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Crime is a major obstacle to law enforcement in Kenya
Crime in the Kenyan capital is so rife that the city is famously known as "Nairobbery" -- a pun on what is seen as a serious obstacle to attracting foreign investors and lifting the country out of poverty."We are living in dangerous times," the Sunday Standard newspaper said in a recent report on crime, showing how people felt east Africa's richest country had become more risky. The signs of a society struggling to contain robberies, murders and rape are evident everywhere in the sprawling capital of roughly 3.5 million people which is east Africa's main commercial hub and home to one of the continent's largest slums. Private security guards stand outside banks and shops, people in the well-off suburbs live behind high walls and electric fences, visitors are told not to go out after dark. Rape has become so common that billboards warn against "human beasts". Almost everybody has a tale of being a victim of crime or knows someone who has and local media run daily stories about armed robberies, carjackings and gun battles between police and armed gangs in broad daylight. Paul Andre de la Porte, who heads the United Nations Development Programme in Nairobi, said crime was more of an obstacle to private sector inflows than corruption, which has dominated headlines with high profile figures accused of being involved in multimillion dollar scams. "If we could get rid of the level of insecurity that we have in Kenya, that would be a major breakthrough for its socio-economic development," de la Porte said. The economy -- helped by booming tourism -- has picked up since President Mwai Kibaki won power in 2002, growing by some five percent last year from an average of two percent in the late 1990s under his autocratic predecessor Daniel arap Moi. But critics say it still underperforms partly due to the government's failure to deliver on promises to root out graft and violent crime, and fix poor roads and other infrastructure. The most recent comparative statistics show that Kenya received less in crucial foreign direct investments than its poorer neighbours Uganda and Tanzania -- $46 million (26 million pounds) in 2004 compared to $237 million and $470 million respectively. Apart from deterring investors, analysts say insecurity can also hurt existing firms by pushing up costs and restricting operations. Many businesses close early in Nairobi where owners swiftly pull metal grills over windows to protect goods. Merchant International Group, a London-based consultancy which measures investment risk by assessing 10 criteria, gave Kenya a worse grade than many other African countries, in part reflecting its problems with corruption and organised crime. Despite being one of sub-Saharan Africa's most developed and stable countries, Kenya received the same overall rating for this year's first quarter as volatile Ivory Coast, while Sudan was judged to be slightly less risky, despite violence in its Darfur region. "We consider there is an insecure climate in terms of foreign investors operating in the country," said Rashna Writer, head of the consultancy's global risk department. A United Nations study last year said crime was a key factor in preventing countries across Africa from rising out of poverty. It listed the high proportion of young, unemployed people, glaring income inequalities and rapid urbanisation as reasons for high levels of violent crime. Samuel Mwaura Waweru, chief executive of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance business lobby group, said things were not as bad as some believed in Kenya but added there was a problem. "Poor security scares away potential investors, they don't come," he said. "It impacts negatively on the existing investors because they have to try and make up for security deficiency in-house, which is expensive." De la Porte said he believed Kenya could see annual growth of at least 7-8 percent, provided the government successfully cracked down on crime and corruption and donors raised aid levels sharply to help create a better investment climate. Police say they are making progress, with figures showing a 12 percent fall in overall crime last year, but some critics say they see little sign of this on the ground. "Considering the mounting reports of rape, robberies, murders, carjackings, ethnic clashes, arson and other crimes, that assurance rings hollow," the Nation daily said in an editorial. Kenyan and foreign aid agencies said in a report last year that rape, incest and indecent assault had increased fourfold in the country of 32 million people over the past four years. A recent travel warning from the United States -- whose Nairobi embassy was the target of a deadly bombing attack in 1998 blamed on al Qaeda -- also underlined security threats. "In addition to the terrorist threat, there are increasing incidents of criminal activity ... especially after dark," the State Department said in December's statement. Such language irritates Waweru, who says the situation has improved and that it is worse in many other countries. "Kenya has one of the best security records for tourists, yet in spite of that the country is presented as having a security crisis," Waweru said. "Because of that perception the potential investors are discouraged." His words were echoed by businessman Bhupen Gala, owner of a textile business that employs about 200 people. "It is not so bad. I've not seen a single robbery on this road," Gala said in his shop in central Nairobi where he sells clothes made at a plant on the outskirts of the city. "Red tape is a bigger obstacle than robberies." Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-03-21 |
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