Lower the cost of doing business and fight corruption for Kenya to grow

What you need to know:

  • If you want to sell products in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, Eastern Congo and Burundi, then you should invest here. So you start to see what the Chinese minister was saying.

President Kenyatta has started the new year on a busy note, which is commendable. He has announced, through his CS for Foreign Affairs, that 100,000 jobs await Kenyans in the UAE.

He has also condemned the tear gassing of pupils of Lang’ata Road Primary School, and through his Planning and Devolution CS Anne Waiguru, dispatched machinery to demolish the offensive grabbers’ wall that the children were not strong enough to pull down.

He has also, very importantly, declared total war on corruption in public service.

This appears to me like a person starting to appreciate that the time left in office is fast approaching its end, and he has to do the right things to get re-elected. We have our democracy to thank for this.

JOB CREATION

Of course the pillar of his legacy must become job creation for our estimated 14 to 16 million Kenyans in need of employment.

Good advice was given by the visiting Chinese foreign minister. He said his country is ready to lift Kenya by its boot-straps and hoist it onto a fast-growth platform. He explained that Kenya merely needs to make it worthwhile for industries to come over and set up factories.

Now, whereas Kenya’s electricity costs Sh18 per kilowatt hour, that of Ethiopia is Sh5. However, at Suswa, where geothermal power is being produced, some firms have negotiated power costs downwards to Sh8.

We can still do more things that would make Ethiopia less competitive compared to Kenya.

Ethiopian Airlines has direct passage to the US; Kenya Airways is headed that way too, once the work at JKIA is done and security plans concluded. This would make Kenya the leading transport hub in Africa’s eastern seaboard.

If you want to sell products in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, Eastern Congo and Burundi, then you should invest here. So you start to see what the Chinese minister was saying.

What then, is the problem here? Why is it so difficult to raise our manufacturing ratios in terms of GDP from the current 12 per cent to 45-50 per cent? The first thing to note is barriers created by cartels.

To import machinery, you must borrow expensive Kenya money at no less than 16 per cent. Even foreign firms can’t believe this because the international prices for money, especially for industries, is between 3 and 5 per cent.

My point here is that for Kenya to take off, it must do certain things right. Cost of power and money must be made competitive. Infrastructure must be adequate and cheap. Law and order must be top-notch (China shoots dead any bribe-seeking civil servants and contraband dealers.)
KARIUKI MUIRI, Karatina