Are President Kenyatta's visits abroad a "savior" to Kenya's economy?

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s trips abroad have received increasing criticisms from the common mwanachi, often accusing him of spending too much on luxurious touristic visitations to foreign countries.

We have read many a times on papers and social media that H.E. Kenyatta has traveled abroad more times so far than his predecessor’s two terms in office. If the cost of these trips, many argue, is aggregated, and put into good use, Kenya could address the problem of poor infrastructure, education, insecurity, agriculture, and health. This is not helped by the fact that our neighbors, Tanzania, are celebrating their “savior” President, H.E. Maghufuli who has invested a lot of his time in implementing austerity measures to cut to size the ballooning recurrent expenditure.

But let us be objective in our analysis and honest with our accusations. H.E. Kenyatta has done what his two predecessors failed to do, branding Kenya in the global area. His foreign travels have improved the image of our country, and attracted the attention of every Head of State. Many of these Heads of State have visited Kenya, many more are scheduled to visit and they do this often with their large delegations of top industry players – leading to the growth of investments.

From the US to China, Japan to India, Russia to Israel, and all over the world, business leaders have chosen Kenya as their investment destination of choice thanks to President Kenyatta’s relentless, passionate and eloquent marketing and positioning of Kenya as a hotbed of infinite opportunities and possibilities. A cost-benefit analysis of these trips will clearly show that Kenya is getting returns several folds compared to what the country is spending.  The President is the top image of our country, if he cannot bring other countries closer to Kenya, if he cannot build an intimate relationship between Kenya and the rest of the world, nobody else will. H.E. Kenyatta is doing a great job and we all need to support him in putting Kenya in the top category of global players.