Judge MPs by action, not sweet words

Every politician is busy strategising on how to best outdo their and convince the electorate. This past week I listened to public debate amongst the different sides of the political divide on the question of public debt.

The pro-Handshake team blamed the Deputy President’s team, with the latter shifting the blame to the other side.

In the midst of that debate, the reality may get lost. The plain fact is that Kenya’s debt is unsustainable and a point of concern. However, the discussion around it is full of politicking and not the real issues.

For over three years, there has been public discourse on the debt situation. The members of Parliament kept increasing the debt levels and not doing much interrogating the causes of the ballooning debt. Now that elections are near, they are shouting from the rooftops. However, theirs is all talk.

Conversations about the state of the economy and the debt level are an important governance and election issue. However, it can only be dealt with by diagnosing what the causes are.

If one investigates the fundamental areas of concern, it will quickly emerge that politicians are a part of the economic problem facing the country.

Every year Parliament passes the annual budget. This captures the expenditure proposals for the coming year and the revenue sources. For the entire life of the current Parliament, there has not been much debate on the linkages between the budget debates and the economic situation of the country.

In addition, parliamentarians have the responsibility of oversight, implementation and utilisation of resources. Instead of focusing on this, the current Parliament stands accused of either being complicit or indifferent as the country’s economic situation worsened.

A huge cause of the challenges facing the country is corruption. Parliamentary committees expected to oversight the executive have instead been cited as being part of the gravy train.

Consequently, any attempts by people who sit in Parliament to cry wolf at this late hour can only be viewed as politicking. What the country needs is action.

It is, therefore, important that every politician who has been in Parliament demonstrates to the citizenry what they have done to address the challenges facing the country.

It requires a deep and detailed report card of the various measures they have been able to push as individuals, members of their respective parties, and members of their parliamentary committees.

Citizens must demand a detailed account of the actions and not just populist talk. It is only such accountability that will enable an honest assessment of what ails the economy. This will also serve as a benchmark of the kind of interventions required to shape the economy.

A few areas that do not currently receive as much attention but should include aligning devolved and national government functions and increasing revenue generated to fund government operations and public service delivery.

In several sectors, there continues to be duplication of functions and personnel between national government and counties. The functional alignment that was envisaged by the Constitution has never fully and objectively happened.

The duplication is a strain on public resources and is one that requires bold leadership to fix. If one looks at the sectors of water and agriculture, for example, it is important that the budgetary allocations and staffing recognise the respective roles of county and national governments.

While the political players in the oncoming elections are clear about the promises they are making to the electorate, they are not explicit on how these will be funded in the current economic environment. Funding government requires a more explicit and informed focus.

It will also require a rethink of several of the proposals being bandied around by the politicians. It is for this reason that citizens should focus more on the reality and not the rhetoric.