Our many problems and the trouble with brinkmanship

County governments are hardly functioning because they have not received funds from the National Treasury for the fourth or even fifth month running. Hardly any meaningful investments are being made in development. Salaries are delayed and some governments are opting to take expensive commercial loans to pay their workers.

Public universities have not received their capitation and teaching has been undermined, with lecturers boycotting classes or resorting to online teaching because they cannot travel. Although the funding crisis at universities is a long-running story that will only end by piling more agony on the frazzled Kenyan taxpayers, the obtaining situation is getting out of hand.

We heard last week that the cash crunch is now so bad that the Parliamentary Service Commission has not paid Members of the National Assembly and senators their March salaries.

This is not a normal occurrence at all as these are regarded as a sensitive class of human beings whose care and comfort is always given priority.

Those of us chasing payments from the government are daily repulsed by the same refrain: no money has been released from Treasury.

Disappointment

The excitement that greeted news that some money to pay government suppliers had been allocated in the recently signed Supplementary Budget has quickly dissipated to be replaced with resignation and disappointment.

Meanwhile, the rise in the cost of living is relentless. Following the increase in the cost of electricity from April 1, and the adjustment of excise tax on a number of items last week, Kenyans are expecting more pain.

It is literally raining problems in this country and the leaders need to demonstrate concern and provide opportunity for constructive conversations that seek short and long-term solutions to the social and development challenges confronting this country.

We have not heard any meaningful debate in either the National Assembly or the Senate about what Kenyans are experiencing.

The MPs are obviously taking their cue from their party leaders, essentially extending the stalemate we are seeing between Kenya Kwanza and Azimio to Parliament. This is abdication of responsibility as each MP has been given a specific mandate by their voters to represent them.

President William Ruto and Mr Raila Odinga, who are the party leaders being looked up to, are not giving much hope. The truce that suspended the weekly demonstrations is shaky. The two are already bickering about the structure of the talks christened as bipartisan. The President wants the talks held within the strictures of Parliament and be restricted to only canvass the issues of nomination of the members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the cost of living.

Mr Odinga wants the discussions expanded to include the veracity of the results of the last election — the opening of IEBC servers, as they prefer to call it. He was quoted on Friday saying that: “We need a proper constitutional review to cure the governance defects in the 2010 Constitution and remove the last vestiges of an imperial presidency. In our dialogue with Kenya Kwanza, we will be putting this matter on the table.”

The President’s side is unlikely to accept this expanded agenda, creating a deadlock even before the talks start.

A deadlock is not in the interest of the country. We want our leaders to engage in a robust debate to understand why our energy costs cannot come down with all the declared good intentions from government. Why are cartels holding the government to ransom? Are the price increases inevitable even in the face of subsidised imports? Are the planned food imports being done in a fair manner?

Rampant corruption

Will it be possible to control the cost of living if the rampant corruption that has brought this country to its knees is not aggressively addressed? Indeed, is this government doing enough to subdue this menace?

Are we doing enough to invest in agriculture and manufacturing to create the hundreds of thousands of jobs that our youths need? How do we ensure that the food harvested is not wasted in avoidable post-harvest losses? How do we ensure that our small-scale farmers — who drive more than 80 per cent of the agricultural sector — are cognisant of the upheaval they confront because of climate change?

All these and more issues are interwoven in the complex whirlpool of challenges and opportunities that explain the state of the nation now. They will not be unpacked and tackled in the atmosphere of brinkmanship prevailing in the country. These folks must sober up and provide the leadership necessary to give hope that there will soon be a dawn at the end of this long night.

Mr Mshindi, a former editor-in-chief of Nation Media Group, is now consulting. [email protected];  @TMshindi)