Category: Business Daily

Life pends on land, and so does the economy. When land loses productivity, the damage does not stop at the farm gate. It affects food production, livestock, water availability, incomes, supply chains and public finances.

Yet land degradation and desertification are still often discussed simply as environmental concerns, rather than economic risks.

That is the bigger question emerging from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where the 17th session of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) opened on August 17 under the theme ‘Restoring Land. Restoring Hope’.

The two-week summit brings together governments, business, finance, scientists and communities to advance action on land restoration and drought resilience. The second week is particularly important because the Riyadh-Ulaanbaatar Action Agenda is designed to connect political commitments with practical solutions through four thematic days.

On August 24, Finance Day will ask the question that determines if ambitious restoration plans become reality. Focus is on mobilising public and private finance, integrating land into investment decisions and creating opportunities for large-scale restoration.

Restoration cannot depend indefinitely on development aid and government budgets. Healthy landscapes must increasingly be treated as economic infrastructure capable of attracting investment.

August 25 is Water Day, shifting attention to drought as a risk that can be managed rather than a disaster to be mourned. Discussions will examine how healthier soils, vegetation and landscapes can retain water, reduce erosion and strengthen drought resilience.

Then comes Land and People Day on August 26. Here, the conversation must recognise the people who understand these landscapes.

Pastoralists and local communities should not merely be beneficiaries of restoration programmes. Their knowledge, institutions and experience must help shape them.

For Kenya, this is an opportunity to demonstrate that rangelands are productive natural assets.

Finally, August 27 is Food Systems and Soil Health Day. It returns the conversation to its foundation: soil. Food systems cannot be resilient when land is losing its fertility. The day will examine investment, innovation and measurable approaches to improving soil health.

Kenya should approach these discussions as a country with a compelling economic proposition. Investing in restoration can protect agricultural productivity, strengthen livestock systems, secure water, create rural enterprises and reduce the economic shocks associated with drought.

The business case is, therefore, straightforward: restoring land is not an environmental expense. It is an investment in Kenya’s productive capacity.

Restoring land means restoring hope. Because all life depends on land, Kenya’s future depends on getting this right.

The small claims court has ordered a woman to refund her friend Sh995,100 borrowed to secure employment with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

The court also awarded Lucy Tanui Sh67,000 in costs and interest after Sharon Mutai failed to explain why she retained the money even though M-Pesa records proved she received the amount.

The dispute arose from cash transfers made between April and May 2025, when Ms Tanui sent Ms Mutai various amounts totalling Sh995,100. Ms Tanui said the money was to be refunded, but the borrower gave a different account of the transactions.

Ms Mutai told the court that no contract existed between them and that the transfers were repayments of a Sh1.4 million cash loan she had earlier given Ms Tanui in 2024. She said that the sums transferred by the claimant constituted repayments of that earlier advance by instalments.

She also alleged that any arrangement between them involved an attempt to procure or influence employment with the Teachers Service Commission for Ms Tanui’s dependant.

Ms Mutai argued that such an arrangement would have been illegal, void and unenforceable. She, however, did not produce an agreement, communication, payment instructions or other evidence showing that the money transferred by Ms Tanui was connected to securing, purchasing or influencing TSC employment.

The court found no evidence connecting the disputed transfers to a scheme to secure TSC employment.

‘No evidence whatsoever was tendered to support that allegation,’ the adjudicating magistrate said in the judgment on August 7, 2026.

The court said it had not been presented with ‘any agreement, communication, payment instructions or any other material’ showing that the two women had agreed to secure, purchase or improperly influence TSC employment.

The allegation therefore remained unsubstantiated, the magistrate ruled.

Ms Tanui had sued Ms Mutai in June 2026 seeking the refund, general damages for breach of contract, costs and interest.

She produced her M-Pesa statements showing the payments made to Ms Mutai on different dates. The court said the records ‘collectively confirm that a total sum of Sh995,100 was remitted to the respondent.’

Ms Mutai did not dispute receiving the money. Instead, she maintained that the transfers represented instalment repayments for the earlier Sh1.4 million cash advance.

But she produced no written agreement, acknowledgement, receipt or witness to support the alleged cash transaction.

The magistrate said that apart from Ms Mutai’s ‘bare assertions’, no documentary evidence or independent testimony proved that she had advanced Ms Tanui the money.

The court noted that Ms Mutai did not file a counterclaim for the alleged unpaid balance of Sh404,900.

‘If indeed she had advanced Sh1.4 million and had only recovered Sh995,100, one would reasonably expect her to pursue the outstanding balance,’ the court said.

That omission weakened Ms Mutai’s claim that the M-Pesa payments were repayments of an earlier loan, according to the judgment.

The court found that Ms Tanui had established the transfers while Ms Mutai had failed to provide a credible legal basis for retaining the money.

‘The evidential burden having shifted to the respondent, she failed to discharge it,’ the magistrate said.

Webmasters Kenya Limited, the firm behind the eCitizen platform, has been blacklisted from World Bank-funded projects for five years after it listed two individuals as ‘experts’ in a tender bid document for a project in Somalia financed by the multilateral lender.

The ‘experts’, however, later told investigators they had been listed by Webmasters for the job without their knowledge, sparking the debarment from World Bank projects.

The World Bank case against Webmasters Kenya Ltd and its founder and CEO James Ayugi is hinged on how the two unnamed professionals were presented as key personnel for a contract, with the firm confirming their availability during negotiations. The two later denied authorising the use of their CVs or participating in the assignment.

The World Bank’s Sanctions Board therefore found the company and Mr Ayugi liable for fraudulent and obstructive practices, imposing a minimum five-year debarment effective June 8, 2026.

‘The respondents were found liable for fraudulent and obstructive practices. Specifically, the respondents misrepresented the availability of two key experts for a contract under a World Bank Group-financed project,’ said the World Bank in an update posted on its website.

‘The respondents also materially impeded the exercise of the bank’s inspection and audit rights by failing to meaningfully comply with the bank’s documentary requests in the context of an audit.’

The sanctions mean that Webmasters and Mr Ayugi cannot be awarded or benefit from World Bank-financed contracts for at least five years through June 7, 2031. They are also barred from acting as nominated subcontractors or service providers on such contracts, or participating in the preparation or implementation of World Bank-financed projects.

The decision extends the sanctions to affiliates under the direct or indirect control of Mr Ayugi or Webmasters.

The World Bank said it would notify other multilateral development banks participating in its cross-debarment arrangement ‘so that they may determine whether to enforce the declarations of ineligibility with respect to their own operations.’

Webmasters and Mr Ayugi can only be released from the sanction after the minimum period if the company adopts and implements a ‘credible integrity compliance programme’ acceptable to the World Bank.

The case arose from two World Bank-financed projects in Somalia, including the Somalia Capacity Advancement, Livelihoods and Entrepreneurship through Digital Uplift project, under which Webmasters secured a contract for Business Automation Registration – Phase II.

In its proposal, the firm identified two individuals as key experts, attaching their CVs and certifications, stating that they were available for the assignment. Mr Ayugi signed the certifications and later confirmed their availability during contract negotiations.

However, the two experts later told the World Bank that they were unaware they had been designated as key personnel and had not authorised the use of their CVs or participated in the contract.

The Sanctions Board rejected the firm’s explanation that the inaccuracies were unintentional. It found that Mr Ayugi had acted ‘at least recklessly’ by confirming the experts’ availability ‘on an admitted assumption that they would be available.’

The board found that indicating the experts were available directly supported Webmasters’ effort to secure the contract and allowed it to avoid an obligation to actually confirm their availability.

The board argued that the misrepresentation could have helped Webmasters secure the contract and obtain a prospective financial benefit of $98,000 (Sh12.7 million), representing the remuneration allocated to the two experts.

The board, however, did not find evidence that the amount was actually paid to the firm in connection with the two experts and therefore did not apply an additional penalty.

Webmasters and Mr Ayugi denied fraudulent conduct, arguing that they had believed in good faith that the experts were available and willing to participate. They described the inaccurate statements as ‘administrative’, ‘inadvertent’ and immaterial to the evaluation outcome and denied any intention to mislead the project authorities to obtain an improper advantage.

The respondents also contested the obstruction finding, saying they had provided all records in their possession and that any gaps resulted from ‘ordinary record-keeping limitations associated with a start-up enterprise.’

It noted that Webmasters had operated for more than 10 years, completed hundreds of projects in more than 10 countries, and employed about 100 permanent staff. It also noted that the firm had secured three contracts under the two World Bank-financed projects worth a combined $959,711 (Sh124.2 million).

The audit began in November 2022 when the World Bank requested a range of records relating to the contracts. After 10 reminders, some documents were eventually submitted, but accounting records, invoices and other material remained outstanding. Further follow-up emails went unanswered.

The board concluded that the failure to ‘meaningfully’ comply with the documentary requests materially impeded the World Bank’s inspection and audit rights.

The sanctions come as Webmasters Kenya’s role in eCitizen has attracted public attention over the ownership and operation of the digital platform, which has become a key channel for accessing government services.

Webmasters Kenya developed and owns the core engine behind the eCitizen portal, which is the government’s main digital services platform through which citizens and businesses access a range of public services at a fee.

The company, founded and led by Mr Ayugi, operates within a private vendor consortium that provides technical maintenance, single sign-on architecture, and aggregation services for eCitizen.

When most people her age are winding down, swapping gym shoes for walking shoes and easing into quiet evenings, Ruth Ngei is stacking plates on the barbell. She calls it her game of numbers, and somehow the numbers keep bending her way. From South Africa to Nairobi, she has lifted past expectations, past records, and past the myths about what a woman in her fifties should look like or do.

At 55, Ruth is now preparing for the Static Monsters finals, a strongman competition set for next month. In February this year, she travelled to South Africa for the qualifiers. She placed first in her age category, first in Africa, first among all the ladies competing. It is the kind of result that could make anyone rest on their laurels, but Ruth is not built that way.

‘So far, what I’ve done here in the gym is the deadlift; we call it the elephant bar. In the elephant bar, you do it from the knees. It doesn’t come from the ground. I’m hoping to lift 290kg because I did 280kg in the gym,’ she said, speaking with the calm precision of someone who has already run the numbers in her head many times over.

On regular training days, she eats three meals. On rest days, she drops to two, careful not to store carbohydrates as fat when her body is not burning through them. Water, though, never changes. Three litres a day, without excuses.

‘There’s no question, I have to finish the three litres,’ she said firmly.

To understand how Ruth arrived here, at 55, chasing world records, it goes back to a woman who was simply trying to lose weight. She had tried brisk walking and changed her diet, but her weight plateaued. Someone suggested the gym, thinking the shock of resistance training might shake her metabolism loose. In 2019, just days before she turned 49, she walked through the doors for the first time.

‘I had no idea what Strongman was. I also had no idea what powerlifting was. I just saw those games and I never really paid any attention,’ she said.

She started small, with dumbbells as light as one kilogramme, moving up to five, then seven and a half. Something odd began to happen. Weight that felt punishing one week would feel almost easy weeks later.

That same year, she joined Strongman and competed for the first time, earning the title of Kenya’s Strongest Woman in her category, a result that surprised even her. Before she had properly begun, her numbers already stood at around 100 kilogrammes in one lift, and somewhere between 80 and 120 kilogrammes in her squat, the movement she says she grew into the fastest.

Her first Strongman competition, in 2022, tested more than raw strength. She did squats with 120 kilogrammes. In the deadlift, she completed 13 reps at 100 kilogrammes. In the farmer’s carry, she held 60 kilogrammes in each hand, a combined 120 kilogrammes, but only made it one direction across the floor before her arms gave out on the return.

‘Sack carry: we had a 40, 50 and 60 kg sack. So I managed to pick and place the 40 and 50, but then the 60; I carried it, but I was unable to place it because you have to place it on top of a barrel. And then we had a spear hold. The spear hold was 15kg. I also did well in that one. So in that event I managed to come fifth. Once you know the technique, everything else just becomes easy. That’s what I came to learn later on and started polishing the technique,’ she said.

Life then pulled her away from training entirely. A family member needed surgery, and afterwards, care. For two years, spanning ages 50 and 51, the barbell waited while Ruth tended to someone else’s recovery. She returned at 52, this time with a coach, Gabriel Wanyama, and a sharper focus on form.

‘My coach really pushed me into learning techniques for how to bench press and all that. I think that day I managed to bench press 70kg. That was my first competition. Then there was a squat. I think I did 145. Then the deadlift; it was 175. That was my first powerlifting game, first ever. For powerlifting, the same year, December 2022, my category 50, I’ve been the strongest since, even in strongman,’ she said.

That same December brought a strongman event with a twist. Ruth had placed second in nearly every individual event, only for a surprise challenge, throwing a 70-kilogramme sack over a two-metre height, to cost her the placing.

‘I lifted the sack, but I didn’t know how to flip it over. So I didn’t have that technique at all,’ she said, still visibly frustrated by a skill she simply had not learned yet.

The setbacks kept teaching her. Last November, weak cardio in a competition heavy on running dropped her to fifth place. She went back to the drawing board, worked on her stamina, and by the following month, at Mr 001, she placed second, faster and stronger than before.

Injury has tested her resolve too. In a competition in July 2026, she tore her vastus lateralis muscle while rising from a squat. The tear measured just 0.46 millimetres, small on paper but painful in practice. Rather than sit still, she kept her body moving with short walks, trusting that blood flow, not rest alone, would rebuild the muscle.

‘You just cannot sit at home and say, I need to heal. The next day I was still doing short walks so that the blood flow can help rebuild that tear,’ she said, matter-of-fact, as though pain were simply another variable to manage.

What keeps surprising her most is her own body’s refusal to slow down. At 96.7 kilogrammes, she carries more muscle now than she did when she started, a fact she finds almost funny given what she has heard about ageing.

‘They tell us scientifically that once you get to 40, you don’t grow muscle; you get weaker. I have built more muscle now than before,’ she said, and there is a note of quiet defiance in it, a woman rewriting an assumption with her own body as proof.

She has let go of old ideas about what a fit woman should look like, the flat stomach, the small frame, and replaced them with numbers she can measure and beat.

‘Just being the Kenyan champion makes no sense. Because if you look at the numbers out there, they just released the world record for the log press. And the log press world record, which was set in 2020, is 55kg. Nobody has ever broken it. My starting weight in South Africa was 65kg. So that was already a world record. And up to 80, I was even saying that all my openers were world records. And then the world record for the deadlift was 210. So I’m hoping to break those records,’ she said.

Ruth trains four times a week, and when asked what keeps her coming back after everything-the injuries, the near misses, the two-year break-she says, ‘I focus on what I have done, and how I am going to improve what I have done. What mistake did I make? How will I improve on that?’

She believes the torn muscle could have been avoided with better physiotherapy before the competition, and she carries that lesson into every new cycle of training.

From the Mt Ololokwe summit, the vast Samburu landscape stretches into the horizon, its rugged plains and distant hills offering the kind of scenery that draws tourists for sunrise and sunset splendour.

On Wednesday morning, six tourists climbed into a helicopter to experience that view. They were filming and taking photographs when their holiday turned into a tragedy.

The helicopter had barely completed its third sweep over the summit when the tourists began capturing what would become their final images of the spectacular mountain . Moments later, the helicopter crashed down the rocky face, killing all seven people on board, including the pilot. The six tourists had been flown from Suiyan in Loisaba Conservancy, Laikipia County.

The World Bank has cautioned commercial banks in Kenya on the growing sovereign debt risk due to heavy investments in government securities, which have risen by about Sh150 billion in the last six months.

Sovereign debt is borrowing by a national government, usually through bonds, bills, or loans, to fund public investment and support the economy. Sovereign debt could carry the risk that a government may default on its financial obligations, like bonds, or impose regulations that negatively affect foreign exchange agreements.

The multilateral lender says the exposure of banks in Kenya to government securities remains high, with the lenders holding approximately Sh2.2 trillion in government securities, which is equivalent to about 35 percent of domestic debt and about 27 percent of total banking sector assets.

‘Kenya’s banking sector remains broadly stable, supported by strong liquidity and capital buffers. However, asset quality remains a key vulnerability, and the gross non-performing loan to gross loans ratio reached 15.6 percent in March 2026,’ the bank says in its latest economic update report for Kenya.

‘Exposure to government securities remains elevated, with commercial banks holding approximately Sh2.2 trillion in government securities, equivalent to roughly 35 percent of domestic debt and about 27 percent of total banking sector assets.’

Central bank data shows that investment by banks in government securities has increased by about Sh150 billion from Sh2.41 trillion in the week ending January 23, 2026 to Sh2.56 trillion in the week ending August 7, 2026.

Rating agency Fitch said last year Kenya’s banking sector’s performance would remain tempered by significant sovereign exposure via investments in securities.

Banks are usually significant holders and traders of local debt, which covers proceeds raised from Treasury Bills and Bonds auctions.

The Kenya Bankers Association, the banking industry’s lobby, says banks hold about 30 percent of their assets in government securities as part of diversifying their portfolios over time.

‘We are not worried at all since there is confidence in the Government’s efforts to ensure public debt sustainability,’ said Raimond Molenje, the association’s chief executive.

‘Any decision to adjust investments in Government securities is made at a bank level based on each bank’s risk appetite and adopted asset structure.’

Data from the National Treasury shows that total public debt increased to Sh13.01 trillion as at the end of June 2026, representing 68.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) from Sh11.81 trillion (67.8 percent) as at the end of June 2025.

Of the Sh13.01 trillion debt, domestic and external debts amounted to Sh7.32 trillion (38.6 percent of GDP), and external debt stock was Sh5.68 trillion (29.9 percent of GDP), respectively.

The 2025 Debt Sustainability Analysis undertaken jointly by the National Treasury indicates that Kenya’s public debt remains sustainable but with high risk of debt distress.

Treasury, however, says the country’s external liquidity has strengthened, reflected in higher foreign exchange reserves, a narrower current account deficit, and a more stable exchange rate.

‘These developments have eased balance of payments pressures. The recent Eurobond liability management operations have contributed to smoother debt amortization and supported private sector credit growth, against the backdrop of improving macroeconomic and civil stability,’ it says.

‘These measures have helped to position the country more favourably to international lenders and investors.’

Kenya remains active in the debt market amid shortfalls in revenue collection. For instance, a debt plan by the National Treasury for 2026 shows that Kenya expects funding from three World Bank support schemes, including: Sh94.2 billion from the Development Policy Operations (DPO), Sh52 billion from the Rapid Response Option (RRO), and Sh5 billion from the programme-for-results (PforR) window.

The DPO scheme provides vital budget support tied to institutional and policy reforms. It helps to ease heavy public debt pressures and fiscal deficits by funding governance, accountability, and social protection.

The RRO is a fast-disbursing mechanism which allows enrolled countries to immediately use up to 10percent of their undisbursed project financing balances to address emergency economic shocks such as disruptions caused by surging fuel and fertiliser prices.

PforR financing focuses on fund disbursement directly to the delivery of specific, verifiable programme results. It helps countries improve public sector performance, build institutional capacity, and enhance transparency by releasing money only when agreed-upon milestones are met.

Gordon Otieno Odundo says the runway is getting shorter. He has more sunsets than he has sunrises. The game is in injury time, so he is cashing some cheques.

‘Retirement isn’t about stopping; it’s about moving on to something different,’ he says. ‘Besides, people die a few years after retiring not because they’re broke, but because they have nothing to do.’

At 36, with no university degree, he applied for a chief operating officer job. He got it. His pay was doubled. His hours were cut short.

‘I had a level of ‘madness’ or insanity when I was young. I was fearless,’ he says. Odundo later got a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management and an MBA, both from the United States International University; a Postgraduate Certificate in Hospital Management from Leeds University, UK; and a Diploma in Hotel Management from Utalii College were the magic potions needed to turn him into an expert straddling the corridors of a hospital.

By the time he left his CEO position at Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital to head Nairobi Hospital, he was blooming, a man at the height of his powers. Then he was sacked.

‘I had what was essentially a dream job, and I lost it,’ he says. ‘It has been a test of resilience and the unknown. And I realised through that process that I needed more than just seeing my life through my work and family.’

What can you tell us about yourself that can help us understand you better?

I’ve worked in the health sector for over 25 years. There is a common assumption that I must be a medical doctor. But my actual training was in hotel management. I trained for four years and worked in the hotel industry for 11 years before transitioning into healthcare.

People often find it hard to relate those two fields, but I see them as two extremes of looking after people. While hotels focus on voluntary leisure, hospitals focus on ‘repairing’ people and bringing them back to good health.

Why the shift from hotels to hospitals?

Hospitality and hospitals, right? In private healthcare, high-end hospitals are often branded as offering ‘hotel services.’ Patients look at the beds, food, accommodation, and human-focused customer service.

My transition was a career change sparked by a feedback session with a consultant during a staff training programme. He told me that if I ever wanted to leave the hotel industry, I would succeed outside of it. In the mid-90s, I felt my career was stagnating under an expatriate manager, so I looked for new opportunities.

I saw an advertisement for a chief operating officer at a hospital. The description fit me perfectly, but I didn’t meet two key criteria: they wanted someone with an MBA who was at least 40 years old.

At the time, I was 36 and didn’t even have a university degree [chuckles]. However, I applied anyway, got shortlisted, and got the job. It came with double the pay and fewer hours-moving from 18-hour days in hospitality to an eight-to-five job. I used that extra time to go to night school at USIU to earn my undergraduate degree and my MBA.

What did they see in you that made them know you are their guy?

The organisation wanted to transition to a more strategic management style. Hospitals often struggle with ‘headache jobs’ like repairs, maintenance, the kitchen, laundry, and housekeeping because they are so clinically oriented.

As a hospitality-trained manager, I knew how to make those services seamless. I was appointed Deputy CEO and COO with a mandate to run the organisation’s day-to-day operations.

Have you always been that courageous, applying for jobs when you didn’t meet the criteria?

Looking back, I think I had a level of ‘madness’ or insanity when I was young. I was fearless. When I told my late father, a career civil servant who valued job security, that I was leaving hospitality for a smaller, less prestigious healthcare organisation, he was concerned. My dad had been a civil servant engineer who worked for the government all his life, so job security was important.

I told him not to worry and that I would make my own security [chuckles]. My first assignment there, even before finishing my probation, was to restructure the organisation, which involved sending about 50 percent of staff home. I had to lead that change humanely and legally. You’ve got to take those leaps of faith, and maybe that has defined my character.

Did you want to be more like your dad or forge your own path?

I had a rebellious streak. I worked in government ministries during school breaks before my A-level, but I swore I would never work there permanently. I found it inefficient; people would leave their coats on their chairs to look like they were at their desks while they were actually away for hours [chuckles].

I once found a desk full of files that needed to be processed, and this guy who used to sit there would only process one or two files a day. I cleared the whole heap, and I didn’t have work for three months [chuckles]. I also disliked how government pay scales weren’t aligned with effort or responsibility.

I wanted to work somewhere where I could be rewarded for my performance, because the more senior you became, and with inflation, you became more broke. I told myself, I refuse to be broke.

How much of your career was planned and not happenstance?

I changed jobs quite a bit, but it’s only that I used to get promotions every year. In my first job, I worked there for four years. I’d joined as a trainee assistant manager.

Then they said no you’re going to be a departmental head and after some time they changed my title to give me more responsibilities because they could see the way I was working and that I could do more.

And then I was approached by another organisation where I went to work as a senior, but I didn’t stay long because I was getting married, and I needed to relocate to Nairobi for almost a similar role in a new hotel. I had a lot of upward mobility in my life.

What was your mom like?

My mom was a nurse. My parents would allow you to do what you wanted.

As a hospitality man in a hospital, did you ever worry that, especially because you were working as a non-doctor leading doctors, you had to prove yourself?

I was very lucky. I was working with a British CEO, and he said, ‘Look, I’ve arranged for you to go for training.’ So I went to Leeds University to study hospital management.

One of the first things they emphasised was: ‘In hospital management, learn not to do the doctor’s work. You’re there to be the head of the institution.’

If you remember that and keep learning about the details and depth of what healthcare professionals go through, you don’t feel the need to earn their respect by trying to become an expert in obstetrics, paediatrics, or whatever. They spend many years learning those things.

Your job is to appreciate their expertise and help them work better in that environment.

KWE Business Advisory Services Consultant Gordon Otieno Odundo during the interview at Nairobi Garage on August 12, 2026.

Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group

Which decade of your life tested you the most?

This current decade has been the hardest. I had what was essentially a dream job, and I lost it. I haven’t been formally employed for eight years now. It has been a test of resilience and the unknown.

What does that do to a man?

Especially considering they say leadership is lonely. Then being a man is lonely. Who were you leaning on at that time? Family. Your biggest support system is your immediate family. Your spouse, if you have a supportive spouse. Your children. My parents died quite a long time ago.

Then you have your community and friends. Those are the people who can actually be your support system.

I’d gone through mentorship some years back, and one of the things I used to be asked was to talk about myself.

They would say, ‘Gordon, tell us about Gordon.’

And I realised through that process that I needed more than just seeing my life through my work and family. You need to build other factors, and one of them is growing your social network. I deliberately joined two separate men’s groups. One is a church group where men meet every Tuesday. We have tea, cake, and fellowship, and we share. I’m sure we pray for each other.

Another is a men’s investment club. We’re now 10 men. We put our money together, but we also meet socially, do community social responsibility, and celebrate our birthdays, which I discovered the other day that another guy had never had a birthday celebration growing up. [chuckles]

If you’re in those kinds of groups, and you’re also involved in church leadership, you have a bigger community. You don’t get to be that alone, even when you’re fighting those battles intrinsically.

How did losing that dream job affect your identity?

I practiced humility long before that happened. For example, I never had a reserved parking spot as a leader.

I just went to work early. I also made a point of being the one to greet staff, from the receptionists to the guards. In many organisations in Kenya , the leader is given a lot more prominence and sometimes even becomes bigger than the brand, what you call celebrity CEOs.

I never wanted to be a ‘celebrity CEO.’ When the story about my exit broke, journalists couldn’t even find a photo of me in their archives because I was never the face of the brand. I always knew that privileges are temporary and given by grace.

How do you maintain your ‘face’ as a provider and father during tough times?

No. I think it’s not really about putting on a false face. It starts with honesty. You should call them and tell them, ‘This is what your dad is going through. Don’t be surprised. You see it all over the media. But you know your dad better than anybody else. Whatever is out there isn’t necessarily who he is.’

Most importantly, it’s about always having enough ‘shock absorbers,’ developing assets early so that your lifestyle doesn’t collapse if you lose your job. There will, of course, be adjustments that have to be made. Man must be stoic about it.

You run away from the weaknesses of man. I stay stoic by maintaining a routine: waking up at 6:30am to exercise and staying productive with charitable boards and advisory roles who despite what I went through, retained me on their boards.

What are you learning about yourself presently?

I’m becoming less patient because I feel like time is running out, but I’m also more tolerant and better at choosing which fights to pick. Sometimes you do nothing, and the thing is resolved by itself. I don’t like living in the past; I don’t even listen to ‘old school’ music because it feels like dwelling on childhood romances.

Young people should be excited. If you are 35 and God will give you 70 years, how are you going to play this second half?

I am heading toward my touchline; the game is almost over. People spend too much time thinking about the past, and they don’t think about the future that’s ahead of them.

Any regrets?

My only regret might be focusing too much on work performance at the expense of building deeper social networks.

Many relationships in the professional world are transactional or ‘fair weather.’ You can be surrounded by people but still be lonely. Now, I try to be purposeful about meeting people for coffee just to chat, without asking for anything. That’s very hard. I’ve got to learn that whatever will happen will happen. Maybe one day he’ll be in a room somewhere and say something nice about me [chuckles].

Have you made the most of your life?

No, because in a world where people compare themselves with each other, I’d say there are certain projects I’ve held close to my heart that I’ve never completed. I always dreamt of retiring to the lakeside, eating fresh fish daily, and playing golf. But I worry about the loneliness of relocating. Retirement isn’t about stopping; it’s about moving on to something different.

Besides, people die a few years after retiring not because they’re broke, but because they have nothing to do. And to me, failure would be achieving things only for the glory of man or defining myself solely by material wealth rather than the change I’ve made in society through education, health, climate change, et al. You’ve got to have a cause bigger than yourself.

If you were offered a CEO job today, would you take it?

I think I would lose more than I would gain. I would be constricted back into the ‘rat race.’ What’s Gordon doing for Gordon? The runway is shorter, and I need to use it better. Sometimes I think about it and think, ‘It would be nice’ [chuckles]. But at this point, I prioritise what is good for me and my wellness.

Kenya’s energy sector story in 2026 is one of growth, transition and ambition. From the wind farms of Turkana to the geothermal wells of Olkaria, from LPG in our kitchens to fuel at the pump, one institution sits at the centre of it all: the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra).

While headlines often focus on tariffs, fuel prices and blackouts, the real driver of progress is less visible – a strong legal and regulatory framework backed by consistent regulatory practice. Good regulation is the difference between a sector that functions efficiently and one plagued by uncertainty.

The Energy Act, 2019 and the Petroleum Act, 2019 gave Epra a clear mandate to regulate, licence and protect consumers without operating energy companies. This separation of policy, regulation and operations has created confidence among investors in independent power producers, public-private partnerships and LPG infrastructure.

Clear licensing timelines, transparent tariff methodologies and dispute resolution mechanisms have helped attract billions of shillings in private investment into solar, wind and gas projects. Without regulatory certainty, Kenya’s ambition of universal energy access would remain difficult to achieve.

Every month, Kenyans closely watch changes in fuel and electricity prices. Epra’s formula-based fuel pricing reviews and periodic electricity tariff reviews have made pricing more transparent by publicly accounting for factors such as global fuel costs, inflation and exchange rates.

The framework seeks to balance consumer protection with the financial sustainability of utilities responsible for delivering power and fuel.

Epra also plays a critical role in safety and consumer protection. From ensuring fuel pumps are accurately calibrated to enforcing LPG cylinder standards, its oversight helps protect lives and livelihoods.

Kenya is also a global leader in renewable electricity generation, with more than 90 percent of its electricity coming from renewable sources.

The sector is evolving rapidly, bringing new regulatory challenges in electric mobility, battery storage, green hydrogen and cross-border electricity trade. Meeting these opportunities will require greater data transparency, faster digital licensing and continued public participation.

The hardest job of a regulator is balancing affordable prices with a financially viable energy sector. A strong regulator does not slow development – it creates the certainty that powers it.

Kevin Bellwood has spent much of his life behind a microphone, on a stage or working with people who want to be on one.

From his early days as a radio presenter in the UK and his 26-year journey through pageantry to his current work building media platforms, podcasts and talent across East Africa as group programme director and media talent director at Play It Loud, Bellwood has made entertainment his career.

Now, he is the national director of Miss Universe Kenya through the pageant’s new license-owner Crown Culture Africa.

Behind the scenes, Bellwood admits the first year at Miss Universe Kenya may not be profitable. They are investing heavily in rebuilding the brand after years of stop-start management and controversy surrounding the Kenyan franchise.

He says the competition is a serious investment as the winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000 (Sh1.3million), a car, a Nairobi apartment for a year and additional sponsorship deals.

‘In the past you’ve had girls fund their own tickets, their own wardrobe, their own food,’ he says.

But behind the glamour and business of showbiz is a more personal story: a childhood spent watching pageants with his mother, a father who taught him discipline and respect through karate, and a humanitarian commitment to children that grew from his years in South Sudan. Unable to have children of his own, Bellwood has instead become a father figure to dozens of children through his charity work – including about 40 who now call him ‘Dad’.

You’ve been involved in pageantry for about 26 years. What first drew you to it?

My mum and I used to watch Miss World on TV.

It was a calendar event. Every first week in December, on a Thursday or at the weekend, it was Miss World. I absolutely loved it. I guess that probably started the process in my head, but it was a few years later, when I was a radio presenter, that I got involved with it. I was asked to judge a pageant in the UK and I loved it.

I started working with the girls, teaching them speech and building their advocacy. For the past three years, I’ve worked with the Miss Uganda girls who go to Miss World, working on their advocacy, speech content and delivery.

What is it about pageantry that has kept you interested for so long?

I’ve always loved pageantry – the glamour of it, the showbiz. I think there are people who run terrible stage pageants in terms of the event. When you go to the event, it’s on for about 12 hours, and you think, ‘Come on, man, we could have got this finished in two and a half hours!’

For me, putting on a great show, I just want to make it good.

You mentioned your father was also involved in karate. What was your relationship with him like?

My dad was 92 when he died. And he was still doing karate at 92, and teaching it.

I got the karate bug from. It keeps you incredibly fit and young as well. I’m a third-dan (or sandan, meaning third-degree black belt) teacher, and I’ve done karate since I was 13.

You don’t have children of your own. Has that shaped the humanitarian work you’ve done with children?

I don’t have children. I’m in a relationship, but I can’t have kids… a bit of an exclusive for you.

But I’m the chairman of a children’s charity in the UK called Confident Children Out of Conflict. I lived in South Sudan for a few years and I started helping and volunteering at an orphanage.

When I left South Sudan, I thought, ‘I can’t leave these kids. I need to do something.’

So I set up a charity in the UK when I went back called Confident Children Out of Conflict UK, and we raised money for street children in South Sudan and also now in Uganda.

Some of the girls who were at the centre were getting to that particular age where uncles would come and knock on the door and say, ‘This is my brother’s daughter. We need to get her married.’ So some of the girls were moved to Uganda and we, obviously with the permission of either the mother or the father, whoever was alive, educated them.

We educated 140 girls and about five or six boys in Uganda, who were predominantly all South Sudanese. And in South Sudan, we educated about a 1,000. We’ve had some really, really good success stories, which we’re really pleased with.

We sent one girl to Canada, she’s now an emergency nurse. We’ve got a girl studying business at Makerere University. There’s another couple of girls who are about to go to university in Dubai.

So, although you don’t have children of your own, you’ve ended up becoming a father figure to many?

I may not have children, but actually I have 40 who always call me and say, ‘Dad, I want this,’ or ‘Dad, I want that.’

What do you make of the world becoming increasingly intolerant of immigrants and people who are seen as different?

I’m glad I live in East Africa. The people in East Africa are lovely. I’ve never, ever, as a white guy, suffered any racism or had people saying, ‘You shouldn’t be in our country.’ Never. You get it in Europe, and it’s terrible.

I think the world has turned to the wrong people, which is really sad.

What’s the most you’ve ever splurged on – something you spent a lot of money on and later thought, ‘Did I really need to spend that much?’

You can’t live on regrets. The only regrets that I ever have are not being there when my mum and my dad died. I was telling somebody a story that I invested a lot of money in retail in the UK, and we were there for 10 years.

The retail business folded after 10 years because of various things – Brexit in the UK, Covid, there was a general election which seemed to go on forever, and people lost confidence in spending.

Someone would regret investing money in something that didn’t work. It worked for a few years, but it didn’t really work. I don’t own a house. I don’t own a car. I get around with cabs.

Who’s your favourite author, or what’s your favourite book?

I’m reading a book which you’ve probably read, The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett. If I had to pick one that would be my current favourite. It’s an easy book just to go into and come out of.

The average retail price of sugar in Kenya rose for a fourth consecutive month in July 2026, defying expectations of a drop because production of the commodity rose by more than a third in the first half of the year.

Domestic sugar output rose 35.2 percent to 437,852 tonnes between January and June, the highest first-half production according to data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

Cane deliveries increased even faster, climbing 36.2 percent to 4.93 million tonnes, pointing to a recovery in raw material supplies to sugar factories after a steep slump last year.

However, average retail sugar prices have been rising since April, increasing from Sh164.35 per kilogramme that month to Sh167.41 in July, according to data collated by KNBS.

The price reversal raises questions about the government’s efforts to revive the sugar industry, improve efficiency and eventually make sugar more affordable through greater competition and private investment.

Average retail prices had fallen steadily from Sh186.78 per kilogramme in July 2025 to Sh166.56 in February this year, before reaching a low of Sh164.35 in April.

They subsequently rose 0.8 percent in May, 0.58 percent in June and another 0.47 percent in July, suggesting that the decline in prices had stalled.

The increase, although marginal, came despite sugar output rising above the previous first-half peak of 410,536 tonnes recorded in 2022, indicating that higher domestic production alone has yet to deliver sustained consumer price relief.

The development also raises questions about whether increased cane availability and the leasing of State-owned mills are translating into lower production costs and stronger competition across the sugar market.

President William Ruto’s administration leased Nzoia, Chemelil, Sony and Muhoroni sugar factories to private investors in May 2025 under 30-year agreements intended to inject capital, modernise equipment and improve management.

The government argued that private operators would improve efficiency, reduce costs and strengthen the competitiveness of the mills, which have historically depended heavily on State support.

However, a joint November 2025 report by the World Bank Group and Competition Authority of Kenya found that domestic sugar was significantly more expensive to produce than imported alternatives.

The gap, the report said, has widened over the years, raising concerns about whether reforms in the industry will translate into lower prices for households.

The report, titled From Barriers to Bridges, warned that leasing the State-owned mills could fail to deliver genuine market discipline unless competition concerns surrounding the leasing process and the wider sugar market are addressed.

‘The GOK has sought to increase private investment and market discipline through the leasing of state-owned mills, although competition concerns remain,’ the report said.

It also blamed years of government financial support for distorting competition, arguing that debt write-offs and direct grants shielded inefficient State-owned factories from market forces while restricting the expansion of more efficient private operators.

The Ruto administration wrote off Sh117 billion owed by State-owned sugar factories in 2023, including loans from the Sugar Development Fund as well as accumulated taxes and penalties.

A further Sh62 billion debt was written off in 2020 under the administration of President Uhuru Kenyatta, according to the World Bank-CAK report.

The study found that Kenya’s ex-factory sugar prices rose by more than 40 percent annually in both 2022 and 2023, outpacing increases in cane prices and diverging from global trends.

The Agriculture Ministry has recently tightened protection for local producers through taxation and import controls.

The Finance Act 2026 in July raised excise duty on imported sugar to Sh40 per kilogramme from Sh7.50.

In August, the Kenya Sugar Directorate halted issuance of new sugar import licences, with Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe saying domestic production was now sufficient to meet demand.

‘I have asked the Kenya Sugar Board to stop sugar imports,’ Mr Kagwe said, arguing that imports should not disrupt the local market or undermine the domestic industry.

The policy shift places greater pressure on the leased mills to demonstrate that increased production can eventually translate into lower costs, stronger competition and better prices for consumers.

‘Henceforth, I do not want any licence issued for sugar imports. We are going to ensure we do not mess up the internal market because of imports. We are not going to import sugar at the risk of the local industry,’ Mr Kagwe said on August 6.

This came after the government earlier in the year moved to expose the industry to greater regional competition after exiting the Comesa sugar import safeguard regime in January, ending 24 years of protection against cheaper regional supplies.

The safeguards, introduced in 2001, allowed traders to import up to 350,000 tonnes of sugar annually from Comesa to bridge domestic deficits while protecting local millers from lower-cost competition.