You are making Kenyans paupers, cleric tells State

Alphonse Kanga chairman of the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) Nairobi County Coordinating Committee, addresses members of the press on May 17, 2021, at Ufungumano house in Nairobi. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

A senior National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) official has criticised what it called unreasonable policies being implemented by the government, which are impoverishing Kenyans.

Addressing the media at Jumia Centre in Limuru, NCCK Nairobi region chairman Rev Alphonse Kanga said apart from high cost of living, corruption is killing the nation.

He castigated the culture of brazen grabbing while accumulating wealth and called for change of mindset that appreciates honesty and abhors greed.

“To achieve this, we challenge the Judiciary, the Police, Parliament and the Executive to end their persistent meaningless bickering and take action against those who steal public resources,” said Kanga

He urged Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to focus on instilling ethics and integrity among citizens.

“We have noted with great concern that policies being put in place by Parliament and County Assemblies are choking Kenyans. For instance, the Finance Act has raised taxes to unmanageable levels for traders and consumers,” noted Kanga.

The council further challenged county governments to provide a conducive business environment by consolidating and rationalising all fees, levies and licences required by different agencies.

“Starting and running a business should be the easiest thing to do. A large number of enterprises would translate to higher income for the county governments. It is in this regard that we ask county governments to adopt the Huduma Centre approach where a citizen can access all the certifications and licensing under one roof,” said Kanga.

On the fake fertiliser distributed to farmers under the subsidy programme, NCCK said the buck stops with the National Cereals and Produce Board, Kenya Bureau of Standards and ministry of Agriculture.

“There is an expected level of integrity for anyone who oversees a process where Kenyans are conned off their money and their food security is threatened. We call upon President William Ruto to redeem the moral authority of the government by ensuring speedy and judicious punishment of all involved in the scam,” said Kanga.

Further NCCK said they are disappointed by the callous manner in which the county and national governments are handling the current health paralysis after a section of medical practitioners downed their tools.