Category: Business Daily

Taxpayers challenging the tax assessment against them by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) now face a higher threshold after the High Court placed the burden on them of ensuring indexed and chronologically matching records to back their claims.

In a high-implication decision, the High Court said that it is not enough for taxpayers to furnish KRA with documents and data challenging an assessment, adding that such data must be indexed and chronologically matched.

‘The law does not require the Commissioner to play the role of a forensic accountant. When a taxpayer is asked to explain why their own tax declarations do not add up, the taxpayer must provide clear, specific and indexed reconciliation. Flooding the Kenya Revenue Authority with unindexed and chronologically mismatched files is not an act of compliance; it is evasion of the taxpayer’s evidential duty,’ the High Court said.

A tax assessment is an official calculation by the KRA that shows how much a taxpayer owes the government. The system relies primarily on self-assessment when filing returns through the KRA, though the tax authority can issue amended, default, or additional assessments if discrepancies are found.

The directive came as the High Court overturned a November 10, 2023 determination by the Tax Appeals Tribunal, which threw out a Sh29.21 million assessment by KRA against Jakoline Enterprises Ltd. It argued that the Tribunal erred in assessing Jakoline Enterprises Ltd’s data submitted as a rebuttal challenging the assessment.

The Sh29.21 million assessment by KRA against Jakoline Enterprises Ltd stems from Sh14.48 million in income tax obligations and Sh14.73 million in value-added tax (VAT) obligations for the period 2017 to 2020.

According to KRA, the figure was arrived at following an audit that revealed inconsistencies between purchases claimed in Jakoline Enterprises Ltd’s Corporate Income Tax returns and the purchases made in its monthly VAT returns.

The High Court, in its judgement, took the Tax Appeals Tribunal to task over its decision on the data and documents submitted by Jakoline Enterprises Ltd when challenging the assessment raised by KRA.

The judgement by the High Court finds that the taxpayer’s evidence failed to meet critical thresholds prescribed in both the Tax Procedures Act and the Tax Appeals Tribunal Act.

‘Jakoline Enterprises Ltd failed to discharge its statutory burden under Section 56(1) of the Tax Procedures Act and Section 30 of the Tax Appeals Tribunal Act. By holding that such unstructured data presentation shifted the duty back to the state, the Tax Appeals Tribunal committed a profound error of law. The tribunal’s decision was based on fundamental misapplication of the rules of evidence and cannot be allowed to stand,’ the High Court states.

The High Court judgement means that businesses, especially those that are in the small and medium category, will have to place particular attention to their record keeping to ensure that their tax ledger is well regularised and defensible should it trigger an assessment by KRA.

This judgement comes at a time when taxpayer data and its use in compliance has come under sharp scrutiny following Finance Act 2026’s introduction of a dual assessment income tax regime in the country, which now allows KRA to leverage third-party data in verifying a taxpayer’s compliance.

Cyber cafés in Kenya will from Friday be required to keep customers’ records such as names, identification numbers, the computer used and login time in fresh efforts to curb cybercrimes like mobile money theft and SIM swap fraud.

New regulations published by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) demand that the internet shops issue receipts and keep the records for a minimum of three years, during which the regulator can request them for investigation.

Public internet cafés do not enforce strict user identification, making them attractive to cybercriminals seeking to browse, steal data and hack without being traced through their personal IP addresses.

They also give criminals access to a large pool of personal data like ID numbers, names, passwords and phone numbers of users who log into their accounts using unsecured public computers.

The new regulations come amid a surge in SIM swap and mobile money fraud in Kenya, leading to billions of shillings in losses.

‘Put in place a mechanism for registering customers,’ say the new CA licensing regulations for public communications access centres, which take effect on August 14.

‘Maintain basic user logs of service usage, essentially a customer session log (excluding personal browsing history), which will cover the terminal ID, session start and end time.’

Customer session logs record users’ interactions with websites or apps, tracking login times, page views, and clicks. Terminal IDs are unique codes that help businesses track which of their computers processed a transaction. Such data helps IT system managers monitor behaviour, troubleshoot errors, and audit security to nab fraudsters.

‘The licensee shall grant the authority’s authorised officers’ reasonable access to premises, systems, records, and equipment for the purpose of inspection, audit, or investigation,’ the rules say.

Those in breach of the regulations face fines equivalent to 0.2 percent of their annual turnover, with the minimum penalty set at Sh500,000. They also face business closure.

Kenyans lost Sh491.6 million ($3.8 million) and cryptocurrency after cyber-criminals hijacked victims’ mobile phone numbers in the SIM-swap fraud.

International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) reckons that Kenya’s SIM swap fraud surged by 327 per cent last year on the back of increased use of mobile money platforms.

Read: How Kenyans lost Sh491m, cryptos via SIM hijack

The surge in attacks highlights the risk of cyber heists in the wake of lenders’ heavy investments in tech and mobile banking.

Through SIM swap fraud, fraudsters hijack victims’ phone numbers, gaining unauthorised access to sensitive accounts such as banking, mobile phone wallets and cryptocurrency platforms. It occurs when a fraudster convinces a mobile carrier to transfer a victim’s phone number to a SIM card they control, exploiting the legitimate feature of mobile number portability.

Once the swap is complete, the victim’s phone loses network connectivity, and the fraudster receives all calls and texts, including one-time passwords for account access.

Kenya built a reputation as a pioneer of financial inclusion through its early adoption of a mobile money system that enables people to transfer cash and make payments on cellphones with or without a bank account.

This has become a hackers’ paradise. Mobile banking was the hardest hit, with criminals siphoning off Sh810.68 million in 2024, translating to a 344 percent rise from Sh182.41 million in the prior year.

The thefts often happen on Friday and Saturday night, with millennials-individuals born between 1981 and 1996- being the most affected.

Cyber cafés in Kenya boomed in the late 2000s and early 2010s in the cities and larger towns.

But widespread use of smartphones and cheaper, faster mobile data have largely replaced the need for traditional internet browsing at cyber cafés.

Cybercriminals are exploiting public internet shops by installing malware on their unsecured computers to record customer usernames, passwords, and banking details, and intercepting their networks to snoop on customers’ activity.

The criminals run their activities anonymously because police struggle to track them as the majority of the cafés do not enforce strict user ID checks.

The CA previously proposed mandatory CCTV surveillance for all cafés but has dropped the requirement in the latest rules.

The new rules also require cyber cafés to install software and set network filters in their computers that block access to illegal websites and scan web traffic in real time to stop dangerous downloads or illegal files.

They also bar café owners from bandwidth reselling – buying bulk data or a high-capacity connection from internet service providers and breaking it down to sell smaller amounts to end users – without the CA’s approval.

The new rules also seek to stamp out other internet offences like piracy, document forgery, identity theft and cyberbullying. Businesses in breach of the new regulations face closure.

‘The authority may suspend the licensed services where the licensee has breached a condition in this licence and the licensee has been notified of the breach of the licence condition and has been given notice to comply within a specified period and failed to comply,’ the CA says.

I believe The Sweetest Taboo by Sade is one of the greatest songs ever written and Sade Adu is one of the greatest performers of all time.

I love Sade, and last week I saw a movie that reminded me of the group. In a very strange way, watching Tides, I couldn’t help but wonder whether the director and writers had the group in mind.

Directed by Reuben Odanga and produced by Multan Production, Tides is a musical romance drama set on the Kenyan coast. It follows Salma (Sarah Hassan) and Biko (Brian Kabugi), a struggling musician couple trying to balance love, ambition, and the crushing reality of poverty while caring for their ill daughter.

Alongside them is Minnie Kariuki (Brenda) the sister and Morgan (Dumisani Mbebe), a worldly character whose presence complicates the family’s journey. The film blends family drama with music, and while it doesn’t always succeed, it offers some intense character moments and drama.

There’s a balance between experienced younger actors and more mature performers in this film that gives the story a sense of depth. Sarah Hassan is great as Salma, especially in her musical performances, where her costumes and stage presence elevate the character, she is good in this, though I still maintain we need a role that pushes her further. Kabugi’s Biko in writing is flawed, but his performance gives the character the edge, and though his arc feels rushed in places, he remains compelling.

Mbebe’s Morgan has the look and I was glad that, in the writing and perfomance, they avoid stereotypes and delivers a grounded, polished character who feels authentic to the world rather than defined by nationality, in simple terms, amapiano doesn’t play when he first appears. Even when flashes of his South African roots slip through, it is appropriately applied within the context of the story and moment.

Minne Kariuki adds the necessary contrast that is needed to drive Salma’s arc, even though she has her own spicy run in the story, though I thought the writing could have taken her further. I thought Sikukuu Hamisi Jumaa gives the most realistic performance in the film, as she has an authentic coastal touch that grounds and creates a realistic coastal family feel to a lot of her scenes.

The casting of Biko’s parents was perfect, its one of those moments you will need to see for yourself.

There are also other surprise cameos in the film that I will not spoil.

Music and storytelling

The music is the heartbeat of Tides. Composed by Silayio, the soundtrack is filled with original songs that are not only memorable but also interwoven into the narrative. At one point, lyrics align perfectly with the drama, creating a layered storytelling moment.

Some tracks are so well-timed emotionally that they could stand as a standalone music video, one incredible song in particular, the cinematography, the costume, the tone, and the performances just come together perfectly to deliver a fantastic experience.

Drama and universe

The film exists within Reuben Odanga’s growing cinematic universe, with nods to Mo-Faya and Nafsi popping up in posters and background details. That means the film also follows Odanga’s storytelling style that exploits the complexity of human relationships with melodrama as the story’s driving force, tackling the globally recognisable theme of love in the face of adversity.

Basically, fans of telenovelas or his work like Nafsi and Lazizi will recognise the approach. He likes to push characters to the edge, it looks like (like Jeremy Clarkson) he asks himself, ‘what could possibly go wrong with this character?’ and then proceeds to take the character there. But at the end of the day, each character’s motivation is clear, even if some twists and the drama feels forced or unresolved. It is always clear why the characters are doing what they are doing.

The cinematography gives the film a polished look and feel, with beautiful close-ups and stage shots, this despite the fact that I don’t think they fully utilise the coast as their location with the exterior shots. I expected more wide shots capturing a unique look at the coast.

The premises are never disorienting, with a clever blending of interior and exterior shots that make locations feel seamless. As a result, as the viewer, you never feel lost or out of place.

The movie also benefits from strong appropriate costume design, with characters costumes matching their status. Hassan’s outfits and makeup move from poor to striking depending on the scene, Minnie’s makeup is bold, with a good reason for that and Morgan’s wardrobe adds subtle detail to his character.

There is a sensibility to environmental noises, wind on a boat, crowds outside, that adds realism to the world. At times, crowd noise feels mismatched, but overall the soundscape enhances immersion.

There’s product placement for one brand that makes logical sense, as it is the go-to drink for foreigners when they want a taste of the country. I hope the production team got paid for that.

Gripes

Character arcs, especially Biko’s and Salma’s, feel rushed. Quiet moments that could have added emotional weight are missing. Salma, for instance, makes drastic decisions without a moment of reflection, alone beforehand, that would have made her decisions more powerful. An example is her third-act decision, which I thought could have benefited from a minute with her on the beach alone as she thinks, so as to allow the audience to sit with her issues and process them.

The film editing and pacing often prioritises moving the story forward over letting us live with the characters. And that comes out clearly in the third act when some decisions feel abrupt.

This leaves performances strong but undercut by the lack of space to breathe. The abundance of characters and subplots also makes the film feel like it was originally conceived as a series rather than a feature. There’s simply too much left unexplored and you can’t shake off the feeling a lot was left on the editing floor.

Back to Sade: the band as a whole at the centre of the story is underdeveloped. They lack a clear collective goal, which weakens what is meant to be a pivotal moment in the third act. Had they been given a shared vision, their journey would have felt richer than what is presented.

This may not be an issue to a lot of people, but I thought the structure and some story elements were, one would call it accessible, familiar. I would call it generic, simple, safe.

The elephant in the room

For me, a small but divisive element is a hospital scene involving the daughter’s illness and current policical agendas. It introduces a simple and quick statement that feels heavy-handed and dilutes the emotional core of the story. For me, it made the whole film feel like a piece of propaganda rather than art.

Instead of challenging , balancing perspectives, or having that in the background, treat it like an afterthought, the moment felt like it froze or built everything around the daughter to deliver or lead to that one message. This overshadowed the child’s storyline and undermined the film’s integrity.

Other creative issues, the title card looks good design-wise, but the black background and lack of animation doesn’t work. A more creative integration of the beach and wave motif that are repeated throughout the film could have been a better background. The credits at the end look unpolished and fail to match the cinematic ambition of the film. It’s the coast, so would people call the love of their lives ‘babe’ or ‘mpenzi’?

Morgan’s reason for the visit should have remained a mystery up until things started to get complicated.

I also thought Tides should have been the name of the band.

Final thoughts

I loved the music, admired the performances across the board, and appreciated Odanga’s ambition. Yet that one political moment stripped the film of its value. But that’s just me, the film offers plenty to enjoy. The twist, the drama and music come together to give a unique coastal experience.

The High Court has rejected a request to suspend the appointment of three directors of Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco), ruling that the new government-owned enterprises law does not apply to the utility firm.

The court said Ketraco was not listed under the Government-Owned Enterprises Act, 2025, which formed the basis of the legal challenge. It found that the petitioners had failed to establish a strong case warranting interim orders.

‘Ketraco is not among the entities listed as falling under the regime upon which the petitioners have sought to rely. The Government-Owned Enterprises Act, therefore, does not apply to the impugned appointments,’ the court said.

The ruling leaves the directors-Mercylinnete Rotich, Janerose Gatwiri and Nick Ochola-in office pending determination of the substantive petition lodged by Issa Elanyi Chamao, Patrick Karani Ekirapa and Paul Ngweywo Kirui.

The decision follows an earlier interim order issued in June, which had temporarily stopped the three directors from exercising their board functions.

Those orders had also suspended Ketraco board resolutions made by or in the presence of the three appointees from May 29, 2026, when they were appointed.

The appointees joined Ketraco following an appointment by Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi.

The National Treasury had advertised the vacancies on May 18, inviting applications for independent directors to the boards of government-owned enterprises, with May 29 as the application deadline.

The petitioners argued that Mr Wandayi appointed the three directors while the advertised recruitment process was still open. They said this bypassed the Government-Owned Enterprises Boards Search and Selection Panel created under the new law.

They challenged the appointments under sections of the Act and constitutional principles covering good governance, transparency, accountability, public participation and fair administrative action.

The petitioners sought orders stopping the three directors from performing their functions and suspending board resolutions made with their participation from May 29.

Ketraco opposed the application, arguing that its governance remains anchored in the State Corporations Act and its Articles of Association because it is absent from the schedules of the 2025 Act.

The company said Parliament had deliberately excluded Ketraco from the new framework. It also argued that the transition provisions could not apply because the audit required before transition had not been completed or published.

The company further told the court that the interim orders had impaired its ability to approve budgets, authorise payments, supervise transmission projects and meet obligations to contractors and financiers.

The Government-Owned Enterprises Act commenced on December 5, 2025. Its First Schedule lists entities including Kenya Power, KenGen, Kenya Airports Authority, Kenya Ports Authority and Kenya Railways Corporation, but not Ketraco.

In its ruling, the court found that the petitioners had not shown a strong case with a likelihood of success. It said the court could later revoke or annul the appointments if the substantive petition succeeded.

The judge also found that the petitioners had not shown irreparable harm or demonstrated that the petition would become ineffective without interim protection.

Since the petitioners had not claimed to have applied for the advertised positions, been shortlisted or been denied consideration, the court found no basis for their claim of legitimate expectation.

Consolidated Bank of Kenya’s net profit for the half-year to June 2026 grew 14-fold, riding on lower interest expenses following mobilisation of cheap deposits, especially from government institutions.

The state-owned lender recorded a net profit of Sh174.8 million for the six months compared to Sh12 million posted in a similar period a year earlier.

This followed a 26.7 percent drop in interest expenses despite a 12.9 percent expansion of its deposit base to Sh13.5 billion. Banks make money by accepting cash deposits in return for interest payments and then investing that money elsewhere.

The bank’s profit is the difference between the interest it pays depositors and the yield it makes through investing.

This is the fastest deposit growth recorded by Consolidated Bank in more than five years, which comes on the back of the National Treasury issuing a circular to state institutions asking them to bank with the lender.

The lender’s management says the deposit growth follows aggressive face-to-face marketing among the existing client base.

‘Government business takes long to close. You have to get board approvals and then forward to the parent ministry to give its nod for you to change a banker. That takes four to five months,’ Consolidated Bank Acting CEO, Dominic Murage, told The Business Daily.

Consolidated Bank invested the bulk of the new deposits in government securities, growing its earnings from Treasury bills and bonds to Sh497.6 million from Sh359.7 million.

The growth in deposits also helped lower reliance on borrowing from other commercial banks, saving the lender Sh43 million.

Treasury has also committed to injecting more capital in the bank to bring it back to compliance with regulatory requirements.

‘The majority shareholder … has committed to a capital injection … even as the board and management are implementing other plans on sale of non-core assets,’ Dr Murage said.

The bank has earmarked its properties in Muranga, Embu and Mombasa for sale to boost its capital position in a proposal forwarded to the government for consideration.

The plan will see it retain its headquarters in Nairobi, Koinange Street.

A declining interest rate environment helped the bank keep its cost of deposits low while also allowing for a 4.1 percent growth in its loan book.

The bank which has not had a substantive chief executive and chairman since early this year following non-renewal of its former CEO’s contract which split the board saw its director’s remuneration fall by half to Sh11.9 million from Sh22.2 million. The bank had operated for a period without a fully constituted board, resulting in the drop in directors’ pay.

Consolidated Bank bounced back to profitability last year after a decade of loss-making and has retained a growth trajectory.

The decade-long stay in the red had wiped its core capital to negative Sh523 million. Its accumulated losses are Sh4.1 billion, with the lender non-compliant in all capital parameters set by the Central Bank of Kenya.

Its core capital to total deposit liabilities ratio is at negative four percent against a mandatory eight percent, while its total capital to total risk-weighted assets is at negative four percent against the statutory 14.5 percent.

A fresh attempt by NCBA Bank Kenya to place indebted logistics firm Multiple Hauliers (EA) Ltd under administration over Sh7.2 billion debt has been temporarily blocked by the High Court, adding a new twist to the company’s insolvency battle. The debt to NCBA is part of Sh31 billion claims against the logistics firm by various lenders and creditors.

The court, in an order dated August 7, 2026, barred two bank-appointed administrators from taking charge of the company’s operations pending hearing of an application challenging the move.

The court also barred NCBA and the Kenya Commercial Bank from appointing a receiver or receivers over the company until the application is heard.

The orders came just days after NCBA appointed Muniu Thoithi and George Weru of PricewaterhouseCoopers Limited as joint administrators of Multiple Hauliers.

The appointment was announced in a Gazette Notice dated July 27, 2026, which said the administrators would explore ways of rescuing the company as a going concern or securing a better outcome for creditors than liquidation.

‘The primary objective of administration proceedings under the Insolvency Act is to allow the Administrators, licensed insolvency practitioners, to explore ways of rescuing the company either as a going concern where feasible or achieving a better outcome for the creditors of the company than would be in the case of a liquidation,’ the lender said in a July 27, 2026 notice.

‘The Administrators request anyone with a claim against the company to submit it to them within the next 14 days from the date of this notice, for inclusion in the companies’ rolls of creditors. The Joint Administrators act on behalf of the Company without any personal liability,’ it added.

Administration is a process through which a third party – an administrator – is appointed to take over the affairs of a company in distress to improve its financial situation for the benefit of its creditors or effect a sale of the business to preserve its value.

The fresh court orders mean the PwC administrators cannot, for now, hold themselves out as administrators or take control of the company’s operations.

‘A conservatory order is hereby issued restraining the third and fourth respondents from holding themselves out as the administrators, or taking charge of the operations, of Multiple Hauliers Ltd, or from discharging any such functions purporting to be the administrators over Multiple Hauliers Ltd, pending the hearing of the notice of motion application,’ said Justice Gregory Mutai.

This decision followed an urgent application by Rajinder Singh Baryan and Manvir Singh Baryan challenging the appointment.

The order does not finally determine whether NCBA’s appointment of the administrators was lawful. The court has instead preserved the position pending arguments from the parties.

Justice Mutai certified the application as urgent and fixed it for hearing on September 25, 2026.

The company’s broader insolvency dispute pits major secured lenders owed in excess of Sh16 billion -though the Official Receiver’s November 2024 report indicated that the total debts were in excess of Sh31.4 billion while the total assets of the company were Sh17 billion.

The senior lenders include NCBA Bank Kenya, which has been seeking to recover Sh7.2 billion from the transport company.

Other secured lenders drawn in the commercial tussle include KCB Bank Kenya, Co-operative Bank of Kenya, Prime Bank, I and M Bank and Bank of India, alongside Synergy Industrial Credit and the National Social Security Fund.

Court records indicate that KCB and Co-op Bank were owed Sh8.82 billion as per the official receiver’s Term Sheet dated May 29, 2024, while I and M Bank was owed Sh627.9 million.

The insolvency proceedings have also involved a Sh532 million claim by Synergy Industrial Credit, which sought liquidation of Multiple Hauliers after alleging that the company was unable to pay its debts. The High Court later consolidated the administration and liquidation proceedings.

The company has moved between lender-appointed and court-supervised administration during the legal dispute. In September 2024, Justice Alfred Mabeya appointed the Official Receiver after earlier administrators resigned and directed the receiver to oversee a proposed investment transaction. The court also required periodic reports to creditors.

NCBA had appointed an administrator in June 2021, but the appointment was suspended, and the matter was consolidated with Synergy’s liquidation petition.

The Gazette notice now identifies Thoithi and Weru, both from PwC, as the joint administrators appointed by NCBA.

The notice states that the purpose of the administration is to enable the practitioners to explore rescuing Multiple Hauliers as a going concern, where feasible, or to obtain a better result for creditors than liquidation would provide.

It further states that the administrators will act on behalf of the company without personal liability.

The company’s financial distress has been before the courts for years. Synergy moved to liquidate Multiple Hauliers in 2020 over its debt, but the High Court suspended the petition to allow the company to restructure and pursue a turnaround.

In December 2025, the Court of Appeal granted NCBA a stay of further proceedings in the High Court insolvency cause. The appellate ruling records NCBA as one of the company’s main creditors and notes that the High Court had appointed the Official Receiver as administrator in September 2024.

The Gazette notice did not announce liquidation. Although its heading referred to an ‘Appointment of Liquidators Notice’, the body expressly states that Mr Thoithi and Mr Weru were appointed as ‘Joint Administrators’ under section 534 of the Insolvency Act.

The notice had directed anyone claiming money from Multiple Hauliers to submit their claims to the administrators within 14 days for inclusion in the creditors’ rolls.

It described administration as a process aimed at giving licensed insolvency practitioners an opportunity to rescue a distressed company or achieve a better outcome for creditors than liquidation.

It also said the administrators would act on behalf of the company without personal liability.

The August 7 order now places that appointment under direct judicial scrutiny, with the parties required to present their competing positions before the High Court on September 25.

The counties’ health workforce shrank 26 percent in the financial year 2025/26, leaving the devolved governments scrambling to replace tens of thousands of frontline workers as donor-funded programmes wind down.

New disclosures show that healthcare workforce fell to 98,907 from 149,447 the previous year, a loss of 50,540 workers, according to the 2026 State of Devolution Address.

Most of the drop, about 41,000 workers, is attributed to the termination of US government programmes, including 28,600 frontline healthcare workers.

The figures exclude workers in national referral hospitals, as well as those in faith-based and private facilities.

The overall reduction also reflects the transfer of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital from the county to the national government.

‘For the period under review, the total health workforce across all 47 counties was 98,907, excluding those in national referral, faith-based, and private hospitals. This presents a 26 percent decline,’ said the Council of Governors in the report.

The staffing shock followed the US decision in January 2025 to pause foreign development assistance for 90 days and review its programmes. The move initially disrupted PEPFAR-supported services in Kenya, with UNAids reporting that health workers in affected facilities were instructed to stop work, while staff of implementing partners were sent on leave.

Although a subsequent waiver allowed lifesaving HIV treatment to continue, the disruption persisted. By March 2025, UNAids reported that doctors, nurses, laboratory technologists, pharmacists and community health workers supported by US programmes had been affected, alongside disruptions to some HIV treatment and community services.

The cuts were later fixed through a July 2025 US rescissions law that cancelled Sh1.2 trillion previously approved global foreign aid, while USAid was dismantled.

The changes marked a significant shift in the way US health assistance is delivered, including its long-standing support for Kenya’s HIV response.

In December 2025, Kenya and the US signed a five-year Health Framework for Cooperation covering HIV and other health priorities, signalling a move towards a new model of health cooperation and greater co-investment between the two countries.

The shift in US health financing now leaves counties facing a greater share of the cost of maintaining the workforce. County health allocations increased by 11.7 percent to about Sh154.58 billion in 2025/26, from Sh137.57 billion the previous year.

The Council of Governors said counties have responded by recruiting clinical officers, laboratory technicians, and nurses to fill the gaps. In the year under review, 498 doctors were released for postgraduate training, while 40 percent of the 681 health workers who had been studying in the previous year returned to work.

A parliamentary committee wants the competition watchdog to ensure that the proposed acquisition of British multinational Diageo’s stake in East African Breweries PLC (EABL) by Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings does not undermine market competition or prejudice the interests of local farmers, distributors, employees and consumers.

The Finance and National Planning Committee chaired by Molo MP Kuria Kimani has asked the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) to ensure binding safeguards for farmers and competitors in the proposed Diageo-Asahi deal.

Speaking at a meeting with the CAK on the proposed sale, the committee demanded to know whether the transaction has specific safeguards to protect stakeholders following the ownership transition.

‘We must ensure that farmers, distributors and employees are not left vulnerable once this transaction is concluded. These protections must be in place before any merger,’ Mr Kimani said.

‘The transaction must be backed by enforceable contractual commitments.”

Mr Kimani also directed CAK to submit a Kenya-specific valuation of the transaction and documentary evidence of the proposed stakeholder safeguards within seven days.

Diageo and Asahi Holdings agreed the sale of the 65 percent stake in EABL for a consideration of $2.354 billion (Sh304.6 billion) in December 2025.

Asahi also agreed to purchase Diageo’s 53.68 percent holding in spirits producer and importer UDV Kenya for $646 million (Sh83.6 billion), taking the total size of the deal to Sh388.2 billion.

Asahi aims to leverage EABL’s strong brand portfolio and production facilities to expand its presence in East Africa while EABL looks to maintain its operations and continue to grow under Asahi’s stewardship.

While responding to Mr Kimani’s concerns, CAK director-general David Kemei told MPs that existing contracts with sorghum and millet farmers, distributors, and employees would remain binding and fully honoured, adding that the competition watchdog will continuously monitor compliance with all merger conditions.

‘We have proposed a key condition requiring the merged entity to reserve at least 20 percent of shelf space in major retail outlets for competing brands to safeguard fair competition and consumer choice,’ Mr Kemei said.

Committee members sought clarification on measures that are in place to prevent smaller beverage manufacturers from being edged out of the retail market.

The committee further sought to know the financial safeguards accompanying the transaction.

Mr Kemei said Asahi and EABL would be required to establish a dedicated financial reserve equivalent to four percent of the total transaction value to cover third-party liabilities and legal claims arising from the sale.

Most new residential developments have children squeezing into a small play area, taking turns on a slide or running around the little space left between the parking bays and apartment blocks. A few metres away, there are rows of cars that occupy much of the compound, while balconies rise several floors above them.

These developments tick nearly every box for modern urban living: security, a convenient location, a swimming pool, gym, parking and sometimes even a rooftop lounge. But when it comes to one of the simplest needs for a family-space for children to play-the offering can be limited.

David Murugi, an architect, explains that rising land prices have put pressure on developers to maximise the number of saleable units. These spaces, he says, are now competing directly with apartments, parking and other revenue-generating amenities such as gyms and swimming pools.

‘In most of the high-density areas, every square metre has an economic value. So any additional space will be viewed by a developer as potential for another apartment block as opposed to a children’s playground,’ he says.

The architect argues that children’s spaces were historically incorporated more naturally into estate planning.

‘The challenge is that we are designing vertically, but children still need horizontal spaces where they can run, explore and interact.’

Additionally, the architect says the growth in car ownership has also increased pressure on residential developments to provide parking.

The architect observes that children’s needs are currently overlooked in housing decisions.

‘These residential developments have been primarily marketed around things adults consider when buying a home like the number of bedrooms, parking, security, swimming pools, gyms, views and finishes. Children’s needs have then become secondary, even though families are among the main occupants.’

The pressure to maximise land use is becoming more pronounced as property values rise in some of Nairobi’s traditionally low-density neighbourhoods. For instance, land prices in Karen and Lang’ata have recorded some of the fastest growth among Nairobi suburbs and satellite towns this year. This follows a policy change that allowed high-rise developments in sections of the estates.

According to HassConsult, a real estate consultancy that tracks rents and property sales, the price of an acre in Karen rose by 10 per cent to Sh79.5 million, while Lang’ata recorded a 9.8 per cent growth to Sh94.7 million.

The consultancy attributed the increase to the Nairobi City County Development Control Policy 2026, which changed zoning rules to allow higher-density residential developments in designated areas.

The shift towards higher-density construction is likely to further intensify the competition for communal space within residential developments, as developers seek to accommodate more units on expensive land.

Read: Give your children their special space in the garden

Ben Okoth, a real estate developer, says the cost aspect determines how much of a site can be dedicated to housing and how much can be set aside for shared amenities.

Depending on zoning regulations, plot size, allowable building height, setbacks, parking requirements and other planning considerations, a single parcel can accommodate dozens or even hundreds of apartments.

‘If you take 10 or 20 per cent of a site and dedicate it to a playground, that is land you cannot use for another block or additional units. The question here is not what the playground costs to construct because you also have to consider the opportunity cost of the land. In some locations, that can be important.’

Consequently, Mr Okoth says that in family-oriented developments, children’s facilities can help differentiate a project from competing properties and influence the decisions of buyers and tenants.

‘If you are building for families, the presence of a proper children’s play area can be a selling point. What we see in these cases is that parents are also buying the environment in which their children will grow. A development that offers safe and usable outdoor space can have that advantage over one that does not.’

He continues to say that a family buying a three or four-bedroom apartment may attach greater importance to children’s facilities than a young professional buying a one-bedroom unit.

‘Not every buyer is willing to pay more simply because a development has a bigger playground. But for a family, the availability of a safe play area can influence the overall value they attach to a property. It can make the difference between choosing one development over another, even if the price is similar.’

At the same time, developers have to prioritise amenities based on what attracts buyers while still considering construction, maintenance and land costs. Parking, for example, can be difficult to reduce because it is closely linked to the functionality of a development.

‘Every amenity has to be looked at in terms of the value it creates. The strongest amenities are those that helps the development attract and retain the target buyer.’

‘The industry is not saying that children do not need space. The reality is that we are trying to accommodate more people on expensive land. For us the solution is to design recreational spaces intelligently so that they are still useful without making the entire project financially unviable,’ Mr Okoth adds.

The developer says that if buyers begin to consistently demonstrate that they are willing to pay a premium for developments with quality children’s facilities, developers will respond to that demand. Ultimately, developers build what the market values, within the limits of planning regulations and project economics.

For Gerry Nyaori, a father of three, finding a home that meets the needs of his family has meant making a compromise on outdoor space for his children.

Mr Nyaori, whose youngest child is five, has lived in Nairobi for years and moved houses a number of times with his family.

He says his previous rental home had a compound, but much of the available outdoor space was taken up by parking, leaving little room for the children to play.

‘Last year, we moved to a four-bedroom apartment in Kileleshwa that was sold to us at Sh34 million. The home ticks most of the boxes, especially for my wife. All the four bedrooms are en-suite, the property has a servant’s quarter, parking space for nearly three cars and a backyard,’ he says.

However, Mr Nyaori says that the residential development does not have a large playground for children. Although there is a designated children’s area, Mr Nyaori says it is more suited for younger children, particularly those aged four and below.

‘My older children need more space for different forms of recreation. Children grow, and they need more space to run around and play. I don’t see how my 12-year-old son would enjoy playing with swings,’ he says.

Mr Nyaori adds that this limitation means the family has to incur additional costs to take the children elsewhere for activities, whether to a park or another facility with more room.

‘The house had almost everything we wanted. For us as parents, it ticked most of the boxes, so we were not going to give up the house simply because it did not have a bigger children’s play area,’ he says.

Africa stands at a defining moment in the future of trade. For years, the debate has focused on access to capital, regulatory complexity and the cost of doing business across borders. Those issues still matter. But the bigger question now is this: how does trade move?

If Africa is to unlock the full potential of intra-African commerce, industrial growth and SME participation, it must digitise not just transactions, but the trade ecosystem itself.

According to recent trade assessments by Afreximbank and African Development Bank, Africa still faces an estimated annual trade finance gap, currently estimated by the African Trade Report 2025 to be $100 billion, even as trade becomes more central to the continent’s growth story.

Trade finance in Africa is still slowed by structural friction. Too many transactions remain trapped in paper-heavy workflows, fragmented verification systems and manual handoffs between banks, customs agencies, logistics providers, shipping lines and corporate customers. These are not minor inefficiencies.

They lengthen turnaround times, raise operating costs, delay access to working capital and make trade less accessible, especially for micro, small and medium enterprises. The answer is not simply more financing. It is better trade infrastructure.

Digitisation goes to the heart of that problem. In trade finance, the biggest cost drivers are often not the products themselves, but the friction around them: onboarding, Know-Your-Customer (KYC), document preparation, compliance checks, financing approvals, reconciliation and dispute resolution. In manual environments, every stage demands repeated validation, physical document movement and significant human intervention. The result is limited visibility, repeated follow-ups and avoidable delays.

By contrast, digital onboarding, automated KYC, electronic documentation and workflow-based processing reduce manual touchpoints and shorten the transaction lifecycle. For clients, that means faster access to goods and funding. For financial institutions, it means lower cost-to-serve and better client experience.

But Africa’s opportunity is bigger than converting paper into PDFs.

The real shift is from digitised institutions to connected trade ecosystems. Trade finance is not a single-bank process; it is an interconnected chain involving ports, customs, insurers, transporters, buyers, sellers and regulators. If one part of that chain stays manual while the rest modernises, the benefits are diluted. That is why interoperability is becoming one of the defining themes of global digital trade.

The AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade stresses harmonised rules, common standards and interoperable systems, while the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Digital Standards Initiative argues that the future lies in trusted, interoperable data flows rather than isolated digital platforms.

Africa is well positioned to move in that direction because it still has the chance to build new trade rails without inheriting the inefficiencies of older systems. The legal foundation for that shift is strengthening too.

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR) gives legal recognition to documents such as bills of lading, promissory notes and warehouse receipts, while the ICC has described MLETR as a critical enabler of digital trade and trade finance because, without legal certainty, technology alone cannot replace paper.

That legal shift matters because some of the most important documents in trade finance are also the most paper dependent. The bill of lading is the clearest example. As long as it remains tied to physical transfer, trade finance will remain slower and more expensive than it should be. That is why the push toward electronic bills of lading (eBLs) matters so much.

The economic case for Africa to move faster is already visible. Africa’s total merchandise trade reached $1.5 trillion in 2024, while intra-African trade rose to $220.3 billion. UNCTAD’s Global Trade Update identified Africa as one of the strongest performing regions in global trade growth in 2025, with imports growing by 10 percent and exports by 6 percent.

The point is simple: Africa is already trading at scale. Digitisation is not about creating trade where none exists; it is about helping the continent trade better, faster and more competitively.

Other markets are already proving the point. The UK government has said its legal recognition of electronic trade documents could reduce processing times by up to 75 percent and generate £1.14 billion for the UK economy over the next decade. In Europe, the European Commission says the EU is the global leader in digitally deliverable services, valued pound 1.7 trillion in 2024, while Eurostat reported pound 1.568 trillion in extra-EU services exports and a pound 194 billion trade surplus in the same year.

The East African corridor shows both Africa’s trade momentum and the urgency of deeper reform. According to the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), the Port of Mombasa handled a record 45.45 million metric tons of cargo in 2025, while container throughput reached 2.11 million TEUs and transit cargo grew by19.5 percent to 15.88 million tonnes.

These record volumes demonstrate the corridor’s increasing strategic importance, but also reinforce the need for greater digital integration, faster cargo visibility and more seamless cross-border trade processes.

Yet stronger volumes have not eliminated corridor friction. According to regional corridor performance assessments by the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA) and TradeMark Africa, transit times from Mombasa to Malaba remain around 76-80 hours, compared with the corridor target of 36-48 hours, while cargo encounters 22-27 road enforcement checkpoints along the route. These operational inefficiencies reinforce the case for greater digital integration across the trade ecosystem.

This is why trade digitisation matters: alongside reforms in customs, visibility and coordination, Pan-African Payment and Settlement System can reduce payment costs and complexity by enabling cross-border settlement in local currencies.