By Jedida Baraza and Wambui Muthoni The political state of the country has not affected the real estate industry with investors and developers still coming into the market. Estate Intel research associate Tilda Mwai said that despite the forthcoming election, the market is still expanding and key emerging trends such as flexibility and quality in terms of what people are occupying is driving the demand. Speaking recently at a Nairobi hotel during the annual East Africa property investment summit held under the theme “a re-newed focus” Ms Mwai said the market has been resilient to the political campaign with both…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
By Victor Adar The central land registry is set to go live on ArdhiSasa, the National Land Management System (NLIMS) at the end July this year, following its permanent closure last year to pave for digitisation of land records. Speaking at an alumni forum at Strathmore University on “The Digitalisation of Land Records in Kenya”, Farida Karoney, the CS, Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning said the Ministry had already gazetted 84,000 land parcels set to migrate to the Land Registration Act 2012, with 64,000 of them having matured. “The law stipulates that we must wait for 90 days to…
Topline, the firm reported a gross income of Sh12 billion representing a 38% improvement over the previous year’s Sh 8.7 billion. However, the earnings were a loss after tax of Sh 542 million (restated 2020: loss after-tax of Sh 628 million). The firm has been undertaking revenue growth strategies for both its life and general insurance subsidiaries and has attributed its performance to a challenging market. Sanlam Group CEO Dr Patrick Tumbo noted that the life insurance subsidiary had performed significantly well and helped sustain the Group’s resilient performance. “After the successful implementation of revenue growth strategies in both short- and…
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has been ranked the third worst-performing major security market in Africa in 2022 as a result of foreign investor capital flight and ease of repatriation of equity sales compared to other capitals in the continent. Data from EFG Hermes, an investment bank, shows that the Nairobi bourse is ranked eighth among the top 10 stock markets in the continent, beating only the securities from Ghana and Egypt in terms of earnings. The NSE had a return of -30% in dollar terms while Ghana and Egypt tied at -32%. At the top of the list is…
By Ouma Ojango If the Government patronage that has shielded Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KP) from competition were to be dropped, the electricity retailer would suffer the same fate as Kodak, a one-time world leader in technology with products and services in commercial print, packaging, manufacturing and entertainment. Left to its own devices, KP would quickly join the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KP&TC) in the deep end of the sea with no prospects of ever rising to the surface again, leave alone staying afloat. These two are world’s best examples of how not to catch up with…
By Felix Ochieng Bioenergy dominates the Kenyan energy mix at 65% of the total on-the-grid energy. Other energy sources are oil at 17%, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind at 15%, and hydropower and coal at 2%. The country spends nearly half of its annual foreign exchange on imported fossil fuels such as oil and petroleum that are used to meet the basic energy requirements. On the electricity front, renewable energy currently constitutes 90% of the country’s energy sources, primarily hydropower and geothermal power. Geothermal power, wind, and solar energy have a high potential in Kenya due to…
When the government lowered the cost of power in January this year, we wondered how it would be achieved without bankrupting Kenya Power. The reduced charges meant that the energy distributor was selling power at a loss to some of its customers. It is now official that the cut in power prices is as a result of a government subsidy – the company has been allocated Sh7bn in addition to Sh9bn allocated in February. The move, it appears, intends to reward theft and inefficiency. I have on many occasions demonstrated how the cost of power can be lowered to below Sh12…
Kenya Power’s inefficiencies give an advantage to alternative energy sources. Can solar energy save customers who are out to embrace it? By John Seko and Felix Owino More Kenyans, especially rural ones, now prefer solar power to connecting to the grid. Solar energy has several applications among rural populations, from generating electricity to lighting, heating, and drying. The latest data from the World Bank on Kenya shows that 78% of the country’s population lives in rural areas and far-flung regions, which are usually beyond the reach of the regular power lines served by the national grid. As a result, alternative…
By NJ Ayuk In a 2014 article, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa argued for an Apartheid-style boycott on coal, oil and gas companies as a way to fight climate change and help ensure global environmental sustainability goals. “We must stop climate change. And we can, if we use the tactics that worked in South Africa against the worst carbon emitters,” he wrote. Climate change is something to be rightfully concerned about. But although Tutu’s sentiment is laudable, it is also misguided. Oil and gas companies are not autocratic regimes focused on oppressing the people and steal their resources. They are businesses.…
Africans must reconsider their positions on fossil fuels, and compel financial institutions operating in Africa to fund coal, oil and gas power plants. By Peter Wanyonyi South Africa, Africa’s most advanced and most sophisticated economy, is reeling under punishing electricity rationing. Operational failures, insufficient generating capacity, and an unwillingness to invest in new power plants have combined to create a disaster in waiting, as the country’s electricity monopoly, Eskom, hikes electricity tariffs to service debt. It is estimated that, at any given time, over a third of Eskom’s total capacity is offline due to power rationing. Kenya’s power-rationing story hardly…
