?Only when ordinary folks grow can a nation develop

Barrack Muluka.

The success of ordinary people is the starting point of a nation’s economic success. This is what President Joe Biden has told the joint House of Congress this week, in his first State of the Union Address. As he marked his first 100 days in power, the US president was clear about one thing. Future economies will grow, and societies prosper, when they develop from the bottom and the middle, upwards. 

Traditionally, metrics of economic flourish have paid little practical attention to the people. Focus is on technology, industry and broad economic indicators. They show how the country is performing, rather than how the people are doing. This is misleading. Slave economies, for example, have thrived at the expense of the slaves. This was what JM Kariuki meant when he said, “We don’t want to be a country of ten millionaires and ten million beggars.”