Built on public CBK, Treasury & KNBS data · Always free
When you lend to Kenya,
know what you earn.
Government bonds, made plain
Buying a government bond means lending your money to your own country, and being paid for it. The arithmetic behind it is not difficult — it has just rarely been shown to the people whose money it is. So we show it: what a bond pays after tax, in plain language, before you commit a single shilling.
The numbers behind the numbers
You have no reason to trust a stranger's yield figures. So here is what sits underneath them — all of it drawn from public Central Bank data, and all of it checkable.
Ksh 12,857
a year, per Ksh 1M
is what withholding tax quietly removes
The typical taxable bond on issue today loses this much of its annual interest before it reaches you. Every figure in this app is shown after that deduction — because it is the only one you can spend.
20 of 58
bonds pay tax-free
and they are not always the ones quoting the highest rate
Infrastructure bonds are exempt from withholding tax, so a lower headline rate can beat a higher one once the deduction lands. We rank on the after-tax number so the comparison is honest.
387
auction results, 2009–today
across 127 government issues
Read from the Central Bank's own published result sheets going back 17 years, so you can see what a bond has actually cleared at before — not just what is being asked for it today.
5.75–18%
Central Bank Rate range
over 119 published decisions
Rates move, and a plan built on today's alone is a bet. Long-term projections here are marked down by the fall this record shows is possible, and state both ends plainly.
Figures recomputed from the Central Bank of Kenya auction record and MPC decisions each time this page is published. Tax impact is the median across taxable bonds currently on issue, on Ksh 1,000,000 of face value at par. Analytics for education, not investment advice.
The whole picture, in your own hands.
The same analysis a trading desk runs, rebuilt for a phone, a Ksh 50,000 starting balance, and an evening at the kitchen table. Nothing here assumes you have done this before — and nothing here talks down to you if you have.
What you actually earn
Enter what you would pay and see the return after tax — the figure that reaches your bank account, not the one on the poster.
Treasury bills, translated
A “9% discount rate” is not a 9% return. We do the conversion for 91, 182 and 364-day bills, and show what rolling them over would earn.
Money that arrives on time
Spread a lump sum so something matures each year — when school fees fall due, when you retire, when you need it.
Never miss an offer
Every Central Bank sale with the closing date, the official prospectus, and a walk-through of placing your bid on DhowCSD.
Payments in your calendar
Every interest payment and repayment date on your phone, with a reminder the day before. One tap.
Works without a network
Add it to your home screen and it keeps working on the matatu, in the shamba, wherever the signal goes.
Yours alone
No account, no sign-up, no e-mail. What you hold stays on your phone and is never sent to us.
Learn as you go
Six short lessons from your first Ksh 50,000 to a full ladder — plus every term explained in plain English.
Start with the why
Nobody wants a bond. They want the thing it pays for.
A school term. A quiet retirement. Rent covered without working for it. Tell us what you are saving towards, and we will shape the dates, the taxes and the payments around your life instead of the other way round.
Freedom from a payslip
How much you would need invested to live on the interest alone — and how close today’s savings already are.
School fees
Bonds chosen to repay in the years the fees fall due, so the money arrives with the invoice.
Income you don’t work for
Bonds that pay in different months, combined so something arrives most months of the year.
Keeping it safe
Short Treasury bills for money you may need soon, that still earn while it waits.
The part nobody prepares you for
One day you will want to sell.
We will still be here.
When that day comes, a broker sends a pricing sheet: a yield, a dirty price, a consideration, some charges. Every figure on it is accurate, and none of them answers the question you actually have — whether to do it at all.
So we work out the two numbers the sheet leaves out. What you are really selling at once the commission and levies are paid. And what your next investment has to earn for the swap to leave you no worse off — grossed up for tax, because a tax-free infrastructure bond cannot be replaced by an ordinary one at the same headline rate. That single point of difference is the most expensive thing in this market, and it appears on no statement anywhere.
Check a sale quoteFrom a real broker sheet
A tax-free bond sold at 12.50% needs nearly 14% from ordinary paper to break even. Sell into a 13% bond thinking you have gained, and you have quietly lost income for the next thirteen years.
How it works
01
See what is really on offer
We rank every current government bond by what it pays you after tax — so the tax-free ones and the taxable ones can finally be compared honestly.
02
Shape it around your life
Say what the money is for and how much you have. We work out the cost, the payment dates and what lands in your hand.
03
Place your bid, then relax
Follow the step-by-step guide on DhowCSD, record what you bought, and let the app tell you when each payment is coming — and what it is worth if you ever decide to sell.
Mwangaza means light. That is the whole idea.
Kenya's bond market has been open to ordinary savers for years. What has been in short supply is not access — it is a clear view of the numbers, offered without an agenda. That is all this is. It is free, it works offline, it has no account to open, and it never sees a shilling of what you hold. Have a look around.
Have a look — it's free