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Politicians must move on from elections, focus on economic development

The rising political temperatures and intolerance in the country are quite regrettable.

It is unfortunate that Kenya Kwanza coalition and Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya are still focused on last year's elections in the midst of other challenges such as the high cost of living that are making the life of Kenyans a nightmare.

On one part, President William Ruto and his allies are accusing Azimio of allegedly seeking to steal the August 9 presidential election, including plotting to kill Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati (now retired).

On the other hand, Azimio, led by its presidential candidate Raila Odinga, has released a dossier allegedly compiled by a whistleblower within IEBC, which puts him ahead of Ruto with over two million votes.

The Opposition formation has scheduled a series of countrywide meetings and resolved not to recognise Ruto's win or the Kenya Kwanza administration.

There is no doubt that Kenya has immense economic potential, but this has never been realised because it is perpetually in a political mode, which kicks off immediately after elections.

According to a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report, Kenya's economy runs the risk of being overtaken by the economies of Ethiopia and Angola in terms of size, potentially weakening the country's ability to attract investors with its growing consumer market.

While the aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, drought and disruption of global supply chains by the Russia-Ukraine war were cited as among factors likely to dampen Kenya's economic growth, post-election jitters were cited as a major factor.

According to analysts, the relegation of Kenya to the fifth position will weaken its hand in the race for foreign direct investment (FDI), which is critical in easing the growing youth unemployment.

The country can, however, escape this situation if the political class desists from useful rhetoric and focuses on development and service delivery.