Findings of a  report commissioned by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) that businesses in Nairobi's city centre lost more than Sh120 million in potential revenue during demos against the country’s electoral agency in May, while heartbreaking, also demonstrates that Kenya is headed in the right direction in terms of quantification.

The culture of measurements largely informs developed nations’ decisions to invest in ventures, go to war, retreat from war, and rally behind a promising innovative idea, among other aspects. This has made developed nations outpace other regions in developmental matters.  Africa will remain stuck if it still operates in generalities. It is time that the continent adopted scientific methods in addressing calorific content, causes of accidents, performance of political leaders and parties, and why the continent is not self-sufficient in spite of being endowed with tremendous physical and intellectual wealth.

It is crucial that African governments drive towards facilitating measurement-based balance between economic development and political decisions. The culture of measurements and evidence based assessment will be a boon to Africa.