Business Daily (Nairobi)
Kaara Wainainah
3 March 2008
opinion
Now that there is a deal, we should focus our attention and energies to taking deliberate steps that will ensure the turmoil brought by the post-election impasse never occurs again.
Urgent attention must be turned to rebuilding the nation and a once growing, but now heavily bleeding, economy.
Perhaps the celebrations by Kenyans should have been even more, taking into account how close we were to a full bloodbath.
But the realisation of just how much we've lost and destroyed in the moment of anger and frustration must have toned down our jubilation.
All said and done, the country's attention has swiftly shifted to Parliament, which we now look upon to expeditiously pen down the said agreements into law.
The other government departments, the private sector and the wider public, must move fast to restore Kenya's lost glory, business opportunities and the many lost business orders.
Topping the list is tourism, which grew in leaps and bounds in the last season and desperately requires emergency rescue plans.
Many loyal tourists have sought other destinations. No efforts must be reserved in winning back their confidence. This is a tall order, but with unity, determination and commitment we can, and will, succeed.
Luckily, our lovely hotels, lodges and beaches remain intact after all we've been through. But this being a service industry, wrong perception must be quickly and effectively countered.
Work in the manufacturing sector, which has been slashed to half capacity, must now be redoubled to meet earlier set targets.
Kenyans who were displaced must be allowed to return to their rural homes and towns, go back to their places of work and do what they've been trained to do.
Agriculture ground to a halt in most parts of the best of our productive lands, mainly in the Rift Valley, as many farmers fled to safer grounds. No effort should be spared in getting our food basket back on its feet, and the various nerves that make this crucial sector enabled to get up and function.
Our transport system was crippled at the height of the crisis. This sent ripples across the region. All illegal road-blocks must be cleared so as to regain hitch less transport well into the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
For this to happen, the perennial congestion at the port of Mombasa must once and for all be ended.
The blame shifting game between port authorities, Kenya Revenue Authority and the Rift Valley Railways makes no sense to consumers. What they want is timely delivered service, which they are paying for anyway.
The Government must provide the necessary investments to inject efficiency at the port. This will be expensive, but it is a viable project that will in the long run bear dividends in way of revenue and job creation, but more importantly indirectly spur growth across other sectors of the economy.
The Government should further provide stimulants to oil our production machinery that became rusty as hate and bitterness assumed new dimensions.
The country must work hard to regain its former reputation as an oasis of peace.
Finally, as Kenyans, who are custodians of the agreements reached by our leaders, we must arise in a unified drive and proclaim, "let a new Kenya begin today!"
A country guided by justice, fair return on our efforts and investments, a country with equitable distribution of resources, a prosperous nation where our children will access equal opportunity, a conducive environment to enable all be what they want to be.
Wainainah is an NTV business reporter.
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