Politics and policy
President Uhuru Kenyatta when he made his address to the nation at the National Assembly on March 27. Photo/BILLY MUTAI
By EDWIN MUTAI, emutai@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- Mr Kenyatta described as a perception that the widening of the tax net had increased the cost of living and hurt the poor.
- He said all learning institutions would be connected to the national grid in the next one year to facilitate an ICT revolution in the rural areas.
- He said the planned irrigation of a million hectares of land, supply of subsidised fertilizer to farmers, construction of water storage facilities and road construction would contribute to low food prices and ensure food security
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday indicated that there was no going back on the Value Added Tax Act that came into force last October, leaving businesses and households grappling with higher costs.
In his first State of the Nation address delivered
in Parliament, Mr Kenyatta described as a perception that the widening
of the tax net had increased the cost of living and hurt the poor.
“However, this will be a temporary jab but in the
long run will be good for country,” he said, adding that his
administration had improved competitiveness by instituting measures that
would lead to a reduction in the cost of goods and services.
“The high cost of energy made goods and food more
expensive. Our response was to move to the most ambitious energy
programme in history where we intend to generate 5,000 megawatts of
energy that bring electricity to a rate that 80 per cent of households
can afford in three years,” he said.
He said all learning institutions would be
connected to the national grid in the next one year to facilitate an ICT
revolution in the rural areas.
He said the planned irrigation of a million
hectares of land, supply of subsidised fertilizer to farmers,
construction of water storage facilities and road construction would
contribute to low food prices and ensure food security.
“We are increasing investment in rural development
to ensure growing food, opening up of feeder roads and boosting agro
food processing. The seamless opening up of the East African region will
ease trade in and movement of goods and services within and outside the
country,” the President said.
He said the launch of the controversial standard
gauge railway, the ground breaking ceremony for the JKIA Greenfield
Terminal, and modernisation of the port of Mombasa and completion of
major roads to neighbouring countries would make Kenya a logistic and
transport hub.
He urged Parliament to urgently review laws on security in order to close gaps that are a threat to economic development.
In his first State of the Nation address,
Mr Kenyatta said containing the rising cases of insecurity, addressing
the cost of living, ballooning public wage bill, food security and
infrastructure development were the only routes to a stable, inclusive
and prosperous nation.
The President said he would
“Our resolve was firm. The unity of the nation was preserved in the last September attack and on the Baby Satrine Osinya of Likoni church attack,”
he said, in reference to the Westgate mall attack where 65 people were
killed and the Likoni church attack that claimed six lives last Sunday.
“My government has launched two major new security
programmes -the Nyumba Kumi initiative and introduction of Closed
Circuit Television (CCTV) in major cities as well as broad band
connectivity at border points,” he told a joint sitting of Parliament,
in an address that lasted 47 minutes.
He said the measures were paying off with violent crime falling by eight per cent last year
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