Citizen TV anchor Yvonne Okwara schooled President Uhuru Kenyatta on how to run the nation, after the head of state's sentiments on why Kenyans were broke went viral.
On Monday, November 11, in a report by People Daily, Kenyatta held a two-hour meeting with government officials at State House, where he expressed his displeasure with the scarce amount of money circulating in the economy. He ordered parastatal bosses to release Ksh34 billion owed to suppliers.
The remarks fuelled reports by news outlets that the president did not understand why Kenyans were broke.
Irked by the comment, Okwara, lectured Kenyatta on why citizens were broke and how they were struggling to make ends meet.
"We are broke because your government owes suppliers Ksh300 billion. Your order to settle these outstanding bills in June this year only resulted in a paltry Ksh10 billion being released. County governments owe another Ksh98 billion to suppliers. That is why you in fact reportedly ordered Ksh34 billion to be released at this meeting.
"We are broke because your Executive is crowding out SMEs by borrowing heavily in the domestic market, thus squeezing them into hard times, if not completely out of business," Okwara responded bitterly.
The endeared anchor went on to lament how Kenyatta had spent an outrageous budget on infrastructure projects, yet Kenyans were languishing in poverty.
"If you think we should have money because of your great infrastructure projects, then isn't it time to rethink about them, like the expressway in Nairobi," she wondered.
She also reminded him that Parliament voted to increase the debt ceiling to Ksh9 trillion, three times more than Kenya's annual budget and that KRA had failed to meet revenue targets for three years running.
Okwara wondered why Kenyatta could not crack the whip on rogue officials, yet he was in his final term. According to her, the president had the legal mandate to hire and fire.
She gave him a practical example of how Kenyans run their households.
"Much in the same way you run the economy, we run households, pay electricity, water, take loans with consideration of how to pay them.
"Imagine the head of the household comes back home to after a hard day and the children have had one meal a day, then asks the children why they are broke," Okwara hit back.
Video courtesy of Citizen TV
