Jubilee has messed us up, it’s time it corrected its mistakes

President Uhuru Kenyatta speaks at East African Portland Cement grounds on August 31, 2018. He has been called upon to save the country's economy. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Increasing the cost of fuel by 16 percent is a massive blow not just to manufacturing but the entire economy.
  • Under its Transforming the Nation pillar, Jubilee promised to transform industry, not pulverise it.

Do you think Jubilee was serious, or they were just being ironical, in their manifesto?

Everything they promised in their so-called three pillars, they have achieved a great deal in the opposite direction. As for the Big Four, well, let’s all go to the roof for a word of prayer.

Since yesterday, we have had such long fuel queues that some roads were impassable. Shortages are signs of a very badly managed system.

The Soviet Union was famous for its supermarket lines. Queues, and food riots are a common sight in banana republics.

Under its Transforming the Nation pillar, Jubilee promised to transform industry, not pulverise it.

The first of the Big Four agenda is to boost manufacturing from 9.2 percent to 20 per cent of GDP in just four years.

CORRUPTION

Transforming Lives has youth and women empowerment and Transforming Society, to enhance justice, fight corruption and support devolution.

I am too old a journalist to only see the negative in life. I know that there are efforts, which are bearing fruit, to tackle corruption.

I also can see that in that fight, some are more equal than others. I know that folks are working hard. But Jubilee has been a very corrupt regime.

You don’t empower manufacturing by increasing the cost of energy.

The myopic accountant who proposed VAT on fuel, which is heavily taxed, was looking at a hole in his numbers or some pipe dream kickback-driven project to be funded; he wasn’t alive to the impact of such a move on the objectives of the government.

Increasing the cost of fuel by 16 percent is a massive blow not just to manufacturing but the entire economy.

BUSINESS

The President has been talking endlessly about cutting the cost of power and taking electricity to the people.

But working people such as myself are finding it difficult to keep their homes lit, either because the cost is too high or due to fraud.

If individuals are struggling, can you imagine the pain for manufacturers?

Jubilee talks a big game about business but is not pro-business. It also talks a big game about youth and women, but it is hardly pro-youth or pro-women.

Whereas the intention might be there, even the broad policy of giving some procurement to women and youth might be there, but inattention to crucial detail defeats the whole thing.

PAYING SUPPLIERS

There ought to be a law specifying the period within which government, parastatals and counties must pay for procured goods.

I am told that in Makueni County — Governor Kivutha Kibwana must seriously consider running for president — suppliers and contractors are paid on time.

The national government, unfortunately, does its best to steal from the private sector.

Suppliers must pay hefty bribes, hire extortionist debt collectors or use family connections to get paid.

That way, the government has possibly created widespread poverty among youth and women: Those who supplied and were not paid have lost their property to banks and are worse off than before Jubilee introduced its empowerment programmes.

JUDICIARY

Enhancing justice, I presume, entails supporting the Judiciary to resolve disputes fairly.

By all means, corruption in the Judiciary must be investigated not just by the government but also the angels in heaven if necessary.

But I don’t know how you enhance justice by halving the court budget. Even worse, the relations between the Judiciary and Executive are being conducted in an excessively emotional manner. The first rule of democracy is compromise.

The Judicial Service Commission appears to have been against the vetting of the Judiciary nominee Justice Warsame as demanded by Parliament and, by extension, the Executive.

Because he was not vetted, the Executive appears to have refused to gazette him as a member of the JSC.

Strangely, the Chief Justice has not sworn in those who have been vetted and gazetted as members. As a result, the body that is supposed to run the Judiciary is not fully constituted.

EMPOWER CITIZENS

The pain Kenyans are suffering due to the weight of taxes, high cost of living and poor services seems to be the result of a government which is not clear on what governments do: Is the job of government to give folks free, big things or is it to create a conducive and encouraging environment for people to do big things for themselves?

Why does not the government want to dirty its hands building houses — knowing how corrupt, uneconomical and ineffective its project management is — rather than ensuring availability of land, infrastructure, affordable capital and technical support and let the private sector do it?

Why does it want to do stuff for Kenyans rather than empower them to do it for themselves?

Mwai Kibaki did not like giving people money for harambee; he advised them to take out a loan.

But he also ensured that the loans were affordable. He understood that debt and excess development ambition were a trap.

But he insisted that everybody paid taxes and it was well used. He didn’t succeed all the time but his thinking was spot-on.

The petrol queues and broken promises are proof that Jubilee is making a mess of stuff. Please take a deep breath and fix it.