Next General Election Greatest Challenge to Kenyan Economy

August 2017 is fast approaching, elections are nearing and things are likely not to be any different on the economy as compared to other years.

Investors, both local and foreign, are always skeptical about injecting their funds in businesses during the electioneering period.

In the year 2007, Kenya’s economy literally went to its knees and all that had been achieved for the first five years was destroyed in days.

During that period, more than 1000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands others displaced and investors took off to other countries like Tanzania.

That ghost of the 2007 Post Election Violence still haunts us till today and the government has had to spend billions of shillings to resettle the Internally Displaced Persons.

The Swahili people say that “Dalili ya mvua ni mawingu” literally translated as ‘when it is about to rain, people first see clouds’. They also say that “Penye moshi hapakosi moto” meaning ‘where there is smoke, there is fire.”

These two Swahili saying perfectly fits the current situation in the country. Drums of war have started beating before even we enter the election year.

The last three Mondays harbor the untold story of what is likely to happen come August 2017 when the country is likely to hold the next General Election.

Read: Drums of War are Beating and We Have Reason to Worry

The opposition, Coalition for Reforms and Democracy CORD has been in a constant running battles as both its leaders and supported demand the disbanding of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission IEBC.

On the second Monday of the protests, properties were destroyed, people injured and terror reigned and the third Monday was even worse.

Investors are closely watching the developing events and chances are that if the current situation continues, they are unlikely to invest.

Tanzania already held her General Election and their President is doing very well and nothing will stop an investor from venturing into Tanzania as he or she continues to weigh the situation in Kenya.

Already Kenya has lost Uganda in a pipeline deal that saw Yoweri Museveni preferring Tanzania over Kenya.

Rwanda also pulled out of the Standard Gauge Railway project and opted for Tanzania for it was seen cheaper than Kenya.

Tanzania has already been ranked as the queen of East Africa in terms of economic growth, a maiden position that was initially being held by Kenya.

The questions are: Is Kenya slowly losing her grip as the gateway to the East African economy to Tanzania?  Is Kenya leaving and believing in past glories at the expense of the current situation? Does the government really has a serious economic advisor to tell the government the real situation as it is? Is the next General Election going to be in favor of the economy of Kenya?

Kenyans may never know the answers to these questions because they are busy politicking. Politics in Kenya is a do or die game where politicians outdo each other to satisfy their own interests that are camouflaged as the interests of the people.