This archive report was first published on 3 November 2019.
As President Uhuru Kenyatta continues to traverse the world in luxury, Kenya's economic foundations are unraveling. The country is on the edge of economic collapse, with the government struggling to meet its budgetary commitments.
Finance Cabinet Secretary has explicitly stated that unless the Senate backs the National Assembly and endorses the request to borrow up to Sh9 trillion, the government will not meet its budgetary commitments in the current financial year. The government has already burst the allowable borrowing threshold of 50 per cent of its GDP.
Kenya defaulted on a Sh500 million loan last month, demonstrating the country's deep financial struggles. The Treasury is scaling back its commitments for this year by a hefty Sh400 billion and has warned that its anticipated budget deficit will be much larger than anticipated.
Millions of Kenyan families are living a true pauper's life, with many instances of people struggling to feed themselves. Job losses have prompted an unusual aggression from the Kenya Revenue Authority to force Kenyans to pay taxes. The Judiciary is also shutting down due to lack of basics like writing material in courts.
The public has met this economic pummelling stoically, but the question is being asked: For how long? In Mombasa, periodic low-key protests are being staged by wananchi unhappy with the move to transfer imported goods clearance from the coast city to Nairobi.
While the disenchanted in Mombasa have been galvanised to action by a single common grievance, how long will it take before the hundreds of thousands across the country that have little or nothing to look forward to find a voice that calls them to action?
President Kenyatta has slightly more than 24 months to restore the country on the path on which President Mwai Kibaki had set it.
