Creating a conducive environment for local and international investors will be key to Kenya’s economic growth after the 2022 general elections.
The Public Service Governance (PSG) said that leaders must create a conducive and peaceful environment for investment by eliminating corruption in all investment accreditation processes.
The PSG founder and President Ambassador Esther Waringa said that Kenya must also lower the cost of investment to allow finished products coming into the market to be available to the consumer at an affordable price which will reduce the cost of living.
Speaking in Nairobi on Friday, Waringa said that they have information that many investors would like to invest in this country but it has a very bureaucratic complex investment clearance process that is marred with corruption and kickbacks which must come to an end for this country to prosper.
She called on the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to undertake timely and speedy investigations into cartels that block investors by asking for bribes in order to clear the investors.
“The country must be ready to stop counterfeit goods from entering our market. We task the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) to rise up and start identifying the counterfeits and remove them from the market as a means of consumer protection,” she said.
On the electoral season, she advised Kenyans to go back to work as well as all Public Service Agencies including all government ministries to continue with the good work of giving services to the people.
“Our children need to be in school uninterrupted, farmers need to go back to their farms and put food on Kenyans tables; we need to replenish our maize reserve to give way to Unga coming back to our shelves at an affordable price,” explained Waringa.
The president exuded confidence that if these issues are addressed, the economy is expected to experience economic growth of double digits.
On governance issues, Waringa said that they are advocating for a Kenya without elections which have been causing tension in the country leading to investors holding back their investments and negatively impacting the country’s social economic growth.
“We are working on having alternatives to elections where the country births its leadership through vetting and appointments the same way we appoint leadership into one arm of the government that is the judiciary,” said Waringa.
She said that the Kenya Bila Uchaguzi (KBU) initiative has initiated civic education on the matter and educating people on the negative effects of the tribalistic, divisive and expensive elections.
“We are preparing the Kenya Bila Uchaguzi bill which will lead us to a constitutional change through a referendum,” said Waringa.
She explained that the leaders will be vetted by vetting boards which will be in every county same as the County Public Service Boards, they will be responsible for leadership under the county governments. A similar board will be in charge of the national leadership with the national board responsible for oversight over the county boards.
Waringa explained that the voter apathy experienced in the 2022 general elections where slightly over 14 million voters out of the over 22.1 million registered voters turned out to vote is clear testament that Kenyans are tired of the electoral process.
“The current voter apathy is testament that Kenyans are disinterested with elections. billions of shillings were lost in unused ballot papers which could have been used to bring down the cost of Unga,” she said.
