State Electrification Arrears : A Consumer's Burden

Hi 👋🏽 It's Brian from The Kenyan Wall Street.

In today's newsletter, MPs are asking the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) to devise additional tariffs to clear the state's debt to Kenya Power.

Also, here is why parliament wants stricter supervision for NGOs and the privileges they enjoy…

State Electrification Arrears : A Consumer's Burden 

By Brian Nzomo

The heavy costs of rural electrification are now poised to land on Kenyans’ monthly power bills. Lawmakers have asked EPRA to create a tariff mechanism that recovers nearly KSh 30 billion in arrears owed to Kenya Power, effectively turning historical government debt into a shared consumer burden. The proposal arrives at a time when households are already absorbing a dense stack of levies that make every billing cycle feel heavier. Even as Parliament intensifies scrutiny of private power producers, it is simultaneously nudging public-sector obligations onto the very customers it claims to protect from high power costs.

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NGOs Under the Microscope

By Fred Obura

Kenya is tightening the screws on international NGOs, seeking to ensure that tax privileges don’t become loopholes. The government proposes a new Host Country Agreement Committee, putting the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) at the heart of compliance and oversight. NGOs will need to submit detailed tax and workforce information, with expatriates capped at one-third of total staff, while intergovernmental bodies remain largely untouched. The move signals a shift toward predictability and administrative rigor, aiming to close gaps that have long allowed some organisations to operate without full scrutiny.

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Treasury on Parliament's Grilling Spot 

By Harry Njuguna

The Public Accounts Committee spent Tuesday morning unspooling one of the Treasury’s quieter mysteries: more than KSh 60 billion in public money that was spent irregularly. Auditors found that Kenya Airways had been advanced tens of billions without a single signed loan agreement, its obligations swelling to KSh 55.37 billion in a fog of penalties and missing paperwork, while the Treasury simultaneously pushed through a KSh 6.2 billion Telkom Kenya buyout under Article 223, asking Parliament for forgiveness after the fact. The Committee, looking vaguely astonished, has now demanded the documents that should have existed in the first place.

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The Digitalization Bottlenecks

By Fred Obura

Digitising trade has become a global ambition, but companies keep running up against the same old walls: high costs, clashing standards, and too many systems that refuse to speak to each other. A new Standard Chartered report shows that most corporations still retreat to paper because interoperability remains a mirage, even as East African governments begin stitching their payment rails together. This is coupled with regulatory inconsistencies, slow adoption of digital-friendly laws, and uneven infrastructure continue to sap momentum, especially in markets where readiness lags. For all the optimism around cloud, AI, and digital assets, the continent’s trade future still hinges on whether governments and businesses can tame the fragmentation.

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