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Over the past few years, the world has witnessed increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) in almost every sphere of life. Some of the AI solutions such as ChatGPT by OpenAI have drawn immense public attention and are said to be “revolutionary”. Governments and businesses world-wide are exploring ways of integrating AI into the economy and businesses
If you are employed on a fixed-term contract, prepare to go home on the expiry date unless your employer advises you otherwise. Indeed, the preparation should start from the day you sign the contract. That is the latest, crisp albeit stone-cold advisement from the Court of Appeal.
DLA Piper Africa, Kenya (IKM Advocates) recently represented a commercial bank before the Tax Appeals Tribunal (“Tribunal”) in an appeal relating to the refund of withholding tax previously collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority (“KRA”) pursuant to a Court of Appeal judgment that was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court. On 6 November 2026, the Tax Appeals Tribunal (“Tribunal”) delivered a judgment directing KRA to refund KES 317 million in withholding tax (“WHT”) collected from the taxpayer whilst the taxes were in dispute. The decision addresses an important question in tax disputes: where KRA collects taxes pursuant to a court judgment and that judgment is subsequently overturned, is the taxpayer entitled to a refund?
DLA Piper Africa, Kenya (IKM Advocates) advised NCBA Group PLC on the proposed acquisition of a 66% controlling stake in NCBA by Nedbank Group Limited through a partial pro rata tender offer to NCBA shareholders. The transaction was announced as being unconditional on 19 October 2026, following receipt of the required regulatory approvals.
On 17 September 2026, the High Court handed down a judgment that will shape how Kenya structures public-private partnerships (PPPs) for years to come. In the petition brought by the Katiba Institute, Justice Nyaundi declared sections 59, 60 and 72(1) of the Public Private Partnerships Act, 2021 unconstitutional to the extent they allow PPP projects that create government expenditure, guarantees, public debt or other public liability to proceed without parliamentary approval. Parliament need not approve the project itself, but it must approve the spending and commitments that come with it. The hard question is, with Kenya increasingly relying on private capital to build infrastructure, what message does the ruling send to the investors, lenders and project sponsors that the country depends on? The court rejected the proposition that structuring a transaction as a "PPP" can, by itself, take it outside Parliament's oversight of public expenditure. The test is whether the arrangement, in substance, exposes the national government to spending, borrowing, a guarantee or other public liability. If so, the court held that parliamentary approval is constitutionally required, regardless of the structure adopted for the transaction.
Every so often, one crucial sector of the economy or another downs its tools in a labour dispute of national and county impact. This has been common amongst doctors, nurses, teachers and more recently aviation workers. Even before the dust settles after the recent aviation workers industrial action, the doctors are threatening to down their tools in nationwide strikes. This is as a consequence of the unresolved nurses’ strike, which has been running for more than a month, affecting effective performance of the doctors.
Should employers make statutory deductions like affordable housing levy, SHIF and PAYE from court awards for terminal dues? Picture a scenario that has become all too familiar: an employee is awarded compensation for unfair termination by the Employment and Labour Relations Court. Keen to comply with the law, the employer deducts PAYE, NSSF, the Social Health Insurance Fund contribution and the Affordable Housing Levy, remits those sums to the relevant statutory bodies, and pays the balance to the former employee. It is then promptly hauled back to court for further recovery on the claim that the decree has been underpaid. Had it paid the award without statutory deductions, the taxman would certainly have come calling, armed with penalties and interest. The employer, in short, is damned if it makes statutory deductions and damned if it does not.