Insecurity situation in Kenya: its economic and social costs on businesses within Nairobi’s central business district

Abstract

The relationship between Insecurity and Development in Kenya is still a highly under explored area of research, indeed a scantily explored phenomenon as evidenced by scarcity of literature in this area of study. In Kenya's policy documents, for instance, National Development Plans (NDPs), insecurity and Development is accorded a scanty coverage despite its severity on the ground (GoK, NDP, 2002-2008, pp 105). This study set out to explore the economic and social costs of insecurity due to violent crime, as well as costs of the resultant perceptions and the fear of insecurity. It mainly focused on businesses within Nairobi's Central Business District. The main objective of this study was to: examine the economic and social costs of Insecurity. The study's specific objectives were to: Establish whether costs of crime differed by business location and type of merchandise; and find out reasons for police inefficacy to contain crime in the Nairobi Central Business District area. This study attempted to answer the following principal questions: What are the economic and social costs of insecurity on businesses within Nairobi's CBD; second, do the costs differ by business location, third, do the costs of crime differ by type of merchandise, and finally, what explains the apparent inability of state police to contain crime within the Central Business District of Nairobi. A sample of eighty businesses was studied to approximate basic losses in money and property. The sample was obtained from specific business categories; banks, electronics, motor vehicle spare part dealers, and textiles. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources utilized included Key informant interviews and questionnaire interviews. On the other hand, secondary sources involved a review of the relevant literature in the area of study and case studies of crime records. One of the research findings showed that the costs of crime on businesses within NCBD were generally high especially due to expenses on risk improvement/preventive devices and money, property and lives lost as a result of.victimization. A Majority of businesses in the CBD had incurred economic and social costs of violent crime. Business sectors that reported the highest incidents of violent,crime were Banks, Motor vehicle spare part dealers and Electronics. Textile shops were the least victimized by violent crime. Another finding was that inefficacy of state police was partly due to institutional weaknesses, which hampered optimal functioning of the state agencies. The study recommends that security practice in the Nairobi Central Business District should be customized and made flexible as well as reflexive of the various security needs of the CBD as dictated by type of merchandise and the location attributes of businesses. Further recommendation is that security policy and practice be widely publicized by media reporting, taking on features of development communication as well as adopting securology and securotechnology.