Not to fall behind their counterparts in other continents, such as India, Pakistan etc, African countries are burning substantial resources for arming themselves. The data released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), an independent global security think tank shows that Kenya’s military spending last year perked to a new high of Sh109.7 billion to stand above Tanzania and Uganda combined for the first time. Nairobi’s military spending last year rose by Sh8.2 billion from Sh101.5 billion in 2017, making it as the sixth high spender in the continent. pushing up its defense bill. Tanzania’s military spending last year rose to Sh67.5 billion and Uganda came in the third in position with a spending of Sh40.8 billion. This is not the first time Kenya has been in the reckoning. In the last five years, the country continued to lead its regional neighbors both in budget size and annual spending growth. Does it sound good for a set of countries upfront with widespread poverty and malnutrition.? Coupled with the fear psychosis among the its neighbors that a militarily powerful Kenya is a security threat to them , the build- up of armaments has led to frittering away of scarce resources and mistrust.
