Category: Business Daily

The ruling leaves intact a tribunal decision that found Tile and Carpet Centre Ltd’s Aertech All-in-One heat pump qualifies for a tariff code attracting zero percent import duty.

It also reinforces the principle that KRA must present concrete evidence, rather than projections, when seeking to halt tax decisions pending appeal.

The court dismissed KRA’s application to suspend the tribunal’s March 2026 judgment, saying the authority’s claim that the decision would encourage other importers to seek similar tax treatment remained unsupported.

“The commissioner’s assertion of potential substantial loss of government revenue is speculative,” the court said.

It added that KRA had not produced “any tangible evidence” to demonstrate the scale of the alleged revenue loss.

“No financial projections, statistical data or affidavits from industry experts, have been presented to quantify the revenue at risk or to establish a causal link between the Tribunal’s decision and the purported widespread adoption of the lower tariff,” the court said.

The dispute stems from the Tribunal’s March 27, 2026 decision classifying the Aertech All-in-One heat pump under a tariff attracting zero import duty instead of the higher duty sought by KRA.

Three days later, the Commissioner of Customs and Border Control moved to the High Court seeking to suspend that judgment pending determination of an appeal. KRA argued that if the ruling remained in force, importers dealing in similar products could rely on it to claim the lower tariff classification, leading to significant losses in customs revenue.

The authority further argued that the Tribunal’s orders were declaratory rather than monetary and therefore no security was required before granting a stay.

Tile and Carpet Centre opposed the application, saying KRA had failed to demonstrate any substantial or irreparable loss. The company argued that the dispute was purely financial and any taxes eventually found payable could still be recovered if KRA succeeded on appeal.

It also said granting a stay would deny it the benefit of a judgment that corrected what it described as an erroneous tariff classification.

The court said that KRA had not shown any immediate risk of irreparable loss because the importer remained an operating business capable of meeting any future tax obligations.

“The respondent is a going concern, capable of meeting its obligations, and therefore no substantial loss has been demonstrated,” it said.

The court also rejected KRA’s argument that the Tribunal’s decision would automatically affect the wider importing industry.

“While it is conceivable that other importers may attempt to rely on the Tribunal’s reasoning to advance similar arguments, such reliance does not automatically compel the Commissioner to adopt the same tariff classification across the industry,’ the court said.

The ruling highlights the commercial importance of tariff classification disputes, which have become increasingly common between KRA and importers because a product’s classification determines the rate of customs duty and other import taxes.

Such disputes frequently reach the Tax Appeals Tribunal and the High Court, with businesses challenging KRA’s interpretation of customs tariff codes for industrial equipment, manufactured goods and other imports.

The court said the requirements for granting a stay pending appeal are cumulative and that proving substantial loss is the foundation of such applications.

Having failed to satisfy that requirement, the court ruled that the Commissioner could not obtain the orders sought, he ruled.

The recent ceasefire framework in the Middle East has given markets something they badly wanted; a reason to breathe. Oil prices have eased from their highs. Investors have responded positively.

And after months of conflict involving Iran, Israel and the United States, it is understandable that many would like to believe the worst is behind us.

But for investors, especially those responsible for long-term savings and policyholder funds, relief is not the same thing as safety.

The real effects of a conflict like this do not end when the headlines soften.

They move quietly through the system, through fuel prices, freight costs, inflation, currencies, interest rates and borrowing costs. By the time those pressures show up in household budgets, company earnings or bond markets, the diplomatic story has often moved on.

That matters greatly for African economies. Much of Africa experiences global shocks through transmission. A conflict far away becomes more expensive for fuel at home. Higher fuel costs raise transport costs.

Transport costs feed into food prices and the broader cost of living. Pressure on import bills increases demand for US dollars, which can weaken local currencies. Once inflation and exchange rate pressure build together, central banks have less room to support growth.

That is when a geopolitical event becomes an everyday economic one. From an insurance industry asset perspective, this matters because the sector is built around long-term obligations.

Insurers and asset managers are not just reacting to short-term market moves. They are trying to preserve value, manage liquidity, protect policyholder funds and invest prudently in a world where shocks often last longer than expected.

That is why the Middle East conflict still matters, even in a period of de-escalation.

At the height of the disruption, oil rose from roughly $72 to as high as $120 per barrel. LNG prices also climbed sharply. More than 20 percent of global oil shipments move through the affected region. These are not minor shifts. They are large enough to affect inflation expectations globally and to delay the interest rate relief many markets have been hoping for.

For African economies that import energy, the pressure is immediate. Higher oil prices widen import bills and increase demand for hard currency. That can weaken local currencies and make imported inflation harder to contain.

For households, the squeeze is felt in transport, food and utilities. For businesses, it shows up in tighter margins and more cautious investment decisions. For investors, it creates a more difficult environment for both bonds and equities.

Kenya offers a useful example. Before the conflict, inflation had been easing and there was growing confidence that pressure on households and markets might begin to soften. But shocks like this interrupt that path.

Jubilee Asset Management’s scenario analysis showed that under a prolonged disruption, Kenya’s inflation could move from a 4.3 percent pre shock baseline to between 6.5 percent and 8.0 percent in the base case, while the shilling could weaken by 5 percent to 10 percent.

Those changes are not abstract. They affect the price of government borrowing, the value of bond portfolios, the resilience of listed companies and the purchasing power of ordinary families.

This is why the industry should be cautious about treating a ceasefire as a clean end to the risk. Even when fighting cools, the financial aftereffects can linger. Shipping confidence does not return overnight. Freight and insurance costs can remain elevated. Inflation can stay sticky. And if inflation stays sticky, interest rates may remain higher for longer than markets would like.

The lesson here, Africa should not be treated as one market in moments like this. The same shock can produce very different outcomes. Some economies may benefit from higher commodity prices.

Others will feel the strain through weaker currencies, tighter financing conditions and slower household demand. That is why selectivity matters. Broad narratives are easy. Sound investment judgment is harder.

For the insurance and asset management industry, the lesson is not to panic. It is to stay disciplined. This is a time to pay close attention to inflation risk, currency exposure, duration, liquidity and balance sheet strength.

It is a time to favour resilience over excitement. It is also a reminder that protecting long term savings is often less about chasing the next rally and more about understanding where pressure is building beneath the surface.

The ceasefire is welcome. Everyone should hope it holds. But investors, insurers and long-term savers should look beyond immediate relief. The real test is whether oil, inflation, currencies and rates are returning to a more stable path.

Kidney patients will start paying less for dialysis treatment after the government removed a 16 percent value-added tax (VAT) on dialysers-the filters used to clean blood during haemodialysis sessions.

The Finance Act 2026, signed into law by President William Ruto last week, exempts dialysers from VAT with effect from July 1, offering some relief to the thousands of patients for whom the cost of staying alive has risen sharply over the past three years.

Dialysers are single-use filtration devices that are inserted into a dialysis machine at each session to remove waste products, excess fluid and toxins from the blood of patients whose kidneys can no longer perform this function. They cannot be reused, so a new one is required for every session.

Over the past three years, the cost of dialysis consumables, including dialysers, has increased by 30 percent, driven by the introduction of VAT on previously exempt medical supplies and the imposition of import duty on items that previously entered the country tax-free.

VAT on dialysis was introduced through the 2023 Finance Act, which took effect on July 1, 2023.

A dialyser that cost around Sh800 three years ago now sells for up to Sh1,100, pushing up treatment costs as hospitals pass the higher price on to patients.

For example, a dialysis session at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) costs Sh13,000, of which the government, through the Social Health Authority (SHA), pays Sh11,650. This leaves a balance of Sh1,350 for the patient to cover per session.

On the standard twice-weekly schedule, the shortfall amounts to over Sh140,000 per patient per year, excluding transport, medication and clinical reviews.

SHA usually covers two sessions per week, with an additional session permitted upon specialist recommendation. Patients pay for two sessions per week, typically around Sh2,700 per week, or Sh10,800 per month. Those requiring three sessions pay around Sh16,200 per month.

“The increase is real and affects every item we use. Some items have more than doubled in price,’ said Dr Hussein Bagha, a consultant nephrologist at MP Shah Hospital.

The Kenya Renal Association estimates that around four million Kenyans are currently living with kidney disease, a figure which is expected to rise to 4.8 million by 2030. The prevalence of chronic kidney disease in Kenya is estimated at four percent of the population.

Meanwhile, over 8,000 patients are on dialysis, despite an estimated need for 15,000

A section of taxpayers on Monday struggled to log into the Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) online tax filing platform, iTax, as thousands rushed to submit their mandatory annual income tax returns ahead of the June 30 deadline to avoid penalties.

Some taxpayers were greeted by broken links and error messages when attempting to access the portal, leaving many frustrated and fearing they would miss the statutory deadline.

Under Kenyan law, taxpayers who fail to file their annual returns by June 30 risk late-filing penalties and, in some cases, default tax assessments by KRA.

The congestion is not new. Since iTax was rolled out in 2013, the platform has routinely experienced heavy traffic in the final days of the filing season as millions of taxpayers wait until the last minute to comply.

Experts insisted that compliant taxpayers should not be penalised for an error that was not theirs.

Every year, KRA mounts public awareness campaigns urging taxpayers to file early and avoid the predictable last-minute rush, but many still wait until the closing hours.

“This is not just a sensitisation issue. The June 30 deadline is predictable every year, and KRA needs a system that is scalable enough to handle peak traffic,” said Steve Okoth, Director and Regional Head of Tax at BDO East Africa, noting that the problem started over the weekend and persisted through Monday.

“The lasting solution is to upgrade capacity, stress-test the platform before the filing season, provide real-time public updates during outages, and extend filing deadlines where system failures materially affect taxpayers’ ability to comply,” added Mr Okoth.

Social media platforms were awash with complaints from frustrated taxpayers. Some appealed to KRA to extend the filing deadline, arguing that the outage was beyond their control.

By Monday evening, however, experiences remained mixed. While some taxpayers reported they had eventually managed to submit their returns after repeated attempts, others said they remained locked out of the system. Mr Okoth noted that some users had better success accessing iTax through Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox browsers than Google Chrome.

Kenya requires every holder of a KRA PIN with an income tax obligation-including those with no taxable income-to file an annual return.

The country has millions of registered individual taxpayers, making the June filing deadline one of KRA’s busiest compliance periods each year.

Read: Income tax filing phased from next January to ease last-minute congestion

Previous attempts to abolish mandatory annual returns for certain taxpayers have been shelved after the tax authority argued that the requirement remains a critical compliance and data collection tool.

Beyond annual income tax returns, taxpayers must follow different filing calendars depending on the tax head. PAYE returns are filed monthly by employers, VAT returns are due every month, while excise duty, turnover tax and several other obligations also follow monthly filing cycles.

Annual income tax returns remain the largest filing exercise because they cover every taxpayer with an income tax obligation.

By the close of business on Monday, KRA had not responded to Business Daily’s questions on the outage.

However, an official at the authority, who was not authorised to speak on the matter, attributed the disruption to “too many users at the same time,” saying the surge in simultaneous logins had likely strained the system.

The US-Iran conflict and the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz has shown us how modern conflicts spread their effects far beyond the battlefield. Iran’s use of the Strait in its neighbourhood as a weapon, and how trade, finance, food, energy and supply chains have become casualties is a big wake-up call for the globalised economy.

The first lesson is that globalisation and reliance on imported goods, which expose you to shocks beyond your control, is risky. It is worse if you have no power to resolve its cause, like in the US-Iran war.

Obviously, Kenya can’t and couldn’t send its Navy to open the Strait.

Instead, Kenya’s response should be to strengthen domestic production of as many strategic goods as possible. In energy, this means expanding renewable power, building strategic petroleum reserves and diversifying supply sources.

The second lesson is the link between economics and politics. In Kenya, “tumbocrat” is a common word that represents pursuit of livelihoods, and loosely describes politicians with a strong tendency to pursue politics for their own selfish interest.

But in all of human history this is not anything out of the ordinary. Most military and political conflicts are ultimately about economic interests. Governments derive legitimacy from their ability to provide jobs, incomes and economic stability.

The US-Iran conflict worsened an already difficult global economic environment. Higher energy costs raised prices and squeezed households and businesses. In the United Kingdom, Labour Party has just seen its popularity fall against a backdrop of economic dissatisfaction and rising pressure on living standards.

When economic conditions deteriorate, public support weakens regardless of the cause. Governments that ignore economic distress often pay a political price.

The third lesson is military preparedness. Peace often rests on credible deterrence. Last week, the Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov issued a remarkable state of the affairs statement, saying: “In many respects, apart from nuclear deterrence, we have nothing left in the world. It is the only thing that is protecting the world from a global war”.

This is a lesson for Kenya to invest in defence readiness and strategic capabilities.

Is it time for Kenya to also consider a nuclear weapon? Additionally, preparedness for war needs to be institutionalised. Is it time every youth goes through paramilitary training at NYS? The military strength from soldiers and equipment will not be enough. Kenya needs to interrogate and invest in its industrial capacity, logistics, technology. How resilient is Kenya’s military-industrial ecosystem?

Dependence on foreign suppliers becomes a major weakness during crises. Kenya should encourage local production of defense and security supplies while positioning itself as a regional manufacturing hub.

Such investments would strengthen national security, create jobs and build technical expertise. Can a policy mandate that military suppliers must manufacture in Kenya? How else can we secure military supply chains?

The fourth lesson is national cohesion. In times of crisis, countries depend on unity as much as military power. National identity, shared purpose and patriotism strengthen resilience against both external threats and internal pressures.

Civic education, national service, inclusive growth and trusted institutions help build this cohesion. The recent GenZ’s uprising has shown that a Kenyan identity, beyond tribe, is possible.

The ongoing conflicts and the disruption of trade routes, like the Strait of Hormuz, are reminders of nation-state fragility in an interconnected world. Economic shocks, supply disruptions and geopolitical tensions can quickly affect domestic stability.

To withstand both internal and external pressures, nations must strengthen food and energy security, military preparedness, industrial capacity, social cohesion, and prudent economic management.

Kenya’s national security stakeholders must analyse and strengthen these pillars to ensure the country can absorb shocks, protect its sovereignty, and secure long-term prosperity.

Walking into the venue, I was convinced I was early, an hour early, to be precise. So, I was mentally prepared for a slow trickle of people and a relaxed atmosphere. Instead, I stepped into Suave Kitchen, and it was already packed, with a performance already in full swing. It turned out I had stumbled into the tail end of an entirely different show.

So, I settled in and watched the live performance. Doug Mutai delivered a set, Bashir Halaikai must have been the host because he was popping in and out of the stage, and soon, that event was over. The DJ played a couple of classic Kenyan music, and before I knew it, the show was on.

The evening was hosted by Doug Mutai, a surprise given that he had already powered through a full set just half an hour prior. He handled the transition perfectly, effectively setting the table for the headliner.

He started off comfortably, leaning into the familiar beats of life in Nairobi, riffing on the peculiar experience of foreigners adopting local slang or the general state of our cultural landscape.

He touched on the pressures millennials face and the shadow of corruption. His set was a smart blend of prepared material and crowd work. He knew exactly how to manipulate the room’s energy, and he succeeded in priming the audience for what was to come.

Openers

Dennis Juma is a comedian who clearly feels like a newcomer to the Nairobi scene. Standing under the stage lights, he looked a bit startled, as if the sheer size and intensity of the crowd took him by surprise, though it was an intimate setting.

To his credit, some of his underlying material was solid. He had a strong grasp of comedic structure and a clear, distinct approach to his bits, particularly when mining the absurdity of inherited expectations and life in Nakuru.

The bottleneck wasn’t the quality of his writing, but his delivery and pacing. He was rushing his setups, firing off punchlines before the audience had finished processing the premise. He attempted to engage the crowd, but the room was already starting to develop a life of its own, a foreshadowing of the evening’s trajectory.

Mike One took the stage after a fantastic, high-energy crowd-work segment from Doug that managed to resuscitate the room after the energy dip following Dennis’s set. Mike One entered, but he seemed hesitant, almost shying away from his own mastered material.

It felt like he was sizing up the room, trying to gauge whether his usual rhythm would land with a crowd that was clearly here specifically for the Teacher Wanjiku brand.

It resulted in a performance that felt a bit uneven, a mosaic of bits that landed brilliantly alongside others that struggled to find a place.

He pivoted from dry spells and the challenges of adult friendships to a sharp segment on the 2024 Gen Z protests. He had a standout beat about a butchery that really got the room going, but the crowd was becoming increasingly unhinged.

As the drinks flowed, some of the audience became a bit excited. You could feel that familiar, slightly frayed tension where the performer starts to lose the room, and the crowd begins to treat the show like a private conversation.

Main event

Every comedian who had performed before Teacher Wanjiku had already paid homage to her influence during their sets, like a testament to her role as a trailblazer who helped define the style of observational, character-driven humour that has shaped and entertained a generation of Kenyan performers and audiences.

She did seem at first like she was going to waste time opening with a segment on expectations, a cold start that took a moment to gain momentum, but she easily found her footing once she centred on the core theme of the evening, the ’11 Commandments.’

There was spontaneity to her act. She started by handing a drink to an audience member, essentially breaking the fourth wall and using the gesture as a springboard for a running gag.

However, her reliance on crowd work created a friction I found difficult to ignore. As mentioned earlier, some people were ‘excited,’ and that often bled into chaos, driving me up the wall.

I usually think that when a comic gets distracted by the room’s energy, the set can lose its internal logic. There was a segment on New Year’s resolutions that felt incredibly well-constructed, yet it drifted into the void of audience interaction before we could hear the payoff.

I sat there waiting for the punchline, only to realise the moment had been sacrificed to the whim of the crowd.

I welcomed the shift when she went back to the commandments. Once she put the blackboard, her one true prop, to use, she finally took control and was in her element, delivering a series of tropes so perfectly tailored to the Kenyan experience that they felt like shared cultural history. WhatsApp group etiquette, the absurdity of bargaining, passwords-these were sharp, perfectly timed observations.

She exerted total control over the stage; when she stopped engaging with the noise and focused on her set, I finally got what was promised on the poster.

She closed the show on a high note, turning the ending of the event itself into a final, clever bit that wrapped up the themes of the night with dignity.

Conclusion

It’s clear that Teacher Wanjiku possesses an incredible, innate ability to read a room, but the show would benefit from a tighter, more disciplined structure.

The chaotic energy and the frequent detours into crowd work often diluted the impact of her material. When the audience becomes unhinged, the best move isn’t to join them in the fray, but to assert control (not authority) and bring them back to the flow of the performer.

Millennials who are familiar with the “Churchill Show” know her brilliance and command of comedy, and for this particular event, there was a wealth of substance, but the majority of it was muffled by the excited audience.

If she could have tightened the pacing and leaned more heavily on her core, written material, she had the potential to turn a good night into an unforgettable one.

As Kenya accelerates its industrialisation agenda, the conversation around our energy mix has reached a critical turning point. The government’s strategic decision to construct a 2,000 megawatt (MW) nuclear power plant in Siaya County starting in 2027 represents a historic leap forward.

Through the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA) as the nuclear energy programme implementing organisation and KenGen as the owner operator, this infrastructure project is designed to deliver stable, affordable baseload electricity to power our manufacturing hubs and light up millions of homes by 2034.

Yet, as with any transformative technology, misapprehensions can cloud public discourse. I wish to address a lingering misconception directly: Kenya’s civilian nuclear programme has absolutely no connection to military applications or nuclear weapons. It is entirely designed for electricity generation and peaceful applications.

Furthermore, concerns that pursuing nuclear energy exposes Kenya to international military aggression or geopolitical targeting comparable to the historic tensions surrounding Iran’s non-compliant installations are fundamentally detached from legal and factual realities. To begin with, Kenya is a nation at peace, operating transparently under full international consensus.

To understand Kenya’s path, we must look back to the foundational philosophy of civilian nuclear energy.

In his historic 1953 ‘Atoms for Peace’ address to the United Nations General Assembly, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower envisioned a world where atomic energy would be stripped of its military casing and instead ‘be adapted to the arts of peace.’

He urged the global community to mobilise this immense energy to ‘provide abundant electrical energy in the power-starved areas of the world.’

Kenya is now fulfilling that exact vision. Our actions are strictly bounded by robust, legally binding international architecture. Kenya is a proud and compliant State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

The NPT rests on three unshakeable pillars, namely, disarmament, non-proliferation, and the inalienable right of all states to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

By actively engaging with the NPT framework, Kenya explicitly rejects the pursuit of weaponisation while fully exercising her sovereign right to utilise clean nuclear technology to meet our domestic electricity demands. Kenya’s commitment to safety, transparency, and international oversight remains absolute. We operate in direct partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

As IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi recently highlighted, the integration of nuclear power into expanding national grids must be anchored heavily on safe, secure, and well-regulated frameworks.

NuPEA’s ongoing technical collaborations and Memorandums of Understanding with the IAEA ensure that our Siaya installation will meet the highest standards of international transparency, physical security, and operational safety. Sceptics often worry about the physical security of nuclear plants against external threats.

The answer to this is that the global architecture provides strict protections for commercial facilities. Under international humanitarian law, nuclear electrical generating stations are classified as ‘installations containing dangerous forces.’

International law explicitly prohibits military attacks, sabotage, or hostile actions against these commercial facilities because of the severe humanitarian and environmental consequences of any disruption.

Customary international law treats any deliberate attack on a peaceful energy infrastructure as a severe violation and a war crime. Violaters of this rule expose themselves to the criminal jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Unlike states that chose paths of geopolitical confrontation and unmonitored enrichment, Kenya’s facility will use commercially leased, low-enriched uranium reactor fuel that cannot be utilised for weapons. This will be procured from the international market that is safely regulated. Every ounce of nuclear material to be used in our nuclear plant will be subjected to the IAEA’s rigorous, regular, and intrusive verification and safeguards regime.

We are building a power plant, not a military outpost. The United States and other global powers do not and cannot oppose the peaceful, safeguarded expansion of nuclear energy in developing nations like Kenya. In fact, they actively partner with compliant nations to achieve global decarbonisation targets.

State-owned power producer Kenya Electricity Generation Company (KenGen) has laid out an ambitious plan to expand its renewable energy development pipeline to 5,500 megawatts, funded through several sources including public-private partnerships (PPPs) and bonds.

KenGen currently operates an installed generation capacity of 1,786 megawatts. The new plan is more than three times the 1,500 megawatts target unveiled last September in its 10-year G2G 2034 Strategy.

‘As opportunities have expanded, so too has our ambition. We have strategically recalibrated our long-term growth trajectory from 1,500 megawatts to a 5,500 megawatts renewable energy development pipeline, reaffirming our commitment to powering Kenya’s sustainable economic transformation,’ Managing Director Peter Njenga said in a statement.

In the earlier plan, KenGen said it would add 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy generation and deploy 500 megawatt-hours (MWh) of battery energy storage by 2034 at an estimated cost of $4.3 billion (Sh556.8 billion).

The company has not disclosed a revised cost estimate for the expanded project pipeline.

KenGen said the recalibration is due to changes in the operating environment, including new power generation opportunities, evolving national energy priorities, increased investor confidence in renewable energy and growing regional demand for clean power.

KenGen’s current 1,786 megawatts of capacity comprises 826 megawatts from hydropower, 754 megawatts from geothermal, 180 megawatts from thermal plants, and 26 megawatts from wind.

The ambitious pipeline includes a planned 2,000 megawatts of nuclear power, more than 700 megawatts of hydropower, and increased geothermal development opportunities, alongside investments in solar and wind energy.

KenGen said it is still pursuing the $4.3 billion financing plan announced under its original strategy.

It plans to fund the expanded pipeline through a mix of concessional funding, PPPs, bonds, special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and equity issuance.

‘Secure sustainable financing of $4.3 billion; blend traditional and innovative financing models; mobilise concessional funds and public-private partnerships; allocate budget for transaction and advisory costs related to bonds, SPVs and equity issuance,’ said the power producer.

The company is also proceeding with plans to deploy 500MWh in battery energy storage systems (BESS) to improve energy storage capacity and enhance grid stability.

The BESS are key in supporting grid reliability as more intermittent renewable energy sources are integrated into the national electricity network. Frequent power interruptions have pushed many households and businesses to install solar systems and battery storage as backup electricity sources.

KenGen’s investment comes as electricity demand in Kenya rises. The company increased electricity generation to 7,805 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in the six months to December 2025, up from 7,210GWh in a similar period a year earlier.

However, it reported a 20.2 percent decline in net profit to Sh4.22 billion for the six months, from Sh5.29 billion in a similar period in 2024 due to a larger tax bill and reduced income from cash investments.

Kenya is targeting achieving 100 percent renewable electricity generation by 2030.

Listed corrugated carton manufacturer Shri Krishana Overseas Plc (SKL) has spent Sh132 million on its new Kisaju industrial plant, which is expected to increase its annual production capacity by more than sevenfold.

The new manufacturing hub, partly financed through a Sh117.9 million term loan from SBM Bank Kenya, remains incomplete amid delays, signalling the likelihood of further capital expenditure before the project is finished.

SKL’s annual production capacity is projected to increase from 3,000 tonnes to 22,000 tonnes.

‘Construction of the company’s new manufacturing plant is progressing well although it is running behind schedule. As of year-end 2025, capital work in progress stood at Sh13.9 million. The project continues to be supported in part by a long-term loan facility of Sh117.9 million,’ SKL says in its 2025 annual report.

The company says civil works at the plant are nearly complete, while all machinery has already been procured.

Management attributes the slower pace of construction at the Kisaju facility to a slower cash conversion cycle, which has moderated growth.

SKL disclosed a Sh117.9 million term loan from SBM Bank carrying an interest rate of 20.7 percent.

Capacity boost

Completion of the manufacturing plant, which sits on a two-acre parcel of land, is expected to expand the firm’s revenue base, which stood at Sh351 million in 2025.

SKL posted a lower net profit of Sh4.1 million for the year ended December 2025, down from Sh10.1 million a year earlier, mainly due to higher overhead costs, including listing expenses.

The firm listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) by introduction last year, becoming a publicly traded company for the first time.

SKL listed 50.5 million shares on the SME segment of the NSE in July 2025, marking the first listing on the Nairobi bourse since December 2020.

The increased production capacity is expected to support rising demand for packaging solutions, particularly from the dairy and edible oils sectors.

‘We are seeing growing demand for packaging solutions in other areas such as the dairy, herbs, edible oils and confectionery sectors, which will add to the horticulture exports, the floriculture subsector, and the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), which were already well established,’ said Sonvir Singh, SKL Managing Director.

Growth plans

SKL says it has begun increasing its workforce in preparation for the additional capacity expected once the new manufacturing plant is completed.

The manufacturer had 40 employees at the end of 2025, up from 33 a year earlier, with 22 in casual roles.

The technical department has nine employees, finance and administration has four, sales and marketing has three, while customer care and business development have one employee each.

SKL says it is also investing further in ICT to improve administrative efficiency.

‘We have also made an investment in IT systems that will help us improve our administration, which is critical for the next stage of growth,’ said Nirmia Devi, SKL Finance Director.

Mr Karimi, who became the regulator’s inaugural director-general in February 2026, is facing separate challenges before the High Court and the Employment and Labour Relations Court questioning the legality of his appointment.

However, he denies lacking the required experience, saying the appointing authority found he met all statutory qualifications after an open and competitive recruitment process. He said his appointment was done procedurally and that he is qualified for the position.

The High Court petition was filed by lawyer Patrick Mwashigadi, while the Employment and Labour Relations Court case was lodged by Chebon Kiprop Benjamin.

In the High Court proceedings, Mr Karimi wants the petition struck out or transferred to the specialist labour court, arguing that challenges to the recruitment and appointment of a public officer are employment disputes reserved for the Employment and Labour Relations Court. He maintains that both petitions are based on unfounded allegations.

The two cases challenge the appointment on similar grounds but through different legal routes.

The petitioners allege Mr Karimi’s appointment breached the Gambling Control Act because he allegedly lacked the minimum 10 years’ senior management experience required for the position. Section 16(2)(c) of the Gambling Control Act requires the Director-General to have at least 10 years’ senior management experience in a public or private institution.

The petitioners argue that Mr Karimi’s publicly available professional history shows only about five years as CEO of Acumen Communications Limited between 2017 and 2022, meaning he was ineligible for appointment.

In the High Court petition, Mr Mwashigadi argues that Mr Karimi’s previous management role at Acumen Communications, a company linked to the Mchezo Bet betting platform, breached statutory safeguards requiring the regulator’s independence from gambling interests.

Mr Mwashigadi argues the appointment was therefore unconstitutional, unlawful and void, and wants the High Court to suspend Mr Karimi from office pending determination of the petition.

In the Labour Court’s case lodged by Mr Chebon, the petitioner claims the Gambling Regulatory Authority has not disclosed the positions or institutions it relied on to conclude that Mr Karimi met the statutory qualification threshold.

Mr Chebon also wants the Registrar of Companies compelled to produce corporate records, saying they are needed to establish Mr Karimi’s tenure at Acumen Communications and determine whether his appointment complied with the law.

Both petitioners also allege that Mr Karimi’s association with Umsuka Capital Limited and Acumen Communications breached the Gambling Control Act’s independence requirements.

However, Mr Karimi says there is no constitutional controversy surrounding his appointment and says the Mwashigandi’s petition does not establish any constitutional violations with the precision required by law.

He says the case was filed before the wrong forum because it fundamentally contests his recruitment to public office.

“The core issues raised herein pertaining to my appointment constitute disputes of an employment nature,” Mr Karimi says in his replying affidavit.

He further denies breaching the law, saying the petitions are founded on falsehoods and misrepresentation and fail to establish any constitutional or statutory violations in his appointment.

He says he was recruited through an open competitive process after the Gambling Regulatory Authority advertised the vacancy in January before announcing his appointment on February 26.

He argues the petitioners selectively rely on one aspect of his career, particularly his tenure at Acumen Communications, while ignoring his broader professional experience that was evaluated during the recruitment process.

Mr Karimi maintains that the appointing authority was satisfied that he met all the statutory requirements, including the experience threshold under the Gambling Control Act, before appointing him Director-General.

He accuses the petitioners of withholding material facts and insists he fully meets the statutory qualifications for the office.

The court has directed parties in the ELRC case to exchange pleadings and fixed the matter for hearing on July 8.

Neither the High Court nor the Employment and Labour Relations Court has determined the merits of the allegations against Karimi.