Businessman cum politician Jimi Wanjigi has cast aspersions on economic figures presented by President Uhuru Kenyatta during his State of The Nation Address terming it as “bonoko economics.”
In a statement, Wanjigi says that, the figure given by the President in the SOTN address that the Kibaki economy grew to Ksh4.7 trillion, was wrong, going by what is publicly available on the Central Bank of Kenya website.
““Anybody can Google it and find that the economy under Kibaki grew to Ksh6.7 trillion. We want facts Mr President, however harsh. Not dreams and fantasies. We want the truth. We know the president does not have time to fix it but those who are running for the presidency should not tell Kenyans lies,” he notes.
President Uhuru Kenyatta in his state of the nation speech had alluded that the economy under his administration had grown from Ksh4.7 trillion in 2013 to Ksh11 trillion current.
“In just 8 years my administration has multiplied the GDP by a factor of 2 plus today our GDP stands at Kenya shillings 11 trillion up from the 4.75 trillion. “The president said in his speech.
Which according to Wanjigi does not add up, “When I heard the President speak and exude a scorecard that is not in tandem with what is in our pockets, I was in shock. I was wondering whether I’m the one who lives in a different world. What he spoke about was “bonoko economics”. Those were not truths,” said Wanjigi.
Insisting that, “It is clear that Uhuru has not been able to boost our productivity. It is also true that the cost of living has increased for each one of us. The only thing we can do to save the economy is stop the slide into debt and increase productivity.”
According to data from the World Bank, Kenya’s economy grew by 5.87 per cent in 2013, and 6.36 per cent in 2018, the highest under the Kenyatta-led administration.
The data also indicate that 2020 saw the lowest economic growth at -0.377 under the Kenyatta administration, lower than the 2008 post-election economy, which grew by 0.232 per cent.
Other years that the country’s economy grew in the negative were 1992,1970 and 1961 at, -0.799, - 4.655 and -7.775 respectively.
Further Wanjigi called on voters to exercise caution in the next election noting that, “We should be very careful with the choices next year because there are people who have been around for thirty years and more and are now hoodwinking voters.”
According to analysts, the jubilee administration has been keen on capital intensive projects negating key aspects of economic drivers.
In his state of the nation address, the president remained bullish that the economy would grow by 6 per cent in 2021 banking on post pandemic recovery.
