Thursday’s start of operations at the country’s second major seaport in Lamu presents an interesting moment in Kenya’s development journey. In today’s highly competitive global and regional economic environment, data might be the “new oil” in our digitalising world, but good old “point A to B” transport and logistics underpins everything from trade to daily living errands.
Here are a couple of positive soundbites one hears and reads on this new port initiative. “Game-Changer”; not just in the Eastern Africa region and coastline, but along Africa’s entire “Eastern Seaboard”. “Transshipment Leader” that will out-fox Djibouti and out-do Durban, the seaboard’s current behemoth. “Opening up Northern Kenya’s hidden economic potential”, “Firing up Kenya’s Blue Economy”, “Repositioning Kenya for long-term regional and continental economic leadership” or “Connecting Africa’s East (Lamu) and West (Dakar in Senegal)” sound like real news headlines.
