A Hole in the Oil Deal

In today’s newsletter, the auditor general has reviewed lapses in the G-to-G oil deal and idle infrastructure at the Konza Technopolis.

I am Brian from The Kenyan Wall Street and these are our day's business stories:

A Hole in the Oil Deal

When oversight stumbles and oil floats, Kenyans pay the price.

By Fred Obura

Somewhere between the opaque MoUs signed in the dim corridors of government and the bright, digital tickers of Nairobi’s petrol stations, a hole has opened in the nation’s pocket. The Auditor General is counting billions that drifted toward oil marketers under the guise of stabilizing prices.

In March 2023, the grand G-to-G petroleum deal was announced with the solemnity of a savior, meant to keep the shilling from capsizing and the citizenry from howling. But governance leaks faster than any tank and importers appeared and disappeared with the irregularity of characters in a bad soap opera.

Demurrage fees, legal charges, and shortfall recoveries slipped into the price of every litre, quietly embedding the state’s miscalculations into the veins of public life. Then July arrived, with its elegant cruelty, and the cost of Super Petrol climbed again, while diesel and kerosene followed. In the end, the country finds itself where it began staring at the pump and muttering at the numbers. Read full article »»»»»

A Technopolis in Hibernation

Konza City's dreams are in jeopardy as the auditor points out idle machines and unfinished roads.

By Brian Nzomo

Somewhere in the dust and half-built avenues of Konza, thousands of gleaming computers wait like abandoned toys. The technopolis, once imagined as Kenya’s gleaming Silicon Savannah, is waiting for the party to start. Billions of shillings sleep in boxes and silent server racks, even as the project records unfinished roads, waterworks, and buildings.

Investors had been summoned with the grand vocabulary of the digital future clouds, but the clouds hang low due to fiscal realignments and delayed leases. Land remains mostly untouched, revenue trickles through a single stream, and the machines grow older every day, inching toward obsolescence before they’ve lived a productive life. Read more »»»»»

Also Read

Capital Markets 

🏘️ Acorn REITs Post Strong HY 2025 Profits on Higher Rents and Valuations

By Harry Njuguna

Acorn’s twin student-housing REITs have had a lively first half, buoyed by swelling rental income and a flattering reappraisal of their dormitory empires. The ASA D‑REIT, its ledger fattened by KSh 609 million in fair‑value gains, posted a modest 13% profit rise even as finance costs ballooned and cash reserves thinned to a whisper. Its quieter sibling, ASA I‑REIT, produced a 54% jump in net profit on a diet of steady rents, plump asset values, and a 94% occupancy that would make any landlord preen. Read more »»»»»

📈 NSE Share Prices 101: What Drives Stock Prices in Kenya

By Sylvia Jemutai 

On the Nairobi Securities Exchange, share prices move mainly because of supply and demand more buyers push prices up, more sellers pull them down. A 10% daily price‑limit keeps swings manageable, so no stock can soar or crash overnight. Company results, the wider economy, sector trends, and investor confidence all shape whether people want to buy or sell. Read more »»»»»

NSE Gainers & Losers 

Opinion 

How Kenya’s Complex Tax Regime is Sidelining Digital Credit

By Terryanne Chebet

Kenyan digital lenders are struggling under a tax regime that seems almost designed to hobble them. A 20% excise tax on loan fees, once sparing banks, pushed these online financiers into raising costs for borrowers until Parliament belatedly extended the levy to all lenders in 2024. Yet the real weight lies in the treatment of bad debts: banks can deduct expected credit losses under IFRS 9, while digital lenders must practically chase every last shilling before KRA will acknowledge a write-off. The result is a market tilted toward traditional institutions, where innovation takes a backseat to legal wrangling and compliance. Read more »»»»»

On your watchlist

Stories you missed

♦️ Companies. Kalahari Cement Limited has signed binding agreements to acquire a 28.2% stake in Kenya’s second largest cement manufacturer, East African Portland Cement Plc (EAPC).

♦️ Energy. Sun King, an off-grid solar energy company, has closed a US $156 Million (KShs 20.1 Billion) securitisation deal- the largest of its kind ever completed in Sub-Saharan Africa outside of South Africa.

♦️ Trade. The East African Community (EAC) is facing renewed internal tensions following Tanzania’s decision to bar foreign nationals from participating in several business sectors.

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