Kenyatta threatens to ‘fix’ judicial system after presidential election rerun ruling

The political temperature continued to rise in Kenya on Saturday after president Uhura Kenyatta promised to ‘fix’ the judiciary following the decision by the country’s supreme court the previous day to annul the result of last month’s presidential election.

Speaking on live television at the State House in the capital Nairobi, Kenyatta, who won a 54%-45% victory over Raila Odinga, the candidate of the united opposition, said: “We shall revisit this thing. We clearly have a problem," he said, referring to the judiciary.

“Who even elected you? Were you? We have a problem and we must fix it,” he continued, before repeating that he would respect the court's ruling. He said via Twitter on Saturday: “For now let us meet at the ballot.”

The brave move by the supreme court to overturn the result of the August 8 election – which was passed by four judges to two – has little precedent in recent history in Africa, where judiciaries are usually appointed by the ruling regime and toe the line when it comes to decisions such as this.

This is the second time that Uhura has spoken critically about the judiciary. On Friday during an impromptu rally in Nairobi, he accused the court of ignoring the will of the people and dismissed the chief justice's colleagues as “wakora”, or crooks.

As the country prepares for another election within two months, attention is turning to the election board, which was criticised by the court for having “failed, neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution”.

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Odinga, the veteran opposition leader whose coalition brought the petition against the election board to the Supreme Court, said officials from the commission should face criminal prosecution.

The chairman of the election board said there would be personnel changes, but it was not clear if that would be enough for the opposition. Sweeping out the whole board would complicate efforts to hold a new poll within two months.

Last month's election -- which included the presidential poll in addition to races at other levels of government -- was one of the most expensive ever held in Africa. Ahead of the vote Kenya's treasury said preparation and execution of polling would cost the equivalent of around $480 million.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”