The Employment and Labour Relations Court has nullified the appointment of members of Communication Authority of Kenya Board including that of Mercy Wanjau as acting Director General. This comes as a huge win for immediate former boss at CA, Francis Wangusi who had vehemently opposed the appointment of Ms Wanjau and who the Court has ordered not to hand over until a proper board is constituted. “The President should exercise his powers under the State Corporations Act and extend the term of Wangusi until a new board is appointed to recruit the Director General,” Justice Byram Ongaya ruled following a…
Author: David Wanjala
David Wanjala
Mr Wanjala holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Media Studies, Development Communication from the University of Nairobi. Over the years, he has undertaken assignments for leading dailies including The Nation and The Standard. He also taught journalism at tertiary level and has consulted for various organisations in research including the EACC, FHI and South Consulting. He is strongly grounded in subbing, writing, research and analysis.
BY DAVID WANJALA Kenya’s third quarter debt repayment statistics does not inspire confidence in the East Africa’s largest economy. Just as the country’s celebrated middle class are a hospital bill a way from sliding back to the realm of poverty, so is Kenya’s economy. Merely one instance of loan defaulting would roll back all the gains of yester years’ hardwork. The country spent Sh214 billion out Sh372 billion revenue of July – September on debt repayment. That is 57% of total revenue collected in the quarter. How much did this leave for the recurrent budget, which is also beyond recommended…
BY DAVID WANJALA President Uhuru Kenyatta has today launched a Tax Appeals Tribunal, which will hear appeals filed against any tax decision made by the commissioner of Kenya Revenue Authority. The tribunal, according to the Tax Appeals Tribunal Act, consists of a chairperson and not less than 15, but not more than 20 other members, all of whom are advocates of the High Court. The inaugural tribunal’s workload is already cut out, coming in the background of heightened revenue collection in a dwindling economy and already existing tax dispute courses in courts of law pitting the taxman against big businesses.…
BY DAVID WANJALA Safaricom has defied the odds including the recent untimely demise of its long serving CEO and the dwindling economy to record yet another unmatched performance in the first half of 2019 announced earlier today. The regions leading telco announced a 14.4% rise in net profit for the first half of the year to September 30, 2019. Announcing the results, Ag CEO Michael Joseph said the company’s net profit for the period was Sh35.7b. He attributed the growth to MPesa and fixed data. “Customer growth remained strong in the first half of this year and we have more…
Only 26.1% of Kenyans living in urban areas own the homes they live in compared to countries like South Africa with 53.5% or the United States with 64.5%. By David Wanjala Housing, an important aspect of Kenya’s economy has been a challenge especially with a deficit of 2 million units even as demand grows at 200, 000 units per annum. According to the National Housing Corporation (NHC), supply has never surpassed 50, 000 units per annum. The Ministry of Housing indicates that 83.0% of the existing housing supply is for the high income and upper-middle-income segments, with only 15.0% for…
Kenya eventually made its inaugural crude oil exportation in August, with excitement, flare and pomp. The President of the Republic, top government mandarins and a number of County heads trooped down the coastal city of Mombasa to flag off the 200,000 barrels of the fossil fuel that official figures show will fetch Sh1.2b from a Chinese company, Chemchina, for export to Malaysia. An exuberant, and understandably so, President Kenyatta, speaking at the flag-off, said Kenya has now joined the league of oil exporting nations. Beneath the excitement, however, lies deep-seated treachery in relation to the discovery, exploration and exploitation rights…
By David Wanjala Foreign investors have, in the recent past, avoided Kenya like you would a plague. Those in the market already have, on the other hand been divesting, citing harsh economic trends, notably, high cost of electricity and other production factors. It is difficult to understand how Government could, gleefully, set out on hounding local investors out of business under the guise of fighting tax evasion. We are not advocating for tax evasion. Far from it. Every business, indeed, every individual should carry out this civic duty with a religious devotion. There is no smoke without fire. The recent…