NAIROBI, July 23 (IPS) – The solution to Kenya’s ongoing crisis, which has since morphed into an anti-government movement, is not as simple as rolling back punitive measures. Finance Bill 2024 As Kenya’s embattled president has recently indicated, he is wavering between seeking dialogue with Kenyan youth and threatening their peaceful quest for the realization of their constitutional rights.
A month after the unprecedented storming of Kenya’s parliament, lawmakers are due to return to parliament today in August after a three-week recess to consider the memorandum. Financial Bill President Ruto has vetoed all provisions of the controversial bill.
They also have additional budget and income splitting bill That was also rejected. This would plunge the country into a legal swamp and pre-vote on the legal framework needed to enable the government to implement its annual fiscal plan. It is important that the president respects the independence of the institution and refrain from attempting to influence the process. Allow the legislature to freely represent the voters in the decision-making process.
The president recently appeared to respond to the demands of the sovereign people by disbanding his entire cabinet, which he viewed as largely unqualified and partly responsible for derailing the country’s political and socioeconomic development.
In fact, a year ago he gave them notice of their incompetence and made them sign performance contracts. And yet, three days ago, he reappointed six of those who were fired in a selfish move that sacrificed the country for political mileage.
This has enraged Kenyan youth again and heightened public sentiment about his lack of trust as a leader. There is an opportunity for parliament to reject his nominees and for the president to adopt a new age, gender, ethnicity and competency-based approach to reorganizing his cabinet.
The proposed bill that has precipitated the current state of affairs in the country would have raised taxes on citizens who are already financially burdened, thereby filling the $2.7 billion national budget deficit. But the government has been fiscally wasteful, and has violated the requirements of prudent, responsible, and careful spending of public funds.
Consider that the president has visited 38 countries 62 times in 20 months. This travel expense includes the presidential delegation and daily allowance. It does not include other travel by state officials. Also, the state capitol was renovated at a cost of $6.8 million. So one could argue that the problem is not lack of revenue but lack of spending. Furthermore, the lack of transparency in public financing has led to speculation about the regime’s enormous appetite for legal and abhorrent debt.
Ironically, William Ruto, once a village chicken vendor, has pledged to create a business-friendly environment by pushing a top-down economic model. ‘Hustler’ – or ordinary citizens who have long fought against disadvantaged employment, business and investment opportunities.
These were the preserve of elites who had either come from or had strong ties to the political dynasties that had ruled the country since independence. This promising change was exciting for Kenyans who had been wanting change for decades. Nevertheless, the president failed to deliver on his campaign promises, further dissatisfying the young citizens who make up the majority of the population.
More seriously, his associates have treated Kenyans with contempt and arrogance, fostered a utopian and false sense of impunity, and violated the laws on leadership and integrity enshrined in Chapter VI of the Kenyan Constitution.
Kenya currently spends 68% of its GDP on debt service. A recent Christian Aid report highlights that Kenya could invest $3.7 billion in health and education if it were debt-free.
That figure is $1 billion more than the current budget shortfall needed to address the labor strike and ultimately the suffering of the sick and school-age children in our struggling social welfare sector.
Given the global poly crisis and other economic and political factors, developing a debt-free economy is an ideal, but it provides an aspiration that can guide our development blueprint, especially for resource-rich African countries that have the potential to bridge this gap and provide new financing for the continent’s development.
President Ruto uses international platforms to advance his economic agenda in line with his foreign policy, including the African Union, which recently appointed him as a champion of global institutional reform, to lead several efforts, including the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions. He also co-leads the International Tax Task Force, which promotes development funded by the European Climate Foundation.
These efforts to overhaul the unjust and racist international financial system that traps low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and puts them in debt crises are premature. Yet the president fails to inspire confidence in these efforts, because his foreign stance does not reflect his domestic stance. And vice versa.
So it is hard to support his efforts to restructure, forgive and reform debt when taxpayer money is being used to support the lavish lifestyles of the political elite at the expense of citizens already struggling with unbearable economic hardship.
In the past few weeks, Ruto has deployed state agencies to suppress peaceful protests and media coverage of civil unrest, manifesting itself through enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, police brutality and extrajudicial killings. They have even tried, unsuccessfully, to illegally ban protests in Nairobi.
Nonetheless, one of the landmark changes brought about by the 2010 Constitution was the reform of the Kenya Police Force, a legacy of imperialism, into a people-centred Kenya Police Force.
After that, National Police Commission Act The police must maintain the highest level of professionalism and discipline. Furthermore, they must adhere to constitutional standards for human rights and fundamental freedoms when performing their duties. Despite this, the police department has changed its name but not its practices, and continues to suffer from the 61-year-old colonial hangover of maintaining unlimited power and impunity.
In the past, peaceful protests have been intervened by criminals, destroying property and causing harm to innocent Kenyans, but the purpose of serving the protest notice to the police is to protect protesters and maintain law and order.
Moreover, there is a National Intelligence Service that provides equipment and funding to legitimately mitigate verifiable threats to the Republic. It is ironic that while the government claims to be overwhelmed by young protesters on the streets with phones, placards, and water bottles, they respond with violence, chemical warfare, and guns.
The president must use this historic turning point to fill the trust deficit he has created. This must be done by institutionalizing mechanisms to ensure respect for the rule of law, which will crack down on the long-winded narrative of corruption and incompetent leadership in his administration and limit the power of the police.
Ultimately, he must renew the fragmented social system and promote economic prosperity. Until then, the Jumma will exert destructive pressure on his government and eventually succeed in forcing him out of office at the next election, making him the first one-term president in Kenyan history.
Stephanie Musho She is a human rights lawyer and Senior New Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute.
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal Source: Inter Press Service
