President Uhuru Kenyatta was expected to jet back yesterday night from his US visit ahead of the visit by British Prime Minister Theresa May tomorrow.
He returns having witnessed the signing of investment deals worth $238 million (approximately Sh23 billion) as well as securing others running into billions of shillings, mostly Big Four-leaning projects in housing and agro-progressing.
Kenya’s Ambassador to the US Njeru Githae said American companies have shown increasing interest in Kenya’s affordable housing market – one of the four pillars of the Big Four agenda.
Besides his meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, Uhuru gave media interviews.
Speaking to the Voice of America (VOA) ahead of his meeting with Trump, he said corruption has slowed down Kenya’s socioeconomic transformation. Uhuru promised to intensify the crackdown and warned his critics to keep politics out of the war on graft.
“Corruption destroys our economy. It wastes public resources that could be used to buy drugs for our hospitals, construct roads, supply electricity and other essential services,” Uhuru said.
The President said it is disappointing to see politicians linking the war of graft to politics. “There is no politics in the war against corruption and I urge people not to bring in politics in this. We have to fight this vice so we stop the pilferage of public resources,” he said. Uhuru said unless Kenya defeats graft and sheds of the “corruption label”, no foreign investor will want to establish business in the country.
The war on corruption and creation of an enabling environment for business have been constant themes throughout Uhuru’s brief tour in Washington DC.
Tomorrow as Uhuru welcomes the British PM in Nairobi, the two issues are most likely to top the agenda during their talks.
Britain has repeatedly voiced its discomfort with the state of corruption in Kenya and has been supporting Kenya in the war against the vice.
Before he left the US, Uhuru spoke to the BBC. “There has been dramatic change across the African continent where people are beginning to get a better understanding of themselves, who they are and where they want to be,” Uhuru said.