After an easy election win, Uhuru Kenyatta now faces daunting economic ills
The Kenyan president will have to tackle falling growth, runaway government spending and an unemployment rate of about 40%
Nairobi — Winning a second disputed election may have been the easy part for Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Now he needs to tackle daunting economic challenges ranging from slackening growth and runaway government spending to an unemployment rate that tops 40%. Kenyatta resoundingly won an August 8 rematch of a 2013 contest against former prime minister Raila Odinga, who alleged he was cheated of victory. Opposition protests largely fizzled out at the weekend after a security crackdown and Odinga’s five-party coalition is still deciding whether they will challenge the results in court. East Africa’s largest economy boomed during most of Kenyatta’s first term, expanding an average of 5.7% a year as it benefited from new road and rail links and lower fuel costs. Now a drought and slowing bank lending are taking their toll on growth and tax revenue, making it harder for the government to service the loans it took out to finance the new infrastructure and simultaneously meet a pledge ...
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