Is Dangote refinery investment our economic wake-up call?

The proposed Dangote refinery in Lamu could become the catalyst for a more integrated, investment-led model of Kenya's economic growth. [Courtesy]

Beyond immediate politics, the recent Ol Kalou by-election left us with two reflections. First, will official state largesse, using our taxes, take us to developmental heaven? Did Kenya Kwanza’s infrastructure and cash goodies at this by-election set the electoral standard for the rest of Kenya?

Second, “goonism” is the fastest-growing jobs segment in the economy right now, which says much about the sub-optimal returns on development handouts. Our politics of sharing the cake (resource distribution) always trumps the economics of baking it (wealth creation).  Meanwhile, the same regime that promised to stop abductions and killings now promises to combat goonism.