Corruption is more expensive than the protests - Expert

Ramogi Odhiambo during an interview at Spice FM on Wednesday. [Spice FM]

Six weeks of sustained nationwide anti-government protests have elicited concerns over the financial cost of the unrest as government supporters allege unpatriotic economic sabotage plans.

According to Government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura, at least Sh6 billion has been lost since Tuesday, June 18, when protesters milled onto the streets to oppose Finance Bill 2024 and demand good governance.

While protesters insisted on peaceful marches, incidents of violence and looting have become commonplace leading to slow, or no business on protest days.

However, supporters of the protests believe that the country is losing more to corruption compared to the losses associated with the protests.

Ramogi Odhiambo, an economist and Chief Executive Officer at Elim Capital, agrees that protests have a price tag attached to them but pours cold water on the estimated loss stated by the government due to lack of enough data to prove it.

“It is difficult to quantify the amounts lost because one must know the income each area generates per day. It is usually difficult to get that data, especially at the county level,” said Ramogi while speaking on Spice FM on Wednesday, July 24.

“It’s unclear what comes from where. Where is the government getting this data since it’s not in the public domain?” he posed.

The economist says that the amount is incomparable to a daily loss of Sh2 billion on account of corruption as alleged by former President Uhuru Kenyatta at the height of 2022 presidential campaigns while pitching for the election of his political foe-turned-friend, Raila Odinga.

He argues that the estimated Sh730 billion lost each year is enough to offset some of the country’s most pressing financial obligations that partly led to the popular anti-government protests including employment of teachers and doctors.

“10,000 doctors, on a salary of half a million shillings, would be paid for 14 years from the amount lost to corruption. Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers would be paid for 80 years on a budget of Sh10 billion proposed by the government,” he explained.

President William Ruto has been on a revenue mobilisation drive to finance Kenya Kwanza government projects, but critics opine that ending corruption can eliminate the need for more taxes that have the potential of negatively impacting the economy.

Meanwhile, Ramogi asserts that corruption is a political governance problem that the youth can solve by taking up leadership positions.

“The youth have traditionally not been voting. If they can organise themselves to put up the heat, as they have, it means they can mobilise themselves to govern,” he said.