The High Court’s decision to place Invesco Assurance under provisional liquidation has ignited outrage and suspicion within Kenya’s financial and public transport circles.

Diana Ndukumumo was appointed provisional liquidator on July 31, 2025, after years of what many now call “regulatory negligence” by the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) and the government.

For decades, Invesco was the backbone of Kenya’s matatu sector—one of the largest informal employers in the country. Now, thousands of matatu operators are staring at possible insurance blackouts, and some are asking: Was this collapse inevitable, or deliberately ignored?

The insurer’s troubles didn’t start yesterday. For over a decade, Invesco struggled with liquidity, rising claims, and a cutthroat market. Yet, despite repeated warnings, the IRA only acted in 2024 by placing the company under statutory management. Why did it take so long? And why didn’t the government step in to protect a company so deeply tied to Kenya’s public transport economy?

Critics argue that this is part of a wider pattern of “systemic failure” in Kenya’s insurance sector, where underwriters collapse while regulators remain silent. Others believe the matatu industry—long seen as a political powerhouse—was left exposed because it doesn’t fit into the government’s formalization agenda.

Meanwhile, policyholders who paid premiums are left hanging, unsure whether their vehicles can legally operate or if compensation will ever come. “We trusted them because they were recommended by government institutions. Now we are being punished for that trust,” said one Nairobi matatu owner.

As liquidation begins, the big question remains: Was this just bad business—or a deliberate case of letting a key player die?