The fundamentals of the economy may be weak, but the state of the nation remains hopeful even upbeat. The anxiety that may be piling up in households due to runaway taxes presents us with a window of opportunity to engage in national self-introspection. Do we want to organise our politics around ethnic identities or is it time to discard such relics and lay a firm foundation for a truly modern state to emerge?
The difficult economic situation we find ourselves in is in part due to the political choices that we have made in the past. We elected individuals whose primary objective was to fashion the State towards private profiteering and everything else came second. This then conflated our national priorities. As we have roads owned by private individuals, no major investment was undertaken to give a hand up to the majority of poor Kenyans. We hoped, maybe naively, that if we took care of the high and the mighty if we padded their pockets, then they would take care of the rest of Kenyans through personal charity.
Let's be clearer. While we spent almost Sh1 trillion to build the Standard Gauge Railway, almost a decade later, it has yet to become a going concern. It's a pit that continues to gobble up the taxpayers' money with very minimal return on investment. Many such projects, steeped in shortsightedness, were conceived in the last decade and are part of the reasons why almost every Kenyan feels on edge now.
We must therefore collectively reimagine the path to a new future while appreciating that like a young boy who breaks his leg while playing in the village footpath has to seek the services of a traditional bone specialist. Moments of pain may be our companion for some time before we feel relief.
For starters, we have not beamed enough spotlight on the artificial stabilisation of the dollar against the shilling that CBK previously undertook whenever the shilling was on a downward spiral. While it helped manage the cost of importation and the cost of business generally, we must also admit that there is no sector of the economy that can be artificially propped up for long. Eventually, water must find its level. Precisely what the new CBK governor is doing. Let's interrogate that decision a year from now based on the shilling's stability.
In a moment when it's fashionable and convenient to throw expletives at the government and the president in particular, let's take a moment to appreciate the practical steps he has taken to lay the firm foundation upon which the second republic must rest.
No country can take off economically when its judiciary is weak and subservient to forces within and without the government. It's therefore laudable that the government has not only sworn into office the judges that were recommended by the Judicial Service Commission for appointment to the Court of Appeal but also ensured additional Sh3 billion budgetary allocation to the Judiciary.
Investment in agricultural production has received a tremendous boost this financial year with prices of fertiliser coming down from a whopping Sh6,500 to Sh2,500. The government has further launched a digital register for farmers known as the Kenya Integrated Agriculture Management Information System. This platform is designed to use data to implement various farmer support services. I hope that county governments liaise with the national government fully in this endeavour.
Sh900 million for nine fish landing sites has been set aside for the Luo Nyanza region. On November 5, the president commissioned 11 fish landing sites in Lamu, Bura and Tana rivers.
All these were achieved while the political class were hell-bent on scoring political points ranging from grievances of a lost election to other issues. I know we didn't elect an angel to the office of president. As such we must extend to him some grace even as the new-found camaraderie between both sides of the political divide gives the president the headroom to deliver.
Mr Kidi is the convenor of the Inter Parties Youth Forum. kidimwaga@gmail.com
