2023 was tough; let's hope against hope that new year will be better

As we close 2023 and usher in 2024, I decided to look through what I have been writing the entire year.

I was struck by the number of articles I wrote on what is concerning Kenyans; the high costs of living, high taxation, threats to constitutionalism and the rule of law, governance, leadership, and lack of sensitivity and responsiveness on the part of the government and occasionally the opposition.

It is the primary duty of the government to deliver quality services, secure the country, and citizens, ensure law and order, create an enabling and conducive environment for people to generate wealth, and bake the national cake. I began 2023 with great optimism and as always profound gratitude to God and all who made 2022 a great year for me. I begin the new year with gratitude and great appreciation to God and those who made 2023 tolerable for me and kept hope alive.

2023 was a very difficult year for a lot of people for many reasons most of which revolved around their diminishing capacities and purchase power to provide food and necessities for their families because of the high taxation, untenable costs of fuel and security, deteriorating infrastructure, diminishing value of the shilling and incredibly high costs of living.

The costs of commodities and life necessities are rivalling those of big cities like New York and London except here we cry of high inflation, low value of the shilling, and pittance salaries that have remained stagnant for years. Many people must be creative and innovative to survive.

What used to be side hustles are slowly replacing salaried jobs as the main sources of living for the majority of Kenyans with the salary becoming the side hustle. Although people still dedicate their hard days to their salaried jobs, because they can’t afford to lose them, they are sleeping less as their real sources of livelihood begin after five when most people leave salaried work.

This is why Kenya has turned into a 24-hour economy as a means of survival. Public participation, a constitutional guarantee lost meaning during 2023, as we saw the three arms, the Executive, Parliament, and even the Judiciary pour cold water on it. It is now a decorative exercise in futility for Kenyans to volunteer their opinions and views on matters of public governance and decision-making.

What takes the trophy though is the High Court, which after deciding the 2023 Finance Act that introduced the housing tax, was unconstitutional and therefore null and void, decided to nevertheless give the government “power/authority” to continue breaking the Constitution by deducting the housing tax from our meagre salaries for a while until January 2024. How do you teach constitutional law students in the face of judgments such as these?

I have tried to look for positive things that happened in 2023 in public affairs and besides the Climate Summit hosted by Kenya that jump-started action on carbon markets and the pledge and action by the President on growing lots of trees by 2032, I can’t think of anything of greater good that happened for us, or is there? Perhaps this is pessimistic but can’t be helped, because we just cannot be sure of what 2024 will bring in the form of further taxation, threats to constitutionalism and the rule of law, and just plain fear of speaking one’s mind and expressing views and opinions that may be classified and boxed to make one either with or not with us.

These are unpredictable and interesting times as workers are not very enthusiastic about returning to work, especially with the emerging threats of industrial action and demonstrations by the opposition. Although it is hard to remain optimistic about 2024, hope is still alive, borne of Kenyans’ resilience and their never-die, never-give-up spirit.

We can only pray that God touches and softens the hearts of our leaders so that they are more caring, responsive, and sensitive to the wants, needs, and aspirations of Kenyans and genuinely respect public participation. We also pray that the opposition finds more innovative ways of holding the government and elected leaders to account that are more effective and bear real results for the greater good. This is the only way we can make 2024 less of a political roller-coaster and a year of recovery and restoration of our wonderful country.