Inside Kenya’s dream of becoming the ‘Singapore of Africa’

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s economic transformation has long been an inspiration for other countries, and the President of Kenya, William Ruto, has revived talks of his country becoming the “Singapore of Africa.”

Earlier this year, Mr Ruto said in a speech that when Kenya gained independence in 1963, it had been on the same economic footing as Singapore, with similar gross domestic products (GDPs). He said, “We have all it takes to be just like Singapore.”

In 2023, George Mason University’s Professor Tyler Cowen had written in a piece for Bloomberg that “Kenya is poised to become the Singapore of Africa,” which is likely to have buoyed Mr Ruto’s ambitions for his country.

Roots of the dream

This desire to emulate Singapore’s success started decades ago, with former President Daniel arap Moi telling then-United States President Jimmy Carter in 1980 that he hoped to follow Singapore’s development model.

In the past few years, the “dream” appears to have gotten stronger. In late 2024, the hashtag #KenyaVsSingapore began to trend on X, in large part due to Kenya’s Affordable Housing Programme, which many compared to Singapore’s Housing Development Board (HDB) programme, which has resulted in almost 91 per cent of Singaporeans owning their homes.

“Kenya is on the path to reducing its housing deficit through Affordable Housing, just like Singapore did, ensuring building dreams,” an X user tweeted.

In comparison to other African nations, Kenya enjoys relative stability that could lend itself to sustained growth.

Stumbling blocks

There are, however, significant differences between Singapore and Kenya that could challenge Mr Ruto’s dream from ever becoming reality.

Last week, former Chief Justice David Maraga said that the President’s policies are moving Kenya away from the Singapore model.

“Singapore did not become Singapore by accident, slogans, or PR. It became Singapore through discipline, integrity, and leadership that treated public resources as sacred and corruption as an existential threat,” he wrote.

In the same vein, in a piece for Kenyan Foreign Policy on Dec 23, the journalist Mwangi Maina pointed out that in Singapore, a scandal can ruin a person’s political career, while in Kenya, it is “more likely to earn someone a Cabinet appointment.”

He added that while Singapore has been ranked fifth across the globe for clean governance, “Kenya sits in a very different bracket.”

Without structural reforms, long-term planning, and strict economic policy, analysts are saying that Mr Ruto’s ambition is likely to remain just that—in the realm of possibility but perhaps ultimately out of reach. /TISG

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