When I was younger, I used to hear of midlife crisis and would laugh off the concept. In retrospect, I feel that midlife crisis is real and should be taken seriously. Those in your 20s and 30s pay attention.
THREAD 🧵 Many of us thought that by the time we get to 40, we would have ticked all the boxes in life and looking forward to retiring in bliss. I thought at such an age I would be working for fun not funds. But life had other ideas.

We need to stop pretending that the implementation of CBC is going on well. It isn't! JSS students in public schools are hardly studying. The inadequacy in resources has rendered the implementation of CBC in public schools an impossible task.
THREAD 🚨 For instance, there aren't enough teachers to deliver the curriculum. The few JSS teachers are overworked and expected to perform miracles.

This is the statement of government's fiscal affairs for the first half of the financial year. The government spent the equivalent of 57% of tax revenues on debt expenditure (principal and interest).
THREAD 🚨 However, the amount budgeted to be spent on debt expenditure in the revised estimates is equivalent to 75% of tax revenues.

Only 15% of the development spending for the national government has been realised with 50% of the year gone.

The worst thing that poverty robs a person is not money. It is self confidence. Once your self esteem is drained, recovery becomes almost impossible. 🧵 Poverty thereafter becomes a self-perpetuating disaster. Even your children will lack confidence which will impair their progress in life.

The things which happen in Kenya's electricity sector can be very depressing. The other day, the Energy CS revealed that cheap hydropower from the Turkwel Hydropower plant has been replaced with expensive solar power from IPPs. 🧵 This is sickening as it is. But wait till you hear the explanation. Sometime back three solar power plants each with 40 MW power were set up in Eldoret. The transmission line which delivers the power from Turkwel couldn't handle both the solar and hydropower.

The ongoing demolitions in Athi River are barbaric and inhumane acts of economic sabotage. They irony is that they are directed by people who are seasoned and unmatched land-grabbers.
THREAD 🧵 While it is true that the contested land belongs to EAPC, there can be no justification to demolish people's houses without adequate notice to vacate. This is illegal. The hurried demolition was also done to deny the victims the right to appeal the ruling.

Those #DeadCapital stories about Luo and Kikuyu lifestyles are like two mad men arguing about who is more mad than the other. Building a home you don't use and having money in a bank while living in squalor are the same. Allow me to elucidate;
THREAD 🧵 These are psychological manifestations of childhood trauma induced by abject poverty. The guy who keeps money in bank while suffering is paranoid. He lives in daily fear of reverting to poverty. He is paralysed from spending.

A story is told of monkeys which used to invade a certain maize plantation. The monkeys really hated the farmer because he would chase them away and stop them from enjoying the maize.
THREAD 🧵 One day news reached the forest that the farmer had died. The monkeys broke into celebrations. At last the one who used to stop us from eating maize is no more.

Tanzanian inflation for the month of June has dropped to 3.6%. Yet some regime apologists claim high cost of living is a global thing!
THREAD 🧵 In 2019, I was in Dar es Salaam and one Kenya Shilling could get you 22 Tanzania Shillings. Today 1 KSh is equal to 17 TSh. The Kenya Shilling has depreciated significantly against regional currencies including the Uganda Shilling.

As discussed earlier, economies don't collapse in a day. Economic collapse is a long drawn out process. In this article, I have, described three phases of economic weakening. As you can see, even with all our problems, we are still not near the worst of places.
LONG THREAD 🧵 Our situation redeemable but time is not on our side.
Phase 1: Onset of Economic Crisis
i. Falling business profits as can be seen by performance of listed companies

The fears that Kenya can default on the USD 2 billion Eurobond maturing next year are somehow exaggerated. The government has many options of dealing with the issue.
THREAD 🧵 There is the current proposal to buy back the bonds from the secondary markets. This will reduce the bullet payment required next year and also save us from interest expenses.

The way this regime has politicised the economy will come back to bite them hard. While it is obvious Uhuru bears responsibility for a lot of the economic mess we are in, it doesn't make sense to dwell on that post election.
THREAD 🧵 Elections ended and the regime in charge is there to not only correct the mess but also leave the situation better. If they fail in that, the former regime will also politicise their failure.

I have been wrestling with the question as to whether a government can be voted out on the account of economic mismanagement.
A THREAD 🧵 This can happen in developed countries which practise more issue based politics. Such countries also have a large middle class which feels the pinch of economic mismanagement and therefore likely to be more politically aggressive about it.

The unprecedented and uncouth attack on @NationMediaGrp by trade CS @HonMoses_Kuria should be condemned by every Kenyan who loves this country.
A THREAD 🧵 The brothel inspired digital diarrhoea is unbecoming of a leader ranking so high in government.

The allegations and perceptions that TransCentury and East Africa Cables (EAC) thrived during Kibaki era due to political patronage are baseless disinformation.
LONG 🧵 During Kibaki era, East Africa Cables was a thriving cables manufacturer. It was a solid company. Its sales were growing and it consistently paid dividends.

Listening to the Housing Fund debate, one would think that this is the first time we are doing affordable housing. In Nairobi, there are many estates owned by Nairobi County Government.
A THREAD 🧵 Houses in such estates have very affordable rents. The rents are rarely adjusted upwards. That is how many Nairobi City Council workers managed to afford decent housing in prime locations in the city.

There is a real estate company which is marketing their products with a lot of hype. They remind me of Cytonn and their Cytonnaire hype. Surprisingly, their website has very little details apart from lots of aggressive marketing hype and appeal to emotions.
THREAD 🧵 Many of these real estate firms start with good intentions. But once the billions start flowing in, they realise how easy it is to con people.

The PLAN to import certain food commodities duty free in the name of lowering food prices must have been the greatest heist ever. 🧵 After shadowy characters imported the items, prices of the same skyrocketed. They must have made windfall profits.

The kind of opportunistic politics being practised by former and current Jubilee MPs in Mt. Kenya region are very primitive. People should be principled.
THREAD 🧵 You can't oppose a government when it is vying for power and once it wins an election you join it. If you didn't believe that the KK leadership qualified for those offices, what has changed now?

The Affordable Housing project being implemented is clearly a vendor driven project. You can always tell a vendor driven by the following features;
AN EDUCATIVE 🧵 1. Project has no clear objectives - is it to lower rents or create employment?

The Affordable Housing Project as currently designed is already turning out to be one of the worst scandals in the history of this country. All the ambiguity you see in the project is strategically designed to facilitate corruption and plunder of public resources.
🧵 I was shocked to hear the Housing PS publicly acknowledge that the people being allocated the affordable houses are letting them out at exorbitant rates.