Auctions now a major campaign tool in Mt Kenya region

As incomes fall due to job losses and closure of businesses in the Mt Kenya region, lenders are growing impatient and more people are being auctioned.

The matter has now taken a political dimension, with presidential candidates eyeing the more than five million votes from the region using the financial crisis as political bait.

State House aspirants are now promising to fix the Mt Kenya economic challenge, which they say accuse the Jubilee administration of failing to address.

The announcement and deepening of Covid-19 containment measures in 2020 and this year led to mass lay-offs, closure of schools, hotels, bars and restaurants.

Many businesses scaled down their operations, leading to job and pay cuts as well as unpaid leave.

Workers who had taken loans on the strength of their payslips ended up defaulting, a situation that could see many lose their land or businesses.

And while it is impossible for these properties to be recovered in a year or two, the aspirants are promising the region special kitties to cushion their businesses against unforeseen shocks and a devalued shilling, as well as predatory lending.

Ruto's promise

On Sunday, Deputy President William Ruto promised the region’s investors that he would deliver them from the grip of auctioneers.

He said he would also address the issue of many residents of the region being held captive by small and fast loans and ending up being red-listed by the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRB).

Dr Ruto, who was speaking in Makúyú, Maragua and Kenol trading centres, said if elected, his administration would cushion businesses in the region.

"We have failed the business community in this region whose daily cry is collapsing ventures, non-performing ones and huge debts. Shylocks and auctioneers are having a field day in this region. I will fix that," he said.

His promise came a week after ODM leader Raila Odinga promised to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive if elected to State House.

"What we need as a country is commitment to ensuring all credits procured for businesses have longer service schedules and are not prone to drastic ambushes on interest rate charges. Auctioneering should be the last resort when failure to service credit has been credibly judged to be as a result of negligence," he said at Kangari shopping centre.

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Mr Odinga said the DP was among the Jubilee policymakers who had set up investors from the region against creditors by failing to cushion businesses from the global economic slump brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

But on Sunday, Dr Ruto warned the region against trusting the ODM leader and the proposed merger with Jubilee, saying, "as investors you are a busy people who will spare no time to be taught how to speak in riddles".

He said only he has practical evidence that he can address the interests of the region.

The DP reminded the region that in 2013, when many were not willing to stand with Uhuru Kenyatta, he offered to help him win the presidency.

"We won in 2013 and twice in 2017 I stood with him. Even if he was contesting in 2022, I would still stand with him...we were in ICC together and we helped each other overcome...That is my act of friendship with Mt Kenya and which we shall solidify going forward," he said.

Mudavadi's angle

Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi had earlier in July accused the Jubilee administration of neglecting Mt Kenya, to a point that many were being auctioned on a daily basis.

He urged residents to support him, promising to deliver them from economic disillusionment and shame of losing property to auctioneers.

Mr Mudavadi said Mt Kenya forms a critical component of the country’s wealth, saying only a  committed man in the highest office in the land can fix the economy for them.

“Look at the classified pages of local dailies, where auctioneers advertise their targets and scrutinise the names there. Most of them are Mt Kenya businessmen being auctioned and this is because the government has failed in managing the economy for you,” he said.

The collapse of businesses in the region is a key campaign tool among fringe parties in the region, which many see as vehicles founded to, among other things, negotiate for economic emancipation of Mt Kenya investors.

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