The Role of Hope In Our Economy.

An experiment using same-aged cockroaches was conducted under very secretive conditions to avoid a backlash from animal rights activists. Two roaches were placed in different metre-long transparent glass tubes that were then oxygenated.

One was put in a tube with food placed across from a perforated divider, but with no access to it.

The other was placed in a tube sealed from odours.

After a while, it was observed that the roach deprived of food odours was dead while the one smelling the food stayed alive. This was repeated severally and always to a consistent result.

The conclusion was that the roach that sensed the food had the hope that there was something to live for. The other just gave up hope for the end had come.

That is what hope does to an economy. When it's all doom and gloom, people reduce or eliminate financial interactions that would otherwise get money circulating.

When negativity abounds, the economy bounces away. We've just come out of grueling campaigns and a Supreme Court verdict following the contested elections. But we've been through three other relatively peaceful leadership transitions that set the statistics by which different groups banked their hopes on.

For the Asian community that is heavily invested in business, many close shop for a month and sojourn in foreign lands to avoid the frictions of raw politics. They remain hopeful that things will get back to normal.

And 'normal' for them is the combination of factors that provide a conducive business environment. It is the opportunity that matters most.

For the indigenous people, east or west, home is best. They tough it out like brave natives ought to. They await any signs of normalcy to cling to, for theirs is more out of the necessity to survive than for anything else the environment might gift them with. Serendipity at such times is a welcome luxury.

Hope brings about peace. Peace brings about the confidence to interact. Interactions get us exchanging money for goods. And when money circulates, just as blood does in our bodies, the economy comes alive and thrives.

No economy deserves warmongers, negative energy disseminators, and hopeless bodies. If you see them around you, flee or recommend them to a therapist.

The beauty of hope is that it is neither a respecter of persons nor is it a meteorite from outer space. Illiterates have proved time and again that hope makes people respectable millionaires.

So, if you are full of hope, then you are building the economy. An economy needs brave and hopeful people for it is the shyest thing known to exist. The economy runs away from war and family tiffs. It must be well protected for it to roam freely in and out of our pockets and beyond.

It is high time we democratized hope by opening up all economic sectors to fair play. The twelve pages that constitute auctioneer announcements in the papers every Monday are the product of some being more equal than others. Kenya 5.0, give us hope.