Why proposed referendum should not be our priority at this moment in time

The country has woken up to a biting cash crunch. The extra burden of footing the Government’s expenditure has been passed to ordinary Kenyans despite their struggle with high cost of living, unemployment and lack of basic needs.

One would have expected that a national crisis of this profundity would cause leaders to rise to the occasion and respond soberly to this test of leadership. 

However, the saddening result is that the financial crisis has only exposed how unconcerned those we elected are, opting to overtax the commoners and reducing matters to an ambiguous referendum debate.

How do we expect leaders to address an issue they don’t understand in the first place? Take the argument about the financial cost of over-representation in our governance system, which is partly driving the referendum debate.

This issue is a correlation, not the cause of the present economic downturn. But leaders, through ignorance or deceit, are putting it as if therein lies the rub.

The leaders are not pronouncing themselves on more immediate challenges such as the heavy theft and financial imprudence that have landed us in a huge debt burden.

If the intention of the referendum is to cut costs, how can we be sure that whatever will be saved after reducing governance slots will be put to good use and not end up being stolen?

Lack of understanding was evident when apologists for the recent 8 per cent increase in value added tax on petroleum products argued that for development to take root, we must be ready to make sacrifices. Certainly, what we need now is not motivational talk about sacrifice, but decisive compliance with the proverbial rule of ‘cutting your coat according to your cloth’.

Maximum value

President Mwai Kibaki did a lot of things, from introducing Free Primary Education to infrastructural projects such as the Thika Superhighway, but it didn’t come with much economic burden to the citizenry.

Again, while it is easy to talk about taxation for development, the truth of the matter is that Kenyans largely do not get maximum value for their taxes. This is a critical issue that needs serious deliberation and remedial action.

From staffing performance to procurement and project management, there is a sense in which we are not accruing high returns on investment after funding from taxpayers' money. Our national budget and debts are running into trillions of shillings, yet the development that is being talked about is not felt.

It is a shame that Kenyans are still struggling with challenges of diseases, poverty and illiteracy more than half-a-century after we got independence.

Leaders should begin addressing our economic woes from this point because there is no doubt that if every coin the mwananchi pays is justified through prudent use and management, we would achieve a lot of tangible results that would ultimately enable us to catch up with our former equals such as Singapore and South Korea. And, there can never be more powerful encouragement for paying taxes than to see the value of what one’s contribution can do to the economy.

Financial problem

Even in the face of this rough patch, we still see unnecessary wastage of public resources at both levels of government for politicking missions. What happened to the austerity measures that were recently announced? 

It is unfair to tell mwananchi to tighten his belt and not demand austerity measures and result-driven engagements from the people with access to public kitties.

It goes without saying that the politicians would rather die than see a deduction of their salaries. Why, therefore, should they be allowed to have “fun” with the sweat of the peasants, who expect the highest standard of service delivery?

Am not saying that to cut our bloated wage bill is a bad idea. But introducing it at this particular point in time and making it appear as if it is the cause of our current financial problems is misleading. This wastage can be traced and we can even work on it to ensure there is more productivity for its sustainability.

The area that needs to urgently attract our attention is the much bigger wastage through corruption and mismanagement of public resources which, if tackled properly, would help to control our increasing appetite for debt through external borrowing.

Truth be told, if we free some of the resources from salaries without creating financial discipline in the first place, we definitely risk seeing more siphoning of public funds, which is counterproductive to the goal of improving our economy.

The referendum can be postponed. Let’s focus on eradicating corruption and mismanagement of public resources. That is the poetic justice that Kenyans need.

Once we get financial stability, we can think of the issue of decreasing or increasing political positions, as some want, through a costly referendum process.

Mr Mohamed comments on sociopolitical issues. [email protected]