Peace Building Investment Pact For Northern Kenya

By Benard Mul­wa

The Prin­ci­pal Sec­re­tary State Depart­ment for Devo­lu­tion Ms Tere­sia Mbai­ka togeth­er with Gov­er­nors of Marsabt, Elgeyo-Marak­wet, Man­dera Coun­ties, Interpeace and oth­er devel­op­ment part­ners has joined efforts to delib­er­ate on how invest­ment can be a force in peace.

In her speech, the PS told jour­nal­ists that the gov­ern­ment and interpeace are work­ing on a mem­o­ran­dum of under­stand­ing which is aimed at enhanc­ing efforts in peace build, sus­tain­able devel­op­ment and peace pos­i­tive invest­ment in North­ern Kenya.  This MoU will estab­lish a col­lab­o­ra­tive frame­work that will guide gov­ern­ments work with­in its respec­tive man­date.

The PS not­ed that the nexus between peace build­ing and invest­ment area tan­gi­ble oppor­tu­ni­ties for trans­for­ma­tive change.

MS Mbai­ka also said that invest­ing in North­ern Kenya presents a dual oppor­tu­ni­ty adding that there is sig­nif­i­cant poten­tial for finance return in sec­tors such as agri­cul­ture, renew­able ener­gy and infra­struc­ture which are prof­itable and also con­tributes to the broad­er of social eco­nom­ics devel­op­ment goals and over­all social sta­bil­i­ty and ulti­mate­ly peace. “invest­ments that pri­or­i­tize local engage­ment, sup­port com­mu­ni­ty dri­ven devel­op­ment and respect to social fab­ric can play a piv­otal role in rein­forc­ing peace and sta­bil­i­ty” she said adding that gov­ern­ments vision for North­ern Kenya is one where invest­ment goes hand in hand with ini­tia­tives that Fos­ter social cohen­sion, eco­nom­ic resilience and long term sta­bil­i­ty.

The PS fur­ther not­ed that peace build­ing con­sid­er­a­tions needs to be bet­ter inter­grat­ed into devel­op­ment finance and main­streamed into invest­ment approach. How­ev­er the PS out­lined that all key play­ers need a com­mon invest­ment prin­ci­ple that avoid cre­at­ing con­flict and have the poten­tial to build peace for a sta­ble econ­o­my in soci­ety. Togeth­er with interpeace, the gov­ern­ment is work­ing to under­score the vital aspects of its strat­e­gy peace-pos­i­tive invest­ment by align­ing invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties with peace build­ing efforts by cre­at­ing mutu­al ben­e­fits for both investors and local com­mu­ni­ties which reduces risks for investors and com­mu­ni­ties and can achieve both bank­able and peace pos­i­tive out­comes.

The PS also observed that gov­ern­ments com­mit­ment is com­mon to interpeace is not only a moral oblig­a­tion,  it is an eco­nom­ic strat­e­gy one that can unlock unprece­dent­ed oppor­tu­ni­ties for sta­ble devel­op­ment “we do this be ensur­ing that every step towards eco­nom­ic growth is accom­pa­nied by con­scious efforts to main­tain and enhance sta­bil­i­ty,” she said  in her remarks.