Move on Big Four agenda welcome
A decision by Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, to improve supervision and packaging of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda legacy projects is welcome.
The projects, being a core pillar of the national development agenda and a key enabler to economic growth, should have a single source from which to feel the pulse of progress.
This is a sure way to steer their actualisation in the desired direction. Further, amid all the political shenanigans, to ensure all public reporting channels are collapsed into the Presidential Delivery Unit and the Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat, more certainty will be bred going forward.
This may seem like a move to deepen the implementation of the administration’s and Uhuru’s legacy projects, which it is, but it unveils a very fundamental requirement which could be stymieing economic growth. It follows that when arms of government seem not to be blowing the same trumpet, especially when mandates seem to be overlapping, a lot of resources are spent trying to deliver a communique.
In one single swoop, the Head of Public Service answered the question why, despite the Treasury having pumped billions of shillings into the Big Four Agenda, questions still abound from mwananchi. It therefore follows that should such an approach embody the spirit of public service delivery in all sectors, the country will not only save taxpayers more billions, but also ensure service delivery is faster and effective.
To further digress, it should then follow that if the same thinking is applied in business, the predictability in things like taxes and levies must also be communicated from a centralised position to ensure that the business community has an even playground.
For years on end, captains of industry have raised the red flag, calling for a more predictable business environment to ease the cost of doing business in the country. However, this has been one of the country’s Achilles Heel as counties and the national government shoot from different directions for levies and taxes.
Therefore, as the State moves to sort the communication mess for the Big Four agenda projects, it would make an even bigger impact if similar zeal is used to ensure traders have a single call for taxes. This will go a long way towards reducing the cost of doing business, but also bring some semblance of sanity in the taxation regime.
