After holding hands and singing ‘kumbaya’ with a government that embarked on a costly nine-year mega-project investment spree that has quadrupled real debt while slightly more than doubling the nominal size of the economy, there was a real feeling of “karma” observing private sector leaders lament the deleterious impact recent tax changes would have on jobs and overall economic recovery.
In truth, if we think of debt as tax on future generations, then Kenya’s ongoing revenue-driven fiscal consolidation, as the IMF likes to put it, reflects the sudden realisation that there’s only so much that can be kicked down the road, and sometimes one must pay on earth to proceed to heaven.
