By Kepher Otieno - Reporter
Kenya, 9 December 2025 - A significant policy rift has emerged in Kenya’s business landscape following the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (KNCCI) firm rejection of a draft government Bill proposing the creation of a Business Council of Kenya (BCK) as the new statutory apex body for all Business Membership Organisations (BMOs).
The Chamber’s pushback, issued during a meeting at the Kenya School of Government in Mombasa, underscores a deeper contest over legitimacy, influence, and the architecture of public–private engagement in national economic policy.
At face value, the draft Public-Private Engagement Bill, 2025 seeks to streamline dialogue between government and the private sector by creating a single statutory body representing the interests of all business associations.
However, KNCCI argues that such a move risks dismantling a structure that already exists and is deeply embedded at county and grassroots levels.
This position is grounded in the Chamber’s belief that it has a superior national footprint, historical mandate, and operational reach compared to the proposed council.
KNCCI Coast region director Shakir Swaleh articulated the Chamber’s central objection: that a new council would introduce unnecessary duplication and weaken existing business institutions. Swaleh, noting that KNCCI has membership across all 47 counties, said the Chamber was better positioned than any newly constituted entity to serve as the statutory representative of BMOs.
“KNCCI has membership up to the grassroots level and ought to have been involved fully in the public participation process,” he argued.
“We have rejected the Bill and sent it back to the sender. We are asking all the BMOs to stand with us.”
Beyond contesting the conceptual framework of the Bill, KNCCI leaders challenged the procedural integrity of the public participation process. According to Swaleh, the Coast region’s consultations were limited to Mombasa County, while Nairobi—the country’s commercial hub—was bypassed altogether.
The Chamber maintains that only five counties were covered, a figure it views as insufficient for a Bill that fundamentally restructures national business representation.
The Chamber’s lower Eastern Director, Mutavi Kithu, added that the government’s approach conflicted with earlier assurances from President William Ruto.
Kithu argued that the president had signalled the statutory body would be developed collaboratively between KNCCI and the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI), with clear indications that KNCCI would be responsible for financing its operations. Instead, KNCCI says it only learned of the draft Bill once it had already been dispatched to counties for public participation. Kithu questioned the financing model of the proposed council: “The president had clearly indicated the statutory body would be funded by KNCCI for its operation, but this Bill is not clear who will fund BCK.”
From a business-policy analysis perspective, this dispute illustrates the tension between state-led institutional restructuring and private-sector expectations of partnership.
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The government’s desire to consolidate public–private dialogue under a single statutory body may be driven by efficiency and coordination.
Yet BMOs fear that such centralisation may marginalise established institutions, dilute representational legitimacy, and create ambiguity around jurisdiction and authority.
On the government’s side, the push for reform remains framed as constructive.
In a statement issued the same day, Principal Secretary for Investment Promotion Abubakar Hassan defended the process and intent of the Bill, noting that both the policy and its legislative framework were developed to “strengthen, not diminish, the role of private sector actors in national development.” This suggests the State sees the BCK as a mechanism for enhancing clarity, coherence, and accountability in how business interests engage with government.
Still, KNCCI’s opposition poses a significant challenge.
The Chamber has historically played a central role in mediating between businesses and government, especially at the county level where trade facilitation, licensing, and SME development occur. Its broad membership base gives it strategic leverage—grassroots mobilisation within BMOs can influence both political and policy outcomes.
The standoff now raises several underlying questions: Who should legitimately speak for Kenya’s private sector? Should representational authority be earned through institutional history and membership strength, or reorganised under a statutory model defined by government?
And to what extent should public participation shape the trajectory of such reforms?
What is clear is that the coming months will require substantial negotiation.
Without consensus, the proposed Bill risks encountering sustained resistance from a wide cross-section of BMOs concerned about transparency, continuity, and the future of business representation in Kenya.
For now, KNCCI’s rejection has set the stage for a broader national debate on how the private sector should organise, engage, and influence economic governance in the years ahead.
