Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka during a past event. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The current state of the economy has been described as a cause
for concern especially given the increasing job losses and closure of
businesses.
Giving a keynote address
during a roundtable meeting between the Senate and the Kenya Private
Sector Alliance (Kepsa) at a Naivasha hotel yesterday, Speaker Kenneth
Lusaka cited the recent job losses at the troubled Mumias Sugar Company
and several other firms.
He admitted that the country was facing economic challenges, citing austerity measures by the government aimed at cutting costs.
“The
country is staring at a major crisis going into the future and the
current situation is a recipe for chaos. Unfortunately, the sad reality
is those who are out of employment will looks for ways of survival,”
warned Mr Lusaka.
He termed the
situation as a time bomb, asking stakeholders to come up with practical
solutions on how to address the current state of the economy.
REDUCE BUREAUCRACY
The Senate Speaker spoke strongly against what
he termed as “red tapes,” alluding to a case of some international
investors who spent three days in Kenya waiting to meet a Minister only
to go to Rwanda, meet the President and eventually decide to set up
their business there.
He raised the need to reduce government bureaucracy and increase competitiveness to attract investors into the country.
The
Speaker said with more Kenyans moving to urban centres, according to
the latest census, county governments need to come up with plans that
attract investors to set up industries outside Nairobi.
Top
officials from the private sector asked the Senate to come up with
mechanisms that will enable business to thrive despite the unintended
effects of the devolution of certain functions.
“Although
we have a rosy global ranking on ease of doing business, we need to
have a conversation on the cost of doing business across the country.
People see the global rise in numbers but there is more,” said (Kepsa)
chairman, Nick Nesbitt at the Speaker’s Roundtable with the Senate.
BUSINESSES SUFFERING
He
cited the suffering of businesses because of unpaid pending bills by
county governments, lack of harmony in policies and the multiplicity of
taxes as among the issues facing the private sector in the counties.
Mr Nesbitt said Small and Medium Enterprises have been hardest hit by the effect of having too many regulators to deal with.
“So many people, for some reason, have the authority to stop a business from running,” said Mr Nesbitt.
Kepsa
Chief Executive Officer Carole Kariuki said the net effect of the many
rules in the country is the lack of competitiveness that results in
international investors choosing to set up businesses in other
countries.
Ms Kariuki said the
private sector has also borne the brunt of the budget cuts in some
counties that have come long after procurement has been done, resulting
in pending bills.
“We need the Senate to create a framework that enables predictability in terms of payments,” said Ms Kariuki.
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