The country is and always has been financially unstable, and as economic experts warn, the situation will not improve any time soon.
Crime rates have spiked, unemployment is more of a job these days and your average 500ml tera pack of milk is now selling at Ksh.75.00.
Adding salt to injury, Menengai bar soap is currently at Ksh.200+. Basically, life is tough in Kenya. It’s almost impossible for anyone to say they are proud to be Kenyan. Eric Wainaina may be reconsidering his lyrics in the song, “daima mi ni mkenya”.
It’s approximately 10 weeks to the general elections of Kenya and you would expect that IEBC and the government collectively have figured out their finances and what is only remaining is the polling process. You are in for a shock.
How Come?
You may have received a message from IEBC stating, “Dear Voter, IEBC is conducting a voter verification exercise, please send your IDNo#YearOfBirth to 70000. For inquiries/Complaints Call 020 2769000. STOP: *456*9*5#”
If you haven’t received this message, you are probably not registered as a voter. To verify your voter identity, you must have funds (airtime/credit) in your service provider.
Some Little Math…
Consider this, if ther service charges Ksh.1.00 per verification, IEBC will have raised slightly over Ksh.19M. For a government that is planning on spending over Ksh.40bn on August 9th, Ksh.19 millon is approximately 0.0475% of the total amount.
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This begs the question, how broke is the Kenyan government? Normally, such activities that require national participation are free of charge but it is clear that the government cannot afford to spend a mere Ksh.19 million.
So where Is the confusion?
The presidential candidates have promised that their governments will do so much in healing the national economuc depression. Raila Odinga, on one hand, has promised a Ksh.6,000 monthly stipend for its youth while DP William Ruto, on the other hand has proposed a ‘Pesa Mfukoni’ kind of deal, with a trickle down kind of economy.
Any Solution
No one really knows what means the leaders will employ the nation back on the economic radar. What could the new leaders possibly do that former leaders didn’t do? All we can do is vote and wait for the grand disappointment.
The Polycarp Igathe Drama
Meanwhile, tycoon Polycarp Igathe has decided to use the ‘Sonko Campaign Formula’. Opinion suggests that the man will give Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja a run for his money. Well that is a story for another day.
Kenyan politics is taking a twist that was not expected by many. Only time will tell how much the country will change for better or for worse. The country being in an economic crisis, it is important that we make a quick recovery lest the coming generations risk living in tougher conditions than the one’s we face now.
Eric Wainaina may be reconsidering his lyrics in the song, “daima mi ni mkenya”.
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