Bars will now be required to hire Covid-19 liaison officers to ensure that all revelers observe all the measures put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19 in their facilities.

The officers will be required to restrict the number of revelers allowed in the bars and at the same time, report any suspected cases of COVID-19 infection among staff and drinkers.

This and other regulations are set to be gazetted by the government in a move seen to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Already, bars are suspected to among places that are spreading the virus among Kenyans.

The officers will also ensure that the workers at such facilities yet to be developed the Covid-19 code that will be used in the entertainment industry.

Just like most other establishments, the bars will be required to reduce contact between persons, designate spacious waiting and collection areas for couriers and customers as part of preventing further spreading of the disease.

The bars will also be required to display signage to show they already have the required revelers to meet the required social distance requirements.

Already, alcohol manufactures had already petitioned the government to come up with guidelines in bars to stop the spread of the disease. The industry was one of those that lost billions when the country was shut down in March when the first case was recorded in the country.

There has been concern that bars are fueling the spread of coronavirus, and for this reason, bars will be the first establishments to employ liaison officers.

Currently, bars are self-regulating themselves by cutting the capacity of revelers they can host to half, restricting drinkers at the counters, having contact free bill payment among other regulations.

Already the country has confirmed more than 80,000 covid-19 cases and more than 800 death making November the darkest month in the fight against the disease.

The regulations come at a time the county is witnessing a spike in daily Covid-19 infections, following the opening of the country in September and the subsequent reopening of learning institutions and bars

“Every establishment shall appoint and adequately train a Covid-19 liaison officer. The liaison officer shall be the point of contact with the Ministry of Health, Sub-County Liquor Licensing Committee, and other sector players to keep abreast of the emerging health, safety, and hygiene information and preventative measures related to Covid-19,” the regulations read in part.

The country shut down bars on March 25 after reporting the first coronavirus case occasioning an economic meltdown in the industry characterized by thousands of job losses and permanent closure of some establishments.

During its operations, Sportpesa was the second most profitable company in Kenya after Safaricom documents show.

The company has for the first time disclosed its annual sales of Sh149.7 billion, putting to focus the extent of the gambling craze in Kenya and the huge amounts of money available to its investors.

According to documents seen by ShopaXo and presented to the courts, the firm averaged daily bets worth Sh408 Million or Sh149.7 billion in the year ending 2018.

The same year, the company paid out Ksh. 129.6 billion in winnings leaving it with a whopping Ksh. 20.1 billion enough to generate Ksh. 10 billion profit having paid all the expenses.

Assuming that the company has 5000 employees, it would comfortably pay each Ksh.100000 for the next quarter of a century.

Sportpesa, documents also show that it has a higher market capitalization than the Equity bank, the second-largest bank in Kenya.

SportPesa, Second-Largest Company In Kenya

These figures make SportPesa the second-largest company in Kenya by revenue after Safaricom, which recorded a turnover of Sh251.2 billion in the year ended March 2020.

Pevans East Africa, the company that runs SportPesa, said that it paid out Sh129.6 billion or 86.5 percent of the bets placed in the year 2018.

Its closure in October last year due to allegations of not paying taxes has seen its investors suffering losses that run into billions of shillings although there have been indications that the company will be allowed to resume its operations.

However, the resumptions of operations have been halted after fights broke out pitting a local majority shareholder against Bulgarian owners after SportPesa announced its return under the Milestone which was only licensed in October.

SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri, who owns a minority stake in the company of 7%, and other investors have fallen out with businessmen Paul Wanderi Ndung’u and Asenath Wacera Maina, who have a combined stake of 38 percent. This matter is currently in court.

It is said that three investors from Bulgaria — Guerassim Nikolov of the ill-fated Toto 6/49 lottery, Valentina Nikolaeva Mineva, and Ivan Kalpakchiev—are said to have provided the gambling and digital technology expertise in the partnership.

This shareholder war threatens to break the six-year partnership of wealthy, politically influential Kenyans and Bulgarian investors that helped found SportPesa, which made its huge fortune from the online betting craze in Kenya.

In court, KRA says that it failed to collect the taxes from Pevans East Africa because due to the company’s alleged criminal activities.

Dominic Keng’ara, an investigations officer at KRA, said in a sworn affidavit, “That the preliminary investigations have established that the applicant [Pevans] have jointly and severally been involved in activities suspected to be intricate and complex tax evasion and money laundering syndicate.”

The agencies involved in the probe include the KRA, the National Police Service, the National Intelligence Service, the Central Bank of Kenya, and the Financial Reporting Centre.

The tax standoff has frozen SportPesa’s operations for nearly 18 months. Now efforts are being made to revive the popular gaming brand under a new outfit, which is majority-owned by some of Pevans’ founders.

KenGen is set to sell electricity directly to Kenyans. Kenyans could soon be able to buy electricity directly from Kengen once the regulations are ready to be enforced in the new Energy Act.

The energy act that was signed by President Kenyatta in March of last year will pave way for companies to apply for retail license to distribute power to Kenyans. Currently only Kenya power has the monopoly to distribute power to Kenyans.

According to Managing Director Rebecca Miano, KenGen is already planning to sell power directly to large consumers.

This what she had to say, “The Energy Act 2019 has provision for us to sell power directly especially to large consumers. What is pending are the regulations of how that would be undertaken and how the infrastructure would be set up. We are certain that when the regulations are ready, that possibility will be there.”

Just recently, we saw Kenya power complain that it was losing customers who were now switching to solar power as a source of energy.

This latest move will be the last nail on the coffin of Kenya power who for years have enjoyed monopoly distributing power to consumers. Will more than half its sales going to large consumers, its fortunes will dwindle further.

However, according to the Energy Cabinet secretary, those seeking to be distributors will need their own infrastructure.

He noted that, “The electricity distribution market in Kenya is currently open to any player as long as they meet the licensing requirements as outlined by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) and are in line with the provisions of the Energy Act 2019.  A new power distributor would require new assets and thus there may be expensive duplication of roles.”

According to the Energy Act, the distribution lines remain the property of Kenya power even after anyone pays for the fees to the utility firm to use the infrastructure.

Currently, regulations that would guide how much one would pay to use the Kenya Power distribution infrastructure are yet to be developed by the ministry.

This means that for KenGen to fully realize the plan they will need a distribution license and rely majorly on the network built by the KETRACO(Kenya Electricity Transmission Company).

Naivas Supermarket continues to benefit from woos faced by its competitors after taking up the space that was vacated by Nakumatt Holdings at Hazina Towers.

The new branch will start operations on Tuesday, on a space that many know as Lifestyle on Monrovia Street in the city center.

Speaking to the media, Willy Kimani the Naivas Supermarket said that, “the new branch speaks to the resilience of the retailer in defying a tough business environment due to Covid-19 disruptions to keep up with its growth and expansion strategy.”

He added that “The new store, a food market is the first of our stores of this format within the CBD (central business district). It will be stocked with a variety of quality products to choose from, ranging from fresh produce, branded food, general household items, electronics among many others,”

Already, Naivas has occupied other spaces formally occupied by Nakumatt Holdings such as Prestige Plaza on Ngong road, Mega-City mall in Kisumu, and Moi Avenue branch. Other spaces taken up are Likoni and Bamburi branches both in Mombasa.

Just recently, Naivas opened a new branch at Waterfront Mall in Karen, taking over the space that troubled South African retailer Shoprite previously occupied.

Taking advantage of Nakumatt’s woes, Naivas also occupied a space at Mwembe Tayari Mall, which Nakumatt intended to occupy before its downfall

Naivas entry at Hazina Towers increases its outlets within the CBD where it also has a presence at Ronald Ngala, Development House, and Moi Avenue, making it the largest supermarket chain in the country today.

Moreover, Naivas plans to open two more branches, one, a food market in Rongai and another at Ananas Mall in Thika by the end of the year. This will bring to 70 the number of branches run by the supermarket chain.