Trade CS Moses Kuria has termed as misguided family planning programmes saying there should be an open cheque for families to grow without control.
Speaking when he officially opened the Kenya International Investment Conference in Nairobi on Monday, Kuria said that G20 countries are there not because of their resources but their population.
“Economies are all about population, I really want to ask those people who were there when we were doing this kupanga uzazi, those people are not very good people,” he said.
“I think they misled us because today when you look at G20 countries, half of them are there not because of industrial power, or resources but because of just population and that is why they are in G20."
Kuria gave an example of Indonesia which he visited recently, saying it is the number 15 economy in the world with $1.8 trillion which is equivalent to the entire Africa GDP.
According to Kuria, Indonesia is where it is in development because it has ‘made the best use of its 300 million population.’
“So let us embrace population; let nobody come again with that kind of misguided programme as kupanga uzazi because by now you know even Kenya could be in G20 were it not for those people who came and gave us that kupanga uzazi,” Kuria said.
His remarks are, however, likely to fuel a lot of storm from family planning advocates.
They are coming at a time when efforts have been accelerated to ensure the country attains accessible, equitable and quality family planning services with zero unmet needs by 2030.
Health experts warn that failure to control the population now is likely to make the government take care of the negative impact of population explosion in the immediate future.
Just less than two weeks ago, President William Ruto encouraged women in Njambini to embrace family planning after reports that the area was leading in births.
He acknowledged the government had come up with the free maternity programme popularly known as Linda Mama to cushion women from hospital expenses but said they should give birth in moderation.
This demonstrated political goodwill from the Presidency in an effort to ensure Kenyans bring forth children they can take care of comfortably.
