• Nairobi traders charged with defrauding landlord Sh3.6m
Nine small-scale traders are part of a group that has been accused of forging KCB Bank Kenya deposit slips, defrauding a Nairobi city centre landlord of Sh3.6 million in rent. The tenants at the World Business Centre (WBC) within the central business district (CBD) who were charged before Milimani senior principal magistrate Robinson Ondieki denied 20 counts of forgery and uttering the fake KCB deposit slips to the proprietor of WBC, Patrick Githinji Mwang. The nine before court are Amos Bundi Jacob, Jacinta Kanini Muia, Prudential Bosibori Mochama, Pauline Wambui Mwangi, Antony Kiongo Mathenge, Gladys Mokeira Isaiah, Naomi Nyanusi Ogomba, Purity Wambura Gitari and Lilian Wairimu Ngunje.
• Selu to invest Sh13bn in Galana-Kulalu project
Selu Limited, the special-purpose vehicle established to invest in the government-backed Galana-Kulalu irrigation project, will inject at least $80 million (Sh13 billion at current exchange rates) in the next three years to expand operations on the farm covering 20,000 acres. Selu, in a public notice on Monday, said it has concluded the initial development phase of 500 acres, which involved a feasibility assessment to evaluate the viability of large-scale commercial maize farming in the 1.75 million-acre government-owned ranch.
• Ugandan ride-hailing firm SafeBoda makes Kenya return
Uganda-based motorcycle ride-hailing and delivery company SafeBoda is set to resume operations in Kenya next month, three years after it shut down its operations in the country. “Tumerudi! (We are back),” said the firm on its official Kenyan handle on X (formerly Twitter). “SafeBoda is coming to Nairobi,” the company said on its website on Monday, with a countdown timer that showed it would relaunch in Kenya in 13 days. SafeBoda closed its operations in Kenya in November 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic to focus on its successful operations in Uganda.
• Resolution Insurance enters liquidation as rescue bid fails
Resolution Insurance has entered the liquidation phase after nearly 21 months of trying to rescue the company failed to bear fruit. The High Court has appointed Long’et Terer as the interim liquidator of the cash-strapped insurer that was incorporated in 2002 as Resolution Health before renaming it to Resolution Insurance in 2013. The liquidator was gazetted last Friday to start the process of taking stock of all the people the insurer owes with the purpose of settling their dues, depending on what will be raised from the sale of the insurer’s assets or collection of any debts owed to it.
• Diaspora remittances grow to record Sh671bn in a year
Money sent home by Kenyans living abroad continued on a growth trajectory to hit a record Sh671 billion ($4.19 billion) in 2023, significantly boosting the country’s current account balance amid falling export revenue. Data from the Central Bank of Kenya shows that diaspora remittances in the 12 months to December 2023 increased by 4 percent from the $4.028 (Sh645 billion at current exchange rates) recorded in a similar period in 2022. The rise in remittances was largely driven by growth in diaspora receipts from within Africa, which increased by more than 50 percent year-on-year in the 12 months to November 2023.
• President Ruto targets Sh133bn annually from new health insurance plan
President William Ruto’s administration is targeting Sh133 billion in collections from Kenyans every year to fund its ambitious healthcare plan amid public outcry. The Ministry of Health (MoH) has made the disclosures days after the Court of Appeal lifted a High Court order that had stopped the implementation of the Social Health Insurance (General) Regulations, 2023 that seek to deduct 2.75 percent of gross monthly income from all registered members.
• Treasury mulls new firm for Hustler business loan guarantees
The Treasury has revealed plans to set up a company in partnership with financial institutions to de-risk lending to small businesses, including those who graduate from the Hustler Fund, by commercial banks. The proposed Kenya Credit Guarantee Scheme Company (KCGSC) will guarantee a share of the loans commercial banks will advance to cash-strapped micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
• French agency hands Treasury Sh383 million for development
The French Development Agency (AFD) has issued grants and loans to the Treasury worth Sh383.7 million (2.2 million Euros) to support the exchequer’s programmes in agriculture and public finance. The first tranche involves a Sh174.4 million (1 million Euros) grant to elevate services and offer timely support catering to the needs of small and medium enterprises. The funding is expected to anchor a comprehensive business acceleration programme which includes a series of training seminars, facilitation of experience-sharing initiatives and the promotion of networking between Kenyan and French private companies in the agriculture domain.
• Consumers hit as KPC fuel losses on new highThe energy sector regulator set record-high rates to compensate for fuel lost along the pipeline from the port of Mombasa, pointing to an anticipated rise in inefficiencies of the network. The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) set the rates at Sh0.16 per litre of super petrol and diesel and Sh0.15 per litre of kerosene in the pricing review for the month ending February 14. This is an increase of up to 166.7 percent from a year ago and is also the highest ever, with consumers expected to pay a combined Sh62 million or Sh17.14 million more this month based on conservative consumption figures of the three fuels as of September last year.
• New law discourages investment in renewable energy
Kenya’s change of policy on the purchase of electricity from renewable sources by independent power producers (IPPs) is discouraging new investments in the sector and slowing down efforts to close the country’s energy access gap, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns. The Cabinet last year approved the Renewable Energy Auction Policy (Reap), effectively allowing a transition from the previous policy of Feed-in Tariffs (FiT), which allowed IPPs to earn a pre-determined fixed tariff over a given period of time.
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