Kenya: Compliance

Kenya's Court of Appeal has clarified when successive short-term employment contracts cross the line into permanent employment, examining cases where workers performed essential duties for up to 20 years under rolling temporary arrangements. The ruling establishes that courts will look beyond contract expiry dates to assess whether the underlying work is genuinely temporary or permanent in substance, creating new compliance obligations for employers using fixed-term contracts.

Kenya's Competition Authority processed 128 merger applications in FY 2024/25, with manufacturing, financial services, and distribution dominating filings. Nearly half involved cross-border elements, while employment protections emerged as key conditions in major approvals. The authority also pursued 75 behavioural antitrust investigations, targeting cartel conduct and abuse of dominance across multiple sectors.

Kenya's Trust Administration Act, 2026 introduces a new framework for trusts with requirements for registration, beneficial ownership transparency, trustee duties and compliance obligations. The Act consolidates fragmented legislation into a single regime overseen by a Registrar of Trusts, fundamentally reshaping how trusts are administered and regulated in Kenya.

On 9 April 2021, Kenya published a gazette notice that amends the National Information Communications and Technology ("ICT")

The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendment Act) 2019 (SMAA) amended the Companies Act (No. 17 of 2015), Laws of Kenya (the Companies Act) to require all companies to introduce a register of beneficial owners.

Kenyan companies are now required to submit details of their beneficial owners to the Registrar of Companies ("Registrar").