The Office of the US Trade Representative has revealed that US companies are still being asked to pay bribes to government officials.
In his trade report for 2025, Ambassador Jamieson Greeer noted that bribes were being asked in both levels of government - the national and county governments.
Most of the bribes were asked when the companies were engaged in procurement.
The US Trade Representative added that corruption was a major obstacle that had restrained investment and business opportunities for US firms in Kenya.
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"Corruption remains a substantial barrier to doing business in Kenya. US firms continue to report challenges competing against foreign firms that are willing to ignore legal standards or engage in bribery and other forms of corruption," read the statement in part.
"Corruption is widely reported to affect government procurements at the national and county levels. Kenya has not effectively implemented its anti-corruption laws. US firms continue to report direct and indirect requests for bribes from multiple levels of the Kenyan Government."
Apart from corruption, the report highlighted other taxation and government policies that had left companies exposed to fraudsters.
For instance, it was detailed that foreigners were at the risk of losing their investments when dealing with underdeveloped land given that there were no clear guidelines on that.
"The process for leasing developed land and property is clear and established, but the process for obtaining leasehold title of undeveloped land is opaque and unreliable. For undeveloped land, investors risk receiving fake title deeds or leasing a plot with multiple titles and unauthorized sales."
"US companies have raised concerns about the length of time required for Kenyan Customs to release shipments, as well as the use of a complex and inefficient process that involves many steps with uncoordinated offices, despite implementation of a single window system," the company added in its report.
