Author: Francis Muli

Health insurers have withdrawn from partnering with Nairobi Women’s Hospital and will no longer pay a dime for future bills from the facility over cost inflation claims. Following a meeting of the Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI) on Monday, several insurers have withdrawn and informed their clients of the development. “Medical insurance underwriters met and resolved not to deal with the facility in the future. By Tuesday it had not been actualized, but I am certain that it will happen,” said Mr Tom Gichuhi, AKI chief executive. Read: KNH On The Spot Again After Eleven Newborn Babies Mysteriously Die  Mid…

Former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri has been summoned over Ksh50 billion used to import maize during the 2016/17 and 2017/18 financial years. Already, Kiunjuri has been summoned by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly to explain how the money was spent, which the government is said to be unable to account for. Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua has also been summoned over the same. According to auditor general’s reports for the two fiscal years, the ministry was unable to provide documentation to the same, to prove that actually the maize was imported. Read: Kiunjuri Splashes…

Part of NextGen Mall along Mombasa Road is set to be auctioned to recover an undisclosed amount of loan. The auctioneer, Garam Investments says that it is targeting Unit C, which is on the first floor of the building and is identifiable as Pent Office, packaged together with three parking bays, accommodation which includes a reception lobby passage, thirteen single room offices, two double room offices, a meeting room, a boardroom, a kitchen fitted with a sink, inbuilt cupboards and private granite worktops. The building, owned by Navin Shah and managed by Cresta Investments Ltd, is set for public auction…

Security detail for Kandara MP Alice Wahome has been withdrawn, even as she insists that her life is in danger. In a tweet yesterday, the vocal legislator confirmed the developments, saying that she has received several death threats from political enemies. “My personal security detail has been withdrawn today. I have been receiving threatening phone messages and press conferences have been held to warn me of dire consequences. My life is in danger,” tweeted Ms Wahome. https://twitter.com/WahomeHon/status/1224355220651675648 This is the second time she is talking about death threats, the first being in January after she criticised President Uhuru Kenyatta. Read:…

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) will now regulate coffee trade, in what the Treasury calls fight against cartels who have affected price downwards. According to draft regulations by Treasury cabinet secretary Ukur Yatani, all coffee trading companies and weekly coffee auction will be under the watch of CMA. Currently, the market is regulated by the Agriculture and Food Authority through the Coffee Directorate under Coffee (General) Regulations. Read: Gov’t Appoints Four Officials To Oversee Liquidation Of Kenya’s Largest Coffee Dealer, KPCU The government will also establish a direct settlement system to prevent brokers from diverting sales proceeds to other purposes.…

Matatu owners in Nairobi will be fined Ksh50,000 for lacking special seats for pregnant mothers, infants and disabled people in their public service vehicles (PSVs), a new bill by the county has proposed. Nairobi City County Transport Bill of 2019 however does not include the PSVs of lower seating capacity, and only PSVs with a capacity of 17 passengers and above will be affected. PSVs with 17-passenger capacity will have one special seat, those with a capacity of 18 to 35 passengers must have two special seats while thos with a capacity of more than 35-passengers will have three special seats…

A tech innovator, Stephen Muikia Njongoro, has sued over 30 banks in Kenya for allegedly stealing the PesaLink idea from him. Muikia says that he presented the idea to the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) in 2015, but the lenders took the idea and implemented it as PesaLink with similar salient features and components. PesaLink  is an interbank money transfer solution that enables customers to receive funds from other banks straight into their accounts. PesaLink is operated by Integrated Payment Services Ltd (IPSL), a fully-owned subsidiary of KBA, and can handle person-to-person transfers from as low as Ksh10 to a high…

The National Treasury received Ksh78 billion from state agencies in the first half of the current financial year, a double of what was collected in a similar period last year. Last year in August, all state corporations were ordered to surrender cash balances in their bank accounts to the treasury. “It has happened in the past but it has not been targeting all State corporations as it is happening now. It’s only that we want to be more formal how we do it this time round in a more orderly way. If they got surplus money they pay back and…

Airtel and Telkom Kenya now want merger conditions set by the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) reviewed and done away with. In a suit at the Competition Tribunal, the telcos want the conditions that barred them from making any new sales agreements over the next five years. In the merger conditions issued in December 2019, CAK required that Telkom Kenya to reverses its frequency to the government upon expiry of the lease period. CAK also barred the companies from selling or buying frequency licences. “Upon expiry of the term of the merged entities’ operating license, the spectrum in the 900MHZ…

House prices and rents in Nairobi dropped marginally for the year 2019, a new study by realtor HassConsult has revealed. According to the study, rents dipped by 2.1 per cent in Nairobi while those in surrounding areas fell by 2.3 per cent, attributed to oversupply of housing units. “Landlords are becoming less demanding, especially in areas where there is an oversupply of similar units,” said HassConsult Head of Development Consulting and Research Sakina Hassanali . Read: Samsung Records Ksh440 Billion Profit In 3 Months, A 38PC Slump In terms of property put up for sale, the firm found that Karen,…

It will cost you at least Ksh17,750 per year to maintain the most expensive bank account in Kenya, a new study by Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) has found. The study found that Standard Chartered Bank’s “all in one account” is the most expensive bank account to maintain in Kenya at Ksh17,750 per year, a 31 percent increase from 2017. Stanchart’s account is followed by Barclays Bank of Kenya’s “ultimate account” that costs Ksh14,558 annually to maintain, followed by NIC Bank’s (now NCBA) “move pay as you go” account that costs Ksh13,393. Read: Standard Chartered Bank Ordered To Produce Statements In…

Investors are now protesting the newly built Milimani Executive Apartments by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) along State House Road. Reports reaching Kahawa Tungu indicate that according to the initial plan, around 30 houses were to be built, but due to greed and gluttony, at least 104 units were built, each to cost Ksh35 million. The move is said to have been orchestrated by managing trustee Anthony Omerikwa and Acting general manager in charge of finance Moses Cheseto. Also Chairman Adan Mohammed and managing trustee Richard Kipkoech Langat. Read: Embakasi Residents Block NSSF Officials From Grabbing Police Land This…

Smartphone maker Samsung Electronics recorded a 38 percent slump in profits for the last three months of 2019, attributed to weakening demand in key products and falling chip prices. In 2019, the global memory chip market was hit by rising supply and falling demand, affecting profits for most chip suppliers in the world. “Fourth-quarter profit dropped from a year earlier due to the continued fall in memory chip prices and weakness in display panels,” Samsung said in a statement. In the first quarter of 2020, the company expects weak sales from seasonality in memory chips, OLED and consumer electronics following…

There was a scuffle at the Milimani Law Courts yesterday after a group of Forex scam victims stormed the courts, protesting delayed prosecution of Mr Manases Karanja, a suspected forex scammer. Mr Karanja, the director of Inter Web Global Fortune Limited, is facing eight counts of carrying out business as an online forex broker without a licence from the Capital Markets Authourity or Central Bank of Kenya. Nation reports that he obtained at least Ksh3.7 million from the victims, who stormed the courts demanding their money back. Mr Karanja was released on a Ksh1 million bail. Read: The Mulot Scammers…

Kenyan ambassador to China Sarah Serem now wants national carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) to suspend its direct flights to China following the outbreak of Crorna Virus. This comes hours after KQ announced that it will not suspend its flights to China. The carrier said that it is monitoring the development before taking the next step. This is despite some airlines such as British Airways, Lion Air and Seoul Air suspending flights to China. “Cancellation of the flights is on the table but we are monitoring and we will take the action as soon as there’s imminent danger,” the airline’s acting…