Tell Kenyans why the cost of living has shot up drastically

A customer shops for sugar in a supermarket. [Denis Kibuchi, Standard]

Until payslips began to thin, people lost jobs, employers cut down any resemblance of privilege in offices and the pump figures fattened for no additional fuel, many people thought media commentators were doing their usual bla bla blas.

In my circles, most people are distraught because of the high cost of living but find themselves helpless. It doesn't help that they are reminded by the government they should continue to tighten their belts.

Worship places are not spared either. Tithes have reduced because the cow has little milk left. Here is a little anecdote. A pastor lost his faith in the tithe finance committee because he thought they were stealing to top up the domestic budget gaps following statutory deductions imposed by the government.

In his wisdom, he decided to make strong offertory boxes with padlocks to which only he had the keys. After playing no fool to his finance committee for a month, he realised that the count was getting less and less. Upon asking, he too came to terms that, yes, indeed the high cost of living is real in financially average families.

How are poor families managing the high cost of living? One, notwithstanding that they are poor enough to afford just two meals a day, they are now down to one survival meal. In the same way people in most parts of northern Kenya thirst for drops of water during the dry season, the natural thing is to cut down the budget to the most essential if only to survive.

Two, bartering and trading help people exchange services for goods or vice versa. As the number of unemployed people swells in the streets and the villages, people are willing to do anything to survive. Human trafficking will be easier, people willing to sell their body organs will increase and the selling of farm produce or other products at throw-away prices will increasingly become common. Many of these survival strategies are not ethical. Nonetheless, they are the least preferred options at hand.

Third, organised crime will increase because for some young people, acting morally does not mean anything. After all, they see leaders with dubious backgrounds enjoying high positions in society. With increased crime comes heavy security investment which takes resources that would have been spent in ways that reduce inequalities and therefore increase security.

Fourth, thankfully, many poor people are becoming innovative. They have turned to the informal sector for casual jobs. They are continually inventing products and discovering useful services that could be monetised. Poor people in urban areas are beginning to pool rental spaces and utilise common facilities to make little savings.

Fifth, it is amazing how despite all odds, people living in extreme poverty adapt to adversities. Put in the same conditions, the privileged middle-class persons, let alone the high-end dwellers, will find it very difficult to use the same survival strategies to go through the current cost of living. It is mysterious how millions of poor people put on a natural smile, appreciating the gift of life and always looking forward to a better life.

No one chooses to be poor. And no one celebrates poverty. Responsible governments do all that is possible to alleviate the suffering of the poor. Governments that subject people to poverty have ever existed in history. However, history also shows that not all dictatorships are inhuman. Instead, some dictatorships command followership because they want to be in power at all costs while doing everything to create conducive living conditions for the poor.

The Kenya Kwanza government owes Kenyans an explanation why the cost of living has shot up drastically. Just providing generalities ranging from the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, debts and borrowing loans are no-brainer. What exactly are high taxes meant to achieve? Provide detailed explanations to the poor.

These questions need honest answers because the same Kenya Kwanza government is advising us not to trust politicians as well as that the mess created by the previous regime is enormous. Do you have the capacity to clean the mess? The poor people do not know about the mess. It is not their fault. Now that you are in power, clean up that mess. If not, you know what you ought to do.

-Dr Mokua is Executive Director, Loyola Centre for Media and Communication