Siaya governor James Orengo has claimed that Kenya is broke.
According to him, the government has no funds and therefore it is unable to release funds to constituencies.
The politician added that the country has joined the list of the poorest countries but the government lacks proper strategies to revive the economy.
“In the world of Africa now… you look at all the economies in Africa, Kenya is doing very badly. Yesterday I spoke to someone very senior in government and he told me things are very very bad. There is no money in the economy. The government, for the first time, is not giving natural funds which should go to the constituencies. Although Kenya Kwanza is talking very loudly, they are not sending money to the counties,” said Orengo.
He further noted that Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania were receiving more foreign investments than Kenya because of the dwindling economy.
“You have heard Uganda is now getting more foreign investment than Kenya… You have heard that Ethiopia is now a bigger economy than Kenya many times. You have heard that the Tanzanian economy has expanded in the last 20 years seven times and Tanzania is doing much better than Kenya,” he said.
On Wednesday, ODM leader Raila Odinga had addressed the issue of foreign investors opting for neighboring countries and not Kenya. The opposition leader said that was being witnessed because of the high taxation that had been imposed by president William Ruto’s administration.
“If you are going to be taxing turnover, what is the investor going to have? Because your are not just in business to pay tax. You are in business to make money so that you can be able to pay dividends to your shareholders but if the government wants to take everything from you, where is the incentive? Why do you have to do business. People will be looking at tax friendly destinations,” he told Citizen TV.
