Munene, the journey...

President Kenyatta joined other African heads of state on March 21 in signing the #AfCFTA. What does this mean for Kenya? It means that Kenya's goods and services could have a broader market to sell to. It also means that locally made goods and services will face increased competition from similar products in the African market, especially if other countries have a comparative advantage. What is the projected net effect of these two sides of trade? Well, it's difficult to predict. It depends on which goods are on the schedule of reduction of tariffs both for other countries and Kenya. Pres. Kenyatta signs the AfCFTA Image courtesy of PSCU   Looking at other similar regional pacts such as North America's #NAFTA or the EU, we can see that trade between countries increases many fold. But as in the case of Mexico which saw the bankrupting of peasant farmers due to cheap corn and other agricultural produce from subsidized American farms, the aggregate effect might be po...

President-Elect Trump successfully ran under the banner of making America first, reducing foreign 'interference' and trying new ways to work with partners on the international scene to solve some intractable challenges. The first tenet, in my opinion, is something that should interest African nations, because of the collective acknowledged viewpoint of making Africa work for Africans. Looking back at the powers that scrambled for Africa more than 125 years ago to present day, we see challenges that have been brought about by the fact that Africa still remains a playground for western powers. The Democratic Republic of Congo fails to move forward due to the strong interests that keep fueling violence in order to continue the parasitic extraction of the vast resources with little benefit to the people of Congo. The CFA countries of Central and West Africa still depend on precolonial arrangements with France to manage their monetary policies, stealing the initiative fro...

Rhetoric posits that Africa is rising. Africa has been rising for more than a decade now, but there does not seem to be real tangible benefits out of this rise. Sure, the rising is producing a lot of millionaires, but these are more of the same kind of cannibalistic kind; there is no real benefit to the African populace. Real and concrete benefits of Africa rising will only be felt once some key issues have been resolved. Education, learning and leadership Our current system of education in Kenya and the wider African continent is producing a lot of graduates ready to occupy offices. But there are no offices; Africa is not at that level of development. The education is predicated on the existent of a middle to high income economy. These unemployed and frustrated youth are turning to the next lucrative activity; tenderpreneuring and thieving. It is no wonder corruption has become such a major challenge on the continent. Corruption is virtually breeding on the grounds of our ill-...