According to Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, Kenyans should prepare for even tougher times, as it will take at least two years to turn the economy around.
In response to a query from a member of the House on Wednesday, Mudavadi said that solving the nation’s problems would take time, “like making instant coffee.”
Mudavadi stated that the government has no control over some elements that contribute to the high cost of living in response to a query from Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan regarding the efforts the state is making to reduce the cost of essential items.
“We are in this for the long haul,” he said, citing “the public debt and the Ukraine-Russia war” as factors contributing to the cost of living crisis.
“We have no capacity to determine when the war will end. We have to be realistic. It will take a bit of time, but no situation is permanent,” said the CS.
He said that the government is also reducing imports, expanding agricultural output of staple foods, waiving tariffs on imported food items, and cultivating drought-resistant crops, among other measures to lessen the high cost of living.
Lands Cabinet Secretary Zachariah Njeru and Salim Mvurya, a representative of the Ministry of Mines, Blue Economy, and Marine Affairs, both testified before the Senate. Njeru explained the government’s security measures for public lands.
“We are already going on with the national titling programme … to secure land belonging to learning institutions,” he told the lawmakers.
Njeru claimed that in order to guarantee fair pay whenever the government launches national projects, the government has established a national land value index for 22 counties. Additionally, it will help the government and private businesses make informed investment decisions.
Following a geophysical survey, Mvurya said that the government had discovered a total of 970 minerals throughout the nation. He made plans for value-added stations to be built in the counties.
Introducing Duty Waivers
Regarding duty waivers for food imports, Mudavadi claimed that the action would help stabilise prices and fill the gap in the food supply.
He claimed that in order to accomplish this, the government waived import duties on 1.4 million metric tonnes of white maize, 600,000 metric tonnes of rice, and 500,000 kilogramme tonnes of yellow maize that will be used to make animal feed.
Also, from February through August, when the nation anticipates its first harvest, duty was cancelled for 200,000 metric tonnes of soybeans, 300,000 metric tonnes of soybean meal, 1,600 metric tonnes of various protein concentrates, and 40,000 metric tonnes of feed additive.
Musalia Mudavadi says he wants the government to operate like a business.
Almost 250 tonnes of various drought-tolerant seeds worth Sh50 million, according to Mr. Mudavadi, have been given in the counties of Embu, Meru, Makueni Machakos, Nyeri, Siaya, Tharaka Nithi, Murang’a, and Busia.