EAC countries can learn from Kenya’s Machakos

With devolution in high gear as the counties take root in Kenya, competition for business and investment just got fierce for Rwanda and other EAC member states. Take the investor conference recently hosted in Machakos County hosted, some mused, with a display of naked ambition by its new Governor, Dr Alfred Mutua, formerly spokesperson for the national Government. The conference aimed to discuss and facilitate investors in all conceivable sectors of the economy, from real estate to tourism, water and aviation, to ICT and agriculture, and more. The conference brought together investors from over sixteen countries, within and outside the region. For the feat that was achieved, it would do to name them: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, South Korea, Malaysia, China, India, Oman, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, United States and South Africa. By the end of the three-day conference, the investors had signed memorandums of understanding worth over Ksh56 Billion (approx Rwf 420 billion). That is not a figure to scoff at. Yet Machakos is not even one of the richest counties in Kenya. It does not, for instance, feature in the top ten going by the poverty index. But the hierarchy of which county is rich, or which is not, is probably not the point for Machakos, or the other 46 counties. What is important to all at this nascent stage is the fresh promise that new beginnings afford in the dreams that must be dreamt of attainable prosperity. The only difference, as has often happened if we look at examples in nations across Africa, will be in the vision and commitment of the leaders in the hitherto unexploited potential in their domains to create wealth, not to mention the leaders’ gumption: that is, the hunger for it, or the will and drive in their ambition to make it happen. Machakos has shown that it is possible, even if not all of its harvest of signed MoUs may pan out. However, in his sales pitch to the investors, Mutua threw down the gauntlet: “Machakos will not be competing with other counties in Kenya; we will be competing with other successful regions in the world.” And there-in lies the competition for Rwanda and her sister states in the EAC. We are all pitted in the same market in our own self interest trying to lure investment to our realm and away from the competition. The Kenyan counties – as any nation in the larger EAC – harbour the same ambitions to create wealth and offer viable options for personal and collective development of their citizens. Development and economic prosperity is what all the 47 Governors promised their voters. No female was elected governor in the just concluded Kenyan elections. Even so, some analysts do not see more than half of the governors living up to their promises. Which is no comfort, for the competition must be contended with. It only narrows the field, with some of the counties hatching their own brilliant ideas. Machakos is only the beginning. Competition is not a bad thing, but the logical conclusion with this assumption, borrowing from examples elsewhere, is that the Kenyan economy could only grow bigger, more prosperous. The U.S., one of the paragons of economic success, offers an example. Michael Porter of Harvard University was recently quoted telling the Clinton Global Initiative: “There is no one U.S. economy but a collection of local economies.” He might as well have been talking about any economy, including Kenya’s. However, bear in mind that Machakos has set aside land to build a brand new city, in addition to the proposed ICT hub, Konza City, in the same county. In the same example, American cities account for nearly 90 percent of total U.S. economic output, and 85 percent of U.S. jobs. Now, no one is suggesting Kenya is America, but the United States offers a glimpse of a recognised trend across the globe. It is towards this same trend that every nation, including those in the EAC, is either exhibiting or heading to. Twitter: @gituram