Author: David Indeje

Kenya’s Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has increased the price of super petrol by 3.56 shillings per liter while maintaining the price of Diesel and Kerosene. According to EPRA, the average landed cost of Super Petrol decreased by 0.57 per cent from 491.50 dollars per cubic meter in March 2021 to 488.69 dollars per cubic meter in April 2021. The landed cost of Diesel dropped by 1.03 per cent from 444.17 dollars per cubic meter to 439.60 dollars per cubic meter. That of Kerosene dropped by 2.01 per cent from 421.90 dollars per cubic meter to 430.40 dollars per…

Kenya’s High Court on Thursday declared as unconstitutional the the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), saying the entire process promoted by the BBI was “unconstitutional, null and void.” A five-judge Constitution bench, Judges Prof Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Jairus Ngaah, Teresia Matheka and Chacha Mwita was unanimous in upholding the sovereignty of the people. “Kenyans intended that the essence of constitutional order they were bequeathing themselves sin 2010 would only be changed in the exercise of primary constituent power that is through civic education, public participation, constitutional assembly plus a referendum and not through secondary constituent power which is through public…

Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest telecoms operator reported lower-than-expected earnings in the fiscal year 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It said its core earnings for the full year declined 6.9 per cent to 96.16 billion shillings attributed to a decline in revenue from financial services and calls in the year ended March 31, from 101.5 billion shillings a year earlier.  “The Covid-19 pandemic brought about socio-economic challenges that disrupted our customers, strained the consumer wallet and businesses across the country. We were not spared either,” said Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom CEO. The telco’s service revenue recorded a marginal decline of 0.3% to…

Kenya has suspended flights to and from Somalia effective May 11 for three months. The move dents the newly restored diplomatic ties announced a few days ago. The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority in a notice to Airmen (NOTAM) without giving a reason, stated that all flights are suspended with the exception of medical and United Nations humanitarian flights. https://twitter.com/samirasawlani/status/1392010618123718657?s=19 On the other hand, Somalia issued a notice reaffirming an earlier ban on flights carrying khat from Kenya. “Carrying Mirra to Somalia is still prohibited and the policy of the Federal Government of Somalia did not change regarding the transportation…

Ethio Telecom, Ethiopia’s state-run telecommunications agency Tuesday launched its mobile phone-based financial service called Telebirr. The product will provide services such as cash transfers and payments through customers’ mobile phones. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy, present during the launching of the service, commended Ethio Telecom and stakeholders for enabling the realization of the project “within a very short time period.”  The company aims to attract 21 million users for the service in its first year of operations, rising to 33 million in five years, said Chief Executive Frehiwot Tamiru. Ethio Telecom posted revenue of 25.57 billion Ethiopian birr ($604 million) in…

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has approved the Crown Paints Kenya Plc fundraising plan through a rights issue to raise Ksh 711,810,000. The firm plans to list 71,181,000 shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange on the basis of one new ordinary share for every one existing share at KSh10 per share. According to the Information Memorandum, the main aim of the rights issue is to give the company financial flexibility to mitigate the challenges posed by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and boost the growth strategy for the company. The Group’s management plans to use the rights issue funds to facilitate…