The Mt Kenya Times 
By Jerameel Kevins Owuor Odhiambo
Worth Noting:
- Enough of that said country. By any chance what you have read above does it in any way mirrors what is happening in Kenya. Let me try and paint a mirror of the state of affairs in Kenya as of now. The salaries for last month have been delayed for a number of civil servants not one, not two but thousands.
- Ideally wisdom demands that an employee should be paid in a timely manner whether that said person is employed in the public domain or private sphere. Two organizations namely the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and Kenya Broadcasting Corporation respective heads notified the employees that there have been delays in getting capitation from the government thus the salaries had to be delayed.
Let me pose this question before proceeding to enumerate my views. As a Kenyan are you happy with the current economic situation in Kenya? Just be honest with me despite your political or ethnic affiliation. I can even predict your answer if you are genuine and honest as Rigathi Gachagua. Regardless, that is being a Kenyan for you. So, what happened in Sri Lanka some time back? To bring some perspective let me try and locate that said country geographically lest one say that am in the world of fantasy. Sri Lanka is an island in the Indian Ocean, located to the south of Indian Subcontinent.
Now let me proceed, in the year 2022 Sri Lanka started experiencing power cuts and shortage of basic commodities which include but not limited to: fuel and other essential commodities which by all means aren’t luxury. Guess what? The rate of inflation in the said country rose significantly by fifty percent, picture that doesn’t it sound real or some Netflix scripted video? That’s not all unfortunately. Courtesy of the same there rose an uproar among the netizens in the country. The protest started in Colombo which is the nation’s capital and spread like bad news to the other parts of the nation.
The country ran short of fuel for essential services such as buses, trains and medical vehicles because it did not have enough reserves of foreign currency reserves to import any more. The fuel shortage caused petrol and diesel prices to rise dramatically. In June last year, the government banned the sale of petrol and diesel for non-essential vehicles for two weeks. Schools had to close and people were asked to work from home to help conserve supplies.
Following the same, Sri Lanka could not buy goods that the country was in need of from abroad. And in May 2022 it failed to make an interest payment on its foreign debt for the first time in its history. This damaged its reputation with lenders, making it even harder to borrow money on the international markets. In the face of massive protests, President Rajapaksa resigned in June last year and a state of emergency was declared.
So, what led to the economic turmoil? It is unarguable that Rajapaksa economic policies that were implemented during his era were devoid from reality in that the economic policies lead to the economic downfall of the nation. It is imperative to note that at the end of the civil war in 2009. Sri Lanka chose to focus on providing goods to its domestic markets, instead of trying to boost foreign trade. This meant that its income from experts to other countries remained low while the bill for imports kept on growing.
Enough of that said country. By any chance what you have read above does it in any way mirrors what is happening in Kenya. Let me try and paint a mirror of the state of affairs in Kenya as of now. The salaries for last month have been delayed for a number of civil servants not one, not two but thousands.
Ideally wisdom demands that an employee should be paid in a timely manner whether that said person is employed in the public domain or private sphere. Two organizations namely the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and Kenya Broadcasting Corporation respective heads notified the employees that there have been delays in getting capitation from the government thus the salaries had to be delayed.
I almost forgot that counties haven’t received any money since the year started. Imagine three months without funds. How can entity operate without the requisite funds for it is always said that funds follow functions. Now in this event there are obligations that county governments should meet and yet there are no funds to meet the said obligations. This must be interesting.
Last year, the incumbent Deputy President Honorable Rigathi Gachagua unequivocally stated to masses that the current administration found a dilapidated economy for the reserves in the treasury were depleted by the officials in the previous regime. Interestingly, in the budgets estimates before the National Assembly about 800 million was allocated for buying cars for the top three officials in Kenya Kwanza administration. What a paradox or should we say irony? Yee chooses what to call it for from my end I find it with a heavy heart to comment on the same.
As if that is not enough, the wage bill has been increasing courtesy of the current regime prioritizing awarding political rejects public office which definitely cost the tax payers much more. This implies more taxes is used to pay taxes at the expense of more meaningful meaning to the common citizen. Remember that the Constitution states that the sovereignty belongs to the people of Kenya and the same is delegated to the various arms of the government.
The prices of basic commodities are at an all-time high. This means that citizens have to dig deeper into their already torn and burdened pockets. Oh my! At times I wonder who bewitched some Kenyans into giving power to this administration. Should I say weep my country men weep? I won’t tell you that unfortunately. It is up to Kenyans to live with their bad choices maybe they will learn. Unfortunately, and unregretably they don’t learn this is evident in the crop of leaders Kenyans recycle. In future, I will tell my constitutional law students or Human Rights students that it is time we rethink about this thing called democracy but as of now by the virtue that I am an unborn jurist. Let me reserve my mouth for eating food offered by my parents.
There is some similarity that is evident. Maybe it is a matter of time for some kind of revolution to happen. The pain of the citizens when it overflows that regime will have to know better. It is time that they rethink a lot about the economic situation of this country. The policies should be of the greater good of the populace and not just few tumbokrats and political rejects. I have weighed the current regime and honestly, I have found that they are wanting before mine eyes. I refuse to be sorry about that. Let me end by reminding you or stating that am no economist. Whatever you choose to do with the information you have read above is none of my business and not in my province absolutely.
…..maybe just maybe….. Sri Lanka here we come..welcome us………
Jerameel Kevins Owuor Odhiambo is a law student at University of Nairobi, Parklands Campus. He regularly comments on socio-political, legal and contemporary issues in equal measure.
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