The Looming Class war in Kenya

I remember reading, almost a year ago, an article by the former member of parliament for Subukia, Hon. Koigi Wamwere, that spoke of a section of Kenyans retreating to high-walled complexes in search of solace and security. The fact is, there is a rise in the number of Kenyans who grow richer by day, but who no longer feel safe and need to move to new neighbourhoods and invest in more security; it is these to whom Koigi referred.

Read more from James Muritu here.

State of Kenya: The economic impact

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan met with chief executive officers of the of Kenya's largest corporations and other members of the Kenyan business community in Nairobi Tuesday.

The CEOs forum was organized by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance and is expected to draft a presentation on a working solution to end the political and economic crisis in Kenya.

Read more here.

State of Kenya: ODM Calls Off Protests

ODM leader Raila Odinga has called on his supporters to stay home and boycott businesses belonging to President Kibaki's friends and supporters.

Read more here and discuss the economic implications that this will have on the Kenyan economy if any.

The chains of colonisation's cold afterglow

Events from the past week have raised the question of whether or not third world people should sever the ties of dependency with their former colonial masters once and for all.

The first group of these issues revolved around the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Kampala. I was vicariously embarrassed by the entire spectacle, Ugandans swarming the darkened streets in the millions to welcome the British Queen and to underline their country's subservience to her throne. It was all a little much.

Read more from John Victor Ogot.

Reducing Poverty through Economic Freedom

The worldwide obsession with poverty eradication is a major threat to economic freedom in developing nations. Through central planning, governments and aid agencies are blocking poor people’s road to prosperity.

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To reverse that trend, economic freedom needs to be seen as a development partner. Governments must understand that providing market-friendly environments will enable their societies to develop long-lasting solutions to economic problems and, as Friedman wrote in Capitalism and Freedom, "reduce the range of issue that must be resolved through [ineffective] political means."

Read more here.

Rethinking privatisation

Privatizing without any structural reform of the sectors these firms serve will only serve to perpetuate their monopolies but in this case under private ownership. Wisdom would be keeping these companies public, invigorating them and ensuring they are working to reduce the budget deficit and our colossal debt.

State corporations have a role to play in our development, not just as providers of valuable services, but also as generators of much needed financial resources; a subject we will deal with in our next article.

Read more from Emmo Opoti here.

A different budget this time

Ahmed Mohamed while assessing the economy of Kenya addresses key economic factors and indicators that the Minister of Finance, Amos Kimunya, will have to include while preparing this year's budget.

Past Finance Ministers, including Kibaki himself had comparatively easy task of achieving popular acclaim. All they had to do was as simple as fixing the prices of certain class of consumer items at lower prices. Kimunya's hands however, are tied by both the liberalized economy and a question of balancing expenditure priorities. While it will be easy to reduce taxes especially on basic food items to influence price reduction, he will be required to off set the foregone tax revenue with a hike elsewhere. And that is where the complications will start to arise. Arbitrary tax transfers have their own risks including potential disruption of current economic buoyancy.

Read more.

The lost generation

Peter Ndiangui addresses a new Kenyan generation-- one of unemployment, but with a potential of being innovative and boosting Kenya' s economy.

Forced to the wall, will they validate the old saying that necessity is the mother of invention, and transform Kenya like America's baby boomers transformed her?

Read more here.

Kibaki's Madaraka Day Speech

Read President Kibaki's Madaraka Day speech here.

Mobile Kenya

Amina Mohamed on the mobile phone revolution in Kenya. Read the rest here.