Kenya has made tremendous improvement and installation of critical infrastructure since independence compared to our peers in the region. Devolution and current national regimes have helped to push this installation a notch higher and as such, citizens must use such developments to improve on personal and national positive outcomes. The government should be lauded for such efforts because it has been proved that infrastructure in Kenya affects over 65.3% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), because sectors like agriculture, manufacturing and trade are heavily dependent on the quality of infrastructure that a nation develops.
This assertion is true for such sectors because agriculture, manufacturing and trade accounts for 34.6%, 7.9% and 7.6% respectively for our GDP, which can be directly linked to the levels of infrastructure that has been put in place Kenya, which has seen increased levels of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to 71% between 2016 and 2017, and which was valued at US$ 672 million as cited by UNCTAD. It is incumbent upon the citizens now to leverage on these infrastructure and ICT developments to improve on their personal outcomes which has a bearing on the national productivity in the long run. Infrastructure is critical for the operationalization of trade, powering business growth, connecting workers and labour to their job places, creating opportunities the struggling/marginalized communities and protects countries from unpredictable natural environments. It connects supply chains and allows for effective movement of goods and services from one corner to the next. Food produced in one fertile part of Kenya should be able to be transported to where it is most needed. Reliable infrastructure champions the attainment of diverse opportunities to people with varying needs like education, health and employment.
On the other hand, private sector investments in infrastructure as has been the case for Kenya is important in labour utilization and hence employment creation for many persons that are not absorbed by the public sector. The government has created the required enabling environment including laws & regulations from which citizens must invest and advance. This is as per the World Bank document of 1993 “enabling markets to work strategy”, whose cardinal rule is for governments to create enabling room for private entities to invest and produce goods and services since public sector cannot satisfy all such demands.
Dr. Daniel Mutegi Giti 