Insight type: Legal Alert

In ZB Holdings (T) Limited v Goodwill (Tanzania) Ceramic Company Limited, Civil Appeal No. 293 of 2023, 2026 TZCA 1058, the Court of Appeal of Tanzania considered the enforceability of a contract involving mineral extraction and supply where the supplier did not hold the licences required under the Mining Act.

The Trust Administration Act, 2026 (Act) was signed into law on 8 September 2026. The Act marks the most significant overhaul of Kenya’s trust law framework in nearly a century. Importantly, the Act repeals the Trustee Act, Cap. 167 (modelled on the English Trustee Act of 1925) and the Trustees (Perpetual Succession) Act, Cap. 164. These two pieces of legislation formed the statutory backbone of Kenya’s legal regime on trusts. 

Scrutiny over lending practices in Tanzania continues to increase, particularly around the terms on which loans are priced, documented and recovered. While Tanzania does not have a blanket statutory cap on interest rates for loan products offered to consumers and micro and small businesses, this does not mean that lenders have unfettered discretion to impose, calculate or recover interest and other lending costs.

The High Court of Kenya recently delivered a significant judgment in Bolt Operations OU v The Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport, the National Transport & Safety Authority, the National Assembly and the Attorney General, declaring key provisions of the National Transport and Safety Authority (Transport Network Companies, Owners, Drivers, and Passengers) Regulations, 2022 (the NTSA Regulations) unconstitutional and unlawful.

In two important decisions delivered on 18 August 2026, the Court of Appeal of Tanzania clarified recurring issues in banking litigation concerning unregistered debentures, contractual debt recovery, mortgage variations, debt write-offs, and the evidentiary requirements applicable to banking and security documents.

On 14 August 2026, the Government of Tanzania published Government Notice No. 244, introducing the Fair Competition (Abuse of Dominant Position) Regulations, 2026.

Made under Section 99 of the Fair Competition Act, Cap. 285 R.E 2023, the 2026 Regulations operationalise the Fair Competition (Amendment) Act, No. 13 of 2024, which revised the definition of dominant position, introduced joint dominance, raised the market dominance threshold from 35% to 40%, and listed specific acts constituting abuse.

In a Judgment delivered on 7th August 2026 in Uganda National Examinations Board vs Vicky Tina Laker, the High Court of Uganda at Kampala (Civil Division) (Justice Bonny Isaac Teko) allowed the appeal of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) in its entirety, set aside an order of the Chief Magistrates Court of Nakawa which had compelled UNEB to release a parliamentary aspirant’s Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education examination scripts to a rival aspirant, quashed the award of UGX 12,000,000 in general damages made against it and awarded UNEB the costs of both courts.

Section 44 of the Banking Act, Cap 488 (Banking Act), provides that no institution shall increase its banking or other charges without the prior approval of the Cabinet Secretary responsible for Finance (CS).

In 2006, the CS delegated these approval powers to the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) through Legal Notice No. 34 of 2006. This delegation has been disrupted by the Supreme Court’s decision in Stanbic Bank Kenya Ltd v Santowels Ltd [2024] KESC 31 (KLR) (Santowels Case), which has reignited debate on the proper scope of Section 44 and its interplay with the CBK’s constitutional independence.