Kenya is once again standing at one of those moments that feel bigger than policy. It is the moment of choice about the country we want to become. And we all know infrastructure matters.
We see it in the road that cuts travel time from hours to minutes, in the port that moves goods faster, in the airport that opens a market to the world, and in the power line that lets a small workshop stay open after dark. In the real world, infrastructure is the quiet system that carries ambition.
That is why the ongoing debate around Kenya’s National Infrastructure Fund matters. On paper, the idea is anchored on the fact that Kenya wants to mobilise long term capital from pension funds, private equity, international investors and grant financing to build roads, ports, airports, irrigation systems, energy projects and water infrastructure without piling more pressure on the public balance sheet. It is a bold attempt to move from borrowing for survival to investing for growth. The logic is that Kenya’s infrastructure needs are too large to be met by the Exchequer alone.
Public debt has become a source of national anxiety, and citizens are tired of hearing about mega projects that cost billions but take forever, stall midway, or fail to improve everyday life. If private capital can be brought in transparently and responsibly, then the country has a real chance to build faster and better. But that promise will only hold if the Fund is designed with discipline, credibility and an honest sense of public purpose.
Other countries offer lessons, but not templates on this matter. Singapore did not become a global transport and logistics hub by accident. It combined long-term planning with commercially disciplined institutions. Its airport and port were treated, not as political instruments, but as strategic national assets, run with clarity, reinvestment discipline and respect for future demand.
South Korea followed a different path, sequencing public investment in education and basic infrastructure before private operators helped scale telecoms, logistics and airport services. China showed how coordinated financing can deliver scale, but it also reminds us that speed without strong governance can create risks that later become expensive to fix.
The point is not that Kenya should imitate Singapore, Seoul or Shanghai. It is that successful infrastructure stories are never just about money but about institutions and trust. They are about whether investors believe rules will remain stable and whether citizens believe public assets will not be quietly transferred into private hands for the benefit of a few connected people.
That is where this conversation becomes personal for ordinary Kenyans. Ask the trader in Gikomba who waits days for delayed imports, the flower exporter watching cargo costs or the farmer in a dry county hoping for an irrigation system that actually reaches the shamba. Ask the student in a small town trying to learn online during another power outage. For them, infrastructure is the difference between progress and frustration — between opportunity and exclusion. Airports and ports deserve special attention because they multiply growth across the economy.
A well-run airport is not only a place where planes land and take off but a cargo hub, a tourism gateway and a magnet for aircraft maintenance business. A modern port does not just move containers but lowers the cost of exports, reduces delays, attracts manufacturers and strengthens the country’s place in regional trade.
If Kenya gets these platforms right, the gains ripple outward to transporters, farmers, factories, hotels and young people looking for work.
But none of this will happen simply because a large number has been announced. Big figures can excite the market and impress conference rooms, but they do not build confidence on their own. Investors want predictable rules, transparent procurement, credible feasibility studies and a fair system for allocating risk. Meanwhile, citizens want assurance that public interest will not be sacrificed at the altar of commercial returns. If those conditions are missing, the Fund will struggle to attract quality capital or sustain public legitimacy.
There is also an uncomfortable truth that private money naturally goes where returns are visible. Toll roads, airports and power projects may look attractive where rural water systems, off grid electrification and small-scale irrigation may not.
Yet these are often the projects that matter most to low-income households and underserved regions that must be pulled along in the journey of sustainable growth. A nation cannot claim inclusive growth if its financing model only chases assets that can pay investors quickly while neglecting services that transform lives quietly.
Mr Osewe is a development finance expert, who has held senior positions in the World Bank and Asia Development Bank
