Author: Francis Muli

American credit rating agency Moody’s has given Kenya a negative credit rating, due to its expensive loans. Kenya is still in the B2 credit rating, but has dropped from stable to negative, with the agency citing rising financing risks posed by Kenya’s large gross borrowing requirements. These include amortization of external bilateral debt and the need to refinance a large stock of short-term domestic debt, at a time when the fiscal outlook is deteriorating due to the erosion of the revenue base. The agency also said that Kenya’s debt structure exposes its fiscal metrics to exchange rate and interest rate…

The demolitions that happened at Kariobangi North are in preparations for an ultra-modern city being constructed for ‘the big family’, city pastor turned political activist Pastor Godfrey Migwi has said. On Monday, thousands of Kariobangi sewage slum estate in Kariobangi North were left homeless following the demolition of their houses. The demolition of the structures was carried out by the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company in a bid to reclaim the land where more than 7,000 families have been living since 2008. “I know the big family is targeting Muranga water and Kariobangi Sewage disposal for an ambitious forthcoming…

A group of non-profit organizations and tech companies including Google and Bill & Melinda Gates foundation are coming together to help developing countries in Africa and Asia build real time digital payment systems. They announced the development of Mojaloop foundation whose aim is to develop and promote a free, open-source, real time payment platform for the public and financial institutions such as banks. The initiative will join a growing number of digital payment platforms already in use especially in Africa. MPesa, which was developed in 2007 by Vodafone and South Africa, lets users send and receive money using their mobile…

The wealthy in Kenya seem not to be feeling the pinch Covid-19 is having to the economy, which has brought the economy almost down to its knees. According to data from the Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMI), the orders for luxury cars such as Mercedes Benz, Porsche and Range Rover brands was up by 73 percent in the first quarter of 2020. A total of 45 units of high-end cars were sold by dealers in the review period compared to 26 units a year earlier. 17 Mercedes Benz cars were sold, 12 Land Rovers and eight BMWs. Porsche Centre Nairobi…

Last week, this blog revealed how the Jubilee Party was involved in business with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s relatives through a company known as Bora Ubora Limited. The company is said to be co-owned by KICC boss and President Kenyatta’s niece Nana Gecaga and her brother Jomo Gechaga, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s personal assistant. Another niece to President Kenyatta, Ms Selina Renee Pratt is also said to have a stake in the company, as she was so influential in pushing for payments. It now emerges that the company might not have paid taxes, even after receiving at least Ksh361 million from the…

Apple is celebrating Africa month; and to do so, they have launched a campaign that will showcase the best playlists, artists and albums from all corners of the continent during the period. The campaign comes after last week’s expansion of Apple Music into 52 additional countries. The expansion has given 33 African countries access to Apple Music. The campaign features 15 exclusive guest playlists put together by some of Africa’s finest artists such as Angelique Kidjo, Jazz icon Abdullah Ibrahim,, Afrobeats Star Davido and popular Kenyan Afro-pop group Sautisol, to name but a few. The playlist also includes the best…

Software Engineering Company, Andela, has laid off a total of 135 employees across four locations. Senior staff at the company located in New York with a presence in Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya will also take pay cuts of 10 to 30 percent. The CEO, Mr Jeremy Johnson confirmed the lay-offs on a company-wide video conference call attended by about 1,300 employees from all locations. The reduction in salary and staff are as a result of the hard-hitting COVID-19 crisis and brings the staff count to 1,199 employees. The company is backed by $181 million in Venture capital from investors…

Facebook has named Maina Kiai, Kenyan human rights advocate as a board member for the newly created oversight board for Facebook and Instagram. Mr Kiai is a director of Human Rights Watch’s Global Alliances and Partnerships program. He, together with other, will decide what content to allow or remove from the largest social media platform. The oversight board has been created to tackle some of the increasingly complex and contentious debates regarding the content shared on Facebook and Instagram. Of priority will be cases of content that have potential to impact many users and are of critical importance to the…

A new innovation promises to play a major role in the war against the locusts. The elocust3platform, which is supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) might be the answer in the fight against the insects which have ravaged crops and struck fear among farmers. The locust situation has threatened food production in the country and has already ravaged crops in more than 20 counties. A variety of methods have been employed to deal with the menace but none has proved to be a reliable solution. Although the measures taken have had some success, experts have been calling for…

Sinotec, a Chinese power transmission and distribution equipment firm that has undertaken several multi-billion projects in Kenya has been blacklisted by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The company will now not be eligible to undertake projects funded by AfDB, after it was accused of misrepresenting its experience in several projects, including Jubilee government’s Last Mile Connectivity Project. “An investigation conducted by the Bank’s Office of Integrity and Anti-Corruption established that Sinotec Company Ltd misrepresented its experience, the value and dates of its reference contracts and its relationship with other bidders while participating in three Bank-financed tenders,” said the AfDB in…

The Telkom and Airtel merger talks are back on the table after the Competition Tribunal overturned a number of conditions that had been imposed on the two telecommunication entities presenting challenges to progress with the plans. The latest development from the Tribunal means the two firms can now revive their talks to take on Safaricom, the dominant player in the market in an effort to eat into their 64.8 percent market share. According to the Tribunal, the conditions that had been set did not provide for healthy competition in the Telecom industry and had put Airtel and Telkom at a…

Telkom will power health tech company, Afya Rekod’s health management platform, that will facilitate COVID-19 monitoring and analysis. The Afya Rekod platform was developed, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, to support global efforts to curb the disease. It is a centralised, multilingual, intelligent health data platform, built with Artificial Intelligence (AI) modules and blockchain technology, to ensure that it is adaptive, dynamic and secured for public usage. The platform converts structured and unstructured data to global health data record keeping, using Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) and other international standards. The Afya Rekod platform will essentially provide a virtual…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a US$739 million (Ksh78.3 billion) loan to cushion Kenya’s economic climate which has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The funding will be drawn from the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF), which provides rapid concessional financial assistance with limited conditionality to low-income countries (LICs) facing an urgent balance of payments need. “Emergency financing under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) will deliver liquidity support to help Kenya cover its balance of payments gap this year. It will provide much-needed resources for fiscal interventions to safeguard public health and support households and firms affected by the…

Safaricom has appointed Sitoyo Lopokoiyit as the M-Pesa Africa head, days after it acquired the platform jointly with Vodacom Group from Vodafone. Lopokoiyit was plucked from his position as Safaricom’s Chief Officer for Financial Services to head the new venture. Safaricom and Vodacom completed the acquisition of the M-Pesa brand from Vodafone Group Plc in April for Ksh1.4 billion. Vodacom and Vodafone own a combined 40 per cent stake in the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm which pioneered the M-Pesa service in the local market. Read: Safaricom and Vodacom Now Fully Acquires M-PESA from Vodafone The M-Pesa Africa Joint Venture will…

Kenya is planning to impose a 1.5 percent digital tax on online transactions. This is according to a proposal in the Finance bill 2020, in a bid to cash in on internet businesses that have taken off especially during this Covid-19 crisis period. Kenya is currently East Africa’s biggest economy and the government also plans to start levying a minimum gross sales tax of 1 percent. The measures which have already been drafted were  presented to the National Assembly for the first reading on Wednesday. According to Daniel Ngumy, Partner and head of the tax department at Anjarwalla & Khanna…