Show us your economic recovery plan

That Kenya’s economy is in trouble is not in doubt. It is, therefore, not a surprise that the economy is a top issue in the campaigns for the coming General Election.

The two major competing political formations continue to spar over what policy options they will adopt to revitalise the economy, with the United Democratic Alliance, now joined by ANC and Ford Kenya, focusing on a bottom-up model.

The Azimio group, for its part, is focusing on social welfare and revitalisation of rural economies.

Whichever side wins the elections, there is going to be a huge responsibility to lay out a clear policy agenda on the economy. Just like in 2002 when Narc took over, the hard work will be beyond the campaigns.

In 2002, the new government had to develop the economic recovery strategy (ERS) to guide its efforts at jumpstarting the economy. It followed this with the development of Vision 2030.

We are just eight years away from 2030, the same year that the UN Sustainable Development Goals are expected to have been realised. Kenya’s Vision 2030 is far from being met. In fact, it is not currently in public discourse.

My attention was drawn to the development blueprint this past week when I watched the Director-General of Vision 2030 Secretariat Kenneth Mwige speak about Fourth Medium Term Plan that was being worked on.

To its credit, the Narc government developed Vision 2030 to guide the country’s long-term development processes.

The last 10 years of the Jubilee administration has theoretically been guided by Vision 2030. In practice though, the adherence to the blueprint has been rather muted. In the second term, the Big 4 Agenda have been the priority focus areas.

However, unlike ERS and Vision 2030, both in development and in implementation, public engagement on the Big 4 Agenda has been extremely limited.

This approach to policymaking and implementation requires a reset. The starting point must be the current political campaign season.

It is important that as political parties develop their campaign manifestoes, they provide sufficient details on how they will address the economic situation facing the country. Further, they need to start putting together the key elements of an economic recovery policy akin to the 2002 period.

Work around the Fourth Medium Term Plan is ongoing. However, it is important to recognise that this policy should either not be concluded or it will require to be revisited once a new government comes into office.

The economic challenges the country faces cannot de dealt with through a business-as-usual approach. It requires bold and fundamental changes in the manner the economy is governed.

As part of the economic governance reform, there will be need to relook our taxation measures to move away from overtaxing every commodity to innovative measures that enable revenue generation while spurring economic growth. In addition, the country must embrace a culture of public service.

There is an obtaining culture where pilferage and sabotage negatively impact economic growth. Consequently, economic governance reforms need to address societal attitude to inculcate a spirit of fidelity to the country’s interests and not the current penchant for private interests. Bringing back this spirit will require hard work and inspiration.

Making changes to the country’s economy must be founded on sound policies. The last ten years demonstrate that you cannot make fundamental progress without robust policies. Policy can also not be made in secret, kept on shelves and not shared with the populace.

Policy measures to jumpstart the economy needs to consider the challenges brought forth by the pandemic and technology. The adoption of technology in many sectors of the economy will require huge investments but will help spur Kenya’s development trajectory.

The political class has their work cut out for them. In discharging this task, they need to accompany their political promises with innovative and sound costed policy promises.