Author: Martin Mwita

The Kenyan government has now resorted to vetting of importers and exporters of consolidated cargo in the latest move to curb tax evasion.

This comes in the wake of recent piling of cargo at the Nairobi Inland Container Deport (ICD) as authorities opted for 100 per cent verification on containers with consolidated goods.

This is on suspicion of under-declaration and misdeclaration by traders in a tax evasion racket that has been denying the government revenues amounting to billions of shillings.

Rogue state officials have been accused of colluding with unscrupulous traders to facilitate false declarations, denying the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) requisite taxes, such as import duty, a move said to have led to a loss of over Ksh100 billion(US$987.8million) in the recent past.

They are also said to allow in counterfeits into the market and through the transit route into the hinterland in exchange for kickbacks.

The verification process …

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has received a go-ahead to collect more than Ksh2.7billion (US$26.7 million) worth of monthly taxes on withholding tax on winnings from Sportpesa.

This follows a ruling by Milimani Commercial Courts Chief Magistrate, Peter Gesora, allowing KRA to collect withholding taxes on winnings from betting games on the Sportpesa platform among others, that have been failing to withhold tax on winnings.

The landmark ruling delivered on Thursday, May 23, 2019 arose from a 2014 suit filed by a Mr. Benson Irungu against Sportpesa Ltd trading as Pevans East Africa.

READ:Why Kenya will not collect taxes from sports betting

The suit sought to stop Sportpesa from deducting and remitting taxes arising from Mr Irungu’s and any other person’s winnings.

In his ruling last Thursday, Chief Magistrate Gesora while dismissing Mr Irungu’s case noted that the nature of sports betting, winnings are unpredictable and a player cannot …

In yet another review of the country’s macroeconomics, Kenya’s Central Bank has held the benchmark lending rate at 9 per cent, meaning banks in the country will continue giving loans with a maximum interest rate of 13 per cent.

This is under the Banking Act which caps lending rates at four percentage points above the CBK rate.

The decision was reached on Monday by CBK’s decision making organ-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which meets every two months to review the outcome of its previous policy decisions and recent economic developments.

The meeting was held against a backdrop of domestic macroeconomic stability, sustained optimism on the economic growth prospects, improving weather conditions in most parts of the country and increased uncertainties in the global financial markets.

This is the sixth time the MPC is retaining the benchmark rate at nine per cent after bringing it down from 9.5 per cent in July …

Kenya’s capital-Nairobi could soon have an oversupply of hotel rooms, latest trends have indicated, in the wake of heavy investments in the hospitality industry.

Whilst the inclination reflects investor confidence in the country as the city continues to attract high level conferences and investments by multinationals and locals, concerns are now that an oversupply will drawback returns in the industry as hotels scramble to fill rooms.

Average occupancy in the city’s high end hotels (three to five star) remains at 52 per cent, with the number of hotel rooms tripling in the last five years to more than 19,000.

A recent report by consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), estimates that the number of available rooms will increase to above 21,000 in the next two years.

READ:Kenya, Ethiopia whet the appetite of Hyatt Hotels for East Africa

This comes as investments in high end hotels continues to be driven by international …

Kenya has unveiled a mortgage refining facility-Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC), a short in the arm in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s affordable housing scheme under the Big Four Agenda.

KMRC is a non- deposit taking financial institution under the supervision of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).

The company was incorporated on April 19, 2018 with the single purpose of providing long-term funds to primary mortgage lenders (banks, micro finance banks and saccos) in order to increase the availability and affordability of mortgage loans to Kenyans.

READ:Mortgages more unaffordable as Kenya house prices increase in 2018

KMRC shareholders and funding

The company was established as a private public investment with majority ownership by the private sector at 80 per cent and government 20 per cent. Its current shareholders comprise: the national treasury and planning; eight (8) commercial banks; eleven (11) deposit taking Savings and Credit Co-operatives (Saccos) and one (1) …

ARM Cement has signed a USD50 million (Ksh5.1 billion) deal for the transfer of its business to Devki group’ National Cement Company Limited.

The deal involved acquisition of all cement and non-cement assets and business of ARM Cement PLC in Kenya.

ARM Cement and its subsidiaries currently have operations in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. The Company also has some interests, in the form of unexploited mineral deposits, in South Africa.

The principal activities of the company and its subsidiaries are the manufacture and distribution of cement, mining and processing of industrial minerals and chemicals, trading in other building products and the sale of fertilizers.

Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), ARM Cement was placed under administration last year (August 17) after it failed to meet its creditor obligations.

The cement manufacturer owes its creditors, whom include local banks, about USD190 million.

Failure to meet its debt obligations has now …

The Coca-Cola Company has announced it will maintain its majority stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) for the foreseeable future.

With the change, Coca-Cola will begin presenting the financial statements of CCBA within its results from continuing operations in the second quarter of 2019 in accordance with U.S. accounting standards, the firm has confirmed.

CCBA has been accounted for as a discontinued operation since Coca-Cola became the controlling shareowner in October 2017.

Coca-Cola previously announced its intention to refranchise CCBA, which is the largest bottler of Coca-Cola beverages in Africa, serving 12 countries. The company has had discussions with a number of potential partners.

“Coca-Cola Beverages Africa is a very important part of the Coca-Cola system, and we see great opportunities to create even more value,” said Coca-Cola President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Smith.

“While we remain committed to the refranchising process, we believe it’s in the best interests …

French electric  utility multinational—ENGIE (www.Engie-Africa.com) has been selected for the operation and maintenance of the Orange Services Group’s data center in Abidjan, for a five-year contract that will start early June 2019.

This data center of the latest generation, built by the Orange Service Group (GOS), is one of the few data centers existing in West Africa complying with the Level IV classification.

READ:How Dimension Data and SAP will roll out Intelligent enterprise solutions in East Africa

According to the classification, it has the required redundancies to ensure continuity of service in all circumstances. It received the award of Best Data Center from Africa at the 2017 “Data cloud Congress” in Monaco.

The perimeter of the contract includes preventive maintenance of the multi-technical lots of the data center buildings, including the electrical substations, high voltage, cooling and air conditioning, Central Management Technology, fire alarm systems, security and …

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has signed a Transhipment Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) charter with stakeholders at the port of Mombasa to enhance cargo clearance efficiency and boost regional trade.

As part of a commitment to boost port operations and clear bottlenecks affecting efficient cargo movement, KRA has signed the Transhipment SOPs for the Port of Mombasa with the Kenya Ports Authority and the Kenya Shipping Agents Association.

READ:New equipment at Mombasa port to reduce expenses by 30 per cent

KRA Customs and Border Control Commissioner, Mr. Kevin Safari, KPA General Manager Operations Captain William Ruto and the Kenya Shipping Agents Association CEO Juma Ali Tellah have described the formulation of the transhipment SOPs as a key milestone for the shipping stakeholders.

The adoption of a bidding SOPs, they explained, will play a key role in raising efficiency levels at the port of Mombasa.

“The SOPs have been developed …

Nine out of ten (87 per cent) of Kenyans are dissatisfied with the country’s direction on economic management, a survey has revealed, casting doubt on governments’ commitment to deliver on its promises.

The proportion of citizens who express dissatisfaction, according to a report released in Nairobi this week, has been increasing since 2016 when five out of ten citizens (53%) were unhappy.

Citizens are equally dissatisfied with the country’s direction on job creation (82 per cent) which again is higher compared to the past years, since 2016, when half of citizens (51%) were unhappy.

This is despite the Economic Survey 2019 by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS)-released in April-indicating the economy grew by 6.3 per cent in 2018 compared to 4.9 per cent in 2017, creating 840,600 new jobs.

READ:How Kenya managed to grow its economy by 6.3%

Corruption is one of the major concerns by majority …