In all honesty, Kenya must get its act together

Over the last month or so, Kenya has either played host to high-profile international guests or its leaders have been hosted in the world’s leading capitals. The President and his representatives have hobnobbed with top officials from the United States, European Union, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Israel – indeed, the list is long.

There has been equal engagement with countries within the East African Community (EAC). EAC is home, and it should come naturally to a new administration to forge a strong relationship within the region. With the coming into the EAC fold by the Democratic Republic of Congo, the worth of EAC has gone up considerably.

Kenya has not engaged at the same level of intensity with the rest of the continent, the East, or even Eastern Europe. People-to-people engagement with South Africa has been taken a notch higher; there have been conversations with Northwest Africa about accessing fertiliser at a modest cost, but the intensity of the engagement has remained with Western Europe.

Nairobi has long been an entry point into the region, particularly a neighbourhood traditionally facing unending conflict. The DRC internecine conflict is not new. South Sudan has never really settled down since her independence a decade ago. Somalia has remained a troubled land for the past forty years.

Uganda silenced the guns under the Yoweri Museveni regime, as has Rwanda since the advent of Paul Kagame. Despite being, so to speak, the seat of the African government, Ethiopia has been fighting its demons. So have DRC and Burundi. Sudan has now joined them. Our challenges notwithstanding, Kenya should work hard to continue maintaining her relevance. In 2007, the country let it slip through disputed elections allowing the labelling of Kenya as another case of African instability. The international community came to the rescue, but learning our lessons is hard. On top of political stability, the country also seems to be piling economic decline.

The weakening of the shilling and the stock market has been steep. Such prized counters as Safaricom and even banks have lost massive value recently, and the shares are now going for a song. Help does not seem to be on the way yet. There is no indication that the government has got its act together; the appetite for expenditure is high, as is the appetite for taxation. This is compounded by the propensity of government officials to demonstrate that they are not worth trusting.

It is now typical for a government official to say anything, even if that anything has no relation to the truth. Such communication behaviour does not engender confidence in the administration and its ability to manage the economy or even to govern. Then on top of that is the insatiable opposition with its threats to bring protests back on the streets. The global events, however, provide an opportunity for a strong Kenya to continue playing a pivotal role in the continent as a counterbalance to events elsewhere. South Africa’s membership in BRICS situates it firmly in the column under the strong influence of Russia and China, both serving as the bipolar opposites to the West.

Then the instability in Ethiopia, much as it is regrettable, is an opportunity for Kenya to offer a stable landing point in East Africa. The counterbalance to South African economic influence in Africa is obviously Nigeria.

But with its strong-willed leaders, pride and conflict, Nigeria provides a problematic proposition to the West as a partner. But Nairobi has a role to play. As the only home of UN bodies in the is part of the world, it is essential to have both political and economic growth and stability.

— The writer is the Dean, School of Communication, Daystar University