ABSTRACT
In particular, Kenya now faces declining economic growth, widening trade deficits, mounting international debt, and deepening foreign-aid dependency. Politically as well as economically, the capacity for policy reform remains largely untested. Mass expectations are rising in geometric proportion to flagging economic performance, resulting in violent confrontations and in a general rejection of authority that is intensified by the leadership's penchant for wealth accumulation while consigning much of the public interest to the vagaries of foreign aid. Food shortages, inadequate transportation services, unemployment, corruption, economic mismanagement, and general social discontent were all implicated in the attempted air force coup of August 1982 and the subsequent urban disorders and financial losses. During the first decade and a half of independence, the industry and manufacturing sector was the fastest-growing sector of the Kenyan economy. And in industry, multinational investment and domestic entrepreneurship have placed the Kenyan economy ahead of its counterparts in eastern Africa and in most other parts of the continent.
