Field Marshal said:This is a 6-month old press release by the World Bank, an institution that is not entirely trustworthy but which half the time gets it correct. Why am I posting the article now?
To remind single-digit baboons that even with the corruption, Kenya inasonga mbele. Your incessant whining won't take this simple fact away. It may help you, from a psychological point of view, live with your poverty or tribal bias (against the Kikuyu and the Kalenjin, who now seem to be the new whipping boys), but the fact is, Kenya is generating the greatest numbers of people entering the middle and rich class outside Nigeria (huuuuuuge population) and Seut Efrika.
Nairobi alone looks like one big construction site. Just drive down Ngong Road, itself under construction or around Upper Hill, Kilimani, anywhere and see.
So, exactly what is the problem, you may ask. There is of course the old curse of wealth distribution. Kenya is an unequal society.
But even more compounding is the proclivity of the poor to breed like rats and THEN expect 'serikali isaidie'. And the refusal of entire communities or sections thereof to take responsibility. You know that Turkana that is now calling for food aid? The men there spend the entire day sitting on an ekicholong as the boys herd and the women fetch water and cook. There are hundreds of Gikuyu youth who are basically zombies from alcohol abuse. Go down to the Coast and watch an entire generation high on cheap coke. In Nyanza, people are still going nyama kwa nyama eti Aids ni chira. Go north in the Rift Valley and you get that the favourite pastime is cattle rustling.
How can such people create generational wealth? Unlikely.
I understand the whining I see here. It is a coping mechanism from young people who see all these buildings coming up but who in the evening have to go back to their single-room 'houses' in Kibra, Kinoo and Kayole. You know you are ferked, and have formed some sort of chama for the miserables. Sad, but true. So whine on, or else you will hang yourself, as many of you already are.
But remember, to use a cliche, NOBODY CAN STOP REGGAE! Kenya itasonga mbele with or without you.
And come 2022, tunapatia Daktari, kazi iendelee. Babuon will NEBP. Liwe Liwalo!
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NAIROBI, October 11, 2018 — Kenya’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth is projected to rise to 5.7% in 2018—up from 4.9% in 2017—and continue to increase steadily to 5.8% in 2019, and 6.0% in 2020, according to the World Bank’s 18th Kenya Economic Update (KEU).
The economic update, In Search of Fiscal Space: Government Spending and Taxation; Who Benefits? attributes the rebound to a recovery in agriculture, steady pick-up in industrial activity and continued robust performance of the services sector. The pick-up in Kenya’s economy is also reflected in improved household consumption and a developing recovery in private investment.
Household consumption is supported by strong remittance inflows and improved rains which has led to better harvests and lower food prices. Similarly, private sector investment is buoyed by improving investor sentiment and the availability of previously pent-up investment demand after a challenging 2017. Further, with benign inflationary conditions, a stable exchange rate, and healthy accumulation of reserves, the stable macroeconomic environment has been broadly supportive of the economic recovery. Nonetheless, with private sector credit growth remaining subdued at 4.3% this pick-up is being curtailed by limited access to credit, as well as headwinds from fiscal consolidation.
“The Bank lauds the government for embarking on needed fiscal consolidation to safeguard macroeconomic stability and help crowd in private sector investment” said Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, World Bank Country Director for Kenya. “Further recalibrating the slowdown in expenditures between recurrent and development spending in favor of the former should allow fiscal consolidation to become more growth friendly.”
Since the 2017 announcement of the “Big 4” development agenda, which prioritizes food security, housing, universal health coverage and manufacturing, Kenya has made some progress in instituting policies that crowd-in private sector engagement, particularly within the affordable housing pillar. The legal and regulatory framework for the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC) has been completed, the Stamp Duty Act providing an exemption for first-time home buyers has been signed into law, and standardized forms to register a change in property ownership have been introduced. Further reforms are needed to advance the goals of food security and nutrition, universal health coverage and manufacturing competitiveness, to maximize the inclusiveness of economic growth.
“While progress is being made to advance the “Big 4”, given the ambitious nature of these objectives, it calls for accelerating the pace of structural reforms, particularly in areas that helps crowd in the private sector to advance the “Big 4,” said Allen Dennis, World Bank Senior Economist and Lead Author of the KEU.
The special section of the KEU examines the distributional consequences of government’s spending and taxation measures. The analysis could provide input for designing pro-poor policies and describes the rate at which economic growth translates into poverty reduction.
“Personal income tax in Kenya is progressive with the poorest 40% accounting for 14.3% of market income but less than 1% of direct taxes,” said Utz Pape, World Bank Senior Economist and author of the special section on Fiscal Incident Analysis. “In contrast, 80% of the tax incidence is borne by the richest 10% of Kenya’s population.”
The special section also examines which benefits of social spending accrues to the poor. For example, cash transfer programs are well-targeted because a large fraction of the benefits is captured by the poor. However, cash transfer schemes in Kenya cover only a small portion of the population and could be expanded further to increase their poverty-reducing effect. However, more robust revenue mobilization would be needed to increase coverage significantly.
Then I replied to you.
Okiya said:So @FieldMarshal CouchP posted a thread today showering praises that the economy is growing by 6%, that there are buildings and houses on Ngong Road and that we should stop whining excetra excetra... Well, its ironical that someone who was whining early in the year after being called mshenzi is now angry at other people whining about the economy. Anyway...call it whining or whatever here's my take...
1) You are right that population growth is messing us up. That's a fact. High population consumes the little resources available.
2) 80% of Kenyans are in the informal economy. I am sure that you don't know that the informal economy IS NOT captured in the data used to measure GDP growth of Kenya. The economy from which millions earn a living is largely ignored by official data gathering and analytical efforts. Therefore, you cannot extrapolate positive overall GDP growth as reflective of performance of the informal economy. SAWA?
3) The challenge is to make this 6% growth inclusive so that more people benefit from it. But what is happening right now? Massive corruption. We're celebrating Nyandarua and Makueni counties for having unqualified reports. Yani that's how badly we've become in terms of corruption that when 2 counties out of 47 give unqualified opinion for the first time in 6 years it makes headlines. 280 financial reports since 2013 have been qualified!!!!.
So Guka, today don't go to Zanze Bar to play pool which I can beat you btw, challenge yourself by visiting the informal business men and women uwaulize about hali ya maisha.
This thread is not an endorsement of raila or hating on anyone for 2022 so keep your liwe niwalo and RWNBP out of this.
Over to you @FieldMarshal CouchP
If the administration was good and the economy was booming just a year ago like you said, na ilikuwa inasonga mbele despite the noise let's see them now come to the rescue the kenyan workers and the economy from the shock of the virus.
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