional guarantee of fair labour practices.

Another decision of the same court has travelled even further, holding that not even PAYE is deductible from such compensation. The result is a jurisprudence in disarray. In one court the award is taxed in full; in another, only in part; and in a third, not at all.

It should be acknowledged that the reasoning in Stubbs is not without intuitive appeal. There is something inherently strange about deducting a housing levy or health insurance contribution from a person whose employment, and with it any corresponding entitlement, has already come to an end.

However, intuitive appeal is not the governing principle; judicial precedent is.

The Directline case is a decision of the Court of Appeal, and the doctrine of precedent does not permit the Employment Court, however well-intentioned, to chart an independent course in the face of a binding appellate authority.

A court of first instance that considers a Court of Appeal decision that should be ripe for reconsideration has one lawful course: to apply it while expressing, with appropriate restraint, the reasons why such reconsideration may be warranted.

It would have no mandate to legislate through judicial decision-making.

The consequences of the present uncertainty are neither theoretical nor remote. Employers cannot calculate settlement sums with confidence, and every shilling deducted or omitted becomes the seed that bears fruit to further litigation. Employees whose claims are otherwise identical now risk receiving materially different awards dependent on the adjudicating court.

Settlement negotiations risk becoming compromised because the parties are unable to agree on the correct net figure, and this increases case backlog. NSSF, SHIF and the Affordable Housing Fund are left uncertain as to the scope of their own statutory entitlements. The uncertainty of this magnitude is a cost that is unduly imposed upon the smooth administration of justice.

To resolve this confusion, the Court of Appeal should, at the earliest opportunity, confront the divergence directly and pronounce with finality which statutory deductions, if any, should be properly applied towards compensation for unfair termination and the statutory basis upon which such application should be made.

If the court concludes that the newer statutory levies introduced long after the Directline case should stand on a different legal footing from PAYE or NSSF, then it should say so in clear and unequivocal terms.

Should Parliament consider that outcome undesirable, the appropriate remedy lies in legislative amendment to the Affordable Housing Act, the Social Health Insurance Act and the Employment Act, rather than in judicial improvisation.

Until then, should a dispute arise on the applicable deductions to be applied towards compensatory awards, prudence may now require employers to seek judicial interpretation on the applicable deductions rather than deducting at source, remitting and allowing for such disputes to be resolved through recovery proceedings.

The conflicting judicial positions call for authoritative resolution, and the courts, especially the Court of Appeal, should bring clarity to the law and end this uncertainty.

Kenyan firms are making progress in recognising climate change as a business issue but are struggling to translate this concern into measurable financial and operational data, exposing a key gap ahead of mandatory sustainability reporting next year.

A 2026 market readiness study by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK), based on self-reported and unaudited data from 385 entities, shows many firms face a race against time to build the systems and data needed to quantify climate-related risks.

The gap between intention and ability to measure responses to climate-related risks piles pressure on firms as the clock ticks towards the January 2027 date, by which large firms must comply with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) rulebooks for reporting on how environmental and sustainability issues affect their business.

The two climate-related global reporting standards are IFRS S1 and S2. While IFRS S1 is the general rulebook for all sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance financial risks, IFRS S2 is focused only on climate change.

IFRS S1 will force companies to start sharing any sustainability-related risk that could change their financial future, while IFRS S2 will require them to provide exact details about how global warming, extreme weather and the shift to green energy will hurt or help their operations.

Kenyan firms classified as public interest entities (PIEs), which include large and high-impact firms such as those listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), will start mandatory disclosure from January 2027, followed by large non-PIEs (January 2028).

However, ICPAK study shows strategic intent from boards of companies towards sustainability reporting is advancing faster than the firms’ ability to produce the detailed disclosures required under the new standards.

The report describes this as a ‘readiness paradox,’ adding that the gap is widest in the sectors with the least regulatory pressure.

The only famous Catherines she knew growing up were dead Catherines.

And because she wanted to know how it would feel to be famous, for your name to be read by the whole world, Catherine Ndereba would cut the name Catherine out of the newspaper and stick it in her exercise book. She could not imagine her own name appearing in a newspaper while she was still alive.

It is a strange origin story for a woman who would become one of the most decorated marathoners in history: four-time winner in Boston, twice in Chicago, a world record holder, a double Olympic silver medalist, and for two decades the most recognisable name in Kenyan distance running. Her name appeared in newspapers local and foreign, again and again, and she is still very much alive.

Running was never a plan. It was just something she did, in Nyeri, without knowing it would lead anywhere. But she was good at it, good enough that the first time she ran as a guest for the Kenya Prisons team, at Nyayo Stadium, before she’d even been hired, she beat Helen Chepng’eno, the world cross-country champion, in the 3,000 metres. The doors opened almost immediately. She was 21, unemployed, and suddenly a corporal.

What followed was two decades of races won and lost in equal measure, a debut Boston Marathon so punishing she finished sixth and had to be wheeled off the course, a daughter who once asked her father who the woman under the blanket was, and a return, the following year, that ended in victory. ‘If you have nothing to sacrifice, you have nothing to gain.’

She retired at 42, went back to a quiet life as a government employee of Prisons, now a deputy director, Rehabilitation, Welfare and Sports, heading the sports section. We met in her office, a petite woman in a forest of trophies.

When did you realise you were good at running?

It was not until I was out of school. I just ran because it was my passion. I didn’t know anything would come of it; running made me happy.

Were there people running in Nyeri whom you looked up to?

My neighbour used to run, as did another boy from my primary school who got a job with Kenya Power. But I wouldn’t say I looked up to them.

In Form Four, a schoolmate told me that she had dreamed that Armed Forces officials came to our school looking for me. I jokingly said, ‘Those are good prayers, amen’. Little did I know I would end up in the discipline forces.

Right after school, I joined Kenya Prisons on August, 15, 1994. This was after I met some prison officials in Nyeri who noticed my talent and invited me to run for their team as a guest at the championships in May that year. That’s how my door opened.

At Nyayo Stadium, I competed against world cross-country gold medalist Helen Chepng’eno in the 3,000 metres race, and I beat her.

That must have been a great upset. How old were you?

I was 21. The commissioner (of Prisons) said, ‘If that girl is an officer, she should be promoted to corporal’. The head of my region said, ‘Sir, she’s not even an officer, she doesn’t have a job.’ He said, ‘Then that is a talent we should consider next time we enrol’. That’s how I got the job.

Are there athletes in your family?

Yes. My dad used to run, although I only learned that through my grandmother, because my dad never talked about it. I don’t know why.

The first time you earned good money from running, did it come as a shock?

What really amazed me is that my name was published in the newspaper. Throughout secondary school, I desired to see my name, Catherine, in newspapers.

But whenever I checked, the only place I found my name, or one close to mine, was in the obituaries section. I used to look for anybody named Catherine, cut out their name and stick it in my exercise book. I didn’t imagine my name could appear in the paper while I was alive.

You won the Boston Marathon four times, the Chicago Marathon twice and several other major races. What did you have to sacrifice?

A lot. I have a keychain with my motto: If you have nothing to sacrifice, you have nothing to gain. I’m married, so a wife; I’m a mother, a daughter, and a daughter-in-law. There were many times I was needed at home to attend to one or another responsibility that comes with the above roles, but I had to sacrifice all that to make sure that I flew the department’s flag high, and that of the nation too.

How did it feel the first time you won something and they played the national anthem?

I remember very well. Boston Marathon. It was spring, so it wasn’t very cold. I couldn’t stop crying.

What was it like to become globally famous almost overnight; a girl from Nyeri suddenly recognised around the world?

It made me uneasy. People pointing, staring, whispering. It was a shock at first, but I got used to it. You have to remain humble, even when everything around you asks you to be proud.

How did your extended family react to your success?

Nobody believed in me at first, apart from my parents. They didn’t have any restrictions; they were just watching to see what would come out of this. My cousins said things. Not many people, even in my neighbourhood, believed my running would have a significant impact on my life.

Who was the first person outside your parents to believe in you?

Mr Maina, my Grade Six class teacher. He believed I had the talent and encouraged me. After practice, we would get half a loaf of bread and a soda to replenish our energy, and some classmates started ridiculing me for it, saying I only ran because I couldn’t afford bread and soda.

You ran professionally for 20 years, what was the most difficult period?

Raising my daughter. Having to go race abroad after maternity leave and leaving her behind with my husband and my sisters.

Does she remember those days?

She does. She’s a woman now. I’m a grandmother. [Chuckles]. We talk about it. It used to make her feel lonely and left behind, and she developed into more of a daddy’s girl. That didn’t bother me; girls are often closer to their fathers anyway.

Did you meet your husband before you started running, or during your career?

Before I became popular. We met at prison college, enrolled the same year, same class, what they call school squads. We were in Squad 15. We fell in love and later got married.

Retired Kenyan Marathon Runner Catherine Ndereba poses for a photo at ACK Guest House on September 16, 2026.

Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group

How did he handle your fame?

He didn’t have any problem; he was really considerate and supportive. When I had my baby, I had some baby fat and struggled to get back into shape, so he motivated me to train. He’d transferred to Nairobi and would take me out for morning runs and speed work at Nyayo Stadium, 400 metres at a time, because I was too heavy to run fast. He’d start ahead and tell me, ‘Run so fast that I don’t catch you’. That’s how I got my speed back.

Does your daughter have the talent for running?

She does, but it wasn’t in her heart. She didn’t like it. I can’t blame her; I think she hated it because it used to steal her mum from her.

Do you miss those periods…running, winning trophies, travelling?

I don’t miss it. I gave it my all. It was a season, and once a season is over, you accept and build for something else.

You later developed a leg problem and had to retire, what happened?

I retired earlier than I planned, at 42 instead of 45. I believed my running was a mission, and a mission has a season, so I asked God for a sign for when to exit, and I took the injury as that sign. I was told I needed surgery; I asked to heal naturally instead, since it was my choice, even though it would take longer. I don’t regret it. I went back to the office at Nairobi West Prison in 2011, did a senior management course, and got promoted from chief officer to superintendent.

Your successes are well documented. But what failure stays with you.

[Chuckles] I don’t think I have anything I’d call a failure, only lessons.

How did it feel when you lost a race?

The one I lost that I don’t count as a loss, my second silver from the Beijing Olympics, I call it my gold. I was prepared to win gold, but developed back issues, and it rained at the start, so my back seized. I lost my competitors and couldn’t tell who was ahead.

Past 25 kilometres, I caught the chasing group, not realising someone was ahead of them. Around 39 kilometres, I spotted a runner on the other side of the road. It was Costantina Di?a of Romania, who had never beaten me. I closed a two-minute gap, but it was too close to the finish, one or two more kilometres and I would have caught her.

Running at that level must come with some unimaginable pain. Can you tell me something about that?

Nothing compares to the Boston Marathon, my debut, where I started winning. I went in 1999 out of frustration, with speed but not enough mileage. My manager said there was no budget except for marathons, so I told her, jokingly, book me anyway.

The organiser offered two return tickets and $10,000 if I finished top 10. I felt strong until past 30 kilometres, then my mileage ran out. I was number two, running with defending champion Fatuma Roba, passing the Boston College, where students cheered me on. I told myself Fatuma would know who Catherine was at the finish line. But she switched gears, and I couldn’t respond.

By 40 kilometres, I was exhausted, almost stopping, and had to stop for my water bottle. Moses Tanui, who’d already stopped himself, yelled at me not to stop, so I kept going, although it was a painful uphill and I could barely lift my legs. I finished sixth, passed near the finish line by Japanese and Ecuadorian runners. I could not move; my feet were cramping so badly I had to be carried off in a wheelchair. My daughter, I was later told, seeing me on TV covered in a towel and foil, asked my husband, ‘Who is that, daddy?’ It didn’t help that the photo that ran in the papers wasn’t nice.

That must have been painful in a different way…

If I were a coward, I could not have gone back, but it didn’t stop me. That night, around 3am, I had a strong feeling in my heart: even tomorrow, you’ll be on the podium. In the morning, my manager, Lisa Buster, asked me one honest question: Will you ever run a marathon again? I said, ‘Why not?’ She high-fived me and said, “If, despite all that pain, you give me that answer, you are a champion’. The following year, I won.

Do you still run?

Once in a while, not every day, just for recreation. Like when I was in Korea for the Masters World Championships, I’d wake up every morning to run.

Do people still recognise you in the streets?

Some do, some don’t.

You are just a girl from Nyeri who went to the world and won many important marathons, broke a world record and did so much. Do you ever wonder, why you?

It is very humbling. I don’t fully understand it; only God knows. I’m a third-born; nobody believed in me, not even myself. I just followed my desire, my passion. Even after school, I kept running every morning, not knowing why, just enjoying myself.

What else are you passionate about now?

The word of God.

Do you still keep in touch with the people you ran with, the people you beat, the people who beat you, your managers?

I try to. Naoko Takahashi, the Japanese runner who broke the world record a week before I broke it, invites me to her half marathon in her village, Gifu, Japan. I even ran it competitively for two years, 2010 and 2011; I won the first one and came second in the next.

Which country made the biggest impression on you?

The US, then Japan. In Europe I did some in London and Italy, also New Zealand and the Netherlands.

Where did you get your financial advice from? Did you have a team?

No, just my family and my manager. My first cheque came in May 1995. My manager wouldn’t bank it in her own account. When I got my third, she said, ‘Catherine, your money is not my money, and I’ll be taxed for it’. ‘What we’re going to do’, she said, ‘is take you to the bank, you open your own account and give me power of attorney, so I can move money for you when you’re travelling’. And that’s how we lived

Are you happy with how you spent your money?

Very happy. I count myself one of the most blessed, because I didn’t misuse my money.

The owners of Nairobi’s 14 Riverside complex, Cape Holdings Limited, want the High Court to determine whether a section of the Banking Act is unconstitutional for allowing interest on court-awarded debts to grow beyond the principal amount and expose borrowers to potentially disproportionate financial claims.

The company and its directors are challenging Section 44A (4) of the Banking Act, which excludes judgment debtors and court decrees from the protection of the in duplum principle. This rule generally limits recoverable interest on a debt to the outstanding principal.

‘The petition does not seek to reopen the merits of the arbitration, set aside the award, reverse the Court of Appeal judgement or invite this court to exercise appellate or supervisory jurisdiction over any superior court,’ the company said.

The petition arises from a long-running commercial dispute between Cape Holdings and a creditor, Synergy Industrial Credit Limited, over an aborted transaction involving a block within the 14 Riverside Drive development in Nairobi.

‘An Act of Parliament that offends the Constitution is unconstitutional,’ the company lawyer said, urging the court to hear the petition on its merits.

Cape Holdings says it is not seeking to reopen the underlying arbitration dispute or overturn previous court decisions. Instead, it wants the High Court to determine whether the continued accumulation and enforcement of interest on the decretal amount violates constitutional protections, including the rights to equality, dignity and property.

The dispute has gained significance because the amount now being claimed has grown substantially beyond the original arbitration award.

According to court documents, an arbitrator awarded Synergy Sh1.666 billion. However, fresh warrants of sale and a notification of sale issued on March 16, 2026 put the amount allegedly due at Sh10.679 billion.

Cape Holdings, through its lawyer, told the court that about Sh9.013 billion of the claimed amount comprises compound interest, accounting for roughly 84 per cent of the total.

The company argues that the interest has therefore overtaken the original award by a significant margin.

A valuation by Knight Frank in October 2025 placed the open-market value of 14 Riverside at Sh7.328 billion, with a forced-sale value of Sh5.496 billion.

The company argues that the claimed debt now exceeds even the property’s open-market value, raising questions over the proportionality of the proposed enforcement.

Cape Holdings said the petition does not challenge Synergy’s status as a decree-holder. Rather, the company wants the court to examine whether the manner in which the decree has been calculated and enforced is constitutionally permissible.

The company said the attempts to enforce the Sh10.679 billion claim against the entirety of 14 Riverside, and potentially against property belonging to the company’s directors and third parties, amount to a disproportionate interference with property rights.

Cape Holdings, through its lawyer, argued that the statutory exclusion raises a constitutional question under Article 27 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality and freedom from discrimination. He urged the court to determine whether the provision can stand where it treats judgment debts differently from other debts protected by the in duplum principle.

Synergy Industrial Credit has opposed the petition and wants it struck out.

Synergy argued that the dispute has been before the courts for about 16 years and that all available appeals have been exhausted.

The company said that the courts, including the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, have already determined the dispute and that Cape Holdings should not be allowed to reopen it through a constitutional petition.

It also argued that Cape Holdings no longer has proprietary rights over the property in question and urged the court to bring the prolonged litigation to an end by striking out the petition with costs.

The court will rule on October 22, 2026, on whether to strike out the petition or proceed to hear the substantive petition.

As a child growing up in Umoja, Nairobi, Maulid Owino found his way into dance through a window.

A church near his home hosted young people who practised dancehall, hip-hop and gospel routines. But because his parents considered the neighbourhood unsafe, the young Maulid was rarely allowed to wander far from home. So he watched.

‘I used to go and peep in the window and see some moves. I didn’t have access to the internet or anything. So that was like my YouTube,’ he says.

He would memorise the movements, rush home and practise secretly in the toilet, bathroom or kitchen.

Two decades later, the 25-year-old contemporary dancer is learning ballet, jazz, contemporary dance and Pilates from professional tutors in the United Arab Emirates after earning a full scholarship to the University of the Arts Sharjah (UAS).

The journey from that church window to an international dance programme has taken six years of professional work, missed opportunities, international festivals, financial uncertainty and persistence.

It has also taken him across Africa and North America, through dance films and multidisciplinary collaborations, and into a profession he is determined to make sustainable.

‘I can say, at any particular point, I don’t know what this journey holds, but I feel like it’s one of those ‘final boss’ journeys,’ he says.

At UAS, Maulid is one of 98 students in his cohort, sharing a campus with dancers from Egypt, Morocco, Spain, Russia, England and other countries. His days run from 8am to 5pm, with intensive physical and technical training.

‘My experience so far has been interesting and beautiful. I received a really warm welcome,’ he says. ‘I’ve had ballet, jazz and contemporary dance classes as well as Pilates by different tutors. There’s so much to learn and we have collaborations. I’m even starting to learn a few Arabic words.’

The programme is also exposing him to choreography, theatre and theory – skills he hopes will prepare him in his career.

Finding his language

For Maulid, dance is more than executing steps to music. As a movement artist, he uses his body to interpret stories, emotions and ideas. A performance can follow a rhythm, a monologue or simply the atmosphere of a space.

‘I can interpret stories. There’s dancing, and there’s also performing movement art. Depending on how a story is influencing my body, I can be off rhythm. I can be dancing to a text or maybe a monologue. And I can dance without music as well.’

Sound itself does not necessarily mean music. Breathing, silence and the ambience of a room can shape movement. He has also taken that philosophy into film, creating dance films in which locations, movement and natural sound become part of the storytelling.

But the confidence to perform did not come easily. At about 10, the shy boy began finding his voice through movement. In primary school, he met another dancer who introduced him to routines he had learnt from other crews. He also practised at church and performed at youth functions.

‘There was a time I was pushed into a crowd and just told to dance. Because I was really shy, I was like, ‘Today I just have to dance. I won’t speak, but now I’ll just dance.’ That’s how it started. Then confidence came.’

His first certificate came through youth competitions at Holy Family Basilica, where his mother was a coordinator for the Missionary Youth Movement.

High school deepened his interest, although not in the way he expected. After Class Eight, he joined a seminary school where such activities were limited. He practised through the Young Catholic Students club and became a familiar performer at school functions.

After Form Four, he briefly considered studying culinary arts. Then, in 2019, dance opened another door.

His twin brother, Mohammed Ayeko, was exploring dance, photography, fashion and modelling. Photographer Alekograph created a short video featuring the twins, which went viral after singer Wahu reposted it. It felt like a sign.

‘I’m finishing high school. I’m going to now get to explore this,’ he remembers thinking.

Learning the craft

Covid-19 soon disrupted his plans to join university. In 2020, while occasionally helping his father with the family business, Maulid turned to YouTube to teach himself ballet and contemporary dance.

‘It was really hard because this is a style where you need someone to teach you.’

He and his brother began shooting dance videos using their mother’s phone and Maulid joined a dance crew.

The physical demands of professional dance quickly became apparent. ‘I wasn’t that fit. I was very slim at that time. When I ran, my knees would knock. So it took a lot of physical work to get to where I am even now.’

But dance was becoming more than technique. ‘For me, it is the expression that comes out and the fulfilment that lives after I’ve just done a project.’

In October 2020, he joined Dance Into Space, a mixed-ability dance company working with able-bodied and differently abled performers.

It was a turning point.

Second chance

In 2025, Maulid attended a residency before being invited to an in-person audition by the Human Expression Dance Company in Singapore, an organisation he had admired for years. He had applied twice before.

With little money and no guarantee of funding, he turned to M-Changa.

‘I decided to open an M-Changa and raised Sh280,000 in two weeks.’

He made it to Singapore, auditioned and participated in a workshop. But only one of nine male dancers was selected. He returned to Kenya disappointed, then a friend he had met through a skills programme told him about UAS, where his work was taught.

He applied, submitted a video of himself performing an assigned choreography and qualified for an online audition.

‘They said I have a strong background in dance, like I had been trained formally.’

Then came the scholarship interview. Annual tuition is about AED55,000, roughly Sh1.94 million, and the programme runs for three years.

After assessing his financial situation, UAS awarded him a 100 per cent scholarship and offered full-board accommodation for his first term.

‘They told me to just come and start, then they will review from there.’ It was a remarkable second chance.

For now, he does not know exactly where those ideas will take him, but he knows he is moving.

Legend Internet Plc continued to strengthen its balance sheet in the twelve months ended July 31, 2026, with total assets rising 29 percent to N4.14 billion from N3.21 billion a year earlier.

The internet service provider disclosed the performance in its unaudited management financial statements for the period, filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).

The expansion reflects continued investment in infrastructure and increased access to financing, although higher costs are weighing on earnings.

The company Legend reported a profit of N13.2 million for the period, down from N142.5 million in the previous year due to infrastructure acquisition costs, administrative expenses and financing-related pressures.

Analysts said Legend Internet’s ability to translate its expanded asset and financing base into stronger revenue growth, while bringing administrative and financing costs under control, has strong potential to restore profitability and improve shareholder returns.

Total assets increased by N929.4 million during the year, driven largely by a significant increase in current assets, which rose to N1.65 billion from N597.8 million. The stronger liquidity position provides the company with additional capacity to support operations and fund near-term growth initiatives.

Despite a decline in revenue, Legend Internet maintained a relatively strong gross profit position. Revenue fell to N1.10 billion from N1.19 billion, while gross profit moderated to N714 million from N761.4 million. This translated to a gross margin of approximately 65 percent, underscoring the resilience of the company’s core operating economics despite softer top-line performance.

The company’s infrastructure base also remained substantial, with property, plant and equipment valued at N2.47 billion at the end of the reporting period. Legend Internet invested an additional N49.6 million in property, plant and equipment during the year, highlighting its continued commitment to expanding and maintaining its network capacity.

Legend recorded a net cash inflow of N1.07 billion from financing activities, following proceeds from loans, term loans and commercial paper, partly offset by loan repayments. The increased financing provides additional resources for expansion, but also raises the importance of effective debt and financing-cost management as the company scales.

For investors, the key question will be whether the company can convert its enlarged asset and financing base into stronger revenue growth and improved earnings. Sustained investment in infrastructure could provide a platform for future expansion, but tighter control of administrative and financing costs will be critical to translating balance-sheet growth into shareholder returns.