The other day I wanted to buy airtime from my bank account. I was informed that to buy Sh20 credit, I would be charged Sh10 fees and Sh2 excise tax. I deemed that too expensive and noted (in my mind) never to go that route again.
Since there was an option to continue, I promptly said no and went to look for credit elsewhere.
The Jubilee government also provides services to its citizen but at exorbitant prices. Consider this: The SGR is up and running and supposed to add 1.5 per cent into our GDP. However, one feels that full value for money wasn’t gotten. Were you happy or sad that we didn’t at this time secure funding for Naivasha to Kisumu? We are fighting counterfeits and tax evasion etc but to small scale traders, this means empty shelves. And why did we register for Huduma number? No, it wasn’t voluntary or knowledge of benefits. It was the veiled threats that your phone could be switched off etc. We stopped logging to increase forest cover, but it was the mandazi sellers, and small hotels, the mutura and soup makers who paid with their low revenues. Gas was to replace charcoal but well we know how that went.
NYS attendance has increased since this administration came to power, as per its manifesto. But for us what we know are scandals after scandals, maybe it should have been disbanded instead. Many other instances abound. There are many reasons for this. One of them is that the government has been a poor communicator. The benefits both immediate and long term aren’t well articulated for the common mwananchi to appreciate. There is also little or no attempts at consensus building and consultation. The government is also using force to implement its projects.
