The Rivers of Babylon: Part 1

The year was 2012. Stacked between modern buildings that house international banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions along Waiyaki Way, Nairobi, a splendid pink tower slowly grew to 10 floors, pricking the curiosity of many. Upon enquiry it was established that the building was the Villa Rosa Kempinsky, the first of the luxurious Kempinsky hotels in East Africa. Further enquiry revealed that many such establishments were springing up in other parts of the country. Further down the street on No 14 Riverside Drive, another 5 star hotel was being built. Lansmore Hotels, after a successful stint in Botswana, was also seeking to set up an establishment in Nairobi. Along the North Coast, Italian Billionaire Flavio Briatore was putting his finishing touches to his Billionaire's Club in Malindi. Richard Branson, after an unsuccessful attempt at operating an airline in East Africa was planning a comeback through another luxury camp in the celebrated Maasai Mara.

What was odd about all this wasn’t the fact that there were many luxury hotels coming up in Kenya, Kenya has always been a premier tourism destination so hotels are naturally one of the best investment avenues in the country. The curious case I’ll expound on here was the timing of these investments.

Kenya was experiencing great shifts in the political arena. A general election with high stakes for all the major players involved was coming up. For Kenya, an election this important meant a possibility of chaos. The country had barely healed from the violence seen in the previous general election and was going into another one while the root causes of the previous conflicts remained unsolved. Any prudent investor would wait first before building luxury hotels. The fact that the major political actors stood accused of being behind the turmoil strengthened the case against investing in the country. A new constitution which introduced previously unseen structures like devolved governments added to the uncertainty.

Major news outlets had set base in the country preparing for the fallout that would break out after the election. CNN had released a video of what they purported to be “trained militia” preparing to unleash mayhem. Despite all this, the foreign investors continued pouring in. Why? To understand their reasoning we’ll examine seemingly dissimilar events that happened in the year *(1) 587 BC in the Middle East.