The other day, Deputy President William Ruto went before the nation with a plea that was every bit of strange as it was bizarre. He asked Kenyans to belt up, a double whammy in Christmas presents was around the corner. Even though the country was counting it's last cents, and it's economy was completely off the rails, Ruto promised Kenyans that they were at the cusp of economic nirvana, just barely in time for Christmas.
This is a first in modern economics. To attempt to do what was last done when Jesus fed a hungry throng with just two fish and one loaf must earn you nothing short of the Nobel prize. Mr Ruto must have a concoction that even the vaunted US Fed don’t know about. The Yankees have been chafing for the last 8 years since the financial crisis to rouse the economy awake, even unleashing a monster called Quantitative Easing to whack the economy into life. The impeccable circle of economists at the wheels of the Fed are too coy to promise Americans anything concrete, beyond vague monosyllables. They must envy the bravado Ruto shows of being able to turn the economy on and off almost at will in the midst of an economic wasteland and at such short notice.
Barely weeks after this breathless promise, the signs are not looking too good that the deputy president is about to deliver or that Kenyans will collect. With Christmas drawing too close for comfort , the Treasury revised it's growth estimate of the economy downward, knocking it down from a high of 7 percent to 5.6 percent, with the World Bank itself forecasting 5.4 percent in 2015, down from 6 percent. With every dawning day, the reality is sinking. Kenyans may have to brace for a cheerless Christmas holiday, with no sign of the promised bounty.
