Safaricom hands over CCTV system to police this week

Safaricom is set to hand over the national surveillance system to the government this week after the completion of the project in Nairobi and Mombasa. The telecoms operator said the government would use the infrastructure at no cost for the first year as a way of ensuring that the company has provided a working solution. The telecoms operator said the government would use the infrastructure at no cost for the first year as a way of ensuring that the company has provided a working solution. The government will thereafter start paying [...]

Telecoms operator cuts digital TV decoder price to woo viewers

Safaricom has slashed the prices of its Internet-enabled digital TV decoders by 50 per cent in a re-launch meant to address the low uptake of the devices dubbed ‘The Big Box’. The telco unveiled the 4G-enabled devices betting on the demand created by the migration of analogue TV broadcasting to digital platform to drive sales of the decoder [...]

Firm wants KenGen case re-opened

Russian company OJSC Power Machines has asked the High Court to consider KenGen’s termination of a Sh52 billion tender for the supply of geothermal wellheads before delivering its judgment next month. The Russian firm in its suit says RentCo forged its books of accounts to meet the minimum three year experience requirement required by KenGen [...]

Tea prices hit 2-month high at Mombasa sale

The price of tea at the Mombasa auction gained marginally in last week’s trading to attain a two-month high even as the volumes of the commodity continued to surge. The appreciation of prices at the auction comes as a relief following a streak of losses in the last two months [...]

MyBucks buys assets of low-end financier

Luxemburg-based financial technology (fintech) firm MyBucks has bought the assets of Opportunities International, a non-governmental organisation which lends to the low-end of the market. MyBucks said it had bought the assets of Opportunities in all the countries where it operates in Africa. Opportunities Kenya, its local subsidiary, applied for a deposit taking licence in 2011 [...]

Law firm wants caps on interest payable to the taxman

Stakeholders want the Tax Procedure Bill, 2015 amended to compel the Kenya Revenue Authority to observe the in duplum rule when calculating interest payable by taxpayers. Anjawalla & Khanna advocates told the House Finance, Planning and Trade committee to amend clause 38 of the Bill to ensure interest does not exceed the principal tax [...] 

Mastermind’s war with KRA stalls production

Cigarette manufacturer Mastermind Tobacco has temporarily stopped producing for the domestic market pending the resolution of its long-running excise tax licence row with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). The exclusion of Mastermind leaves British American Tobacco (BAT) as the only player in Kenya’s tobacco manufacturing market. The tax row had forced the company to only produce for the export market as it awaits issuance of the excise tax licence [...]

Fate of Dubai Islamic Bank staff in limbo as CBK says won’t issue licence

The fate of dozens of Dubai Islamic Bank’s (DIB) new employees hangs in the balance after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) confirmed it will not issue a licence until a moratorium on new banks is lifted. UAE’s largest Islamic lender has hired Philip Ilako as chief executive and recruited over 30 employees to help it set up base in Kenya [...]