Mindset shift among the people is key to a prosperous country

A troubling trend is gaining ground in Kenya.

The line separating constructive criticism and futile pessimism is increasingly getting blurred in national debate, leading to negative investor sentiment at a time when we need to drive economic recovery following the slowdown witnessed last year.

Commentators on key national issues like corruption, public debt, divisive politics and unemployment concentrate disproportionately on the magnitude of the challenges.

But they don’t propose practical solutions or acknowledge progress such as our recognition as one of the most improved economies in the World Bank’s "Ease of Doing Business" rankings in the past five years.

This loser mentality is a huge barrier to growth and investment in a competitive world where market sentiment matters just as the underlying fundamentals.

Most investors would rather choose a not-so-good economy where the leaders and citizens are confident of a turnaround and have a plan, than a good economy where everyone is negative and bearish, lacking faith in their government and economy and even themselves.

That is why in 2020 we should make it a national priority to promote a radical shift in mindset.

We need to change the conversation and promote discourse that serves the interest of the economy and showcases our unique strength as a resilient, imaginative and innovative people.

Although the 2022 General Election will mark an important milestone in our democracy’s history, it’s still two and a half years away.

The current administration is at the halfway mark and has another half to go with the benefit of hindsight.

Therefore, we cannot demand definitive results from it at this point in time as some armchair analysts are maliciously doing, flooding social media with inconclusive analyses and negative propaganda.

In a recent fiscal update on Kenya, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) noted that half of the 1,000 public projects being implemented in Kenya have stalled and will require Sh1 trillion to complete.

These projects are key to transforming lives and catalysing private investment. Businesses typically invest where governments have also invested and, hence, lowered the risk profile.

While we need to isolate the causes of delays — and crack the whip in cases where delays were occasioned by graft — we also need to find innovative ways of completing these projects.

If we don’t, we risk not only losing whatever was invested but also discouraging further investment in Kenya due to bad publicity.

Getting the Sh1 trillion from the National Treasury may be a tall order, given the challenges we are facing with revenue collection and debt.

But this doesn’t mean we are out of options. The private sector, with its access to domestic and international capital markets, can stand in the gap.

Stalled but viable projects can be attached to the books of cash-strapped parastatals in related sectors, which can then be privatised, giving the government cash windfalls to ease liquidity pressures while putting strategic development projects in the hands of the private sector, which has, in the past, proven to be an efficient and dependable implementation partner.

Lest you forget, Safaricom, East and Central Africa’s most profitable public company, was a department in a state corporation.

Leaders need to lead by example and counter the wave of mindless criticism with solid ideas and solutions.

A particularly heavy responsibility lies on political leaders, especially the heads of the major political parties.

Kenya should take a leaf from Singapore’s book. At the height of its transformation from a sleepy colonial outpost to a successful city state, its founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, came under sharp criticism for suppressing naysayers.

Despite that, he moved the Asian country from a Third to a First World country in a single generation.

Yew understood that accommodating critics with no practical solutions was harmful to a nation on the move. It sapped the people’s strength and made them lose their sense of purpose and focus.

Those who don’t believe in the future of this great nation should not be given a chance to discourage the rest who do.

Mr Kittony, a business leader, is vice-chairperson, World Chambers Federation.