Author: David Indeje

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania presented their 2026/27 budgets to parliament on Thursday under unusual pressure, as investors watched closely to see how each government planned to absorb cost shocks from the Middle East conflict while holding debt to manageable levels. The timing matters. East Africa is seen as highly susceptible to the impact of the war, given the region’s reliance on petroleum and fertiliser imports — a vulnerability that prompted the African Development Bank to cut its regional growth forecast for 2026 by half a percentage point. The three budgets differ sharply in strategy. Kenya is focused on fiscal consolidation…

Minority shareholders of WPP Scangroup voted for board change at the company’s AGM on Monday. WPP Plc blocked every resolution. Of the 432,155,185 shares eligible to vote, 306,664,160 participated, a turnout of 70.96% across 976 registered voters. On the three board change resolutions under Agenda 8, 63,501,851 shares — just over 20.7% of votes cast — backed the removal of directors. Every one of those votes came from independent shareholders. WPP Plc’s 243,109,708 shares voted against, and the resolutions failed. The numbers in reverse: more than 99% of the independent shares cast supported the resolutions. WPP’s block, representing 79.29% of…

For most of its existence, Oraimo solved a specific problem. Your earbuds died. Your phone ran out of charge. Your cable stopped working. The brand built its continental reputation on products that fixed those problems quickly and affordably. That clarity of purpose served it well across 60 markets. The company’s Innovation Gala 2026 in Nairobi changed the conversation entirely. Two product lines announced at the event, oraimo home and oraimo baby, sit nowhere near the accessories category. Together they represent the most deliberate strategic turn the brand has made since launching in 2014 and raise a straightforward question: can a…

KSh 97.3 million. That is what Britam Holdings paid out to 402,681 farmers and pastoralists across East Africa in 2025, people whose crops drowned, whose livestock died, and whose livelihoods climate change placed directly in the crossfire. For a financial institution, it is a business model built around the assumption that climate risk is no longer an edge case. Britam’s 2025 Sustainability Report, the group’s third annual disclosure and the first to bring all seven markets under a unified ESG framework, arrives at the Green Ledger carrying two distinct stories. One documents a Nairobi-listed insurer quietly constructing some of the…

Kenya’s private sector shrank for a third consecutive month in May as surging costs squeezed businesses and pushed customers to pull back on spending, a closely watched survey showed on Thursday. The Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers’ Index dropped to 46.6 from 49.4 in April, marking the steepest deterioration in business conditions since July 2024. Any reading below 50.0 signals contraction; the further it falls, the harder the ground. New orders declined at the fastest pace since mid-2025, with businesses across construction and services recording falls in both output and sales. Manufacturing stood apart as the only sub-sector to grow,…

Kenya’s High Court has issued conservatory orders barring the government from admitting, receiving, or facilitating the entry of any person exposed to or infected with Ebola under its arrangement with the United States. The matter returns to court on June 2, 2026, for further directions. The ruling delivers the Katiba Institute’s first legal victory in what has rapidly become one of the most consequential public health cases Kenya’s judiciary has handled in recent years. The petition was filed just days ago under a certificate of urgency. The court acted within hours. Yet even as the orders took effect, events on…