Raila Odinga’s Death, Deals & Legacy

Hello and welcome to the Money News RoundUp Newsletter, where we are covering the death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga as well as the steady growth of gold shares on the NSE.

Raila Odinga Departs

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga breathed his last while undergoing treatment at Koothattukulam in Kerala’s Ernakulam District, shortly after suffering a cardiac arrest during a morning walk.

For more than half a century, the former Prime Minister lived a public life in politics, carrying the title of public leader for decades.

Born in 1945 at the Maseno Missionary Society Church, he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in East Germany. He held his first press conference in 1970 at age 25, pleading with the government to release his father from detention.

In 1982, he was arrested and detained after a section of the Kenya Air Force attempted to topple the government. He later won the Lang’ata parliamentary seat in 1998 and was appointed Minister of Energy in 2001. Read the full tribute by Business Daily.

Raila’s Handshakes: His first political handshake took place in 1997 with the then-Moi regime. In 2008, his peace accord handshake with President Mwai Kibaki changed the country’s trajectory following the chaos that erupted after the 2007 elections.

On March 9, 2018, he shook hands with President Uhuru Kenyatta, birthing the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) for governance reforms. In March 2025, he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with President William Ruto to form a broad-based government.

All these agreements had far-reaching effects on the economy.

Raila’s Business Deals: His family owns East Africa Spectre Ltd, a company that manufactures liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders and supplies them to major oil marketing firms. The company acquired the Kisumu Molasses Plant—an acquisition that attracted criticism over the low purchase price.

The family has also invested in Be Energy, a Kenyan oil-marketing firm where the Odinga family owns about 35 percent through Pan African Petroleum Company. Other family ventures include Lennox Development Limited, which focuses on real estate, and Duma Investments Ltd, a private investment company with interests in finance, real estate, and agriculture.

Death Announcement: When news of his demise broke on Wednesday morning, Kenyans flocked to the streets to mourn him, disrupting business activities in several towns. In Nairobi, shops were looted forcing some traders to shut down.

Crowds filled the streets of Bondo; businesspeople closed shops in Kisumu’s CBD; people gathered at his Karen home; and many more filled the streets in Kibera—where he once served as MP—and other parts of Nairobi.

The Will: According to Raila’s lawyer, he wished to be buried within 72 hours. The State, in consultation with his family, announced that his body would be flown back today, Thursday, October 16, and transported to Parliament Buildings for public viewing.

On Friday, the government will hold a State Funeral Service at Nyayo Stadium from 8 a.m. in honour of Raila Odinga. His body will then be taken to his Karen residence, where it will spend the night, before burial later that day.

Of Note: Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen has gazetted Friday, October 17, as a public holiday to honour him.

Gold ETF Surges Past Ksh5,000 as Local Investors Join Global Gold Rush

Local investors have joined the global rush for gold, driving demand for the Absa NewGold Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). The ETF, which tracks the price of gold in global markets, crossed the Ksh5,000 mark for the first time this month, closing at Ksh5,310 and marking a 60.8 percent year-to-date gain from Ksh3,165 in January. This surge has made it one of the top movers at the NSE, with a turnover of Ksh100.9 million last week—nearly a fifth of Safaricom’s Ksh517.2 million. According to Business Daily, analysts attribute the rally to local investors buying as foreign investors exit to book profits.

The rally comes amid record-high global gold prices exceeding $4,000 (Ksh516,700) per ounce, as investors worldwide seek safe assets amid geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Each Absa NewGold ETF unit represents 0.01 of an ounce of gold stored in secure vaults, offering Kenyan investors a regulated way to access the global gold market without handling the physical metal. Listed at Ksh1,205 in 2017, the ETF’s market valuation now stands at Ksh1.76 billion, cementing its position as one of the NSE’s best-performing assets this year.

Banks Expect Lower Loan Demand as Disposable Incomes Shrink

More banks are projecting weaker demand for credit between October and November 2025, according to a new Daily Nation report citing a Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) survey. The survey shows that 67 percent of banks expect low or very low credit demand in this period—down from 81 percent in the previous two months when most lenders anticipated moderate to high demand. The decline is attributed to reduced disposable incomes following increased statutory deductions, including the affordable housing levy and Social Health Insurance Fund, which have significantly eroded household earnings and weakened purchasing power.

The CBK survey also highlights cautious lending by banks ahead of the implementation of the new Risk-Based Credit Pricing Model, which takes effect for new loans from December 1, 2025. Lenders are expected to tighten credit access, especially for high-risk borrowers, as they adjust to the new pricing regime. The combination of lower household incomes and stricter lending standards is expected to further slow credit uptake in the final months of the year.

Kenyan CEOs Warn of Major Impact from Trump Tariffs and Agoa Expiry

Chief executive officers in Kenya’s tourism and manufacturing sectors expect to take the biggest hit from US President Donald Trump’s new trade tariffs and the expiry of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), according to Business Daily. A Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) survey shows that 64 percent of over 1,000 CEOs polled foresee negative effects from the protectionist policies, citing higher import costs, reduced exports, and lower consumer demand. The Trump administration in April imposed a 10 percent tariff on imports from several African countries, including Kenya, a move expected to raise costs and hurt export competitiveness. The CBK noted that the tourism sector has already seen reduced conference bookings and earnings linked to lower NGO funding and cautious international travel demand.

Kenya is set to be among the hardest hit by the non-renewal of Agoa, which has provided duty-free access for thousands of African products to the US market. The UN Conference on Trade and Development projects Kenya’s average trade tariff with the US could nearly triple to 28 percent, posing a major threat to the country’s textile and apparel industries that earned a record Ksh60.57 billion from exports in 2024. More than 300,000 local jobs tied to Agoa are at risk, with manufacturing executives also citing liquidity challenges, weak demand, and global competition as key headwinds heading into the festive season.

EABL Plans Ksh20 Billion Bond Issue After Early Redemption of Existing Debt

East African Breweries Plc (EABL) is set to raise up to Ksh20 billion through a new corporate bond, shortly after announcing plans to repay its existing Ksh11 billion bond a year ahead of schedule, according to Business Daily. The new bond, which has already received regulatory approval, comes as the brewer seeks to take advantage of a lower interest rate environment to replace expensive debt with cheaper funding. EABL’s current bond carries a 12.25 percent fixed rate, and its early redemption—partly financed through short-term bridge loans—follows a trend seen with firms like Acorn Holdings, which also redeemed its bond ahead of time in 2024.

The brewer’s move reflects an ongoing strategy to strengthen its balance sheet and reduce financing costs amid easing yields in Kenya’s debt market, following the government’s successful eurobond refinancing earlier this year. Sources familiar with the transaction indicate EABL may issue the Ksh20 billion in two tranches of Ksh10 billion each, arranged by Absa Securities Ltd and Absa Bank Kenya, with PwC Kenya as reporting accountant and Bowmans Kenya as legal counsel. The issuance will mark the end of a three-year corporate bond drought in Kenya’s capital markets, underscoring EABL’s dominant role in reviving private debt issuance.

Vodafone Seeks to Halt Case Filed by Former Safaricom Distributor

British telecoms giant Vodafone Group has asked the High Court to stop the hearing of a case filed by Goodweek Inter-services Limited, a former Safaricom distributor, arguing that it was improperly joined to the suit. Vodafone, Safaricom’s ultimate parent company, told Justice Chacha Mwita that it has appealed the court’s June ruling that allowed the Kenyan trader to include it in the case over a terminated dealership. The firm insists it was not properly served with court documents and that Goodweek should have first sought the court’s permission before adding it to the proceedings. Vodafone also claimed that Mobitelea, another company named in the case, does not exist, citing a failed search on the Business Registration Service portal.

Goodweek Inter-services accuses Safaricom of arbitrarily cutting off its access to the dealer trading portal without notice after it refused to sign a new framework agreement. The firm says the switch-off was malicious and aimed at forcing it to accept unfavourable terms. Through lawyer Ken Kiplagat, Goodweek argued that Vodafone’s application has been overtaken by events as the court has already set a hearing date for November 19. The dealer claims to have invested Ksh180 million in the business and employs over 200 people nationwide, adding that Safaricom’s actions threaten to collapse its operations after two decades as a major distributor. Read More on Business Daily.