It is a time to celebrate. The University of Nairobi marks 50 years since it was transformed into the first national University in Kenya on July 1, 1970.

The University of Nairobi owes its origin to several developments in higher education within the country and the region. The idea of an institution for higher learning in Kenya goes back to 1947 when the Kenya Government drew up a plan for the establishment of a technical and commercial institute in Nairobi.

Prof. Iribe Mwangi, the Chairman, Department of Kiswahili and Prof. Mungai Mutonya of Washington University in St. Louis, have been awarded the prestigious Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship.

The collaborative proposal titled ‘Collaborative Research and Graduate Training and/or Mentoring: Interdisciplinary Focus on Language Contact‚ Migration‚ Innovation‚ and Identity’ is based in the linguistics field of studies.

Foreign investors have sold Sh11.34 billion shares in KCB Group

in the last two and half years, cutting their stake to a low of 16.36 per cent as local institutional investors tightened grip on Kenya’s top lender.

The bank’s latest shareholder profile dated June 2020 shows that foreign investors now hold 525.59 million shares.

This is in contrast with the 896.79 million shares or 29.25 per cent of the total that were in the hands of foreigners at the end of December 2017.

Equity Group

half-year net profit has tumbled by 24.3 percent to Sh9.02 billion after the lender increased provisioning for loan defaults by nearly nine times to reflect the Covid-19 triggered economic difficulties facing borrowers.

The lender said on Tuesday that net profit for the six months to June has retreated from Sh11.92 billion posted in a similar period last year.

The fall in profit was despite net interest income growing by 16.9 percent to Sh24.6 billion as the lender’s loan book expanded by Sh70.7 billion or 22 percent to Sh391.6 billion.

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) suffered a blow in its pursuit of Sh619.16 million in excise tax from Cooperative Bank of Kenya after a tribunal barred the taxman from collecting the money.

The Tax Appeals Tribunal (TAT) stopped the taxman from enforcing the order until Co-op Bank’s appeal against tax demands for the transactions made in 2013, 2014 and 2015 is heard and determined.

The tribunal dismissed KRA’s bid to quash Co-Op Bank’s appeal saying that the taxman relied on ambiguous clauses on definition of ‘interest, fees and commissions’ to demand the arrears.

Co-op Bank Group CEO Gideon Muriuki said the lender has raised its loan loss provision by 57.9 percent to Sh1.87 billion from Sh1.18 billion in appreciation of the tough environment facing borrowers since Covid-19 pandemic struck.

NAIROBI, KENYA: International ICT companies seeking to set up shop in Kenya will have to conform to a new set of rules set out by the government.

A review of the national ICT policy now makes it a must for such companies to let go of 30 per cent of company shares to Kenyans.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised concerns over the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in Kenya, which they attribute to laxity and lack of compliance in observing the containment measures by most Kenyans.

Warning about the pandemic stage, the global health body called on the government to enforce containment measures to flatten the curve. This even as 679 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours bringing the national caseload to 28,104.

The two institutions believe that the current pandemic can be controlled if we all work together by following government guidelines as well as taking special action to make a contribution to the communities in which we operate. We all have a role to play to help alleviate the impact of the pandemic.