Memories, the budget and all our tomorrows

Joseph Njoroge Waweru sharpening a slasher near Mweiga using a homemade machine: We should not forget such industrialists in big 4. Photo by XN Iraki

The budget reading has lost the former mystery and mystic. When growing up, we waited in anticipation for the budget reading. Days to budget day, lots of things disappeared from shelves. That included sugar, cigarettes, beers, and anything else whose price was controlled. Traders hoarded goods to get a higher price.

That ended in early 1990s when the economy was liberalised. In the countryside, they used the term soko huru. In its wake, cooperative societies which nurtured a generation through school into work place died as middlemen took advantage of the liberalised market. They paid on the spot, but gave lower prices. The death of cooperative societies and its consequences has not been well documented. What happened to the societies’ assets?