Rivalry among State arms hurts nation’s economy
Kenya has made remarkable strides in socio-economic and political spheres but has yet to conquer some of the challenges that hamper development in third world countries, including those aspiring to enter the middle income nations bracket.
And top of these challenges is the economy, the lifeblood of any country. It must be nurtured to give life to the regeneration of society.
Of course, policies that guide socio-economic take-off are largely determined by politics; healthy governance based on the tenets of accountability and transparency.
It cannot be gainsaid that despite the country’s economy having had mixed successes, it has, overall, remained promising.
But in the last few years coupled by ambiguous, and at times unpredictable policies, in an unstable global economic scene, it has performed dismally and affected service delivery and implementation of government programmes.
This poor economic run has hurt the vulnerable, who are the majority, in society.
To jumpstart the economy, the government needs to roll out targeted programmes and even inject economic stimulus packages.
This calls for honest and robust engagement by all actors— State, civil society, citizens, donor community and trading partners— and not excuses. This is why when the three arms of government; the Executive, Judiciary and Legislature, must strive at all times to focus on service and welfare of the citizen.
Unfortunately, this has not been the case. For instance, only last week the Executive and Judiciary were accusing each other over a dam project.
The multi-billion dam case pitting National Irrigation Board against the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board saw the two State firms go at each other hammer and tongs, but the blame seems to be placed on the Judiciary.
The President waded into the tendering controversy, criticising the court ruling that quashed the contract awarded to a consortium of British and Turkish firms.
While this blame game will keep drawing more players into it, the project will be at a standstill, at an escalating cost - and of no service to the public.
It is, therefore, important that Kenya’s nascent economy is delicately nurtured. This is only possible if the three arms of government, though independent, work seamlessly on national interest issues.
The economy is too important to be sacrificed at the altar of expediency.
