Kenyan market shaken

The Kenyan economy will be shaken, if viewers listen to the advice of their media and financial outlets.

While the Kenyan judiciary has remained independent of the election process and that has pleased many investment analysts, at the same time the perception of danger and unrest in the Kenyan legal system might be enough to derail some of the momentum that the Kenyan property sector was able to gain over the last couple of years.

That perception is certainly quite icy when the United States is concerned, as many of the different papers have urged their readers to avoid the country until the violence cools down. As the violence currently shows no signs of cooling down, the papers are effectively urging their readers to avoid Kenya for tourism or investment indefinitely.

An example of such a paper is The Wichita Eagle, a paper that is based in the state of Kansas (US). The paper took issue with the assertions of safety on the part of Kenyan tourism operators in its January 27th issue and flat out suggested that its readers avoid Kenya for any purpose until the violence in the country stopped.

But it is not just papers abroad that are advising people to pull out. In a recent report released by the Nairobi Stock Exchange, financial advisors in the country advised Kenyans to move their investments away from property investments and invest them in stocks and other similar investments. The reasons cited by the NSE for this advice is that since physical land is being fought over at the current moment in time, it is an unsafe investment for people to take.

While this advice was not extended to overseas investors, the implication from the advice was obvious.

If Kenyans heed the advice of the NSE, then a large part of the demand for property in the Kenyan market could evaporate overnight. Likewise, if the tourists in the United States take the advice of their newspapers, demand for Kenyan property is likely to go down even further.

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