KEPSA lauds Ruto for commitment to 'people-driven, economy-led' agenda

The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has lauded President William Ruto for his commitment to running a people-driven and economy-led administration.

KEPSA said that via a statement issued on Wednesday in which it appreciated the Head of State. 

“The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) applauds H.E. President Dr. William Ruto’s commitment to running a people-driven and economy-led administration as guided by his political manifesto,” KEPSA said.

In the statement, KEPSA acknowledged the outcome of private-public partnerships. 

“KEPSA is made up of all sectoral associations and companies, from start-ups, SMEs, large corporations, and multinationals. We recognize the crucial outcomes that private-public partnerships could continue to bring to bear in achieving economic stability and development as the country reels from the devastating effects of COVID-19 and global supply chain disruptions, coupled with a potential global recession,” the statement read.

KEPSA said the country’s economy continued to perform well at the beginning of 2022, despite pressure from global factors. 

The economy, however, has been vulnerable to increasing commodity import prices, partly due to the disrupted global supply chains on the importation of food, petrol, and fertilizer, as well as affecting Kenya’s exports of avocados, cut flowers, tea, and other products.

The devastating drought, Kenya's worst in 40 years, is another debilitating challenge as over three million people in 23 counties in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) region are food insecure.

They affirmed their dedication to work with all stakeholders in the public and private sectors to implement the numerous plans and projects for the achievement of both long-term and short-term goals given the challenges.

“Given these challenges, KEPSA said the country should be doubly motivated to act as a nation, especially following the general election and a seamless transition into new leadership,” KEPSA said.

“We reaffirm our unwavering dedication to working with all stakeholders in the public and private sectors to implement the numerous plans and projects that are intended to achieve both our short-term and long-term socioeconomic objectives.”

In keeping with their role as the voice of the private sector, KEPSA said they welcomed President Ruto’s focus on creating a supportive business environment for job creation, economic stability, and commerce, with a particular interest in the following priority agendas:

Small Business Development: KEPSA is doing a lot around both the business environment and projects to support this segment of businesses that make up over 90 per cent of our membership and is the largest in the country. This recognition of SMEs highlights their significance and key position in the production of private sector jobs and economic growth through various supply chain integration. Supported by the "Made in Kenya" procurement policy for both local and foreign firms as well as supply chain links based on the 30–40 per cent local content policy in government projects, this has the added potential to consolidate many of the benefits from the "Buy Kenya, Build Kenya" effort.

Access to Credit: Businesses should have more access to credit as a result of the proposed reforms in the current Credit Referencing Bureau (CRB) framework into a credit rating system rather than a blacklisting organization. We also applaud the creation of the Hustlers' Fund, which will supplement current funding models like the Biashara Fund, whose creation we supported.

Growing a "Savings Culture": We also applaud the promise to take immediate action, such as policy changes, to remedy Kenya's subpar saving culture. At 12 per cent, it is significantly lower than Africa's average of 17 per cent. Saving is a crucial element in eradicating poverty and can also support growth opportunities in access to finance, investments, and financial inclusion of marginalized populations.

Funding to Judiciary: We thank the President and his administration for considering this key proposal, which formed part of the private sector economic manifesto presented to President Ruto as a presidential candidate in the run-up to the August 9 general elections. This will improve effective dispute resolution and access to justice. We applaud the government's pledge to increase the judicial budget allocation to the worldwide standard by an additional Sh15 billion over the next five years.

Food Security: KEPSA is coordinating private sector capabilities to support the government and other stakeholders to mitigate the current effects of drought. We are also having discussions to develop proposals for actionable long-term solutions, including necessary policy reviews around reducing post-harvest losses, cold-chain infrastructure, value addition, and blending, as well as ring-fencing drought mitigation contingency planning and action.

KEPSA applauded the government's action in relieving farmers from the high cost of production by making affordable fertilizer available at Sh3,500 for a 50 kg bag, down from Sh6,500.

They expressed their feeling that there is more that can be done to reduce agricultural production costs and look forward to furthering engagement with sector stakeholders in outlining these areas for improvement.

Tax Reforms and Incentives for Economic Competitiveness: The private sector has pushed hard to have a policy-predictable environment to attract both foreign and local businesses over the years. The local taxation regime is still generally unresponsive to the demands of both large and small businesses. Even so, we applaud the President's commitment to maintaining the tax code's consistency and predictability to support long-term investment strategies. This will help make the policy and regulatory framework around tax collection and administration more transparent, including re-configuring the Kenya Revenue Authority into a Kenya Revenue Service.

Ebola Risk Mitigation: We are aware of the potential economic and health costs posed by the Ebola outbreak, with fatalities from the disease already recorded in the neighbouring country of Uganda. We are currently keeping an eye on the evolving scenario and are prepared to deploy and mobilize private sector efforts similar to our response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Other medium-to-long-term areas of focus for KEPSA include promoting inclusive wealth creation and job growth; reducing inequalities; improving governance and economic stability; as well as inspiring innovation and investments in competitive human capital.

The government can use a "demand-driven consumption" paradigm to further integrate small businesses into its procurement value chains in implementing Vision 2030 projects and other projects. This would organically generate wealth and jobs locally and contribute to Kenya's efforts to achieve middle-income status by 2030 by eliminating socioeconomic inequities and fostering resilience and social stability.

KEMPA said it was committed to working closely with all the stakeholders to improve the business environment in the country.

"We commit to working collaboratively with both the national and county governments, among other stakeholders, through the various KEPSA public-private dialogues in pursuit of yearly improvements in the overall business environment as well as Kenya's global competitiveness," KEPSA said.

They also commit to continuing to implement programs and projects with the government like the Ajira Digital Program and others.