Asianet Pakistan Private Limited

Cars reached a level of general technical competence about 100 years ago. By then, they did what they were supposed to. Since then, their basic form and function have remained unchanged. They do the same job of transporting people and luggage in the same way with the same fundamental components and controls as the cars of today.

But everything, absolutely everything, has been constantly altered to improve performance, handling, reliability, comfort, safety, convenience, and to reduce the toxicity of their exhaust emissions. Add-on indulgences have gone from ‘non-existent’ . to ‘optional extras’ . to ‘built-in’ abundant and are now often computerised.

There have been too many step-changes and refinements in every respect and to every part to list them all here, and their ‘significance’ depends on what aspect you measure.

Focussing primarily on ‘the driving process and experience’, those that have had the most profound effect would surely include pneumatic tyres (and then radials), synchromesh (and then automatic) gears, power steering, servo-assisted disc brakes, handling integrity and power performance (including turbocharging).

Safety features, for example, have gone from nothing to lap straps to three-point with a diagonal, to inertia reel belts and head restraints, and then air bags. The whole car body and everything in it or on it now has safety built-in to crumple zones and safety cells, padding, softness, roundness or snap-offness.

It is the lack of those things that would most surprise any modern motorist put behind the wheel of a car that didn’t have them.

The interior would be Spartan, and everything in it would have to be manually operated. There would be a bench seat at the front, and the gear lever would be on the steering column. The steering itself would be surprisingly heavy at low speeds, and the brakes would require double the pressure with half the effect.

The revs range would be limited, and acceleration and top speed would be disappointing, control would be less precise, and handling would be less assured. Many of today’s mid-range family cars would win a race against James Bond’s original Aston Martin.

The gears might demand double-declutching, windows would have to be wound by hand, doors would be locked and unlocked one-at-a-time; no anti-glare rear-view mirror, pathetic headlights with dip-and-beam operated by a foot button behind the clutch pedal!

The trim and extras levels on today’s town runabouts would top even the executive limos of yesteryear. Push-button and power-assisted and computer-managed operation of just about everything is now the universal ‘standard’.

And the overall motoring scene would be very different.

The old days – less pure but simple

Few things in life evoke past eras quite so vividly and powerfully as the car. The imagery is so strong and clear that filmmakers can pinpoint their audience – in both time and place – with just a single shot of a street.

So, what would stand out the most – car wise – if we watched a film clip of Nairobi taken, say, 70 years ago? It would be a cine film, of course. Video bado.

Obviously, all the vehicles would be models from the 1950s, cruising around on almost empty streets between low-rise buildings (a queue of 10 cars was considered a traffic jam; the terms ‘parking space’ and ‘open road’ were things that actually existed, rather than just being hoped for). But beyond the most obvious long-distance observations.

There would be no SUVs, no hatchbacks, and almost no pick-ups or matatus. The only 4WD would be a Series II Land-Rover, with its headlights still mounted in the radiator grille (not out on the wings).

The biggest trucks would be what we now call 7-tonners. And in these and any other classes, there would not be a single vehicle from Japan (where today 80% of our road fill comes from).

Zoom in a little closer and there would be more to surprise today’s norms. All would be running on crossply tyres (though radials were about to arrive as the Michelin X, which everybody thought needed to be pumped up more).

They might have wing mirrors but no door mirrors; all the bumper bars would be chrome plated with over-riders (and badges). The number plates, fore and aft, were black with silver-grey lettering (mostly starting in the KC-KF range).

Many would have roof racks, sun visors and bonnet ornaments. The latest fad was a little Perspex gizmo mounted on the front of the bonnet, billed as an ‘insect deflector’.

There were no buttons – switches were either push-pull, screw-twist or up-and-down toggle flippers, and in whichever case were provided in a hotch-potch of locations.

Dials were few – speedo (in mph), an odometer in miles but rarely with an interim-distance ‘trip ‘that could be zeroed; temperature gauge (in Fahrenheit), fuel gauge (in guesswork; the VW Beetle didn’t even have one), few warning lights and, as an optional extra, a clock (in loud ticks). A silent clock was a distinguishing feature of Rolls-Royce.

Gear shift levers on the steering wheel were common – four-on-the-floor gear levers and bucket seats were for sports cars. There were no combination lights-and-wipers levers – those were push-pull buttons scattered randomly around the unpadded dashboard; a two-speed wiper was something to mention in adverts, intermittent options were unheard of, and the washer spray was a completely separate item activated by a one-squirt-per-push rubber bulb.

The steering column often (but not always) have a small second lever to make the ‘trafficators’ blink left or right, and there were still plenty of vehicles that did not have those – instead, a little illuminated paddle swung out of the door pillar, at the behest of a toggle switch near the ashtray.

The rear-view mirror had no anti-dazzle mechanism. Reversing lights were an optional extra, the taillights were a quarter of their modern size, and bulbs were physically quite large and generated more heat than illumination.

There were no fabric-covered seats. Those that weren’t leather were described as ‘genuine’ or ‘real’ plastic, much vaunted for their washability. Fully reclining seats were a novelty (and much more effective as a bed before head restraints were invented).

Under the bonnet, there was mostly. space. No turbos or intercoolers or computerised management systems or air conditioners or power this-and-that. Just a lump of iron called the engine, lightly dressed with the bare essentials for delivery of air, fuel and spark, a radiator, a single belt driving the fan blades, water pump and the dynamo/generator (no alternators yet), and a bakolite box called the battery.

Wiring was mostly insulated with fabric, not plastic. Expansion tanks on radiators were a not-yet, like brake servos and power steering. Steering wheels had a thinner ring but a much larger diameter, to help leverage because they were so heavy at low speeds.

The hydraulic shock absorber had arrived, and the McPherson strut was imminent. Any car that could do 100 miles per hour (160 kph) was exceptional, which is perhaps just as well considering how crude the tyres, handling, steering and brakes were. Windscreens were predominantly flat.

Some brand nostalgia

Though the ‘car’ fleet was only saloons and station wagons (no hatch-backs or notchbacks), it was already class-conscious. Here are some reminders, for those old enough to suffer from nostalgia, of what Kenya had:

The popular dinky cars included the rear-engined Renault Dauphine (the Quatre’L ‘Roho’ hadn’t been invented), the Renault Floride, the Fiat Topolino Cinquecento (500), the Citroen 2CV, the smaller Standard (its boot did not open; you loaded through the flip-down back seat), and the occasional three-wheeled and rear engined ‘Bubble Car’. Motorcycles (not infrequently with side-cars) were still a realistic option.

Town runabouts included the Simca Aronde, Ford Prefect/Anglia, VW Beetle, Opel Kadet, Peugeot 203, Morris Minor (the ‘Moggy Thou’ – also convertible, also a van!), DKW, Saab.

Medium family cars were typified by the Ford Consul, Peugeot 403, the Hillman Minx (Mk 8!) and Husky, the Saab 96, Singer Gazelle, and – with or without roof – the Triumph Herald, Mayflower, and MG-A.

Bigger family cars verging on the executive included Ford’s Zephyr, the Humber Hawk, Standard Vanguard, the Triumph Renown (for vicars), Citroen DS19, Opel Kapitan/Commodore and its Holden cousins, Morris Oxford, Austin Devon/Cambridge, Lancia Aurelia, MG Magnette, Vauxhall Velox, the Volvo PV, and the Peugeot 404 just coming over the horizon and due to become all-conquering until cars invented Japan (sic).

Sportier types used the Austin Healy or the frog-eyed Sprite.

There was already a Wabenzi class, and other posh sorts drove Jaguars, top-of-the range Rileys and Wolseleys, Humber ‘Super’ Snipes, Rover Cyclops and P4 90, and a collection of once-dominant but now remnant American V8s from Plymouth, Dodge and Co. There were more than a few Porsche 356s.

The only 4WDs were Land-Rovers, the Willy’s Jeep and the Austin Champ. That would change dramatically in next two decades, and again around the turn of the century with crossovers and SUVs.

Front-wheel drive was rare (the Citroen Avant); the transverse engine was about to arrive (the Mini, whose 10-inch wheels disqualified its chances of popularity in Kenya).

In core functional terms, the 1950s car was much the same thing as the 2020s car, but just about everything has ‘changed’ both inside and out – mostly upwards in safety, performance, driveability and convenience, and also in shape (aerodynamics and fashion), and use of a much wider range of materials (especially plastics).

Read: Are EVs 20 years too early.or too late?

The original ‘chassis@ concept has been supersedes by ‘monocoque’ construction. Electric and hybrid vehicles are, of course, a whole new dimension, and computerisation has led to so many non-essential extras that the latest addition to ‘driving experience’ is to not drive at all!

Some cars can drive themselves, and already many turn on their own wipers when it rains, turn on their lights at sunset, open and lock their own doors without any keys, beep if you are about to bump into something, apply their own brakes to avoid an accident.

One thing that has not improved is ease of maintenance. That has been made more difficult, with many items ‘sealed for life’.

Nowadays, you mostly don’t service or fix things. You replace them. And plug-in diagnostics to some extent replace mechanics.

And where there are items that would benefit from servicing or could be repaired, they are designed, attached and positioned to simplify manufacture and assembly, not to facilitate DIY access.

The engine compartments of older cars were half-empty – everything was clear to see, simple to recognise, and easy to reach. On modern cars, they are packed full, hidden by pretty covers, profoundly mysterious, and do not welcome intrusion or interference of any sort.

The government projects Sh2.7billion savings in reforestation costs as it moves to open up public forests to private investors as part of a strategy to maximise returns from the fast-growing industry through concession deals.

Concession agreements give an individual or organisation the right to use a specific area in a national or county forest by means of a long-term contract for commercial forest management and use.

Regulated Saccos recruited over 637,696 new members last year as deposits crossed the Sh700 billion mark, pointing to the sustained interest of Kenyans in co-operatives.

Latest industry data shows the 177 deposit-taking (DT) Saccos and 178 non-withdrawable deposit-taking (NWDT) Saccos under Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (Sasra) supervision, saw their membership rise by 26.3 percent from 504,915 in 2023.

In rural Kenya, the daily ritual of cooking is a battle against time and soot – mothers gathering firewood, smoke from cooking fire filling homes, clothes and lungs coated in layers of ash, painting the walls black.

It is the life of 90 percent of households; millions of people, in what is a quiet struggle for a clean flame. So, how can they move away from the choking, billowing smoke to clean fuels?

Policymakers are grappling with how to re-engineer county governments to drive the clean energy agenda and unlock the potential of renewable sources like solar and geothermal, not just for power grids, but for homes and small businesses.

This is a subtle acknowledgment that national-level solution is not enough; there’s need to empower counties to close the gap from the ground up.

The journey toward a cleaner energy future is already underway, but there are challenges that counties, investors, and other players face.

A year ago, the government began implementing the LPG Growth Strategy, an initiative to transition 80 percent of the population from biomass to clean LPG by 2026.

The strategy aims to boost the per capita LPG consumption from 6.5 kg to 15 kg by 2030 by upgrading the infrastructure, introducing LPG for schools, availing subsidised cylinders, and enacting legal and regulatory reforms.

While LPG uptake within urban centres has made tremendous gains, rural areas still lag due to reported county regulatory barriers.

Investors say county levies are exorbitant and often come in multiple forms-from branding, parking, and licence fees to business permits. They cite hostility from county and law enforcement officials.

Counties need to generate revenue, but they also need to keep energy prices affordable to promote adoption.

The Energy Regulatory Authority is urging counties to adopt incentives like Time-of-Use tariffs to reduce operational costs and drive industrial growth, and partner with the private sector on captive energy generation and storage.

According to Dr Stephen Ikiki, Senior Economist, National Treasury, inter-county collaborations could help unlock innovative financing models, such as blended finance or green bonds. This approach would allow counties to attract and negotiate large-scale sustainable energy investments, weaving them directly into their budgets.

Counties have a different story. For instance, in Kilifi County, Mr Wilfred Baya, the Director of Energy, shared how the county is empowering communities to lead the charge.

They have adopted a community-driven model where former charcoal sellers are now the biggest LPG investors and ambassadors. The county is also allocating land for LPG refill infrastructure and considering new policy incentives to stimulate investment. These efforts are making energy a central part of the County Integrated Development Plan.

The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) is supporting the transition through regulation that bolsters business operations for solutions like Autogas, smart LPG meters, and reticulation, says Stella Opakas, Deputy Director Mid and Downstream Petroleum.

The Energy (Integrated National Energy Plan) Regulations, 2025, have been gazetted to enhance energy access and reliability in counties through the integrated national energy planning committee that draws representation from the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, Council of Governors, Epra and sector agencies.

One of its primary tasks is to track implementation of the county energy plans and the integrated national energy plan. The challenge now is finding the right balance.

A judge has reprimanded Kenya Power for repeatedly violating a former employee’s rights by subjecting her to repeated temporary three-month job contracts for eight years.

Employment and Labour Relations Court Judge James Rika said offering short-term contracts to employees for prolonged periods is casualisation of labour, which deprives workers of job security and terminal benefits due to permanent and pensionable employees.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court has faulted Consolidated Bank of Kenya for the unfair dismissal of one of its business development officers over allegations of improper loan approvals totalling Sh102 million.

Justice Monica Mbaru stated that it was improper for the bank to hold Emmanuel Wambua responsible for a non-verified asset used to secure the debt, noting further inconsistencies in the lender’s actions.

Shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) rewarded investors with the highest returns in the third quarter of the year, eclipsing bonds and cash deposits whose gains dropped in the wake of falling interest rates.

During the three months to September, investor wealth at the bourse, as measured by market capitalisation, rose by 15.1 percent, or Sh367.4 billion, to reach Sh2.78 trillion.

As long as domestic borrowing continues to expand, monetary adjustments by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) will remain cosmetic and ineffective.

In Kenya’s current fiscal landscape, the greatest paradox is not simply that the government owes more than it possesses in liquid resources, but that the remedies prescribed to address this imbalance often serve the State more than the people.

When total debt far outpaces cash and cash equivalents, the economy is effectively living on borrowed time, with liquidity shortages constraining the ability of both the government and the private sector to function. According to recent reports, public debt in 2025 has climbed above Sh11 trillion, even as revenue growth remains sluggish and falling short of what is needed to service the debt without sacrificing other obligations.

The Central Bank of Kenya has tried to portray monetary policy as the engine for recovery. Rate cuts, revised loan pricing formulas, and persuasion to commercial banks to reduce lending rates are part of this strategy.

These moves might appear reassuring: in April 2025, the CBK lowered its policy rate by 75 basis points to around 10.00 percent, aiming to stimulate credit growth.

Yet these policy shifts neglect the reality that the state itself remains the chief claimant on domestic capital. When the government continues to issue domestic debt-such as long-term Treasury bonds with coupon rates upward of 13.20 percent to 13.40 percent, and funds being raised at these levels-banks and investors naturally find government securities more attractive and safer than private sector loans.

Private sector credit tells the more concerning side of the story. By December 2024, credit to the private sector stood at Sh3.86 trillion, but growth was negative in Q4, with a 1.4 percent year-on-year decline-even as households, the trade and manufacturing sectors remain important borrowers.

Households took about Sh1,317.4 billion (34.1 percent of private credit), while trade and manufacturing took 16.9 percent and 15.0 percent, respectively.

These figures suggest that demand remains, but the supply of credit is choked-banks are reticent to lend to riskier private actors when government securities provide relatively high, risk-free returns.

In addition, Treasury bill yields, and bond coupon levels remain high, reinforcing what is already obvious: the state is crowding out the private sector.

The result is a vicious cycle where private investment is starved, households and businesses remain credit-constrained, and growth slows. Inflation and borrowing costs remain elevated.

With each round of short-term domestic borrowing, rollover risk increases. The state’s solvency becomes the central concern, not inclusive growth.

Kenya’s path out of this quagmire requires much more than lower rates. Structural reforms are necessary: debt issuance must shift toward long dated, concessional financing; incentives and guarantees need to encourage banks to lend to SMEs and productive sectors; fiscal discipline must be strengthened; and transparency in debt, cash holdings, and liquidity management must improve so that policy signals are credible.

The CBK, as monetary custodian, must act not as the Treasury’s enabler but as a guardian of an inclusive financial system. Unless domestic borrowing is contained, unless the incentives change, CBK’s well-intentioned adjustments will remain cosmetic and ineffective. And unless monetary policy is not aligned with fiscal policy, anything else is a mirage.

Investors demand yields for government securities in double digits, especially for long-term bonds. These attractive rates make lending to government very appealing, while loans to households or small businesses offer less return for more risk. Hence, even though the policy rate is lowered, the transmission to private lending rates is weak.

The high yields on government paper effectively provide a safe harbor for liquidity that might otherwise flow to more productive but riskier private investments.

The logic of cuts in rates or adjustments to pricing formulas assumes that banks will reorient their balance sheets toward growth-oriented lending. But when the state is issuing large volumes of debt-bills and bonds-and offering high rates on government paper, that assumption fails.

Banks are profit-seeking entities; for them, holding government securities is often the lower-risk, higher-return path. Private sector lending suffers not just because of risk or demand but because supply of credit is diverted toward sovereign debt.

This dynamic reveals the deeper contradiction: CBK’s monetary adjustments are less about empowering private growth and more about easing the government’s debt servicing burden.

Debt service is elevated, liquidity margins are thin, and the government depends heavily on domestic borrowing to meet recurrent expenses. Under these conditions, rate cuts and loan formula tweaks are at best marginal relief at worst promotional rhetoric.

My explanation of the size of the Mt Kenya economy on Radio Generations last week elicited many comments on Tiktok. My point? Perspective drives action.

For all our difficulties, Kenya has immense opportunities. We should not squander them, imprisoned by self-pity, recriminations, and name calling. Rather, leaders should reduce their daily political battles, and inspire Kenyans to greatness.

In a move to restore trust in financial reporting, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya will launch the Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) on October 2, 2025.

This transformative tool will revolutionise how audit opinions are authenticated-ushering in a new era of transparency, accountability, and professional integrity.

Every audit report issued by Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK)’s 2,110 authorised assurance providers will now carry a 12-digit UDIN code and a QR code, both uniquely tied to that specific opinion. These identifiers will allow third-party users-procurement officers, regulators, banks, Saccos, and other institutions-to instantly verify the authenticity of any audit report. If a code is missing or invalid, the system will flag it, notify ICPAK, and trigger corrective action. Such reports may be rejected outright, restoring confidence in the audit process and protecting the public from fraudsters.

This innovation is not happening in isolation. ICPAK has benchmarked UDIN against similar systems used by professional accountancy bodies in India, Australia, South Africa, Nigeria, and Singapore.

Among these, India’s Institute of Chartered Accountants-the largest professional accountancy body in the world-stands out as a global success story.

Despite India’s vast geography and complex regulatory landscape, ICAI’s system has proven robust, scalable, and transformative. Kenya now joins this league of forward-thinking nations, embracing technology to uphold professional standards.

But the implications of UDIN go far beyond the accounting profession. This is a wake-up call to other regulated fields-law, architecture, engineering, supply chain, medicine, and beyond. Quacks have infiltrated nearly every sector, eroding public trust and exposing unsuspecting citizens to risk.

Take the legal profession, for example. Many Kenyans have unknowingly engaged individuals posing as advocates-only to discover, often too late, that they were never admitted to the bar. The consequences range from botched cases to lost property and shattered lives. A UDIN-style system, managed by the Law Society of Kenya, could allow the public to verify the legitimacy of legal documents and confirm whether a lawyer is duly registered and licensed to practice.

A simple code, searchable on a public portal, could be the difference between justice and deception.

Architects and engineers, too, face similar challenges.

Rogue practitioners have been known to submit fraudulent drawings, supervise unsafe constructions, or misrepresent their qualifications.

A document authentication system-anchored in professional registers-would empower clients, developers, and regulators to verify credentials before approving plans or releasing payments.

The future of professional practice in Kenya must be secure, transparent, and digitally verified.

Supply chain professionals, especially those involved in procurement and logistics, are increasingly relied upon to uphold ethical standards in public and private sector transactions.

Yet, without a way to verify their standing, institutions risk engaging individuals who lack the training, certification, or integrity required for such sensitive roles.

The medical field is another critical area. While the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council maintains a register, a UDIN-style verification tool could help patients confirm the legitimacy of prescriptions, referrals, or medical reports-especially in rural or underserved areas where impersonation is more rampant.

ICPAK’s investment in UDIN includes a secure, user-friendly platform accessible via www.icpak.com. Users can simply enter the UDIN code to confirm the validity of any audit report.

The portal is prominently displayed for seamless access, ensuring that verification becomes a routine part of financial due diligence.

Following the launch, ICPAK will embark on a nationwide sensitisation campaign-engaging stakeholders across public and private sectors to ensure smooth adoption.

Forums, trainings, and regulator briefings will help embed UDIN into Kenya’s financial culture, making it a standard for accountability.

As the regulator of the accounting profession, ICPAK recognises that technology is no longer optional-it is essential. UDIN reflects our commitment to staying ahead of the curve, breaking barriers to trust, and empowering professionals to uphold the highest standards.

It is a digital shield against fraud, a gateway to credibility, and a testament to our resolve to protect the integrity of Kenya’s financial reporting ecosystem.

In adopting UDIN, ICPAK is not just launching a tool-it is making a statement. We are ready to lead, innovate, and transform. And we invite other professional bodies to follow suit.