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29 October 2026
Thursday: Digital payment fees rise, Runda and Tassia outages, Eastleigh search reaches 80%
Businesses face 16 percent VAT on digital payment processing fees. Parts of Runda and Tassia lose power today, 16 people remain missing in Eastleigh, and Google has introduced a cyber-focused Gemini 4 model for restricted testing.
Kenya/Nairobi
Digital payment processing fees now attract 16 percent VAT
Banks and fintechs are adding VAT to card, merchant, gateway and settlement charges; ordinary M-Pesa and Airtel Money transfers remain exempt.
The Finance Act removed the VAT exemption for payment processing, merchant acquiring, gateway and aggregation fees. Some providers have already applied it, while at least one bank says it will start on November 1. Businesses using card terminals, merchant tills, commercial Paybills or payment gateways should check their fee schedules. The tax applies to the service charge, not the amount paid, but merchants may pass the extra cost into prices.
Runda and Tassia face daytime power cuts today
Part of Runda is scheduled for 9am to 5pm; Tassia is scheduled for 8am to 5pm.
The Runda interruption covers Ruaka Road, UNEP, Runda Road, Eaton Place, Whispers Avenue, UN Crescent and adjacent customers. Tassia's list includes Kwa Ndege, Makuti, Riverbank, Amani Court, Tassia High Street, Tassia Catholic, Melissa Academy, the area behind Naivas and Nyayo Gate B. Charge devices early and expect card, Wi-Fi, CCTV and access-control interruptions.
Eastleigh search reaches 80 percent; 16 remain missing
Phone records place nine missing people at the collapsed building, while seven cases still need confirmation or contact details.
The verified missing list has fallen from 20 to 16. Officials say phone data places nine at the site, four cases await confirmation and three families have not supplied phone numbers. Rescuers have cleared about 80 percent of the debris but have not rescued anyone or recovered a body since Saturday. Detectives have questioned a developer and officials from Nairobi County, the building inspectorate and the NCA.
Tech
Google restricts the first Gemini 4 Carbon rollout
Google says its new model leads its cyber benchmarks, but access starts with a small group of trusted defenders.
Carbon targets long-running engineering and security work. Google reports scores of 88.2 percent for finding vulnerabilities, 54.8 percent for exploitation and 71 percent for patching, though these are company-reported results. The model is undergoing US government testing and is not generally available. Google plans a gradual rollout through its Fairwind programme before wider developer and business access.