HOLD ON TIGHT 2012 IS BECKONING

 

 

Members of the public waiting to vote.

A few days to 2012 and the whole world will be ushering in a new dawn by celebrating while others will be mourning the beginning of a new year. I say mourning because some will be retiring, others will be ending their contracts thus rendering them jobless, others will have to think of how to raise funds/fees to send their loved ones to various learning institutions. In retrorespect what does the New Year hold for us Kenyans and in particular the young people? Since the last general elections held in the year 2007, Kenya has been through turbulent waters having experienced post-election violence that led to , more than 1,200 Kenyans reportedly killed, thousands more injured and over 300,000 people displaced and around 42,000 houses and many businesses ending up being looted or destroyed, Bombing, abductions and killing of innocent people by the ragtag militia called Al-shabab kind of became a daily phenomena thereby leading Kenya to taking radical decision in trying to wipe out and end this menace of the al-shabab. Depreciation of the shilling led to an increase in the prices of many basic necessities hereby rendering us to what I refer to as “budget ya kadogo”. Many families will celebrate Christmas without those they cherish as some of them are in the frontline in Somalia fighting for our beloved nation Kenya under the outfit of the KDF (Kenyan Defense forces).
As we enter an electioneering year Kenyans once again are on a political rollercoaster where all those self acclaimed messiahs in the name of politicians will be traversing the nation with their mouths wide open screaming to the top of their of voices of how they can, if given the chance lead us to the promised land. As clearly and precisely documented by a report of the World Bank of how the “genie came out of the bottle”explaning the decline of the Kenyan shilling the report states that, Kenya has been navigating through rough economic waters in 2011 due to a combination of external shocks and domestic policy challenges that raised inflation to around 20 percent, and widened the current account deficit to above 10 percent of GDP. As a result, growth for 2011 is estimated to be slightly below expectations, at 4.3 percent. Second, for 2012, the World Bank projects a growth rate of 5 percent if Kenya is successful in managing risks; if not, growth could drop to 3.1 percent. Third, Kenya’s momentous Devolution holds the promise of more equity and prosperity, if government policies strike an appropriate balance between redistribution and growth-enhancing policies, and existing service-delivery arrangements are safeguarded in the short run. For decentralization to be successful, Kenya will need a simple and transparent fiscal transfer architecture, which can be monitored and understood by all citizens, so that they can hold their representatives accountable. REPACTED has in last few months been engaged in civic education program dubbed”TUFANYE SOTE BIDII NDIO WAJIBU WETU” a line borrowed from the Kenyan national anthem. The sole aim of the program which is being funded by UNDP Amkeni Wa Kenya is to sensitize Kenyans on their role and holistic participation in constitutional matters pertaining to DEVOLUTION. REPACTED intends to make sure that by the time Kenyans will be going to the ballot box they will have been empowered constitutionally.