One thing counties should have done is to recognise heroes at the county level. There is this issue in Central Kenya where many of the musicians who were big stars and passed on have left their families in a lot of misery. #MashujaaDay 🧵
These people contributed a lot to the community. They maybe unknown outside the region but that doesn't make them less of heroes. Counties ought to have programmes and funds towards recognising heroes.
Similar cases abound even regarding heroes in the world of sports. The only heroes who are never forgotten are the political ones. We need to change this culture.
Heroes exist in all disciplines and regions. We need to broaden our understanding of heroes. In fact, counties should erect monuments to celebrate their local heroes.
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This Hustlers Fund idea keeps on mutating. It is now turning into an unrecognisable mongrel. It is obvious the idea was never properly thought out. The fund's intentions are not economic but political. #HustlerFund 🧵
Before setting up another fund we should have studied what happened to Youth Fund, Women Fund and Uwezo Fund. There is nothing to show for all the money poured into these things.
2/8
When the Youth Fund was established in 2005, I was one of the people who participated in a forum to give views on how it should be run. That time I was the Chairman of the Kenya Association of Young Entrepreneurs which I founded soon after we left campus.
3/8
The rate at which we have normalised the high prices we are paying for basic stuff concerns me a lot. The other day I went to a supermarket and I found myself adding up the prices on the receipt just to be sure I had not been robbed.
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I stopped eating rice years ago. Those days a kg of Pearl rice used to cost less than KShs 200. I was just moving around in a supermarket and was shocked to see the same rice going for over KShs 300 per kg. I hear rumours that a 2kg pack of sugar is selling at over KShs 300.
2/8
Prices of things like tissue paper, soap, washing powder have shot up by huge margins.
The bad news is that once these prices go up they never come down. Look at prices of cooking oil.
3/8
There are some remarks Ruto made in a certain forum which I found to be condescending. He was saying that we should not be crying about cheap Uganda milk. He says we should add value to our milk and export it then import the cheap one from Uganda and drink it.
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The remarks appear to portray Uganda as a backward country which can only manage primary production.
2/8
For years, Kenya used to be an economic powerhouse. We had no equal. Regional countries depended on us for their manufactured consumption.
3/8
The cabinet secretary nominees vetting and the revelations on wealth tell much about our obsession with land. This is the reason why despite the ongoing economic constraints, people continue to build houses without any reference to market conditions.
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When investment decisions are built on sentiments, you always run the risk of creating a bubble.
2/6
Probably the most powerful concept I learnt in marketing is that "need is not demand". Demand is willingness and ability to buy.
The latest Treasury bond has been sold with a coupon rate of 14.19%. CBK had resisted crossing this mark for long but it is finally here as was bound to be the case.
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There is no way the government will continue borrowing cheaply when inflation is on the rise. We are now entering a high interest rate regime.
Things would be much worse were it not for the usual tinkering with inflation figures.
Last evening, I saw well fed Turkana County officials distributing paltry amount of relief food to emaciated and malnourished locals on AlJazeera. The leaders were smiling like they had just won a gold medal for their county.
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We have failed to produce food and now can't even distribute food. What kind of incompetence is this?
We need to reflect on whether counties have achieved the goals for which they were established. Over two trillion shillings have been spent on counties.