Category: Business Daily

Virtual assets providers have clashed with the National Treasury over a proposal to keep 30 percent of funds raised from stablecoin issuances in local commercial banks.

The firms want the requirement struck out for foreign-issued stablecoins, which are likely to face a similar rule in their host countries (country of issuance).

The firms have found support from the National Assembly Committee on Delegated Legislation, which sees the rule as a hurdle discouraging international operators from entering the Kenyan market.

Stablecoins are virtual assets designed to or that aim to have their value fixed or pegged relative to one or more reserve assets, including fiat currency, commodities, or other virtual assets, for the purpose of maintaining a stable value of the stablecoin.

The assets are seen as complementary to fiat, delivering liquidity in markets that might have difficulties in obtaining hard currency such as US dollars.

The local virtual assets providers want amendments to spare foreign-issued stablecoins from the rule to avoid regulatory duplication.

‘The best approach will be for the National Treasury to refine the portion of the regulations, providing for the differentiation between local issuers of stablecoins and foreign issuers,’ said Allan Kakai, director at the Virtual Assets Chamber of Commerce.

‘The focus of the requirement should be on Kenya Shilling-based stablecoins and not the localisation of foreign-issued stablecoins.’

The Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations of 2026, which are currently under scrutiny by Parliament, seek to effect the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, adopted last year, and which provides a legal base for the operations of players in the sector.

The rule requires that at least 30 percent of funds received by an exchange for stablecoins be held in accounts at commercial banks in Kenya.

Issuers of stablecoins usually receive cash/fiat money in the place of coins issued, with the value of both holding at an equilibrium where one stablecoin holds the same value as one unit of the fiat.

Kenya will allow virtual asset providers to undertake initial coin offers for stablecoins, in a move that mirrors company initial public offerings (IPOs).

The issuances must have approval from the relevant regulatory authority, while the provider shall initially publish a white paper containing information including the rights and obligations attached to the stablecoin, underlying technology, stabilisation mechanism and arrangements for custody and management of reserve assets.

The virtual assets providers have found support from the Committee on Delegated Legislation, which has questioned some of the provisions contained in the regulations, highlighting a disconnect from global industry practices and the technical realities of digital assets.

‘If we make laws that are in one hole here and have no relation with the global practice, then we will be a laughingstock to the entire world,’ said Samuel Chepkonga, the chairperson of the Committee on Delegated Legislation.

The regulations are of interest to both local and foreign firms in the virtual assets industry as Kenya sees high interest from players looking to enter the market.

More than 50 digital currency firms, including the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, are in talks to set up regional headquarters in Nairobi, attracted by growing adoption and tax incentives.

Stablecoins are a form of cryptocurrency, described as a digital or virtual form of currency, secured by cryptography.

Kenya is one of Africa’s largest crypto markets, with an estimated 733,300 individuals in the country owning digital assets, as per data from crypto research firm Chainalysis, ranking the country third in Africa in crypto adoption after Nigeria and South Africa.

Virtual assets providers will be required to abide by high capital and liquidity requirements to operate in Kenya as the National Treasury eyes stability for the emerging asset class.

An issuer of stablecoins and any other type of cryptocurrency is required to have Sh200 million in paid-up capital and Sh40 million in liquid capital or eight percent of its total liabilities.

The new regulations will allow for various virtual asset services including wallet providers, virtual asset exchanges, payment processors, brokers, advisers, managers, issuance platforms and tokenisation.

The Committee on Delegated Regulation told this publication that it has held a pre-publication scrutiny of its report on the regulations.

Insurance executive Tom Mulwa has been appointed chairman of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), succeeding Kiprono Kittony, who left the bourse to take up the same role at Kenya Airways.

Mr Mulwa, who has served as an independent non-executive director on the NSE board since September 2025, will assume the chairmanship on July 13, 2026, following board approval on June 30.

‘The board warmly welcomes Mr Mulwa and looks forward to his leadership as the Exchange builds on this strong foundation to deepen Kenya’s capital markets, broaden investor participation and create long-term value for shareholders and the economy,’ the NSE said in a public notice to shareholders dated July 2, 2026.

‘The changes follow the conclusion of the term of the board chairman and a review of the board’s composition in line with the Exchange’s commitment to strong governance, independence and long-term institutional oversight.’

Mr Mulwa brings more than three decades of experience in the financial services sector.

He is among the founders of Liaison Group, which he joined in 1991. He has served as the company’s chief executive since 1999, overseeing its growth from a local insurance brokerage into a regional non-banking financial services group with operations in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Sudan.

He also chairs Kenya National REIT, a public-private sector initiative for socio-economic transformation.

Mr Mulwa serves on the council of the Association of Pension Trustees and Administrators of Kenya and was appointed to the National Investment Council by President William Ruto in 2022.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Nairobi and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Leicester. He is also a Fellow of the Global Risk Management Institute (RIMS Fellow).

The joint receivers of TransCentury Plc are set to raise Sh2.2 billion through the disposal of stakes in two subsidiaries – Tanelec Limited and Avery East Africa Limited – recovering nearly half of the Sh4.8 billion loan owed to Equity Bank Kenya.

TransCentury was placed under receivership by Equity Bank a year ago after defaulting on the loan in 2023.

The receiver managers said they had signed a share purchase agreement with Tanzanian firm Msufini Limited, a manufacturer of chlorine and sodium hydroxide, for the acquisition of TransCentury’s 70 percent stake in Tanelec Limited.

TransCentury’s 137,347 shares in Tanelec, which manufactures power transformers, electrical switchgear and metering units, are being sold for Sh2.1 billion ($16.35 million).

Its 94.4 percent stake in Avery East Africa (AEA), a company specialising in infrastructure, weighing equipment and energy solutions, is set to be sold to SPAC Hill Capital Limited for Sh111.1 million.

The two transactions will generate total cash proceeds of Sh2.2 billion.

‘The total consideration for the Tanelec transaction is $16.35 million (Sh2.1 billion) and completion remains subject to satisfaction or waiver of agreed conditions precedent,’ said the joint receivers, George Weru and Muniu Thoithi of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

‘Subject to completion of the transactions, the receivers will apply the realisations, together with proceeds from other transactions, towards the settlement of TransCentury’s obligations in accordance with applicable insolvency laws and creditor priorities,’ they added.

The sale will mark the second acquisition by Msufini from the distressed TransCentury after the Tanzanian company acquired East African Cables Tanzania about two years ago in a deal estimated at Sh115 million.

Msufini is associated with Tanzanian businessman Justin Lambert, who serves on its board alongside Janet and Judith Lambert.

Business value

Tanelec was valued at Sh2.25 billion by TransCentury at the end of 2023. The investment firm acquired its 70 percent stake in 2007 for Sh78.7 million and subsequently expanded the business.

By the end of 2023, Tanelec had recorded revenue of Sh3.1 billion and a profit before tax of Sh42 million.

The company’s main operations are in Tanzania, although it also owns a subsidiary in Zambia, operates a servicing workshop in Uganda and has a manufacturing plant in Kenya.

Avery East Africa (AEA), which operates in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, was valued at Sh319 million in 2023. The agreed purchase price of Sh111.1 million means SPAC Hill Capital is paying about one-third of the valuation assigned by TransCentury.

TransCentury acquired its 94.4 percent stake in AEA in 2005 for Sh49.8 million.

The receivers advertised AEA for sale last year, saying they were seeking investors willing to recapitalise the business, citing a substantial project pipeline and rising demand across its core sectors.

They did not disclose whether SPAC Hill Capital has experience in the infrastructure sector or plans to support the company’s operations after the acquisition.

Other deals

Equity Bank Kenya also placed another TransCentury subsidiary, East African Cables Plc (EAC Kenya), under administration over a separate Sh2.2 billion debt.

Cable Experts Limited has offered to acquire TransCentury’s 68.37 percent stake in East African Cables in a transaction that is awaiting regulatory approval.

The cable manufacturer says it intends to revive East African Cables and repay the debt owed to Equity Bank Kenya.

An Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) manager has lost a court bid to overturn a disciplinary demotion imposed after she was accused of improperly authorising the release of confidential commission information.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled that the manager, Agatha Wanjiku, challenged the decision too late and could not reclaim the salary and benefits she lost.

Justice Bernard Manani found that she waited more than three years after the IEBC dismissed her internal appeal before asking the court to invalidate the disciplinary action, leaving the court without jurisdiction to revisit the merits of the demotion.

The court found that the case lodged in December 2023 challenging a 2019 decision had been filed outside the statutory three-year limitation period prescribed for employment disputes.

Ms Wanjiku joined the commission’s predecessor, the Interim Independent Electoral Commission, in 2010 as Manager for Internal Audit and Compliance before being absorbed into the IEBC after the constitutional transition.

Her troubles began in September 2018 when the commission accused her of improperly handling classified information by authorising the photocopying and sharing of confidential documents without the approval of the accounting officer. She was issued a show-cause letter and immediately placed on interdiction.

She denied wrongdoing and maintained that the accounting officer had authorised the release of the information through a text message and said she had merely acted on those instructions.

She also argued that the disciplinary committee was improperly constituted because the same accounting officer later sat on the panel that heard the case.

The disciplinary committee nevertheless found her culpable in April 2019 and demoted her from Grade Four manager to Grade Six regional accountant. Her internal appeal was rejected three months later.

She was earning Sh235,475 before being demoted to Grade Six and her salary reduced to 145,468.

She remained in the lower grades until the commission progressively upgraded her, eventually restoring her to Grade Four in January 2023 as Manager for Risk and Compliance.

However, the IEBC placed her at the entry-level salary of Sh164,258 for that grade instead of the higher pay she had earned before the disciplinary action.

Ms Wanjiku then sued, seeking salary arrears, pension contributions, leave pay, transfer allowance and other benefits. She argued that the demotion was unjustified and that the commission should have restored her previous salary once she returned to Grade Four.

The IEBC defended its actions, saying its Human Resource Policy Manual authorised disciplinary demotions and required employees on interdiction to receive half their basic salary together with medical allowance but no other benefits.

It also said employees promoted back to a higher grade were entitled only to the salary applicable at the point of entry into that grade under the Salaries and Remuneration Commission structure.

The judge said that the court could not reopen the legality of the demotion because the cause of action arose when the commission rejected Ms Wanjiku’s appeal in July 2019.

“The fact that the claimant moved to challenge the propriety of the respondent’s decision to demote her more than three years after the decision had been made dislodges this court’s jurisdiction to inquire into that issue,” the judge said.

The court also upheld the commission’s decision to pay her half salary during interdiction.

“An employee on interdiction shall be paid half basic salary and medical allowance. No other stipulated allowance will be paid,” the judge quoted from the commission’s Human Resource Policy Manual before finding that the payments complied with its rules.

On her claim for restored pay, the court ruled that demotion lawfully reduced her salary and benefits and that returning to Grade Four did not entitle her to resume earning the higher salary attached to her previous service in that grade.

“There is no legitimate basis for her contention that she ought to have been paid what she was earning when the decision to demote her was made,” the judge said before dismissing the suit.

Kenya will inject an extra $40 million (Sh5.2 billion) into the African Trade and Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI), more than doubling its stake in the quest for greater influence in mobilising billions of shillings for critical projects.

The additional investment will raise Kenya’s capital subscription in the African guarantee platform from $25 million (Sh3.2 billion) to $65 million (Sh8.4 billion), President William Ruto announced on Tuesday.

‘We thank ATIDI for supporting Kenya’s development journey by over $7 billion in investments in energy, transport, manufacturing, agriculture, and trade sectors,’ President Ruto said in a post the X social media platform.

‘To deepen that partnership, Kenya will progressively increase shareholding in ATIDI from $25 million to $65 million as we strengthen the continent’s financial institutions to fund the future.’

The move strengthens Kenya’s position in one of Africa’s fastest-growing multilateral financial institutions as governments increasingly turn to regional lenders and insurers to finance development amid tighter global credit markets.

ATIDI insures investors and lenders against political, sovereign and commercial risks that often discourage financing for projects across African countries.

The guarantees reduce investment risks, allowing banks, insurers and development finance institutions to lend more confidently to businesses and governments undertaking large projects.

The role has become increasingly important as African economies grapple with rising borrowing costs, tighter international financial conditions, as well as reduced appetite for lending to emerging markets. Since its establishment in 2001, ATIDI has supported trade and investment transactions worth more than Sh1.2 trillion ($93 billion) across Africa.

Kenya has emerged as one of the institution’s biggest beneficiaries since joining the institution more than two decades ago.

Beyond buying additional shares in the organisation, Kenya’s increased investment also secures the country greater influence in a body playing an increasingly central role in determining how investment risks across Africa are assessed and financed.

The announcement comes as ATIDI itself expands rapidly through fresh capital injections from governments and international development finance institutions.

Last month, the African Development Bank approved a $125 million (Sh16.2 billion) equity investment to strengthen the institution’s balance sheet and expand its capacity to support investments across member countries.

Germany’s development bank KfW has also invested fresh capital as ATIDI broadens its shareholder base and underwriting capacity.

The additional capital enables the institution to guarantee larger transactions while supporting more investment projects across African economies.

It also reflects Nairobi’s growing ambition to position itself as a leading financial hub for African investment.

The Office of the Attorney-General has been accused of presiding over a recruitment scam that saw candidates who never applied for jobs hired alongside those lacking the required academic qualifications, in a damning verdict that exposes deep-rooted irregularities in public sector hiring.

An independent audit by the Public Service Commission (PSC) found that the State Law Office-mandated to advise the government on legal matters and uphold the rule of law-breached multiple constitutional, statutory and regulatory requirements governing public sector recruitment.

The audit followed an order issued by the Employment and Labour Relations Court on May 29, 2025, directing the PSC to investigate, monitor and evaluate the organisation, administration and personnel practices in the Office of the Attorney-General.

The court ordered the commission to file its report by December 31, 2025.

The audit paints the picture of a State institution where recruitment procedures were routinely disregarded, with the PSC concluding that appointments were made outside the constitutional and statutory framework governing public service recruitment.

Among the gravest findings was that some successful candidates were appointed despite not appearing in the original long list of applicants, which means they never applied for the advertised positions.

Others were shortlisted and eventually hired despite lacking the mandatory academic and professional qualifications required in the job advertisements.

“There were candidates who were shortlisted, yet they did not meet the shortlisting criteria as per the advertisements and others were shortlisted yet they had not applied for the jobs as they were not in the long list,” said PSC chairperson Francis Meja in a report dated June 30, 2026, and seen by the Business Daily.

“There were candidates who were appointed and yet they were not in the long list or they did not provide the requisite academic and professional qualifications at the point of application,” added the report.

The recruitment under scrutiny was conducted through advertisements published between April and June 2024, with the main State Counsel II vacancies advertised on April 15, 2024, and closing on May 21, 2024.

The PSC found that at least 18 shortlisted Legal Clerk Assistant IV candidates and 27 shortlisted State Counsel II candidates did not meet the advertised qualification threshold.

It further established that 14 Legal Clerk Assistant IV candidates and eight State Counsel II candidates appeared in the recruitment process despite not being on the original long list of applicants.

The report also found that seven candidates for the position of State Counsel II were appointed despite lacking qualifications such as a Bachelor of Law degree, a postgraduate diploma from the Kenya School of Law or a certificate of admission as an advocate.

Twelve Legal Clerk Assistant IV candidates were similarly approved despite lacking mandatory qualifications, including computer proficiency certificates.

The audit further uncovered major procedural flaws.

The interview panel did not indicate the pass mark, failed to rank candidates and did not explain the basis upon which successful applicants were recommended for appointment.

The final appointment list submitted to the Attorney-General omitted interview scores, the selection criteria and the pass mark used to determine successful candidates.

In addition, the PSC found that different versions of applicant lists were used during recruitment, with one list capturing applicants’ qualifications while another omitting them.

The commission also established discrepancies between the number of applicants on the original long list and those who eventually appeared on the shortlist, raising questions about the integrity of the recruitment records.

The commission warned that shortlisting, interviewing and appointing candidates who lacked the requisite qualifications undermined service delivery, exposed public funds to misuse and eroded confidence in merit-based recruitment.

It also cautioned that failure to observe ethnic diversity in appointments risked breeding perceptions of discrimination and weakening public trust in government institutions.

The findings reinforce concerns raised by the Employment and Labour Relations Court when it nullified more than 200 promotions undertaken by the Attorney-General’s Office in late 2024.

In the May 29, 2025 judgment, Justice Byram Ongaya ruled that the promotions had been undertaken without competitive recruitment and failed to satisfy constitutional requirements on merit, gender and ethnic diversity.

The court also declared unconstitutional amendments introduced through the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2024, that had transferred some of the PSC’s constitutional human resource functions to the Attorney-General.

Justice Ongaya held that the Advisory Board established under the Office of the Attorney-General Act lacked legal authority to appoint or promote officials and directed that all appointments and promotions be undertaken through fair competition under the PSC.

He further ordered the PSC to investigate the organisation, administration and personnel practices at the State Law Office, culminating in the latest audit.

The revelations come less than three years after the PSC launched a government-wide purge of public officials who secured jobs and promotions using forged academic and professional certificates.

At the time, the commission directed ministries, departments and agencies to dismiss officials found to have used fake credentials, declaring such appointments null and void and recommending criminal investigations where fraud was established.

Despite being the heartbeat of local commerce and accounting for the vast majority of new jobs created annually, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) remain trapped in a severe credit crunch.

Data from the revised MSME policy review reveals that small businesses require roughly Sh4 trillion in market loans to sustain and expand their operations. Yet, commercial banks currently supply only Sh700 billion.

This massive funding gap highlights the persistent barriers that local entrepreneurs encounter when trying to access formal credit. The root cause of this deficit lies in an exclusionary financial framework.

Traditional banking models rely heavily on physical collateral and formal records, yet because many local enterprises operate in the informal or semi-formal sectors, they often lack fixed assets and extensive financial histories.

Consequently, traditional lenders mistakenly view these viable Kenyan enterprises as high-risk.

Without urgent policy interventions to correct this issue, the growth of the informal sector will remain constrained, ultimately stifling broader national economic progress.

A critical flaw in the current financial ecosystem is the tendency to treat all MSMEs as a single, homogenous block. Small businesses do not require uniform credit facilities; their needs vary drastically across sectors.

Retailers require rapid, short-term cash injections to secure inventory. Agricultural players need structured facilities tied explicitly to seasonal harvesting timelines. Logistics operators demand heavy asset-financing options to procure delivery fleets.

To bridge this operational divide, lenders must restructure how they evaluate creditworthiness. Financial institutions must adopt alternative credit scoring models, that assess real-time cash flows, mobile money transaction patterns, and localised consumer behavior instead of demanding fixed, physical assets.

For decades, banking programmes targeting small businesses were relegated to corporate social responsibility (CSR) departments or treated as charitable social initiatives. This patronising outlook must end.

Serving the informal and semi-formal sectors represents a highly competitive, highly lucrative commercial segment.

Lenders must shorten their loan approval windows so business owners do not lose time-sensitive market opportunities. In the fast-moving informal market, a delayed loan approval is just as damaging as a denial.

Beyond merely shortening disbursement timelines, financial institutions must bundle credit with digital accounting tools and targeted education in tax planning and debt management. This support is critical to helping small businesses formalise their operations and build long-term, verifiable bankability.

By coupling structural, sector-specific lending with robust mobile cash management infrastructure, we can effectively help Kenyan businesses transition from daily hand-to-mouth survival to sustainable, long-term growth.

Indeed, policymakers and financial executives must act now, as bridging the Sh3.3 trillion gap is no longer just an act of economic inclusion, but an absolute economic imperative.

Across Africa, the conversation has shifted from “What is AI?” to “How can AI drive growth and profitability?” The answer is not more hype, generic training or simply deploying new software. It begins with leadership.

The organisations that will thrive will not necessarily be those experimenting with the most AI tools, but those that build AI into a core business capability.

That requires leaders to integrate AI into strategy, operating models, data readiness, cybersecurity, governance, talent, customer experience and measurable returns. These are executive decisions, not technology projects.

Success starts with asking the right questions. Which business processes should AI improve? Which decisions should it strengthen? What risks must be addressed before scaling? Most importantly, how will success be measured before an AI solution is deployed?

That final question is often overlooked, yet it distinguishes meaningful transformation from expensive experimentation. Launching an AI pilot is relatively easy; defining clear business outcomes in advance is much harder.

A finance team I recently advised illustrates the point. They wanted AI to accelerate invoice approvals and initially planned to automate the existing workflow. Before doing so, however, they examined where delays actually occurred. They discovered that many invoices passed through an approval stage created years earlier to address a risk that no longer existed.

The real solution was not AI but eliminating the unnecessary approval step.

Only after redesigning the process did the team introduce AI to automate a smaller, high-value task. Had they automated the original workflow, they would simply have made an inefficient process run faster while wasting time and money.

This is the lesson many organisations overlook. AI’s greatest value lies not in automating existing work, but in rethinking how work should be done. It forces leaders to question outdated processes, challenge assumptions and redesign operations around value rather than habit.

Ultimately, AI is not a technology conversation – it is a leadership conversation.

Organisations that approach it strategically, with clear objectives and disciplined governance, will achieve lasting competitive advantage.

Those that treat AI as just another software deployment risk spending heavily without transforming how they create value.

The World Bank Group has added Sh588 billion in securitised revenues and pending bills to Kenya’s debt stock, revealing a greater debt burden than that captured in official government data.

An analysis conducted by the World Bank in May 2026 shows that Kenya’s debt position has worsened, with the country’s public debt-to-GDP ratio of 71.3 per cent in 2025, up from 67.3 per cent previously.

The new assessment adds three parameters to Kenya’s debt assessment, including securitised future revenue streams, verified but unpaid pending bills and proceeds from privatisation programmes, which are treated as accumulated public liquid financial assets.

‘Kenya has securitised future revenue streams from three funds, raising approximately Sh383 billion, which has been included in the debt stock, though not yet in official statistics,’ the World Bank said.

‘Second, the Pending Bills Verification Committee has verified Sh255 billion in historic pending bills, of which Sh80 billion has been settled; the remaining verified stock is added to the DSA debt parameter. Third, approximately Sh350 billion in privatisation proceeds will seed the new National Infrastructure Fund (NIF) and is treated as an accumulation of public liquid financial assets.’

The National Treasury has committed future collections from certain revenue streams to help fund infrastructure projects and clear arrears to suppliers, including tapping Sh7 of every Sh25 collected from the sale of petrol and diesel through the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) and Sh9 out of every Sh10 collected from the Railway Development Levy (RDL).

Additionally, Kenya has ring-fenced part of the nearly Sh5 billion collected annually through the tourism levy to partly repay private investors financing hotels and commercial facilities for the ongoing development of the Bomas International Convention Complex.

The securitised proceeds from the Road Maintenance Levy are expected to repay bond investors providing Sh175 billion through a bond to clear pending bills in the road sector, while revenues from the Railway Development Levy will repay investors financing the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Suswa/Naivasha to Malaba.

Kenya has previously disputed the categorisation of securitised revenue as part of debt, arguing that the special purpose vehicles (SPVs), which hold the proceeds from those revenues, are independent of the sovereign.

‘The issue of securitisation is not that the IMF thinks it’s the wrong idea. They are supporting securitisation, saying it is one of the most innovative ways of raising funds,’ said National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi.

‘The concern is an accounting matter on whether we should capture it as sovereign debt or not. Our position as the government is that once you sell a right to an SPV, there is no risk to the government at all.’

The IMF argues that the securitisation of future revenue should either be treated as a loan to the securitisation unit or as direct government borrowing.

The IMF also recommends that debt arising from financial leases and public-private partnerships (PPPs) be included in Kenya’s debt stock.

The IMF wants pending bills, infrastructure funds from securitisation and non-guaranteed loans by State corporations of more than Sh1 trillion to be included in public debt, continuing its disagreement with the National Treasury.

‘It is imperative that this scope of debt reporting is expanded to include a broader range of debt instruments; priority should be given initially to including other accounts payable, known in Kenya as pending bills,’ the IMF, which recently completed a review of public debt data, said in a technical report published in April.

‘Given that debt liabilities take different forms, and not just as loans or debt securities, it is imperative that the Kenyan government does not maintain only a narrow definition of public debt but establishes a clear mandate for the comprehensive reporting of all debt liabilities in line with international statistical standards.’

The World Bank assessed Kenya’s debt as high risk but sustainable in its May assessment, noting that the rating was contingent on the implementation of economically feasible policies.

‘Both external and overall public debt are rated at high risk of debt distress, in line with the mechanical signals,’ the World Bank added.

‘On external debt, the external debt service-to-exports ratio breaches its indicative threshold until the early 2030s, but solvency indicators remain below thresholds throughout the projection horizon.’

The multilateral lender lists downside risks to the debt assessment, including policy slippages ahead of the 2027 elections that could undermine investor confidence, geopolitical tensions, trade disruptions, volatile financing conditions, disease outbreaks and weather shocks.

Kenya’s official public debt stock stood at Sh12.83 trillion at the end of March, comprising Sh7.14 trillion in domestic debt and Sh5.68 trillion in external debt.

Across Africa, the conversation has shifted from “What is AI?” to “How can AI drive growth and profitability?” The answer is not more hype, generic training or simply deploying new software. It begins with leadership.

The organisations that will thrive will not necessarily be those experimenting with the most AI tools, but those that build AI into a core business capability.

That requires leaders to integrate AI into strategy, operating models, data readiness, cybersecurity, governance, talent, customer experience and measurable returns. These are executive decisions, not technology projects.

Success starts with asking the right questions. Which business processes should AI improve? Which decisions should it strengthen? What risks must be addressed before scaling? Most importantly, how will success be measured before an AI solution is deployed?

That final question is often overlooked, yet it distinguishes meaningful transformation from expensive experimentation. Launching an AI pilot is relatively easy; defining clear business outcomes in advance is much harder.

A finance team I recently advised illustrates the point. They wanted AI to accelerate invoice approvals and initially planned to automate the existing workflow. Before doing so, however, they examined where delays actually occurred. They discovered that many invoices passed through an approval stage created years earlier to address a risk that no longer existed.

The real solution was not AI but eliminating the unnecessary approval step.

Only after redesigning the process did the team introduce AI to automate a smaller, high-value task. Had they automated the original workflow, they would simply have made an inefficient process run faster while wasting time and money.

This is the lesson many organisations overlook. AI’s greatest value lies not in automating existing work, but in rethinking how work should be done. It forces leaders to question outdated processes, challenge assumptions and redesign operations around value rather than habit.

Ultimately, AI is not a technology conversation – it is a leadership conversation.

Organisations that approach it strategically, with clear objectives and disciplined governance, will achieve lasting competitive advantage.

Those that treat AI as just another software deployment risk spending heavily without transforming how they create value.