Shirika la Umeme Zanzibar ZECO likitumbuiza
The performance of the Zanzibar Electricity Corporation has been called into question as a large number of citizens raise concerns about unsatisfactory services.
Information from ZECO says that customers who request to have meters closed in their streets are waiting for a long time, some two, three to six months.
In addition to meters, other services including emergency maintenance, customers are reporting that ZECO technicians take a long time to fix.
More information gathered from within the organization shows that there have been some groups that threaten the efficiency of the work while the staff themselves, especially at the lower level, complain about the poor support they get, along with delays in dealing with their various claims.
The second vice president of Zanzibar and the leader of government businessmen in the Council, recently in December 2022 said that the government was making efforts to ensure that there are equal opportunities in providing public services.
Recently, the government of Zanzibar reduced the cost of electricity connection, a program that had a specific objective to create an environment for customers to access electricity service.
“The government has reduced electricity costs for its citizens. Now it is the responsibility of the Zanzibar Electricity Corporation (ZECO) to ensure that citizens who need electricity are connected immediately after making a payment. There should be no unnecessary delays,” he said and asked the workers to abandon corruption, theft and bureaucracy, instead they should work with integrity,” Hemed Suleiman Abdulla said.
The Second Vice President of Zanzibar, Hemed Suleiman Abdulla then recently made a surprise visit to the ZECO Gulioni Headquarters where he was expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the company.
During his visit, the Second Vice President was clearly not satisfied with the conduct of the failures and improper action.
Talking about the issue of electricity connection to the people, the Second Vice President said there are more than 3000 people waiting to be connected to electricity.
He gave one month for the citizens to be connected to the service.
He said that the issue of delay in connecting the citizens to electricity clearly shows the existence of loopholes of corruption for executives and explained that the Government will not tolerate any executive who tries to engage in any kind of corruption.
With that Hon. Hemed has expressed his dissatisfaction with financial issues, especially the collection of fees and asked them to close the loopholes in order to control the collection of fees and increase the national income.
The Second Vice President of Zanzibar has advised the Management of the Zanzibar Electricity Corporation to prepare a good Payment System, a system that will lead to transparency and good debt collection.
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Britam half-year net profit hits Sh2bn on higher investment income
Insurer and financial services provider Britam posted a 22.5 percent jump in net earnings for the half-year ended June 2024, to Sh2 billion, buoyed by increased investment income.
The rise in half-year net profit from Sh1.64 billion posted in a similar period last year came on the back of net investment income rising 2.5 times to Sh13.27 billion from Sh5.3 billion.
“We are confident in the growth and performance trend that Britam has achieved, supported by its subsidiaries in Kenya and the region. Our business is expanding its revenue base while effectively managing costs,” Britam Chief Executive Officer Tom Gitogo said.
“Our customer-centric approach is fueling growth in our customer base and product uptake, particularly through micro-insurance, partnerships, and digital channels.”
The investment income growth was fueled by interest and dividend income rising 34 percent to Sh9.1 billion, which the insurer attributed to growth in revenue and the gains from the realignment of the group’s investment portfolio.
Britam also booked a Sh3.79 billion gain on financial assets at a fair value, compared with a Sh1.8 billion loss posted in a similar period last year.
The increased investment income helped offset the 12.7 percent decline in net insurance service result to Sh2.13 billion in the wake of claims paid out rising at a faster pace than that of premiums received.
Britam said insurance revenue, which is money from written premiums, increased to Sh17.8 billion from Sh16.6 billion, primarily driven by growth in the Kenya insurance business and regional general insurance businesses, which contributed 30 percent of the revenue.
The group has a presence in seven countries in Africa namely Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, Mozambique, and Malawi.
Britam’s insurance service expense hit Sh13.6 billion from Sh11.3 billion, while net insurance finance expenses rose 2.6 times to Sh12.3 billion during the same period.
“Net insurance finance expenses increased mainly due to growth in interest cost for the deposit administration business driven by better investment performance. This has also been impacted by a decline in the yield curve, which has led to an increase in the insurance contract liabilities. The increase has been offset by a matching increase in fair value gain on assets,” said Britam.
Britam’s growth in profit is in line with that of other Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed insurers, which have seen a rise in profits.
Jubilee Holdings net profit in the six months increased by 22.7 percent to Sh2.5 billion on increased income from insurance, helping the insurer maintain Sh2 per share interim dividend.
CIC Insurance Group posted a 0.64 percent rise in net profit to Sh709.99 million in the same period as net earnings of Liberty Kenya nearly tripled to Sh632 million from Sh213 million, while Sanlam Kenya emerged from a loss to post a Sh282.2 million net profit.
