How Money Laundering affect our Country Kenya

Money laundering can be summarized in three words; Bribery, Corruption and Fraud. The difference of these three words is almost nil. Kenya's vulnerability to money laundering is fast rising with the complex mobile payments pioneering in the country. 

Kenya ranks badly in the Corruption Index (Transparency International & W.G.I.) making the country lose out as a preferred investment destination. However, Kenya is a transit hub for major import goods enroute to landlocked East African countries such as Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi. Sadly, it is also a transit point for ivory smuggled, illicit drugs enroute to Europe or Asia.

The other high risk factor bedeviling Kenya is our proximity to terrorist controlled Somalia. The insecurity in our porous Somalia borders, the pirates' smuggled goods (though this has gone down) and our Army involvement in Somalia affairs affects our local economy adversely.

Lastly, Kenya's reputation as a corrupt, bureaucratic nation denies us Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs). However, the World Bank in its annual report on "Ease of Doing Business" shows that Kenya's ranking improved from position 113 to 92 on starting a business. Nonetheless, we have a long way to go.

I will sum up my article by urging all of us to be the change that we so yearn for. This calls for refusing to giving or taking bribes. This calls for each one of us being responsible, honest and ethical in our doings.

Related Topics

Money Laundering