Foreign Aid and the Challenges in Kenya
Development Analysis by Hakeem Ochola Student | KCA Uni. Globally, foreign aid is one of the largest components of foreign capital flows to low-income countries. Over the past four decades, sub-Saharan African countries, including Kenya, have received foreign aid to alleviate poverty and address underdevelopment. In 2020, global foreign aid amounted to $194.1 billion, of which Kenya received over $3 billion. However, over the past decade, there has been a radical critique of foreign aid. This has been driven by the perception that it has not produced the expected results. This perception is based on two premises. First, that foreign aid can only increase growth in a good policy environment. As such, foreign aid can be a double-edged sword. If the economic and policy environment is appropriate, it can support economic and social progress (Lancaster, 1999). If not, it may have no positive effect—or worse—delay development due to potential negative economic and political impacts. Types of...