Over the last decade, a good number of Kenyans have been made to believe that the Kenyan economy has improved. Infrastructural growth which basically refers to the expansion of the road network has been misconstrued by many to be equivalent to economic growth. The truth is different and painful. In economic terms, the rate of unemployment and the ability of citizens to meet their very basic needs are the major markers of growth. In most African countries, being safe from hostile neighbors, wild animals, floods, droughts, famine, and road accidents as well as the ability to access safe, secure, and affordable housing, medical attention and education can be equated with economic stability. The Kenyan scenario as it exists at the moment paints a grim and bleak picture. The North Eastern part of the country is still shamefully un-reclaimed, several decades since independence. Losing millions of lives each dry season is as sure as death itself. The Kano Plains and other areas in Nyanza and Coast are always death fields during the rainy season. The zenith of stupidity is always in display in Africa whereby a natural disaster that is seasonal and predictable can strike ten or twenty times at the exact time and exact place without any preventive measures being taken.
So, is the economy really growing as we have been made to believe? The unemployment rate is at 80%. Fresh graduates are the worst hit with unemployment among such people being at a high of 87%. None of the disaster zones have been tended to and the poverty card has now been handed to more homesteads. Corruption is at an all-time high with policemen collecting bribes using better methods compared to the days of “Baba” Moi when they would demand for “chai” openly.
The few who are making both clean and dirty money can stand at the peak of Mount Kenya and declare Kenya an economic cheetah. But the truth is that the majority of Kenyans cannot support this nonsense. It will take a cleaning of the minds of the leaders to learn the simple logic that the West learned centuries ago that stealing from a neighbor hurts the thief. This lesson will make them steal less or nothing and contribute more to the Kenyan good. But the signs are not appealing. Members of parliament whose work load was reduced with the expansion of the legislative assembly are crying for more blood from the Kenyan citizenry-without shame! Is there hope? I do not know. By the way, Kenya has one of the worst constitutions in the world. Due to sheepish apemanship, our constitutional experts struggled to copy the Americans system that serves 52 states, where one state such as Texas is the size of Kenya. So now we have numerous hungry and incompetent thieves masquerading as lawmakers sucking poor slum- dwelling taxpayers-all in the name of a new constitution that created the bicameral den of thieves. We need a NEW Constitution! And yeah- the Kenyan economy is yet to start growing.
The author of this article can be reached at oncharioyieyo87@gmail.com