By CAROLINE WAFULA cwafula@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Monday, April 25 2011 at 22:00
Posted Monday, April 25 2011 at 22:00
In Summary
- Assistant ministers challenge Kibaki and Raila to act on rising cost of living to avoid a rebellion
Two assistant ministers want MPs and ministers banned from foreign travel and allowances frozen until the government acts on the rising cost of living.
They are also demanding that systems of public enterprise funds be urgently reviewed and efficiency of the kitties assessed.
Mr Kabando wa Kabando (Sports) and Mr Ndiritu Muriithi (Industrialisation) want President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to give priority to IDP resettlement and high cost of living to save the nation from ‘an explosion of discontent.’
“To stem the rising tide of imminent popular discontent caused by rising costs of living, and botched IDPs resettlement programme, there is need for emergency in setting comprehensive systems to deal with these challenges,” they said in a joint statement on Monday.
They warned that failure to handle the two issues could plunge the country into chaos.
“We are creating a “community” of rejected, stateless, citizens, with the state showing complete inability to handle the ensuing drama and conspiracies. IDPs will become extremely desperate. Scene of weak, elderly women, young mothers cuddling their infants being stigmatized by political ‘bouncers’ invite anger and frustrations…
“It is our responsibility to act. To meet the June deadline for IDPs resettlement, salaries and foreign travel for MPs and Ministers should be frozen until decisive actions are taken. Otherwise, none of is safe. We are staring greater disaster in the face,” they cautioned.
The leaders argued that the public was not getting value for their money hence the need to audit the specialist public enterprise funds.
They want funds allocated to commercial financial institutions for lending to the youth and women, and small businesses accounted for before further disbursements.
“We demand a full and public disclosure of usage and lending of public money entrusted to all commercial banks,” they said.
The proposed audit should indicate if the country has managed to attain the 600,000 to 700,000 jobs creation target.
The assistant ministers said preferences for private financial institutions over development financial institutions (DFIs) should be reconsidered, noting that this will encourage lending systems that are easy-to-track.
DFIs include institutions such as the Kenya Industrial Estates, Industrial Development Bank, Industrial Commercial & Development Corporation and Sector Specific SACCOs (Youth and Women).
The statement warns Kenyans are not accessing development funds to start business or upgrade and refurbish their existing investments.
“Rent seeking in these programmes could be taking root. It is very important that we revive and strengthen development financial institutions to benefit both micro and macro enterprises,” they stated.
The assistant ministers said they will push for the reforms within Government.
“We feel strongly obliged to rollout this agenda to the public domain. We demand full and public disclosures of usage (lending) of public money entrusted to all commercial banks. Watch-dog groups and the relevant Parliamentary Committees also need to take this matter up.”
The MPs also questioned the efficacy of agencies buying land for IDP resettlement and demanded full disclosure on their operations.
“The whole programme is becoming a sham, leading to rejection of genuine IDPs by politicians through their hired goons. It is a charade, due diligence seems completely absent, thus alienating communities in resettlement areas,” they pointed out.
The pair also challenged the Kenya Anti-Corruption to investigate the project, which they claimed was swindling Kenyans of millions.
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