Category: Business Daily

Local firms have increased their holdings in Co-operative Bank of Kenya by 98.97 million shares currently valued at Sh3.75 billion since the start of 2025 as individual investors made profit-taking trades amid a rally in the stock.

Shareholding disclosures show that local firms, including Saccos held 4.88 billion Co-op Bank shares in July this year, up from 4.78 billion at the end of December 2024.

This has lifted their stake from 81.53 percent to 83.21 percent currently valued at Sh184.78 billion.

Over the same period, local individuals reduced their holdings by 95.48 million shares to 966.29 million from 1.061 billion, cutting their stake to 16.42 percent from 18.1 percent.

Co-op Bank has a unique ownership structure in which saccos collectively control a 64.56 percent stake of 3.787 billion shares through Co-opholdings Co-operative Society Limited, an investment vehicle of the co-operative movement.

The remaining 35.44 percent comprises shares that are freely traded on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

The latest shift in the lender’s shareholding comes against a period of renewed investor interest in large listed companies as earnings, dividends and expectations of improved economic conditions influence trading on the NSE.

Co-op Bank had maintained a dividend of Sh1.50 per share between 2022 and 2024 but raised the distribution by 66.7 percent to Sh2.50 in 2025 amid increasing profitability. The move contributed to the rise in share price, giving individuals room to exit profitably as firms taking a longer-term view piled into the stock.

The bank’s shares closed on Thursday at Sh37.85, up from Sh23.91 at the end of 2025 and Sh16.91 on December 30, 2024. This means the stock had gained 58.3 percent between the end of last year and now, while its value had more than doubled since the start of 2025.

The movement in share price amid increasing dominance of local corporate investors in the lender’s shareholder base has come at a time when the stock has emerged as one of the stronger performers on the NSE. Year-to-date, I and M leads among banks with 83 percent gain, followed by DTB (66 percent).

The NSE has this year gained 41 percent or Sh1.209 trillion, taking the market capitalization to Sh4.154 trillion, pointing to the rally among stocks in diverse sectors including banking, insurance, telecommunications, manufacturing and agriculture.

The rally in Co-op Bank shares has been supported by growing demand for the shares with the lender’s disclosures pointing to increased buying interest from local firms.

The bank’s shareholder distribution data shows the number of investors holding more than one million shares fell by 18 to 192, even as this group increased its collective stake by 24.47 million shares, pointing to greater concentration of Co-op Bank stock among the largest shareholders.

The number of shareholders holding between 5,001 and one million shares dropped by 441 to 45,844, while their combined holdings fell by 29.25 million shares.

However, Co-op Bank attracted 9,931 new shareholders with holdings of between one and 500 shares, who added 1.08 million shares to the register. The number of investors holding between 501 and 5,000 shares also increased by 2,426, adding 3.7 million shares. The increase in institutional ownership has been accompanied by growth in the number of local companies holding the stock.

The number of local companies with investment in Co-op Bank rose to 3,225 in July from 3,007 at the end of 2024, marking an increase of 218 investors. Over the same period, the number of local individual investors increased to 111,371 from 98,588 amid a decline in their aggregate holdings.

The fall in aggregate shares held by local individuals amid a rise in their number suggests that existing investors were reducing their stakes amid new retail shareholders joining but purchasing fewer shares.

Foreign investors have also reduced their exposure to the lender, with their holding falling by 4.28 million shares to 11.83 million. Foreign individuals cut theirs by 285,306 to 3.51 million units. Co-op Bank posted a 28 percent growth in net profit to Sh18.02 billion in the first half of the year ended June 2026, driven by increased interest and non-interest income.

The half-year performance builds on 2025’s when the lender’s full-year net earnings grew to Sh29.75 billion from Sh25.45 billion.

Co-op Bank has enjoyed growth over the years by doubling down on its local expansion unlike its peers like KCB and Equity, which have depended on regional expansion for growth.

Market research firm Statista and Forbes recently ranked Co-op Bank, KCB Group, Equity Group and Stanbic Holdings among the world’s 500 top-performing banks based on four main measures including profitability, growth and earnings quality, capital and funding resilience and asset quality and efficiency.

The lender was established in 1968 and converted into a full-fledged commercial bank in 1994, opening doors to other customers beyond co-operatives. The lender listed on the NSE in 2008.

On September 2, 2026, President William Ruto directed state authorities to shut down small businesses and retail shops operated by foreign nationals, explicitly setting a September 7 deadline for enforcement.

While addressing the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises at State House in Nairobi, the President declared that hawking and small scale retail must be strictly reserved for Kenyan citizens.

Notably, the directive is issued at a crucial time where the administration welcomes foreign capital and industrial endeavours that create local employment; while insisting that foreign nationals should not compete with citizens at the micro-level.

To institutionalise this protectionist vision, the Executive instructed parliamentary leadership and the Ministry of Trade to accelerate the passage of the proposed Local Content Bill, 2025.

One can say that these measures respond to genuine domestic socio-economic anxieties – insulating local vendors and curbing high unemployment. However, they illuminate a fundamental tension within African economic governance: the friction between national economic sovereignty and regional integration mandates.

As Africa endeavours to build harmonised economic spaces through regional frameworks, most notably the East African Community (EAC) Common Market Protocol and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Kenya’s protectionist turn threatens to introduce new non-tariff barriers (NTBs). This nationalistic trajectory risks retaliatory trade measures from neighbouring states and, ultimately, eroding the rule-based foundation necessary for sustainable regional growth.

The operationalisation of Kenya’s new policy manifests through a dual-track framework that combines on-the-street enforcement with statutory reform in Parliament.

At the administrative level, State agencies have executed targeted enforcement operations against foreign nationals managing small shops, kiosks, and street vending outlets in urban commercial hubs. The Executive rationale rests on a rigid interpretation of immigration and labour laws.

Ministry officials maintain that while entry frameworks, such as the Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA) system, facilitate seamless access for tourists and short-term business visitors, they explicitly do not confer commercial rights. Foreign nationals, authorities argue, are prohibited from engaging in micro-retail or informal trade without specialised work permits.

The immediate result has been widespread uncertainty across regional trader communities. In Nairobi, hundreds of Burundian nationals, including refugees and small-scale traders selling coffee and second-hand clothes, gathered outside their embassy seeking emergency travel documents to return home ahead of enforcement.

Meanwhile, senior government officials have sought to clarify that foreign nationals who hold valid work permits and licences remain legally protected, highlighting the ongoing tension between rapid administrative enforcement and legal due process.

At the legislative level, Parliament is expediting the Local Content Bill, 2025, to codify these principles across formal economic sectors. The proposed statute introduces stringent compliance thresholds, including mandatory workforce targets requiring foreign enterprises to ensure that up to 80 percent of their workforce consists of Kenyan citizens.

Additionally, the bill mandates that foreign-owned firms operating in manufacturing, logistics, and services source a substantial percentage of their raw materials and intermediate inputs locally, reserving micro-enterprise and retail distribution exclusively for domestic citizens.

From an international trade law perspective, domestic policy measures that restrict market access conflict with the binding obligations Nairobi has ratified under regional treaties. Articles 6, 7, 10, and 13 of the EAC Common Market Protocol establish the foundational freedoms governing the regional bloc: the free movement of goods, persons, labor, and the right of establishment. Article 13 explicitly guarantees citizens of partner states the right to establish businesses, provide services, and pursue economic activities in any member state under non-discriminatory conditions.

However, a crucial legal distinction must be drawn between legitimate domestic regulation and treaty breach. Every sovereign state retains the unassailable prerogative to regulate commerce through municipal business permits, tax registration, and immigration controls. Requiring all market participants to hold valid local single-business permits and tax identification numbers is a lawful exercise of regulatory authority.

The legal breach under the EAC Common Market Protocol occurs when administrative regimes move from neutral regulation to nationality-based exclusion. While requiring a business permit is entirely lawful, using permit mechanisms to enact blanket sector exclusions against partner-state citizens, or denying them the administrative pathway to acquire such permits, transforms standard compliance into a non-tariff barrier that violates the principle of national treatment.

Under the AfCFTA framework, unilateral restrictions strike at the foundational ethos of Pan-Africanism. The vision of a borderless, integrated continent under the African Union’s Agenda 2063 relies on Africans being able to trade freely across borders without nationalistic hostility. Consequently, the contrast reduces the Pan-African solidarity to an abstract diplomatic slogan while institutionalising division on the ground.

For Kenya, this protectionist pivot creates a profound crisis of credibility. As one of the first states to ratify the AfCFTA agreement, a flagship participant in the Guided Trade Initiative, and a leading advocate for continental integration, Kenya has long positioned itself as the intellectual and commercial spearhead of the AfCFTA. By enacting domestic exclusions, Nairobi risks undermining its own moral authority and devaluing the very frameworks it championed.

Discretionary work permit regimes, local input quotas, and aggressive retail scrutiny operate as functional NTBs that increase transaction costs, introduce regulatory chaos, and fragment regional value chains. Significantly, by abandoning the principle of open commerce at home, Kenya invites reciprocal countermeasures against its formidable cross-border banking, retail, and logistics networks across the continent.

Kenya serves as an important test-run for the future of trade integration across Africa. While domestic protectionism offers short-term political appeal, it imposes substantial long-term economic costs by fragmenting the broader regional market.

For the EAC and the AfCFTA to succeed, member states must view regional trade agreements not as constraints on national policy, but as the essential framework for building competitive, resilient economies. Kenya’s long-term interest lies not in erecting domestic commercial barriers, but in leading the development of a stable, rule-based East African economic community.

Fragmented product standards, testing and certification are impeding a push by Kenya’s factories and farms to expand exports under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), officials said, threatening to keep local goods out of regional markets.

David Beer, chief executive of TradeMark Africa, told business leaders in Nairobi that standards were becoming a critical barrier, with exports to African countries facing different verification and certification requirements in every market they enter.

‘Not getting standards right is also a binary gatekeeper,’ he said during the two-day American Chamber of Commerce Business Summit, which closed on Thursday.

He added that the secretariat of the Accra-based AfCFTA needed to ensure testing, certification and agreements existed ‘not only on paper, but’ practically, if regional value chains were to become commercially viable.

The annual summit, in its fifth year, heard that as African countries move to deepen trade under AfCFTA, tariff barriers were falling while technical requirements remain fragmented across national borders.

This means cheaper access to foreign markets on paper may not translate into easier exports for Kenyan manufacturers and farmers unless countries recognise common standards and certification systems.

East Africa has made significant progress, Mr Beer said, with conformity assessment times falling from seven months to four months over the past five years.

Compliance costs have also been cut by half, while about 2,000 standards have been harmonised across the seven-nation East African Community bloc, creating practical gains for businesses.

But the next challenge is ensuring that harmonised standards are recognised and applied consistently across borders, rather than forcing exporters to repeat costly procedures.

‘If I’m a company where I want to export to Tanzania, to Rwanda, but also to the US or to Germany, I’m going to have to go through a different process,’ Mr Beer said.

He described the duplication as a ‘killer for businesses’, arguing that companies need one point of contact, one set of procedures and greater mutual recognition of certification.

The problem is particularly important for Kenya as it seeks to use AfCFTA to expand beyond its traditional regional markets and position Nairobi as a gateway for investment into Africa.

Mustafa Ibrahim, head of policy, research and strategic analysis at the Foreign Affairs ministry, said Kenya was investing in trade corridors, industrial parks and one-stop border posts to strengthen regional value chains.

Mr Ibrahim said Kenya has reduced non-tariff barriers within the EAC trading bloc and was seeking to position itself as a preferred destination for businesses from within and outside Africa.

However, the gains from better roads, ports and border infrastructure risk being weakened if companies continue to encounter separate technical requirements after their goods reach another market.

Mr Beer said the problem extends beyond the cost of compliance because repeated testing and certification can prevent regional value chains from developing at scale.

A manufacturer supplying several African markets may, as a result, have to navigate different requirements for the same product, raising costs and making smaller exporters less competitive.

This is hurting small and medium-sized Kenyan businesses, which have fewer resources to absorb repeated testing, certification and registration costs while exporting to regional markets than large multinational companies.

The US Chamber of Commerce said regulatory consistency has also become an important consideration for international investors deciding where to locate production and regional operations.

Kendra Gaither, president of the US-Africa Business Center, said investment committees were examining whether countries offered predictable regulations and whether companies could scale operations across continental markets.

‘How can I be assured that the funding that we unlock, that we invest in the product, is going to be well-absorbed,’ Ms Gaither said.

She said investors wanted rule of law, predictable regulations and a reasonable expectation of returns, making regulatory certainty an important part of Africa’s competition for foreign capital.

The standards question goes beyond trade administration for Kenya. It could determine whether manufacturers can use the continental market to achieve the scale needed to attract new investment.

The High Court has dismissed a suit by the Consumer Federation of Kenya (Cofek), which sought to have Stanbic Bank refund revellers who attended a festival organised by the lender in Nairobi on June 10, 2023.

The consumer lobby group had claimed that hundreds of fans who attended the festival and paid up to Sh30,000 for tickets complained that it fell short of its promise. The court, however, found that Cofek failed to prove its claims.

‘The petitioner did not make meaningful effort to substantiate the allegations with cogent, credible and admissible evidence on a balance of probabilities,’ said Justice Lawrence Mugambi.

Stanbic used the festival as a brand and entertainment initiative, intended to bring its brand promise, ‘IT CAN BE,’ to life through music.

The bank also said the festival supported Kenyan arts, music and the entertainment industry.

The petition arose from complaints about the Boyz II Men-headlined festival at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi, including alleged chaotic seating, poor sound and visual quality, obstructed views, congestion, inadequate sanitation and security concerns and loss of personal property.

Cofek said the event substantially departed from what had been advertised and that the shortcomings violated consumers’ rights under Article 46 of the Constitution.

It asked the court to declare that consumers’ rights had been violated and order compensation, over the alleged shortcomings at the festival. But the court said the federation did not prove those allegations on the required standard.

‘I find that although the petitioner came out very strongly and forcibly on the allegations contained in the pleadings, it did not substantiate them with credible and admissible evidence,’ the judge said.

The court singled out witness statements filed with the petition, saying they were not affidavits and had not been properly introduced as evidence.

It said those statements did not provide details of payments or ticket numbers and were not properly linked to the supporting affidavit.

‘Despite being aware that there were witnesses who had recorded statements, the petitioner did not seek to introduce that evidence in support of this petition,’ the court said.

Cofek also relied on emails complaining about the event, but the court found that the electronic material lacked the certificate required under Section 106B of the Evidence Act.

The court said the certificate was a mandatory safeguard for electronic evidence because of the risk of tampering.

‘As such, the electronic evidence relied on in this petition does not meet the legal threshold of admissibility,’ he said.

The court also noted that Cofek cited online videos showing poor sound and faulty screens, but did not produce the videos for examination.

Stanbic’s published festival FAQ said regular tickets cost Sh8,000, VIP tickets Sh15,000 and VVIP access Sh30,000, while stating that every ticket category would have a seating arrangement.

Complaints emerged from attendees about overcrowding, poor sound, malfunctioning screens, sound quality, and the general-arena layout.

The respondents denied the allegations and told the court that extensive preparations had been made for the festival.

Their evidence showed that organisers had arranged 70 washrooms, tents for 6,926 people, seating for 6,270, bar facilities for 8,100 and food vendors capable of serving 11,100 people.

The court heard that reserved seats were only for the county governor and guests, while other seats were available on a first-served basis.

Cofek challenged that account and pointed to the organisers’ admission that the expected capacity was 6,926 people, while another affidavit said the audio equipment was contracted to serve an estimated 5,000 people.

The court also rejected the respondents’ earlier arguments that Cofek lacked standing or that the dispute had to be handled through contractual mechanisms.

It held that consumer rights under the Constitution’s Article 46 are protected by the Constitution and go beyond private contractual arrangements.

‘The inquiry is thus independent of and transcends the contractual arrangement,’ he said.

The court also considered a public apology issued after complaints about the festival.

Justice Mugambi said the apology expressed general regret but did not amount to an admission of the specific allegations or legal wrongdoing.

‘My reading of the apology is that it was an expression of general regret for the inconveniences experienced,’ he said.

The court concluded that the pleadings set out concertgoers’ grievances, but the evidence did not establish them.

‘The petitioner’s case was well pleaded, but it must fail for the failure to discharge the burden of proof,’ said the judge, dismissing the petition.

On one canvas, bold white lines slice the surface into triangles and narrow strips, and inside each shape a storm of green, yellow and blue threads twists and loops over itself, with small red dots scattered through the tangle like drops of paint that fell and stayed.

On another, the same white lines form a different pattern, and the colours shift into lime green, orange and black, with the red dots again pulling the eye toward the centre.

Forget sushi, Nairobi diners are now falling in love with ramen

“Those people saved my life,” Alice says. It is, in a way, the whole argument she has built a career on: Fix the small clinic, and the rest of the country survives with it. Ignore it, and geography decides who lives.

Alice has spent 20 years chasing that idea across borders, first as a volunteer in Dar es Salaam. She had just returned from the London School of Economics (LSE), hoping to work in a think tank, using economics to influence policy.

She now runs the Beginnings Fund, built with a coalition that includes the Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, to attack what she calls the “core drivers of death” in maternal and newborn health. It has raised $493 million (Sh63 billion) and pushed $199 million Sh25 billion) into 30 grants across six African countries.

“I could do something here that will touch millions of lives on my continent.”

TIME magazine put her on its inaugural TIME100 Philanthropy list this year. Her mother called it, simply, the fulfilment of her dream, the same mother who told a young girl decades ago that she would have to work twice as hard to be taken half as seriously.

What frustrates her now is the pace of change. ‘My struggle is, it’s not moving fast enough.’

You’ve had such a good run, haven’t you?

I would say so. I’m not done yet. But I’m proud of what we have achieved. I say “we” because I’ve had a team.

Do you remember how you stood out, as a young woman getting into this career?

I’m actually an economist by training. After high school I went to Catholic University of Eastern Africa and majored in Economics, then to the London School of Economics (LSE). My dream was to be in a think tank, using economics to influence policy. Somehow I ended up in public health instead, I’d say by accident.

I came back to Kenya from LSE and reality hit. Unemployment. A friend asked if I would consider volunteering for a foundation just starting out in HIV care and treatment as I waited for a full-time job. My parents were frustrated, they had funded my postgraduate studies in London, no small feat, and now I needed money to go and volunteer. Reluctantly, they supported me.

My first stop was Dar es Salaam, thrown straight into the deep end. The more senior volunteers had to fly back to the US, and left me

to convene stakeholders from across Tanzania, government, development agencies, experts, to develop the country’s first national HIV care and treatment plan. I had no office, I was working out of a hotel room, and most people were essentially asking, ‘who are you, what mandate do you even have?’ I did not give up.

Every time I go back today and see people sitting calmly in those clinics, no stigma, getting their treatment, it is so fulfilling.

From there I went to South Africa, a different scale altogether, a government not yet convinced it should support care at scale. Our first attempt failed. I left, joined KPMG for a year, and no sooner had I settled in than my former team lead called to say they were setting up an office in Kenya. I went right back.

Why did you go back, and why economics in the first place?

Because I cherished the experience. The people, the patients, the doctors, former President Bill Clinton himself. But also I realised I could do something that would impact millions of people.

I hear doctors who’ve moved from clinical practice to public health use this analogy: I could see one patient at a time in my clinic, or influence millions at a time. I got drawn into that. At the Clinton Foundation it was, here’s a problem, go solve it, how you get there is up to you. I enjoyed that.

And economics, because I have a problem with the way Africa is described. I strongly believe there’s a place for economic policy to lift people out of poverty.

What’s been the most difficult thing you’ve ever had to do?

As a volunteer in South Africa, convincing the government that it was a moral imperative to provide care and treatment to everyone infected with HIV. Getting people with decision-making power to do the right thing, when you think it’s obvious, but it isn’t.

I see the same today in maternal and newborn health. No woman should die from preventable causes bringing life into the world, but we’ve almost normalised these deaths.

On a more practical level, fundraising. The world has waves and fads. There’s a time HIV was very well funded. We see that too in maternal and child health, these peaks and troughs, when it needs to stay on the priority list for the long haul.

Go back to childhood a little. What do you remember, and what did you want then?

I was born in Nairobi, then my parents moved to Tigoni. My father was a banker with Barclays. Later we moved to Nakuru, to a farm. It was difficult for me because I’d lived in the city. I used to admire air hostesses, wanted to be one, but my father shut that down immediately, said that was no career.

Growing up, what I remember most is struggling with inequities. My parents weren’t rich, but we didn’t lack, we went to public schools, we had meals, the basics. In high school it was in the dormitory, seeing a girl with nothing in her box.

I still remember, from a very young age, struggling with why some children didn’t have shoes, why they looked so ragged.

I believe everything I’ve done since has been toward social justice. I still struggle with it today. You go to some hospitals, find four premature babies sharing one incubator and ask, are these children of a lesser God?

In this season, are there habits you’re trying to unlearn?

I’m trying to stop and smell the roses more. In academics, in my career, I invested everything into the work. Some of my friends say I take life too seriously, that I should stop, celebrate what I’ve done. So I’m doing more of that now.

You’ve a stellar career. What’s one thing you failed at, and what did it teach you?

At the Clinton Health Access Initiative, I was given a programme on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. We succeeded in preventing transmission at delivery. But mothers still needed to breastfeed, and still carried the virus, and the science for that wasn’t advanced yet. So, in essence, we failed.

Babies born HIV-negative eventually turned positive through breastfeeding. There was the option of infant formula, but that brought complications around clean water, and you could save a child from HIV only to lose them to dehydration and diarrhoea.

That taught me that much as we were the crazy ones who thought we could change the world, and for the most part we did, we needed to bring everyone along. We jumped ahead of the science, assuming the rest would catch up. Ambition must be matched with reality.

Is there anything you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t gotten around to?

I keep saying I want to retire in Nanyuki, on a farm. I think I’m a rural girl now. I haven’t gotten around to finding that place, that solace, and I realise I don’t have so much time left, so I’d better do it. I think of retirement more now, in part because I believe in empowering others to carry the baton. I don’t want to hold it for too long before I hand over.

Are there things you struggle with as a female leader that male leaders of your cadre don’t?

Certainly, we haven’t moved past that. Early in my career, we were supporting the Kenyan government to hire additional nurses and doctors, the money had been put in Treasury but staff hadn’t been paid.

I kept urging the leads to honour that commitment, and one of them told me, ‘young girl, don’t get emotional, it’s normal for doctors and nurses to wait six months for their first salary.’ I said, but the money is already there, we’re failing them by not moving it.

I don’t think if the person raising that concern had been a man, the response would have been the same. As women, especially African women, you have to work twice as hard to earn that level of respect. I’ve sat in a waiting room while someone said, ‘we’re still waiting for your boss’, only for my colleague to correct them, ‘this is the boss.’

What personal fears keep you up at night?

I’m a mum to a 10-year-old girl, and I think about what happens if I’m not there, who takes care of her. And whether she’ll turn out well, whether I’m teaching her the real strokes of life, or sheltering her too much.

Where do you get your affirmation from now?

My family, especially my husband. Even on tough days he’s good at telling me I’m doing a great job. And my mother, a core pillar of my strength. In May, when I got the TIME100 Philanthropy recognition, she told me I had fulfilled her dream. She’s one of my biggest cheerleaders.

What’s your struggle in this season of your life?

Speed. The rate at which I want to see change. I feel it every time I sit in rooms where Africa is described negatively, especially on maternal and newborn mortality. I know the approach of working with governments is the right one, but I want to inject more pace into it.

What’s your love language?

Service. I do gifting too, but acts of service is the predominant one. I believe in showing up.

Is there anything you’d like to share that you thought I’d ask?

Early in my career, leading the Kenya programme, I was on a trip to Beta Point, today’s Homa Bay County, when I felt something creep up my trousers. I’d been stung by a scorpion.

What stuck with me is that health workers at the local health centre treated me quickly, crushed the scorpion, gave me the antidote. My international health insurance didn’t matter in that moment. Those were the people who saved my life.

I tell that story because it’s why I’m such a strong believer in building systems for everyone. That experience grounded me, and it’s part of why I keep chasing equity for all.

If the Level Five hospital is functioning, it’s for all of us. Getting anywhere else for treatment at the time was far-fetched. That grounded me, and it’s part of why I keep chasing equity for all.

If you were reincarnated, what profession would you choose? And what do you do now to unwind?

I think I’d get into large-scale farming, combining another inequity I care about, food security, with the peace and serene life I look forward to in retirement. To unwind I love to travel to peaceful, serene places. Water calms me a lot. I also read, and I take time with friends, and with my daughter.

The court ordered Zingo to hand over its premises, management, books, records, keys and other assets to the bank-appointed receiver and manager, Kolluri Venkata Subbaraya Kamasastry.

In the ruling, the court also authorised police assistance to enforce the takeover after rejecting Zingo’s bid to halt enforcement pending an appeal.

‘An order is hereby issued restraining the Plaintiff’s directors, employees, agents, and any other person acting under its authority from interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the second defendant (receiver) in the lawful discharge of his duties as Receiver and Manager of the Plaintiff’s business and assets,’ the court ordered in the ruling dated September 1, 2026.

The ruling followed failed mediation and two applications after the court dismissed Zingo’s earlier bid to stop NBK and its receiver from taking over and operating its business.

NBK said Zingo had defaulted since a 2017 consent acknowledging $5.6 million (Sh733 million), while the company argued enforcement would cause loss.

The dispute began after NBK advanced facilities to Zingo to establish a leather factory on property registered as LR No. 9363/98 and provide working capital.

The facilities were secured by charges of $882,354 over LR No. 209/8628 and $2.2 million over LR No. 9363/98, a floating debenture of $794,000 and directors’ guarantees totalling $3.47 million.

The bank’s representative, Paul Chelang’a, told the court that the company has been in default since the December 20, 2017 consent, which acknowledged an outstanding debt of $5,666,000, and has repeatedly made applications to hinder the lender’s recovery efforts.

He also stated that recent valuations set the forced-sale values of the two properties at Sh661 million, which he said was not enough to cover the outstanding debt. He asserts that the Bank has properly issued the required demand and statutory notices.

Furthermore, he argued that this was the company’s sixth attempt to prevent the statutory power of sale, claiming the application was an abuse of court process, the plaintiff remains in default, and there was no sufficient basis for the orders requested.

An earlier judgment says that a 2017 consent consolidated the debt at $5.66 million and provided a further $1.1 million working-capital facility.

In March 2024, the High Court rejected Zingo’s claim against NBK, holding that the company had acknowledged the debt but disputed how funds were handled.

The court said interest and penalty disputes did not justify withholding the principal. In January 2025, the Court of Appeal declined to stop NBK from exercising its remedies.

The latest dispute concerns receivership and emerged after NBK appointed Kamasastry as receiver and manager in August 2025. He took control of the business on September 1 before an interim injunction issued the following day stopped him. That injunction remained in force until Zingo’s application was dismissed on April 30, 2026.

Zingo filed an appeal and sought another injunction, arguing that the appeal could be rendered useless if NBK proceeded with enforcement. It also asked the court to send the dispute to mediation and allow it to amend its plaint.

The court rejected those requests. It said the April dismissal was a ‘negative judgment’ because it did not require either defendant to perform an executable act.

‘There is nothing arising from the dismissal order capable of being stayed,’ said the judge.

In relation to mediation, the court noted that the dispute had already gone through court-annexed mediation, but a report filed showed that the receiver had declined to participate.

‘Mediation is inherently a voluntary process that relies on the parties’ good faith participation. Given the circumstances, referring the case to mediation again would be pointless and only cause delays in resolving the pending applications,’ the court said.

Mr Kamasastry sought orders allowing him access to Zingo’s premises and control of its business, assets and affairs. He said employees and director Robert Njoka had prevented him from returning after the April ruling. He also alleged resistance despite police presence and a threat involving a firearm.

Zingo denied obstructing or threatening the receiver. It argued that the April ruling merely dismissed its injunction application and did not authorise a forcible takeover. The company said it remained a going concern and that taking control would cause substantial loss.

The court rejected that position and allowed Mr Kamasastry’s application in full. It said the receiver’s appointment had already been upheld and that the September 2025 injunction lapsed when Zingo’s application was dismissed.

‘The Plaintiff’s continued obstruction of the receiver is unlawful and cannot be tolerated,’ the court said. It added that the alleged threat to the receiver’s team was ‘a matter of grave concern’ and could lead to contempt proceedings if substantiated.

The court’s final orders require Zingo and its personnel to give Kamasastry unrestricted access to the properties -LR No. 9363/98 and LR No. 209/8628. They are also required to hand over management, assets, books, records, documents and keys, and must not interfere with his duties.

The Officer Commanding Mwiki Police Station, Infinity Police Post or the Officer Commanding any police station in proximity to the Plaintiff’s premises were authorised to assist if necessary.

Kenya’s refugee and asylum-seeker population hit a record 857,065, with Eritreans and Burundians recording some of the fastest growth over the past decade as the country increasingly becomes a destination for people fleeing conflict, political instability and economic hardship.

The number of refugees and asylum seekers reached 857,065 in June 2026, up 73.2 percent from 494,863 in 2016, according to data compiled from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The growth has been particularly pronounced among some of the smaller refugee communities.

Eritreans led with the fastest growth, rising from 1,590 in 2016 to 7,880, representing a 395.6 percent.

Burundian’s had the second-fastest growth. Their number increased from 8,461 in 2016 to 35,048, a 314.2 percent increase over the decade.

The increase in the Burundian population comes at a particularly sensitive time for the community, with hundreds of Burundians seeking to leave Kenya following a government crackdown on foreigners operating small-scale businesses.

Hundreds of Burundians gathered outside their embassy in Nairobi this week, seeking travel documents to return home after President William Ruto ordered a crackdown on foreigners operating businesses.

Some Burundians arrived at the embassy carrying suitcases and other possessions, with some saying they had received threats and feared they were no longer safe in Kenya.

The reports came after the President directed authorities to shut down small businesses operated by foreign traders, although the government later clarified that the enforcement was aimed at foreigners operating without the required permits.

The episode highlights a difficult economic balancing act for Kenya.

Foreign traders form part of the country’s wider informal and small-business economy, providing goods and services to consumers while also competing with Kenyan traders for customers and market space.

The government’s position is that foreigners should not use visitor or other immigration status to enter Kenya and then compete with citizens in small-scale businesses.

But the sudden uncertainty also illustrates how closely migration and livelihoods have become intertwined.

For businesses, the immediate issue is therefore bigger than the departure of individual traders. It raises questions about how Kenya manages the intersection of immigration enforcement, refugee protection, informal employment and regional trade.

Kenya’s refugee population has not simply grown in numbers; its composition has also changed significantly.

Somalis remain by far the largest group, rising from 326,562 in 2016 to 472,470 in June 2026. They accounted for 55.1 percent of the country’s refugees and asylum seekers.

South Sudanese increased from 88,391 to 208,978 over the same period, while refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo rose from 29,317 to 66,654.

Kenya’s prime office developers have seen their rental yields stagnate at 8.5 percent for the last three years despite rising occupancy levels, as an oversupply of lower-grade offices has kept rental prices flat.

Real estate firm Knight Frank says in its Africa Office Market Review for the first half of 2026 that the average rental price of a Grade A office in Nairobi stood at $13 (Sh1,684) per square metre in June, having remained unchanged since June 2022.

Rental yields have at the same time remained at 8.5 percent since June 2023, even though occupancy levels have steadily risen to 84.8 percent from the post-Covid-19 pandemic low of 71.5 percent three years ago.

Nairobi’s status as a regional commercial and financial hub saw a steady increase in prime office space in the previous decade, as developers sought to satisfy demand from international investors, governments, diplomatic missions and multinational corporations.

Developers primarily targeted Upper Hill and Westlands for new developments, complementing the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD), where accessibility and availability of Grade A offices were limited.

Some of these properties that were put up during the period have now been surpassed in quality by newer developments, reducing their competitiveness in a market where demand growth has slowed down.

The market also shifted significantly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which upended the commercial property market as many firms adopted remote working arrangements, with the subsequent economic shocks further eating into demand for space.

Other firms also moved to smaller, fitted-out office spaces as flexible working patterns became the new normal. This saw landlords grant concessions on lease renewals, which included lowering or freezing asking rental prices.

As a result of the stagnant rental prices and yields, Nairobi has now become one of the cheapest major African cities in the office market.

The Knight Frank analysis shows that Lagos and Cairo have the highest rental prices at $55 (Sh7,119) and $28 (Sh3,624) per square metre, respectively, with their annual rental yields standing at 10 percent.

Johannesburg has an average rental price of $19 (Sh2,459) per square metre and a yield of 9.5 percent, followed by Lusaka at a price of $18 (Sh2,329) and a yield of 11 percent.

In the East Africa region, the Kampala and Dar es Salaam office markets offer developers yields of nine per cent each, drawn from rental prices of $17 (Sh2,200) and $15 (Sh1,941) per square metre, respectively.

On the other hand, Harare offers the lowest yield among the surveyed cities at just six per cent, with its rental asking price also the lowest at $7 (Sh906) per square metre, as occupancy levels within the city’s central business district stand at 50 percent.

Gaborone in Botswana also lags Nairobi in yield at eight per cent and rent at $10 (Sh1,294) per square metre.

Similar to Nairobi, the other African cities have seen a clear demarcation in demand and prices between top-tier developments and older, lower-grade offices.

Across several markets, occupiers are shifting from congested CBDs to mixed-use and suburban nodes that offer accessibility, parking and integrated amenities.

‘Across most markets that we track, occupiers continue to prioritise high-quality, ESG-conscious and operationally resilient office buildings, reinforcing the continent-wide ‘flight to quality’ trend,’ said Knight Frank.

The High Court has suspended a gazette notice by the Commissioner for Co-operative Development, which appointed three officials to liquidate the troubled Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Co-operatives (Kuscco).

This follows a petition by a Ruiru-based sacco for the State-appointed officers to be dropped and replaced by an independent insolvency practitioner.

The court temporarily suspended the gazette notice until September 28, when the judge will determine whether it has jurisdiction to hear a dispute filed by Rupsa Sacco Society Limited.

‘In the meantime, a stay order suspending the gazette notice is hereby issued, pending the determination of the issue of jurisdiction,’ the court said.

Rupsa NWDT Sacco Society Limited, which says it lost Sh108.8 million following the collapse of Kuscco, challenged the decision to place the union under liquidation.

The sacco moved to court in March 2026 seeking to wind up Kuscco, and the court subsequently issued preservation orders over the union’s assets.

However, on August 28, a special general meeting resolved to dissolve Kuscco. Three days later, on August 31, the Commissioner for Co-operative Development published Gazette Notice No. 13997, purporting to dissolve the union and place its entire estate in the custody of appointed liquidators.

The notice also authorised three individuals to take custody of Kuscco’s properties, books and documents.

Rupsa has challenged the move, arguing that the commissioner’s actions raise questions about regulatory independence and conflict of interest.

‘The continued appointment of a senior officer from the Office of the Commissioner for Co-operative Development to executive office within Kuscco Limited, while the commissioner’s office exercises regulatory oversight over that institution, raises an ongoing constitutional and statutory question concerning conflict of interest, public trust and regulatory independence,’ Rupsa said.

The Ruiru-based sacco further argued that the commissioner did not seek the court’s permission or apply to lift the existing preservation orders before publishing the gazette notice.

‘The issue before the court is not whether the commissioner may regulate co-operative societies. He plainly exercises statutory powers. The issue is whether an administrative act may confer upon persons the power to take custody and control of property which is already the subject of subsisting preservatory orders of this honourable court,’ the Sacco said in submissions filed in court.

Rupsa argued that the commissioner cannot invoke public interest in the regulation of cooperatives to justify defying a court order.

‘An administrative notice cannot do indirectly what a party is prohibited from doing directly. The court’s order does not become optional because the proposed disobedience has been printed in the Kenya Gazette,’ the Sacco argued.

The sacco said that Kuscco is not solvent and that the dispute is not an ordinary regulatory disagreement, citing liabilities of approximately Sh17.7 billion against assets estimated at Sh5.2 billion.

It further claimed that Kuscco is indebted to 177 creditor saccos to the tune of Sh6,166,460,317.

‘The preservatory orders placed the respondent’s (Kuscco) estate under the court’s protective supervision. The Gazette Notice purports to remove that estate from the court’s supervision and place it in the hands of the commissioner’s appointees. That is not regulation. That is interference,’ Rupsa argued.

The sacco also questioned the qualifications of the three appointed liquidators, arguing that none is identified in the Gazette Notice as an authorised insolvency practitioner.

Court documents state that Section 65(3) of the Co-operative Societies Act requires a person carrying out a liquidation to be an authorised insolvency practitioner.

Rupsa urged the court to intervene urgently to preserve Kuscco’s estate and maintain the status quo, pending the hearing and determination of its petition.

‘The circumstances warrant the urgent intervention of this honourable court to preserve the respondent’s estate, maintain the status quo established by the subsisting orders, and prevent any further steps pursuant to Gazette Notice No. 13997 pending the inter partes hearing and determination of the Petition,’ Rupsa said.