President William Ruto’s government has now settled in office and it is time to deliver on the manifesto it sold to Kenyans, especially regarding tackling the high cost of living and creating jobs.
All is not well with our economy and the government must take action that would help restore confidence and lower pain for millions of hurting households.
Like many countries across the world, Kenya encountered inflationary pressures amid commodity price volatility, tightening global financing conditions that put major pressure on the exchange rate and foreign exchange reserves.
This was worsened by the country’s worst drought in four decades, which considerably increased food insecurity and affected livelihoods.
The government that marked its first anniversary yesterday has a full in-tray. To turn around an economy in doldrums such as Kenya’s, experts recommend the implementation of macroeconomic policies such as greater exchange rate flexibility, fiscal consolidation, and tighter monetary policy.
Fiscal consolidation is particularly critical for Kenya at this stage because of the country’s lurking debt sustainability challenges amid revenue pressures locally and shaky forex inflows due to a limping global economy.
Restoring financial prudence, however, requires goodwill and commitment from the top leadership.
Traditionally, a lot of resources are wasted by government ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) and this should not be tolerated at a time when the country’s economy is in turmoil.
MDAs must put to good use every taxpayer coin to spare Kenyans the pain of taxation that yields little in terms of service delivery and economic growth.
