Show me the numbers: How do we measure Jubilee's performance?

The Year of Jubilee is meant to be a year of blessings and prosperity for the people of a nation. Kenya has been celebrating 50 years since independence, its Golden Jubilee.

For many Kenyans, there was nothing to celebrate. The event has come and gone under the yoke of bad governance, economic hardship, insecurity and increased corruption.

Those who benefited were the committee charged to organise the event, suppliers of services and products and indeed the cronies of those in power, both at national and county levels.

I have a problem congratulating someone for what they are supposed to do, or praising a leadership that has no concern for those who struggle to get by. I especially have an issue with a leadership that full of rhetoric, charm, words and no action.

Many would argue that‎ I am being mean for not giving President Kenyatta and his team time to settle in and deliver. Unfortunately, facts support my arguments.

First, Uhuru Kenyatta took over from Mwai Kibaki, a president who focused on delivering large, key infrastructure projects. The standard gauge railway for example, was the baby of the Kibaki administration. However, Uhuru has coined it as the centrepiece of his legacy.

One year down the road, this government seems afraid of numbers, or what the numbers mean and say. Listening to the Cabinet brief the country on their achievements in the past one year, one thing was apparent; little, if anything, had been done. All of them kept saying ‘we shall do this, we shall do that, we shall embark on this and on that’.

Despite the road blocks that came with implementing the new Constitution, the national government scores F for economic growth, F-minus for security, an A for socialisation and C for governance in my book.

NO JOBS NUMBERS

The admission of the Cabinet that they have no numbers on how many jobs have been ‎created in the past one year is the sad admission to the truth that the government has its priorities wrong.

This leads to a more pertinent question; if the numbers are missing, if the numbers are not available, how is the president being advised to govern this country? How is he being advised on how the country is performing?

Numbers that touch how many jobs have been created, in which sectors, for what duration, permanent or casual are key in monitoring how an economy is expanding. How many jobs were lost, from what sectors is key to determine just how bad things are.

How many businesses were set up, how many collapsed, how the manufacturing sector declined or expanded, how many bags of maize we have, for how long. How much came in as FDI or Diaspora remittances?

Numbers like how many crimes were committed and in what category, how many touched on business and how many did not, which crimes were high and which ones low.

Numbers on how many houses were built, sold or auctioned are more important than we realise.

These numbers must always be readily available. The mere fact that the Jubilee administration seems afraid of these numbers begs the question; how is the son of Jomo being advised to govern us?

By now, I expected the Jubilee administration to have completed an economic audit of the implementation of the new Constitution and through the audit, find ways to implement it without adding more burdens to the people of Kenya through taxes.

It's been one year of decisions that have shocked many and left Kenyans in socio-economic strife. The police made and implemented policy that has directly impacted our GDP yet the president does nothing. The Ministry of Education uses a report that was published in 1976 to implement a policy in the 21^st Century.

One is left to wonder, are our educated Cabinet Secretaries the epitome of why education should never be a key factor in deciding who gets to manage whatever it is they are managing?

Uhuru's administration has killed local entrepreneurship through repugnant policies and laws. The VAT Act is a good example of a law that has directly sunk thousands of SMES due to increased costs of operations.

Is the government afraid to share the statistics of key sectors because the country is in the red? Are they afraid of the numbers because they do not know what they mean and represent?  ‎How is the president busy telling us that the youth are his focus and especially in job creation when it is unclear how many jobs have been created?

A leadership should inspire its people to be better, to grow better. Instead this government seems good at talking, taking selfies, and‎ dragging us back to the seventies. 

Twitter: @SokoAnalyst