Nairobi, July 5 -- When the Business Daily exclusively broke the news of Abdi Mohamed's departure from his post as chief executive officer (CEO) of Absa Bank Kenya, the reaction from the financial and banking sector was telling.

It was clearly one of the most unexpected CEO exits in Kenya's corporate scene. Kenya has previously had its fair share of shock CEO exits, but most of these had been pre-empted in one way or another.

For example, Allan Kilavuka's exit as CEO of Kenya Airways in late 2024 also caught the market by surprise, just as his predecessor Sebastian Mikosz's had. The shock was, however, tempered because the two KQ executives were both approaching the tail end of their respective terms, and their exits were somewhat immin...