Kenyans,
The news that Nakumatt Junction is closing shop should be greeted with tears. It is a moment of reflection.
I have never been a fan of government bailouts, but I can make room for certain exceptions. I know there are no bailouts not when we are in possibly the worst recession that elections have not helped at all.
Nakumatt is the most visible failure of the economy. You can wax intellectual about failure on Nakumatt to be creative and innovative, decry their over ambition, and every textbook blame-game but the biggest cause is the economy. Most supermarkets along Mombasa Road have in the last few years been going down. I am a factor. There were days when every fortnight I would pull a trolley full of shopping. Nowadays I only shop for essentials. My household long discovered with inflation, it is suicidal to shop large scale in a supermarket.
Many young families have confirmed that the bulky of their shopping happens in wholesale shops, mostly run by Indians and Somalis. Try them.
The ripple effect of a closure of a big store like Nakumatt is not to be played with. There are so many people in the chain who are going to casualties.
I know many NGOs that are closing jobs and thousands of Kenyans are staring into grim prospect unemployment. Some factors are beyond the Kenyan government, but most are…
So as we start the week, let us think of the economic consequences of the choices that we will be making.
