Stop the false promises and confront real issues

Campaign posters

Campaign posters on a wall in Nyali area, Mombasa County in this picture taken on June 27, 2022.

Photo credit: Kevin Odit | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Heaps and heaps of promises are being showered on Kenyans, which in many cases are impossible to deliver. 
  • The promises get emptier every day as Kenyans have to dig deeper into their increasingly empty pockets to just to get by.

The election campaign rhetoric is ratcheting up fast. Heaps and heaps of promises are being showered on Kenyans, which in many cases are impossible to deliver. Hollow talk and generous doses of blame abound. The current government may have its many faults, but to give it wholesale blame for the rising price of fuel, food, fertiliser et al is opportunistic and indeed ignorant.

Promises like bringing down food and fuel prices in short order are false and tantamount to lies.
I think it is time the campaigners stopped the irritating pontifications on TV and kept their feet firmly on the ground. They should assess the realities very carefully and tune their campaigns accordingly. They should stop the ‘magic bullet’ talk because not only are Kenyans weary of it, many are getting wiser to such shenanigans.

The promises get emptier every day as Kenyans have to dig deeper into their increasingly empty pockets to just to get by and afford a few basics which are going up by the day.

What Kenyans want to know more about is how our future leaders propose to solve the mountain of problems and challenges before us. How about setting up a Super Ministry to run the economy as they did in Japan after the Second World War? This could be headed by the President, Deputy President and at least one to two people of sound economic background, experience and integrity.

Strategic hub position

In short, you are not saying you know the answers, but you will set up the modalities and people will look at them and plot a way forward.

And urgent it is. The state is borrowing Sh2.5 billion and paying 2.4 billion each and every day. So, promising to throw more money at a problem when we are buried in debt is not a viable option. 

The challenge is at least two-fold. The debt must be renegotiated and spread over a much longer period. At the same time, the government  must be severely rationalised so that is much less a ‘bums on seats’ operation. More resources must go to development, which gets a mere token these days.

There is also the challenge of spurring the cogs and drivers of the economy such as tea, horticulture, manufacturing, coffee and the diaspora. 

The strategic hub position of Kenya is another.

Price of food and fuel

Diaspora inflows are arguably the fastest growing source of foreign exchange and money for Kenya. How can we make it more attractive for them to send more?

We are done with hollow words that this or that factory will be revived or the price of food and fuel will be brought down. And if they want to promise that let us know how ‘we’ the Kenyan people will pay for and subsidise it.

Many Kenyans are participators in corruption through no fault of their own. Using public transport is a must for many. Our traffic police excel in their eyesight and rushing one hand into the air when a mat approaches.

In short, Kenyans are victims of corruption and have to be party to it just to get from A to B.
To promise to walk the talk on corruption is a veritable vote winner. To come up with ideas on practicalities is even better. 

Kenyans yearn for a better government and less corruption. They are the victims of bad government and extortion. They pay through the nose for mediocre services. They do not get value for their taxes. 
Whoever feels I am not echoing the feelings of Kenyans need just to go and talk to a few. They will listen and listen, but that does not mean they agree with you.They are streetwise and canny and know that their vote is their weapon.

Robert Shaw is a public policy and economic analyst: [email protected]