Poaching, cost of living left out, says Cord

Opposition leaders in Parliament last evening described the State of the Nation address by President Kenyatta as a disappointment.

The opposition leaders in both Houses said President Kenyatta failed to speak about insecurity in the way they expected and gave Kenyans no hope that his government could bring down the cost of living.

Senate Minority Leader Moses Wetangula said the President only succeeded in fulfilling his constitutional mandate.

CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATION

“Apart from discharging his constitutional obligation of addressing Parliament, I don’t think he gave anything really regarding the State of the Nation, as the name suggests,” said Mr Wetangula.

The Bungoma Senator said the Head of State’s statement that the cost of cooking oil and sugar is less now than it was in February 2013 is not factual.

He said the expectation from both Houses was that the President would talk about how Kenya will handle insecurity, poaching and devolution.

NOTHING MUCH

Deputy Minority Leader in the National Assembly Jakoyo Midiwo similarly said there was nothing much from the speech by the man he described as an old friend and age mate.

“I don’t think the President gave us anything to take home. I was expecting something serious, like his speech from last year. The Jubilee government promised Kenyans a lot,” said Mr Midiwo.

He said that the President’s projection that the economy would grow by six per cent implies that the government has not met its target to have it grow by double digits.

The Gem MP also said he didn’t like the casual manner in which the President spoke about the VAT.