Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has come out to plead with Kenyans to be patient with the Kenya Kwanza administration as it finds a way to arrest the high cost of living which they had promised to tackle immediately after being sworn in.
In an interview on Sunday, the country’s second-in-command stated that he and President William Ruto inherited a dilapidated economy last week and that it will take some time for them to regain control.
“We have inherited a dilapidated economy. We have found empty coffers. There is barely any money in this country and we are starting from scratch. I have asked the people of Kenya to be patient with us because we have a plan but it cannot be immediate because we have found a bad situation in terms of the economy,” the DP told NTV.
“When we were campaigning, we didn’t know that the situation was so bad until we came to the government, we got the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary with his officials and provided us with the balance sheet to see how we look, we found the stores were empty,” he added.
The DP described the country’s economic situation as “very bad,” claiming that if President Ruto had not taken the bold step of suspending the fuel subsidy, the situation would have deteriorated even further.
“The situation is very bad. With the previous administration having gone on the way they were going with fuel subsidies, another six months, we would have had an economic shutdown. That is why the President took a very bold decision that the fuel subsidy using Sh20 billion every month was not sustainable,” said Mr Gachagua.
He revealed that the Kenya Kwanza administration is currently prioritizing agriculture as a solution, despite the fact that the cost of foodstuffs such as maize flour remains high due to ex-President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration’s removal of the maize subsidy.
“We must spend time, effort and money on agriculture. That’s the way to go and I can tell Kenyans that in the next two or three months they are going to start seeing things picking up,” said Mr. Gachagua.
“We have been talking to KRA and we have told them that we need to change our tax regimes. Progressively we are going to have an increase in revenue collection, we are going to increase production of our agricultural commodities.”
“In another 90-100 days, the economy will start feeling the effect of good management,” the DP added.
While noting that their government is working to find a “permanent and sustainable” solution to the high cost of living, the DP dismissed Jubilee’s use of subsidies to reduce fuel and food prices as “deception.”
“We are looking for a permanent and sustainable solution. It would be deceptive to the people of Kenya to continue subsidising the fuel only for a short while, and then we have an economic shutdown. We want to look for a long-term solution and I want to ask people to be very patient, things will work out,” he said.
“The one they did for unga, they are telling us they have pending bills worth Ksh.8 billion. Nobody saw this unga, it was all theft that a few traders and government officials took advantage of. They wanted to bring down the cost of Unga so people could vote for Azimio.”
The revelation by the country’s second in command means Kenyans will have to wait longer to find out whether the current regime will make life easier for them or worsen the situation.
This means that Kenyans will have to tighten their belts in preparation for tough economic times.
