Find an alternative to costly protests
By Editorial.Team, July 13, 2023The business community, led by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, has pegged the economic cost of the ongoing demonstrations at Sh3 billion daily. That is a steep price to pay especially given that the demos happen once or twice a week.
Data from the Central Bank also shows in the first three months of the year, the economy grew by about 5.6 per cent, down from about 6.3 per cent over the same period the previous year. Given that 2022 was an election year — and Kenya’s economy tanks every election year — the recent data is worrying because it demonstrates the dent protests are impacting the economy.
Part of the reason behind the demos is that the cost of living is too high, an argument that is beyond reproach. However, every time the economy takes a Sh3 billion hit daily, it reverses the very gains politicians are seeking to entrench.
That is why it would be prudent for politicians to find an alternative to the weekly demonstrations. There must be a way the political differences can be resolved for the good of all.
It is disheartening, for instance, for protesters to destroy the Nairobi Expressway, one of retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s legacy projects. That was gross. Demonstrations, ideally, should be devoid of needless violence. They are meant to cause enough inconvenience to make the government sit up and take notice. However, when people are killed, or neighbours take up arms against one another as happened in Kisii County, there is reason for patriots to be worried.
Both sides of the political divide need to end the brinkmanship and put the interests of the country and its citizens at the heart of all their political actions, campaigns and programmes. When any of these disenfranchise other citizens, then there is a need for a rethink of the strategies.
The problem facing Kenya today is as political as it is economic. As such, it calls for political negotiation that is acceptable to the citizenry so that the economic work can get done for the benefit of all.
As it is now, this is not happening, hence the clarion call for a new strategy that will have more benefits for the people and put an end to the loss of lives and destruction of public and private property. Unless this is done, there is a risk of the country degenerating into anarchy, a path Kenya must avoid at all costs.