A policy that doesn't pay cannot create jobs or trigger real growth

A hawker at work at Keumbu in Kisii county on June 15, 2015. [File, Standard]

On the southern edge of Kiambu County, in the town of Gachie, a widow named Mama Caro wakes up each morning and opens the doors to her small printing shop.

She has a government LPO signed and stamped, along with photocopying services she provided to the local office in December last year. Ten months later, she is still waiting to get paid. Meanwhile, her rent is overdue, her daughter dropped out of college, and her only printer broke down last week. Now multiply that story by the Sh637 billion in pending government bills recorded nationwide by the National Treasury. That is not just a number; it is a trail of interrupted dreams, stalled businesses and suffocated jobs. It is a full year's salary for every public school teacher. It is Kenya, paused.