Author: David Indeje

Kenya’s electricity system recorded a peak of 2,514.28 megawatts on 29 June 2026, according to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority’s statistics report for the year to June 2026. The figure exceeds last year’s record by 198 MW, a rise of 8.55 percent. Total generation reached 15,692.81 GWh, up 8.44 percent from 14,472 GWh. Renewable sources supplied 81.13 percent of that output, against 80.48 percent a year earlier. The mix shifted within that total: geothermal rose to 40.91 percent of generation from 39.51 percent, hydro fell to 22.65 percent from 24.21 percent, and solar fell to 3.0 percent from 3.27…

Aliko Dangote told Nairobi investors on 29 September that the planned Lamu refinery will list on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). Separately, Renaissance Capital outlined a plan that would let Kenyan investors buy into the Dangote Petroleum Refinery IPO in Nigeria through Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) traded on the NSE. Dangote spoke at the NSE at an investor engagement the exchange convened. Renaissance Capital attended for a transaction advisory consortium that includes G&A Advocates LLP, Stanbic Bank Kenya, Renaissance Capital Africa, Image Registrars, KSTB, Phanice Global and Newmark Group. Dangote commits the Lamu refinery to the NSE Dangote rejected a…

A group of 133 residents of Chandavai in Lamu County has asked a court to stop construction on land earmarked for the East Africa Refinery. The petition arrives two days before President William Ruto and Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote are due to break ground. The residents want the court to bar excavation, construction and related work on land they say forms part of LR No. 13061. They ask that the order stay in place until their community and customary interests are identified and determined. The groundbreaking is set for Wednesday, September 30. What the residents claim The plaintiffs say their…

Absa Bank Kenya has launched Absa Next, a digital financial app built around everyday spending, saving and borrowing rather than the account and branch model that defines its main banking app. The bank unveiled the product at an event in Nairobi attended by its board, its regional leadership and customers who took part in building it. A Product Built Through Customer Testing, Not a Boardroom Absa framed the launch as a departure from how it normally develops products. Instead of designing internally and releasing to the market, the bank says it spent close to three years running the idea past…

Safaricom has turned M-PESA into more than a way to send money. It is now a place to save, invest, and even buy shares. The platform is called Ziidi, and it has three parts: Ziidi MMF, Ziidi Shariah MMF, and Ziidi Trader. Here is what each one does, in plain terms. The growth has been fast. By September 2025, Ziidi MMF had 1.15 million customers and KES 12.6 billion in savings. By the end of Safaricom’s 2026 financial year, over 2 million people had made their first savings deposit through Ziidi, and 84,000 Kenyans were trading shares from their phones.…

Kenya’s central bank wants the power to make banks and payment providers hand customer data to licensed outside firms. The change would bring open banking to one of Africa’s largest digital payments markets. The National Treasury and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) have published the draft National Payment System Policy and the National Payment System Bill, 2026. The Bill repeals the National Payment System Act, Cap. 491A, which dates from 2011. The Policy sets the aim: payments that work across providers, protect customers and reach more people. The Bill turns that aim into law on competition, consumer and data…