Tony m

I have been telling you that in Kenya, we have an economic apartheid system in place. In this system, there are two classes of people. The first class, which I call the Contributors. 97% of Kenyans fall into this group. This group's primary role in the economy is to contribute. Contributes taxes, sweat, tears, and sometimes, blood. Its primary interaction with government is through taxation. It gets almost nothing from the national cake. Then there is the Consumers. This group comprises 3% of Kenyans. Their primary role is to consume. And they do it with reckless abandon. The numbers do not lie. When you hear that Kenya is spending KSh 4.8 trillion in a year, up from KSh 4.3 trillion in the last year, you may be tempted to think that the increase in spending represents more services and development for citizens. You would be so wrong. This year, our government will spend KSh 4.8 trillion. Kenya will make about KSh 2.6 trillion. Do not let anyone deceive you by telling you we will make KSh 3.6 trillion. We have never earned more than KSh 2.8 trillion. Ever. Out of the KSh 2.6 trillion, KSh 2.3 trillion is set aside for debt service. Debt service is all about what we have done in the past. Decisions we have already made. Lifestyles we have chosen for ourselves. All the corruption we have allowed. All the incompetence we have allowed. The National Government will spend about KSh 12 on debt service for each shilling it will spend on healthcare. It will spend three shillings on debt service for each shilling it will spend on education. Debt service is what we live for. Can you imagine a more reckless way of life than spending upwards of 85% of national income on what we have done in the past? A country that is only able to leave 15% of its income for the present and future is kidding itself, telling everyone that it is on its way to being Singapore. This is what is most frustrating to anyone paying attention. When you hear people talking about "odious debt", they often will not mention the fact that much of the issue is not that we don't ACTUALLY OWE the debt. At least most of it. I give credit to people engaging in this discourse of odious debt. But we must also understand that there is no way out of this mess without addressing what gets us in this mess to begin with. We have a very expensive government. We are hopelessly overly represented. We have chosen over-representation over results. Every Kenyan is represented by an MP, a Senator, a Women Rep, a Governor and an MCA. Five offices. Five budgets. One voter. And most of them claim credit for the same road, the same classroom, the same bursary. We pay for 416 Members of Parliament, 47 Governors and their deputies, and about 2,200 Members of County Assemblies. There is one politician, for every 20,000 Kenyans. And we pay them like kings. A Kenyan MP's compensation is close to 100 times what the average Kenyan produces in a year. In the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada, a member of parliament earns about two times. In Luxembourg, one of the richest countries on earth, less than one. The average compensation is about two times what the average citizen is making. In Wajir, where 65% of the people live in poverty, the Governor earns 163 times what the average resident earns. He earns in one day what his people earn in five months. Then come the allowances. The payroll of one county assembly, Kakamega, lists 18 separate salary and allowance lines. An entertainment allowance. An extraneous duty and domestic allowance. A special house allowance. A leave travel allowance. A "salary market adjustment". Basic salary is one of the smaller items on the list. This is what consuming with reckless abandon looks like. Now look at what the Contributors get in return. The Contributor pays tax on the bread she buys in the morning. On the fuel that takes her to work. On the airtime she uses to call home. On every M-Pesa transaction. There is no escaping it. Even the poorest Kenyan pays. And what does she get for it? Ask any parent who can scrape together the fees. They will not send their child to a public school if they can avoid it. They know the standards. Overcrowded classrooms. Too few books. Too few teachers. Ask anyone who can afford it. They will not take their sick mother to a public hospital. They know what they will find. No drugs. No doctor. A prescription to go and buy the medicine yourself. So they pay again. School fees at a private school. A deposit at a private hospital. A borehole because the county water never comes. A private guard because the police never come. The Contributor pays twice for everything. Once to the government that does not deliver, and once to the private provider that does. The Consumers do not have this problem. Their children's fees, their medical cover, their cars, their fuel, their houses and their entertainment are paid for. By the Contributors. That is economic apartheid. Not by race. By access to the public purse. So let us follow the money. In June 2013, Kenya owed KSh 1.89 trillion. That was everything we had borrowed in 50 years of independence. By June 2026, we owed KSh 13.01 trillion. By August 2026, KSh 13.48 trillion. In just 13 years, we have added more than KSh 11 trillion. That is almost six times what it took us half a century to borrow. Insanity on steroids. Look at the first graph attached and you will not fail to notice the stunning trajectory of our national debt. Up and up and up. What you should also notice on the same graph, is the paradoxically stunning trajectory of two other things: unemployment rate, and poverty rate. If this KSH 11 trillion taken by the ruling class in our name had built a future, we would see it in a declining unemployment rate, and, in a declining poverty rate. We would see more jobs. We would see fewer poor people. We see the opposite. In 2013, the official unemployment rate was 2.8%. Today it is 5.4%. About 15% of young people in the labour force have no work at all. And even these numbers flatter us: more than 80% of the jobs created in 2025 were informal. In 2015/16, 36.1% of Kenyans lived below the poverty line. By 2022, it was 39.8%. That is about 20 million of our people. And every single year, the taxes and fees we collect cover only about half of what the government spends. The rest is borrowed. In 2023/24 alone, the gap was KSh 1.94 trillion. Seven times the debt. Twice the unemployment. More poverty. So who did all that debt serve? It did not serve the Contributors. It served the Consumers. It paid their hefty salaries, their allowances, their cars and their travel. It paid the interest on the loans they took in our name, so they could pay themselves more, and steal more. The odious debt debate matters. But the debt is a symptom. The disease is a government built to serve itself. The disease is a government that has been perverted into a tool for extraction. The desease is a ruling class that suffers from an incurable obsession with consuming everything in sight, without a care in the world about the pain and suffering it leaves in its wake. We do not need a government that collects more. We need a government that is worth what it already collects. So here is what the Contributors must demand: 1. Pay leaders what the country can afford. Cap every political package, allowances included, at a fixed multiple of what the average Kenyan earns. And this figure must be in line with what we see in the private sector. It is up to Kenyans to decide the actual percentage of revenue we spend on compensation, but it cannot be more than 30%, if we are a serious country. Publish every shilling. 2. Address over-representation. There is no reason for Lamu to have an MCA for every 7,000 people. Understand the insanity of over-representation. I am told that the average petrol statition in Nairobi generates about KSH 300 million in revenue. About 23 of our 47 counties earned less than the average petrol station in 2023-2024! And, they each had on average 47 MCAs, a Governor and Deputy, and, cabinets! Cut nominated and duplicate seats. Representation must be measured by results, not headcount. 3. Obey the laws we already have. The wage bill is capped at 35% of revenue for a reason; to ensure that much of the funds we have actually go to serve people. Today, 47% of each shilling spent at the county government level is going to salaries for on average 1% of the county population. This is a perversion of devolution. In just the last three years, County Governments have stolen KSH 131 billion from citizens this way. It must stop. 4. Borrow only to build. Not one more shilling of debt for salaries, allowances or interest. 5. Let leaders live with what they run. Those who govern public schools and hospitals should send their own children and parents there. Watch how fast the standards rise. Until then, the Contributors will keep paying twice. And the Consumers will keep consuming. Who did all that debt serve? Now you know. The only question left is how much longer we will let it. Bonnie Mwangi. Prudence. Purpose. Progress. @FlavNasmbu @MoGAbdi @Senate_KE @NAssemblyKE