Jubilee Cabinet Secretaries have no choice but to deliver

NAIROBI, KENYA: In our nation’s jubilee year, the Jubilee Coalition has unveiled what many view as the ‘dream team’ to move this country forward, or to the next level, as the Deputy President always says. Just what is this next level, and where are we now? For transformational change promised by the coalition to be realised, we must first appreciate our status quo. Our economic growth limps at just over 4 per cent now, nothing to be proud of. Meaning, we are not expanding our economy to generate adequate revenues and create jobs.

Kenya Revenue Authority underperformed in its last quarter report, and unemployment is at an all-time high. Most sectors of the economy continue to underperform, particularly agriculture and manufacturing that jointly account for a third of the Growth Domestic Product (GDP). Despite a remarkable attempt by the Central Bank of Kenya to reduce the inflation rate to a single digit, interest rates still remain pretty high. The perennial volatility in our exchange rates continues to hurt the economy. The public debt is past Sh1.8 trillion, at nearly 47 per cent of the GDP, and growing! In simple terms, the national government is living beyond its means.

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