In the recent months, the government has been on a loan-spree-mode which culminated by the rejection of a mega loan by the Chinese. The loan, worth about US$3.2b was expected to complete another span of railway through Naivasha and on wards to Kisumu. Well, that hit an unexpected turn which was a hooray for Kenyans and a boohoo for the government! But when will our leaders turn their heads back home and maximize the potential this country has?
The issues
The current SGR project, has raked a whooping US$3.6 billion which translates to Ksh360 billion! And for a government that thinks a railway line will solve Kenya's economic dilemma, yes, SGR is a milestone and may be in the long run.
But that won't happen without management tact, which as we know, doesn't seem to exist in Kenya or at least in the current government. But that's not the worry here. The worry is in how much money we generate as a country and where does it go to?
So where does the money go to?
Rumor has it that Kenya lose more than one billion shillings everyday in corruption. So at least we know where most of that money go! It goes to hell together with Kenyan's dream of a developed nation. It doesn't stop there though.
Kenyan recurrent budget is probably the most vexatious accounting flops in existence. First and foremost, the salary inequality that exists in this country is totally bizarre and infuriating.
There are Kenyans working for the government who earns Ksh30,000 while others working for the same government takes home a whooping Ksh1.5 million minus allowances! Those with a salary of Ksh 30, 000 are required to pay bus fare, rent, food, fees, taxes, etcetera from their eensy-weensy salary! That is not to say that their jobs are not worth a better pay, it is to say, literally, that the government fails to pay them market value of their positions.
The ones with huge salaries of Ksh1.5 million plus, mostly politicians, are entitled to a government vehicle and a neat cash to buy personal automobiles, free hospital costs, school fees for their doted children, free telephone bills not to mention a lavish home with security guards paid for by the guy earning peanuts!
And these are the same people evading taxes and stealing the rest of the remaining cash supposed to help the poor!
The bizarre budget
With the current constitution, we have a horde of 400 Members of Parliament, receiving not less than Ksh 550, 000 a month of basic salary. This does not include any allowances which put together, amounts to a lash of around Ksh1.2-Ksh1.6 million.
Do not forget that their vehicle maintenance and gas is all on our tax money! In short, the government of Kenya is spending 700 billion on about 400 people only! Inclusive of allowances, most of our governors takes home huge cash than US governors of Florida, Colorado, Oregon, Arkansas, Nebraska etc. In the current expenditure, the Government of Kenya can pay California, New York and Texas Governors with ease.
Kenya vs Carlifornia
Let's see. California has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $2.6trillion with a per capita GDP of $60,000 and a population of 39.5million. Their governor receives a paycheck of $15,000 per month which is equivalent to Ksh 1.5million per month.
Kenya has a GDP of $74billion with a per capita GDP of $1169 and a population of 50 million. Our 47 governors receives a paycheck of around $12,000 US dollars per month. California is the biggest economy amongst all the 50 states and has one governor, one senator, two representatives and has 58 counties. Each County, (which by the way is ten times richer than many of our counties), has a county executive.
Remember, we are comparing Kenya with an economic savvy state with the biggest science research companies in the World, home of the Google, magnificent air and sea ports, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious universities, top notch hospitals etcetera but can only afford to pay its governor US $15,000.
Kenya on the other hand, has questionable universities producing questionable degrees, staggering unemployment index, wreckage hospitals with amateurish services, filthy slums (which by the way not even a fly is supposed to live there), underdeveloped airports, disorganized government revenue systems filled with cutthroat thugs, etcetera. And Kenya Government, incapable of feeling embarrassment, affords monthly, to pay 47 impractical governors a whopping $12000 U.S dollars!
We have not even mentioned 47 MPs, 47 Senators, 47 women representatives, 1000's of MCA's (MCA's who by the way don't even know why they exist). Kiambu has more than 50 wards which translates to 50MCAs. Do the MCA math for rest of the country! Its ludicrous at the least.
Powerless SRC
The Salaries and Remuneration Committee, (SRC) established through the constitution to monitor and balance this madness is paralyzed mainly because, (1) They can't figure out where to start with this mess or (2), they are enjoying the mess because it serves them better and (3) Their advice falls on deaf ears which means their work is meaningless, useless and they should pack and go to hell because Kenyans do not deserve cowards!
Screwed up country
Its not a shaggy-dog-story to say that we are a-one-screwed-up-country and unless this gross madness of unequal distribution of wealth, overstretched salaries and runaway corruption are not corrected by whatever means necessary, the dream of a developed Kenya is as barren as a rock.
For fifty years, abject poverty, deplorable health services, filthy slums that no one says anything about, dusty Neanderthal roads, substandard education system, abandoned projects, unbounded corrupt politicians has defined us.
We can say there are few changes on infrastructure, but at what cost? One kilometer that is built, there are a few millions stolen! Its the drunk person walking style; one step forward, two backwards! And this changes happening now, should have happened twenty-five years ago! But corruption will never let this country breath!
If nothing is done as is always the case, and the current generation of Kenyans continue to bury their heads in the sand as if nothing is going on, it will be too late to recover this nation in the deep end of the abyss for many years.
Currently, we need about $52 billion budget (Ksh5.2 Trillion) to restore lost lakes, levee the ones that are breaking the shows to peoples residents in Turkana and to take care of Kenyans climate change in general. If we don't do this now and work towards climate change, the future generations are so screwed up than we are!
The money stolen and banked by corrupt leadership in foreign banks is literally moving the country closer to a garrote.
Our leaders should either enlighten and straighten things up before Kenyans declare that enough is enough and at that point in time, it will be too late for their redemption!