The East African Community (EAC) suffers from a critical lack of cross-border railway networks that, if remedied, could improve regional connectivity and boost intraregional trade.  The region would also become more investor-friendly.  Cross-border railway connectivity is particularly important owing to the challenging geographical location and small, uncompetitive and inefficient Partner States.

Since independence in 1963, Kenya has maintaineda diversified economy in which the privatesector has always played a strong role.While there have been periods of tension, thecountry has never descended into civil war norsuccumbed to massive state intervention in theeconomy. Nevertheless, the eighties, ninetiesand early 2000s did see a period of economicstagnation with falls in FDI, deterioration of governanceand neglect of infrastructure. The moveby the Government towards making the privatesector a new engine of growth and promotingFDI has been a consequence of this and hasbrought rewards in terms of GDP growth.

Over the past decade, a spike in demand for agricultural land in developing countries has generated agreat deal of political and media attention. While many investments bring opportunities for localcommunities, some have wrongfully pushed residents and workers off their lands or have caused socialand environmental harm. Some development projects (e.g. agroforestry initiatives, irrigation schemes)have also encountered land conflict.

This chapter gives the background information on the socio-economic and infrastructural information that has a bearing on the development of the county. The chapter provides description of the county in terms of the location, size, physiographic and natural conditions, demographic profiles as well as the administrative and political units. In addition, it provides information on infrastructure and access; land and land use; community organizations/non-state actors; crop, livestock and fish production; forestry, environment and climate change; mining; tourism; employment and other sources of income; water and sanitation; health access and nutrition, education and literacy, trade, energy, housing, transport and communication, community development and Social Welfare. Detailed data is presented in the fact sheet which is given in Appendix I.

Kenya’s young process of devolution has created new opportunities for the emergence of county-level economic and development initiatives. Kiambu County’s proximity to Nairobi could drive fast-track economic growth in the region. It is crucial that development ambitions are matched by a political environment that fosters such growth, and that this is not undermined in the run-up to the elections in 2017.

On the night of 17 May 2015 scores of families living in Jomvu, an informal settlement alongthe A 109 highway in Mombasa, Kenya, awoke to the sound of a bulldozer and the arrival ofarmed police. Even as they desperately tried to salvage their belongings, the bulldozerdemolished their homes and small businesses. It was a terrifying ordeal, which left manypeople homeless.

The demolitions were carried out as part of preparations for a highway expansion project. TheA109 connects Mombasa to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic ofCongo, and is critical for regional trade. The highway expansion project involves wideningpart of the road to ease traffic congestion. It has been financed by the African DevelopmentBank, the German Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, the EU-AfricaInfrastructure Trust Fund, and the Government of Kenya.

In Kenya, land is one of the most discussed subjects, as agriculture is the source of livelihood of 85% of Kenya’s population. Large-scale land investment is a rather new phenomenon in the Nyanza region in West Kenya. The arid climate and the low infrastructure of the region did not seem attractive to investors for a long time. In 2003 – before the new investment boom in Africa – an American investor leased an area covering 6'900 hectares of a swamp for 45 years in order to grow rice, claiming that this would ensure food security and fight poverty in the region. The aim of my fieldwork in West Kenya was to gain deeper knowledge about the perception of the people affected by this project.

This thesis examines two cases of Export Processing Zone (EPZ) programmes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), specifically in Kenya and Lesotho. Using data from the respectivecountries’ EPZ programme authorities, central banks, relevant studies, and country reports, Ishow that although the programmes have facilitated employment generation and foreignexchange earnings from textile and apparel exports, such exports rely highly on preferentialtrade agreements such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The reliance onpreferential market access, and the uncertainty regarding the continuation of such preferencesare important sources of vulnerability. This causes fluctuations in investments and also helpsexplain the low level of backward linkages.

The East African coast is rich in examples of housing, schools, healthcentres and other urban facilities that have been fi nanced through endowmentsknown as “wakfs”, created by citizens concerned with community well-being andsecurity of next of kin. From its early religious origins, the practice has developedinto a durable economic institution capable of enriching and expanding approachesfor mobilizing resources for poverty reduction. Places such as Mombasa, Lamu,Malindi and Zanzibar owe much of their public architecture and social harmony toassets set aside in this way. Partial insulation from the market and strict rules ensurethat wakf assets are protected from pillage or undue exposure to risk. This paperoutlines the development of wakf methodology and administration in Kenya andTanzania (specifi cally Zanzibar) since the early twentieth century. In both countries,elaborate legislation and supervisory mechanisms ensure that endowments areregistered and subject to audits to ensure compliance with original objectives. Inrecent years, more emphasis has been placed on reviewing legislation and fi ndingnew ways of adapting to current social needs, changing economic circumstancesand national social development policies.

This study has the aim to analyze what impacts land grabbing in Rift Valley, Kenya, has on rural poor, as it is perceived from a gendered perspective. Land acquisitions, or land grabbing, is a growing global phenomenon, where companies and states (foreign and domestic) are claiming land for investments, to secure the growing demand for food and biofuels, with neg-ative impacts on the rural population. Most exposed are the rural poor women. The gender issue is however not analyzed in a proper way in the debate, which is why study is important.

On 7th October, the Kenya Railways, Kenya Wildlife Service, and several conservation and research institutions agreedto hold a dialogue meeting on 27th October to address the question, “HOW CAN WE BEST ACHIEVE A BALANCEBETWEEN CONSERVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN SGR PHASE 2A?”.

176 participants engaged in the one-day discussion using the Open Space method, which was facilitated by London basedfirm Public Service Works. Participants of the dialogue represented a cross section of stakeholders including industrialists,landowners, community, scientists, park managers, lawyers, conservationists, park users, tourism sector, railway engineersand others. Participants engaged in 17 different meetings and conversations for which the outcomes are contained inthis report. The recommendations were voted on at the end of the session. Eight major recommendations emerged allof which were urgent and important, and which can be broadly categorized into three groups.

The main aim of this paper is to investigate how infrastructure development impacts on economic competitiveness of Kenya, taking into account selected lower middle income countries. This study was motivated by two main factors. First, the Kenya Economic Blueprint - the Vision 2030 identifies infrastructure development among the key drivers towards achieving shared prosperity in Kenya by 2030. Secondly, understanding the impact of infrastructure development on the economy can go a long way into enhancing proper forward looking policy.

Provision of adequate infrastructure has been a major responsibility of the state in manydeveloping countries over the course of their development. However, various case studiesindicate that infrastructure policies have not been very effective both in terms of their influenceon economic growth and income distribution. Not only has infrastructure become a majorbottleneck for economic development, infrastructure policies aimed at targeting the poor havealso failed to achieve their objectives. Typically the poor subsidize the rich in the process ofpublic infrastructure delivery. Such subsidization is particularly rampant in the agricultural sectorthat often dominates the developing country economies before a structural transformation hastaken place, which is often the case in the initial economic development stages.

As we commence the implementation of Kenya’s Long Term Development Strategy, Vision2030 after a successful implementation of the “Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth andEmployment Creation 2003-2007” (ERS), Kenya is looking to the future with the aim ofconsolidating, enhancing and sustaining the gains of the ERS. The transport sector is recognizedas a key pillar and a critical enabler in the achievement of this strategy. It will be important notonly in improving the competitiveness of products from Kenya and the region, but also serve asa significant basis upon which the economic, social and political pillars of this long termdevelopment strategy will be built. Further, the sector is expected to remain a key component intackling such challenges as reduction of poverty by half by the year 2015 and overallimprovement in the general welfare of the population.

The real estate sector is expected to continue growing on the back of developments, such as lower financing costs, and the entry of institutional developers to the market.

This chapter puts the spotlight on a dark corner of the development enterprise:involuntary resettlement. In the increasingly integrated world economy,infrastructure promotes the free flow of ideas, people, and goodsthat underlies economic convergence. In particular, public works (e.g., roads,highways, bridges, dams, canals, and urban renewal schemes) are essential foreconomic and social progress, but when implemented in vulnerable social contexts,they leave shattered lives and community upheaval in their wake.

The International Land Coalition (ILC) has commissioned this present report to analyse the illegal/irregular acquisition of land by Kenya’s elites to ascertain the types of land affected, the processes used to acquire land, and the profiles of the perpetrators, as well as to identify the victims and the impacts of land grabbing. The report is drawn largely from the Kenya Land Alliance (KLA)’s series “Unjust Enrichment: The Making of Land Grabbing Millionaires”, which focused on the illegal and/or irregular allocation of pro-tected (forest) land, and land held by public corporations and parastatals (2006a and b) and the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Illegal/Irregular Allocation of Public Land (2004), known as the Ndung’u Commission Report.

The high profile of infrastructure and access to related services in the communiquésof the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at theirannual meetings of 2014 underscores the importance of infrastructure developmentworldwide. And nowhere is the lack of adequate infrastructure more crucial andpotentially transformational than in Sub-Saharan Africa. A gap of around US$ 31billion1 exists per year that must be bridged if Africa’s infrastructure needs are to be met.Taking into account the resources currently available for infrastructure developmentto African governments the need for innovative project financing schemes becomesquite apparent. One area of possible innovation is the use of Islamic finance or shariacompliantfinancing for infrastructure development. Research on this type of financinghas been conducted predominantly in Islamic countries and in developed countries. Thepurpose of this paper therefore is to explore from a non-Islamic developing country’sperspective the prospects of using Islamic finance for infrastructure development.It aims to identify the conditions necessary in terms of an analysis current practice,gauge the understanding of Kenyan stakeholders as well as identify possible barriersthat may be impeding Islamic infrastructure financing in Kenya. Three case studiesof infrastructure projects drawn from Africa that have utilised Islamic financingmechanisms are conducted in order to answer research question one. Two cycles ofa Delphi study were also conducted where interviews and questionnaires are used togather the views and opinions of an expert panel to answer question two and three.

Located in East Africa and sharing its borders with countries including Ethiopia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, Kenya has often been referred to as the commercial “gateway” to and regional hub of East Africa.  This comes as a result of the strategic importance the coastal city of Mombasa plays, which is one of the busiest ports along the East African coastline.

Apart from being the largest and most advanced economy in East Africa, Kenya is also set to be among the fastest-growing countries in Africa, expected to continue to grow in excess of 5% per annum over the next five years.  Nairobi, the country’s capital city, is the business and financial centre of Kenya and the government is on a quest to establish it as a financial hub in the region, putting it on par with existing financial centres in the world.

Recent years have witnessed increasedinterest in issues of access to and controlof land in many countries in Sub-SaharanAfrica. The subject of land reforms is beingdebated with unprecedented interest andvigour. In some instances, the subject ofland reforms has become the main eventaround which social-political andeconomic issues revolve. The reasons forthis include the fact that economies ofmany countries in the sub-continentdepend on agriculture and therefore issuesaround access to and control of landquestions are embedded in andinterwoven into the entire socio-politicaland economic structures.