Posta Kenya Aligns Turnaround to UPU Dubai Strategy as Global Postal Chiefs Meet in Berne – Tonui
Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) is anchoring its recovery on the Universal Postal Union’s Dubai Strategy 2026-2029 for its 192 member countries, as global postal regulators and operators converge in Berne, Switzerland this month for the UPU Council of Administration and Postal Operations Council sessions.
The UPU Council sessions running October 19-30, 2026, include the UPU Postal Forum S2 on October 22 under the theme “The network advantage: turning visibility into trust and value”, and the UPU Conference on Postal Regulation on October 28 themed “Bridging demand and duty: rethinking user needs within the USO scope”, according to UPU circulars.
PCK Chief Executive Officer and Postmaster General John Tonui said Kenya’s alignment comes just weeks after the UPU released its State of the Postal Sector Report 2026 on World Post Day, October 9, showing global letter volumes down 67% between 2019-2024 but parcels up nearly tenfold.
“We are implementing a business turnaround strategy anchored on postal modernization, PostaPay revolution and asset optimization,” Tonui said during World Post Day celebrations in Nairobi.
Tonui said the Dubai Strategy, unanimously adopted at the 28th Universal Postal Congress in Dubai last September, provides a roadmap for a rules-based, innovative and development-focused postal network. Kenya was re-elected to the 48-member Postal Operations Council and sits as observer to the Council of Administration chaired by the United Arab Emirates.
“The public postal network is under pressure from rapidly expanding third-party logistics firms. However, despite these challenges, the Post still has a strong future in a digital world,” Tonui said, echoing Communications Authority Director General David Mugonyi’s remarks.
According to Tonui, PCK’s first pillar – mail modernization – has deployed MPost, converting mobile numbers into virtual addresses, virtual P.O. Boxes and door-to-door delivery. He disclosed that domestic letters grew 19.5 percent to 174,057 while domestic and international parcels surged 979 percent to 1.48 million in 2024/2025 from 137,764 in 2024.
On courier and e-commerce logistics, Tonui said PCK is converting its 500-plus outlets into modern communication centres and Citizen Service Centres as consolidation points for postal and courier services, directly implementing the Communications Authority’s Universal Service Fund Strategy 2023-2027 that set aside Sh3.1 billion for rural access.
“That is the meaning of this year’s World Post Day theme, one network carrying many services,” Tonui said. This year’s UPU theme is “One postal network, infinite possibilities” highlighting 660,000 post offices and 4.6 million postal workers globally.
The second major global meeting this month is the UPU Development Forum on October 29 on “Why LDCs matter: placing the postal sector at the heart of the global development agenda”. Tonui said this resonates with Kenya’s PostaPay Revolution, PCK’s third pillar unveiled on October 9.
Tonui described PostaPay as a digital wallet with a limit of up to Sh2 million per transaction at lower fees, targeting unbanked farmers and SMEs. “We want to transform Posta as an organisation, knowing very well that Posta now is a Government Owned Enterprise, and therefore will not depend on the Exchequer when it comes to revenues,” he said.
On asset optimization, Tonui said many PCK assets have been lying idle and are now being commercialized. Rental income and tariff reviews have delivered a 10 percent financial growth in 2024/2025, Tonui said.
Mugonyi added that the Authority is reviewing the postal market structure, raising licence fees from Sh50,000 to Sh1.5 million and cutting licence tenure from 20 to 15 years to eliminate dormant operators, aligning Kenya’s framework with the Dubai Business Plan’s goal of a cohesive, innovative and regionally cooperative postal network.
