NAIROBI: Since Al Shabaab militants kidnapped two tourists in Lamu and killed another in October 2011, Kenya’s military expenditure has ballooned.
The country is now the seventh-largest spender across all of Africa.
And since 2005, Kenya has spent a cumulative $8.8 billion (Sh884billion) on military hardware and operations, making it the fifth-highest spender in sub-Saharan Africa, which excludes North African nations.
Recent data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) indicates that Kenya has beefed up resource allocations to its military, with the largest spikes recorded in the last five years.
These findings come just as the country prepares to mark three years tomorrow since men armed with assault rifles and grenades stormed the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.
What was first thought to be a robbery turned into a four-day stand-off between the men, later identified as Al Shabaab militants, and Kenya’s police and military forces.
At the end of it, more than 60 people were killed, dozens injured, and the mall was reduced to a bullet-riddled, smoldering shell that was boarded up for two years. It reopened last July, and has since got back to 100 per cent occupancy.
Terrorist attacks
With more than Sh7.8 billion worth of property destroyed, the Financial Times placed the Westgate siege among the top 20 most expensive terrorist attacks from an insurance perspective.
The Somali militant group said its members staged the attack to protest the presence of Kenya’s army in Somalia.
In October 2011, former President Mwai Kibaki announced that the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) had launched an operation in Somalia to pursue suspected Al Shabaab terrorists, following the attacks on tourists in the resort town of Lamu
The following year, Kenya’s military spend jumped 12 per cent, from Sh80 billion to Sh90 billion – the largest spike since 1992.
Since then, Kenya’s military expenditure has continued to rise, with recent data indicating a 22 per cent year-on-year increase between 2014 and 2015.
This response to the threat of terrorism has now raised concern, with economists cautioning that the country could be sacrificing long-term economic growth by spending scarce resources on stockpiling the military.
But this might not be the easiest news to digest, particularly as Al Shabaab militants continue to attack Kenyan soldiers and raid Somalia’s government forces close to the Kenyan border.
Further, increased military expenditure in developing countries has been associated with improved education and discipline of the labour forces.
It also improves national security, which encourages private investment and growth.
Negative impact
However, these benefits are not always realised, as military units in many developing countries often operate almost in autonomy to the rest of the economy, with specialised procurement and tendering channels.
According to a joint study by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), titled Military Spending Cuts and Economic Growth, an increase in military expenditure could have a dampening effect on a country’s growth.
This means that economic trade-offs from the acquisition of military resources benefit only a handful of weapon manufacturers, and government and military officials, creating a military industrial complex.
Researchers at the World Bank and IMF further argue that a rise in military spending exerts a negative impact on the rate of investment in public and private productive fixed capital.
“Due to revenue shortfalls and spending pressures from security interventions in Somalia and salary awards, the Budget deficit in the revised Budget is not expected to reduce in the current financial year,” he told the House.
Mr Githae added that Operation Linda Nchi, the Somalia intervention, was a “one-off” expenditure item, and one that was necessary to improve the country’s economic fortunes in the long term.
“Most of these expenditures are necessary for long-term economic growth in light of the changing economic conditions,” he said.
Some other nation spent 2bn$ since 2005 and wants to comoare it self with kenya
Mtashangaaa mtuchokoze kidogo ndio mpate huduma!!