An opinion leader from Meru has urged the government to take criticism positively and make corrections instead of resulting to abductions.
Erick Mutwiri who unsuccessfully vied for North Imenti parliamentary seat said he is concerned by recent wave of abductions in the country.
“The conversation has diminished a bit and it might look like the issue has faded away. But they still have a lot of concern because of the energy the government is spending in listening and silencing the critics which paint a very bad picture of the government that is not ready to make corrections.
We have a generation of young people who are very exposed and a bit different because of the technology. They are able to do even comparison of how the country is fairing on compared to other countries. They also expect a lot from leaders and do not want to be shortchanged,” Mutwiri said.
He said Gen Z want to see actual developments that gets them job opportunities because most are jobless.
He challenged the government to move with speed and scout for ideas and innovation to transform from the young people instead of resulting to abductions.
Mutwiri said Kenya should borrow a leaf from developed countries like the USA, China and Japan and tap youthful talents.
“The government should not be investing million buying spying technology to monitor youths. It should instead channel that money to talent search and innovation development or incubation centers. Here when a young man tries to make an helicopter and it takes off a few metres and crash we make fun of it ,” Mutwiri noted.
He said the abductions are similar to what happened in the 90s and shows the country is retracting in terms of democratic space.
On economic growth in the country where it is projected the inflation has gone down, Mutwiri said the economy is doing badly as many companies are closing down due to over taxation.
“The cost of living has become even unbearable and even the Mama Mboga and boda boda operators are feeling the pinch because the purchasing power of Kenyans has gone down,” said Mutwiri.
Mutwiri, an economist by profession, said multilateral banks like the world bank have a way of projecting good figures for countries that are cooperating with them.
“The issue of economic propaganda is not new. Earlier in 1990s, the world bank had introduced austerity measures as a means to lend to developing countries. There were countries that refused to take loans and Ghana accepted. It was painted by world bank books to be doing very well so that other Africa countries can accept to opt in. Later on it was discovered the Ghana economy was collapsing,” noted Mutwiri.
He said the best indicators for economic performance are human development index and social development index.
“May be even Tanzania is doing well than Kenya but the world bank may never want be project that way,” remarked Mutwiri.
