Kenya: The Government has not expressed any reactions to Monday’s Saba Saba rally, though the political event has had huge ramifications on the business community and the economy.
Most people did not report to work, fearing eruption of violence as well as safety of their property. This was evidenced by the few vehicles heading to town and the free parking slots.
Pundits argue that the political tension in the country, in addition to increased insecurity, are further hurting the economy.
“Matters have been made tricky by the most recent fresh killings in Lamu and Tana River. Combined with the rising political rhetoric, the message being sent out to the international investor community is that Kenya is slowly sliding into chaos,” said John Kirimi of Sterling Investment Bank.
Kirimi noted that those who take a long-term view of the situation could be reading political instability and may soon begin to put this deteriorating scenario into their calculations.
However, there was no drastic movement in the three performance indices, with the bourse largely ignoring events on the political arena. On Friday last week, market cap had reached 2.13 trillion with 13.5 trillion shares traded and the NSE 20 share index standing at 4885.71 points.
Monday, the NSE Share index was down 0.07 points to close at 152.02 while the NSE 20-Share index was also down 16.90 points to close at 4868.81 with 33 million shared traded against 13.58million on Friday last week.
As the country moves from the 2013 polls, the business community has expressed mixed feelings with a cross-section remaining optimistic that Kenya will not travel the 2007 road again. Others remain cautious. Some in the business community are already pointing fingers at signs that it is not business as usual and that the stakes are much higher this time round.
“The level of political risk still remains high. Despite the enactment of the Constitution and gradual changes in the legal and political landscape over the last few years,” said a past statement from Kenya Private Sector Alliance (Kepsa), a powerful apex body representing interests of Kenya’s private sector community, “the way politics is organised as a contest between groups, mainly communities, has not changed.”
Kepsa maintains that the same political undertones sent out in the rhetorical contests are still rife. With the economy under threats from terror groups and bad politics, opinion is still divided on whether this economy can cushion itself from any turbulence from the political scene.
“The level of political surveillance is high and off the charts. With ICC lurking in the shadows, this has already changed behaviour and it would therefore be insane for any politician to pursue an unconventional political strategy,” said Satchu.
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