If the results of the two opinion polls released towards the end of the just-ended year are anything to go by, then a majority of Kenyans seem to agree that 2023 was not easy. At the same time, a notable majority of them are hopeful that 2024 will turn out better.
They say that the hour just before dawn is the darkest. The same is true for rock-bottom moments because, after all, the only other way to go is up when one is down. All said, it is one thing to wish ourselves well as we enter 2024 but quite another to do the right things to make our wishes come true.
We have our work cut out for us. To begin with, it will do our collective national psyche a lot of good to nurture and maintain good cheer. That is why we must ignore merchants of negative energy and purveyors of gloom and despondency.
As we ponder over the lessons we have internalised through a turbulent economic stretch predating 2023 and brace ourselves to reap more favourable outcomes in the new year, I am reminded of crises whose reverberations echoed right across the globe in the past 100 years.
Between the Great Depression of 1932 in the United States and the 2007-2009 Global Economic Recession were five other incidents of battered financial fortunes suffered by various jurisdictions whose cataclysm reverberated the world over.
From our own experience of recent times and the global economic upheavals recorded throughout history, we are not short of hindsight, insights and foresight to forge mechanisms to cushion us from the pitfalls of similar economic downturns.
Before things get better, they sometimes seem to first get worse. Lest we forget, the economic performance of the first 10 months of the Mwai Kibaki presidency had Kenyans caught between a rock and a hard place, according to media reports of the time. This sounds familiar. No?
Yet after de-clogging and restructuring the governance system of the day, the Kibaki administration managed to ultimately bring about order and decorum in government. The result, as is popularly acknowledged, was money in the pockets of Kenyans.
In spite of 2023 seeming a tough nut to crack for many Kenyans, it is not all doom and gloom. For instance, the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) has announced relocation of its African headquarters from South Africa to Nairobi.
Still, improvement of our seaport services has seen a spike in the number of traders keen on using the Port of Mombasa. Besides, last season’s bumper harvest has pushed down inflation significantly.
From the feel of the pulse of Kenyans on the prospects of 2024, I am optimistic that more investors will come on board, trade—both internally and externally—will blossom and our manufacturers will do a lot better.
Ms Miano is the Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industry.
