Investors’ fears over political instability

By Kepher Otieno

Investors in Nyanza have expressed fears the political instability could ruin the economy.

The investors, who attended a one-day consultative meeting in Kisumu, claimed some of them were leaving the country.

Consequently, they appealed to the Grand Coalition Government to create a peaceful and enabling environment to attract more investors.

"Kenya has great potential for investments, but the unstable political environment is not giving us hope to put up more investments," said Mr Singh Khan.

Restore confidence

He said the fact the Government was doing little to restore confidence in the investors was bad for the country.

Mr Galib Tejpar, also a businessman, challenged the Government to set aside sufficient land for investors.

"We are asking the Government to reserve a land bank so that we do not waste time and opportunity looking for plots to buy and put up investments," said Tejpar.

He said fake title deeds were a threat to investors, many of who had lost money to conmen.

Kisumu Mayor Sam Okello admitted that some property in the town had dual title deeds and asked investors to be vigilant. He promised that tough measures would be taken against conmen.

The workshop was organised by the Prime Minister’s Investors Round Table (PIRT), an initiative, bringing together key actors from the private and public sector to form a common agenda for accelerating economic development.

DCs attended

The organisers partnered with the Kenya Investment Authority (Ken Invest). The workshop was attended by DCs from Nyanza Province and private sector officials.

Ken Invest Managing Director Susan Kikwai said the meetings were aimed at improving dialogue between the public and private sector.

This they hoped, would enhance harmony in implementation of key issues that affect the investment climate.