Nairobi businesses lost thousands during anti-IEBC protests Survey

A report released on Tuesday has estimated that each business in Nairobi’s CBD lost Sh48,304 every single day during CORD’s protests against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The report released by Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and Trends &Insights For Africa (TIFA) further revealed that the losses were mostly experienced by the banking and finance sectors that lose an average of Sh166, 722 per day.

The survey findings reportedly incorporated responses from businesses in all sectors including the small and medium sized businesses located within the Nairobi city centre, with a total of 509 respondents taking part.

Overall, the results show that 81 per cent of the businesses were impacted negatively with the demonstrations, though noting that only 4 percent of the total businesses who participated in the survey expressed positive results from the demonstrations.

“These (4%) were drawn from transport, security and wielding sectors,” said Ms Maggie Ireri, Director at Trends & Insights For Africa (TIFA).

The report also reveals that business closure, reduced customers, and loss of revenue are some of the negative effects witnessed as a result of these demonstrations, with 85 percent of businesses say that they experienced immediate effects, such as loss of business revenue due to limited flow of customers while 68 percent lost revenue due to closure.

The media received an approval rating of 52 per cent from the business community for offering a balanced coverage of the protests and keeping the business communities informed on what was taking place in various streets in Nairobi’s CBD.

The police was second in ratings, getting a 47 percent approval rating for managing the crowd and preventing looting, though 22 per cent of businesses disapprove this, saying there were cases of brutality in dealing with protesters.

CORD had resorted to holding weekly protests – every Monday – in their bid to force IEBC commissioners out of office.

The Opposition leaders were at hand to lead the six protests despite facing dispersion from police in several occasions.

In the protests, CORD accused IEBC commissioners of being involved in corruption and the procurement of BVR kits and bias on Jubilee, allegations the commission chair Issack Hassan has denied.

Jubilee later appeared to soften its stand on the matter and agreed to form a joint committee to discuss the issues raised by CORD to ensure free and fair elections.

Speaking at the launch, KEPSA CEO Ms Carole Kariuki said the survey is important to the private sector as it reveals findings on the fiscal effects of the IEBC demos to businesses.

In his address, Nairobi County Police boss Japheth Koome assured the private sector that the Kenya Police will ensure that demonstrations are handled in a better way than what was witnessed during the demonstrations.

The launch held at a Nairobi hotel was attended by government officials, National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), Office of the Inspector General of Police, KEPSA members, media, development partners and the legislature.

@benjaminwafula