Nothing is so good in
life like allowing truth to guide us without letting go of the chances of
calculated optimism.The current seas that
the jubilee government is sailing the country are not safe at all for the
economy chorused with a double digits growth.
As the jubilee
government took office, they had a lot of BIG promises to move the country to
the mountaintop and finally to the promised land of a fair society, more job
opportunities and lots more that have been erased from the Kenyan minds by the
content of current hard economic times. It is this optimism that led Kenyans to
vote for the Jubilee unreservedly. More than a year down the line, things are
totally different. The economy is seemingly staggering and this is my biggest
worry as the rest of this article will elaborate.Western
countries have stepped up they silent economic battle to this country by
issuing travelling advisories and tarnishing the Kenyan image through print
media. Tourism sector has beenworse hit by the advisories. Most tourism sites
and hotel have closed down in amid to avoid incurring unrecoverable costs. Many
Kenyans have lost jobs both directly and indirectly. Theprogress of these
adverse multiplier effects are very indefinite as no one knows how long the
travel advisories will last. On this note, the jubilee has lost it so early on
their promise to deliver more jobs to Kenyans. To counter the advisories, the
government through relevant departmentshave come up with a model to revitalize
tourism sector through promoting domestic tourism. Most likely the move will
not to work and if it works, it will work out poorly for the prime reason that
Kenyans are poor tourists, they know their country in and out and nothing they
fancy to see beyond their neighborhood. Adding on the insecurity factor the
sector is squarely doomed. The much foreign earning we get from the sector have
started to shrink in worrying way.
The
increased borrowing by the country is more likely to move the country to a debt
trap, a situation in which the debt is more likely to benefit the lender other
than the borrower. I have heard people chant that Kenya has found a new darling
of the east. Yes she is avery good darling but like the past darlings, she has
given us good loans that we are yet to understand the impact the will cause us
in the long run, they are somehow tied like the others only that the terms are
well structured to make them look better. It is good to borrow, but let the
country borrow in an informed way and invest wisely. The Kenyan debt has risen to
an estimate of Sh2.54 trillion as
of today and with the budget of fiscal year 2014/ 2015 suffering a deficit of
Sh342.6 billion, more borrowing is expected and the impact will definitely
expand the debt bubble, let’s hope it will not burst!
Finally the inflation that is looming is
definitely being moved by the government policy of taxing almost every
activity, the amount of VATED activities and products has risen the cost of
living to a level that is hurting many. For instance, the cost of production
has gone high with the imposition of VAT on many inputs and energy,
particularly electricity from a special VAT rate of 12% to 16%. This increased
cost of production has translated to an increase in the price of the most basic
needs Kenyans demand in their daily activities. The income that is ending up in
the Kenyans pocket is day by day decreasing owing to the amount of deduction
that are imposed and more that is coming such as raising NSSF pay slip
deduction from Sh.200 to Sh.1,800 for those earning at least Sh.18,000 per
month. The income will further decrease with the proposed pay cut that will be
taking course sooner. It’s a time of little earnings more spending for so
little…. this is the inflation that were are “enjoying” when we say life has
really become hard in Kenya!
