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Kenya pledges more reforms to make doing business easier
Deputy Kenyan President William Ruto addresses the media at a news conference in a file photo. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Phil Nijhuis
28/10/2015
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya will strengthen its judiciary and take steps to safeguard private holdings in order to boost the business environment and attract new investments, its deputy president said on Wednesday.
"We will continue strengthening crucial institutions such as the judiciary to ensure that business disputes are resolved in the shortest time possible," William Ruto told a ceremony to welcome the country's improvement in the World Bank's survey.
The country has jumped 28 places in the World Bank's latest annual Ease of Doing Business Index, albeit to 108 globally, boosted by reforms in areas such as registration of properties and businesses.
Investors, who have been piling into Kenya in recent years, drawn by growing consumers and fairly robust economic expansion, complain that high costs of doing business and red tape, usually curb their growth plans.
Ruto said the strengthening of the judiciary will send out a signal to investors that the government was committed to protecting them, through ensuring contracts are enforceable, in order to attract even more investments.
During this year's assessment, Kenya improved its scores in the areas of connecting a business to electricity, registering property, accessing credit and securing permits for a business.
Adan Mohamed, the minister for industrialisation and enterprise, said he expected further reforms completed after the survey was done in May, to help the country do even better next year.
Kenya passed a new companies law, after 50 years of trying, as well as another law to govern the insolvency of businesses, the minister said.
"It is a momentum that we just need to build on. We have got our plans ready and we are destined to get to position 50 in the next three to four years," Mohamed said.
Improvement of the business sector was vital to the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta, which was elected in March 2013, as it seeks to attract investments, build a manufacturing base and create jobs, Mohamed said.
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