Kenya anti-gay law could cost it $7.8 billion per year: Charity
LONDON
A proposed anti-gay law in Kenya could cost the country up to $7.8 billion per year, a charity said in a report on the economic impact of discrimination in East Africa.
Open for Business, a Britain-based charity that calculates the economic fall-out from discrimination against LGBTQ people, said Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda were already losing up to $5 billion per year due to anti-gay discrimination.
Gay sex is already a crime in Kenya under a colonial-era law, but it is rarely enforced and the country has been a relative haven for LGBTQ individuals in the region.
A draft Family Protection Bill has called for harsh punishments, including up to 50 years in jail for gay relations, though it has yet to be debated in parliament.
Open for Business said the law could increase costs to Kenya by between $2.7 billion and $7.8 billion annually, due to lost World Bank funding, foreign direct investment and tourism, as well as increased health costs from depression and HIV treatment disparities.
Discrimination against LGBTQ individuals was already costing Kenya between $360 million and $1.5 billion per year, it said.
Open for Business said Uganda was losing between $586 million and $2.4 billion per year as a result of anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
Its report also looked at neighbouring Tanzania, which it said was losing up to $1.1 billion per year, and Rwanda, among the least discriminatory in the region but still losing up to $45 million annually.
"Anti-LGBTQ+ laws harm a country's investment prospects, damage their global reputation and prevent business from attracting the very best in global talent," said Open for Business chairman Dominic Arnall.
