Madvertising.

The solution to terror attacks or low investor confidence is not "to market Kenya more aggressively" as is being proposed in some quarters. The solutions are, by now, well-known. Let us take low investor confidence as an example. The World Bank uses the rubric of "ease of doing business" to gauge whether a country is welcoming to foreign investors or not. But it gauges this "ease" through the rather dangerous assumption that "deregulation" makes investment easier and faster. Rwanda is an anomaly; it is not that Rwanda does not have regulations thereby making it an easier investment destination but that the regulations on the books are enforced fairly and speedily.

Secondly, efficient dispute resolution is a vital component of the ease of doing business. London, New York and Delaware are renown for the speed and certainty with which commercial disputes are arbitrated or determined by the courts. The financial world relies on these three jurisdictions for a majority of the commercial dispute resolution systems, especially those linked to the global financial sector. Despite Willy Mutunga's best efforts and partnerships with development partners, commercial dispute resolution in Kenya is still stuck in the dark ages of political illiberalism; foreign investors do not trust Kenyan courts. They will therefore invest only that which they are willing to lose.

Finally, obviously, is physical security and safety of investment resources, including personnel. Kenya fails on these two counts. It used to be if one was a foreign expatriate working in Kenya, one could expect to be fawned over and generally left alone even by the criminal element in the city. It is no longer so today. Not only have foreign expats become targets of home invaders (indeed several have been murdered in their homes), they are now also the targets of terrorists. The reactions of foreign missions in Kenya have not been overreactions as they are being accused of by very vocal elements in the Jubilee government; it is only prudent for the governments of those nations to protect their citizens from harm. If this requires Advisories" against visiting certain parts of Kenya or indeed the country at all, that cannot be avoided.

Kenya's response to terror attacks cannot be to point political fingers at someone the Majority Party has already labelled a political has-been. The continued presence in office of the men responsible for the security and safety mess we find ourselves in leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of millions. It is a major reason why no matter how aggressively Kenya is advertised in foreign markets, investors will be few and far between and those who do invest will not be doing so because of the advertising but because of the killing they anticipate they will make because of the fraught situation.

If Kenya did what was required of it - streamline its regulatory processes by eliminating bottlenecks such as corruption and duplication, streamline the judicial and alternative dispute resolution processes, and eliminate politics and stupidity from the security and public safety dockets - it would not need to market itself aggressively in order to attract tourists or investors. They would come because, as the Swahili put it, kizuri chajiuza, kibaya chajitembeza.