Category: BUSINESS

Tuesday, 18th January 2022:- Today, EABC CEO John Bosco Kalisa paid a courtesy
visit to Hon. John Mongella, Arusha Regional Commissioner who reaffirmed his
commitment to partner with the private sector to drive economic growth.

Mr. Kalisa appreciated the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania under the
visionary leadership of H.E. President Samia Suluhu Hassan for unlocking trade barriers.
He explained that cross-border trade between Tanzania and neighboring countries
increased as Tanzania’s exports to Kenya doubled to USD.182.6 million in the first half of
2021. In the period January –October 2021, Kenya imports from Tanzania reached USD.
399.2 million while exports USD.320.5 million.

Mr. Kalisa appreciated Hon. Mongella for his support towards EABC events held in 2021.
East African YouLead Summit and the Arusha CEO Round Table,East African Tourism Expo,Parliamentary Forum on EAC Affairs. Hon. Mongella commended EABC for luring investments into the EAC region and called upon EABC to showcase investment opportunities in Arusha to East African investors.

Mr. Kalisa shared EABC outlook for 2022 and requested support from the Regional
Commission on the following areas in a bid to promote business and investments in
Arusha and EAC region at large.
Resolving NTBs at Namanga border
Mutual recognition of COVID-19 test certificates and removal of COVID-19 rapid
test at the airports Arusha Investment Forum.

Residents of Ngong town will soon benefit from a solar energy project currently under construction by the Kajiado County Government.

The aim of the County sponsored initiative is County sponsored initiative aims to utilize sustainable and renewable green energy through the use of solar panels to generate electricity.

The solar-generated electricity that costs an approximate S200, 000 per panel is anticipated to provide an alternative low-cost low-cost source of electricity and minimize disruption caused by power outages.

According to Ngong town Member of County Assembly (MCA), Robert Muoria, the installation of the solar panels in the town will play a critical role in the reduction of electricity consumption and consequently decrease the high cost of electricity bills which have a high levy.

“We are currently installing solar panels for the Umoja Water Project in the Mathare area so that we can do away with paying electricity bills. The project will be solar-powered. We will also replicate the same in the Gichagi area,” said Muoria.

He noted that security measures through community policing have been put in place to protect the solar panels under installation from vandalism experienced in the initial phase of the project where solar-powered street lights were erected between Corner Shop and Suswa to boost the security in the area were vandalized and stolen.

Moses Lemaiyan, a resident of Ngong town, said vandalism of solar panels is rampant within Ngong town because of its high demand as an alternative source of energy for lighting and heating due to the high cost of electricity.

“There were solar street lights in Salama area and also between Ngong and Kiserian which have all been vandalized. The street lights helped in reducing insecurity and businesses could operate for longer but the solar street lights have been stolen and security has deteriorated,” Lemaiyan stated.

Over 30 solar-powered street lights that had been erected in Ngong town in the first phase of the solar project in response to the surge in insecurity in the town have been vandalized.

Residents of Kolwa East ward have been urged to be at the forefront in ensuring that the local markets are kept clean.

A local philanthropist Engineer Okoth Rakwach, warned the residents that the unhygienic condition of the markets exposed them to health risks adding: “ I have realized that our local markets have been neglected and no cleaning has been taking place exposing our women and children to diseases despite the hard economic times.”

Rakwach said that in line with the adage that ‘prevention is better than cure’ he has rolled out a cleaning campaign targeting the markets as a way of giving back to society. “The markets cleaning program include smaller markets in Kolwa area such as Lusi,” Eng. Rakwach added.

He appealed to residents to support the initiative for its success, “I urge the residents especially the youth to support this initiative.”

On their part, the residents committed to fully supporting the exercise that they said would keep diseases that resort from unsanitary environments such as cholera and dysentery at bay. “As locals, we want to say that the engineer is doing a good job and we fully support him,” a resident said.

Eng Rakwach and the residents were speaking while cleaning Orongothe market. Earlier they cleaned Angola and Chiga markets.

A total of 15, 139 households in Narok County have received the monthly Sh2000 each Inua Jamii cash transfer from the government.

These include 9,250 beneficiaries of the Old Persons Cash Transfer (OPCT), 244 families that receive the Persons with Severe Disability Cash Transfer (PWSD-CT), and 5645 households that receive the Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) in the county.

Narok County Social Services Coordinator David Koskei said 1249 others who were in the register do not benefit because of errors in their details.

In the persons living with severe disability list, about 263 people do not benefit from the fund though their names were in the slots of the estimated beneficiaries register because of errors in their details, were deceased, or migrated to other counties.

However, Koskei said during the Inua Jamii clinics conducted late last year, 450 cases were handed over for corrections so that they can benefit from the fund given by the government through the Social Services Department.

At the same time, Narok County Children Officer, Pilot Khaemba, said the beneficiaries were selected after a survey was conducted to ascertain the eligibility of the beneficiaries to ensure all those who benefit were the neediest.

Among the eligibility criteria for Inua Jamii includes one being a Kenyan Citizen, comes from an extremely poor homestead, had a severe form of disability, not enrolled in any other cash transfer programme. Others are the households with older persons above the age of 65 years with no member receiving the pension.

Inua Jamii is a government initiative to provide support to vulnerable families through a cash transfer system where the money is channeled through the contracted banks.

The banks include Kenya Commercial Bank, Kenya Women Trust Fund, Post Bank, National Bank, Equity Bank, and Cooperative Bank.

Every beneficiary is expected to open an account with the banks where he or she can withdraw money from the bank agents in their nearest trading center to prevent beneficiaries from traveling far distances to withdraw the money.

Over 2000 fish farmers in Kisii County have reason to smile after the County government installed a three-tonne capacity cold storage facility to reduce wastage and encourage value addition for the commodity.

Launching the Kisii facility at the Fresh Fish Market in Kisii town yesterday, Agriculture County Executive Committee Member Esman Onsarigo said the storage facility will meet the growing demand for the commodity in the county and its environs.

Onsarigo said the devolved unit will partner with RIO FISH Firm, one of the major fish suppliers in the county to encourage more fish farming and fishmongers in the county.

He said Kisii County currently has 2,000 fish farmers and aims to boost the number to more than 5,000 by the end of 2022 to complement the diminishing land use for crop production.

Angela Odero, the Managing Director of Rio Fish Firm assured residents of assistance in getting market for farmers and ample supply.

Traders led by Shaban Ayub expressed their gratitude for the launch of the cold storage facility saying it will reduce transportation costs of fish from farmers and offer optimum profits to farmers and mongers.

This is reported to be part of new draft regulations published by the CBK on Thursday, December 23, as it begins to rein in the operations of the previously unregulated lenders.

CBK (Digital Credit Providers) Regulations, 2021, block digital lenders from threatening debtors while recovering their loans. The regulations are now the subject of input from stakeholders until January 21, 2022.

Disclosure of terms and conditions Moreover, the CBK will require digital lenders to provide clear disclosures of the terms and conditions of the loan to the borrower. These include charges, the interest rate to be charged, the total cost of credit, the dates when all charges become payable, and customer complaint handling procedures.

Digital lenders will nevertheless be allowed to list negative credit information about borrowers with Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs). They, however, must inform borrowers of the planned listing at least 30 days prior. CRB listing Digital lenders will not submit negative credit information of a customer where the credit information does not exceed one thousand shillings. The CBK has directed all unregulated digital credit providers to provide their business details by January 21, 2022.

The credit providers will have six months from the publication of the final regulations to apply for licensing with the CBK. Licenses to the dealers will be provided within 60 days of the application, while the CBK is to certify Directors and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) to the digital credit providers. The new draft regulations have been powered by the 2021 Central Bank of Kenya (Amendment) Act which brought digital lenders under the scope of CBK regulations.

Uhuru signs bill into law President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law three critical bills, among them the Central Bank of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, which gave CBK powers to license digital lenders. On Tuesday, December 7, Uhuru signed the bill, in what he said would ensure the existence of fair and non-discriminatory practices in the credit market.

Hon. Irungu Nyakera addressing in a past event in Murang’a

Muranga, 20th December 2021: The Kenya Coffee Platform Muranga branch was officially launched on Friday 17th December 2021, to bring together all the private and public players in the sector in the county, to have Muranga County as the leading coffee producing county in Kenya.

In 2019/2020, Muranga was ranked 3rd top county, behind Kiambu and Kirinyaga. The Launch was attended by representatives from the 44 Coffee Societies and 144 coffee factories that are presently operational in Murang’a County. Irungu Nyakera, the chairperson of the Taskforce for Development & Implementation of Tea Industry Price Stabilization Framework was elected patron of the Muranga Branch.

The Muranga County Coffee platform will be built on a multipronged strategy that will include focusing on boosting production by farmers from the current average of 2kg to 15kg per bush through agronomy & inputs interventions, improving corporate governance in coffee cooperatives, improvement of facilities in processing factories and better prices through direct international buyers and local consumption.

The platform further discussed the need to restructure and reorganize Murang’a Coffee Union to deal with all county coffee issues and create Murang’a Coffee Milling Company that will ease the route to market for cooperatives. Various factories in Muranga County are experiencing financial strain due to legacy indebtedness and they need legal assistance to resolve all their issues.

Speaking during the launch, Irungu Nyakera, who is vying for Muranga County Governor seat in 2022 promised if elected, to provide an extension officer per factory to walk coffee farmers through the coffee revitalization journey. Further, a Kahawa Enterprise Fund would see each of the 44 coffee societies allocated Ksh10M to rehabilitate facilities in coffee factories and provide working capital facilities for operations of coffee societies. Further, every coffee cooperative will be assisted to set up a nursery for the farmers to expand their coffee bushes.

As the new patron of the Muranga County Coffee platform, Irungu Nyakera promised a personal donation of coffee drying beds to 39 coffee cooperative societies and further assist the new chapter to formally register and create internal structures to enrich their offering to coffee farmers in the county.