Kenya: Are the Special Economic Zones of Dongo Kundu, Naivasha and Tatu City delivering on their promises?

Kenya faces a structural paradox: while services account for over half of its economy, the manufacturing sector stagnates below 10% of GDP, falling far short of the target set by Vision 2030, the national development plan launched to transform the country into a middle-income industrialized economy. It is against this backdrop that Nairobi has relied for several years on its Special Economic Zones (SEZ), presented as levers to attract manufacturing investments. Three sites are cited as case studies: Dongo Kundu near Mombasa, Naivasha in the Rift Valley, and Tatu City near Nairobi. The question raised—whether these zones are truly delivering tangible industrial results—directly concerns Kenyan economic actors: local and foreign investors, manufacturing job creators, and the State, which has committed public resources to these infrastructures. At this stage, the available excerpt provides neither precise figures on job creation and investments made site by site, nor quotes from government officials or private operators to objectively assess the performance of each zone. A rigorous analysis would require this comparative data—occupancy rates, generated jobs, exports—currently absent from this truncated dispatch.