This budget crisis is self-inflicted by the Jubilee government's lack of fiscal restraint.
Given the escalating stalemate over the budget and taxation, President Uhuru Kenyatta should think outside the box. In paralysis like this, governments resign or dissolve.
Uhuru Kenyatta should dissolve his crisis-ridden government, reconstitute and re-engineer it to regain Kenyans’ confidence.
There's a crisis of confidence over government's inability to manage the economy.
There's agreement across the political divide that corruption is endemic in government and a large contributor to the budget crisis. Much of the burdensome loans and budget are stolen within government bureaucracy.
Ruling party cadres are at odds with the President. They’ve criticised Treasury technocrats for 'misadvising' him.
Uhuru himself voiced disappointment with failure of Treasury appointees to provide cogent economic solutions. He stated the Finance Bill “fell short of (a) threshold. It protected the status quo and sacrificed the bigger vision.”
The President is irked his technocrats have put him at cross-purposes with key institutions. They caused a rift with the Judiciary when they expurgated its budget.
He's also at odds with Parliament, which he accuses of taking “the easy path, instead of rising to the challenges of our time. It was good politics, but bad leadership.”
Disaffection is pervasive within and outside government over lack of consistent fiscal policies. But the government is in denial over the rapacious borrowing spree that has boomeranged.
Debt is Sh4 trillion and growing, creditors have come calling. Government borrowed expensively and the repayment period was very short.
The extravagant projects financed by loans are able to service the loans — they're consuming more loans.
Unfortunately, most of the President’s proposals are an attack on devolution. He confirmed this when he blamed the Constitution that has “fundamentally altered the structures and functions of government” and brought “a substantial increase in political and bureaucratic representation at every level”.
What the President needs, in his words, is not politics but pragmatic, predictable and consistent financial management. He must dissolve to re-engineer government.
The writer is the ANC leader