Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has maintained former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration left a dying economy with the National Treasury having no money to implement their campaign pledges.
Gachgua said that during an interview on Sunday in a local media house when he appealed to Kenyans to exercise patience as the Kenya Kwanza Alliance administration is working towards achieving its campaign pledges, which include managing the constantly increasing cost of living.
“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,” Gachagua said.
“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.”
Read More
Gachagua defended President William Ruto’s move to suspend the fuel subsidy, claiming it was not sustainable and would have caused an economic shutdown.
“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,” Gachagua said.
On the price of unga, Gachagua said it was not also sustainable to continue subsidising the cost of unga arguing that subsidising production is more beneficial.
“You subsidise fertilizer to increase maize production to lower the cost of unga. That is pragmatic leadership but just saying that you want to subsidise unga, for how long can you do it? It is not sustainable and you are doing it at the expense of development,” the deputy president said.
The deputy president assured Kenyans that all was not lost, as they now have a president who knows what he is doing.
He also told Kenyans that things will change within three months, confirming that about 1.4 million bags are available and ready for the short rains season.
“I want to tell the people of Kenya that all is not lost. We have now a new President who knows what he is doing. We have a President who is willing to sit down and get good advice from economists and other professionals,” Gachagua said.
“Right now, there is no money at the Treasury, in another two-three months, Kenyans will start seeing things picking up, already we have 1.4 million bags of fertiliser ready for the short rains.”
During their campaigns, Ruto and Gachagua promised to arrest the high cost of living and set Kenya on the path to economic recovery and prosperity.
However, Kenyans are a bit sceptical about the pledges as they have already started complaining about the increased cost of life, especially after the recent review of fuel prices by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) that saw the rise in fuel prices to a monumental high.
The increase in the cost of fuel has a ripple effect across all sectors, from production to transport, which is usually shouldered by consumers.
