Kenya Needs A Stable Business Environment Without The Constant Harassment From GoK For The Sake Of Future Generations

Kenya is a beautiful country with amazing people and resources. We are hardworking and determined to have the best. We are crafty and schemers. But underneath this, our issues and troubles lie. Beneath the surface, the feeling and mood aren’t rosy.

One of the things that make the world go round is money and in Kenya, everyone is hard-pressed to genuinely eke out a living. Making honest money in Kenya is becoming a difficult task, thanks to an overzealous government in terms of taxation and corporate harassment of private firms that are apparently successful.

Corrupt government officials are weaponizing government agencies to harass private firms to achieve their selfish goals under the guise of public interest as they rape and mutilate the Constitution in the process.

Ayn Rand once said that either we believe that the State exists to serve the individual or that the individual exists to serve the state. As a private entrepreneur and SME owner, I believe that the State exists to serve me the individual and in return, I pay my fair share of taxes as the consideration of the State taking care of me. This contract is renewed every 5 years at the ballot. Where we elect better officials to manage the government. Unfortunately, being a law-abiding citizen in Kenya has become 1000 ways to die early.

Frederic Bastiat once said that when plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it. Frederic must have been a seer because his statement simply foretold the future of the Kenyan political class.

The most corrupt, inept, and scandal-ridden group of Kenyans in the history of the country, and unfortunately, they seem to be the best of us. This reflects really badly on us as citizens, voters, and taxpayers. This political class has turned the law into a weapon to harass and blackmail businesses they deem not good for their personal interests or where they can muscle them for political funding. This is what has been happening and in the process, investor confidence has waned to the lowest ever in the history of the country and this has resulted in more unemployment, tearing of the social fabric due to stress and depression-related issues, and an increasing crime rate.

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Louis Brandeis was right when he said that if the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for the law. It invites every man to become a law unto himself. The Kenyan government has broken the record of ignoring all court orders and this has created a bad precedence with the populace and now those who believe are important are taking the law into their own hands and this has made investments scarce as investors and job creators relocate and or avoid Kenya all together for other countries like Rwanda and South Africa.

Marcus Tullius Cicero talks about justice being the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due. This justice unfortunately has been rapped and torn apart by a regime that does not care about the rule of law and the adherence to the court orders and this is more damaging than a war to a country. This means the God-given right to property of your own sweat and blood can longer be guaranteed in Kenya courtesy of the law-breaking government. Investors have shied off and we are the ones suffering. Add COVID-19 into the mess and you have yourself a potent cocktail that if not addressed NOW will explode in our faces and that will be the end of Keny