07/09/2026
RUTO, FOREIGNERS AND THE POLITICS OF THE YOUTH VOTE
I want to challenge President Ruto on one issue: protecting Kenyan youth should not mean teaching them to fear competition.
The President's recent message against foreigners operating small businesses in Kenya may sound attractive to a young Kenyan who is struggling to find work or start a business.
But let us ask ourselves a much bigger question:
Is chasing foreigners out of small businesses really an economic solution—or is it an easy political message designed to make frustrated young people feel that someone is fighting for them?
Because if we are honest, the problem facing Kenyan youth is much deeper than a foreigner selling clothes, running a small shop or trading in our markets.
Where are the affordable loans?
Where are the jobs?
Where are the affordable manufacturing opportunities?
Where is the market for the young person who has started a business?
Where is the protection from excessive taxation and bureaucracy?
Where is the industrial policy that turns our raw materials into finished products and creates millions of jobs?
These are the difficult questions.
And there is something else we must not forget:
Kenyans themselves are doing business all over Africa.
Our people operate shops, restaurants, transport businesses and other enterprises in neighbouring countries. Kenyans lease farms and invest outside our borders.
So what happens when Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda or another African country says:
"We are protecting our people. Kenyans must leave these small businesses."
Will we celebrate?
Of course not.
We will call it discrimination.
Then why should we create a system that can eventually be used against our own people?
COMPETITION IS NOT THE ENEMY
If a foreigner is breaking Kenyan law, enforce the law.
If a business is legally reserved for Kenyans, enforce that reservation.
But don't tell our young people that the solution to their economic problems is simply to remove foreigners.
That is not empowerment.
Empowerment is making the Kenyan youth competitive.
Give them affordable capital.
Give them skills.
Give them technology.
Give them access to markets.
Reduce unnecessary barriers.
Support manufacturing.
Fight corruption.
Create an economy where a Kenyan youth can compete with a Chinese, Indian, Ugandan, Tanzanian, Nigerian or European entrepreneur—and win.
That is the kind of leadership our young people deserve.
AND WHAT ABOUT TATA/MAGADI?
If the government believes Kenya is not getting enough value from its natural resources, then by all means, renegotiate unfair arrangements and demand local value addition.
We should not be exporting raw materials and importing expensive finished products.
But we must distinguish between protecting Kenyan interests and creating an anti-foreigner political narrative.
Kenya needs investment.
Kenya needs technology.
Kenya needs international partnerships.
What Kenya needs is fair investment—not isolation.
LET US THINK BEYOND 2027
My concern is that economic nationalism can become a very convenient political tool.
Tell an unemployed young person that foreigners are taking his opportunities and you can easily win his anger.
But anger is not an economic policy.
And if this becomes a campaign strategy for 2027, we should ask ourselves whether we are being offered real solutions or simply convenient enemies.
Kenyan youth don't need somebody to blame.
They need opportunities.
They don't need foreigners to disappear.
They need an economy that works.
They don't need protection from competition.
They need the capacity to compete.
And most importantly, Kenya should remember that Africa is our market.
The Kenyan entrepreneur should be able to cross borders and build businesses across Africa.
We cannot demand that freedom for ourselves while closing the door on others.
Let us protect Kenya without closing Kenya.
Let us empower our youth without teaching them hatred of foreigners.
Let us negotiate better deals without chasing away investment.
And above all:
LET US NOT SACRIFICE KENYA'S LONG-TERM AFRICAN OPPORTUNITIES FOR SHORT-TERM POLITICAL APPLAUSE.
Our youth deserve better than politics of blame. They deserve an economy that gives them a real chance to win.
