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A snapshot of an organisation’s financial position is important for planning and decision-making. However, a financial reporting-only approach has many limitations in understanding an organisation’s value.

One notable gap is that financial reporting cannot capture value creation from events, as it is best suited to recording the accounting consequences of transactions.

Sustainability can play a crucial role in bridging this gap by creating value beyond the financial reporting balance sheet and enabling credible reporting on a more comprehensive concept of organisational value.

Organisations that take a deliberate approach to sustainability implementation understand the business imperative and can link sustainability investments to overall business performance in the short, medium, and long term.

Today, much of an organisation’s value lies outside the traditional financial reporting balance sheet.

Therefore, sustainability should be viewed as an integral part of how an organisation creates tangible and measurable value.

For example, listed organisations that have embraced sustainability appropriately have seen their share prices increase over time.

Organisations have improved their reputation and increased their brand value through sustainability initiatives and investments.

Therefore, a traditional accounting balance sheet would ordinarily not reflect the brand value generated through these initiatives, except during mergers and acquisitions, as provided for in accounting standards like IFRS.

Similarly, investments in sustainability-linked product innovation and development often fail to meet the accounting criteria for balance-sheet recognition. They get captured when revenue from sales transactions is recorded.

Organisations that invest in building synergies through partnerships and resilient supply chains may be viewed from a cost perspective rather than through the holistic sustainability lens of the competitive advantage and capabilities these investments provide. One model that clarifies this concept well is the Integrated Reporting Framework’s integrated thinking.

It recognises that organisations create value beyond financial capital. As such, it uses a six-capital framework to report on value creation.

These include manufactured capital, intellectual capital, human capital, social and relationship capital, natural capital and financial capital.

From a reporting perspective, it enables organisations to go beyond financial transactions and assess value through events that financial reporting might not ordinarily capture.

The integrated report is a credible way for organisations to report on value creation, covering both financial and sustainability performance.

Carbon markets have become one of the most fashionable answers to the climate crisis. Money is flowing into forests, farms, grasslands, and restoration projects as companies seek credits to compensate for their emissions. The promise is attractive: protect nature, earn carbon revenue and improve the lives of communities living on the land.

However, the reality has been more complicated. Across Africa, carbon projects have attracted growing scrutiny and a steady stream of stories about communities receiving little value, farmers signing contracts they barely understand, and developers capturing a disproportionate share of the proceeds.

These stories risk undermining an idea that could otherwise channel significant private capital into conservation and rural economies. Kenya has positioned itself as a regional leader in carbon markets, particularly through forest, rangeland and agricultural projects.

The controversy surrounding some carbon trading projects has demonstrated how quickly questions about community consent, ownership and benefit sharing can overshadow the environmental case for a project.

This is why the future of Africa’s carbon market will depend on a question that is more fundamental than the price of a credit: who actually creates its value?

Recently, at the New York Climate Week, a discussion hosted by the VCM+ Collaborative on building a high-integrity carbon market brought this question into sharp focus. One project noted that it sets a floor of $8 per carbon credit to cover basic field activities, before accounting for co-benefits.

Labour, governance and opportunity costs are often among the first costs squeezed when projects compete on price.

That is a dangerous business model because if the people doing the work are treated as a cost to minimise, the market will struggle to deliver durable environmental outcomes.

Contracts can create similar problems. One farmer described a 40-year carbon agreement in which the developer could exit while the farmer remained liable for the full term, despite the trees having a shorter lifespan. The agreement was eventually revised, but the episode illustrates how unequal bargaining power can be embedded in apparently legitimate contracts.

For Kenya and other African countries, stronger markets will require more than international standards and attractive investment propositions.

Communities need understandable contracts, fair exit rights, technical assistance, upfront financing and meaningful influence over decisions.

Projects built around local ownership are more likely to retain trust, survive political and economic changes and protect the environmental assets on which credits depend. Carbon revenue can finance stewardship jobs, diversify rural livelihoods and create enterprises that continue after carbon payments end.

Africa should therefore not reject carbon markets because some projects have gone wrong, but it should demand better markets.

A carbon credit represents more than a tonne of carbon.

Behind it are farmers, pastoralists, forests, land and years of stewardship. If carbon markets are to become a serious source of climate finance for Africa, the people creating that value cannot remain the weakest link in the value chain.

The Environment and Land Court has stopped further construction and other dealings on disputed land near Nyayo National Stadium, protecting businesses associated with Kiambu Governor Paul Kimani Wamatangi pending determination of their Sh14 billion claim against Kenya Railways Corporation.

Justice Oscar Angote barred Kenya Railways, the police and other respondents from undertaking further construction, excavation, development, alteration or interference with property, a 0.5723-hectare parcel off Lang’ata Road.

The order also protects machinery, rollers and equipment and other equipment belonging to four companies linked to the Governor. The four companies named in the ruling are Superclean Shine Enterprise Ltd, King Prime International Ltd, Prime The Place Ltd and Prime Auto and General Enterprises Ltd.

The court identifies King Prime International’s director as Mr Wamatangi. The ruling shields the four companies from further interference with the disputed land, construction and equipment left on site pending determination of the petition.

However, the court clarified that the companies may remove the equipment if they wish, but the order does not permit them to re-enter or resume occupation of the land before the petition is heard and determined.

The dispute began after structures on the property were demolished on the night of January 13 into January 14, 2026, with the companies alleging unlawful interference with their occupation and business premises.

The demolition and deployment of police officers amid the dispute over the land triggered court proceedings, with the companies seeking orders to stop further interference and preserve their claimed interests in the property.

The companies sued seeking declarations that their eviction and the demolition were unlawful and violated their constitutional rights.

They are seeking more than Sh14 billion from the government, comprising Sh300 million for demolished structures, Sh100 million for destroyed motor vehicles and trucks, Sh200 million for construction equipment, Sh150 million for equipment and property stored in containers, and Sh13.32 billion in lost rental income for the remaining 74 years of the alleged lease.

They are also seeking general, aggravated and punitive damages, a permanent injunction against further interference with the land, personal liability for three public officials, their removal from public office, indemnity against related claims and legal costs.

The property housed a cluster of businesses, including a car yard, car wash, garage, restaurant, carpet-cleaning service, small hotels, M-Pesa shops and a barber shop. The premises also accommodated small traders whose livelihoods depended on the site.

The companies told the court that the developments supported businesses employing more than 150 people directly and another 500 indirectly.

The legal dispute centres on King Prime International Limited’s claim that it leased the property from Kenya Railways on May 2, 2001, for 99 years. The company says it occupied the land for more than 25 years and paid rent before structures on the site were demolished in December 2025.

Kenya Railways disputes the lease’s authenticity and validity, arguing that it was improperly executed and that the land falls within a railway safety reserve. It says the companies had been evicted and that a railway station was being built on the site to serve Talanta Stadium and Nyayo National Stadium ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations.

At the same time, the court declined to review its July 9 ruling, which had lifted earlier orders barring interference with the disputed land. This was because the companies failed to inform him that a parallel case had already been struck out.

The judge had vacated those orders after finding that a parallel case was pending before the magistrates’ court, but the companies later sought fresh protection after that case was struck out for lack of jurisdiction on April 29, 2026.

Justice Angote said the companies had opportunities to disclose the development, even after submissions had been completed and a ruling reserved. Their explanation that they considered the two cases separate, he said, ‘demonstrates that the non-disclosure was a deliberate litigation choice rather than the result of circumstances beyond their control.’

He warned that parties could not withhold material information, wait for an unfavourable decision and then use review proceedings to seek ‘a second bite at the cherry.’ He consequently rejected the review application.

However, the judge considered the companies’ alternative request for fresh protection on its own merits, noting that the earlier applications had not been determined substantively because of the parallel proceedings.

The companies maintain that their lease gave them rights over the property and that their developments were demolished unlawfully. Kenya Railways disputes those claims and says the alleged agreement lacked proper corporate authorization, bore no corporate seal and did not conform to its standard lease arrangements.

Justice Angote said the court was not deciding whether the lease was valid, fraudulent or unenforceable. Those questions, he said, ‘can only properly be determined upon consideration of the parties’ evidence at the hearing.’

He found that the companies had established a strong case, citing evidence of the alleged agreement and their previous occupation. He also noted that Kenya Railways did not deny its intention to continue construction, making the risk of further interference real rather than speculative.

The corporation told the court the new railway station was due for completion in January 2027 and that delays could cost an estimated Sh5 million daily. The judge acknowledged the public interest in the project but said it also required respect for the law and pending court proceedings.

In African culture, tributes often tend to exaggerate the virtues of the deceased while glossing over their shortcomings.

But in the case of Eva Ngigi-Sarwari, Equity Group’s director for payments and international banking who died last week, the outpouring of tributes paints a portrait of a fallen giant in the payments industry.

The breadth of the tributes, coming from across the financial sector, reflects her 20-year career spanning banks and payment service providers in the region.

She spent the first 15 years of her career in banking before joining Visa’s Kenyan operations, where she worked for five years. She then returned to her first love – banking – this time taking up a more senior role at Equity Group.

With virtual banks preparing for a battle royale with established payment service providers such as Safaricom’s M-Pesa, for a share of the billions flowing through the sector, players are pulling out all the stops.

Banks have been hiring experienced talent from across the financial services industry or making acquisitions to strengthen their positions in the payments market.

For Equity Group, the push began in January 2025, when it hired Ngigi-Sarwari from Visa, where she had spent more than four years as country manager for Kenya, South Sudan and Somalia.

Her death, therefore, not only leaves the James Mwangi-led bank with the headache of filling the void she has left, but also robs the country of one of its leading minds in a sector that has helped establish Kenya as a fintech hub.

Her death cuts short a career spanning more than two decades in banking, transaction services and digital payments, at a time when financial institutions are competing to make money move faster and more securely across increasingly connected markets.

For those who worked around her, the loss extends beyond a senior executive’s departure.

Robert Ochieng, chief executive and co-founder of Abojani Investment, knew Ngigi-Sarwari through her work in the industry, particularly in innovation and financial education.

‘Eva had extraordinary and exemplary contributions at the intersection of the financial services industry and technology. She was an inspiration to many professionals navigating their careers and a fervent champion of innovation and financial education,’ said Mr Ochieng.

‘She was a trailblazer who achieved a lot within a short time and built a portfolio career across business, financial services, innovation and technology. An avid reader, too. Her ticket symbols were compassion and humility,’ he added.

Ngigi-Sarwari began her banking career doing work that was far removed from the digital financial services she would eventually help shape – printing customer statements, folding them, placing them in envelopes and distributing them.

It was a modest starting point for a woman who would rise through some of the region’s biggest financial institutions, lead Visa’s operations in three African markets and, in the final months of her career, head Equity Group’s digital payments subsidiary.

Rather than treating the assignment as a minor task, she tried to make the process more efficient, setting herself a target of serving clients within a minute.

‘Looking back, it was a good place to start,’ she said in a later account of the experience.

After starting at Co-operative Bank of Kenya in 2005, she moved through customer-facing and sales roles before joining CfC Stanbic Holdings, where she worked in transaction products and services. In 2012, she joined Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, where she spent more than seven years and rose to become head of transaction banking in the commercial banking division.

Her work involved helping businesses manage payments and other financial operations. She would later move to SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s innovation and venture-building arm, in January 2020, before joining Visa later that year.

At Visa, she became country manager for Kenya, with responsibility extending to South Sudan and Somalia, in a role that placed her at the intersection of a global payments network and local markets where businesses and consumers were adopting new ways to pay.

Ngigi-Sarwari took up the Visa role during the Covid-19 pandemic, when restrictions on movement accelerated the importance of digital channels for businesses and consumers.

In a past interview with this publication, she pointed to the role payment platforms played in keeping trade going during lockdowns: ‘Part of my job at Visa was to promote consumer awareness on the security, safety and reliability of digital payments.’

Her subsequent work at Visa included partnerships intended to expand digital payment options for merchants.

One example was Visa’s partnership with Absa Kenya to launch Mobi Tap, which allowed small businesses to accept card payments using an Android smartphone or tablet as a point-of-sale device. The broader significance of her work lay in connecting technology with the commercial realities of the people expected to use it.

Ngigi-Sarwari, Equity Group’s director for payments and international banking, died on October 20, while on a business trip to China.

In January 2025, Ngigi-Sarwari joined Equity Group as group director for payments and international banking before becoming managing director of Finserve Africa, Equity’s digital financial services subsidiary, in April 2026.

The appointments brought her experience in transaction banking, international payments and global payment networks into a group building its payments business across African markets. Her remit at Equity covered payments strategy and international banking, including solutions for corporate and institutional customers.

Finserve, meanwhile, sits within the group’s digital financial services operations, making her latest role a continuation of the work that had defined much of her career. The combination of responsibilities placed her at a significant point in the relationship between banking and technology, as the systems that move money became increasingly central to how banks serve customers.

Her career also reflected a willingness to keep learning. She earned a Bachelor of Business Management from Moi University in 2004 and an MBA from the University of Nairobi in 2010. She later completed the Oxford Fintech Programme at Saïd Business School in 2019 and a postgraduate diploma in digital business in 2020.

The qualifications complemented the experience she was gaining in the industry, as financial services became more dependent on digital infrastructure, customer data and partnerships between banks and technology providers.

In the past Business Daily interview, Ngigi-Sarwari described herself as a private person who pushed through what she believed in with passion: ‘I push through what I believe in with a lot of passion. I’m also a harsh critic. I always want to be better than the last conversation,’ she said at the time.

She further spoke of struggling with impostor syndrome and learning to become more comfortable in senior leadership, despite reaching a position many professionals aspire to.

The impact of her death will be felt first by her family, colleagues and friends. For Kenya’s financial technology sector, it also removes a leader whose experience crossed traditional banking, transaction services, venture building and digital payments.

Her own career offered a lesson in professional growth; starting with routine work, learning the business, taking on unfamiliar challenges and continuing to study as the industry changed. In the past interview, she said she wanted to keep improving and to make a difference through her work.

At 45, that journey has ended far earlier than expected. The full measure of what the sector has lost will be seen not only in the offices and businesses she led, but also in the ideas, partnerships and people she might have helped develop.

As Kenyan businesses replace ageing computers, servers and printers, millions of shillings in reusable equipment and sensitive corporate data risk being lost when retired devices leave offices without proper checks.

The problem extends beyond electronic waste as a discarded laptop can still hold customer records, employee information and financial documents, while a computer sold cheaply at auction may retain significant resale value.

Olivier Vanden, founder of technology reuse organisation Close the Gap, says businesses often treat old equipment as a disposal problem instead of an asset that requires secure handling, valuation and a documented second life. ‘Every device, every brand, has a market value after its useful life,’ he says.

‘For a country like Kenya, we are looking at hundreds of billions of shillings wasted each year, which is not optimised and where there is enormous potential for financial value for companies.’

The scale of the losses is difficult to establish as Kenya lacks reliable public figures separating discarded office computers, servers and printers from the wider stream of electronic waste.

The Global E-waste Monitor 2024 estimates Kenya generated 88,000 tonnes of electronic waste in 2022, but its database records no formally collected quantity for that year, exposing a gap in the data needed to track how much equipment is reused, recycled, stored or dumped.

Globally, electronic waste reached 62 million tonnes in 2022, while only 22.3 percent was documented as formally collected and recycled in an environmentally sound manner, according to the United Nations (UN)-backed report.

For Kenyan businesses, the lack of clear disposal records makes it harder to measure the value tied up in old equipment or establish whether devices containing sensitive information are being handled securely.

Vanden estimates that only a minority of corporate devices pass through formal asset-disposal processes, with many instead transferred to employees, donated to schools or kept in storage.

While these transfers can extend a device’s useful life, the techie argues, they can only do so if the company first removes its data, checks the equipment’s condition and records who takes responsibility for it.

Kenya’s Data Protection Act requires organisations handling personal information to put appropriate technical and organisational safeguards in place, including measures to protect data against unauthorised access, loss or misuse.

The law also requires a data controller to notify the Data Commissioner within 72 hours of becoming aware of a personal-data breach where unauthorised access creates a real risk of harm to affected people.

A laptop leaving an office without its data being securely erased can, therefore, create a risk that extends beyond the device’s resale value, potentially exposing customer records, employee details or business documents.

According to Vanden, simply deleting files or resetting a computer may not provide sufficient assurance that information cannot be recovered, making verified data wiping or physical destruction of storage media important before equipment changes hands.

He says the documentation gives companies a record of which devices were processed and what happened to them, rather than leaving them dependent on a buyer’s or auctioneer’s assurance.

The same asset-by-asset record can help businesses establish whether a computer is suitable for reuse, needs repair, or should be dismantled for materials recovery instead of being resold.

Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority (Nema) says its e-waste guidance covers collection, sorting, recycling and disposal, while the Sustainable Waste Management Act places obligations on producers across a product’s life cycle.

The government also launched national e-waste guidelines in 2025, setting out roles for producers, consumers, recyclers and public agencies as it seeks to improve collection and environmentally sound disposal.

The framework is designed to move electronics away from uncontrolled disposal, while the ICT Authority’s National Refurbishment, Reuse, Assemble and E-waste Management programme aims to expand collection, refurbishment and processing capacity.

Africa’s next monetary policy challenge may not originate in a domestic banking crisis or a sudden shift in global interest rates. It could emerge from the growing use of digital dollars that allow households and businesses to hold and transfer value outside conventional banking channels.

The adoption of dollar-denominated stablecoins, cryptocurrencies engineered to minimise price volatility, is increasingly being promoted as a solution to Africa’s expensive, slow and fragmented cross-border payment systems.

However, beneath these benefits lies a more consequential development. Stablecoins could change where African savings are held, how domestic banks finance lending and how effectively central banks influence monetary conditions. They could also deepen the reach of the US dollar into economies whose monetary authorities are working to strengthen domestic currencies and financial resilience.

The question for African policymakers is therefore not simply whether stablecoins make payments more efficient. It is whether the risks associated with their adoption are being transferred beyond the reach of national regulators and whether Africa is prepared for the consequences.

Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a relatively stable value against an underlying asset, most commonly the US dollar.

Their issuers typically hold reserve assets, which may include cash, bank deposits and short-term US Treasury securities, to support redemption at the promised value.

As the market grows, stablecoins can create an additional channel for international demand for dollar-denominated assets. For the US, a larger stablecoin market can strengthen the international reach of the dollar and potentially support demand for US government securities.

The scale of any additional demand depends, however, on where stablecoin funding originates and how issuers manage their reserves.

For African economies, the more immediate concern is the possibility that digital access to dollars could accelerate currency substitution. Where confidence in domestic currencies is weak, stablecoins may offer households and businesses a convenient means of holding dollar-denominated value without relying exclusively on traditional foreign-currency accounts.

This is not merely a technological shift. It could gradually change the relationship between domestic money, savings and economic activity.

So, what should African central banks watch out for?

The first question is whether stablecoins are primarily being used for payments or increasingly as a store of value. A business receiving digital dollars and immediately converting them into local currency creates a different monetary exposure from one retaining its revenues, savings and working capital in dollar stablecoins.

As access becomes easier, currency substitution could accelerate, particularly in economies already experiencing inflation or exchange rate instability.

The second concern is the potential impact on domestic banking systems. If businesses and households increasingly hold dollar stablecoins instead of local bank deposits, this could affect deposit funding, credit availability and monetary policy transmission. The impact depends on where the underlying funds ultimately sit, but central banks need to understand whether financial activity is migrating away from domestic institutions and how this changes their capacity to influence liquidity and lending conditions.

Third, stablecoins introduce dependencies on foreign issuers, reserve custodians and banking partners. Domestic regulators may supervise local payment providers without having direct oversight of the institutions holding the underlying reserves.

In a period of financial stress, the ability to redeem stablecoins depends on those institutions and their access to dollar liquidity. African central banks cannot create the foreign currency required to meet those obligations. Finally, regulatory frameworks need to account for these cross-border dependencies.

Supervising domestic intermediaries is insufficient without understanding reserve structures, redemption arrangements, concentration risks and the legal rights of stablecoin holders. Cooperation with foreign regulators will become increasingly relevant as adoption grows.

Stablecoins offer opportunities to improve payments, facilitate trade and expand access to international financial services.

However, their growing adoption also has implications for the distribution of savings, the funding of domestic banks and the effectiveness of monetary policy.

For African central banks, the priority should be to understand where financial risk and liquidity are being reallocated, and whether the efficiency gains from stablecoins come at the expense of greater dependence on foreign monetary systems. The question is not simply how to regulate a new payment instrument, but how its adoption could reshape the structure of African financial markets.

Kenya passed on up to 62 percent of changes in international fuel prices to consumers between February and September this year, revealing higher protections to households and businesses using subsidies and tax cuts when compared to peers like Tanzania and Rwanda.

A new analysis of fuel price adjustments by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows that Kenya passed through 52 percent of the changes to landed costs of super petrol to the retail pricing for the product while the pass-through for diesel was higher at 62 percent.

In contrast, Rwanda’s pass-through was recorded at 125 percent for petrol and 111 percent for diesel, while Tanzania had a 67 percent pass-through for petrol prices and 65 percent for diesel, suggesting the former more than matched the changes in the landed cost of fuel in the same period while Tanzania inserted fewer protections than Kenya.

Ethiopia however only passed through 38 percent of landed super petrol costs and 44 percent for diesel, suggesting the country had higher safeguards to protect consumers from costlier fuel.

The analysis by the multilateral lender assesses fuel price adjustments as a percent of the benchmark US-dollar-per-litre-increase for refined-products.

The IMF findings also suggest that Kenya provided greater protections to consumers of super petrol over diesel, despite the latter having greater uses in the economy, across sectors like logistics, agriculture, and electricity generation.

Kenya has deployed a combination of the fuel stabilisation fund, and the reduction of the value added tax (VAT) on petroleum products from 16 percent to eight percent to contain the runaway retail fuel prices.

The stabilisation fund is financed by the petroleum development levy (PDL) which is charged at Sh5.40 for every litre of petrol or diesel sold and Sh0.40 for kerosene.

An analysis of data from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) reveals the lower pass through of landed petrol and diesel costs to consumers, mirroring IMF findings.

The landed cost of petrol and diesel cargoes between January and July rose by 64.6 percent and 36.5 percent respectively, but retail prices in the capital Nairobi rose at a lower 20 and 30.8 percent.

The landed cost of petrol and diesel from January cargoes stood at $576.34 (Sh74,815) per cubic metre and $626.75 (Sh81,358) but rose to $948.92 (Sh123,179) and $855.59 (Sh111,064) in July.

Retail costs for petrol and diesel rose from Sh178.28 per litre and Sh166.54 in the February 15-March 14, 2026, cycle to Sh214.03 and Sh217.86 respectively in the August 15 to September 14,2026 cycle.

Kenya’s fuel prices are anchored on a T+1 import cycle where cargoes ordered in the first month reach the market at the start of month three, implying a lag to changes in current international oil prices.

VAT on both super petrol and diesel was charged at 16 percent in the February/March cycle, while no stabilisation (subsidy) was applied on either product as the Epra review for the period came just before the onset of the US, Israel war on Iran.

The halving of VAT to eight percent was in place during the August/September cycle while a subsidy of Sh8.64 was applied on super petrol.

Diesel consumers paid Sh19.28 more to cross-subside the super petrol prices.

In its review of pump prices for the new October 15 to November 14 cycle last week, Epra did not apply a subsidy on either petrol or diesel, suggesting the depletion of the stabilisation fund, but the VAT cushion remained in place.

Because of the depletion of the stabilisation fund, fuel prices jumped with super petrol costs settling at Sh226.96 in Nairobi while diesel topped Sh227.76 per litre reflecting a lift of Sh12.93 and Sh9.90 per litre.

The IMF has criticised the lack of targeted support to relieve consumers from high fuel prices, arguing that most protections by the 21- countries, analysed in the assessment, have had blanket coverage, benefitting better-off households instead of cushioning the most vulnerable.

IMF argues that more targeted relief measures would impact the most vulnerable consumers while causing less fiscal strain on governments.

‘Rwanda combined substantial price adjustment with monetary tightening and targeted support, while Ethiopia differentiated temporary fuel subsidies by product and customer to contain costs,’ IMF said.

‘Most announced fiscal measures were designed to be temporary, but only one in seven was classified as targeted. Generalised price relief is poorly targeted because better-off households typically receive a lion’s share of benefits.’

IMF says the fiscal cost of the relief measures can displace social spending, which protects vulnerable groups more effectively while funding gaps can result in losses for fuel importers and State-owned utilities, leading to arrears, shortages or rationing.

Last week, the National Assembly voted to extend the reduction of the VAT rate on petroleum products for a further three months, a move expected to deny the exchequer an estimated Sh27 billion.

The government has been losing about Sh9 billion per month from the intervention, first put in place on April 14, 2026, suggesting that the exchequer has already lost about Sh54 billion in revenues so far.

In nine months, the National Treasury stands to lose Sh81 billion in revenues or an estimated 0.45 percent of GDP.

IMF has called for transparency into relief measures aimed at containing runaway fuel prices, arguing that more targeted interventions would be less costly to governments.

The fund’s analysis of intervention measures in 19 countries showed that generalised fuel-price smoothing measures cost up to four percent of GDP while transfers containing the benefit to the poorest 40 percent of the population would cost just 0.5 percent of countries GDPs.

‘Temporary fuel price smoothing, tax relief, and subsidies should be transparently budgeted, capped and time-bound, with credible exit plans. Losses must not accumulate off budget in importers, utilities, or transport companies,’ IMF added.

There was a time when a farmer in Kenya could expect a visit from an extension officer who knew their livestock, crop and animal diseases, management regimes, soil types and environmental degradation. In some cases the trained extension officers would advise on weather patterns for a specific commodity.

That relationship between the farmer and the person carrying out research in the laboratory and the field was one of the quiet strengths of Kenyan agriculture. It is a strength we have allowed to erode, and I believe it is time we admitted that plainly and did something about it.

I was recently part of a delegation of a few Kenyan university Vice Chancellors who met with a visiting team from the United States’ National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA). The conversation was candid, and it left me thinking hard about where our extension system went wrong, and where our universities fit into fixing it.

I remember with nostalgia the vibrant departments of Agricultural Economics and Extension Services across many universities whose enrolment capacities was always full.

The facts are not in dispute. Agriculture remains the backbone of our economy, yet the machinery that once moved knowledge from research institutions to the farm has fallen apart.

When agriculture was devolved in 2013, the intention was to bring services closer to the people. In practice, it fragmented what used to be a coordinated national effort. Counties inherited responsibility for extension without always inheriting the capacity, the budgets or the technical partnerships needed to deliver it.

Extension officers’ where available today are too few, too stretched, and too often without the transport or tools to reach the farmers who need them. Essentially, their roles are not visible.

What struck me in our discussions with the American delegation was not any new suggestion that Kenya starts from zero.

We have a history of extension work, decades of institutional memory, and universities with genuine research depth in crop science, animal health, soil management, environmental degradation, and agribusiness.

What we lack is the connective tissue – the deliberate architecture that gets that knowledge out of the seminar room and onto the farm. We have enough research extension materials to serve our country credibly.

The team from the US praised, understandably, their own land-grant university tradition, where teaching, research and extension are treated as a single continuous function rather than three separate activities competing for attention and funding.

I do not think we should import that model wholesale. Kenya’s counties, our university system, and our farming communities have their own character, and any solution must be built with that in mind, not simply borrowed.

But the underlying principle is sound and worth taking seriously: universities should not be islands of research divorced from the communities whose problems that research is meant to solve.

The few Vice Chancellors who attended the meeting noted with concern the vital role that extension services could play in food security in Kenya. This would also enhance employability of our graduates from universities.

This is why I believe the proposal now on the table – a partnership linking county governments, universities and industry in what has been called a “triple-helix” approach – deserves serious consideration.

Counties bring local coordination and policy authority. Universities bring research and training capacity. Industry brings resources and practical, market-tested expertise. None of these three can rebuild extension alone. Together, there is a real chance of building something durable.

It also matters that this conversation is happening at a moment when Parliament has just passed the Agricultural and Livestock Extension Services Bill, aimed precisely at giving the country a more coordinated, technology-driven and farmer-centred extension system.

Legislation alone does not train a single extension officer or reach a single farmer, but it gives us a framework to build on, and it signals that the political will Mr Ted McKinney, the group team leader, of NASDA rightly noted would be necessary is beginning to gather.

Partnership, at its best, is a two-way exchange. Kenya’s extension system will be shaped by Kenyan farmers, counties and institutions, and it is because ownership rests here that international collaboration can be so valuable.

Partners like NASDA bring practical experience from their own context, and their willingness to learn alongside us, as much as to share what has worked elsewhere, is what makes this a partnership of equals.

Set alongside our own local knowledge, those insights can help us build a system that truly serves our farmers. This approach is one of the low hanging panacea in food security.

Our Vice-Chancellors, especially those who have Faculties or Schools of Agriculture, have a responsibility here that goes beyond hosting delegations and signing communiqués.

If our universities are to be genuine partners in reviving extension services, we must be prepared to send our researchers into the counties, to design curricula that will produce graduates who understand extension work as a vocation and not an afterthought, to open up real job opportunities for fresh graduates in extension, agribusiness and agri-enterprise, so that young people leave our campuses with prospects while farmers gain the support they need, and to measure our own success not only in publications but in whether a smallholder farmer in Tharaka, Nyamira, Bungoma or Kwale can access the knowledge our institutions generate.

We used to get this right, and I believe we can get it right again.

Let us draw the best lessons from friends and partners abroad, adapt them to Kenya’s own realities, and build on the strengths we already have, so that we finally achieve the coordinated interaction between research and the farm that we have needed for a generation. This approach will be part of food security assurances.

It is true what people say about mountains. You soon learn that once you start mountaineering, you can never run away. Not ever. The only way out is in. It is how Cristina Nord has got Mt Ololokwe, the Alps, and Satima under her thumb.

‘I started hiking in my mid-20s, and I have always loved it madly,’ she says. The Director of Goethe-Institut has the big three in her sights: Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Kenya, and Mt Elgon.

When she is not climbing mountains, she is scaling the pages of books-the axes she uses to break her mind free.

Recently, she completed a 1,200-page novel by German writer Peter Weiss, The Aesthetics of Resistance.

In our age of short attention spans, she is an ascetic, resisting and renouncing the siren song of convenience.

‘In the present world, there is more the danger of under-intellectualising everything,’ she says. ‘Many people look for very simple answers to very complex questions, which can be misleading.’

What is it like to live your life?

I like being in Kenya, and I study Swahili, but I’m struggling, also because I’m learning the sanifu version of it. Also, when I’m not working, I like being in the mountains. I’ve made a few attempts on Mount Kenya, but failed because of the very bad weather.

There was a lot of snow, so we only managed to reach that pass between the Chogoria route and the Sirimon route, which is at 4,600 metres. I’ll retry it.

Has there been a noticeable change in your life since you started hiking?

I started hiking a long time ago when I was in my mid-20s, and since then I have always loved it madly.

Like this August, I spent a bit of time in the Alps, and I really do enjoy it. However, I realised that I have grown a bit older and no longer have the stamina and the strength I had when I was in my mid-20s. Sometimes I wish I had come to Kenya 15 years earlier, because then by now I would have climbed Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, Elgon, and whatnot.

How do you keep yourself going despite the circumstances of climbing the mountain?

Good question, because when I did Elephant Hill for the first time, there was a moment when I was like, “What am I doing here? Come on.” And that was before reaching ‘The Tail’ end, that steep part. I was really struggling; I had difficulty breathing, and my legs felt very weak.

I know that I do have quite a lot of willpower, which makes me push through. However, I also have an assessment for situations that might turn dangerous. Then for me, the decision to not proceed is also not too hard to take. But in a situation like climbing Elephant Hill, it is willpower. I can see that ultimately, I can do it.

What is the most useful thing you’ve learned about life from being outdoors?

That you can do with very little. That being able to limit your focus to an activity that is, on the one hand, very easy-walking-and on the other hand maybe sometimes a bit challenging because you need to scramble, or it’s raining cats and dogs and you still need to go.

I think that you can adapt to that and have the most stunning experiences. That is a lesson learned.

Over New Year’s 2024, we spent four days hiking Loita Hills, camping in tents with Maasai guides, without electricity, running water, or sanitary facilities. I remember crossing a swamp to find fresh water, where we took a quick bath. It was one of the most amazing experiences I’d had in a long time. Those memories help put everyday frustrations into perspective when I’m back at my computer [chuckles].

Where have you gone that surprised you the most?

The Amazon. My colleague was based in Salvador, which is a very beautiful Brazilian city. I had the fortune to visit him quite often while he was there, and we travelled quite a lot together in Brazil.

One time we did a prolonged boat tour for four days on the Amazon River in the northern part of Brazil. We started in the city of Manaus and went upstream from there, but it’s not exactly the Amazon; it’s called Rio Negro. Eventually, we stayed for four days at a place where, in the river, there is an archipelago of islands. That was just the most surprising landscape.

I think the reason why I connected so immensely with that landscape was also that part of my studies were Latin American literature and culture. I had read a lot of novels and cultural theory that deal with the jungle as a topos. I was in a place about which I had read a lot about, and that was something which made me connect.

Where do you still dream of going?

I would love to go to Senegal and spend time in Dakar. I think I would also love to spend more time in Nigeria, going to Ibadan for instance, and more time in Lagos. And one of the islands in Lake Turkana, like South Island or Central Island. Then I also have to admit that I haven’t been to a lot of national parks. I would also love to go to the Mount Elgon area.

You mentioned your intellectual life. What book has most influenced the way you understand people?

[chuckles] That is a very difficult question for someone who’s read countless books. I can say that Latin American literature has influenced me-the way someone like Jorge Luis Borges works with a very interesting sense of alternative realities.

During my time at university, I was very familiar with texts by Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, post-structural thought from France like Jacques Derrida, and feminist theory as well.

When I was 25, I read that famous book by Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, which was also important, at least back then. There is another French philosopher called Michel Foucault who was also important for me. He wrote a book called (Surveiller et punir: Naissance de la prison), Discipline and Punish.

There, he describes how the prison system was developed in Europe, starting in the 16th century, and how the system of punishment was transformed from a punishment that would try to repeat the offense-like if you steal, someone cuts off your hand-to a different type of system. He would not describe that as a linear progress, but in a more neutral manner.

Do you read differently now as compared to your 20s?

I definitely do read differently, a bit to my dislike. Simply, I no longer have that time. When I was a student, my life consisted of reading. Now my life consists of managing this place, which is a great thing to do, but at the same time it comes with several challenges.

I’m sometimes so tired that when I start reading, I fall asleep.

However, going back to the willpower thing, I still manage to read fewer novels, of course. I just finished, three or four weeks ago, a novel that had been with me for a couple of months, a 1,200-page novel by German writer Peter Weiss called The Aesthetics of Resistance. I was very proud that I managed, even though I have a lot of things on my plate.

I also try to read Kenyan literature or literature about Kenya. Currently, History of the Hanged by David Anderson who wrote about the 50s and the state of emergency in Kenya. Living here and doing the job I do, it’s my positive obligation to learn more about Kenya and get acquainted with Kenyan writers.

Does reading about the world diminish its experience of it?

No, it enriches it, because there’s the saying: the more you know, the more you see.

Is there a danger to over-intellectualising your life?

I don’t know exactly what over-intellectualising would be. I’ve always been someone who enjoyed thinking, and thinking further, and seeing how that enables you to go beyond what you’ve already known.

Currently, in the world we are living in, there is more danger of under-intellectualising everything [chuckles]. A lot of people look for very simple answers to very complex questions on many levels, be it political, societal, or about how people live together. I think that is very misleading.

In which part of your life do you allow yourself to be messy?

[chuckles]

With the books next to my bed haha! On Sundays when I’m at home, and to a certain extent on my desk, which I probably shouldn’t be because we have clean desk policies. At home, my computer is a bit of a mess.

You spent time as a film critic. If your life were a movie, what do you think the audience would be shouting at the screen?

Haha! What would they shout? Well, in Germany nobody shouts when going to the movies! Some might be a bit intimidated, without me wanting to achieve that. Some might be a bit dissatisfied because the way I’m leading my life does not tick too many boxes, and others would maybe applaud precisely because of this.

What is something you believe more strongly now than you did 10 years ago?

The importance of understanding others, especially those who do not share your views. The importance of understanding the world as an interconnected place in which isolation does not lead anywhere.

Before coming to Kenya, I had lived in Central America for a year and travelled a lot in Latin America. But seeing the differences between Kenya and a place like Germany is a very concrete experience which makes me think a lot about different perceptions. At the same time, there are a lot of things people share worldwide; that’s why I say it’s interconnected.

Climate change is one example: Africa bears consequences of industrialisation it did little to drive. What happens in Europe affects Kenya, and vice versa. I’ve learned to appreciate this interconnectedness not just in theory, but in everyday life.

What habit has most improved your life?

Being less strict with myself. I still am, but learning how to be less demanding helped. Do you know this Freudian scheme of the ego, the id, and the superego? Keeping your superego in check is a good idea. It can be a nasty creature, and very gluttonous, as it never gets enough. When I was in my mid-20s, I was not so good about it.

I became a bit better, at least I hope [chuckles]. I don’t work on weekends, except for occasional events we have. I want to be very open towards people, not judgmental, which is one of the things Kenya taught me.

When I go to Germany now, at the beginning I enter a store and say, “Good morning, how are you?” and people look at me as if I were utterly crazy! That illustrates how warm Kenyans come across when you’re coming from a place where that type of friendly, open, welcoming behaviour is not the norm.

Which advice that you got has stood the test of time?

Try to keep your superego in check, in the sense that you need to listen to yourself. You are not a machine. You can’t go on tirelessly all the time; you can’t be alert 24/7. You need your breaks; you need your rest. Maybe that’s something that comes with age.

I’m 57 now, and I realise that I still have a lot of energy, but not the way I had 30 years ago.

What do you splurge on?

I do like food and wine, and exquisite food like strange combinations of tastes. Not particularly luxurious ingredients like lobster, but when I’m in Berlin, for instance, I enjoy going to places where you get locally sourced food cooked innovatively, pairing

it with nice natural wines.

What is your most Kenyan habit?

Nyama choma! And when someone says “Good morning,” I automatically say “Good morning,” even though I’m elsewhere. In Germany, if a moderator comes to a panel and greets the audience, people wouldn’t greet back, which is totally normal here, and I tend to do it everywhere now.

What’s your idea of a great weekend?

Hiking an Aberdare mountain peak on Saturday and doing nothing on Sunday. Or a regular weekend: going to yoga on Saturday morning, reading a bit, meeting friends in the evening, and the next day doing a relaxed hike somewhere in Kiambu, or swimming because I like swimming a lot.

Who do you know that I should know?

Suhaib Ibrahim, a Sudanese filmmaker based in Nairobi. He was one of the co-directors of a beautiful film about the outbreak of the civil war in Sudan called Khartoum.

He’s really cool and nice, knows a lot about filmmaking, and also about making ends meet and thriving when circumstances are dire.