The Standard on Sunday
Date: 29.01.2017
Page 10
Article size: 734 cm2
ColumnCM: 163.11
AVE: 375155.55
Why Kenyas economy is run by 10 players and
Our obssession with the English Premier League mirrors
our attitude to growing wealth — we are happy to sit and
watch as a few do the donkey work, writes XN Iraki
The Kenyan economy mirrors the
English . Premier League. It has more
spectators than players.
Some of the most loyal fans of the
EPL have never played football. But
they will bet against the winning team,
leave home to watch the match in a
sports bar and report to work on Mon­
day sad because "their" team lost.
Most football fans can name all
team members of their favourite Eng­
lish side and their rivals, including re­
serves and managers. They have their
team's stickers on their car wind­
screens, mobile phone screens or key
holders.
Our obsession with the English
Premier League closely mimics a cult.
We laugh and sometimes lose temper
while watching footballers making
money. Philippe Coutinho has just
signed a £150,000 (Shl9.5 million) a
week contract with Liverpool for five
years. Do you really need to be corrupt
to make money?
Key consumers
We lose money through betting,
drinking, paying for Wifi and leaving
our families at home to join our
friends in social places. A few make
money selling stickers, showing live
matches or winning bets occasionally.
This obsession with the English
Premier League and, occasionally, the
World Cup closely mirrors our econo­
my. There are too many spectators,
cheer leaders and very few players.
One could quickly argue that lots
of Kenyans work hard everyday on
very difficult jobs in the hot sun just to
make enough to earn a living. With no
surplus, they remain economic spec­
tators. How much money does Man­
chester United make per year? How
commercial' lawyer, observes that
Kenyans would rather keep money
in the bank, where they lose because
of inflation, rather than invest it else­
where. He cites lack of understand­
spectators, why can't we buy Man U
ing of foreign markets as one of the
reasons we rarely invest outside the
country, preferring to spectate.
We are spectators even at home.
Private equity funds and sovereign
shares and share the dividends?
funds such Norfund and Helios have
much of it do we share? If we are not
On Friday January 20,2017 Man U's
stock was $15.85, about Shi,600 per
share. How many Kenyans, even the
affluent, have invested in other coun­
tries either to diversify the risks or take
advantage of new firms and innova­
tions. How many Kenyans bought
Facebook shares, though we use it ev­
ery day? Google?
To be fair, some Kenyans have in­
vested in other countries indirectly
through funds, but they are very few.
Godwin Wangong'u, a prominent
been investing in Kenya, with focus
on SMEs ­ what we sarcastically call
jua kali. And they are making money.
Not yet convinced we are specta­
tors? Apple Inc. made a profit of $9
billion in the quarter ending Sep­
tember 24, 2016.1 leave it to you to
convert it into Kenyan shillings and
compare it with our current budget.
es. In 2014, Africa contributed only
2.4 per cent of global GDP says Or­
ganisation for Economic Co­opera­
tion and Development (OECD). Af­
rica contributed 2.4 per cent of
global trade in 2016.
How many Kenyans have at least
Shi00,000 in their bank account?
own. Kenya has more spectators
than Tanzania, which compares fa­
vourably with the US, according to
at them.
ment attributed to Chinese revolu­
Data from the World Bank shows
the extent of "spectation" in a num­
per cent of the quarter's revenue.
ber of selected countries. The mea­
great spectators, often at VIP loung­
Reason to worry
South Africa is in a class of her
The global scheme of things
seems to support spectation. Some
nations focus on high end jobs, leav­
ing low end jobs for us. We can as­
semble cars but can't design them.
Does foreign aid support spectation?
But in consumption, we are the
key players. We love foreign brands,
often over priced because the brand
owners know they make us spectate
International sales accounted for 62
On the investment side, we are
per cent. The higher the percentage,
the higher the level of spectation. We
assume all money is made genuinely
through sweat or inheritance, not
corruption.
sure of spectation is the percentage
of income attributed to the top 10
the World bank.
Except for the US, most devel­
oped countries seem to have fewer
economic spectators. See the table
for data for UK, Germany and Nor­
way. China's is surprising. It seems
Communism is dead and the state­
tionary and statesman Deng Xiaop­
ing, "being rich is glorious", was
taken seriously.
In matches, spectators are often
the source of trouble. The current
Ipsos Kenya ­ Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road ­ Lavington ­ Nairobi ­ Kenya